#+ and longer. just like when your mum meets an old friend at a grocery store LMAO)

[stellar-skyy]

ADDI.

AURORA. — Arlecchino's child has never seen the aurora in Snezhnaya before.

— trigger & content warnings. none applicable!

— pairings & notes. fluff. arlecchino & reader. reader is a member of the house of the hearth, is at least around 15 but is otherwise ambiguous in age, and is implied to be arlecchino's chosen successor. reader is gender neutral (they/them pronouns used). arlecchino is suggested to be taller than the reader by quite a bit. 0.8k words.

— author's thoughts. arlecchino my beloved RAHHH she is literally the best fatui harbinger imo. i love you arle no. 4 of the fatui harbingers 🗣🗣❗️❗️❗️ i am surprised by the lack of platonic arlecchino fics!??!?! she is literally called father guys please /lh

       "Father..."

       Shadowing under the Fourth of the Fatui Harbingers during one of her trips to Snezhnaya was, no doubt, nervewracking and tiring despite them never needing to do anything other than follow her around; Arlecchino simply wouldn't allow some of her coworkers to even look in their direction, let alone try to speak to them. Some, like Tartaglia, however, were momentarily permitted to; Childe had talked their ear off while Arlecchino was occupied with the Regrator and the Rooster, though they could only wordlessly nod in response to the never-ending chatter about his siblings. 'You should come by sometime,' he had said. 'You kids from the Hearth are a good lot, and my family would be more than happy to have visitors.'

       Nevertheless, really, they hadn't done much at all... but perhaps the anxiety of dipping their toes into their Harbinger's responsibilities—the ones that they may very well inherit one day—was a valid enough reason to be so mentally tired.

       Standing close behind her, listening to her speak with her coworkers (it was quite amusing to see the glare and scowl fixed on her face when she needed to speak to the Doctor—she never looked at them or any of their siblings like that—though the sheer terror his presence induced was enough to drown that amusement out), seeing the details of her responsibilities that others could not...

       They were certain that they must've said a mere one or two words during the whole visit—a "Yes, Father" or a "No, Father," directed at none other than their Harbinger and her alone.

       Exhaustion and cold seeped into their bones, but nonetheless, they had stopped trailing after her and stared up in wonderment.

       Arlecchino stopped shortly after they did, turning back to them. "What is it?"

       Colors danced freely in the nighttime Snezhnayan sky. Despite the chill permeating their flesh (they were reminded that they probably should have dressed a bit more warmly, but they weren't familiar with the Motherland, and therefore didn't anticipate how cold the night would get), they felt no compulsion to rush.

       "Look. The aurora," they murmured, eyes wide with awe and wonder.

       The Knave's heels clicked on the tiled terrace at the front of the Winter Palace as she paced back over to them, following their gaze upwards. "Have you never seen it before?"

       "No. I... I've never been to Snezhnaya before now," they admitted, "so I have never seen the aurora. I've heard about it, but—"

       "I understand. It is more magnificent than even the most vivid descriptions."

       Suddenly, the heavy weight of the Knave's coat fell onto their shoulders. They gingerly clasped the edges, pulling it closer to their body as to fend off the biting chill in the air. Lavender and a vague twinge of smoke filled their lungs. To some, it may have been an unpleasant combination—perhaps others would find the smoke too stinging and bitter or the lavender too sickening, as some do. To them, however, it was simply... Father's scent. It was hard to dislike when the person they associated it with was so important to their life.

       It was equally hard to feel cold with her coat draped over their body.

       Father's particular scent made a comforting warmth stir in their chest—perhaps she was not really their Father, but it was times such as this that made them feel that she was—and her coat ensured that their exterior did not freeze.

       In fact, it was quite impossible to feel cold now.

       "...Let us stay for a while longer, then," she mused, one of her hands finding its place on their upper back. "The aurora is a sight to behold, and there are no urgent matters to attend to at home."

       Momentarily, their gaze broke away from the sky and shifted to the Harbinger instead. Though they did appreciate the gesture of giving them her coat... "Won't you get cold, Father?"

       Their concern was not unwarranted, but indeed unecessary.

       "Worry not," the Fourth replied smoothly, reaching over to adjust the coat somewhat; it was too big for them and threatened to slip off of their body if their already gentle hold were to loosen even slightly. Arlecchino absently mused to herself about how utterly unintimidating they were, drowning in the fluff of her coat and head just barely able to peek out from the top. It was cute, though she dared not say admit such a thing out loud. "I have long since grown used to this weather. You have not."

       'You need that coat far more than I do.'

       That was what she wanted to say, or rather what she was implying; she would speak her mind if she so truly desired to or felt the need to. They'd grown quite used to her enigmatic nature and quite skilled in reading between the lines, picking apart her words at the seams to uncover what she truly meant to say.

       Suddenly, under the flickering purples, greens, and blues of the night sky, it was no longer cold.

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[darkdevasofdestruction]

Brahms's Lullaby ~ Brahms Heelshire x Reader

Note: Why do I love Brahms? Fuck if I know. Anyway, this is what happens when a a meek, cute girl moves away from her old life to turn the page and find herself once again...And yet, her dark past quite literally comes back to haunt her.

'That's one huge manor...' Y/N thought to herself, the back of her neck straining as she scanned it from the bottom to the very top of the roof. The grip on her luggage tightened as she gulped in anxiety, and after taking a few deep breaths, she entered in this house, and immediately got greeted by the elderly woman who was the mistress of the house.

Y/N wasn't sure if it was her who was just nervous about the drastic change in her life, or if the woman was simply incredibly intimidating, but hey, as far as she was concerned, this woman won't be staying with her, so she will be all alone in the house, taking care of a child...How bad could it be?

Oh wait. Y/N hates children. They are so loud, bratty, obnoxious, entitled, rude...And the list could go on for ages, but she couldn't loiter in her mind any longer, and instead, she had to memorise where each room was, and what instructions the woman was saying.

She couldn't believe it, but she was glad she chose to wear a pair of comfortable sneakers, for she kinda got tired going up and down the manor...But what could she do anyway?

The kitchen got introduced to her, the woman told her to keep the leftovers in the freezer, told her about Malcom the delivery boy and how he's the only one allowed to bring her stuff. Weird, but what could she do? P'haps the child has a very strict routine that they must stick to, otherwise they'll feel weird and uncomfortable. Who knows?

And then, she showed her the music room, and while she wasn't paying much attention to the woman who turned on the music on the radio rather loud, Y/N looked around, inspecting the musical instruments, especially the piano, and the music sheets neatly displayed - "Brahms's Lullaby" it was called.

"Oh, is the child a fan of Johannes Brahms?" Y/N asked with a soft smile on her face, as she gently traced her fingers over the keys. "Yes, he is. In fact, the child is called Brahms." the woman spoke a bit sharply, looking her up and down with eyes that almost seemed...Judging, for some reason. "What a lovely name. When will I meet little Brahmsy?" she asked, and as soon as she used that nickname, the woman's jaw got set, and Y/N could swear she was gritting her teeth in anger at her. "...Brahms. His name is Brahms. You will meet him right now. Come on." the woman went on ahead and opened a room, where a doll was sitting in a chair, neatly dressed like a gentleman, while next to him, crouching, an elderly man, who she could only assume was the woman's husband, the master of the house. "Oh, my dear Brahms...This is Y/N, she is here to be your new nanny. Miss L/N, this us Brahms, and he will decide whether he accepts you or not." ...a doll? She...Has to babysit...A doll? Well...The pay is good, and she's veeeery far away from her old home, so...No new beginning happens within your comfort zone, right? "Hello, Brahms, it's great meeting you. I hope we'll get along well." with a sweet smile on her face, Y/N crouched down if front of the chair and took the little hand of the doll, shaking it carefully. "...Fine enough. Now, could you give us some time alone? Brahms will decide now." with that look on her face, while the old man looked at her with pity, and...Relief, maybe? Y/N exited the room, only to see a man standing in front of her, wearing an amiable smile. "Oh, hello there, you must be the new nanny. I'm Malcom, the delivery boy. Well, delivery man. Nice to meet you." very charming... "Ah, yes, I've heard about you. My name is Y/N, nice meeting you as well." she replied politely, although she could sense the flirt he was failing to put forward. "If you want, some day, I can show you around the town. It's small, but kinda pretty." he continued in the same manner, and Y/N replied with simple answers, until finally, the woman opened the door widely, with an even wider smile. "Brahms has decided that you are suitable to be his new nanny, congratulations." how the human behaviour can change so drastically, doing a whole 180, in a split second. "Thank you so much for accepting me, Brahms! I'm sure we'll get along well!" Y/N clapped her hands together to her chest in a cheerful manner, as the elder man left as well, allowing his wife some more farewell words with the doll. "Here, I made you a simplified list of rules you must follow. You don't have to wake up at 7 in the morning every day like my wife told you, but you must make sure all of these are taken care of, alright, miss L/N?" the man asked, handing her the paper which she attentively read. "Yes, of course, I will do as instructed without fail. Thank you for having trust in me with your dear Brahms. Have a lovely trip and I hope you get a well-deserved rest!" Y/N wished them, and for a split second, she almost thought the man's eyes flashed with shock and sorrow. What was going on anyway...? This family is...Peculiar, to say the least. Well, no matter, she will be paid weekly, and with the pretty generous amount she earned while working as a doctor, she should be able to afford anything she'd want, so she won't get bored.

And so, the Heelshires left, and she was all alone with the doll - Y/N decided to make her new bedroom to her liking, as much as possible, with Brahms sitting on a nightstand, as she was humming whatever tune that went in her mind, and swaying carefreely.

"You know, Brahms? I wasn't expecting you to be a doll. But frankly, I think this is better. Children are annoying...But you? You're really nice. And you're not loud or obnoxious. I think we'll be great friends." speaking to a doll...I guess that's how far in my loneliness I've gotten. Tragic, really...She thought as she realised how much of a crazy person she'd look like, were someone to see her. "Since it's already evening, let's go make some really good dinner, and then we can play the piano a bit? Maybe even watch a movie together?" she picked up the doll and went to the kitchen, and looking in the fridge, then at the utensils available, she put together a nice dinner, and put it split in two plates, one for her, and one for the doll, and to keep away the boring silence that hung painfully throughout the house, she put on some LoFi music on her phone, and ate, feeling more peace now than she ever did. "Hmmm...I know your mum told me to put the food in the freezer...But it's better eaten while still warm. I don't think you'll like it if it's stone cold...So, I'll leave it here, on the table, and see how it is. If you don't like it, and you want me to put it in the fridge, just tell me, and I'll do as advised." ...Just tell me? JUST TELL ME? Girl, are you out of your mind?! As if a doll could speak...

After she washed her plate, fork and knife, she picked up the doll once again, and went to the music room, putting the doll on the piano, and cracking her fingers, she let them glide over the claviature, creating a beautiful melody echo through the room, and maybe Y/N didn't realise, but she had a glowing smile on her face, and she visibly relaxed and felt at ease, as if she was flying through the fluffy clouds.

"I haven't done this in so long, I'm surprise I'm not rustier. I hope you liked it too, Brahmsy. Now, let's go to be. Do you want to sleep in my room? Come on, I'm a bit anxious to sleep by myself in this huge, creepy house." she mused as she got to her room, carefully putting the doll on her pillow and after going to the bathroom to change in her cutesy Unicorn Pusheen nightgown, and turning on her laptop, she put on Harry Potter, one of her comfort movies, and cuddling with the doll, she gave it a little kiss before getting engulfed in the story once again, and falling asleep without realising.

Everything was peaceful in the house in the morning, until Y/N reached the kitchen to make some light breakfast, only to find a paper on the table, with beautiful cursive writing in ink on it.

"Warm is better, thank you :) "

Frankly speaking, it freaked her our enough to get a panic attack and barricade herself in her room for the whole day, her bedroom locked and too afraid to leave that place for the whole day.

Oops.

After this, days on end, and then weeks passed by uneventfully, as Y/N took care of Brahms with no problem, Malcom came by to give her the groceries, the pay and anything that she'd order online, she'd chat with some old friends, would watch movies, would go out to plant flowers and tend to the garden, would dance around, happy to bask in the warm Summer sun, would read whatever books she likes, with the doll in her lap, and she realised that she never felt more relaxed and free in her life.

It was pretty cool not having to work for money, huh?

But one day, when she was out in the garden, barefoot and with a cute, flower dress on, her long, beautiful hair, accessorised with a colourful flower crown, and she was dancing to the music on her phone, she noticed a figure somewhere from the forest. It was unmoving, almost as if it was staring, and it startled Y/N. It startled and frightened her so much that she quickly picked up the doll and went inside the house, making sure all windows and doors are properly locked, and the drapes are closed, so nobody could get in.

That night, she kneeled on the bad, an upset frown on her face, as she felt her eyes watering slightly, looking down at the porcelain doll of the little boy.

"It's moments like this when I hoped you were human, Brahmsy. Not a child...But a man. I'm scared...I'm so scared...I don't like being alone. There was some creep outside in the forest, and it was staring at us. What do I do, Brahmsy? What am I supposed to do...?" as she felt a few tears streaming down her face, she sighed, hanging her head down, raking her fingers down her face in mild desperation. "...Who am I kidding, you're just a doll, you're not human. Why the hell do I even bother. I'm going to die here, sooner or later..." her voice was filled with dread and resignation as she got under the covers, clinging onto the doll as if her very life depended on it.

Since that very day, she continued seeing the silhouette of a tall man, standing there, menacingly stalking her every single day, from different places, until she heard the phone ring, and reluctantly, she answered.

"...Hello? Who is there...?" she muttered, gripping the phone anxiously, awaiting and answer. "You don't recognise the voice of the man that made you feel good every night?" her breath stopped completely hearing that awful voice she hoped never to hear again. Instead of answering, she slammed the phone down.

But it rang again.

And again.

And again.

Until it drove her mad and she disconnected it completely.

It wasn't like anyone would call her anyway, and if they wanted to contact her, then they could text her on her private phone, or on social media.

Why can't she just get some peace anywhere? She just wanted to get away from all hell she was put through at home...But now, it seemed like Hell was inclined to follow her to the ends of the world.

The stress and fright from this increased when she received multiple pictures of herself from either outside the house, or even inside, which is when she realised the stalked from outside was, in fact, the one who called her on the phone. It was her horrible ex.

And one horrible night, as she gripped on the doll to dear life, walking down the corridors of the huge manor, checking for the thousandth time that everything is locked tight, she heard a noise.

What was she supposed to do...? She couldn't run out of the house, everything was locked...And could she hide? Not really, she was sure he'd check all the rooms without fail.

So...What could she do except try to hide in her room?

She waited in her wardrobe, knowing very well that, if he were to get inside her bedroom, he would check every nook and cranny, but even so, she felt safer in a cramped, tight place, than outside in such an open room.

Mere seconds felt like outright centuries, she heard the door slam open, making her jump in fright, her hand to her mouth, so she'd muffle any sound she'd potentially make from her hyperventilating. She knew, it would be long before he checked the wardrobe, but gosh...The anticipation made her anxiety skyrocket.

Until it finally happened.

Y/N found herself being dragged from inside her safe place by the hair, thrown to the ground, but not once did she let go of the doll that became some sort of a comfort object for her.

"So that's where you were, Y/N! I missed you! It's been a while, hasn't it?" oh no, that overly sweet voice...It's nothing but poison. It was so bad that her bottom lip started quivering with fear as she tried to crawl away from there, but obviously, to no avail. "Wheeeere are you going, darling? Didn't you miss me? Come on, give me a hug!" he grinned, grabbing her and trapping her in his arms, and she couldn't help but tremble in disgust and fear as she felt his hands roaming in places it shouldn't. "Why aren't you talking to me? Why aren't you saying anything? Come on, let me hear you voice! ...DO SOMETHING, DAMN IT!" ah, his facade crumbled much faster than expected, and that aggressive scream in her face as he roughly pushed her in the wardrobe door made her whimper and wrap herself around the doll, trying not to let tears fall down her face and just...Praying for all this to be over...To be just a nightmare..."What the fuck is with that doll anyway? Why do you cling on it, and not on me? Give that here." but she didn't let go, and seeing how she was opposing him, he forcefully grabbed her face before slapping her before snatching away the doll from her arms. "Sheesh...It's so fucking ugly. No wonder you stay with this, it's the only thing that would stay with someone like you. So ugly, dumb, annoying...You should be grateful that I'm here! Nobody in this world wants you! You're worthless and you deserve nothing. Do you hear me? You ARE nothing! Better thank me nicely for coming all the way here for you! Nobody would bother doing ANYTHING for you!" he yelled at her, as she cradled her face, crying, but also fearing being seen crying, remembering how bad it would get. "Don't her Brahms...Please...Please don't hurt him..." she begged and pleaded over and over, but it only seemed to ignite more anger in his eyes. "You only beg me with that sweet voice of yours...To save your stupid...Thing? Really, Y/N? You're pathetic. You're stupid. You're disgusting. Fuck you and fuck your stupid doll!" and with that, the jerk started slamming the fragile porcelain doll on the wall, ignoring the desperate pleas from the girl. "NO! NOOOOOOOO! No....! Brahms, no...! What has he done to you..." Y/N crawled to the place where the doll's porcelain head was slammed apart, and she let tears fall over as, with shaky hands, she tried to piece together the overly-fragmented head, only to get pulled back by the hair and slammed on the ground, as he pushed himself upon her, his hands grabbing at her exposed flesh, her light nightgown offering close to no protection from the lecherous predator, and her weak, noodle arms, just like before, offered no resistance to his significantly stronger, bulkier built, and no matter how much she tried to fight back, she knew...She knew that struggling never helped, no matter how much she tried. It never did. And it only made it hurt more.

But then...Before she knew it, a loud noise, like that of an explosion, or destruction, came from somewhere in the room, startling the poor girl enough to make her scream in fright, while the predator jumped to his feet looking at the hole in the wall...

Only for a pair of hands to slowly creep out of the wall, tredging along the wooden walls, and then, a head wearing a porcelain mask creepily got out, followed by 2 legs and a body. It seemed to be a man, very tall - In fact, taller than her ex - , but while yes, his dramatic entrance startled the two, the man only got angrier, ready to fight the intruder, while the petite girl only got more frightened by the commotion, dragging herself in the safest corner of the room, shaking, guarding her head with both her arms, hoping again and again that this was all a nightmare, and it would end already - It was beginning to look so much more incredible, like a weird fantasy movie...This can't be real, right?!

"Y/N! Help me!" the voice of a child called out her name, almost strangled and desperate, and peeking at the brawl on the ground, she noticed her ex trying to strangle the stranger, whose head was leaning, his eyes fixated on hers.

He went out of the wall as soon as she got attacked...He was trying to protect her...Maybe? So...She got up, trying not to attract the attention of her ex, and taking ahold of the lamp on her nightstand, she brought it down hard against her ex's head, making him groan in pain...But he didn't fall. He didn't faint, like you see in movies. Instead, he got up, glaring at the meek girl and snatched away the lamp, throwing it away.

"You fucking bitch...Now you've done it." his voice was so dark that she was sure this was game over, so she bolted out of the room as fast as she could, but the labyrinthine house was impossible to navigate, and before she knew it, she found herself in a dead end, with no escape.

However, instead of seeing her ex with the wrath of a raging bull, she noticed the stranger slowly making his way towards her, his shoulder slouched, his dirty, once white, tank top now splattered with fresh blood, as is the rest of his outfit. But his hands were up, almost as if to say that he 'surrenders', as he stepped right in front of the trembling girl.

"Please don't kill me. Please don't hurt me. Please, please, please, I will leave you alone, I will go away, I will do want you want, please don't hurt me." even her voice was shaky, her arms crossed to protect her face, and her eyes closed in fear, so she didn't notice the curly haired man slowly crouching down in front of her, his head tilting slowly, before he gingerly grasped her wrists, pulling them away with such gentleness that she never knew. It was so weird for someone to be so careful with her body...With her...That she opened her eyes, doe-like, looking at the man's wide eyes that peered through his mask. "I am Brahms." but this time, his voice wasn't like that of a child, but not did it sound rough and hoarse, like her ex's. It was soft and delicate, masculine, but not too much. It was soothing. And what Brahms once saw to be the most frightened eyes, remembering how scared Bambi was when his mother died, yet now, they had more of a curious spark. "I won't hurt you. I promise. Don't leave." the once tense girl visibly relaxed under his touch, as he let go of her wrists and letting his knees touch the floor, he leaned forwards, between her legs, to get closer to her, and touched her face with both of his arms, wiping away her tears, surprised at how soft her skin was...Is it was a flower petal feels like? He remembers overly descriptive books where women are seen as different delicate things...A flower, a fawn, a butterfly, a nightingale, the Moon, and so many others...And he could finally understand why. "You are safe now." he continued, thinking it would make the girl smile, but instead, even more tears leaked down her face, and she threw her arms around his neck, bringing him closer to her, his body flushed to hers...And he stood there, stiff, shocked at the situation he was in.

What was he supposed to do now? Touch was so foreign to him...But he loved it so much! It was so warm, it made him happy! He wanted the girl to be closer and closer to him. He remembers what she did daily to his doll - What was it called...A cuddle? - Yes, he wanted that. He NEEDED that.

He hated that man touching her - He was hurting her - Only HE can touch her. He deserved to die. He deserved to fuck off. All he has to do is get rid of the body, and the rest can go on as it always has been - Except, instead of Y/N cuddling the doll, she will cuddle him every night, and she will kiss him.

"Thank you, Brahmsy. Thank you. Thank you so much." she continued thanking him over and over again, but he didn't answer. Instead, his hands slowly made their way on her waist, then went to the curvature of her hips, then to her thighs, and without any warning, he lifted her up, indirectly forcing her to glue herself to him even more - Not before hearing her cute squeal of surprise - And he carried her to one of the guest bedrooms, shivering a bit as he felt her warm breath on his bare neck - It excited him, but he didn't understand really what it was - But it was enough to make him bite his lip behind the mask and his grip on her thighs strengthened a bit, under the pretext of making sure she doesn't fall by mistake.

Luckily, he reached the bedroom and closing the door behind, he got in bed, holding her close as she stood in his lap, so close that he could feel her rapid heartbeat slowing down little by little. It was no misunderstanding, she was getting more and more comfortable around him. He was her protector, and he wasn't going to let anyone hurt her ever again. She was his. Nobody else's. Only his.

They stood like that for a while, just holding each other and calming down, before Brahms turned the both of them to the side, and he hugged her tightly to his chest, playing with her hair, not letting her go for the whole night. His embrace was warm, and Y/N felt so safe - As never before, not even in her parents' home. She felt...Good.

The next day, she woke up still in Brahms's arms. She wasn't sure if he woke up or not, but she leaned to plant a soft kiss on the forehead of the mask, as she raked her fingers through his dark, curly hair, but before she knew it, a pair of arms wrapped around her torso, hugging her close to his chest.

"Good morning, Brahms. Did you sleep well?" her sleepy voice was so cute...He wanted to wake like this every day...As an answer, he merely nodded. "I'm happy to hear that. Come on, we have to eat breakfast, then take a shower...And after that, we can do whatever we want. Sounds good?" she asked, getting up and holding his arms, urging him to follow her. "No shower!" ah, the childish voice again, I see... "Then...How about I shower with you? I have some cute rubber duckies, if you want." she tried to appeal to his inner child, which seemed to pique his interest. "...Only if you wash me." he muttered, making the girl chuckle. "Okay, sure, sure. Let's eat something first. I think there's some milk and cereal." she remembered how much she loved to eat that every morning before going to school, when she was little.

She prepared two bowls and they ate in silence, until Brahms muttered that he wants to hear the music she usually puts when eating - And grinning at him, she put on LoFi music once again, which seemed to make the boy happy too.

After that, they went to the bathroom, and while Brahms waited for the tub to get filled, Y/N went to get the clothes in the washing machine, while getting some fresh clothes for the both of them. Apparently, he actually had other clothes, he just didn't want to bother washing or changing...For who knows how long...

As Brahms got in the tub, only briefs on, playing with the duckies, Y/N kneeled by the tub, taking the flower-scented showed gel and the sponge.

"Get in the tub too." Brahms put his arms on the tub edge, leaning his chin on them, looking at her attentively. "We don't have much space in the tub." she explained, but he had none of it. Instead, he rose from underneath the water, picked her up with a weird ease, and got her in the tub, not before splashing her, so her nightgown was soaked so she couldn't protest anymore. "...Fine, you got me. Let me clean you, then." she shook her head with a sigh as she heard him chuckle, gripping her wrists and pulling her to sit on his lap. Did he really like it that much, she wondered. "Can I shave your chest and neck, Brahms?" she asked as she trailed her hands over his chest, shoulders and arms, scrubbing with a sponge, one hand always finding its way on either her hip or her leg. The answer came in the form of a nod, and she reached to the sink to get a shaving blade and very carefully, making sure not to irritate his skin, or cut him by mistake, she cut down the overgrown, stinky, unwashed hair. In the end, his skin was finally clean and soft and smelling like roses and vanilla. "Let me sit behind you, I have to wash your hair." he seemed pretty exited, feeling her legs on either side of him, his head leaning back so her fingers could work miracles - He felt in heaven - He was so spoiled, and he loved every second of it. The shampoo smelled really nicely too, he had to admit. But her fingers massaging his scalp...Ahhh, it was so perfect, he was almost sure he'd fall asleep. "Let me wash you too!" he said, and in a split second, he could feel the girl's body stiffen, her eyes going wide, and her face...It was beginning to turn pink...? Was she...Blushing? "Ah, uhm...Well...Y-You can wash my hair, if you want?" she was stuttering! So cute! So cute, in fact, that he pinched both her cheeks, and they felt like marshmallows. "H-Hey, stop, that hurts." she pouted as he teased her. He loved that. "Yay!" Brahms cheered as he got her back glued to his chest, his hand gingerly tracing her neck, making her lean her head back, just as he did...But why did he like the sight of his hand wrapped around her neck? He didn't want to hurt her...But the visual was getting him feel weird things.

He followed the same routine as she did to him - Massaging her scalp, putting shampoo, rinsing, then this...Conditioner? Oh, it smelled nicely...And this is called...Hair mask? Ah, this is coconut scented! And she is smiling! She has a kitty smile! She looks like a cute little kitty!

After the bath time was over, Y/N wrapped him in a bathrobe, and while he wasn't paying attention, she quickly took off her nightgown and put another bathrobe on tying it tightly, and guiding the man back to their room, so she could use a hair dryer to dry both their hair, before brushing it neatly, so they could dress up...And he insisted she dressed in that cute, flowy, flower-patterned dress

"There, all good. What do you want to do now, Brahmsy? Do you want to go in the garden and see the flowers?" she asked, a bright smile on her face, both her hands holding his, and he could see her eyes were basically glimmering, pleading him to go out with her...But he hated the outside...Hmmm...

He grumbled a bit, but ultimately, he let himself be dragged outside - He hissed a bit, as if he was a vampire getting burnt by the sun, but after a while...He didn't find it that bad...? And the flowers in the garden were so pretty...!

"Hey, Brahms, take off your shoes and socks. Feel the grass. It will make you feel so calm and peaceful...Here, how do you feel?" she asked, intertwining her fingers with his. "It's...It tickles." he muttered, looking down and wiggling his toes to get used to it. "Come sit down with me. Watching the clouds is really relaxing." she said, helping him sit down, then laying on their backs. Instead of staying apart, however, Brahms pulled her close to his chest, her head resting on his shoulder. "...But it's kinda boring..." he muttered, as he started kneading her arm up and down, massaging it from sheer boredom. "Look, Brahmsy, that cloud looks like a bunny, don't you think?" she put her finger up in the air, pointing to one of the clouds passing by. "Ah! You're right! And that one looks like a dragon! And that one looks like a butterfly! Look, Y/N, it's so pretty!" his boredom dissipated quickly and it got replaced by excitement instead - Very wholesome, the girl thought as she looked at the person next to her getting so happy over such simple things.

They stood outside until evening came, and they could watch the beautiful sunset, the sky painted with the most gorgeous shades there are. "Let's get inside, dear, it's getting cold. We don't want to get sick, right?" she smiled at him, only for him to hang his head down, and then he took off his cardigan and put it over her shoulders and pulled the girl between his legs, her back glued to his broad, warm chest and his embrace made her feel so warm and at ease. "Brahmsy...?" she asked softly, tilting her head up, before feeling his chin on top of her head, but she was met with silence. "The stars are pretty. You are pretty. Y/N is the prettiest, brightest star. Y/N is my star. I love my star." his soft voice was heard, almost whispery, and after a few more seconds, she felt the softest, sweetest kiss on her hair, then on her temple and on her cheek, before his chin found its place back on her head. "I love you, Brahms." she said, with teary eyes, intertwining her fingers to his, pulling his arms closer to her and squeezing his hands. "And I've never loved anyone more than I love you."

Needless to say, that comment made the man giddy and happy, for he, too, felt happiest now than he ever did before. When they felt tired, Brahms picked the girl up and got her back to their now shared room, dressed in their sleeping wear and cuddled, yet this time, Y/N was holding him, his head resting on her chest, as she played with his hair, soothing, and humming a lullaby to help him sleep.

It was Brahms's Lullaby.

[kaylans-imagines]

trois: al dente

synopsis: Realising him, his daughter, and his housemates couldn’t live off fast food forever, Tom Holland joins a cooking class.

pairing: single dad! Tom Holland x single mum! reader

warnings: fluff, angst, no-no words, and absolute cuteness from one Miss Autumn Diana Holland and one Mister Lucas Peter Y/L/N.

an: I just want to thank you guys again for the love you have shown this series. it means the world to me. 

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al dente: cooked so it's still tough when bitten, often referring to pasta

meal: lasagne 

Tom had the best luck. He just had to run into Y/N when he looked ‘horrendous’ as Harry so kindly put it. He had been tasked with getting the groceries while his best mates did the cleaning, which was very much long overdue. Not wanting his young and impressionable daughter, with a knack for repeating words she overhead, Tom brought her along. She had asked him questions on the car ride to Tesco’s. He had given her the warning he always gave her to behave, not that he needed to, she was his perfect princess, and unstrapped her from her seat. 

He was given a list of things they needed for the house, most of it was nonsense, and he wouldn’t get them at all, but he figured he would humour them and get kid-friendly alternates. Setting Autumn into the trolley, he started his walk around the supermarket. Autumn hummed a tune from a show she was obsessed with and would often point out things that caught her attention. He was having a great time, listening to Autumn babble on about what happened at nursery and what Gretchen and Holly did to get in trouble, until he, quite literally, bumped into a familiar woman. Apologies spilt from his mouth before he saw who he bumped into. A familiar giggle stopped his rambling and caused him to look up, making eye contact with gorgeous glowing eyes. 

“Oh, God. Y/N, what are you doing here? That was a stupid question, you’re clearly shopping, I am so sorry,” he apologised before he smiled at her. She brushed him off and smiled, her eyes moving from his face towards the small little girl who sported a cheeky smile, her honey eyes wide and laced with amusement. She thrust her tiny hand towards her and motioned for the older woman to take it. 

“‘M Autumn, but daddy calls me Burrito. Who are you?” her bluntness caused a giggle to slip from Y/N’s lips and Tom to snap his head up to look at her in embarrassment. First, he bumps into her in the cereal aisle and now his three-year-old quite sassily asked her who she was. Sometimes he wished she didn’t know how to speak as well as she did. 

“It’s nice to meet you, Autumn, I’m Y/N. Is this your daddy?” She asked, pointing at Tom with her thumb. Tom was never going to be ashamed of Autumn; she was his pride and joy. The apple of his eyes, the reason he lives, etc., but he silently wished his daughter said no to her question. He hadn’t gathered up the courage to ask Y/N on a date, and he didn’t want to ruin any chances because she found out he had a daughter before he could tell her. He wanted at least one date with her before dropping the bomb that he was a single father and having her ghost him. 

Autumn nodded with a proud smile, her toothy smile wide as she smiled at her father. Tom’s heart swelled at the thought of his daughter being proud of him. Y/N chuckled and opened her mouth to respond before a small body barreled into her leg, holding a box of Jaffa cakes. Y/N nodded her head towards the little boy and laughed as she watched him run towards their trolley and place them in it ever so gently before he wandered the length of the aisle in search of the cereal he wanted. Y/N motioned for him to come back and grabbed ahold of his small hand. 

“Luca, this is Tom and his daughter Autumn, they’re mummy’s friends, can you say hi?” she said slowly while signing it out with her hands. The small boy, who couldn’t be older than six, nodded his head before turning to his mother’s friends. Using his fingers and talking lowly, he introduced himself to the older man and his wife. 

“Hi, my name is Lucas,” he signed with a smile. At that moment, Tom was thankful for briefly considering teaching his daughter sign language when she was a baby. Of course, he couldn’t do so, since he had a fish’s attention span, but he had googled phrases when he was researching it. He was able to catch the phrase and introduced himself with ease. The little boy’s eyes lit up; he wasn’t used to someone making an effort to communicate with him, except for his mother, family, and one school friend. Y/N’s heart swelled as she watched her cute student use his fingers to reply to her son. Every guy she had ever dated or considered dating had all but left when they found out she had son, and the ones who stayed, left when they found out he was deaf. 

“Daddy, why is he using his fingers?” Autumn whispered. Once again mortified at his daughter’s bluntness, her father sent Y/N an apologetic smile before he turned to his daughter. He explained it to her in terms she would understand, she nodded along and turned to her newfound friend with a smile. She threw up her fingers and waved them around, much to Lucas’ confusion and the amusement of his mother. Y/N explained to her son that she was merely trying to say hello but that she didn’t know his language. Autumn, getting frustrated at not interacting with her new friend, motioned for her father to take her out of the trolley and place her on the ground. Tom set her down and watched with pride as his daughter hugged the boy. 

“Uh, we should get going. It was nice to see you outside of class, Tom,” Y/N said shyly. She didn’t want to leave, but she figured that if she stayed any longer and watched Tom interact with her son, and make an effort to communicate with him with Lucas in his comfort zone, she would surely fall in love with him. And his daughter, she was so much like Tom. She was kind and welcoming; she would surely want to claim her as her own but figured that a handsome, made man like Tom, definitely had a wife he kept from the public. She knew he had a daughter, but his relationship status was never discussed on the internet. And she never spent too long on the internet unless it was to research ways to make Lucas’ life as comfortable as possible and the pros and cons of a cochlear implant as of recently. 

Tom was distraught knowing she had a son, not because it was a turn off, but because it likely meant she was in a relationship. And an established one too seeing as her son was no older than six. With a sigh, he agreed and bid his goodbye, quickly getting a box of cereal and leaving the aisle with his three year old happily babbling behind him. She cleared her throat and sent him a weary smile after he stopped and looked at her. 

“Sorry, it’s just, you took my trolley,” as if he couldn’t be more embarrassed. First, he shows up to the supermarket looking less than ideal with two different socks, and an old t-shirt with spit up on it from when Autumn was a baby, then he asks her what she’s doing at a grocery store like a knob, and now, he just has to take her groceries. He just couldn’t catch a break. Sheepishly, he apologised and handed her back her trolley, once again dashing away. Y/N chuckled from her spot before turning towards her son who stared at her with wide hazel eyes under his red glasses.

“Mummy, was that the cute man you told Auntie about?” Lucas signed prompting Y/N to blush, but nodded nonetheless. What kind of mother would be if she lied to her son about a small crush. She asked him what cereal he wanted, effectively changing the topic. He ran off towards the aisle and followed after the small boy, stopping when he held up a box of Frosties. She allowed him to put it in the trolley before they continued on with their shopping. 

Tom had to bribe his daughter pack of Smarties for her to stop laughing at his misfortune, and a box of chocolate biscuits in order for her not to tell her Uncles. He needed to reduce the time she spent with Tuwaine and Harry, they were corrupting his daughter. Autumn sat in her car seat happily munching on her smarties while Tom drove, still reeling at the way he behaved around her, and about how he was smitten with a woman who probably had a family. Autumn still giggled from her carseat from time to time when she remembered how her acted in front of the pretty chef. He would resort to sending her playful glares and threatening to cut her tea time with her nana. 

Calling for the boys to help them unload the groceries, he shuffled inside with Autumn hot on his heels. Helping out by carrying her bag of snacks, she ran towards her bedroom while calling for her uncles to help her dad. Tom rolled his eyes but chuckled. Harrison was the first one out followed by Tuwaine and Harry who all complained about helping, but did it nonetheless. Between the three man, they got the bags inside quickly and left Tom to unpack everything while they searched for Autumn, to undoubtedly wreak havoc in their home. 

Harry came into the kitchen when Tom restocked their fridge and looked at his older brother with giddiness. Tom sent him a questioning glance before turning back towards the fridge causing his younger brother to throw one of Autumn’s toys at him. Tom turned around with offence laced in his eyes and flicked his brother off simultaneously rubbing the sore spot on his head. 

“That was payback for hitting me on the head,” he deadpanned before walking towards him, phone open and ready, “and it was also to get your attention. She followed me back, I figured you might want to you know, do your research on her.” Tom stared at his brother incredoulsly and reached out for the phone only to stop himself. Did he really want to stalk someone, a woman at that, that he had no chance with anymore? Did he want to be as shameless as his younger brother? 

Shaking his head, he softly pushed his phone away from his face before turning back to his groceries; not wanting to be tempted with the offer. Harry snorted before sitting back down and started scrolling on his phone. Tom figured that was the end of his brother’s tampering until he cleared his throat dramatically and started describing his posts to him. 

“And in this one, she’s in France with a cute baby on her hip and they’re in front of the Eiffel Tower. Her caption says,” he proceeded to raise his voice a few octaves and mimicked her voice, even though they had never spoken before, “decided to spend my boy’s first birthday in the city of Love!” Tom rolled his eyes at his brothers exaggerated voice and failed to catch the way his eyes widened the more he scrolled on her page as he now placed groceries in the cupboard. 

“I didn’t know she had a kid,” Harry said, Tom only ignored him, “but I think she’s single, she posted a picture of them together on his recent birthday and said that he was the only love of her life.” 

Tom couldn’t help but feel better at this revelation but he couldn’t know for sure until he found someway to interject it in conversation, or until Harrison does it for him. He really needed to get his act together and talk to her without making himself look like a fool. Harry continued to scroll aimlessly before he cursed and mumbled on about how he liked a picture from two years ago. Tom laughed and left the kitchen, leaving his brother alone in his debacle. Maybe that would teach him to stop stalking people. 

The next class came quickly and once again, he dragged Harrison with him. The blond had no complaints this time around, seeing as his date with the raven haired girl went well and he was going to see her once again. He pulled into the car park and noticed the familiar red car pulling into a spot close to his. Tom watched as she struggled with the supplies in her hand and with her bags and quickly jumped out after turning off the engine. Forgetting about his friend, he locked the door and rushed to offer her his help. With a grateful smile, she allowed for him to carry some of her belongings into the class. They shared pleasantries and talked, both of them ignoring what happened at Tesco’s. They would remain friends even if they couldn’t be together. 

Tom settled down in his seat and pulled out his phone, his eyes widening when he saw Harrison’s very angry messages. He snorted before excusing himself and walking back towards his car, making eye contact with Harrison who flipped him off. He unlocked the door and braced himself for the inevitable hurt the blue eyed man was about to inflict on him. After a rather harsh punch and even harsher words, the two walked back into the classroom and took their spots, flushing under the weight of everyone’s eyes. 

Y/N started her class after the entered the room and walked around after she passed around the recipe papers to them. Harrison and Tom looked at the sheet in confusion, she had never taught this way, she always demonstrated. The two looked around the room and watched as everyone else had started following the recipe, moving about their areas and puting things together. Their eyes widened as they read over the instructions once again. Re-reading a recipe at home after having made the food was one thing, but making food without doing it once was another. They swallowed and pushed down the feeling of doom they were both feeling. 

After nearly smacking Harrison with one of the lasagne noodles and then almost getting sauce on his shoes, they worked on making the food together. Y/N had stopped by occasionally to help them out, and to put out a small grease fire, but left them to their own devices as she continued to walk around. Swallowing his pride, Harrison called for her and asked for her help which she happily gave. She demonstrated how to cut vegetables, how to grate the cheese, and even taught them a new phrase. 

“Al dente; it’s how we refer to pasta when it’s hard but still cooked, which is what we want to do with the lasagne noodles,” she explained softly. Harrison paid attention to her demonstration while Tom focused on her and the way her eyes danced in delight as she explained and her tone was light when she answered any questions they had. With her help, they placed the lasagne in the oven and high fived as they finished without starting a fire or getting into a fight. They thanked her to which she nodded and left them to their devices while they waited. She had instructed the class to get ahead of the cleaning process and do so while they waited so they could leave early. 

Part of Tom didn’t want to leave early, but he knew he would have to. So together, they cleaned up their area and waited for their food to finish cooking. They finished quickly and Harrison ditched him for Violet, the raven haired girl he went on a date with, leaving Tom to pass the time on his phone. A tap on his shoulder brought him out of his scrolling. He looked up and met soft eyes and a warm smile. Y/N.

“I saw Harrison leave you for Violet, figured I would keep you company,” she paused, a panicked look in her eyes, “only if that’s okay with you of course.” Tom nodded and placed his phone down, gesturing for her to take a seat beside him. She thanked him and settled down.

“Your daughter is adorable,” she commented as she watched his screen light up with a message from his mum, his phone screen on display. It was a picture of the three year old at one of his premiers, smiling her toothy smile at the photographers. Tom thanked her and agreed with a fond smile. Autumn was adorable.

“Your son is cute,” he said, causing her to smile, “you and your boyfriend must be happy.” 

“Oh, no boyfriend, just me and Luca,” she informed him, “what about you? You and your partner must be ecstatic to have such a charming little girl running around.” 

“If you’re referring to Harrison, I can assure you we are more than okay with seeing other people, preferably of the opposite gender,” he joked. She laughed and looked at him intently.

“So, there’s no Missus?” she inquired, Tom shook his head. She smiled at his response and opened her mouth to reply before the sound of alarms going off interrupted her. She stood up and instructed everyone to take their dishes out of the oven and check their food, making sure the noodles were soft and easy to cut into. She went around offering everyone the lid to the containers the lasagne was in and helped those who needed, close them. 

Tom handed their container and the keys to the car to Harrison rather roughly and pushed him out the door before walking towards Y/N and clearing his throat, fiddling with his fingers. She sent him a questioning look and rose an eyebrow, waiting for him to talk. 

“Uh, I just wanted to invite you and Lucas to Autumn’s birthday,” no he didn’t, he was fully intending on asking her on a date, “it’s on Saturday. It’s okay if you can’t or simply don’t want to but I think-” 

“We would love to come. Here, you can text me the address, and Luca and I will be there. How old is she turning?” She asked and handed him her phone. He typed in his phone number and smiled at the picture she had set her wallpaper as. It was of her and Lucas, smiling at the camera. Lucas had cake frosting smeared on his face and on his hands which he was placing on her cheek. 

“Four,” she didn’t turn four for another month. Now he had to throw together a quick birthday party and lie to his daughter. All because he couldn’t ask the pretty chef out on a date.

“We’ll be there,” she said, Tom nodded and walked out of the room slowly, until she called his name, “text me. It doesn’t have to be about the party.” She winked and Tom blushed. 

He walked towards the car with a spring in his step and his head in the clouds. He didn’t ask her on a date, but he got her number and she told him to text her. That was better than nothing. Now all he needed to do was throw an impromptu birthday party for his daughter. 

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[jarofstyles]

Fan Club

A/N: This story.... it’s very near and dear to our hearts. We have a total of 7 parts written, 80k words total. It is our take on the PR relationship trope, mixed with Harry gets with a fan trope. It’s full of angst, full of sweet moments and smutty moments alike. We LOVE these two, they are quite literally our children. It is a bit more personal for the reader in some aspects, we know we have all imagined what it would be like to be with Harry at some point, so this goes out to you. We made Y/N of Russian decent in this one, just to make things fun ( and because we wanted some representation for our Russian babes out there 🤧). All in all, we are extremely proud to present Fan Club to you, we hope you enjoy ✨✨ - n + d

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pairing: Harry Styles x Reader

warnings: angst, glimmers of fluff

word count: 11.2k

It was hard for Y/N to explain how she ended up in this situation. Fake Dating international popster, Harry Styles. To be honest, it was all a bit of a crazy story even for Y/N. She couldn’t believe it either. Y/N was a simple girl with simple taste. Her older sister, Katya, owned a bakery called ‘for goodness bakes’ that’s been open for about 5 years, Y/N has been working there alongside her. She spent most of her time at the bakery, having just graduated with a degree in business marketing. She liked doing things most 22 year old girls liked doing: fun makeup, nights in with wine and romcoms, and of course being a fan of Harry Styles. 

Since she was 12 years old, she had been a fan of One direction and well... Harry was always her favorite. She initially fell for his preppy appearance, but ultimately fell for his charm and quirkiness once she fell deep into the fandom. And she did fall deep. She had a stan account on every social media platform, she bought merch and multiple copies of albums, and even wrote fanfiction on wattpad. To say she was a big fan was an understatement. 

About a month ago, Harry’s team had reached out to her via the email of her bakery. They had seen the post that she made, a picture of herself with a kiwi tart with the caption, ‘it’s none of your business.... unless?’ and had asked if they could have a meeting with her at their headquarters. Obviously, Y/N agreed to this meeting, thinking that they might want her to cater an event or something. But no, they wanted her to be his ‘girlfriend’. 

They had explained to her that they had been searching for the perfect candidate who was not only a fan, but was also just a regular everyday girl. They said they liked her aesthetic and felt like she would suit Harry well. Her background in business marketing meant that she would be good at knowing what to post and her being a fan meant her love for him would be believable. The fans and media would eat this story up! It took Y/N a moment to comprehend what they were asking her to do, but they started bringing up numbers and Y/N couldn’t say no. This would get her and her sister out of debt and could pay for so much new equipment at the bakery. This sum of money could change her life. Plus, she’d get to fake date her idol? It seemed like an offer she couldn’t pass up. So she signed the contract. 

That’s what landed her here, waiting patiently at the door of Harry’s secret London home where his manager Jeff said to meet the two of them to discuss the plan from here on out. Her heart was beating extremely quickly, wanting to keep things cool. She didn’t want to make him feel uncomfortable, she wanted him to like her and trust her.

Harry hadn't started off jaded. Granted, most didn’t. They had the sparkle and excitement. But Harry had lost it. Years and years in the industry, from when he was a teenager to present, it had ruined it for him. That excitement he had previously had been watered down immensely. A lot, actually. But he was mostly tired of the things that came with the job— not music itself. 

Harry loved music. Making it, writing it, performing it. He loved his fans. But he hated what came with if. The people who constantly wanted things from him. Not a moment of privacy when he was out and about— though that had gotten better as his fans grew up, honestly. The media blowing up and twisting every bit of his words to fit their own wants. The fact that anyone he was seen with was a potential love interest in the eyes of the media. How they scared off and ruined good things for him because of it. He was tired of that. Every person who came to him made him wary. What was the motive? What was the reasoning behind them coming to talk to him? Fan or someone wanting a photo just for their Instagram? He wasn’t sure. 

Relationships had been hard and for now, he’d basically sworn off of them. After the bad ending with Camille, he had decided to take a long break. Until the label said he should probably have a PR move, one unlike his previous ones. One involving dating someone posing as a fan. A regular person, without his level of fame. Someone relatable to fans. Or that’s what Jeff has said to him. At this point, Harry was used to being tugged around with his dating life so he agreed. Did he want to? No. But he was under contracts and he wasn’t going to fight something so stupid. It would be a few dates, hanging out. Right? He didn’t even have to talk much to her. 

He was far too aware they probably offered her a good amount of money. Most likely why she was even there. So when he let Jeff open the door, he was annoyed with himself. 

She was pretty. Fuck off. That’s how he felt. A lackluster wave was given to her, a nod as well as she sat down across from him at his oak dining table. Cute. Pretty hair, soft cheeks. Petal pink lips. If this wasn’t a stunt he would probably think she was a lot cuter, though. 

A wave. 

Years worth of build up for this moment and all Y/N had gotten was a wave? She decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. Y/N offered him a smile, a shy but genuine one before looking over at Jeff. Obviously she had known who Jeff was, how could she forget the iconic ‘help me Jeffrey!’ Quote. The hundreds of photos of them together. It was surreal, but her shock surprisingly helped her stay calm. 

“Alright! Harry, Y/N. Y/N, Harry.” Jeff smiled at her, knowing Harry wasn’t happy about being here. “So have you been properly briefed about what’s required? It’s a lot more than we would usually ask of a project like this, a while longer.” He said. Harry looked at him in question. What?

“Yes, they gave me a brief outline at the meeting I went to but nothing too specific. They said you’d go over that here.” Y/N answered, pushing a few pieces of hair behind her ear. “Oh?” She asked, knowing she had signed a contract for a year. It was a long time but she assumed everyone was in it for that long. Y/N really didn’t know how PR relationships worked, she just assumed things about them through what she had seen on the internet and what all the stans were saying. She never really believed that people did things like this, but clearly, they did. 

Y/N looked over at Harry once again, taking any spare moment she could to really take him in. He was just sitting there looking so fucking perfect. An angel in the flesh. This was the man who had sparked her sexual awakening, who had taught her to be a badass bitch and to be kind to everyone she met. She knew she wasn’t his type and that this wouldn’t really end up like a fan fic, but she couldn’t wait to at least become his friend.

“Wait— how long?” His voice was deep and rather cold, but he wasn’t aware it was longer than usual. Granted— his own fault. Jeff said to look over the contract and he had just signed. It had been so many years of reading contracts he was tired of it. 

“A year. There’s a clause to extend it if need be, or shorten after 8 months.” Jeff shot him a look. “But that’s only one of the differences. I know you’re tired H, but get it together.” He sighed, rubbing his temples. “Y/N here is the perfect girl next door. We found her to be perfect to do this with you. But it’ll be different because it’ll be a confirmed relationship. All other stunts, they’d been left to interpretation and never spoken about them. Blacklisted questions in interviews, etc. but we’re going with the narrative of you both being quite comfortable talking about it. Y/N won’t have to admit much considering she has her own life and job outside of this, but you’ll be talking about it in interviews. About this lovely girl who made you rethink how you went about relationships.” It was odd. A whole storyline for their relationships. 

“We know how to work this. You’ll both first be photographed together downtown. Harry holding your hand, Y/N. And then we will plant things in each of your social media posts to hint at it. Seemingly innocent but, a tattoo of his in the background. Wearing a shirt he has recently worn. His journal. All of those things.” Jeff explained the beginning of it. “From there, you’ll be more open. Post photos or do those Instagram stories your bakery is good at, Y/N. Have his voice in the background. Be photographed out and about. Simple things, grocery shopping. Y/N will come to your small gig, Harry. Hang around with your mum, and wear one of your rings on a necklace.” He would buy one and wear it for a bit before giving it to her so there was proof it was his. “When we get into it... we’re thinking cute Instagram posts from both of you. Open. Affectionate. A bit of an acting job. You’ll both be good at it though. I am confident you both can handle it.” He wasn’t sure how nonchalant Harry was seeming, though. Y/N seemed uneasy with how out of it Harry seemed to be and he didn’t blame her. 

“That’s quite a lot more than I bargained for.” Harry spoke again, sighing. “I suppose if it’s necessary for the numbers. I don’t know why I can't just do a meet and greet or something but. Okay.” He muttered.

Harry’s voice didn’t sound like the Harry Y/N knew. It was rather rough and not in the way she had grown to like it. It made her look away from him quickly, not wanting to piss him off. Maybe he was just having a bad day? She couldn’t really blame him. She was sure having all these fake relationships probably sucked. The tasks seemed fairly easy. Y/N knew that the team would be there to remind them about things and well, if she got to hang around Harry all the time, it really couldn’t be that bad. She really wanted to get to know Harry and hoped that he wanted to do the same. It would be more fun that way.

“You know why. Y/N is perfect. The fans will love her. She’s gorgeous, but has the girl next door stuff about her. Plus, she’s very nice. You’ve been lovely, Y/N.” Jeff turned to her, attempting to comfort her.

Y/N really needed to stop giving Harry the benefit of the doubt. He just kept proving her wrong. The tension between Harry and Jeff showed that Harry really wasn’t on board and it made Y/N feel strange. She thought that Harry had agreed to this and knew all the conditions, she didn’t think this was something that was sprung on him that he didn’t really get to think about. She smiled shyly again at Jeff’s compliment, looking back at Harry to try and read him. 

“I’m sure it’s weird having some stranger come around to be your girlfriend and all, but it’s just as new for me if that makes you feel better.” Y/N really wanted him to like her. Like really wanted him to like her.

Harry wasn’t sure what she was playing at. What she wanted. If it was more money or fame or whatever. He wasn’t sure exactly why she was doing this either besides for money. Whoever wanted to do this for fun would be absolutely crazy. 

“Thanks.” Harry nodded stiffly. Half of him didn’t like treating her coldly, but the bigger part was terrified of getting hurt. If she was using him for more money. Going to ask him to introduce her to someone else. No one ever liked him for him. They liked the things that came. The attention and money, luxury that was thrown at him. It was never for him or his love or jokes or interests.

Sure, people pretended to care but he knew far better than that. People didn’t care. They used him as a step stool to get what they wanted. Means to an end. Just like his last relationship that had really hurt him. 

Okay so he didn’t like her. Cool. Y/N couldn’t say it didn’t hurt because it definitely did, but she couldn’t sit here and cry about it. Y/N had come to this meeting and signed a year long contract and there was no getting out of it. So she sucked it up, looking back at Jeff who had explained what he wanted them to do. 

“So what we’ll do is have you both take photos of things today. Harry, you take a photo of your new guitar and have the flowers in the background. Y/N, you’ll take photos of the flowers and have just the bottom of the guitar on the counter.” It must be shocking for someone who wasn’t in the industry to see how this was so calculated.

“Would you want us to post them at different times then?” Y/N questioned, assuming hers would be uploaded first. If she posted it before Harry people would be more likely to connect the dots that the two of them were together. Well, that’s what Y/N would think as a fan. Being a fan and having a fan’s perspective would really help her in these situations because well, she knew what they wanted to hear and what they would think based on what she posted. Y/N felt like she could fully manipulate the fans to think whatever. It was quite simple really.

Y/N’s main account proved that she was a normal girl who also happened to be a Harry stan. She followed Harry on all the socials, but he probably would wait to follow her until they were public. That would make more sense. They needed to build up the story.

See. Harry wasn’t aware that she was a fan fan. There were plenty of people who went to his shows and shit for Instagram photos and videos. He didn’t even know her socials though so he didn’t check. It was maybe a little shitty of him to have a preconceived notion about her when she hadn’t barely talked to him, but he knew so many people who wanted to be in her position. Wanted to ‘date’ a celebrity until they found out that they have to travel with them and have to deal with fans and other people wanting your significant other. 

“I’m thinking not too far apart. Take the photos today but... hm. You post first. And then Harry will later. It’ll have people looking later on when they see the flowers. Fans are so insightful and research thoroughly.” Jeff was sure she knew that though. She’s had a fan account. “I have to go take this call— Harry, why don’t you tell Y/N about the album?” He excused himself then, going out and into the other room. 

No, no, Jeff, don’t leave. Y/N sighed to herself, nervous as all hell to be in a room with Harry alone when he had made it clear that he didn’t really want anything to do with her. But maybe they could talk about his album like Jeff suggested? Y/N loved his music, she often played it at her bakery. She was excited for the new album to drop and had genuine questions about it. 

Harry felt a bit on the spot but he just shrugged. “S’almost done. Don’t have a title yet. Choosing the singles soon I think.”

“That’s exciting.” Y/N smiled, “would you say it’s within the same vein as self titled or did you go in a different direction?” She asked not wanting to sound like an interviewer but this was a genuine question. God this was so uncomfortable for her, she wanted to run away and cry. She never thought that her idol would make her feel so uncomfortable in his presence. She was in his home and he clearly didn’t want her there, clearly didn’t want to have a fake girlfriend, and he was letting her know that pretty obviously whether he knew it or not.

The thing is, Harry knew he was making her uncomfortable but he didn’t really know how to stop it either. It wasn’t like he wanted to be fake. He didn’t want this. He wanted to be left alone with his music and his fans. Not a pretend fan posing as his girlfriend. That wasn’t ideal. No, he would much rather have real conversations with fans that weren’t paid to sit in his house and pretend to be interested in his music. He knew that Jeff wanted him to play nice though, so he answered the question vaguely. As always. 

“Different. A lot of different influences I guess. A lot of different things I wanted to make. It’s fun to do it.” God, Harry was being bland. But his fears drowned out the guilt he felt. Yeah, maybe it was harsh. He knew that. But he also knew that he would regret it if he didn’t. Who knew what this chick would spill to the press later on? What she would want from him! What else she would ask Jeff for.

“Well that’s good. I’m glad to hear it was fun.” Y/N nodded at his answer, feeling discouraged because he really didn’t seem like he was going to warm up to her no matter what she did. Y/N didn’t want to ask anything too specific in fear that he’d think she was a crappy fan, and well, she didn’t know how else to get him to warm up to her. These tricks usually worked on grumpy customers at the bakery. 

She wanted the earth to swallow her up. She was so embarrassed. She was just sat there, praying that she could leave soon so she could lock herself in her room and cry. The worst part was, no one, literally no one, could know about this relationship being fake. There could be no loose ends. 

“Again, I’m sorry about all this. Can’t imagine being in your position...” Y/N showed genuine empathy for him, attempting to get him on her good side one more time. Y/N wouldn’t give up on being kind, after all, he was the one that taught her that. It was just strange that he was acting this way towards someone he was going to be working closely with. Maybe this was just how he treated people professionally. He wasn’t mean, but he was cold. Y/N was still a fan at heart though and despite how he treated her she still would give her life for him. She loved him, cared for him, and would genuinely support him. It made her wonder if his whole nice guy persona was even real.

The hell? Why was she apologizing? Harry thought. She was the one getting paid for it. If he wasn’t in this position she wouldn’t be getting paid well. He wasn’t sure why this Y/N girl was trying to be so nice to him. No way in hell she could possibly imagine his annoyance. Perhaps she was a nice person or something, usually. But he was pretty positive she wasn’t rich and definitely did it for the money. It made him wary of being close to anyone when they were in this situation. Any time he had made friends with past stunts, they’d faked being truly wanting to hang out with him. Once it ended, they weren’t interested in hanging out when people couldn’t see them. It had hurt when he realized it was a pattern. 

Jeff came back in with a smile, but not oblivious to her sad face. Harry would get chewed out after, for sure. “Alright! I need you both to exchange numbers so you can communicate about meeting up. It’ll be pretty frequently.”

Y/N looked at Jeff with a small smile, nodding her head before pulling her phone out and handing it to Harry. She had changed her lock screens to something a bit more ordinary. After all, she didn’t want Harry thinking she was creepy or anything. Hanging out with Harry is something that she should be excited about, but suddenly the idea of it kind of scared her. Being alone and struggling to make conversation because she was just that intimidated by him. It was making her rethink all the years that she had spent fangirling over him. He didn’t know she was a fan, maybe that’s why he treated her the way he did? If he knew would he be fake and all over it? She didn’t want to know. 

“My days off from the bakery are Mondays and Wednesdays. But I know you probably have a set schedule so just let me know and I’ll work around it.” Y/N offered, genuinely wanting to show both Harry and Jeff that she was more than willing to cooperate. She wasn’t sure how she would get herself out of this one.

Harry sighed as he put his number in. God, he hoped she didn’t sell it. He didn’t want a new number. Someone had sold his number to fans before and it had sucked. As much as he adored his fans? He didn’t want them calling him every second. He was hesitant in handing her his phone. It was something he didn’t trust many people with but she tenderly took it and typed her own number in. Didn’t even try to snoop which was good— but then again, he was looking at the phone in her hand. 

Y/N was gentle with Harry’s phone in her hand, typing in all of her information into the contact so he didn’t have to ask. Something told her he would be annoyed having to asking her for her address if need be. So she just put everything in there, her birthday, her email, her phone number and the bakery number, as well as her address. 

“Monday’s and Wednesday’s work with him. He’s recording Thursday Friday and Sunday to give the voice a rest. Has some writing sessions he will take you to.” Jeff was annoyed as hell at Harry’s lack of kindness. He’d have to give him his own brand of talking to, but wasn’t sure if it would do much good. He was quite a stubborn person. An Aquarius at heart.

“That’s good. Yeah, I don’t know if you’re a morning person or if you like getting your sleep so um.. yeah just text me.” Y/N spoke kindly, still trying her hardest to be as accommodating as possible. To Y/N it wasn’t about the money, sure the money helped, but it was about giving Harry fans someone they could genuinely look up to. Y/N was a normal girl. She had normal sizes, normal tasks, normal likes as a human. She was a kind person. The fans would quickly find her information, quickly find out that she is a fan and would quickly see that Harry was finally dating someone that represented them. They had wanted someone like that for years, but too bad it was all fake.

Harry understood the context of it. He was going to date someone ‘normal’. Not in the world of the famous. Which in some cases, Harry wouldn’t mind. But there would be tons of things Y/N wouldn’t understand. What to be quiet about. Who to talk to and who not to. Privacy. Things she wouldn’t just... get. He had been in this life for 10 years now. It was his normal. And Y/N would have to learn it all and keep her mouth shut. 

“I am. I get up at 6.” He usually did. He could sleep in but he wasn’t the type of thing he did often. What she didn’t know was he had an awful time sleeping and needed to take stuff to help him. His mind never stopped, was always going. There was a lot Y/N didn’t know about him. He would do his best to make sure she didn’t find out.

It was hard for Y/N, continuing to be kind, but to keep herself from crying. She felt so out of place and so unwelcome, god she hoped that he would warm up to him. Maybe this was a terrible idea? Too bad she was in it for the long haul now. 

“Jeff, I have a question.” Y/N spoke up shyly, “obviously people don’t know anything about this yet, so there isn’t a microscope over my life just yet. I want to make sure I take all the precautions I can to keep my privacy to an extent, but also don’t violate Harry’s.” She genuinely was worried about that. She didn’t want to say too much or do the wrong things, she also didn’t want people finding out where she lived. Where she worked, sure, well... she probably would have to stop working at the bakery if things got too hectic. Y/N looked at Harry once again, a soft and gentle expression on her face. She wondered what it was about her that was making him act this way because this wasn’t the Harry she knew, not at all. All she wanted to do now is go home as quickly as possible and cry. She really wanted to take her posters down, really wanted to hide everything but frankly, everyone would question why she suddenly took things down. Y/N had to continue to keep her cool.

Jeff’s face softened. they’d lucked out with this one. Harry was an idiot when it came to things like this, put his blinders on— he knew well enough. But Y/N would help his career. Hell, maybe she could be his friend and help him come out of the funk he had been in with trusting people. 

Harry didn’t let it show on his face, but he was impressed with what she said. It didn’t change much, but he had it on the back of his mind. No one else had to think of these things before because they’d just known, but the fact that she had asked was nice. Time would only tell if it was genuine, though. 

“That’s a good question— I was actually about to ask about your social media. You’re going to need to change passwords. Verify everything twice. Take any potential tracking information away like the whole location finding on your phone so your friends can find you. Any social media accounts not reported to us originally in our first meeting would need to be shown. I suggest doing a deep clean and moving things out of it, as much as you can. Not enough to make you look like you did it on purpose. But... think of what you’d look for.” Jeff knew Y/N was a fan so she would have a similar brain.

“Okay yeah, I’ll need some help with that.” Y/N blushed, looking down at her hands. She had reported all her socials to them, yes, all of them. All her fan accounts and her main accounts. She wasn’t sure how to turn off all the tracking things or what to take down. She wasn’t problematic in any sense, so it wasn’t like she had any content she needed to delete. But it would probably be things like taking locations off of photos and turning off her location on snap map and for any of her friends that had her on there. She had actually done the latter this morning. 

“Also, I really don’t intend on telling anyone about this unless you give me the go ahead. So please, if there is anything you need me to do, let me know?” Y/N really was trying to think of everything here. She wanted to make sure this was seamless because she knew the fans would be like hawks over another fan being Harry’s girlfriend, if they found out it was PR they’d be crushed. Their whole image of Harry would be ruined. They needed to make this as real as possible. Y/N had so many suggestions, so many insights on what it was like to be a fan. She definitely wanted to speak up about anything that could potentially ruin this because well, this was Harry’s career and they couldn’t be caught doing this.

“Perfect! You’re going to do well with this, Y/N.” Jeff had been the one to find her so technically, this was his finding. He hoped that she could get Harry to realize how weird he was being. Because ultimately? He was a nice guy. He loved his fans, his friends and his family. Strangers scared him. He didn’t know who to trust and that made him act strangely. His team knew it. He was always polite to people he worked around but when it came to people invading his personal life, getting close? He said, no ma’am. “I’m happy that you’re aware of how it works a little. It makes it a bit easier. Harry here has had a few almost disasters with these types of things.” Jeff smirked at him, making Harry grumble and blush a little bit. Fuck. That wasn’t something he liked talking about too much. “Anyways... Y/N, we need you to be yourself. That’s why you were chosen, yeah? Just continue on. Be less active on that other twitter account of yours for the moment.” He had a whole plan for that. “Don’t stop completely but... I’ll send you ideas of what to tweet. Keep it vague but that you’re excited.” 

Harry didn’t know about the fan account. He would have, if he had read any paperwork, but right now he didn’t have a clue. 

They wanted her to be herself, which shouldn’t be too much of a problem. She just had to be aware that Harry was in her life now, consistently. He was her ‘boyfriend’ now. That’s something Y/N never thought she’d say. But here she was. 

“Okay, can do.” Y/N nodded, already knowing not to tweet as much on the fan account because well, she wouldn’t be doing that if she was hanging out with Harry. It would be hard for her not to tell anyone but she knew she had to do it. This was her duty as a fan to the fans, to make them feel represented and loved. “And what’s the story? Like how we met?” Y/N asked, feeling like that was important to know as well. She mostly asked for Harry’s sake because he clearly didn’t read the contract or the emails that had been sent around on the topic. This was an important first meeting, she assumed Harry wouldn’t want to hang out with her today but they probably would sometimes next week.

“Well, we wanted to leave that up to you. I had the idea of you both frequenting the same coffee shop— and before you both roll your eyes, I know it’s a fan fiction trope and I know that. But it’s believable considering Y/N doesn’t have any true connection that would be explainable to the music or entertainment industry.” Jeff explained. “If you have better ideas, Y/N, please feel free to tell me. However— we are trying to show this as you both fell for one another quite quickly. You both are very fond of one another and are around each other quite a lot.” He knew that Harry would be hard to deal with so he was definitely going to be offering Y/N some sort of bonus. “I think after the photos, we will have you both photographed leaving a dinner together next week. You’ll go with both myself and my girlfriend so it won’t be just throwing you two into the water.” Plus, he didn’t want her to be alone with Harry like that out in public without experiencing it first with him there. Jeff felt slightly protective of her, too. Like a little sister. “Also, I know you already said he’s but being clear— you’re okay with hand holding and physical touches in public with him, yeah? And for photos?”

Y/N laughed at the idea, “I mean that does work.” She said shrugging to herself. “But do we have anything to back that up? Have we ever been to the same coffee shop at the same time where someone who works there can confirm?” Y/N was really thinking about every detail here. “Jeff you’ve been to my bakery before haven’t you? Could just run with the fact that we became acquainted and you introduced us?” She felt like that was far more believable and paps wouldn’t have gotten photos of Jeff anyway so the story was contained between Harry’s team and her bakery. Her coworkers wouldn’t know who Jeff is, it was really fool proof. Also, did he say dinner next week? Wow, that was fast but she would be ready. “Where is dinner going to be? Just want to think about what I should wear.” Y/N blushed, wanting to make sure she looked nice for their first encounter together. Something very her but very consistent with something Harry would like on a girl. Y/N had been following Harry for ages, she knew what kind of outfit to wear based on what kind of restaurant it was. A casual dinner outfit for Harry was quite dressed up, so she’d probably end up doing a bold trouser, heeled boot, and plain blouse combo.

“Actually— that’s a good idea. I didn’t think about the staff thing. This was definitely done at the last minute so I’m not on my A game right this moment. Wonderful— lets do that.” 

Harry didn’t know anything about her, he realized. She worked in a bakery? He did when he was younger. He wasn’t sure if she knew that or not but it did make him a tiny bit more interested in her. Why would she do this? There had to be a real reason. He was positive. 

“Actually— Harry, go in there a few times this week. Make it somewhere people know you go. It’ll be believable that you found a new place and love it. And some of her coworkers will catch on, so on and so forth. I can call a tip, perhaps tomorrow? I know it’s starting early but we are on a schedule.” Jeff noted.

Harry was going to go to write tomorrow, but that obviously wasn’t about to happen. “I guess so. I can make time.” He had a pretty free day otherwise but it still annoyed him. However he was hoping there were good treats. Harry was a good actor when it came down to it. He hoped she could tell— didn’t want to thrust her about with his actions. In public was acting. All of it.

“And yes, about the touches and stuff. As long as it’s something Harry would actually do in public, yeah.” Y/N explained, knowing Harry was relatively private when he was in relationships. He didn’t do much PDA and she’d be okay with anything he was okay with. “Just um, let me know what’s okay.” It was a bit nerve—wracking, having to do all of this and make sure everything was sorted. Y/N knew a lot about Harry so she was positive that it wouldn’t be a problem, she’d only learn more. It was Harry that had to do a bit of learning about her. He would find out most things about her fairly quickly, she was an open book. 

“What type of baked good do you like?” Y/N asked, genuinely curious. “I’ll have some for you come around, pack you a little box.” She blushed, expressing something to him that she had always wanted to do. She knew he was a baker back in the day, maybe they’d bond over it?

Her coworkers would be shocked that Harry would be there considering Y/N was a massive fan and they knew that. But that’s when Y/N would tell them about it all. “You want me to tell my staff what exactly?” She wondered, “that we are kinda sorta seeing each other? Or that we’re just seeing how things go?”

“Uh— I like lemon things. Ginger cookies. Scones.... anything really.” Harry said quietly. It wasn’t said as coldly as the last couple words had been. Maybe it was because of baked goods? Regardless.... he was hoping that said bakery was good. He was obviously going to pay for them. 

“He also loves red velvet cupcakes.” Jeff piped up. “But I think that it’s a lovely idea, being familiar with what he likes... you’ve been so smart.” She really was. It was almost scary. Jeff approves immensely. Even Harry had to admit it was surprising to see her full of good ideas. “I think you should say you’ve been seeing one another. Not sure about where it will go but you really like him. Trust me— Harry here will be able to make them believe he’s very into you. His ability has made it so we’ve never been caught doing this thing. Not like that Camila and Shawn couple. They’re having leaks all over.” He winced. Their poor PR.

Y/N smiled and nodded at him, already having in mind what she would have ready for him when he came. She had an incredible lemon bar recipe and some other bits. Of course red velvet cupcakes. “Red Velvet are my favorite too. And carrot cake.” She commented, blushing once again. It’s true, Harry had been very good at all the PR relationships. She’d soon find out which ones were and which weren’t. She was determined to be the most coveted of them all though, the one that stuck out and actually stuck around hopefully. But she was positive that she’d fall for Harry’s act, hell, she’d fallen for him a long long time ago. “My staff is really tight knit, my sister runs most things actually. I trust they’ll keep things on the down low if I ask them to.” Y/N nodded, knowing that nothing would slip past her team unless instructed. She had a good feeling about all of this, they seemed to have most things under control. Y/N would help tie up loose ends that fans might think of and as long as they followed her lead, it would work.

“If you feel as though your sister can truly hold a secret, you can tell her. It wouldn’t be fair if you didn’t have someone to lean on.” Jeff said. He trusted her enough. Harry looked at him suspiciously. 

“Wait— hold on. What about an NDA?” Harry asked hurriedly. “We can't have any bit of this shit going out.” He was scared. So scared of someone finding out and thinking he was some damn fraud. 

“Harry— it’s fine. I’m sure she had enough sense to judge that a sister would tell or not. It’s up to her, anyways. Just remind her of the immense legal action that could take place if someone were to talk.” Jeff shrugged, knowing that Y/N really did know. “But we’ll have a tip called in about a bakery he’s been rumored to go to— no way that they’ll know if it’s true— and they’ll probably take shots through the window. We can escalate later during the week to him picking you up from work to bring you home. Something like that before the dinner.” He thought out loud. “Thoughts? Y/N?” Harry has been quiet. He didn’t like these things so he didn’t say much. Just let them plan whatever and wing with it later on. He was kind of shut down internally.

“I’ll think about it. But I’m still apprehensive to tell anyone. I wouldn’t want this getting out regardless... I wouldn’t want fans to lose trust in Harry just because I decided I wanted to tell my sister.” Y/N explained, knowing she’d probably tell Katya if it got too intense, but for now, she wasn’t saying anything. “Seems fine. I think once a week or maybe twice a week is more than enough. Don’t want to over kill either. Essentially, if he’s in the area he can pop by.” Y/N explained, thinking that was the best way to go about it. “I know you said we are on a schedule but you don’t want it to look unnatural either.” She said and sighed as she looked over at Harry. 

He really didn’t seem to like this and she understood but she hoped that he would loosen up even a little bit. She wasn’t a terrible person, all he had to do was ask. Y/N was pretty much an open book. “Is there anything else?” Y/N asked, eager to get things done and maybe chat to Harry a bit if he was willing before going home.

“I don’t think so. We’re going to try and take it as it comes so we don’t overwhelm you.” Jeff was the main talker and Harry was kind of just sitting and watching. Trying to read her. Either she was a very good hiding person, or she was good. Either way, he didn’t trust her. Lots of people had seemed sweet and generous and fun when he had first met them only to turn out to absolutely wreck his fragile heart. He knew he was fragile that way and he had given people the benefit of the doubt one too many times. He didn’t trust his own radar anymore. The more Harry looked, the prettier Y/N got— which was infuriating. It pissed him off internally because she had the type of lips every man wanted wrapped around their cock, and beautiful legs he had seen when she walked in. He never took women for granted, would never disrespect them, but his initial reaction was arousal and that made it even worse with his trust issues. Her eyes were soft and doll like but had a sharpness to them that he was far too aware of. She was smart. Incredibly so. And she was curvier than he usually dated— or was seen with, actually, because he had a few one nighters with girls that was far bigger than Y/N and he had loved it. He liked her body. It was a perfect mix, he thought. And then got annoyed about even thinking about it. Damn it.

Y/N nodded, “Alright, thank you very much. I’ll um... I’ll take the picture of those flowers and I’ll get out of your hair.” She chuckled apologetically, sensing that Harry really just wanted this to end and she would give that to him. He made her so nervous, now more so because she was scared of making him angry with her. Harry had always been someone she didn’t want to get on the bad side of. Harry was so nice to everyone that it really made her upset that for some reason he had singled her out and not liked her. It was disappointing. But I guess people were right when they say, never meet your idols. In many ways, Harry was Y/N’s ideal man. She liked how driven he was, how multi talented he was, how charming he was, how he was unapologetically himself. Plus he was scientifically proven to be one of the most attractive men on this planet next to ryan gosling. It was a shame that a lot of the things she had thought about Harry originally would slowly crumble as she got to know him better. It hurt, but she’d keep that hurt to herself. Just because the illusion was ruined for her didn’t mean it was ruined for everyone.

Harry felt bad, because she seemed to be in a hurry to leave. It was what he was supposed to want, so why did it make him so uncomfortable? He hadn’t wanted for her to be upset. Just... to keep her distance. She had these baby eyes and soft cheeks that looked sad and he wanted to give her a reassuring smile but he was trying to remind himself that there was potential danger here. Most likely she was a wannabe actress. Testing it out on him. Made sense. 

“Okay.” He nodded, standing up. When he did so, he realized he was quite a lot taller than her. Usually, he had models who matched his height. But she was smaller. Cute. He hadn’t experienced that before. Knocking that thought out of his head, he took the photo of his new coke bottle green acoustic, letting the flowers show in the back before he rested it back up against the counter. Y/N took her turn with her picture, taking a bit more time than Harry. Probably a better result too, and he wished he had patience at the moment.

A ping of sadness spread over her, she thought maybe he’d pretend to try and get to know her a bit but nope. All hope was lost then and Y/N went to take a photo of the flowers in a way that would fit her personal Instagram aesthetic. She usually posted shit like this so it wouldn’t be too out there. Once she was happy with the photo she had slipped her phone back into her pocket, looking at Harry and Jeff with a small smile. 

“Well, um, thanks for having me.” Y/N started off, pulling on her jacket. “And I’ll see you tomorrow?” She asked Harry with a small tinge of hope. He had said he would visit her bakery but she was still worried he wouldn’t show up. She felt so small. Being who she is, she went in for a hug anyway. Both figuratively and physically, Harry had intimidated her and she was weary about every move around him at the minute. Maybe she’d get used to it. “It was nice to meet you, Harry.” Y/N gave him a genuine smile, feeling even more shy now that she was so close to him. 

This would be torture.

Harry was a bit startled, but relented and hugged back. It was a bit weak, but he gently patted her back. God damn it. Why was she acting so sweet and nice and innocent? He would almost rather her be truthful about her wants of money and fame. It would be a lot more tolerable. 

“You as well.” He pulled back, face neutral. Thank god he had gotten his hard on down a decent amount. Never would he live this down. He didn’t just get hard for no reason. That girl had bamboozled him and was trying to trick him and wouldn’t let it happen. When she left, Harry continued to stare at her back before the door shut. And then he was promptly slapped upside the head by Jeff. 

“Ow! What was that for?” He hissed, rubbing the spot he had been smacked. Jeff Gave him an incredulous look, shaking his head. 

“You idiot. You’re going to scare away someone who will ultimately help your career and relationship with your friends.” Jeff scolded. “That girl is nothing but sweet. She’s doing this for you, and you know why. She’s a kind person and you better not make her run on us early. Do you want the press to get wind of it? She could talk, if you really treat her poorly. Looked like a damn kicked puppy when you wouldn’t talk to her.” He got his dad face on, crossing his arms. 

“You’re going to have to suck it up. Regardless if you actually like her or not, you’ve got to be decent to her. She’s stuck with you for a year.” Harry was irritated with that. Stuck with him? Although... maybe he was accurate with that.

Y/N tried her best to keep her tears at bay, putting on some music that would keep her energy up until she was in the comfort of her own home. She had been as discreet as possible leaving Harry’s secret London home. To the public, he lived somewhere in Hampstead which was actually closer to where Y/N lived in Camden.

After about an hour on public transportation, Y/N had finally made it back to her cozy flat. Tears immediately began to form as she unlocked the door, sniffling as she took off her coat and threw it to the ground with an absent mind. She ran to her room, storming to the bathroom to grab a roll of toilet paper. She needed to be prepared. How could someone she looked up to so much been such a dick to her? She could understand he didn’t trust strangers, but he truly made her feel like she wasn’t even worth basic human respect. Y/N was trying to be as kind as possible to him despite him being such an asshole to her and even still, he gave her a weak hug and response. As if she was a chore. It made her feel sick to her stomach. So she cried for a while, showered, got cozy in bed and went to sleep. She had early mornings at the bakery seeing as everything was freshly baked. So she was up at 3:30 every morning to make sure she was ready for their opening at 7.

----

‘Hello. I am coming in at 9:30. H.’

Harry looked it over. It wasn’t too friendly but wasn’t too rude, right? He was overthinking. Y/N had made him think last night. He hoped he hadn’t hurt her too badly, because while he did see her sad eyes he thought he was making it up in his head to try and feel bad for her. Jeff has confirmed it and made that ugly feeling in his stomach crawl into his throat. He sat and thought about how to make it so they were at a distance, but she wasn’t too hurt. Every part of the scared side of him said to continue his actions, though. He wasn’t being mean. Right? ‘Wrong. You dick.’ The other side of him told him. Conflict was something he saw all too much of in his life. He knew too well about the issues at hand. But he had always taken it so he wasn’t sure how not to prepare for it. 

Pulling up to a quaint little bakery, Harry smiled to himself. It was cute. A punny name. He liked it. Somewhere he definitely could see himself going randomly if he had seen it. Parking his car across the street, he sat for a moment and gathered himself. Now to prepare for being cute to her.

Y/N would be lying if she said she didn’t smile at the text. She had always imagined getting a text from Harry and here she was getting a text from Harry. It wasn’t anything special, but it was to her despite how sad he had made her yesterday. She had dressed herself in a baby blue sweater and overalls, putting her hair up into a messy yet contained bun. All that crying yesterday made her eyes fairly puffy so she made sure to do some fresh, no makeup makeup look. She wanted to look cute if he was coming. 

“What’s gotten into you this morning?” Katya asked, seeing Y/N’s giddy mood. They were currently baking everything they’d prepped yesterday, putting out all the freshly baked breads, bagels, cinnamon rolls, and donuts. 

“Dunno, just... happy I guess.” Y/N smiled, saying it in a way that would raise questions. Perfect, get her thinking. Her excitement was genuine. He was going to come and see her and be sweet to her, it was like a whole new interaction between the two. Best part was, she could just play out everything she imagined in her head. It was a perfect set up. Jeff was so smart with getting a fan to do this.

“Hm. We’ll see. That looks like a boy smile.” Her sister really had no clue. Everyone knew she was a big fan, and would be absolutely floored when he came in. 

Harry sighed against his steering wheel, he put on his big boy pants and decided to get a move on. Today, he wore a loose white button up with a few of the buttons undone, black trousers and red boots with ‘sucker’ on the back of them. He had been sent the whole collection and did quite like it. But his pea coat was unbuttoned, car keys stuffed into the coat pocket after locking the door. The little bells chimed as he walked in, and he took a look around. It was very cute. Instagram worthy, some would say. It smelled really good too, which was a plus.

The earlier morning rush had passed, kids now at school and parents now at work. The rest of the day really consisted of prepping more goods and serving whoever came in. Y/N really liked working at the bakery, it was her safe space to be creative and feel good. She liked to spread the message of kindness she had learned from Harry into her store everyday. 

There were a few people in the bakery when he came in, sitting drinking coffee and doing work. They hadn’t really noticed who it was, and even if they knew they didn’t seem to care too much. Y/N popped her head from out the back and smiled widely when she saw him, walking over to the register so she was closer to him. 

“Good Morning, how can I help you?” She asked in a teasing tone, that giddy grin still on her face. Y/N was going to let him take the lead, letting him choose how this interaction would go but of course Y/N was going to turn up the flirt factor so that anyone surrounding them could tell there was something going on between the two of them. “You look nice.” She hummed.

“Hello, love.” Harry felt a weird gushy feeling in his stomach when she had smiled so widely at him. Fuck. Y/N looked so pretty. Hair perfectly messy, lashes long and eyes wide and glittering. Her lips had a bit of gloss or something along those lines and he wondered if it was flavored for a moment. “You do as well. Like the color.” He did, and that wasn’t even a lie. He loved the color and how it complimented her skin and hair. Made her eyes pop out. “I would really love a cup of coffee... and a hug.” 

Though she was surprised, the look didn’t stay long on her face. Instead, he was met with a gushy smile and a crinkle of her nose, “can do, yeah.” Y/N hummed as she rounded the corner to come give him a proper hug. Closing her eyes as she snuggled into his chest for that brief moment.

God. Harry was fucking himself over with this, and he didn’t even know why he suggested that but his heart twinged when she looked surprised for a moment, but beamed like a ray of sun before rounding the corner. Her apron was taken off and he decided to take the initiative and hug her. It was a friendly hug, held for a bit too long. Her body was warm, warming him from the cold he had felt outside. Her cheek pressed against his chest which had been bare since he had forgone a few buttons, and his mouth felt dry. He hadn’t had a decent hug in months by anyone but his mother. Pulling back, he brushed a tendril of hair away that had escaped. 

“I came to see if you’d be so kind and give me some pastries.” Harry spoke quietly, making the moment look private— even though he had heard the choked gasp and the whispering going on behind them— her coworkers. It was sweet really, the two of them clearly excited to see each other, but also not wanting to draw too much attention to the fact that they were like that. It was perfect acting. 

Well, she wasn’t acting. Y/N looked up at him with enamored eyes, the smile never leaving her face as he even spoke quietly to her. 

“Of course, how many are you thinking?” She asked just as quietly, biting her lip a little as she hesitated to move back behind the counter to get his coffee going. “Black coffee yeah? For here or to go?” Y/N confirmed, knowing that he didn’t take cream or sugar in his coffee from being a fan. She’d just say Jeff told her. 

Her coworkers were bewildered, Katya’s eyes nearly popping out of her socket as she watched the interaction unfold. Y/N giggled at them, shaking her head as she went to get a box for Harry’s goods. 

“What would you like? Anything you’d like, on the house.” Y/N told him, standing behind the massive glass cases full of baked goods. “Lemon bars, red velvet cupcakes, and anything else?”

“Absolutely not on the house, I’ll be paying. Nice try though, pet.” Pet was a good nickname for her. She was a responsibility— but a cute one. Even if it burned his ass to think about her like that. But right now? Y/N was plenty cute— and she acted very, very well. Harry almost believed this true excitement. Thankfully, he found that he fed off of that energy from her acting. “You already know? Impressive.” Harry looked at her with a gentle smile. “Yeah, the coffee black. Lemon bars, the cupcakes. Hm. Throw a few random cookies in there too. I’ll be going to write for a little while.” That was good to do, right! Throw in a daily activity. He felt his mind was off when he was around her. It went a little crooked, was the best way to say it. He got distracted and honestly? It was kind of infuriating. He supposed it wasn’t her fault, unless she was secretly a siren and singing a silent song. Or had a spell attracting him to her, even though he was fighting it hardcore.

“Hey.” Y/N pouted when he refused her offer, “let me do something for you.” She said firmly because she meant it. A few baked goods and some coffee cost her nothing in the long run, but she wanted to do something nice for Harry because all the fancy dinners and experiences about to come were something she’d never be able to repay him for. Y/N packed everything up in the box, even adding a cute little note that said ‘tell me which was your favourite — Y/N ❤️ xx’. She put it into a paper bag and set it on the counter next to the cup of coffee. She was actually quite excited for him to try them, she wanted his opinion and frankly she knew they were damn good. 

“Long day ahead of you then?” Y/N asked, referencing him writing. She was genuinely asking because she cared, wishing that he was comfortable enough with her that she could come and give him a cuddle when he got home. What was she thinking? This isn’t real, he’s acting. And she’s meant to be acting as well.

It did strike him off that she didn’t take the money. Or the offer of paying. Usually people say that when they want it anyways and just expect you to insist, but she really didn’t seem to care about it. Which... was suspicious. While the bakery was very cute, it definitely wasn’t high end. He could tell they needed some new chairs and definitely some updated paint but he thought it added to the charm. Maybe they truly couldn’t afford it? He was curious as to what the hell she spent the money she was going to get on. 

It was true that the bakery was a little bit worn, but with the money she’d be getting from this contract halfway through? They’d be able to afford closing for however long they needed to renovate. Y/N has even wanted to buy the space upstairs as well and host small acoustic gigs for local musicians. 

“Uh.. I mean, a little bit. I’ll be writing a bit and then going to a very boring meeting.” It was the truth. God, how was he going to be able to focus? Harry was fighting a battle internally with how it was with her, trying to read things and find warning signs but it was hard. She was scary. Not in an outright way— but the way that. If this was real! If he had just walked in and met her at the coffee shop and didn’t think this was acting? He’d give her his number. She had an amazing charm around her that he was positive she had to know about— though acted as though she didn’t. “I hate to cut it short, pet. But I’ll talk to you soon, yeah?” He took hold of her smaller hand and squeezed it, before stuffing a hundred pounds into the tip jar. He turned around before she could protest, only turning when he got to the door to shoot her a wink. And as soon as he was out the door, he heaved a heavy breath. Christ. Why?

“Aw well, text me if you get too bored.” Y/N gave him a cheeky smile, leaning on the counter a little bit so she was closer to him. “Have a good day, pet.” She teased right back, smirking as he started to walk off. He really didn’t have to put a hundred pound note in there, that was flexing a bit, but it was very nice. It would go straight towards the bakery as it normally did.

3..2..1…

“What the actual fuck was that?” Her sister came storming over with wide eyes. “Y/N— that was... he's all over your walls. He has been on them for years and now he’s callin’ you pet?” She was shrieking but for good reason. Harry bloody Styles came in and hugged and flirted with her sister, they seemed to know each other well enough. It was incredibly shocking and Y/N hadn’t said a damn word to anyone. She used to stay up to watch his tv show appearances— hell, Katya was 99% sure she still did. But now? “You guys have each other’s numbers.... Y/N, you can't be for real.” Her eyes were wide as she looked at her blushing sister. Anyone would be just as freaked out. Harry was not only a celebrity, but she had seen the times she spent hundreds on tickets and had photos of him as her lock screen— which had mysteriously disappeared.

“Yeah, yeah he is.” Y/N giggled, blushing deeply as her sister looked at her in awe. Her sister knew first hand how much Y/N loved Harry. She had watched how Harry single handedly saved her from the darkest of times, how genuinely happy he made her. Hell, she even went to a show with her once just to see what all the fuss was about. Y/N wrapped her arms around her sister in a hug, squeezing her tightly because she really appreciated how excited she was. Her poor sister was convinced it was real and Y/N couldn’t break it to her. Couldn’t tell her Harry was actually really cold to her and not anything like that. 

Truth is, Y/N had a really shitty love life. All her ‘boyfriends’ weren’t really boyfriends and Harry was sort of the one thing that kept her going. She just dreamed about what she wanted, dreamed about how Harry would treat her better in hope that one day maybe, she’d meet someone like him. 

“His manager, Jeff. He comes here a lot you know... and he um, he introduced the two of us.” Y/N explained, being her shy and coy self. It was 100% believable.

----

Harry went to the writing session and found himself writing about her eyes. Bright eyes and lush thighs and every bit of silky hair he wanted to wrap around his hand. He had very dirty thoughts about this girl and it translated in to paper. 

Harry had to go home and jerk off. And it was embarrassingly quick. He thought about how her sweater had dipped down and he’d seen the swell of her breasts, imagining taking her back behind that counter and fucking her sweet cherry mouth and watching his cum drip from her lips down to her tits. Knowing that in his fantasy world, she’d be walking around with his cum on her— and that was quickly done. 

The guilt he felt after though? It was annoying. He was so cold to her but wanted to fuck her raw. So in that guilt, he went up to the kitchen and tasted a lemon square— nearly fucking moaned. It was so good. He knew it was part of the whole thing to go there, but he wouldn’t be complaining because if he got those every time? He would be set. 

‘Lemon square is good. Thanks. H.’ 

It was dry but also a compliment, so he didn’t feel so bad for using her face in his dirty mind.

Y/N was about half way done with her day when she got that text from Harry, smiling a bit because he actually decided to text her. Sure she left a note, but he didn’t have to text. That was a private thing that they did after all. 

‘glad you liked them 🍋’ 

She wondered why on earth she felt so fucking happy. He had just popped in for a brief interaction but it made her whole day fly by. Before she knew it she was closing down the store, locking up to head home. “You going to see your man tonight?” Katya asked curiously and Y/N blushed. 

“No, unfortunately. But we’re going for dinner next week with his manager and his wife.” Y/N told her, knowing stuff like that she could tell her. “Might hang out tomorrow though cause it’s my day off, but he’s a busy man so I’m not sure yet.” Even hearing herself speak about Harry like this was so strange, but she’d get used to it for sure.

--------------------------------------------

[part 2]

A/N: Harry :( why he have to be like that?? better hold on tight for this one - n+d

let us know what you think!

masterlist

[mikauzoran]

Lukadrien: Zebras Can’t Change Their Stripes: Chapter One

Read it on AO3: Zebras Can’t Change Their Stripes: Chapter One

A whole week had passed since The Breakup, and Luka was still reeling.

“You brought this upon yourself,” he reminded bitterly as he rolled over and found the space on the bed next to him empty and cold.

He kept telling himself, “You broke up with her”, “It was the right thing to do”, and “You couldn’t keep waiting for her to move on. That wasn’t healthy”, but the words never quite sank in.

One week later, he was even more of a mess than when he’d finally gotten the courage to break things off. The pain of being without her, knowing that it was really over, was worse than having her by his side knowing that she was thinking about someone else when she kissed him.

At least before he’d had a place in her heart, even if it was only second.

With a groan, Luka pushed himself up to sitting and grabbed his phone off the nightstand.

There was a text from Juleka berating him for drinking too much, not returning her texts, and taking crap care of himself.

Rose had also sent him a message reminding him about family dinner that Sunday.

Jacob, the bassist from his band Eternal Nocturne, had texted him not to be late for the auditions for a new lead singer that afternoon.

Luka cursed, setting his phone down without replying to anyone. He scrubbed his face with both hands and then forced himself to kick the covers off and get up.

It was already almost noon, and the mature, adult part of his brain knew that he had to get his stuff together. He was twenty-six, and he’d been through breakups before. He would survive this one as well…even though it didn’t feel like it at the moment.

He pushed himself out of bed and began to search around for something clean to wear.

He really needed to do laundry. And the dishes. And the grocery shopping.

Luka winced as he uncovered a lacey pink bra with white polka dots under a pile of jeans that reeked of alcohol and stale bar smell.

He needed to make a breakup box, put all of her leftover things in it, and send it back to her.

His heart sank at that realization, the finality of it.

He put the bra back under the jeans and promised himself he’d deal with it later. When he was feeling better…. Whenever that happened to be.

The important thing just then was to find something that could pass as clean so that he could get to the audition and not let his bandmates down. He was already disappointing himself and his family. He needed to do right by somebody at least.

 Adrien was screwed.

He’d been back in Paris for two days, and, already, his funds were almost entirely used up. He’d found a cheap hostel in Pigalle where he’d been able to shower and get a decent night’s rest without having to worry about anyone bothering him, but he wouldn’t be able to stay there for much longer unless he found work.

That was turning out to be much harder than anticipated. In Paris, people were a lot stricter about having to have valid identification to secure employment. They were also a lot more persnickety about hiring Adrien Agreste, even if it was just to wash dishes, clean hotel rooms, or wait tables.

Maybe he could talk to the owners of the hostel about working the front desk. He’d done that before in Nice and Lyon.

If the situation really got dire, he could always try to find someone like Nino from his past who would be sympathetic and maybe let him sleep on a couch or something until he could get back up on his feet again.

He didn’t want to do that, but it was beginning to look like he had no other choice. It had been four years since his father’s arrest, four years since Adrien lost his family, his fortune, and even the ability to use his own name. He’d thought that maybe people would have cooled off and moved on, that it was safe to come back to Paris, back home…but it wasn’t looking like it so far.

He was starting to think that it had been a mistake to return, but he couldn’t bring himself to regret it. He was tired of roaming the country and scraping by, and he couldn’t go on like that any longer. He wanted to establish roots and make a place for himself. He wanted to feel grounded again.

He was determined to figure things out and make it work, and if that meant going door to door to every restaurant, shop, and hotel in Paris until he found a job, that’s what he was going to do. He was through running away; it was time to settle down and make a life for himself.

He wasn’t sure what that life would look like, but if it included years of hard work, a partner who saw him and not his father’s crimes, some children who inherited his mother’s smile, and a pet or two, Adrien would be content.

He just had to find a job first so that he didn’t end up on the street nicking food out of restaurant dumpsters again.

As he descended the steps into the Métro, a flyer advertising auditions for a lead singer for a band caught Adrien’s eye.

He stopped and studied it, noting that auditions had begun twenty minutes prior at a bar just a few blocks away.

He grabbed the flyer and took off at a jog.

 “No one’s coming,” Jacob grumbled half an hour into the audition time when it became apparent that not a single soul was going to show up.

“Doesn’t look like it,” Josie the drummer agreed, tipping back on her barstool so that it balanced precariously on two legs. “So, what are we going to do without a vocalist?”

“Yeah, we’ve got that gig coming up this weekend,” Jacob reminded, chewing anxiously on his bottom lip.

Josie and Jacob both looked to Marc—guitarist, keyboardist, and the band’s unofficial leader/mum.

“Josephine, don’t do that; you’re going to fall,” Marc sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “…I mean, I can cover lead for one night.”

“Who’s going to do your backup vocals, then,” Josie demanded, setting her stool legs back on the ground.

“Luka can,” Marc informed.

Jacob snorted. “Luka’s drunk.”

“Luka is not drunk,” Marc growled defensively. “He knows better than to show up drunk. He’s just hung over, isn’t that right, Luc?”

“Yes, and I’m nursing a killer headache, so if we could take the volume of the talking down a few decibels, it would be greatly appreciated,” Luka groaned, pulling his newsboy cap down a little further to shield his eyes from the bright light emanating from the stage where the people auditioning were supposed to be performing.

“And who’s going to do Luka’s backup vocals?” Josie persisted, lowering her voice out of consideration for Luka.

“I don’t know. Jacob?” Marc suggested uncertainly.

Josie let out a bark of laughter. “Jacob can’t walk and talk at the same time. How is he supposed to play and sing?”

“Josie,” Marc scolded. “Be nice.”

“No, she’s got a point,” Jacob cut in. “I’ve walked into poles before because I didn’t see them because I was talking to someone. Multitasking really isn’t my strong suit.”

Marc opened his mouth to reply, paused to consider his words, and then shut his mouth.

“Excuse me?” a new voice called out.

The band turned their heads to find a thin, scraggly young man standing in the doorway.

He had scruffy, wild blonde hair and piercing peridot eyes, and it was impossible to say how old he was exactly. He looked young, but he had one of those ageless faces that could have just as easily been twenty as forty. His clothes had been expensive, good quality when they were new, but now they were well-worn and showing their age.

“Are auditions over already?” he inquired, taking a tentative step into the bar.

The door closed behind him, and now that he wasn’t backlit by the daylight pouring in from outside, Luka could see him clearly.

His eyes widened as he recognized his former crush whom he hadn’t seen in four long years.

“No, we’re still going,” Jacob informed.

“You here to try out, Kid?” Josie asked with a big smile, turning on her stool to face him.

Adrien nodded, holding up the flyer in his hand. “I just learned about the audition, like, ten minutes ago, so I don’t have anything prepared in advance, but I’m a good singer with a pretty expansive range. I’m a quick study too, so, if you teach me, I’ll pick up your songs right away.”

“All right,” Marc agreed with a grin. “Go ahead and take the stage, and we’ll see what you’ve got. What’s your name?”

“Émile,” Adrien responded with a smile as he took his spot in front of the microphone. “Émile Dupain.”

Luka frowned.

Surely, he wasn’t mistaken. The years had changed Adrien, yes, but he wasn’t that different. Luka knew that face, those eyes, that smile.

“Nice to meet you, Émile,” Marc greeted amicably. “I’m Marc. I play keyboard and some guitar depending on the song. I also do backup vocals.”

“I’m Josie. Percussion,” Josie took over. “This idiot is Jacob, our bassist,”

Jacob gamely raised a hand. “Sup.”

“and Mr. Doom and Gloom over there is Luc,” Josie completed the introductions. “He plays guitar and does backup vocals. Ignore him for right now. He just broke up with his girlfriend, so he’s kind of in a funk. Normally, he’s the nicest person, so give him another week and you’ll be best friends.”

“Thank you for broadcasting all that, Josie,” Luka grumbled as he waved at Adrien, just waiting for him to recognize Luka.

He worried that if Adrien were trying to conceal his identity, he wouldn’t appreciate the reunion, but a part of Luka hoped that Adrien would be excited to see him again. Luka was certainly happy to see Adrien.

“It’s nice to meet you all,” Adrien replied, friendly expression not changing in the slightest. “What kind of music do you guys usually play?”

Luka fought down a tsunami of disappointment at Adrien not seeming to recognize him.

“Usually alternative or punk,” Marc supplied, not appearing to notice the way Luka slumped in his chair. “We mostly do covers, but we have our own songs too. Our next show is Saturday, but we’ll just be doing covers for that one, so it shouldn’t be too hard for you to get up to speed if we decide to hire you.”

Adrien nodded. “Sounds good. I’m a hard worker, so I’ll get the music memorized right away and be ready for the show.”

“Have you ever been in a band before, Émile?” Josie inquired curiously.

“Yes,” Adrien answered with confidence. “I’m a little out of practice at the moment, but I played keyboard and did a little bit of backup vocals.”

“What kind of band was it?” Marc asked.

“Uh…the genre’s called kawaiicore, if you’ve heard of it,” Adrien informed, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

Jacob’s forehead furrowed in concentration as he tried to recall. “It sounds familiar, but I’m coming up blank. What’s kawaiicore?”

“You know when I showed you Babymetal?” Luka reminded.

Jacob’s face lit up, and Josie started to nod too.

“Like Kitty Section!” Jacob exclaimed.

“Yeah!” Adrien perked up. “That’s—”

He cut himself off and went pale when he realized that telling them that he had been the keyboardist in Kitty Section was just as good as revealing his identity.

“That’s right,” Adrien completed. “Like Kitty Section. I can do other genres, though. I can sing anything: musical theatre, opera, jazz, pop—whatever.”

“So, what will you be singing for us today?” Marc prompted, very interested in seeing what Adrien would come up with.

“Well, I’ve kind of been living under a rock lately, so I’m not exactly up on what’s popular now,” Adrien hedged. “I mostly listen to music in Japanese, so maybe I could just sing something so that you can see if my voice is a good fit for you guys, and then you can give me a list of songs you usually do so that I can memorize them.”

“Sounds fair,” Josie replied with a shrug. “So, what are you going to sing?”

Adrien bit his lip and took a deep breath, scanning his mind for a song that would show off his abilities.

“Do you know Charles?” Luka spoke up. “That was popular a couple years ago. If you know that one, I could play the guitar part along with you.”

Adrien had been the one to introduce the song to Luka, and they’d played it together with Kitty Section with Adrien doing the main vocals. Luka still played that song from time to time when he was feeling nostalgic.

On stage, Adrien’s eyes widened in surprise. “Uh…yeah. Yeah, I know Charles. It’s one of my favourites. You wouldn’t mind?”

He narrowed his eyes, trying to get a better look at Luka’s facial features, but the hat blocked Adrien’s view, and it was difficult to discern Luka’s face clearly in the dim lighting of the bar when contrasted with the blinding lights on stage.

“I’d be happy to,” Luka assured, reaching down to grab his guitar off of the amp where it lay.

“Thank you,” Adrien replied with a big smile that made Luka positive that he hadn’t been mistaken about “Émile’s” identity. “Ready when you are.”

Luka counted them in and began to play.

Adrien blew the band away with his vocals. His voice was smooth and lyrical, gliding over the notes like a swan across a pond.

“He has really clear intonation,” Marc hummed softly in approval to his bandmates after listening to Adrien sing for a bit.

“And he wasn’t lying about his range,” Josie chuckled as she drummed out the rhythm on her thighs and danced in her seat.

“I certainly can’t hit those notes,” Jacob laughed.

“Neither can I,” Josie snorted. “Well, maybe on a good day, but not the way he does. He just shoots all the way up there and drops back down again like it’s nothing.”

“It’s so clean too,” Marc added. “His voice doesn’t crack or squeak or waver or anything. He hits those notes dead center, and then he stays there until it’s time to move to the next note.”

“I think we struck gold,” Jacob snickered.

“He’s super cute too.” Josie smirked deviously. “He’s sure to attract a crowd. We just need to put some eyeliner on him and get him in leather pants, and—”

“—Distracting me,” Luka hissed quietly so that he wouldn’t interrupt Adrien.

Jacob waggled his eyebrows as he whispered, “What? Imagining Émile in leather pants?”

“Jacques,” Luka warned testily.

“He’s totally your type, though,” Josie joined in helpfully. “I think a new romance is just the thing to get you over your breakup.”

“Jacob, Josephine,” Marc called quietly but firmly. “Leave him alone.”

Josie and Jacob both held up their hands in a placating gesture and let the subject drop.

Luka redoubled his focus on his fingers, trying to banish the thought of Chat Noir from his mind.

“Waraiatte sayonara,” Adrien finished softly and then looked to the band for their judgment call.

Jacob started clapping, and Josie wolf-whistled.

“Can we do that song sometime?” Jacob directed at Marc. “I bet the bass part is killer.”

“Yeah!” Josie cheered. “I can’t wait to get my drumsticks on that.”

“I don’t see why we couldn’t,” Marc agreed and then turned back to Adrien with a smile. “You really can sing. That was great.”

“You think so?” Adrien asked with a breathless giddiness, starting to squirm in excitement.

“Definitely,” Luka assured. “You sing like an angel.”

“Make him sing something else,” Josie demanded of Marc who had the grace to blush.

“Josephine, I can’t just make him sing for us,” he sighed and then looked to Adrien. “Would you mind singing something else?”

“Not at all,” Adrien easily agreed, eager to please.

He needed the job desperately, and if he could get paid just for singing, that was certainly easier than anything else he’d done for money the past four years.

“Um…let me think of something else I could sing for you,” he mumbled, chewing on his lip as he wracked his thoughts.

“…Do you know Ranbu no Melody?” Luka suggested. “That’s another one I could play along with you, if you’re familiar with it. I only know the minute and a half that was used as the Bleach opening theme song, though.”

“Yeah, I think I remember how that version goes,” Adrien fibbed.

Luka and Adrien had watched portions of Bleach together, and Adrien had sung along with all of the openings. If Luka still remembered the guitar part, surely, Adrien remembered the lyrics.

Luka counted them in again, and Adrien proved not to have forgotten at all. He sang with every ounce of confidence and enthusiasm that he had back when they’d been teenagers watching anime together.

It was reassuring for Luka to know that, even though Adrien might have changed in the years they’d been apart, there were some things that remained the same.

“How do you know all this weeb music, Luka?” Jacob wondered.

“The Boy was a total anime nerd,” Luka explained with an affectionate smile.

Jacob and Josie let out soft “Oooooh”s and started to nod.

The Boy was practically a mythical figure at this point in their friendship. Luka had talked a lot about The Boy over the years, just like he’d talked a lot about The Girl. Luka had dated many people and loved a small handful, but no one had penetrated so deeply into Luka’s heart as Adrien and Marinette.

“…He’s really good,” Marc observed, visibly delighted as he listened to Adrien. “He puts a lot of emotion into his voice, and I am loving it.”

“Yeah,” Jacob chimed in. “I have no idea what the hell he’s saying, but I feel it, Man. It’s intense.”

Luka’s smile turned melancholy as he remarked, “If I remember correctly, the song is about soldiering on and taking on whatever difficulty is in front of you and then carrying those experiences forward to present them to the person you want to spend your life with. It’s kind of like…we’re the sum of our experiences, and the singer hopes that the person they love will accept them anyway, even though they’ve got cracks and jagged edges in places.”

“Wow,” Josie whispered. “That’s…deep.”

“That’s what I got out of it, anyway,” Luka quickly added. “The Boy translated it into French for me, and then I kind of interpreted it artistically, taking some liberties, but that’s what I got out of it.”

“I like this song,” Jacob decided, tapping his foot along. “I like this kid.”

“We’re adopting him,” Josie decreed.

“Yeah.” Jacob nodded resolutely. “I need to get him to show me more weeb music. I feel like I’ve been missing out.”

“Wooo!!!” Josie cheered loudly as Adrien finished. “We love you!”

“Sing more!” Jacob encouraged as he clapped.

A blush spread across Adrien’s cheeks like fire catching on dried grass.

He rubbed at the back of his neck and looked to Marc for instruction, sensing that Marc was the leader of their little circus.

“I think it would be good if we all played something together to see if we mesh well as a band,” Marc decided. “Would that be okay with you, Émile?”

Adrien nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, of course.”

Jacob turned to Luka. “What song does he know that we could all play?”

Luka shrank, semi-hiding behind his guitar. “Why are you asking me?”

“You did the psychic thing with the songs in Japanese,” Jacob reasoned with a shrug. “Do it again.”

“Yeah,” Josie urged, reaching across Marc to poke Luka. “Do it.”

“I don’t know,” Luka grumbled. “How about This is Gospel? We play that one sometimes.”

And he had taught Adrien how to play it on guitar, so maybe Adrien remembered the lyrics.

“I know that one,” Adrien offered.

“Awesome!” Josie trilled, jumping down from her stool and heading over to the stage to join Adrien.

Once she reached him, she pulled him into a crushing hug.

It was kind of cute. Josie was a statuesque six-foot-two, and Adrien was only five-eight. (Five-ten with shoes on, he used to always insist, sensitive about his lack of height.)

“Hi. We’re adopting you,” Josie informed him as she pulled back with a grin and then abruptly turned on her heel and headed for her drum set.

Marc shook his head, getting up and making his way to the stage to turn on his keyboard.

“Josephine, don’t scare the poor kid,” he chastised wearily.

“I’m not!” she insisted. “I’m being friendly!”

Marc placed a hand on Adrien’s shoulder as he passed, assuring, “She means well. If we ever make you uncomfortable, just say something, okay?”

“It’s fine,” Adrien assured, wiping at the tears beading at the corners of his eyes, hoping that Marc couldn’t see. “I’m just…I’m not used to people being so friendly. I don’t…people don’t hug me. Ever.”

Marc frowned at that, his mum senses kicking in. “Do you like being hugged?”

Adrien nodded.

“Okay then.” Marc didn’t even hesitate as he pulled Adrien in for a hug—not a guy hug with a pat on the back, but an honest to goodness hug.

He pulled back with a smile, instructing, “Just let us know whenever you want a hug, okay? You’re family now. Family get hugs whenever.”

Adrien had to actually bite his tongue to hold in a whimper. He couldn’t find his voice to reply, so he nodded and rubbed away the tears that were quickly taking the previous ones’ place.

“I’ll give you a hug in a minute, Kid,” Jacob assured, picking up his bass. “I’m just lazy, and I’m already set up over here.”

“Same,” Luka latched onto Jacob’s excuse, figuring that now wasn’t the best time for a reunion with Adrien.

Josie counted them in and started the heartbeat-like rhythm that began the song.

Adrien took a deep breath and sang.

The full sound of the band all playing together resonated powerfully through the bar, giving Adrien chills.

It wasn’t perfect. The timing was a little off in places, and Adrien needed to learn his cues if he was going to sync up with the others. They needed to work out the backup vocals and other little things to make the performance come out smooth, but they were starting in a good place. They could polish this up and make it shine.

It felt good to be playing with a band again. Adrien hadn’t realized how much he’d missed making music with others, being a part of a team.

He’d been so alone these past four years.

Partly that was his own fault. He’d run away both literally and figuratively and shut people out who otherwise would have been there for him. He’d let pride and shame and fear of rejection win…and now he was finally realizing how exhausting it had been.

Now that these nice people were opening up to him and accepting him into their little family, it finally dawned upon Adrien that he’d been foolish to try to make it on his own for so long. He hadn’t realized how draining it had been until he’d been offered the chance to rest.

He needed to call Nino and reconnect.

He needed to find Marinette and apologize for giving up his Miraculous and taking off because he’d been overwhelmed after his father’s arrest and hadn’t felt worthy of being Chat Noir.

He needed to fix things, fix his life.

As the song came to an end, a feeling of calm and peace settled over Adrien.

He was still broke and not sure where his next meal was coming from or if he’d have a roof over his head in the intervening days between now and the show on Saturday when he’d presumably get paid, but, oddly enough, he felt a little better about things.

“We killed that,” Jacob preened as he set down his bass and went over to join the others on stage. “Excellent work, Kid,” he announced, pulling Adrien into a hug.

“I’m guessing I got the job?” Adrien hazarded a guess, looking around at his bandmates for confirmation.

“Oh, definitely,” Josie assured. “You know that one meme? ‘I’ve only known Émile for twenty minutes, but if anything happened to him, I’d kill everyone and then myself.’”

Adrien cracked up, beaming. “I don’t think anyone’s ever felt that strongly about me before.”

“Poor boy. And now he’s stuck with us,” Jacob snickered, giving Adrien’s hair a tussle.

“Let’s exchange contact information so we can get ahold of you,” Marc suggested. “Are you available tomorrow? We’re going to need a lot of rehearsal time between now and Saturday in order to be ready.”

“Yes. I’m available,” Adrien quickly confirmed. “I don’t have a phone, though, so if we could communicate by email, that would be great. I’m le chat de la princesse de la nuit on gmail. All lowercase and run together.”

“Yeah, no problem,” Marc assured, getting out his phone and opening up a new email. “I’ll email you all of our numbers and emails so you can get in touch with us. I’ll email you again later with the place and time. It’ll probably be Phantasmagoria over in the eighth arrondissement. You know it?”

Adrien nodded. “I had a friend whose band played there. He used to sneak me in before I turned eighteen.”

The fond smile on Adrien’s face gave Luka some hope that maybe he was still a good memory for Adrien and that Adrien wouldn’t be too upset when he realized just whose band he had inadvertently joined.

It didn’t occur to Adrien until later to wonder if Luka still played at Phantasmagoria and if Raoul the bartender still worked there and would recognize Adrien.

“Good,” Marc chuckled. “I’m glad you know it. Like I said, I’ll confirm place and time later this afternoon.”

He then turned to Luka. “Hey, Rich Boy. Would you mind picking up a phone for Émile? It’s going to be really inconvenient if we can’t get ahold of him.”

“You don’t have to do to that!” Adrien looked frantically between Marc and Luka. “I’ll-I’ll pay you back when I can. I promise.”

“Don’t worry about it, Angel,” Luka assured with a kind smile as he got up and started to put his guitar away. “My bio dad got hit with a huge dose of guilt a few years ago for never bothering to find out I existed let alone pay child support for me, so I’ve got a ridiculous trust fund that I don’t know what to do with now.”

Adrien’s brow furrowed, and he wanted to protest out of principle, but even he had to acknowledge that it would be really useful to have a phone, and he was too down on his luck to afford one.

“Thank you. I really appreciate it, Luc,” he replied with sincerity.

“Sure thing.” Luka smiled, giving Adrien a wink and doing an internal victory dance when Adrien smiled back at him.

“…Well, I guess if you guys don’t need anything else from me, I’m going to head out,” Adrien excused himself politely, starting to make his way towards the door. “It was lovely meeting you all.”

“You too, Kid!” Jacob assured, and Josie seconded the sentiment.

“We’ll see you tomorrow, Émile.” Marc waved him off. “Be safe.”

Adrien returned the wave and turned to go.

Luka bit his lip, debating with himself.

“What’s that face you’re making?” Josie snickered, coming back to perch on her barstool.

“You should go ask him out to coffee,” Jacob suggested as he came over, making a shooing gesture at Luka.

“Jacob will babysit your stuff for you,” Marc volunteered.

Luka looked to Jacob, and Jacob shrugged.

“We all want you to start feeling better soon,” Josie explained, giving Luka a soft smile. “Spending time with someone new will be good for you.”

“Just don’t come on too strong so that you scare him off,” Marc cautioned. “Don’t do that heart-song stuff. He’s a good kid, and we need him for Saturday.”

Luka rolled his eyes, handing his guitar to Jacob. “Thanks, guys, but this isn’t a romantic thing.”

“Uh-huh,” Josie agreed disingenuously, a cat-that-ate-the-canary smirk pulling at the corners of her lips.

“Have fun,” Jacob snickered.

Luka shook his head, making for the door.

He looked back and forth once he got outside of the bar and just happened to spot Adrien turning the corner.

He raced after him, slowing down as he began to catch up because he figured the last thing Adrien needed was someone he didn’t recognize barreling towards him and making him think he was in danger.

He decelerated into a walk and took a few deep breaths before calling out, “Adrien!”

Adrien froze, every muscle in his back going tense as he slowly turned.

“I’m sorry. I think you’ve confused me with someone el—” he started to say but then stopped short as he got a good look at Luka in the light of day without his cap obscuring the view.

Adrien’s eyes widened, his cheeks lost all colour, and his mouth dropped open.

“Luka?” he breathed, his heart stopping in his chest.

[babi-correia]

Guardian Angel

Words: 3083

Pairing: Greg “Mouse” Gerwitz x Reader

Warnings: Mentions of death, drug abuse, poorly written medical stuff and PTSD.

From Anon:

“Hi there, can I get a Greg Gerwitz x reader, please? So reader and Jay are cousins and when Jay enlists, he starts writing about his friend Mouse so reader when sending care packages will always include things for Mouse and when Jay came back for his mum's funeral, Mouse came with and he falls for reader and vice versa but remained friends while he's in the rangers still. When he was discharged and eventually involved in some shady shit, it was the reader who gets him back on track. Thank you x”

Here you go, kind friend.

[(Y/N/N)=Your Nickname]

One thing you knew for sure: nothing in your life could have possibly prepared you for the moment when your cousin, Jay, had been deployed to Afghanistan. His mother, your own mother's sister, was devastated, but his father had shown nothing but anger and disapproval at his career choice, as he had with Will. It seemed like no matter what, the man would never approve or support either of his sons, and it annoyed you to no end. So, logically, when he went away you took it upon yourself to make sure he knew that at least one person back home cared about him and wasn't completely repealing him. 

He mentions his friend and teammate Greg Gerwitz in one of his first letters, as Jay had taken to personally protect Greg, as he was a very valuable communications expert; although you could read right through that Jay began projecting himself as an older brother for Greg, who he affectionately called "Mouse". From Jay's reaction, you gather that Greg probably didn't have that much of a support network back home, or any at all, other than Jay, so you include him as well in your silly little personal mission.

The first care package goes out a month into their deployment, filled with energy bars, sunblock, beef jerky, some pain-relieving topical cream, and deodorant, along with a picture of you, your mom, and Jay's mom holding a sign saying "Counting the days for the two of you to be back". It finds them well, and Jay's letter is full of little round wrinkly spots when you open it, its' content nothing but praise for the care package. He writes that Greg cried like a baby when Jay told him that the packed box was for the both of them and not just him. 

--

When you have to write to Jay about his mom's illness, it breaks you. Your whole purpose with the letters and care packages was to brighten their mood, often including bad jokes you had happened to hear and you knew they would get a kick out of because of how bad they were. But you had to tell him. You end up rewriting the letter more times than you cared to count, searching for the best way to say "hey, your mom's dying". This time, it's your letter that's filled with little round wrinkly spots when you seal the envelope. 

Jay's response takes its' time, and comes right in the week of your exams. Between helping your aunt and studying to get a decent internship, you were left with very little time to do anything else other than sleep and eat. You put a hold on the anatomy book you're studying, deciding to pick it up after you prepare everything to do with Jay and Greg, refusing to let them go without a letter or care package. You fill the letter with crappy jokes and complaints about how dumb you were to want to become a doctor, because clearly, the exams were driving you mad. You try to put some hope in the letter, saying that Jay's mom looks better than before. 

--

The next month makes you nearly drop out. Your aunt's condition worsens too fast for there to be anything left to do, and you have to be the one to let Jay know that his mom died because dear old Pat could still not be bothered to talk to his son. 

You manage to catch one of your dad's old army buddies, one who is still in the military, and make him pull some strings to get both Jay and Greg back in US soil for the funeral. 

You pick them up at the airport, noticing how thinner Jay is, how his face looks so sunken, how he looks almost broken. He barely has time to drop his duffle bag before you wrap him in a hug as tight as you can give. He hugs you back before backing away and wiping his eyes.

"(Y/N), this is Mouse. Mouse, this is (Y/N), the angel that has been sending us goodies." Jay introduces. Greg goes to shake your hand but you hug him, feeling him reluctantly hug you back. 

"I wish we had met under better circumstances." You say to Greg, pulling away from a hug and giving him a tired smile. "We should get back, you can still catch the wake, Jay."

The car ride is silent, and you can't find it in you to say anything at all. You pull up to the mortuary house, parking the car and taking a deep breath. 

"You want me to go in with you?" You ask, seeing how Jay is looking out the window. 

"No, I think it's better if I go in alone." He says before pausing. "Is Pat in there?"

"No. We haven't seen much of Pat lately." You admit, knowing Jay knew how much you despised his father.

He exits the car and you sit in silence, Greg still in the back seat. It takes a while before he breaks the ice.

"So... Jay tells me you want to be a doctor?" He asks meekly, his eyes on everything but you. 

"I do. I'm about to start my residency, hopefully at a big hospital like Chicago Med." You say, the usual excitement that comes paired with your passion and the opportunity to talk about it significantly dulled. 

"What's your expertise?"

"I'm going for trauma surgery." You say, turning around in your seat to face Greg. 

His heart skips a beat when his eyes finally meet yours. No one in his life had ever looked at him with the sheer kindness you did. He had grown a crush on you without knowing you at all, and seeing you look at him like that only reinforced it. 

"Look, I just want to say thank you for including me in the care packages." He manages, breaking eye contact and looking at his hands, which rest atop his knees. He can barely mask the gasp he makes when you put one of your hands over one of his and give him a reassuring squeeze. 

"It's my pleasure." You say, greeting him with a smile when he finally looks at you again. "I enjoy doing it, and it makes me feel better about the whole deployment situation that I can at least give you guys something to brighten your day."

Over the next couple of days, you just chat your mind out to Greg and read your medicine books to him, sometimes making him quiz you on the subjects. He generally looks confused, but he also seems happy to help you. It makes him giddy on the inside to see how much you know about whatever he's quizzing you about, and the focused yet excited look on your face makes his heart flutter. It's only during the night before they fly back that he realizes: he's head over heels for you.

You wake up ridiculously early the morning of their flight; well, you don't wake up, you just get out of bed, because sleep had ever so expertly evaded you due to your overthinking of what would happen to Jay and Greg back in Afghanistan. Your mind keeps racing, running multiple scenarios but not seeing a positive outcome in none of them. And even though of course you worried deeply about Jay, since he was your cousin and you two grew up together, your stomach twisted in itself at the thought of Greg getting hurt. 

You slowly realize that you had begun to harbor feelings for the man, and your mind reels. You hide your face on your hands as you try to process everything before you give up and go out to sit in your back yard and stare at the sky. 

You take them to the airport at around 5 am, the drive there being awfully silent. You feel the tears prickling at your eyes as you drive the car and grip the steering wheel with everything you have. You could tell Greg about how you felt, but you couldn't handle the fact that he was going back when he was barely your friend, much less if you uncovered your feelings. Besides, nothing guarantees you that he would like you back, so you decide to keep your mouth shut. 

You bid your goodbyes and hug the two men outside the airport, your hug with Greg taking a little longer than it should - not that he seemed to mind. They head inside and you return to your car, sitting behind the wheel and crying all of your emotions out. When you look back to maneuver your car, you notice something glinting in the back seat and pick it up. The small metal plate is cold in your hand, and you notice a little post-it attached. 

"Thank you for caring so much about someone you know so little about. Please don't forget about me."

You turn it around and see the engraving: Gregory Gerwitz. Tears well up in your eyes again, and you hold the dog-tag to your chest, closing your eyes.

--

You keep sending them letters and care packages as part of your routine, sometimes struggling to get time to do it. You had managed to land your internship on Med, and they liked you enough to keep you around as an ED doctor. 

On your day off, just as you're about to head off into the grocery shop to gather goodies for the next care package, your doorbell rings and you open the door to find your supposedly deployed cousin.

"Jay!?" Your voice is squeaky, but you can't find it in you to care. "What are you doing here?" 

You hug him carefully, noticing some cuts and bruises on his face and arms. He hugs you back and lifts you slightly. 

"I was medically discharged a few weeks ago, I've been crashing at a friend's but I owed you to come here." He explains as you guide him inside. "Also, I need your help with something."

"What's wrong?" You ask, sitting beside him on the couch. He points at your chest, where the dog tag rests, hanging from a simple chain. 

"It's about Mouse. He isn't taking it well and I'm afraid he's going to do something that's gonna hurt him." Jay sighs. "He really likes you, but he doesn't think of himself as deserving of someone that cares about him and wants to help."

"Where can I find him?" You ask, feeling your chest tightening. 

"Not even I know that, but as soon as I find out I'll let you know." He stays, prompting himself to get up. "By the way, I'm in the police academy and it'd mean a lot to me if you could attend my graduation in a few months."

"Of course!" You beam at him before hugging him. "Just let me know when, and I'll ask for the day off."

--

After your conversation with Jay, you can't bring yourself to stop thinking about Greg and how he's doing. One day, you're getting in your car to get home after a shift when you get a call from Jay.

"Yes?" You answer your phone.

"(Y/N), I need you to come to your house quickly." Jay's voice seems distressed. "It's Greg, I have no idea what happened."

You make the drive back in record time, grabbing the emergency medical kit from under the passenger seat before rushing inside. You notice Jay has used the spare key you gave him to get inside, finding him and Greg on the floor of your bathroom. 

Your heart drops and you join them on the floor, quickly assessing Greg; his skin is cold and clammy, his breathing and heart rate slow, and he seems to be slipping in and out of consciousness. 

"He's overdosing on opioids." You realize aloud, quickly opening your medical kit and retrieving a small vial and a syringe. Jay watches you as you charge the syringe and push out the air before administering it. 

"What is that?" He asks, watching as you set the syringe on the bathroom counter.

"Naloxone. It reverses opioid overdoses, technically." You say, observing Greg's reaction. "We have to get him to a hospital, Jay."

"No, that may screw whatever little chance he still has at getting a job." 

You shake your head as you move your hand to gage Greg's heart rate, noticing it seemed to pick up a bit.

"Let's see how he progresses. If I don't like anything in how he develops, I'm taking him to the hospital, and that's not debatable." You state, moving behind Greg and sitting him up, noticing as he begins to shiver. You lean his back against your chest as he begins to move slightly. "Stay still for a bit, Greg. Please."

You feel him tense up, his breathing labored. He looks at Jay, who shakes his head.

"I don't know what's going on Mouse, but you need to get it together." Jay says, his face serious as he gets up. "I have to get to the academy, but I'll come by later."

You hear the front door shut as Jay leaves, and just sit on the floor in silence for a while. 

"What's going on, Greg?" You ask, your voice barely a whisper. He feels his chest tightening at your sad and defeated tone. This was exactly why he didn't want to come to you, he was a broken man and he knew you'd be disappointed in him. "Why didn't you ask for help?"

He doesn't even have a chance to respond before he scrambles forward and wretches into the toilet. You just brush your hand up and down his back, feeling him shake as he starts to cry. 

You wet a towel and run it through his face to wipe the sweat gathering on his forehead. You hook your arms around his chest and help him rise to his feet, supporting most of his weight. 

"Can you work with me and get to the living room? We'll be more comfortable there." You ask softly, holding him up and helping him move to the living room. You sit him down on the couch and take a seat next to him, wiping some hair sticking to his forehead. You take one of his hands in yours, and his heart just about shatters when he sees the look you give him: it's still the same pure kindness from the first time the two of you met. 

"I didn't want to disappoint you." His voice is barely a whisper, and your brows knit in confusion. "I'm not the same person from when we first met, I've gone down a dark path, I didn't want to disappoint you or get you involved."

"Greg, you'd never disappoint me." You say, your voice soft. "It's normal, it's a whole different reality. I'm here to help you however I can."

You hug him and cradle him against your chest, his arms snaking around you to hold as tight as he can. 

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." He mumbles, his voice shaking. You rest your chin atop his head and caress his back as he keeps on trembling. "I should've come to you sooner, I should have told you about everything a lot sooner." 

"All that matters is that you're ok, Greg." You whisper, holding him. "We can work on this from now on. You're not alone."

--

You end up offering Greg the spare bedroom on your house, on the condition that he must stay clean and out of trouble, and at least try to get a legitimate job. 

One day you get home after working a double shift, your head pounding and your emotions all over the place: you had lost a patient. You know that there wasn't anything you could have done, but that doesn't make you feel less shitty. Entering the house, you make a beeline for the living room and flop face-first into the couch, laying there for a while without moving.

"Hey (Y/N/N), you ok?" You hear Greg's voice as he kneels next to you. You turn your head to face him and he sees the tears in your eyes. "Woah, what's wrong?"

"I lost a patient today. Nice old lady, came in because she slipped and fell on the icy street, hit her head pretty nastily. She was talking when she got there, but then she passed out and just like that she was gone." You vent, tears streaming down your face. Greg holds your hand and rubs it softly. "I just wish there had been something I could have done for her."

"You have a heart of gold, you know that?" He says, pushing some hair out of your face. "You can't save everyone... Just cherish the ones you did save, like me for example."

He always jokes around about you saving him, but it was the truth; without you, he'd probably be dead in an alley somewhere. 

"I think it's mutual saving." You whisper, smiling at him. "I would probably have gone mad by now if you weren't around."

You maneuver yourself and sit normally on the couch, and he sits next to you, pulling you into a hug. 

"It's a nice little deal we have, then." He says, holding you to him. You nod, eventually separating from him. "I still think you're my private guardian angel."

You laugh at him, and his belief solidifies further: to him, you were exactly like an angel, from your laugh to your personality to your selflessness, and you had given him a second chance at life. 

Before either of you realize what's going on, he leans in and cups your face, resting his forehead against yours. You can feel his breath on your face as you take in the beautiful blueness of his eyes. 

"If you don't want it, say so." He whispers, his eyes riddled with both fear and excitement. Your heart beats out of your chest as you close the space between you and kiss him, feeling him smile against your lips. It's short and chaste and sweet, but it's everything you had imagined. "You have no idea how long I've been waiting for that."

You laugh, cupping his face as you kiss him again, the two of you giggling like a pair of kids and forgetting everything else in the world other than the moment that you were having.

[talicat713]

It’s Always Been Molly

John Shelby x OC

Part Fifteen

*GIF CREDIT TO ORGINIAL POSTER*

A/N: hello everyone. First off I want to apologize for not posting last weekend. I haven’t been feeling well and my leg muscle pain is starting to take a toll on me. I’m still in the process for writing part sixteen. It will hopefully be finished by next weekend! Cross your fingers! Hope you all have an amazing weekend and are staying safe! Much love and happy reading!

Warnings: language, angst, breastfeeding, *sorry if I missed any*

READ PARTS 1-14 HERE

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Taglist: @haphazardhufflepuff   @pijoendios   @theshelbyclan   @wnygirl2012 @bekkimahonxx95 @pleasantlyspookycreation  @lovemissyhoneybee   @lotsoflovefromlea   @theunderlier   @envysorrows   @healthygirlsdoitbetter   @account71453  @blindedbypeaky   @xshinytrashcanx   @wednesdayqueen-18   @chaotichurricaneoffandoms   @jrdpdlcki @lettersshapes   @rosesandrap  @jenni-jones00  *if you would like to be added please let me know*

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As the weeks went by, Molly became a little more nervous about the upcoming meeting with the Lees. She prayed every day that Thomas was able to come up with a solution that would keep the truce between the families and let Molly finally be with the love of her life. 

Over those weeks, Benjamin and Eleanor had grown so much.  They had started to like being cuddled and started to make the cutest little coo noises. They still hated being apart from each other. Every time Molly would nurse them, their hands would link. She was trying really hard to get them on a good schedule, but it was becoming hard now that she was alone.

Molly had spent most of her days alone. Jacob was hardly ever home. She never knew where he was staying or why he wasn’t coming home. She hoped it didn’t have anything to do with the babies.  Thomas and Arthur were still keeping an eye on him for her and always reported he looked fine. 

John wasn’t able to come over in the mornings. He was always running late. With Esme still sick and barely able to get up in the mornings, John would have to get the kids ready and off to school. He would, however, ring Molly every morning to make sure she was okay. She always said she was, even though most of the time she was exhausted.  

After the two would hang up, she would wait by the door for the kids to stop by to give her and their baby siblings a cuddle before they would run toward their friends. John would always leave her and the babies with a kiss on their foreheads. She would watch until they turned down the lane toward the school. When they were out of sight, she would turn back into the house, and hope the babies would go down for a morning nap so she would try and lay down. 

Most of the time, the babies would go down easy for naps, which Molly was thankful for. Even though she didn’t sleep much while they slept, she was happy to have a little bit of alone time. She used that time to tidy the house and catch up on washing. 

Finn would usually stop by once or twice a day, on John or Pollys orders, to check and see if Molly needed help with anything. Of course, Molly knew better than to keep him long.  He would usually stay about fifteen minutes and then he would run off to mess around with his mates. Polly would come over once a week with fresh grocery’s and sometime she would just pop over to have tea and cuddle the babies. 

When Ada was in town, she and Karl would spend most of the day with Molly, talking about mummy things. Sometimes they would venture to the shops or market. Molly did enjoy anytime she got to spend with any of the Shelby’s especially when it involved getting out of her house. 

John would go and visit Molly everyday after he was finished at the betting shop. Most of the time he would be able to stay for a few hours before heading to his home for supper and to put the kids to bed. Other times, he would only be able to stay for minutes. On those days he usually had some Peaky business to take care of.  

John always feared that the babies wouldn’t know him as their father. He was barely able to spend time with them and he was afraid he would miss every little milestone they would have. He still felt guilty for missing most of his twin boy's birth and early years because of the war.  

Molly always assured John that babies would always know who he was. They would always reach their tiny arms up to him when he stood over the bassinet and would instantly calm down when he was holding them. She assured him all the time that they hadn’t made their big one month old milestone yet. The two had yet to show their first smiles. Molly had a feeling it was coming soon and she hoped that John would be around for it. 

On this particular morning, Molly had been up earlier than usual. John had mentioned the night before that he was taking the day off and wanted to spend it with Molly and the babies. He also said Esme had gone to visit her family again. With that information, Molly took it upon herself to help him by making breakfast. She prepped everything she could before sitting down to feed the babies, so she wouldn’t have to when the kids were around. 

Molly had just put Ben and Ellie in the bassinet when she heard a knock at the door. She yelled for them to come in and take a seat. John made his way over to her and kissed her quickly before getting everyone settled.  Molly then noticed Katie trudging behind. Her face was pale and she looked very tired. 

Molly walked over to her,” You feel okay darling? ,” she asked, hugging her.  Katie mumbled and shook her head no into Molly chest. Molly then pulled her back and placed the back on her hand on the girl's forehead. 

“John,” Molly yelled, making him look over at her,” Katie’s got a fever. I want to keep her home today.” John nodded while he checked to see if any of the boys looked pale or had fevers. 

“I’ll finish getting them fed and take them to school. I’ll take the babies with me. I won’t be long,” John stated once he finished plating the twins food. 

Molly nodded and lead Katie up to the guest bedroom,” Come on darling, let’s get you tucked into bed and then I’ll bring you some toast, medicine and a little tea and honey,” she said lovingly as she added another blanket to top of the girl,” I’ll be right back.”

“Thanks Mum,” Katie mumbled as she snuggled into the bed. Molly stopped in her tracks outside the door. She couldn’t help but smile. She knew Katie probably didn’t mean to say it, but it warmed Molly’s heart hearing it. She hoped soon all of Johns children would be calling her Mum. 

After getting Katie her medicine, toast and tea, Molly was able to get her to fall asleep. As she descended the stairs, she heard the front door open and her babies crying. 

“Oh, what’s the matter with my loves? ,” she asked as she walked to the door to grab them from John. Once she settled them in her arms, they both started rooting around for food. 

“They mustn’t have liked our short walk to drop the big brothers off at school,” John chuckled. 

“No love, they just their second or third breakfast,” Molly chuckled back as she made her way over to the sofa. 

“I’m sorry that we won’t be spending much time alone together today,” John sighed, sitting next to her,” Katie didn’t tell me she didn’t feel well this morning.”

“John, I don’t mind,” she said, looking over at him,” I would have been angry if you had sent her to school in her state. She told me her tummy was upset. It’s just a bug going around.  Mrs. Patterson’s daughter had it a few days ago. Katie plays with her a lot, so I’m sure that’s where she got it.” 

John raised an eyebrow,” How do you know what’s going around the school and I don’t? ,” he joked. 

Molly rolled her eyes,” I’m a mum now. I’m privy to that information now and Mrs. Patterson had her eldest son to come tell me since the babies are still so little and we are around the kids a lot. Now, once your babies are done sucking the life out of my breasts, I’ll go check on our sick big sister and then I’m going to take a long hot bath. You sir are on baby duty for a little while.” 

John smiled and kissed her cheek,” Yes ma’am. Anything for you love.”

=================================

After taking her well deserved hot bath, Molly went to check on Katie again. Thankfully, her fever seemed to be going down. Molly decided she was going to make some soup for her to eat when she woke up. As she walked down the stairs, she noticed John napping on the sofa with both babies laying on his chest. She stood on the last step for a minute smiling, hoping to remember that sight forever. 

“You should take a picture, it will last longer,” John says as he stirs awake. 

Molly rolled her eyes, ignoring his comment, and made her way to the kitchen,” Katie’s fever is going down. I’m going to make us some chicken soup for lunch. You want to help me while they nap? ,” she asked.  John nodded and gently stood from the sofa and placed the babies in their bassinet.

Making his way to the kitchen, he wrapped his arms around Molly’s waist,” You know last time we had soup together, we didn’t know you were pregnant.”

“Yes, that is true, but I remember that next day being one of the worst days of my life so please forgive me if that memory doesn’t make me happy,” Molly snapped back as she pulled from his embrace. She grabbed celery and carrots handing them to John, “Will you chop these while I start the broth?” All John could do was nod. He didn’t realize bringing up that day would upset her. 

Once everything was ready, Molly placed the pot onto the stove to cook. John was sitting at the dining table. Molly went over and sat across from him. She reached across the table, grabbing his hand,” I’m sorry I snapped at you. I’m still trying to get used to all these hormones I’m experiencing. And I’m also very tired.”

John squeezed her hand,” I understand love and I’m the one who should be sorry for bringing it up. I haven’t been thinking straight since the family dinner.”

Molly cocked her head to the side,” What happened at the dinner?”

John was able to answer when he heard the steps creak,” Daddy? ,” Katie croaked. 

John stood up and made his way over to her,” Hey sweetheart, how are you feeling?” 

“Better but I’m hungry now,” she spoke softly.

“Well, it’s a good thing Molly made up some chicken soup. I’m sure it will taste better than that time I made it for you and your brothers,” John joked. Katie smiled and laughed, then sat at the table next to Molly. She the wrapped her arms around Molly,” Thank you for making me feel better.”

Molly smiled and cuddled the girl into her chest,” Oh darling, you are very welcome.”  John brought over three bowls of soup and while the three ate, Katie talked about school and her friends. Molly enjoyed listening to the young girl. John was just happy watching the love of his life and his daughter bond. He knew Katie needed a mother figure in her life and he hoped that Molly would be that person, as his wife and not just as his lover. 

=================================

John had left to pick up the boys from school shortly after they had finished lunch, leaving Katie with Molly and the babies. The boys still showed no signs of getting sick, which was a good thing. He stopped at his home to see if Esme had returned from visiting her family, which she had.  He left the boys there to help Esme with dinner. He told her Katie was ill and probably wouldn’t want anything. 

As he shut his door and started heading back to Molly’s, he heard his name being yelled down the lane and Finn running toward him,” Finn, what are you yelling for?”

“Tommy wanted me to find you,” he said, trying to catch his breath,” He is calling a family meeting tonight at half six. He wants Molly to be there.”

“Did he say why? ,” John questioned.

“No, but I may or may not have overheard him having a conversation with some photographer about pictures,” Finn replied. 

John sighed,” Tell him we will be there, but Molly will have to bring the babies. There’s no way I would be able to convince her to leave them with my nanny.”   Finn nodded then ran back to relay the message. 

John made his way back to Molly’s. Molly had just finished tidying up lunch and packing away the leftovers. Katie was on the sofa watching the babies. She was just about to fall sleep again when John walked through the door. 

“Molly, Tommy is calling a family meeting at half six. He wants you to be there,” John started,” I’m going to take her back home and get her set up in bed with Esme then I’ll be back to help you get the pram out the door.”  Molly was a little confused. Why would Thomas want her at a family meeting.

“I’ll get them fed when you leave and hopefully they will sleep through the meeting,” Molly answered,” Do you know why he wants me there?”  

John shook his head,” I don’t. I know it’s last minute...”

“It’s fine. Just take these containers of soup with you. Should be enough for lunches tomorrow for you and the boys, and for Esme and Katie while they stay home tomorrow,” Molly stated while handing him the bag. 

John grabs the bag and Katie’s hand and they both leave after Molly gives her a cuddle and tells her to feel better and rest. Molly then grabs the babies, getting them ready to nurse. 

John walks back into Molly’s just as she is finishing up feeding the babies. He helps get them changed and snuggled into their pram. He then grabs Molly’s coat and helps her put it on. Once they are both ready, John lifts the pram out the door and they both head across the lane to the Shelby home. 

Polly watched the little family walk across the lane and greeted them at the door, “Hello loves, everyone is here waiting.”  Molly was a little surprised when she entered the kitchen to see Ada still at the table with her brothers and Karl asleep on the sofa. 

“John, Molly, have a seat and we will begin,” Thomas said as he stood to make room for the two.  Once the two sit, John grabs her hand and squeezes it comfortingly.

“I called this meeting tonight to let you all know I’ve set up another meeting with the Lees. It will be in two days at Charlie’s Yard. I’ve arranged a nanny for your children and Karl. Benjamin and Eleanor will come with us,” Thomas states,” But before I plead my case with them, I would like to share with you both my plan of getting Zilpha to annul the marriage.” 

Tommy then grabs a file folder from Polly and begins to lay out photos onto the table. Molly and John look at the photos in silence for a little while. It wasn’t until Molly picked up a photo of a man, that looked like her brother, and a woman kissing outside a pregnancy clinic. 

A sudden rush of realization hits Molly,” This is Jacob,” she says looking at the photo. As she looks closer at the woman in the photo, her eyes widen, “And is this... Esme?”

(posted 10/03/2020)

[moondustaeil]

essence , Lee Donghyuck

⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ ⋅ essence

⠀  ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀

⠀ about  

⋅  genre : soulmate au (fluff, angst, sadness, slightly suggestive content)

⋅  characters : Haechan x fem!reader , other nct members

⋅  word count : 13.8k

⋅  note : there are lots of timeskips in this fic, and some suggestive content. Leave some feedback if you want to!

⠀

⠀ summary

⋅ In a world where soulmates meeting each other is the most normal thing, Donghyuck is gifted with two timers instead of one. One counts down to the day he meets you, as the other counts down to the last day you have together. 

Donghyuck’s brown eyes went over to the timer on his friend’s wrist, the countdown never paused but at least Mark still had over a year to go before he would meet his soulmate. While he was stuck at such a young age, with a soulmate that he was destined to meet in less than a month. He wasn’t sure if he was ready to tie the invisible knot between him and his soulmate, he was still young and wanted to enjoy life now that he had the chance. The staring didn’t go unnoticed by Mark, who pulled down his sleeve a bit more so that the counter was no longer visible, even though Mark was one of those people who didn’t care if others saw. 

“I’ve already seen it” Donghyuck whined out loud when he saw what Mark did to prevent him from staring at the timer. It was like a symbolic promise between everyone to not talk about each other’s timers too much: because it wasn’t a competition of who got to love first, and it surely wasn’t something to joke around with. “I know, but staring at mine won’t change yours, Haechan.” Mark replied to the words, being a bit more firm because last time this happened, Donghyuck had managed to lure Mark into telling him what their other friends had on their timers. 

Mark knew how Donghyuck felt, or at least he thought he knew what it felt like. But he lived in the opposite world and was looking forward to the day when his timer would no longer count, the day that he would meet his soulmate and share his life with that person. Sometimes he wished his and Donghyuck’s timers were swapped: but he strongly believed that he and his soulmate belonged together, even if they had never met each other. “How long do you have left?” Mark asked just to know how his friend was doing, Donghyuck had never revealed the timer, he only said it wasn’t that accurate but the timing was close. A quote that had made no sense at all.

The younger man seemed to hesitate for a bit but eventually pushed one sleeve up towards his elbow, although before Mark could see the time, Donghyuck did the same with the other sleeve. He extended both of his arms towards Mark, trying to keep his facial expressions in check even if he was worried about the timers on his skin. “You got two of them?” Mark asked right away as his eyes were completely focused on both wrists at the same time. The different numbers caught Mark’s attention: they weren’t that far apart, neither were they really close. But the question was, why did he have two? And why didn’t they indicate the same? 

“The reason I asked you to reveal the times of the others” Donghyuck admitted honestly, a slight smile on his lips as he remembered how happy he was for his friends, but also how worried he was for his own future and the future of his soulmate. Maybe they would meet at different times by just walking past each other which caused two different numbers to be displayed on his skin. That explanation was the one his mother had given him: but even the woman was worried about the real meaning of the two timers on her son’s wrist. But Donghyuck believed the explanation, perhaps since he had never considered something else or perhaps because his mother probably was old enough to know things like that.

Mark stared at the timers for a while longer, until Donghyuck became overwhelmed by the staring. He pulled both of his sleeves down hastily, not letting Mark have another view of the timers that were counting down each second. “They’re not even a year apart, it can’t be that bad” Mark said to Donghyuck, showing his point with a shrug of his shoulders. As much as Donghyuck wanted to protest, he knew he shouldn’t, he would keep his worries to himself and act as if he believed Mark. The few months between the timers could make a big difference even if he had no idea how it would impact his life.

“Don’t tell the others!” Donghyuck said, although his voice sounded more intimidating so that Mark understood that he really meant it. He wanted to keep this to himself, and him telling Mark had already been a big thing. “Only you and my mum know, and it will stay that way” He added to his previous words in case it hadn’t been clear enough the first time he said it had to be a secret. In response, Mark nodded his head quickly: he was slightly intimidated by Donghyuck’s behavior, something that was so much different than the usual playful way of intimidation that he would usually use.

The silence got into the room for a couple of seconds: Mark tried to forget about what he saw while in Donghyuck’s head it was all that kept replaying. Maybe Donghyuck kept such a close eye on the numbers that he knew the bigger numbers by head, he would only lose count of the hours, minutes and seconds because those went by so fast in his life. One glance away from the timers and a couple of hours would already pass by.

Even though he lived together with his friends, he never allowed the others to glance at the timers like he would. It was one big group of friends, a total of 21 happy souls. Though they had to live split up because of their large squad number. He lived together with 127, who called themselves that way because they had been the first to really settle down and represent the squad. But sometimes he stayed with the dreamies, called that because they were the younger ones of the entire squad. They were so close that some of them even had a nickname, his being Haechan, which translated itself to full sun.

Living together with so many people, sometimes caused him to fear that they would see either of his timers, but the long sleeves or many bracelets would prevent that kind of thing from happening. But it wouldn’t prevent his mind from thinking about finally being able to tell him, sometimes it was something that he wanted to get off of his chest although until this day he had been strong enough. Today though, the strong feeling got overpowered by his weakness, which caused him to say it to Mark.

“I have to go, I promised to go grocery shopping with Taeyong, Johnny and Jungwoo,” Mark said as the silence between them wasn’t comfortable anymore, it was clear that Donghyuck’s head was too full to think about other things. “Wanna come?” Mark suggested afterward as he wasn’t really sure if the younger man wanted to come, he could ask about it so that he wouldn’t feel left out. But Donghyuck just shook his head at the question. “No, I’ll stay here and check up on Yuta. He had a headache earlier” He said softly, though the words were no lie. 

Donghyuck watched as Mark got up from the bed and left the bedroom after a few more seconds of hesitating. As soon as Mark was out of the room, he uncovered his wrists again and stared at both of the timers. None of the numbers on each of his wrist seemed to match, not even the seconds that counted at a completely different number even if the speed of them changing was the same. He stared at his right wrist which counted the number closest to the date of today.

0384 : 12 : 35

He hoped it was the day that he got to know the meaning of the two timers, although maybe if the story his mom told him was true, then he wouldn’t know until the other counter stopped its count as well. Maybe it really represented the day he would meet you and the day you would meet him, that only after those moments, the two of you would really realize that you were meant to be together. 

But he tried to be positive and tell himself that he had at least 19 more days to prepare himself for the future that started closer than he had always wanted it to. In those 19 days, he would try to live his youngest life, somehow in his mind meeting his soulmate was like immediately getting married or having kids, even though that was far from what was actually the use of it. He would meet up with the entire squad and do some silly things, maybe have that fight on the rooftop that everyone always mentioned, even though it would be one with fake swords and probably the balcony rather than the rooftop.

Donghyuck pushed away the nineteen days thought, he pulled the sleeves down to his underarm and over his wrist before he stood up from his bed. With one last soft sigh, he left the memory in his bedroom and then went to Yuta’s room to check up on him. Maybe Yuta could take his mind away from the soulmate thing, the two of them could play some Nintendo together and relax.

0120 : 15 : 09

Donhyuck’s eyes were instantly greeted with the sight of the black numbers upon his wrist, his half-asleep state didn’t even realize the last digit changing every second. It was even somewhat calming to see it counting down, he had to admit that. 

His left hand went towards his face, nearly slapping himself but he managed to control his limbs slightly before he rubbed his hand through his face in a more careful manner. The eyes momentarily were closed, but once they were opened, they immediately saw the timer again. 

Five more days before something would happen, five more days before the first counter stopped its neverending digit changing. He wasn’t looking forward to it, but in the past two weeks, he had learned to stop moping about it, maybe because he was a bit curious about the things that were going to change in his life. Five days was less than a week, less than a week was what he had to try and get his hopes up.

Donghyuck got up from the bed, stretching out his arms and legs as he felt slightly stiff getting up for the first time in such a long night. Maybe it was because last night, he had gone out for some drinks together with some of the others. He didn’t drink much, but did drink enough to make some parts of the evening blurry, the last thing he could remember was Jaehyun and Mark shouting ‘apple juice’ through the entire place. He wasn’t sure what happened for the rest of the time. Luckily, he didn’t flirt with anyone, neither did he take someone home. He was devoted and loyal to his soulmate, even if he had no idea who his soulmate was. 

“Breakfast” He mumbled to himself as he ran a hand through his dyed hair. though before he left the room, his eyes fell on Jaehyun who was still deep asleep with the stuffed animal clutched in his arms tightly. Donghyuck ignored his sleeping roommate after giving him one look and left the bedroom, keeping the bedroom door open so that Jaehyun would wake up from all of the noises that the others made.

His steps were slow as he walked into the kitchen, to reveal only Taeil and Doyoung to be the other two who were awake at this time. They were probably the ones who drank less than others, they weren’t the type of guys to get so drunk that they wouldn’t remember anything from the night and also because they had a big sense of responsibility for the others. “Good morning,” Taeil said, giving the youngest in the dorm a genuine smile, but Donghyuck was still too tired to really give the same kind of smile back. “Did you make breakfast?” He asked after he had mumbled an inaudible greeting back, he was more interested in food than some lame breakfast table talk.

Neither of the older men replied to Donghyuck’s question, though it was Doyoung who put down a plate filled with breakfast in front of Donghyuck. “Here’s your breakfast” Doyoung said before he placed his own plate at his designated spot and took a seat. The three of them sat together at first, sometimes talking about their drinking adventure of yesterday, but the subject changed each time someone else entered the room and joined them for breakfast, or just some coffee when it wasn’t appropriate for their hangover to have breakfast. Though he had been one of the first ones to get breakfast, Donghyuck was the last one at the same time since he had been the one that had to clean up everything today.

“Any plans for today?” Taeyong asked Donghyuck as the leader-like person started to help Donghyuck clean up in the kitchen. Donghyuck was grateful for the help although it was annoying how perfect everything had to be for Taeyong. “I’m going to see a movie with the dreamies later on” He said, somewhat happy to once again get out of the house and forget about the entire soulmate thing. He hadn’t realized how his behavior seemed to change with every day that he was closer to the stop sign of his timer.

Taeyong nodded his head, putting the spray bottle of Febreze back into the right place but soon stood up straight again and looked at Donghyuck. “You’ve been going out so much the past weeks, with and without others. Are you alright?” he asked, his tone worried because that was what he genuinely was. Donghyuck maybe was an adult, but at the same time belonged to the younger set of the squad so he had to be cared for. “Yeah, I just feel like going out more” He replied to the worried question of his friend. He didn’t want to tell another person how he was trying to live his young life before his soulmate would take it away from him. But Taeyong was smarter and knew the truth behind the little lies that Donghyuck told. He never saw Donghyuck’s timer but the behavior told him enough: Donhyuck would meet his soulmate sooner than everyone expected.

“I’m going to shower and get ready” Donghyuck said once he felt slightly uncomfortable around Taeyong, it wasn’t always, he just got uncomfortable whenever he thought someone knew something about his timer, or timers. Everyone in the world had a timer: but he had two timers, and one of them was going to reach its ending point in five days. Those two things combined should be enough to make every human in the world scared for the things that would or could happen. Without waiting for a reply, Donghyuck left Taeyong standing in the kitchen as he went to take a shower.

A shower later, Donghyuck got himself ready to meet up with the dreamies: go out for lunch and afterward see a movie together. While looking through his clothes, he tried to imagine the things he would wear when his timer would stop, and if you would like the clothes he would wear or simply the way he would look. Once he was dressed, he said goodbye to the other members, took his wallet and left the dorm. 

He walked alone through the streets as they had already decided to meet up at the restaurant, it was the easiest for everyone: especially for him who lived in a different dorm, and Chenle who lived with his mother in a big house because she thought he was too young and irresponsible to live alone with other youngsters. While he was on the way to the restaurant, his mind started to drift off again to the days that he had left as an individual, which maybe was a dramatic way to put it but he was too young to see it in another way. He felt like a teenager who had no idea what to feel because of mood swings, which maybe was exactly what everyone would feel in this kind of situation.

The pair of brown eyes that belonged to him craved to know who you were even though the weird feelings surrounded and clouded the thoughts of it. Using his eyes: he scanned every person that he passed by on the street. Looking into every direction that he could without turning his body around. When would he notice that you were his soulmate? Or what if you just passed each other by but you didn’t realize that he was your soulmate which maybe was the reason behind the two different counters. None of the faces, looked like the one of his soulmate even though he had no idea what you were like, on the inside, he just had a feeling that he would know when his soulmate was right into his view. 

His walk to the restaurant was basically consisting of the same staring at every face, he didn’t even look at his phone once, neither did he look at his timer or the floor. Now that time was nearing, he was scared to pass you by without realizing it. Something that was prevented by the timer, but still, it worried Donghyuck more than it should. It was only when he walked into the restaurant and saw some of his friends, that he got distracted from those actions or thoughts. He took a seat next to Renjun, who had already been checking the menu as if he was starving. Jaemin and Chenle greeted Donghyuck while Jeno was halfway through a conversation with Jisung, showing the real maknae pictures of his cats that he had at his parents' house. 

“I made a list of movies that play today” Jaemin suddenly announced to all of them, pulling his phone out of his back pocket and went to the notes that he made. He gave the phone to the one next to him: allowing everyone to check out the things he had listed. In the list were movies allowed for all ages, since both Jisung and Chenle weren’t allowed to watch adult movies and it wasn’t as if the older members would have allowed it anyway.

The six of them had lunch together, walked around the streets, went to see a movie in the cinema and afterward had dinner together. Donghyuck hadn’t even realized how his mind hadn’t been on the situation, he seemed to have forgotten it during the time he could spend with his friends.

The queue in front of Donghyuck made him inwardly sigh in annoyance, both of his hands occupied with the two things that he wanted to buy in the grocery store. Flowers and a small bag of candy that he wanted to eat. He was about to tap Jaemin’s shoulder but realized the person in front of him wasn’t Jaemin at all. In fact, when he looked up, Jaemin was already standing there with the grocery bag clutched in his hand, laughing at Donghyuck for still standing in line. 

“How?” Donghyuck mouthed towards Jaemin as he wanted to know how suddenly Jaemin had paid already, it was as if his eyes had missed it, which probably was the case because he was too busy thinking about what day it was today. Jaemin didn’t mouth anything back to Donghyuck, but instead showed him a double set of cuteness, which revealed the answer already. Jaemin and his cuteness: cringeworthy but it got to everyone’s heart at the same time. 

Donghyuck placed his items down once there was more space in the checkout line, not paying attention to anything for a moment as he had to wait for another few minutes anyway. Though once his mind remembered the things he had been thinking about earlier, his eyes went to the countdown on his wrist almost immediately. 

0000 : 00 : 26 

The numbers were counting down faster than they had done before, or it at least seemed that way. The seconds ticked by with each passing moment, yet he didn’t stop staring at the changing numbers. 

A sudden tap on his shoulder made him look away from the numbers, even if he hoped they would stop passing by that way, it was something so unreal and stopping the time would never happen in real life. He didn’t turn to the person that tapped his shoulder yet, it was like a wake-up call to get him from staring mode into thinking mode. 

“Excuse me?”

He finally turned towards the sound of the voice and was greeted by the sight of you, you were just a stranger like the rest of the queue behind him, aside from the nervous smile that was playing on your lips that made you just more cuter than the other customers waiting for their turn. “Can you let me pass, I am meeting my soulmate in less than 10 seconds and I don’t want to miss him!” you said hastily, never looking up at the stranger because your eyes were going from one spot to the other. You were in a rush to meet your soulmate, especially after losing sight of the timer on your wrist for a few hours. Donghyuck quickly nodded and moved aside slightly to let you go past him, a strange feeling filling his insides as he saw you being so nervous and excited as you gushed about meeting your soulmate. He wished he could be as excited like that.

Two seconds later the realization hit Donghyuck in the face, making his arm grab yours to stop you from going any further towards the exit of the store. “I’m here” he said, struggling to say the words that he was your soulmate. Instead the ‘I’m here’ would substitute for that. Your eyes unconsciously took a quick glance towards the wrist that was so close to your view now, only to one second after that glance at your own wrist. 

0000 : 00 : 00

Donghyuck’s eyes did the same thing that yours did but oppositely, even if he had connected the dots when he spoke, looking at it was like the confirmation he needed. He looked up to properly see your face for the first time, surprised when your eyes met because you were about to do the same thing.

“Your countdown... it stopped,” You said soft and pointed towards his wrist, though your eyes never broke so you weren’t sure if it was his wrist that you pointed at. His head only slightly moved in a nodding motion, the grip he had on your arm never faltering even if his arm was starting to feel numb in that position. “Yours did too,” He said, stuttering slightly over the words: not because he was nervous but slightly out of disbelief, and unsure of what emotions that went through his body. Your eyes went to your timer as Donghyuck’s eyes went to his counter, both looking equally surprised like it was a movie with nonstop surprise moments. 

The rest of the queue had stopped moving as everyone was witnessing two soulmates meeting each other for the first time, something that happened daily all over the world but at the same time a phenomenon and miracle. No one spoke, neither were any sounds heard aside from the soft music playing through the speakers. Even Jaemin, who had been waiting for Donghyuck, seemed to be frozen in his spot and could only watch how one of his best friends found the love of his life. 

“You’re my soulmate” You spoke up first as soon as the little trance let you go from its embrace, even though you were still a little bit hazy, you were aware enough to realize that the man in front of you was your soulmate. Donghyuck heard your words, which popped the same imaginary trance bubble that you had been in too. “You’re mine” He said in a mumble but corrected his words a second after he had outed them “my soulmate.”

It was Jaemin who noticed that talking was hard, and even though he didn’t know if it went like that in all situations, he felt as if he needed to extend a helping hand towards the two of you. He put down the plastic bag he was holding and made his way to the two of you.

“What’s your name?” Jaemin asked as he smiled sweetly at you, the kind of smile that was as sweet as ice cream and instantly made you comfortable around him. “y/n” you said soft, smiling even if you hadn’t even seen the kind of smile he gave you a second ago. Jaemin nodded and turned his body to Donghyuck, giving him a playful push to keep him in the real world. “What’s your name?” he asked the same question to his friend as he knew you were listening intensely just like Donghyuck was. “Donghyuck... Haechan” He answered as if Jaemin was a stranger to him too, who simply asked for his name.

Jaemin took Donghyuck’s hand from your arm and connected it to your hand instead. His eyes noticing that both of your timers were starting to fade, and once your hands touched, the ink was completely vanished, as if it had never been there from the start. “Donghyuck why don’t you give y/n the flowers that you bought for her?” He asked and picked up the flowers that still had to be scanned by the cashier, he handed them over into Donghyuck’s free hand.

“I bought you flowers” Donghyuck said and extended the hand with the small bouquet towards you. The gesture was small and maybe the flowers were not as great as those of the flower shop, but the young boy had wanted to do something for his soulmate, even though his claims in the past month had told the complete opposite. You took the flowers and smiled, bringing them slightly closer to your face to take in the scent of them. “They’re really beautiful” you answered with a smile, unconsciously giving Donghyuck’s hand a little squeeze.

The smile on Donghyuck’s lips was one that wouldn’t leave anytime soon, all of the stress and worries about before were gone, as he even felt slightly in love with the idea of being with you forever. And when you squeezed his hand, he felt as if he was being embraced by someone that loved him in the same way. “Shall we go for coffee together? And with together, I mean you two, not me” Jaemin interrupted as he realized real life was slowly passing over the nice moment in front of his eyes. Being a spokesperson in a blooming love story wasn’t something Jaemin ever expected in his life, but seeing his friend like that, made him know it had been needed. 

Donghyuck nodded at Jaemin’s suggestion. “Come, y/n. We will get coffee” He said and for the first time showed you a real smile, which you obviously returned. He only held your hand a little bit tighter as he started to take slow steps towards the exit of the store, leaving you only a little bit behind him. Your hands connected to tie you together just like the invisible rope of the soulmate life did. Just like that, you left the imagination behind, just like Jaemin who now had to pay for the flowers that Donghyuck originally would buy for you.

For the first few minutes of the walk towards a coffee shop, it was quiet between you and Donghyuck. The silence had comfortably walked along with the two of you, and neither of you actually had the guts to shoo the silence away. Donghyuck barely knew what was happening now, while you could barely process that you actually met your soulmate. It was a day that you had dreaded and yet had been so excited for once the counter lowered numbers drastically. Donghyuck looked away from the ground beneath his feet, trying to steal some glances at you without you knowing. Yet, as soon as his eyes were about to meet with your featured, he stumbled over his own clumsy feet. 

A funny gesture that the silence found unpleasing so it left, and instead, your laughter was heard through Donghyuck’s ears. “You think that’s funny?” He asked you, trying to appear serious as he pulled your hand slightly, drawing your body a little closer against his. You nodded your head as another small laugh left your lips. “I do” you said, managing to speak through the laughter. The way you had to laugh, made Dognhyuck laugh though, despite his tries to act all serious about him nearly stumbling over his own feet. 

Not much later, the two of you arrived at the coffee shop, it wasn’t the one that Donghyuck had wanted to go to, but if he was speaking honestly, then he had to say how he completely forgot where his favorite coffee shop was because he was so mesmerized and caught up in the idea of his soulmate being right next to him, holding his hand, laughing at his stupidity. He opened the door to the coffee shop and let you inside first, following seconds after you because he already didn’t like the idea of being far away from you. Your eyes fell to a couple of empty tables and your feet just followed your eyes, liking the thought of not having anyone else at the other tables so that the two of you could have a private kind of talk in public.

As both of you sat down, you also put down the flowers that you received on the table. “Do you already know what you want to order?” You asked your soulmate, about to look at him but still noticed how connected your hands were. It must have been something really awkward to sit down while holding hands, but you couldn’t recall the moment and maybe that was for the best. Though your hand didn’t leave his alone for a second, they were still clasped together. Donghyuck let out a hum as he thought about his order without looking at the menu. “Something sweet maybe,” He said once he had given it a second of thinking, the cliche pickup line of something being as sweet as his soulmate popped up in his mind, but he decided against it as it was kind of cringy to use. “You?” He asked curiously, secretly wanting to know your taste in these things, maybe for future purposes. “I’ll order what I usually order, to make a special day, a little more ordinary,” you said with a smile.

It was you who decided to go to the counter and order, despite Donghyuck saying he would do it, you were off of your chair and in line before Donghyuck even had the chance to beat you to it. As you were in line, Donghyuck sat by himself in silence. Maybe a lonely moment like this had been needed: just to give everything that happened a chance to settle down in his mind. He stared at his right wrist even though no more ink was visible on there, it was like a habit to look at it from time to time. Looking at his right wrist made him remember the second counter, and the glance at his left wrist, let him know that the things his mum told him were wrong.

“Why are you still counting?” Donghyuck asked his left wrist even if he knew wrists couldn’t talk, and if they could then they probably would stay quiet anyway. His head suddenly turned towards you, as if he had no control over it, a weird feeling that wasn’t happiness crept over his body. And when he glanced at his timer again, it was as if the meaning was written all over his wrist but he was too blind to see or realize it at this moment. And if he was able to comprehend the meaning, then he wouldn’t have had time to process it as you were already on your way back to the table. He was quick enough to pull his sleeve over the remaining timer and looked up at you right when you sat down on the chair again. “They would bring our order to our table,” you said with a smile, not realizing how Donghyuck wasn’t looking at you because he was wondering why you didn’t return with the order. Donghyuck smiled at your words and even though he hadn’t heard what you said, he made you think it was okay that they would bring the order to your table. 

It was only at closing time that the two of you left the coffee shop, probably a little overactive from the beverages that you drank later on the evening. But your heart was filled with joy to know you found your one and only. And at the same time, Donghyuck’s heart, had immediately warmed up to the idea of you being his soulmate.

“So why do they call you Haechan?”

Your question brought his eyes up to yours even though they had been focused on the sheets of the bed. The curiosity that was seen in your eyes, made him smile at you. “Do you really want to know?” He asked with a playful smile on his lips, the question made you nod without hesitation. But the answer didn’t come from his lips like you had hoped. “Give me a kiss then,” he said as the playful smile turned into a smirk. Still, it made him look just as playful as before.

“I hate you” You said playfully before you leaned towards him and pressed your lips to his cheek. Cheek kisses were the only things you had shared for now, aside from hand-holding and cuddling together in bed when having a meet up at home. But it was enough affection for you. Both of you had questioned at what pace soulmate relationships went but no one really was prepared for an unusual inquiry like that. Once your lips separated from his cheek, he smiled as he was satisfied with it. “Let me tell you the meaning behind my nickname, only to be used by people who love me!” he said before he turned more serious to tell what it meant.

“Haechan is the translation of full sun. They gave me the nickname because I am usually happy like sunshine, and can brighten everyone's days. Including the day of my soulmate, she told me that I’m her sunshine” Donghyuck said, using a cuter voice to say the last part. You had been listening intensely, but the last part made you take a teddy bear he had on his bed, and without hesitation flung it to his face. From outside the room, the other members heard the happy laughter and giggles: it was obvious that their Haechan had found his soulmate and they couldn’t be happier. Though Mark remembered the second counter Donghyuck had showed him, and he remembered it each time he heard your voice. 

Donghyuck’s laugh was heard through the room as he shook his head in fake disappointment when you had flung the stuffed animal against him. “You’re not my soulmate, you’re the devil” he said, poking out his tongue at you before he pretended to be angry by turning his body away from yours. 

“Oh c’mon Hyuck, don’t be angry,” You said even if you knew it was all a small fake act from your soulmate, sometimes things grew through silliness even if it were childish things like this. You sighed and got closer to him, your head resting against his back like you would normally rest it against his chest whenever the two of you were being lazy like that. “Please,” you said, your tone making it clear that you were faking a pout. And even though he couldn’t see it, your pout was something that Donghyuck would always fall for. He instantly turned around to face you, pulling your body into his arms for your head to rest on his chest. “Just because you’re my soulmate,” he said as he still had a smile displayed on his lips.

It grew silent after that, only the breathing in the room together with some noises of the other guys that were in the dorm. But the silence no longer seemed uncomfortable or bothersome to the two of you, it was more like a silent moment of gratefulness to have each other. Time passed by just like that, time that also passed by on Donghyuck’s counter even if he had forgotten about it. Before you knew it, you had fallen into a light slumber, peacefully resting in the arms of your soulmate.

Donghyuck watched you sleep for a couple of minutes, the silence in the room growing as even your breathing seemed softer and Donhyuck himself tried to quiet down as much as he could when he saw you asleep in his arms. Suddenly he remembered something he hadn’t looked at today, simply because he had been so caught up with you and falling in love with you. He pulled up his left sleeve, just enough to reveal the countdown still going at its usual rate. 

0984 : 19 : 01

He watched how the last digit changed which also turned the other two digits in front of it to another number. He took his phone from the bedside table and went onto the internet, making sure the light was only on his face and not on yours. Once the browser had loaded, he typed in the first four digits that were represented on his wrist, and then typed behind them to convert the hours into days. He had expected a large number of days but the fast internet provided him with an unexpected answer: forty-one days.

forty-one days until what? Donghyuck wondered to himself. His eyes leaving the phone screen to look at you, and a small smile came on his lips one he saw that you were still peacefully cuddled into his arms, just like you were when you had first fallen asleep. He put his phone next to his body, pulled down his sleeve until the timer was covered and then carefully tangled his hand in your hair. Stroking it gently, barely even letting his fingertips graze over the soft strands.

The silence was interrupted when the door opened to reveal Mark standing there, Donghyuck immediately motioned towards your sleeping body as a signal for Mark to stay quiet. And Mark listened, very quietly stepping into the bedroom and closing the door behind him. “Bro, we have to talk” He whispered towards Donghyuck, going over to the bed so that the two could hear each other while whispering.

Donghyuck just nodded as an answer, simply because Mark seemed so serious, otherwise he would have told Mark to come back another time, when you weren’t asleep. “Why?” Donghyuck asked as he stopped stroking your hair, he didn’t want your surroundings to be full of triggers that could wake you up when it was too much. Mark motioned towards Donghyuck’s left wrist and without saying it, Donghyuck knew it was about his timer. “I know what it means” He said which caused Donghyuck to look at the older guy questioningly.

“One of Johnny’s friends had two counters too. The second timer stopped on the day that he last saw his soulmate.” Mark said in a careful voice as he told what he had heard from Johnny. Johnny had told the story because he announced he would be taking that friend out to cheer him up, and Mark’s eyes had particularly widened when he heard the story. Donghyuck listened to the meaning, the explanation being shorter than he expected but it was a strong message. And yet, Donghyuck shook his head. “Maybe they weren’t meant to be, their timers could have been one second apart. You don’t know that, it’s a story” Donghyuck said, protecting his mind from hearing the possible truth in the words. The response was something Mark expected, and as much as he wanted to protest, he knew Donghyuck could be right, but deep inside he also knew the second timer was counting down until the last time Donghyuck would see you.

Mark left the room as soon as silence came in between him and Donghyuck, maybe the denial that Donghyuck was in would go by once he had time alone to process it. And indeed, when Mark was out of the room, the words had gotten stuck thanks to the replay button in Donghyuck’s mind. 

forty-one days left until he would see you for the last time, what did that mean? Donghyuck had no idea of the meaning behind those words, neither did he really understand the story of Johnny’s friend. Maybe he would have understood it better if he was actually there to listen, but to hear it again, he would have to talk to Johnny about it. And possibly also reveal how he was gifted with an unlucky second counter. His eyes went towards you, but he no longer smiled, he felt weird all of a sudden as an almost melancholic feeling absorbed the happiness he felt earlier.

On the inside, Donghyuck knew the truth and he knew he wasn’t telling himself the truth. He was feeding himself a spoonful of lies while Mark was offering him the plate of truth right in front of his nose. Maybe he couldn’t bear to see the truth, he was too weak to handle the responsibility of knowing on his young shoulders. Maybe, it was because he was falling in love with you and giving up his soulmate this soon, was something he wasn’t prepared for. A soft sigh left his lips as he looked at your sleeping figure, though small tears made the sight of you blur until it seemed like the pixel filter had mixed with the grain filter. 

“Donghyuck, why are you crying?” 

The voice that he least expected to hear right now, filled his ears. The voice of his soulmate that he loved, the same voice that produced the laughter he could listen to all day. He closed his eyes rapidly to let the few last tears fall: he wanted them to fall quickly so that no more tears would produce on top of the ones that he had cried already. You reached up your arm until it was close enough to his face, the fingertip of your thumb slowly wiping the tears that rolled down, leaving some rough dry patches upon his skin. 

“I’m just so happy to have you, did I ever tell you that?” Donghyuck said through a small sob, sitting up properly to look at you even if your face was still slightly blurry through his vision. The sudden words surprised you but distracted you from the real reason behind his tears, in the short time that you had been familiar with each other, he never said those words. “You didn’t” you started as your body did the same as him so that the two of you sat face to face, looking at each other but not into each other’s eyes. “But I’m very happy to have you as my soulmate, as my future” you said, meaning every word you pushed past your lips.

The words Donghyuck said were completely true even if he lied about the reason he was crying. Because he felt lucky to be your soulmate and he was happy to spend every day with you. Yet, at the same time, he knew soon he wouldn’t be able to see you again, maybe the two of you wouldn’t even be soulmates anymore. Time for you two as soulmates was very limited and Donghyuck didn’t know whether he would have to let you go because of problems in your connection or maybe because either of you wouldn’t make it to the next day. All of those possibilities ran through his mind at a rapid speed, like a pinwheel that was spinning and it would keep on spinning until the dreaded day arrived.

Donghyuck rubbed his hand through his eyes once more as if he was getting rid of the last tears in them, but in reality, he was avoiding the new tears that threatened to fall already. He didn’t want to cry anymore, at least not when you were next to him. When you said that he was your future, a feeling went through his entire body. It was as if his heart seemed to get hit with a hammer, and the pain, was bittersweet. 

When he opened his eyes again, he met was with the sight of you, looking at him from a close-up with worried eyes. Seeing your soulmate cry was something that worried you, even though he said it was because he was happy to have you as his soulmate. His tears had dried upon his cheeks, which made you let out a sigh of relief that his tears had seemed to stop from falling. You tried to follow his eyes that were focused on you, but had no idea what they were seeing. “Hyuck?” you asked soft, wanting to ask if he really was alright at this point. His endless staring, his haze, the crying from earlier: it were things that brought worrisome feelings to your head.

“Can I kiss you?” Donghyuck suddenly broke the tense silence instead of answering to your call for him, his eyes indicated that he had snapped out of the little staring haze he seemed to be in. You could get lost in those eyes, but knew whenever he was lost, his own eyes would indicate it as well. Your eyes widened slightly at the unexpected question but nonetheless, you nodded your head in a positive answer. It took a few seconds for him to realize that you had nodded yes to kissing him, but the smile on his lips made it clear that he saw your nod earlier. 

Donghyuck leaned forward so that his lips were closer to yours, the gap slowly lessened when his lips brushed over yours, barely touching one another but still enough to make the goosebumps rose onto your skin. The slight smile that Donghyuck had on his lips disappeared when he finally pressed his lips to yours completely, creating that first kiss. It was gentle and heartfelt as if two hearts became one during the moment of intimacy. His arms that had been rested next to his body, slowly came up to cup your cheeks during the kiss, just to make it last a tad longer. He would do anything to feel the love falling from your lips onto his. 

The kiss had left both of you breathless the moment your lips separated, if it had been possible to feel sparks then it was more like an electric shock made up out of love. You heard Donghyuck muttering out something that sounded like a small ‘Woah’ but his heavy breathing made it hard to say it for sure. Though, you would say the exact same thing. Kissing Donghyuck was like so many things: each thing so different, but the euphoric feeling combined with happiness, love, and so many other emotions. 

“Come here” Donghyuck said and opened his arms for you to cuddle into them, something you didn’t say no to as you immediately moved to the arms that would make you feel like home. The embrace he held you in was tight but cozy, as both of your minds wandered to the first kiss you just shared. It might have been the first, but surely not the last. 

Donghyuck forgot everything for a second, only the kiss had deserved its press on the replay button. His mind was on you and it mixed itself with the feeling of love and happiness, something that would stay until he was alone again. Once his mind had a moment to wander alone, it would be filled with the thought of having to let you go in forty-one days.

0576 : 06 : 41

Time ticked further even on the moments that Donghyuck forgot about them, even in the moments where time had seemed to stop. And all of the moments that he forgot about the time, he was with you. Time revolved around you, but so did his life.

Donghyuck’s hands rested on your thighs as soon as he kissed your lips for the second time, this time it was more passionate than the sloppy kiss that ended a few minutes ago. Your hand slightly tugged at his arm to draw his body just a little bit closer against yours. 

It would be a lie if you said the kiss didn’t leave its wonders on your body, and by the way you reached up for more of his addictive lips, Donghyuck noticed the slight eagerness. He felt the exact same needs as you did, getting needy for a small taste of your lips, only to get intoxicated by all of you and not just a little taste test he had. His fingertips were warm as they pushed themselves towards your inner thigh, exploring the texture of your jeans but also the way your body felt. “So this is what they call drunk on love” He muttered against your parted lips, his own lips taking the opportunity to deepen the kiss. 

You had no chance to reply to the words because of the sudden change in the way of kissing, though you didn’t complain at all. The hand that had been on his right wrist slowly moved to his chest, to rest there instead. Without even realizing your own actions, your hand made a way under his shirt, fingertips discovering every inch of the warm skin. “Donghyuck” You muttered soft against his lips, accidentally letting your teeth sink into his lower lip because of eagerness. Before you could apologize, an unfamiliar but pleasing sound fell from your soulmate’s lips. 

It all felt so new, and as much as you felt inexperienced, at the same time, you felt as if it was going perfectly fine like this. Though, there was no time to think about those things, not when Donghyuck required your attention. His plump lips left one more kiss on yours before the trail went downwards: starting at your jaw but ending at the sensitive skin of your neck. The kisses felt like soft feathers tingling down your skin, but the heath rose when his kisses turned into leaving little love bites along the way. “Want to...take this further?” Donghyuck muttered against the skin after he had pushed his tongue past his lips to soothe the little bite he left. His voice sounded unsure, but the man just had no idea how to say that his pants were tightening with every passing minute.

Your hum was heard through the room even though it was soft, the hand that was under his shirt seemed to be frozen for a second as the other one was stroking through his hair, twirling at the strands whenever a love bite was stamped onto your skin. “I do” you answered with your words, slightly pulling away from the position you were in just so that you could place a deep kiss on his lips once again. Though, he lead the kiss more than you did as his tongue stroked a straight line over your lower lip. Before your reaction could follow, the teasing side of your soulmate made him decide to pull away.

Donghyuck carefully moved your hands away from his body and gave you a genuine smile, his fingertips latching itself onto your shirt this time and carefully pushed it upwards so that you could take it off. You pulled the remaining bit over your body and head, putting it aside once your body was freed from the piece of clothing. “I’ll take off mine now too” Donghyuck said to you and did as he said, in his head, he wondered if he had to do these things fast or slow, but knew no matter what he did, you wouldn’t judge him for it. 

The silence between you two after that was a nice one, where the two of you admired bits of each other’s bodies that you hadn’t seen before. Donghyuck had forgotten about his timer, but it didn’t matter as luckily you weren’t able to see it, for your own good probably. Still, in silence, the two of you got rid of the remaining pieces of clothing covering your bodies. 

Naked and exposed was what both of you were left in, but neither of you felt that way. Rather than naked, it was being bare in front of each other. Eyes that sparkled with admiration as you looked at each other. “You look so beautiful,” Donghyuck said to you as his eyes skimmed up your body again until he met your eyes. The simple set of words left you almost speechless, but a “thank you” managed to come out in a softer voice.

An unexpected giggle left your lips as the aftermath of his compliment, and the sound of that made Donghyuck let out a laugh too. He just thought you were too cute when you laughed or when you got flustered because of his compliments. Maybe to others, this would seem an awkward moment, but that made everything a little more natural and perfect in the eyes of the soulmates. 

The staring stopped when your lips were met again together, small glimpses of all the sorts of kisses you had shared passed by in this one. But the most overwhelming feeling was endless love for each other, a need for intimacy and closeness. A need for two soulmates to share their souls to be made into one. 

After that, the next step into your soulmate connection was set. Sex was something neither of you mentioned before, making it something unplanned. Unplanned but still like the first time together was supposed to be. The euphoric feeling that was chased through the time, wasn’t one that disappointed once it came. Though the aftermath was a tiring state, it had all been more than worth it.

...

Your eyes went to your soulmate who was next to you in bed, the warm covers pulled over your bare bodies to keep the cold from getting to you. Feeling his warm, bare skin against yours brought you back to the things that happened only a few hours ago. When intimacy became more lustful and a hunt to explore each other more. The unplanned romance was something simplistic and yet, something that wouldn’t leave your mind for a long time. It was as if you could still feel and see the things that happened at that moment: the soft shared kisses between you two, awkward giggles, the feeling of two bodies completing each other and turning into one. All of those things formed to one conclusion in your mind.

It was love

Donghyuck’s soft breathing interrupted further thoughts from coming inside your mind, but when you saw his eyes still lightly shut, you knew that he was still in a peaceful slumber. A slumber that you should be having too, but there was just something about watching your soulmate while he was at his most vulnerable and yet peaceful state. Out of all of the other people in the world, he was destined as yours and you were his. 

Soulmate lives brought up many questions of doubt, questions that everyone answered differently: none of them were right, none of them were wrong. And in the end, you knew that it just depended on life and on each other. Just like how your life and Donghyuck’s life became something that both of you would name as ‘our life’ , because life belonged to both of you, and both of you completed a small puzzle that you would have to continue building up together. Not all soulmates stayed together, not all soulmates even had the opportunity to meet each other. You considered yourself lucky and grateful: to have Donghyuck, and to share the love. 

Slow thoughts passed by in your mind as you continued to look at Donghyuck for a couple of minutes, a small smile played on your lips at the continuous stream of happy memories and thoughts. Maybe Donghyuck really was a full sun: giving its overflowing rays to others to brighten up their day, giving them positivity whenever things weren’t okay. But you also wondered what would happen when the sun himself had no light to shine or no chance to rest. It was a promise in your mind that you made with yourself, to try and make Donghyuck happy for as many days as you possibly could.

Donghyuck moved slightly in his sleep, both of his arms above the covers as his wrist became visible almost right away. Your eyes went from his bare shoulder to his arm and then to his hand, smiling when you thought about all the times you would hold hands. And a glance at his wrist reminded you of the day both of your timers had stopped; you missed looking at the changing numbers sometimes, but the habit was forgotten whenever you remembered that you had the face of your soulmate to look at instead. 

“I love you”

The words stirred in an invisible pot in your mind for a little bit but then you realized that it wasn’t your mind that actually produced the words. Your eyes no longer staring into the unknown when you also realized it really was Donghyuck’s voice that said them. Instead, your eyes focused on Donghyuck again. His eyes were slightly open and at the same time, it looked like he was still half asleep, but it didn’t make him less beautiful. 

A lazy smile played on his lips, his hand wrapping around your arm and pulled you into one of his warm embraces like that. Still facing him, you laid comfortably in his arms. “Hm, answer me, little sunflower,” He said to you, nudging the tip of his nose against the soft skin of your cheek. A playful gesture even if he did want to hear your voice, he had to know if you felt the same thing that he felt for you.

You smiled at the gesture, pressing a soft kiss to his shoulder but soon turned a bit so that you could look at him and his facial expressions when you two were lazing and talking together. “I love you too, Donghycuk” you finally answered the words he said earlier even though it hadn’t been a question. Your eyes still focused to see what expression his face would form into when you returned the act of love. And his smile seemed brighter than ever before, almost as if the literal sun was shining through lace curtains and into your heart.

Donghyuck hummed softly when he heard the words, a neverending smile was on display for you to see and admire. Though he hadn’t realized how his timer was on display just like his smile was, a timer that your eyes would never see, because it somehow just worked like that, and one Donghyuck would figure that out, he would feel grateful but also confused at the same time. 

His fingertips came in contact with your warm skin, starting to trace small shapes onto the soft flesh. First, it were small circles but circles turned into hearts and hearts turned into writing his name or your initials. The small traces never left a mark on your skin, invisible permanent ink stating how you were his and he was yours. Just like his fingertips touched you, his lips also did by pressing a few small but sweet kisses to your lips: in his little rush sometimes only pecking your lower or top lip, yet the kisses didn’t lack love or feelings. The little mistakes he made, left him smiling against your lips once he did kiss you properly. And you gladly returned that kiss.

this was forever

Donghyuck’s eyes opened themselves in the morning, aside from needing the time to adjust to the light, his eyes looked forward to seeing your sleeping figure next to him. His hand already reached out towards the side of the bed that you would always occupy. Only to be met by the cold, yet soft mattress. It made his eyes open themselves properly and the first thing they saw was the empty space beside him. At the same time, he also noticed the lack of warmth in the bed and in his arms. 

He took his phone from the nightstand but after having it unlocked, he noticed that he didn’t have a message from you to reveal where you were. Panic always rose in his body whenever Donghyuck couldn’t see you: scared that you had left or already disappeared from his life. It was a fear, a fear that made him weak in the knees and a fear that controlled a little part of his life.

Before deciding to get up, he took a look at the countdown on his wrist once again, a daily habit unless you were next to him. His eyes closed before he could see it: before the two of you went to bed, the number was still slightly over a hundred and he hoped nothing had changed to that number. “Please” He mumbled shortly to himself and opened his eyes in an instant to look at the verdict.

0096 : 01 : 42

Seeing more numbers going towards the 0 made him swallow away the lump in his throat. There was no more chance that time would ever stand still, no more chance of you staying longer in his arms than the time that had been given. What did he do to only deserve your love for a short moment in his life? Why did he deserve your love in such a small amount? Was he being punished for who he was in his previous life?

All kinds of questions bombarded Donghyuck’s mind but none of the questions would get an answer. He was grateful for the time he had with you, but at the time he wasn’t grateful for the heartbreak he was going to experience in ninety-six hours. 

“y/n” Donghyuck mumbled softly to himself as he was staring down at his wrist, sad eyes looking upon the timer the entire time as another minute passed by faster than the time really seemed to go. He wasn’t ready to lose you, to give you away and continue his life as if nothing ever happened. Once again, your name left his lips, a more angry tone coming from them. He tugged on his sleeve harshly: leaving the sleeve over his entire hand but at least it covered the timer so that he could no longer see it. He was angry, he was sad, he was disappointed, he was feeling so many negative emotions when he was on his own, while around you all he felt was sunshine, happiness, and love. 

Just as he was about to get up to look for you, you came into the bedroom with a small smile on your lips. He could see the way you were trying to focus on not dropping the tray with breakfast, which was a cute sight that instantly lowered the level of angriness he had in his body. When you almost reached the bed, your eyes finally looked away from the breakfast-filled tray and they scanned the bed, only to see Donghyuck already awake. 

“I wanted to make you breakfast in bed” You said with a small smile as you had kind of wished he was still asleep by the time you were done with making breakfast. You had even received help from Doyoung to get the breakfast ready faster than when you did it alone. As you put the tray down in the middle of the bed, Donghyuck sent you a sweet smile. “And you did, come here, sunflower,” He said and beckoned you in for a morning kiss. You leaned over towards his side of the bed, pressing a couple of small kisses to his lips, making him turn the last peck into a proper morning kiss. 

“Good morning” He mumbled against your lips before slowly withdrawing his lips from yours, leaving you with a smile on your lips. “Morning,” you said back to him as you got comfortable on the bed to eat your breakfast together here. Donghyuck carefully moved the tray a bit closer to both of you so that eating without spilling was easier, after all, he didn’t want to get scolded by Taeyong for having crumbs or coffee stains on the sheets of the bed. 

As both you and Donghyuck ate a bit, it was silent for a while. But at the same time both of you listened to the talking from the others that was happening outside your room, probably everyone getting up for breakfast or for plans they made. “Do you have any plans today?” You asked Donghyuck as you eyed him curiously to wait for his answer. Donghyuck shook his head as his mouth was still filled with fresh and warm coffee that had been just made. Once he swallowed it, he could speak up: “no, I just wanted to spend my day with you, unless you have something to do?” he said, adding the last bit more questioningly as he wanted to know if you had made any plans that didn’t involve him. You in response just shook your head as a sign that you had nothing planned for today.

For that response, Donghyuck was inwardly very grateful. Simply because he only had four days left with you and wished you would spend your four last days together. Even though there was the chance that you’d not survive and had to say a last goodbye to your family and friends, Donghyuck was selfish and wanted you all to himself. He wanted to protect you from whatever was going to happen, even if it meant having to lock you inside for four days just to keep you intact and safe.

“Maybe we could go to the coffee shop where we first drank coffee together?” You suggested to Donghyuck, still thinking he asked the question because he wanted to do something other than lazing around for most of the day. When Donghyuck shook his head at the suggestion, you were surprised because you thought he would have said yes. “Do you want to do something else?” you asked, asking more questions because you wanted to know what was going on in his mind and wanted to know what kind of day he had in mind when he asked about the plans earlier. “I kind of just want to stay here: have a movie marathon, or have a pamper day together,” he said, just speaking his opinion mixed with the worry of you leaving the dorm to get into the big world where scary things happened.

Hearing those words made you nod slowly as you were still trying to think of something that you could do together while you stayed inside since Donghyuck clearly didn’t want to leave the house today. Something that you were fine with, because all you wanted was for Donghyuck to be happy. 

Lately, in the past few days, you had seen the difference between your Donghyuck and the Donghyuck that he turned into. Not to forget how you could see his sad expression whenever he thought you were out of the room, but when you walked in again, it was just enough time for you to see how his expressions changed. As if he forced himself to be happy around you. You knew on the inside that it had nothing to do with who you were: maybe he was just hiding that he was going through a tough time. And it was your job to make him happy again since you did promise yourself to try and make each day as happy and good as possible for him.

“A pamper day sounds nice” You said as you had given it a thought, maybe it would be a good way to get Donghyuck to feel better or maybe he would open up to you about his struggles that way. But you had no idea how he wanted to use his last chances to give you his everything, to give you everything you deserved in life or more... maybe it would make you stay with him, maybe then you wouldn’t get taken away from him in whatever way. Donghyuck smiled when you had given your words of approval, even though he already guessed you would say yes because nothing was better than a day where you would take care of each other and love each other.

Donghyuck took the last bites of the breakfast before he wiped his hands on the napkin that you had also put down on the tray. He watched how you seemed to be in thinking mode, which probably was thinking about all the kinds of stuff you could do on your pampering day, at least he guessed so as he could still notice the slight smile that you had on your lips.

In the middle of the silence that was created, Donghyuck decided to speak up as a random thought pushed the other thoughts away from his mind immediately. “Do you want to go on a date?” He asked you suddenly, his words never faltering as he said the things even though it was as much of a shock to him as it would be to you. You snapped back into reality, your eyes going over to the person that you loved so much, to the person that was your forever and even beyond that. “We never had a real date because we are soulmates,” you said soft and smiled a bit once that thought recovered from the shock question he had bombarded you with, you didn’t know soulmates would go on dates as well. “Then let’s go on a date: what do you think of going to the flower fields and just spending some time together there. Just the two of us and no one else, our love and some kisses” He said hastily as he nearly was at the crying point again when the words of going on a romantic date on the day he would last see you slipped from his lips.

“Like a first date kind of concept?” You asked, confused as Donghyuck had seemed to think about it before. Maybe he already planned this out beforehand when you had no idea what was going on in his mind, and maybe that had been the reason why he always seemed to be sad or in thought when you weren’t in the room. “Exactly like that, we will make it special in our way, we don’t need many things to make it special. And I was thinking, we could even get to the place separately so that it seems more like a surprise” He said even though it no longer was a surprise, he could make it surprising in many different ways and that was exactly what he was planning on doing. Anything to make you stay.

You seemed to think about it for a while, although a while was only like a few seconds, but long enough to make Donghyuck wonder if it was really a good idea. He had thought about it before, but planning was hard for someone with such a young mind. “Yes, I would like that,” you said as a sign that you were up for that kind of date, and the smile made it even more clear to you that you did want to do so. Without saying anything, Donghyuck leaned forward and kissed your lips again, over the moon with the idea of you having your first date together and possibly make you stay with him for longer and hopefully forever.

Donghyuck looked at the flower garden with a proud smile, carrying the bag of things he had gotten from the grocery store. It maybe wasn’t the best quality food or the flower fields like he said, but he knew that the flower garden and the simple cup ramen was just as good as all of the other things that the world had to offer. His mind had dared to slip away from the timer because he didn’t want to look down upon it today: he had promised himself not to because it was too painful for him to handle and he still didn’t want to think about the chance of losing you.

He took his phone from the pocket of his jeans and looked down at the time it indicated, although it was more staring at your picture that was set proudly as his lockscreen. Aside from considering you as his soulmate, you were also his girlfriend at the same time and probably even the love of his life, the last one being words he didn’t say out loud even though he was very sure of them. Just ten more minutes before you would arrive at the place that he decided to meet up with you. He had texted you the address so by the address you probably would have noticed how it was a flower garden rather than the fields, but there was no real space for romantic flower fields in a city as big as this one. 

Donghyuck unlocked his phone and immediately went towards the last text that you had sent him, telling him that you were already on the way but that you had decided to walk there so that you had time to enjoy the weather. You could have easily asked one of the other guys to take you to the right destination but you wanted to go for the real first date concept and just try to find your own way to the destination, you didn’t want the other guys to waste time on taking you there and then drive back home once again.

He looked back at the time you last sent that message and frowned when he realized it had been over the normal time that you normally were supposed to be there. He had walked as well so he didn’t really understand why it took so long for you to get there while he hadn’t walked that long either: maybe you had just run into someone that you knew well and had gotten caught up in the middle of someone talking to you. While he was waiting for you, he put everything ready for the two of you to eat comfortably and just sit happily together between the flowers. 

His eyes were on the sunflowers as he waited and waited, the time passed by but he didn’t seem to realize it yet as he was waiting for you. He was impatient because he wanted to see you but at the same time, all he could do was wait for you to arrive and have your date together. His voice produced small humming sounds as his fingertips ran over the petals of the yellow flower, the humming distraught him even more from the tome that was passing by. Sunflowers reminded him of you, because he loved calling you sunflower while he was your sunshine. His sunflower: the girl that he would give his life for, the girl that he would ask the hand of today because he wanted to make it last forever.

The peaceful silence stopped as soon as he could hear the ringtone of his phone, he was about to take it from his pocket but was reminded that he was still holding his phone with one hand. He held his phone as he looked at the strange number: a number that he didn’t recognize but he still answered the phone call out of habit. 

“Hello?” He spoke into the phone, his tone more questioning as he was wondering who was at the other side of the line at this moment. The background noises that he heard sounded familiar but at the same time, he had no idea where he knew them from. “Lee Donghyuck?” the voice on the other side of the line finally made its clear appearance: the voice didn’t spark emotion, it was like a monotone voice without intonation and yet it was sounding serious. Donghyuck was silent for a couple of seconds but realized he had to answer in order to get information about who was calling him. “That’s me,” he said, keeping it just as short as the other person did although his voice had more emotions and a really unique sound.

“This is about y/l/n y/n, we need you to come to the hospital, she has been in an accident” The voice said and waited for an answer although it became clear that the person seemed impatient at this point. Though, Donghyuck’s world stopped spinning when he heard the words being said. Your name was enough to trigger him, even without hearing the hospital part. “I will...come,” He said, struggling to speak as his breathing got caught up in his throat. 

He put the phone in his pocket without realizing he had to hang up, he forgot all of his stuff at the flower garden and just ran as fast as he could.  There was no voice in his mind telling him that a taxi could be faster or that all of his belongings were left at the flower garden, all his mind was saying was your name over and over again. 

Donghyuck’s legs never gave in when he ran, it was as if his body had an unlimited supply of power at this point. Probably just because he really needed to get to you and make sure that everything was okay. Once he was at the hospital, he didn’t waste time and just ran inside: making other people who were walking look at him angrily because of his rush. It didn’t stop him from running as instinct even seemed to tell him where he had to go to see you: words weren’t even needed to ask one of the people who could help him with that. 

In the hallway that he ended up in, he stood still and glanced around to see if his instincts also told him where you were. But nothing happened, his mind no longer ran on thoughts of you or instincts of where he had to go to get to you. Standing still also caused reality to come down on the situation around him. He was in a hospital because someone called him, he was in the hospital because you were in the hospital. His soulmate was in the hospital.

With fear, he slightly pulled up the sleeve hiding his timer. Taking a deep breathe of tiredness but also nerves before he looked down upon the skin that would indicate how long it was before the last moment. 

0000 : 00 : 26

The remaining seconds seemed too familiar: he remembered he had seen those seconds when you were about to meet in the grocery store that you were both in. A time he had been nervous and yet excited about now that he thought back upon the moment. Meeting you, his soulmate, was the best thing that had ever happened to him: you were more than just his soulmate. His almost-happy moment was interrupted by the doctor after only a few moments.

“Lee Donghyuck, you can come with me” The doctor started to lead Donghyuck with him right away, even though Donghyuck’s feet really had to work hard to move only one step, he managed to take more than one step. Somehow, he had hoped they would go to the doctor’s office and talk but when he noticed they were going into the direction of one of the hospital rooms, his heart started to skip beats and beat faster synchronously. 

His eyes went back towards his timer as the seconds lowered themselves too fast for him to really process all of it. Just a few more seconds before you two would last see each other, or in this case for him to see you. He no longer could live without you, so how was he supposed to go into the room and watch you as you probably were dead, thanks to a driver who hadn’t kept his eyes on the road.

The door was opened by the doctor right as his timer ticked its last second, something that went unnoticed by his eyes as he was trying to mentally prepare himself for what was about to happen. Before he was prepared, his eyes were met with the sight of you: your eyes closed like the way they would when you would rest in his arms, your soft skin filled with wounds and scratches that left you scarred. A little damaged sunflower, as his positive mind would call it but positivity was long gone at this point.

Donghyuck’s eyes lowered after one lonely second, he was too weak to see you like that, the weight on his shoulders nearly made his legs weak. With tear-filled eyes, he habitually glanced towards his left wrist, the wrist that his second timer was inked upon. The many zeros stood still for the first time, there was no more countdown to be done, time ran out. In a flash of less than a second, the numbers seemed to count to a number that disappeared too quick for him to read, at the second glance, the ink had already faded on his frail skin.

Warm tears started to fall down Donghyuck’s cheeks as he slowly walked into the hospital room, dragging his feelings along with him, just like a broken heart. He reached out his hand towards you, a sob escaping his lips when you didn’t grasp his hand like you usually would. Instead, he took your hand in his and ran his fingertips over your skin. Careful and gentle, as if you were going to break any second. Unseen by him: a pair of eyes opened for what seemed like the first time, a mind that forgot everyone but wasn’t forgotten by anyone. The sudden shifting of fingers made Donghyuck’s eyes look at you, through the gloomy eyes of himself, he could see your eyes opened as if they had never closed.

“Who are you? And why are there sunflower petals in your hair?”

[nimbostrxtus]

Happy Mother’s Day

A four-wheeled motorcycle pulled up beside an old abandoned church in the remains of Midgar. Two kids jumped down off the back of the black motorcycle and ran up the steps to the church, while the rider took his time removing his goggles and dismounting his precious Fenrir. Standing before the crumbling white building no longer resonated the same sadness and regret that used to fester inside the man like it once did, but he still felt a bubble of emotion caught in the back of his throat no matter how many times he dropped by Aerith's church for a visit.

Denzel pushed the old wooden doors open and the three stepped inside, immediately blinded by the light pouring in from the caved-in roof and reflecting off the pond water in the middle of the nave. Surrounding the rim of the makeshift pond was a field of yellow reunion flowers, their soft mild fragrance wafting their nostrils.

"Which ones should we pick?" asked the girl with a long braid down her back

"The prettiest ones," answered the boy as he went about inspecting each individual flower.

Cloud crossed his arms and watched from a distance as the two compared flowers and argued over whether it was better to pick the ones already blossomed or the ones with their buds still closed. Seeing as the two were fully distracted, Cloud walked around the pond, scrutinized each flower like they were soldiers waiting in line to be inspected, before plucking a single yellow flower for himself.

“Are you getting flowers for Tifa too?” asked Marlene, her hands full with the blossoms as Denzel kept piling more and more into her outstetched arms.

“Not exactly,” said Cloud as he ran his thumb over the sandy petals, the shade of yellow reminding him of her hair. Strapping it to his front, Cloud stopped Denzel before he harvested the entire field and helped tied them into neat bunches.

They then carefully placed two bouquets into one of the compartments of Cloud's bike. He lifted Denzel up and gently placed him on the back but when he turned around to do the same for Marlene she was nowhere in sight. No sooner had he called out to her, the small girl came rushing back out with another armful of flowers.

"Why do you need three?" asked Cloud.

"For Mrs Gainsborough, silly. She should get flowers today as well," Marlene said matter-of-factly.

Cloud tensed at that name but sighed and dropped his shoulders. Visiting Aerith's mother was not exactly unpleasant, but Cloud always found it hard to look her in the eye whenever they met. Even if she never blamed Cloud for her daughter's death, Cloud still didn't like the idea of intruding on the older woman.

"Alright, we'll drop them off first," he said and stiffly and took the bouquet from Marlene, placing them in the compartment with the rest.

Once all three were on the bike and holding tightly, Cloud kicked the stand up and sped off in the opposite direction towards Aerith's old house. Surprisingly, it was still intact, all things considered, although the once flourishing garden and waterfall were not untouched by the falling debris either. The old woman looked surprised to see them when she stepped onto her porch, no doubt hearing Cloud's engine approaching in the distance.

"I didn't order any flowers today," said Mrs Gainsborough as Marlene rushed up to meet her. She often used Cloud's delivery service to drop off flowers at Aerith's grave, but Cloud never once accepted any payment for the errand.

"They're for you!" Marlene said, holding out the bouquet. "From us and Aerith."

Mrs Gainsborough froze and stared down at the yellow flowers with disbelief, then her face softened and she accepted the small gift.

"Thank you," she said through watery eyes, and then smiled at Cloud. "They're beautiful."

"No problem," Cloud said, averting his gaze and awkwardly running his hand through his hair, an old habit he inherited from Zack's that he still had yet to rid himself of.

They stayed long enough for a cup of tea and a plate of biscuits before heading back to the bar. The kids ran up the stairs with the rest of the flowers in tow, as Cloud parked the bike in its regular spot behind the building under a shelter. Tifa would be back soon so Cloud made himself busy by making dinner. He had all the ingredients he needed in the fridge to make a stew and even dug around for some leftover flour to make bread dumplings with. It took quick work to cut up the vegetables and meat, fry them and put them in a pot of stock to simmer.

Laddling up a small bowl, Cloud took it into the front room and placed it down on a low table covered in photographs. There was a group shot of the original Avalanche members, their party after successfully returning home on the Broncho, Denzel and Marlene standing in front of the newly construction 7th Heaven with Tifa, and all their friends and allies from their many adventures together. Carefully reaching over the array of framed glass photographs, Cloud plucked a single frame from the very back and gently set it down at the very front, where he then knelt down and carefully placed the bowl of stew and the single yellow flower down on either side.

“Hey ma,” he murmured at a smiling woman in the faded portrait with pale blonde hair and sky blue eyes. “I could never make it the same way you did but I hope you like it anyway."

"Is that your mum?" asked Denzel, hovering beside Cloud and staring down at the women, a decorative vase filled with flowers in his hands. "She's pretty."

"Yeah," Cloud choked, jaw clenched and hands fisting his pants. "She was an amazing woman. I wish you two could have met. She would have loved you."

Denzel stared down at the photograph of the beautiful woman, then up at Cloud's face, then back at the photograph. Plucking a flower from the vase, Denzel laid it down on top of Cloud's.

“Happy Mother’s Day, Grandma!” Denzel said, much to Cloud's shock. "Cloud and Tifa took me in after the plate dropped and have been looking after me ever since. Thank you for raising Cloud to be such a wonderful person."

Cloud's face softened and as he stared at the young boy chatter away to a piece of paper about what life was like at 7th Heaven and all the wonderful things Cloud had done them.

"Tifa's home!" Marlene announced from the doorway and Denzel quickly said one last goodbye to Cloud's mother before running after Marlene.

“Happy Mother’s Day, Tifa!” Both kids greeted in union as Tifa stepped through the salon door, arms full of groceries.

"What's this about?" she laughed softly at the gesture as set the groceries down on the bar counter.

"It's a thank you for being an amazing mum," Marlene stated as they both held up a bouquet each.

Tifa's face lit up as she took the familiar flowers into her hands. Leaning down she pulled both kids into a tight hug and effortlessly picked up them.

"I'm the one who should be thanking you two," she said and kissed both of them on the cheek.

Marlene and Denzel then gave her handmade cards and helped her put the groceries away. Tifa planned on making dinner herself, but it seemed like Cloud already beat her to the punchline when she smelt a familiar scent from the kitchen that reminded her of cold winter nights huddled by the fire.

It smelled like home

She went looking for Cloud and found him in the living room, kneeling on a cushion by the low table of photographs. Cloud did not turn to acknowledge her, only making room on the cushion for her to sit down beside him, their shoulders brushing. She stared at the dark-haired woman standing next to Claudia in the photo and smiled sadly. Reaching into the table draw, Tifa pulled out some Wutai incense and lit one.

"Hey, mum," she whispered, barely even making a sound. "Happy Mother's Day."

The two sat in silence after that, united by the fact both orphans still missed their mother's dearly. It had been a miracle they manage to find a photo of the two in their old childhood homes. Tifa linked her arm with Cloud’s and gently rested her head on his shoulder.

"What were you talking about before I came in?" she asked, never once taking her eyes off her mother. 

“That I didn’t settle down and marry an older woman like she originally hoped I would, but that I still found a family. Not a traditional one, but I think she would have been happy just knowing I'm not alone.”

"I'm sure she's very proud of you right now," Tifa squeezed his bicep reassuringly. "I don't know if you remember, mum, but Cloud was the one who came to rescue me when I tried to find you across the bridge that day. Dad got really angry about it, but I'm sure you saw how Cloud was only trying to help. He kept the promise on the water tower. I bet you and Claudia must be pleased as rain to know we're still friends. My business is finally up and running, and I finally started a family. The kids even gave me flowers."

Tears of joy were now falling down her face and Cloud pretended not to notice as he slipped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close so she could hide her face in his neck.

"She raised an amazing woman," he whispered into Tifa's hair.

"And she raised a wonderful man," Tifa laughed.

[peakyblinders1919]

Inheritance Pt. 2

Your hair, your nose, your introversion all seemed to be traits inherited by your mum. And while you didn’t know your father well, maybe you had wished to have inherited his bravery or his courage; because someone like Thomas Shelby must have needed a lot of that to do what he did.

How was an 18 year-old supposed to find a way to meet the infamous Thomas Shelby? Secretly, of course, because your mother would stop you any chance she got. Ever since that day when your mother revealed to you the truth, you spent every waking, and sleeping moment, thinking about your dad. Anytime you went to buy groceries or shop for clothes when you went to the pub with your friends to celebrate you finally being 18, anytime you went *anywhere* in Birmingham you kept an eye out. You looked for your father everywhere. Among the people at the train station, among the drinkers at the bar, in the alleys and factory windows, in the skyline and landscape of a place so familiar, you looked for him. Where was he to be found? And what did you expect? To see him driving down the street in his Bently and to just…*jump* out in front of the car and tell him he was your Dad? Would he believe you or shoot you? It was hard to tell.

Thomas Shelby wasn’t some commoner or some factory worker, he *owned* the factories, he *owned* half of the properties of Birmingham, and now he was a member of parliament representing the labor party of Small Heath specifically. Naturally, you kept up with politics now, as if to learn a little something about your father that your mother wouldn’t ever dare tell you.

So when your friend approached you one afternoon, waving a newspaper wildly in her hand saying you just had to read it, you did. 

“I can’t believe this.”

“Believe it Y/N. You’re going to finally meet your dad.”

“Shhh. Quiet down. No one knows.”

The young girl opposite you chuckled. “No one here is listening. Besides, I think people knew who your dad was long before you did.”

You just waved off her words and shook your head. It was those damn eyes. He would know he was yours when he looked into scarily similar ice blue eyes, right?

“Do you really think I should?”

“Should you? Yeah! Of course you should. It was like God literally placed this opportunity in your lap. Open public hearings with the local MP? It’s a great cover!”

“Alright, alright, but what do I saw when I get in there?”

“Literally anything.”

Anything? How could you just say *anything?* The open hearings were in two days, and you couldn’t stop thinking about what you would say when you found yourself alone in a room with your dad? You had a list of possible opening lines, you practiced them as you walked around the house, and you dreamt about him almost every night. Still, you couldn’t get your hopes up.

When the cool breeze of autumn rolled in signifying the day had come, you fussed in the mirror for hours before you headed downstairs.

“Wow, you looked pretty. Where are you off to today?” 

“Uh, just going out with my friends.” You shrugged lightly before kissing her cheek and leaving abruptly. You just couldn’t lie to your mother, but you couldn’t tell her the truth either.

You hurried over to the Garrison, shocked by the line of people that filtered from the pub into the street; apparently a lot of men and women had something to say.

A few hours and by and just five people stop in between you and your father. Every time the door opened to let someone in or out, you would catch a glimpse of his side profile or his voice booming into the room and fear started to eat you up. Maybe you could do this. You couldn’t meet him, not today, it was all too soon, wasn’t it?

“I’m sorry everybody, but that’s all for today. Mr. Shelby will be holding meetings in another two weeks.” The scary man with a mustache informed, sending everyone in line into a frenzy of complaints. And that’s when it hit you that18 years had been too long, you wouldn’t, no you *couldn’t* wait another two weeks to meet the man you had only wanted to meet your whole life.

Stepping out of line and hurrying up to the front you stood firm. “Hi sir, I… I need to speak to Mr. Shelby.”

The man was thrown off guard at first, locking eyes with her before he smirked. “Sorry love, he’s done for the day.”

You continued to protest until he had no other choice but to send the bodyguards to escort you out.

“Wait. Please. I need to see him. He’s my father.”

And there in the doorway of the private room and the pub stood Thomas Shelby, looking into a mirror of blue. A couple seconds flew by like hours, like *years* he had missed.

“Let her go.”

“Tom, you can’t be-“

He put a hand up to stop his brothers accusatory comments. It was hard to believe anyone who walked in and claimed to be Tommy’s kid because he was worth a lot now and anyone could be trying to take from him. But for Tommy, who had only ever wanted to meet his daughter too, had no reservations that you were the one he was looking for with those unmistakable eyes.

Shaking, you followed him into the room alone. Maybe this was a bad idea? 

He offered you seat in the plush booth, stumbling over his words as he attempted to offer you a drink though he didn’t even know if you could have one.

“Just turned 18 last week. I’ll uh...have whatever your having.” You were nervous, you would do anything to shake that feeling, but you wanted to impress him too to s certain degree. He shook his head.

“Don’t want this stuff. I’ll get you a mild.”

Months ago you never thought you’d be having a drink across from your dad, but here you were. It was so hard to believe you didn’t even know what to say or talk about.

“So your mother never told you?”

“No. She…she said you were dangerous and I’d be better off not knowing, but I’m glad I found out.”

“You must have so many questions.”

“As do you.”

“You first.” It was a rare sight to see, but Tommy actually smiled. 

“I don’t even know where to begin.” You laughed. “Uh… ok… so that black nose Jimmy Johnson had a couple years ago...was that you?” Later that night as you walked home, everything looked different. You no longer looked at the houses or the factories the same. You didn’t even look at the people around you the same way, knowing that if anyone were to attempt to hurt you, you had your own personal bodyguard now. Tommy had confirmed that Jimmy’s black nose was him, and that girl who stopped making fun of you, was him. Every little thing that had seemed to happen to you, either by a twist of fate or as a result of God himself seemed to be the doing of your father. 

Leaving him that night after getting to know him, you only wanted to get to know him more. You wanted to know everything; where he lived, what he did, the rest of his, and your family. Sure, you were only 18, but there was a whole new life waiting for you.

[slothgiirl]

shadowplay part 14

You’re going to miss LA. You think to yourself as you hoist your bag out the uber, considerably heavier than when you arrived a little under a week ago.

“I’ve got it love,” Alex grins, not waiting for your response, before taking the bag right out of your hands, clad in a jacket like the sun wasn’t shining high in the sky.

“I had it.”

“Yeah well,” he smiles, taking a moment to plant a kiss against your lips, “I’ve got it.”

You roll your eyes, leading the way into the airport, but can’t help the smile that grows on your lips. The warmth in your chest has nothing todo with the california sun, leaving you bubbly as fuck, the same way you’ve felt this whole week with Alex.

Even rock stars have to wait their turn to grab their tickets before having to go through the very unsexy security.  

Standing in line, the airports ac cranked up like crazy, you’re glad to be wearing one of Alex’s jackets. “ feel like a glorified coat hanger,” you tell him, “just here to keep your jacket from being ruined during the flight.”

Alex chuckles, “but you're much better company.”

“True,” you giggle, “can’t say the same for you though. It’s no fun getting tipsy while you're holding your own like a proper james bond.” Thinking back on the many drinking games you'd taken part of during the last week. Zack had been a surprising lightweight.

“Well-,”

Whatever he was about to say is lost. The sound of cameras clicking, a flash temporarily blinding your eyes. As a man urgently says, “Alex is this your new girlfriend!”

A camera clicks again.

“Alex! Look over here,” the man cries out.

You wish you had Alex's sunglass wearing habit, as you blink rapidly, trying to recover from the blinding flashes suddenly assaulting you.

One man becomes two becomes three. All jockeying for his attention. “Alex are you working on the new album!”

“Sweetheart, look over here!”

“Is she your new girlfriend!”

“When's the new album out!”

The people around you, who moments ago hadn't cared, look over, whispering under their breath. You don't know how celebrities like Kim Kardashian can deal with the media circus that surrounds their lives constantly you think as you try and ignore the flashes continuing to go off. Ignoring them like you would the pointed looks of your profs as you struggled to stay awake during seven in the morning lectures.

Alex, sensing your unease, slips his hand into yours, squeezing your hand in his tightly as he pulls you along up to the self check-ins.

It's easier to block them out when you're busy concentrating on printing your tickets.

“I swear my passport was just here,” you mutter. Your purse wasn't even that big. How could it have gotten lost.

Alex smirks, unable to help himself as he teases you, “should've given your passport to me love.”

You snort. “My passport picture should be kept between me and this unfortunate machine.” You had tried to bleach your hair blonde, but had only achieved a horrid orange color that you'd dyed back to black the next day.

You pull out the elusive passport, but Alex nabs it from your hands before you can scan it into the machine.

He looks down with a ridiculously sappy smile, “you look beautiful as ever.”

“Oh you're so full of shit,” you snipe back.

Alex chuckles, the machine finally printing your tickets, before leaning in and kissing you again, taking you bottom lip between his lips, for just a moment too long for such a public place.

You flush crimson, but can't make yourself look away from Alex; the man you've grown so fond of.

He'd never been this open and at ease of PDA back when you had been faking a relationship for his benefit. It makes you really wonder how his friends had bought it.

A crease forms between his brows, “don't mind the paps love. ‘s better if you just ignore ‘em.” There's a certain stiffness to his shoulders that hadn't been there moments ago too.

The paps bother him too. You're surprised he isn't used to it. Then again, he hadn't even spared them so much as a glance.

Understanding dawns on you, he was worried about how you'd react now that you'd both just decided to start dating. Alex doesn't want them to put you off.

You shake your head as you both make your way to TSA, Alex still holding your hand, keeping you close to him. “I was just thinking how I'd be a terrible paparazzi. They'd send me out to chase Britney Spears and I'd be like but what if she doesn't want to be bothered right now.”

He laughs as you step on the escalator up and leave the paps behind.

**

You're in the cab back from the airport as your phone buzzes, finally off from airplane mode. Ten different texts from your mum asking if you landed okay. All the work emails you put off in the states. And Sam sent you a million screenshots of you and Alex in the airport earlier with the text: i'm now celebrity adjacent and i WILL name drop.

You laugh, having expected nothing less from her.

“What,” Alex asks lazily, cigarette in hand, both the cabs windows down.

“Just Sam being Sam.” You reply.

He nods, becoming incredibly serious, too serious to be sincere, “she's your Matthew.”

“Well you're not wrong.” Sam was that close to you. “We're going house hunting tomorrow...later today. I hate jet lag.”

Alex grins. “Why don't you just move in with me,” he says simply, as though it's not a loaded question. As though it's really that easy.

Sending you through eighty five degrees of: you haven't told your parents, they're going to freak, you just started dating, too fast, you're parents were going to absolutely murder him because everyone in your family had been convinced you were going to die an old spinster by now.

“We just started dating,” you say instead.

Alex shoots you a puzzled look. “Technically it's been six months.”

“Stick to being clever in writing Alex,” you reply. “this has been on my to do list for a year now.” You have been saving up money and building credit for ages now.

“Okay so maybe it's been a week,” he shrugs, flicking the cigarette ash into the street, “but it feels like forever.”

You snort, your cheeks heating up all over again. You hadn't felt this happy with a man in ages. “Nice try but the answer’s still no.”

“Can I at least come with,” he pouts.

“No,” you laugh, “Sams going to want all the gossip as soon as I see her. Who else is going to tell her that Breanna really thinks rice crackers and peanut butter are a snack!”

“Don't be so hard on her.”

“You didn't have any either,” you counter. “I can understand someone eating healthy, I dunno if I've ever made a dress larger than a size 6, but I draw the line at trying to pretend kale chips taste good.”

“I hate peanut butter,” he answers, the laugh clear in his voice. “sticks to the roof of my mouth.”

“She also told me about this app that fakes plastic surgery for editing,” you add, “made me feel like an old woman. Only just discovered filters.” You really didn't use instagram for much more than following some writers and designers you admire.

“She hogged you all week,” Alex groans at the memory. Breanna telling you where to squat so her legs would look longer, her camera in your hands.

“It was fun. She's a hell of a hiker,” you admit. She'd been able to walk and talk easily, lugging around her camera with her, while the boys jammed out back at the cabin.

“Miles won't walk more than a block before whining. Ya sure I can’t go with you and Sam? I've gotten very used to having you around all the time”

“You can help me move in,” you tease.

“Oi!”

You lean in close to his ear, “promise I'll make it worth your time,” you practically purr, barely managing to keep from laughing.

Alex's cigarette falls out of his hand.

He turns to you fully, his hand cupping your cheek, a glint in his eye as the sun sets over London, “I'll hold you too it.”

You beat Alex to the bags, having learned by now that he wasn't about to let you pay. Which was for the best. But you could at the very least carry your own bag up the stairs to your flat.

“I've got it,” you shut him down, keeping a hand outstretched, so he doesn't just take the bag from your hand.

“Alright alright,” Alex laughs, following you up to your flat.

You were glad that he was staying. You had also gotten used to waking up to him every morning. To making out in bed first thing. Or lounging around on your phone as Alex tuned his guitar.  

It had been that way for a while if you were being honest with yourself.

Alex had carved out a place in your life long before he'd kissed you and told you he loved you.

Saying you had only been dating for a week meant nothing when you were already sure of the depth of your feelings for him.

“ ‘s it alright if I stay over,” Alex asks softly, leaning against the door while you search for your keys, looking just as hopeful and earnest as he had so long ago when drunk, when he'd tried to kiss you then.

You stick the key in the door, before turning to meet the warmth of his brown eyes, and kissing him for all the times you'd wanted to before: kissing him just because you can. You can't imagine ever being sick of the feel of his lips against yours. “Stay as long as you like.”

The door clicks open.

“All that's good,” Alex smiles, “I already ordered breakfast… ‘fink it's closer to lunch by now.”

“Oh thank god,” you reply, abandoning your bag next to the door and sinking into your sofa, stretching out all the kinks in your neck from having sat on a plane for the last nine hours. “I was just thinking how I was going to have to run to the grocery store.”

“We can go after.” Alex says, kicking off his shoes, and laying down next to you.

You giggle, scooting over as much as you can do there's room. Both of you are slight, so it's not hard to curl up on the sofa without feeling squished together. You relax against Alex, happy to waste your last hours of vacation with him.

[freddiesaysalright]

Dancing With Ben Week 10

A Ben Hardy x Reader Fic Dedication Dance - Waltz

Summary: Reader is one of the pro dancers on Dancing With the Stars. It’s her second season on the show, and this time, her partner is none other than Ben Hardy. Will they win the Mirror Ball? Maybe they’ll win something even more meaningful!

Word Count: 3.8K

Tag List: @psychosupernatural, @someone-get-a-medic, @twigleektribute23, @ionlyhavepicturesofflowers, @asquiresofftime, @caborhapch, @iwasnothingbutacityboy, @a-kind-of-magik, @anxious-diabetic, @royalblueviper, @toms-irish-girl, @doingalrightt, @borhapqueen92, @angiefangirlworld-2, @ziggymay, @pink-lemo, @riddikuluslypotter, @wearewiththebands, @i-was-born-like-this, @prince-lucifer-v, @mariekuuuuuh, @teenwolflover28, @minigranger, @7-seas-of-fat-bottomed-girls, @theprettyfandom, @sam-mercurry-sixx, @reddies-stanlon, @irlkell, @deakyismydad, @kimmietea, @lelifesaver, @simmisblog, @crazylittlethingcalledobsession, @kyleetheeditor If you want to be added, let me know!

A/N: This gets sappy as fuck, y’all. Enjoy!

Week 1  Week 2  Week 3  Week 4  Week 5 Week 6  Week 7  Week 8  Week 9

Week 10 here we go!!!

You woke to the harsh sound of your phone ringing, only much earlier than the time your alarm usually sounded. Bleary eyed, you snatched it up and looked at the screen. Ben stirred beside your and cracked an eye open. 

“Who is it?” he asked groggily. 

“My dad,” you said, brow furrowing as you swiped to pick up. “Hey, Dad.”

“Hi, sweetheart,” he said brightly. “Glad you’re up. Wanna come over today? I haven’t seen you in a while and I miss my little girl.” You could hear him slurring his words.

“Dad, it’s four in the morning,” you told him. “Are you just getting home?”

“Yeah, I left the bar a couple minutes ago,” he said with a sloppy chuckle. “So how about coming over?”

“I have rehearsal today,” you said, sighing. “I’m in the middle of a season of the show.”

“Just for breakfast,” he insisted. “Hell, bring your partner if you want.”

The color drained from your face. “How did you know he was here?”

He barked out a laugh and you heard his tires screech as he parked. “I didn’t! But I do now! He your boyfriend?”

“Yep,” you said shortly, embarrassed. 

“Even better!” he said. “I’d love to meet him!”

“I’ll invite him,” you said. “What time?”

“Y’all can sleep a little longer,” he told you. “How about around ten? I probably need to sleep some myself. Ha!”

“Sure thing, Dad,” you said. “See you then.”

“Bye, honey!”

With a soft beep, the call ended. You rolled over and looked at Ben. 

“You are absolutely allowed to say no to this, but would you want to go to rehearsal late so we can have breakfast with my dad?” 

He cocked an eyebrow. “Really?”

You nodded. “He’s a bit eccentric, but he’s friendly. I know it’s kinda soon, but -” He cut you off with a kiss. 

“I’d love to,” he said. 

You went back to sleep for a couple hours before getting up and getting ready to go to your dad’s house. He still lived in the house you grew up in, south of LA, in Costa Mesa. It was why you took Ben to Newport Beach that day after Clark kissed you. You’d grown up escaping to that beach whenever things were difficult. It was your solace. 

You drove out there, pulling onto the curb. You frowned when you saw your dad’s car was not in the driveway where he usually parked it. 

“That’s weird,” you said. 

“What?” Ben wondered. 

“His car isn’t here,” you said. “But I definitely thought I heard him park while we were on the phone.”

“Do you have a key?” he asked. “Maybe he parked it in the garage.”

“Yeah, let’s go in,” you said. 

You walked up across the lawn, unlocked the door, and went inside, Ben close behind. You looked around the living room and saw no sign of your dad. You walked into the kitchen, but he wasn’t there either. When you looked out into the garage, his car was also not there. 

“I’m gonna check upstairs, just to be sure he’s not here,” you said. 

Ben nodded and followed you up. You poked your head into your dad’s bedroom, but it was empty. The duvet was rumpled and the pillows were squished. It was also warm, so he had at least been home. 

“I wonder where he could have gone,” you said, joining Ben in what was once your bedroom. 

He was looking around in amazement. You had moved out at eighteen to pursue dance in earnest in Los Angeles. Your dad still had your room exactly the way you left it. The walls were a soft yellow, and the furniture was old and tan. Your bed had pale green comforter and lots of pillows. Pictures of you and your friends hung sporadically around the walls, alongside posters and little art pieces you thought were cool. 

“A Queen poster,” Ben said. “I like that.”

“I have several,” you told him, pointing them out. “At one point in middle school, I printed pictures of Roger Taylor off the internet and made a collage.”

“Where is it?” Ben wondered with an excited smile on his face. 

“The ceiling,” you said, pointing above your bed, laughing a little as he hopped on the bed to gaze properly at it. “I don’t know why I didn’t take it down. It’s so stupid.”

“I love it,” he said with a teasing grin. “You really were that big of a Queen fan?”

“My dad actually got me into them,” you told him. “My parents met at Queen concert and were big fans.”

“Very cool,” he said. “So does your mum not live here anymore?”

“My mom passed actually,” you replied. “She was killed in a car accident when I was ten.”

His eyes went wide. “Oh - I - I’m so sorry.”

“It’s alright,” you assured him. “But the reason I love Queen’s music so much is because it makes me feel connected to her. It got me through losing her and missing her. It still does.”

“Wow,” he breathed. “That’s...really special.”

“Yeah…” you said with a small smile. “She never understood why I was a Roger girl, though. She was all about some John Deacon.”

He chuckled. “Did she put him on the ceiling?”

You laughed. “Nah, she didn’t have quite my level of dedication.”

He started to answer, but then you got a text from your dad. It said “go outside.” You told Ben and then headed back down the stairs and out the front door.

Then you heard it. Your father’s car barrelling down the street and an impossible speed for such an old piece of machinery. Then the sirens. Ben shot you a worried glance. 

“Oh, God,” you sighed.

All you could do was watch as your dad came hurtling past the house. He honked and waved at you excitedly as he passed in a flash. The wailing police car came not far behind, whizzing by just as quickly in pursuit of your father. Ben gaped at you.

“Was that -”

“Yes.”

You turned around and went back inside, heading for the garage so you could open the door by the time your dad looped back around. You pressed the button and just in the nick of time. The door rose as your father whipped into the driveway, coming to a screeching halt in the garage as you closed the door behind him. He cut the engine, grabbed what appeared to be grocery bags from the front seat, and stepped out of the car.

“Hi, sweetheart!” he greeted warmly. 

You smiled at him and walked over to take the bags. “Hi, Dad. Where have you been?”

“Grocery store,” he said as if it were obvious. “I invited you over for breakfast, passed out, and when I woke up again, I realized I didn’t have anything to feed you.”

“And why were you being chased by police?” you asked.

“Ran a red light,” he said with a shrug. “Not that big of a deal, but you know what I always say. Outrun ‘em if you can.”

You sighed, shaking your head as you took the eggs out of the bag to check them.

“Wow,” you said, impressed. “You didn’t crack one.”

“Years of practice,” he said smugly. “Who’s your pretty friend?”

“Oh, sorry!” you gasped. “Dad, this is Ben, my boyfriend.”

You father extended his hand, and Ben shook it, looking friendly but a little bewildered.

“Nice to meet you, Ben,” you father said. “I’m Eddie Y/L/N.”

“Nice to meet you too, Mr. Y/L/N,” Ben returned.

Your dad waved that off. “Just call me Eddie, son, I don’t need all that. Well, y’all come inside and let me get a good look at you.”

Ben moved to take the bags from you and you both followed Eddie into the kitchen. He immediately started pulling out pans from the cabinet. In the sautee pan, he spotted his glasses.

“There those fuckers are!” he cried, putting them on.

“You drove without your glasses?” you questioned.

“Why do you think I didn’t see the red light?” he returned.

Ben placed the groceries on the counter and Eddie thanked him. You observed, and saw that your father was still a little shaky.

“Dad, why don’t I cook?” you suggested. “You take a seat.”

“Alright, sweetheart, go ahead,” he agreed, plopping down into a chair at the table.

“How can I help?” Ben wondered.

“Can you just start some coffee?” you asked.

He nodded and began brewing. You popped some bread in the toaster before you got the eggs and bacon out of their packages. While you and Ben worked, Eddie watched you. It was a rather domestic little scene there, and he liked the way Ben looked at you. When the coffee was done, Ben poured some into three mugs.

“How do you take your coffee, Eddie?” he asked.

“Black, thank you,” Eddie said. 

Ben brought the cup over and set it in front of your father. Then took a seat beside him.

“C’mere, Ben, lemme look in your eyes,” Eddie said.

Ben smiled and obliged. He leaned forward, and Eddie put his hands on either side of Ben’s face. They held each other’s gaze for a solid thirty seconds before Eddie released him.

“You’ve got a good soul,” he said.

“Thank you,” Ben replied. 

“Yeah, it’s a shame you’re not better looking.”

You snorted. Ben laughed heartily. 

“That really is too bad,” Ben said. “But at least Y/N likes me.”

Eddie chuckled. “So, tell me about yourself, Ben. What do you do?”

“I’m an actor,” Ben told him. 

“Oh, what would I have seen you in?”

“He was in Bohemian Rhapsody, Dad,” you interjected, bringing them plates and setting them in front of them. Ben thanked you softly. “Remember when I took you to see that?”

Eddie’s eyes went wide. “Whaaaat?! Oh, yeah, I see now. You look pretty different without the wig, but you played Roger Taylor, didn’t you?”

Ben nodded. “I did, yeah. Had the time of my life.”

“I bet,” Eddie said, taking a bite of his eggs. “I loved that movie. It really brought me back. They were just incredible.”

“Y/N tells me you met her mother at one of their shows,” Ben said.

“I did,” Eddie said, solemnly. “That was the best day of my life. Until Y/N was born, of course.”

You smiled at him.

“There’s a picture from that day up on the mantle, if you wanna look,” he continued.

“Oh, absolutely,” Ben said.

He got up from his seat. You followed him over to the mantle, grabbing the framed photo and allowing him to hold it. He gazed at your parents’ smiling faces in awe.

“She’s beautiful, your mother,” he said. “You look just like her, Y/N.”

“Thank you,” you replied. “Dad always said he never drank after he met her. He wanted  to remember each moment.”

“That was true,” Eddie said. “I didn’t even touch a bottle when Kara was alive. Then she went, and...well, things changed.”

Ben replaced the photo and together you returned to the table. He looked at Eddie.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I wish I could have met her.”

“You would have loved her,” Eddie said. “Everybody did. I was the luckiest man in the world because she let me be her husband.”

Ben took your hand and looked at you. “I’m beginning to understand that feeling.”

You could have melted into a puddle.

The three of you spent the rest of breakfast on happier topics. Your dad was especially interested in Ben and what it was like to be an actor. Ben was so sweet and patient. It went better than you had even imagined. You got through breakfast and said warm goodbyes. As you drove back to Hollywood, Ben held your hand.

“I like your dad,” he said.

You giggled. “He likes you too.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” he said. “Seriously, thank you for bringing me. I feel like I know you so much better now.”

“You were so good to him,” you returned. “So thank you.”

“Of course.”

When you reached the studio, it was almost noon. You parked and got ready to rehearse, the producers rushing Ben away to do his interview for the video package. They would be telling him about the week’s theme since it was a little different.

Ben sat back in the leather chair while the producers set up the sound and cameras. They put a mic on him and he waited patiently until they finally started.

“So, this week is dedication week,” Kelly explained. “Who would you like to dedicate your dance to? It can be a parent or a mentor or anyone you feel has had an impact on you.”

Ben considered this. His head swam with everything you had done for him, beyond teaching him to dance. You had become his friend. You pushed him to be a better person. You made him laugh a lot. And you loved him so sweetly. He could think of no one more deserving of a dedication dance.

“Y/N,” he said quietly.

Kelly’s eyes went wide. “What?”

“I want to dedicate my dance to Y/N,” he told her.

“Why Y/N?” she asked gently.

“Because...I love her.”

“You love her?”

He nodded. Tears pricked his eyes as his heart swelled with just how much. He took a deep breath and tried to blink them back.

“Where is this emotion coming from?” Kelly asked.

“I just…” he trailed off and released a half sigh half laugh. “I don’t even know how to describe her. She means a great deal to me. I want to dance with her forever.”

“Can you tell us more?”

“I don’t know,” he answered with a chuckle, wiping his face. “I’m turning into a mess just thinking about her.”

“Try.”

“She’s made me a better man,” he said through a sniffle. “If I can give her a dance in her honor...it’s not much, but it’s something to show her how much I appreciate it.”

Meanwhile, you were on the floor of the studio, sketching out some ideas for the routine. You wanted to know who he was dedicating his dance to before you got too far into it, but you had some things in mind already. 

The door pushed open and you beamed at Ben as he walked in. With a sweet “hello” you got to your feet. You cocked your head in confusion when you saw his eyes were watery. You guessed he had gotten emotional talking about his dedication. You wondered who it must be. Ben didn’t say anything yet. He just grabbed you by the shoulders and pulled you into a hug so tight the breath left your lungs. 

“What’s the matter?” you asked.

He eased his grip on you so you could inhale, but he did not release you.

“Just need to hold you for a bit,” he muttered.

“Okay,” you returned, rubbing his back.

You stood there in his arms for what felt like hours. When you broke apart, he smiled at you.

“So, who are you dedicating this dance to?” you asked.

“You,” he said.

Your heart nearly stopped and you blinked. “Wh...me?!”

“Yeah.”

“Ben...I don’t even know what to say,” you said. “I’m touched and honored and just - wow, thank you so much!”

You hugged him again. It felt like your heart twirled in your chest. Just when you thought he couldn’t make you any happier, he did.

“So, what kind of dance have we got?” he asked.

“A waltz,” you told him. “To ‘Tennessee Whiskey’ by Chris Stapleton.”

“That’s perfect,” he said.

You started rehearsal. It seemed that Ben had his groove back, as he took to the waltz like a pro. It was just the basics, but it turned out you only really needed the afternoon for him to get them down. He had a great frame and his footwork was light without bouncing. You were impressed with him.

Over the next few days of rehearsal, as you put your routine together, it started to seep into you how much it meant that Ben was dedicating his dance to you. Most people chose someone with more significance - a parent, child, or teacher. Ben had so many important people in his life. Out of all of them, he chose you. You were struggling to find the words to thank him. 

You were really locking everything in the day before dress rehearsal. There was one part of the dance that you both loved and hated. Ben had his hands on either side of your head, caressing you gently as you stepped through the dance. You rolled your head as you went. But the way Ben looked at you through this portion always made you ache for his kiss. His intense, focused eyes, with so much love for you burning behind them made it hard to breathe.

“Perfect,” you breathed as you ran through it.

Ben came to a stop. “What?”

He was still holding your face, looking at you.

“You’re perfect,” you repeated so he could hear.

“Well, I think there’s a few steps I could make better,” he said.

You smiled and shook your head, taking his hands in yours.

“Not the dance,” you said. “You.”

His cheeks went pink. Then he leaned in to kiss your forehead.

“I’m far from perfect, love,” he said. 

“You’re perfect for me,” you whispered.

You fell into an embrace. Holding each other tenderly before agreeing to get some water.

When it was time for dress rehearsal and camera blocking, you were feeling great about the dance. You were still completely in shock that Ben was dedicating his to you. It was one of the sweetest things anyone had ever done for you. 

You came over to where Ben was getting fitted for his shirt, and he was frowning as he spoke to Alex in wardrobe. They were clearly disagreeing about something.

“What’s going on?” you wondered.

“Ben doesn’t approve of his outfit,” she said, rolling her eyes.

You looked at Ben expectantly.

“They don’t want me to button the shirt,” he said, exasperated.

“Why can’t he just button his shirt?” you asked. “I told you weeks ago, we’re not exploiting him. If he’s not comfortable, we need to change it.”

Alex groaned. “The audience would -”

“The audience can suck it up,” you said firmly. “This isn’t Magic Mike. Can you just let him be comfortable?”

She glowered at you. “Fine. Button up the shirt.”

“Thank you,” you said irritably. You looked at Ben and smiled. “Anything else?”

“You look beautiful,” he said with a smirk.

You had a pink, flowy gown with a wide slit. The fitted, glittery bodice had a plunging neckline. It was sexy and sweet. You beamed at him.

“Thank you,” you replied.

By the time you and Ben were up to run through camera blocking, Ben had his shirt buttoned and had gotten a vest. He looked ridiculously handsome. The dance went perfectly and you were ready for showtime.

When the show came, you and Ben were going third. Now that the numbers were dwindled, that was toward the end. You were honestly so excited for this dance. You wanted to redeem yourself after last week. 

As the video package played and you watched Ben’s interview, you gasped at his emotion. The audience collectively “awww”ed. You felt him squeeze your shoulders from where he stood behind you. 

“I love you,” he whispered in your ear.

“I love you more,” you returned.

Before anything else could be said, it was time to dance.

The dance was perfect. It was another moment where it felt like you and Ben alone in the ballroom. Many dancers had a “ballroom smile” which was the fake smile they wore while dancing. Your smile was absolutely genuine. Every twirl, turn, step, and lift made you happier than you ever thought you could be. Because you were with Ben.

When you finished in your dip, you held Ben for a moment before he help you upright. The ballroom erupted into applause as you joined Tom to receive your feedback from the judges.

Carrie Ann had to dab at her eyes with a kleenex before she spoke. 

“Sorry,” she choked out. “That was just so beautiful. You had me going with the video package and then you did that dance, and it was stunning. Technique wise and emotion wise, you told a wonderful story. It was honestly really romantic. Probably one of the most romantic routines I’ve ever seen on this show. We really felt what you feel for Y/N. Excellent work, Ben.”

“Thank you,” he said bashfully.

“Ben, that waltz was absolutely fantastic,” Len began. “You had great frame, you led your partner, and your footwork was incredible. Not only that, but you touched our hearts with it. I can confidently say that you are a dancer. A real dancer. Well done.”

Ben nodded and put his arm around you.

“That was exquisite,” Bruno began with uncharacteristic calm. “It was so romantic and sweet - like you were making love to her. And these two are right, your technique was flawless. We were all very moved by it, and that you dedicated it to her. You are an amazingly talented young man.”

Again Ben thanked them and you went to the skybox to get your scores and talk to Erin.

“That was beautiful,” she said as you approached. “I’m gonna need a kleenex too!”

“Thank you,” you said with a smile.

“You two are so cute,” she continued. “I think everyone just wants to know what’s going on between you?”

She held out the mic for either of you to answer. You and Ben exchanged a glance.

“We care about each other,” you said. “Very deeply. There’s not much else to it, honestly.”

Erin laughed. “Well, it’s vague, but we need to get your scores now.”

All three scored you a ten. You and Ben shared an excited hug and then waited for the elimination time. When it came, you stood on the stage, shaking with nerves. If you made it, you and Ben would go to the semi-finals. He held your hand tightly.

“The first couple that is safe and will dance in the semi-finals is…” Tom said. He waited a long moment. You held your breath. “Ben and Y/N!”

You screamed, jumping up and hugging Ben around the neck. He picked you up and spun you around. You were almost there. So close to the mirror ball. But that was also one step closer to the journey ending, and you still had no idea what that meant for you and Ben.

[petersasteria]

Wedding - Haz Osterfield Imagine!

Requested? Nope

Pairing: Haz x Reader

Warning: language..?, angst

1.7k words

* * * *

Today's the day you've been dreading. You saw this day coming, but you never expected to just be his guest. You wanted to be with him, but you've lost your chance.

Harrison's getting married and it's not with you.

You and Harrison dated for three years and it was amazing. However, things started to go south after your third year anniversary. You were growing apart; you didn't have the same goals anymore and you both didn't have the same interests. The spark you once had was no longer there. The positive energy was not there and it affected both of you. It didn't help the fact that the distance was taking a toll on your relationship.

That's why you broke up. Despite that, you still loved him with all your heart.

It's two hours before the wedding and you've decided to see Harrison before he marries the love of his life. You take a deep breath and knock on his dressing room door. Tom answers the door and smiles when he sees you, "Hey Y/N!! Come in."

You thank him and enter the dressing room only to find Harrison standing in front of the mirror. "Hey there, stranger." you smile. Harrison looks at you through the mirror and grins, "You made it!"

"Of course I did!" you walk up to him and give him the biggest hug you could give. He hugs back and Tom stands idly at the side, watching the touching scene in front of him. You pull away and look around, "Where are the others?"

"I don't actually know." Harrison chuckles. He looks at his best mate says, "Tom?"

"Oh, they're roaming around to check out the place. Harry wanted pictures of the venue as well." Tom answers.

"Um, Tom? Can you leave Haz and I for a bit? I want to talk to him." you say. Tom nods and says, "If you need me, just text. I'll go look for the others." He smiles at both of you and leaves the room.

You sit down on the couch, motioning Harrison to sit next to you and he does so. You look at him and give a soft smile, "Haz, I'm really happy for you."

"Thanks, Y/N. You have no idea how much I appreciate you being here. I'm really happy too. We both know that I've been waiting for this exact moment." Harrison chuckles. You smile and say, "Yeah, I know. I'm just sad that it's not me."

Harrison looks at you sadly and says, "Y/N--"

"Please hear me out." you look at him with pleading eyes and he nods for you to continue.

"I'm really, truly happy for you, Haz. You have no idea how happy I am for you, because you're happy. You finally found the love of your life and that's fucking great! I just had a hard time accepting that, because I still love you with everything in me." you say, tears streaming down your face. Despite all your tears, you still have a smile on your face.

Smiling through the pain at its finest.

"I still love you and it's really depressing how I can't move on. It's so unfair that you finally found the person who you're going to spend the rest of your life with. It's unfair that it isn't me, because we spent three years together talking about this moment; it comes true with you and a girl who isn't me. But you know what? That's alright." you sniff and hold his hands.

"That's alright, because your love is what ours couldn't be. It's a love that you deserve. Our love was great, but it wasn't what you deserved." you tell him.

"What do you mean?" he asks.

"We were destined to meet, but we weren't destined to be with each other. As much as it hurts to admit, it's true. You are worthy of this love that you have with her, because it'll last for your entire lives. And because of that, I'm finally and officially closing the chapter of what we once had instead of hoping that you might come back for me, because you won't. I'm letting you go now, Haz. I hope she takes care of you and I hope she gives you everything that I couldn't give you. Lastly, I hope she's all the things I'm not." you say through your forever falling tears.

Harrison, too, has tears rolling down his cheeks. What you said was truly emotional.

"Thank you for that. I don't know what to say, but I'll come up with something." Harrison slightly chuckles, causing you to chuckle too.

"I guess I'll start by saying, I love you too, but not in the way I've loved you before. You still hold a special place in my heart, but I've clearly moved on now. You'll find the guy you're going to marry soon. Maybe he's stuck in traffic or something." he jokes, lightening up the mood.

"Those three years with you was great. We were happy, but that's just a memory now. It's a memory that I definitely won't forget. You and I grew together, yet we grew apart as we did so. However, our relationship helped me become a better person and I hope it helped you too. We're both good, just not for each other." he smiles sadly, wiping his tears.

"I would really love to still be friends with you, because you're such a great person." He says, hopeful.

"Of course we can still be friends, Haz." you smile, wiping your tears and pulling him into a bone crushing hug. He laughs and hugs back.

"Ready to get signed up for the rest of your life?" you jokingly say as you pull away.

"Hell yeah!" Harrison laughs. You both stand up and fix yourselves. As if on cue, Tom knocks on the door and opens it, "Haz, it's time."

You and Harrison look at each other before heading to the door.

-

The ceremony was beautiful and it made you question where the hell the love of your life is. Maybe Harrison was right; maybe the guy really is stuck in traffic. Or maybe he's spilling his coffee somewhere.

You're at the reception and everyone is slow dancing to the music whilst you're sitting down, sipping your wine.

"Bored, huh?" you hear a voice from beside you. You look to your left and smile when you see Tom. He looks at you as he chuckles.

"Yeah, I'm kind of bored. Are you bored too?" you ask him. He nods and says, "Yeah. Mainly because I have no one to slow dance with."

"Same here." you sigh. Comfortable silence falls on both of you. Just then, Tom breaks it, "D-Do you want to dance with- with me?"

You smile at him and nod. You both stand up and he leads you to the dance floor.  With his hands on your waist and your arms around his neck, you both sway to the music.

"How are you? Y'know with all this." Tom asks.

"Hurt, but happy." you say in a soft voice. He nods and asks again, "Why are you hurt?"

"I'm hurt, because he finally found the one for him and it's not me. I'm also hurt at the fact that I haven't found the love of my life yet." you chuckle.

"Are you sure? Did you look hard enough?" Tom asks. You look at him and it's your turn to ask, "What do you mean?"

"Well, maybe the guy for you is just around the corner, y'know. He might not be a stranger; he might be your long time friend or an old classmate. You never know, Y/N. Maybe he's the one who's been there for you through ups and downs; y'know he's seen you in your lowest and greatest points." Tom suggests.

You think about someone who's always been there for you who's already in your life. Tom speaks up during your thinking and says, "I don't know about you, but I've known the love of my life ever since I met her."

"Really? How? And why are you still single if she's the one?" you scoff.

"Yes, really. I just knew from the moment she came into my life. I haven't asked her out yet, because I'm waiting until she's ready for a new relationship; until her heart's ready to love again." Tom explains.

"Who is it?" you ask, curiously.

"You." Tom says with no hesitation.

"Don't fuck with me, Thomas. It's not funny." you say with a slight chuckle.

"I'm serious. It's you. I have this gut feeling that it'll be you who I'll be spending the rest of my life with. My mum had the same gut feeling too the first time she met you, y'know when we bumped into you at the grocery store. Ever since then, she hasn't stopped asking about you and talking about you. She really likes you for me and believe me when I say that she's never reacted that way to any of the girls I've dated before. Besides, why do you think I've stayed single ever since I met you? I wanted to devote myself to you, but you got together with Harrison and I've never felt so heartbroken. But I still didn't date anyone, because I really believed that we'd be together in the future. So, all this time, I've just been waiting for you and I'm willing to wait for you until you're ready to enter a new relationship." Tom says, pouring his heart out to you.

You smile at him and nod, "Since you waited this long, you deserve a chance. I'm willing to try."

"I don't want to force you if you're not ready." Tom tells you.

"No, I'm ready to start again." you chuckle.

"We'll take it slow, love." Tom smiles. "I'd be the happiest man in the world when we make it official."

"It may be sooner than you think." you giggle. Tom smiles and pulls you closer. You put your head on his shoulder as you continue to slow dance in comfortable silence.

And just then, your heart started to beat again; realizing that the love of your life was in front of you all along. Only this time, this love won't end.

* * * *

Lmao reblog if you liked it

[temptation-narnia-chronicles]

From Upon the Golden Thrones

Episode 32: A Castle Full of Memories

               “Peter!” a familiar voice shouted from the balcony. In a flash, Lucy was speeding down the hallway banging on every door as she went, shouting that her big brother had finally returned. Susan and Edmund quickly followed suit, rushing after her to greet the magnificent king as he entered the castle gates. Soon word of the army’s return had reached everyone in Cair Paravel, and the families of those who had fought tirelessly all joined the young king and queens.

               Peter’s heart swelled with happiness at the sight of his family, caught in a tight embrace the moment he left Besnik’s back. “We’re so happy you’ve returned safely” Susan whispered.

               “How was it?” Edmund asked. “What were the giants like? Did they put up a good fight? I still wish you had let me come with you, Pete.”

               “It was fine” Peter replied despondently. There was something off about him. He had bags under his eyes, and he looked almost sickly. He turned his gaze to the happy reunions of his army, wives and parents and children all rushing to hug their beloved. Tristan’s family wailed and kissed his cheeks, desperate to ensure that he was really alive. Their hearts broke upon discovering he had lost an arm, but the fact he had lived despite that was a miracle. It’s Aslan’s blessing! they exclaimed. And then there were those who weren’t quite so lucky.

               A young woman rushed forward, frantic, a hand upon her pregnant stomach. “High King Peter, y-your majesty!” she cried, “W-what about my husband? Has he fallen behind? Will he return soon?” The look of desperation upon her face, the terrified suspicion, only enforced Peter’s own depression.

               “I’m terribly sorry” he replied, placing a hand upon the woman’s shoulder. He tried to be as kind as possible, but still there was something rather detached and robotic about him. Something not quite right. She looked upon him incredulously for a moment, searching his face for any sign of this perhaps just being some sick joke but when she found none, she brought her hands to her mouth and then subsequently broke down. Susan rushed to her side, wrapping the woman in her arms and trying to calm her. She glared at her elder brother and mouthed That was nicely handled.

               In the following days, however, it was clear that something was definitely amiss. Peter kept to himself often and didn’t want anything to do with anyone. Of course a battle of such proportions would take it’s toll on anyone, and at first the others presumed he was just tired from the fight, but when he was sleeping for far too long and still in a terrible mood, their suspicions escalated. Something wasn’t right and Susan, Edmund, and Lucy were determined to get to the bottom of it.

               “I just don’t understand” the gentle said one day, gathering her siblings in the library for a meeting. “I’m so worried.”

               “I knew I should’ve gone with him, no matter what he said” Edmund replied, arms crossed as he sat back in one of the reading chairs.

               “It’s not your fault, Ed” Lucy assured him, resting a hand on his shoulder. “He just wanted you to stay safe.”

               “Lucy’s right” Susan agreed. “Besides, we needed you here. Your work in the castle is just as important as anything you might do on a battlefield, if not more.”

               “I know, but still” Edmund replied. “I wish I had been there. Maybe then I could’ve prevented whatever’s bothering him from happening.”

               “I do wish we had some sort of clue as to what’s the matter” Lucy sighed. She hated seeing her eldest brother so withdrawn. “The last time he was this bad was after Eilonwy had left.”

               Edmund furrowed his brows and stroked his chin, deep in thought. “You know, Lu, now that you mention it, I have seen him spending a lot of time in the garden by the monument.”

               “Do you think something happened to hike up his depression about her again?” Susan asked.

               “It seems like a valid conclusion” Edmund began, “But I can’t possibly imagine what could’ve happened.” His sisters both shook their head in mutual understanding. Without any inkling of the journey itself, it was hard to discern what may have caused such a spell. Lucy gazed out the window to the garden below, wondering whether her brother was out there right at that very moment. She wished there was something she could do to make him feel better like last time, but they couldn’t afford another seafaring adventure. They had far too many obligations in court now. If she wanted to cheer him up, she’d have to think of something far less grand.

               When he wasn’t wandering the garden, Peter spent much of the rest of his time in his office mulling over paperwork. It had stacked up rather quickly while he was gone. Susan peeked her head in, a small stack of envelopes in hand, before approaching. “I’ve brought your mail” she replied, smiling softly. “Plenty of letters from Brenn. You ought to respond to them quickly. Ginevra’s been growing rather anxious, per her letters to me.” She hoped that perhaps their dear friend would bring at least the tiniest hint of a smile to his face, but to no avail.

               “Put them wherever” he said flippantly, barely even looking up from the page. “I’ll deal with her later.”

               Susan knew deep down that he couldn’t possibly be this cold, at least not without reason, but he was clearly in a compromising mood and she preferred not to make matters even worse. She nodded once, silently obliging, then stepped back out into the hall. “I’ll just be a few doors down if you need anything” she said, hoping for a response, but when she received none, she sighed and disappeared.

               “Well?” Edmund asked. He leapt up from his chair the moment Susan returned to the library. “What happened?”

               The gentle queen shook her head. “Absolutely nothing” she replied. She explained the situation in exact detail, then watched as her younger siblings fell back with heavy sighs.

               “I wish he would just tell us what’s wrong!” Lucy moaned.

               “We’ll just have to keep a close eye on him in the next few weeks” Susan said. “We can’t rush these things. He’ll tell us when he’s ready. However, if he should get worse, then…”

               Her voice trailed off, but the just and valiant knew exactly what she meant. They didn’t want to have to resort to such manners, but if Peter was to be noncompliant and show no signs of progression, then they would have no choice but to intervene. Lucy and Edmund nodded in agreement, and their secret pact was then formed.

               Within the next week and a half, Peter was stagnant. Letters from Ginevra were stacked from the floor to as high as the windowsill now, and he was paying very little attention to the many documents he was signing.

               “Uh, Peter?” Edmund asked, reviewing the one. The magnificent merely grunted as he skimmed the contents of his next page. “You do know you just signed a law to make raspberry jam illegal, right?”

               “Never liked raspberry anyway” Peter muttered. Edmund reached out just as he dipped his quill in ink, gripping his wrist as the point hovered over the page.

               “You’re not paying attention” Edmund scolded.

               “Of course I am” Peter replied, glaring up at him.

               The just smirked. “Then what’s the purpose of that one?” he asked, pointing to the document in front of him.

               Peter blinked, then smiled confidently. “It’s an addendum to the law about illegal grocery distribution” he said. Edmund snatched the paper from his desk and skimmed the document himself.

               “It’s a complaint about marine pollution filtering into Glasswater Creek” Edmund corrected. “See? You’re not paying attention.”

               Lucy sighed and pressed her back against the wall outside of his office. “I can’t watch this anymore” she whispered. Susan shook her head, standing beside her. “It’s like he’s a shell of his former self!” She cupped her hands at her chest, her heart aching at the sight of it all. It was too much.

               Susan knew it, too. “There’s nothing more we can do” she whispered. “We just need to wait it out a little while longer.”

               Lucy peered back inside for a moment more, as if to torture herself further. She hated feeling so helpless. She truly respected her older sister, but at the same time she couldn’t stand to sit back and do nothing while their eldest brother was clearly suffering. She was going to have to take matters into her own hands.

               The roses in the garden were in full bloom, coating the air in their sweet fragrance. The garden was silent all but for the fountain in the center, upon where the statues of the former royals stood. Peter stared upon them with great focus, leaning forward with fingers tented before his mouth. The valiant watched from afar and tried to piece everything together, but his mind was barred.

               “Seems like you’ve been spending an awful lot of time out here” she then spoke, stepping out into the open. She gazed upon the statue a moment, then to her brother and asked, “Mind if I join you?” She sat beside him before he could utter a response.

               They stayed there in silence for a few moments, Lucy simply observing and trying to make sense of everything. When she got nowhere, she resorted to small talk. “I’m sure you’re glad to be back in warmer weather after your trip up north, right?”

               “Doesn’t really matter to me” Peter muttered. Lucy frowned.

               “Soon it’ll be the perfect weather to run down to the beach. We could have a picnic! Wouldn’t that be fun?”

               “I guess.”

               “Until then, we could always have a picnic here in the garden. Just the four of us! It’ll be like old times, when Mum and Dad would take us to the park with sandwiches and those little chocolate biscuits.”

               Peter shrugged. “I’d rather not.”

               “Oh? And why not?” Lucy asked.

               “I just want to be alone” Peter said, and this time there was a hint of frustration in his tone. As if he was trying to tell Lucy to leave. She wouldn’t hear of it.

               “Well, then we can be alone together” she grinned. She could almost see Peter’s eyes roll into the back of his head with frustration. They then fell back into another bout of silence, before Lucy got a brilliant idea. She mimicked Peter, staring up at the statues with great purpose, then said, “I wonder what they were like. You know, when they were alive.”

               Peter made a strange sound and then shook his head, breaking his gaze with the statues. “I hate this goddamn thing” he muttered. “She should be up there with them.”

               “Who should?” Lucy asked, cocking her head to the side.

               “Eilonwy” Peter said quietly, as if she should’ve already known.

               “But she’s not gone. Not really” Lucy replied. “I mean, she’s still out there somewhere.”

               Peter abruptly stood and kicked at a rock on the ground, biting his lower lip. For a moment, it looked to Lucy as if he was about to cry. Then he sniffled, leaned down, and began turning the rock over in his hands. “I wish we had never done this. So stupid” he said, analyzing every inch of the thing. He turned his gaze back to the king and queen atop the fountain, pursing his lips and then growling “This was the biggest mistake.” Then, without a single ounce of hesitancy, he groaned and launched the rock with perfect aim straight for King Lorr’s head, knocking his nose clear off.

               “Peter!” Lucy exclaimed. She leapt up from her seat and pulled his hand back into hers. “What did you do that for?!”

               He was very still for a moment, his eyes skating down to the chunk of rock now laying on the grass, then turned back to his baby sister with wide, incredulous eyes. “Oh, god…” he murmured. “What have I done…?” His hand began to shake in Lucy’s grasp, his face growing red and his eyes teary. “What have I done?” he repeated, louder now. And then he broke down, wailing pathetically and burying his face in his hands.

               Lucy’s heart pounded in her chest. What was happening? There were very few times when she had seen Peter this distraught and broken. All she could think to do was wrap her arms around him tightly and attempt to comfort him, but nothing seemed to quell his hysteria. “P-Peter, please! What is this all about?” she begged.

               It was then that she was met with a sentence she never thought she would hear. When the words fell from his lips, the entire world went silent and Lucy’s heart leapt into her throat. Peter looked at her with wide, bloodshot eyes, voice cracking and body quaking, and whispered, “Eilonwy is dead.”

[serahsanguine]

School, Sex and Subterfuge NC-17

Chapter 6 of?

part one, part Two,  part 3, part 4, part 5,  AO3

tagging @today-in-fic @skullsmuldon @foxystarbucks

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Chapter 6;  Situations

Mulder walked towards the Lone Gunman, as they called themselves, which was on the other side of campus. He finally arrived at their newspaper office and knocked on the door, hearing a faint come in. He walked into the office looking around seeing only Frohike there.

Frohike turned in his swivel office chair, turning away from the computer.

“Mulder my man, how are you?”

“I’m good Frohike. Are the other two in lectures?”

“Yeah man, I’m just writing this week's article. What brings you down here anyway? That little redhead causing you trouble?”

“No, she fine,”  Mulder face lit up on thinking about Scully.

“Oh man, you’ve got it bad. Not that blame you, she is pretty hot.” Mulder gave him a hard glair. Frohike laughed. “You know I won’t touch her. If this gets serious, though, promise you will bring her around.”

“You know that won’t happen. Rule one: don’t get emotionally involved.”

Frohikie gave him a sceptical look and thought ‘yeah, we will see how far that gets you’. Instead, he said nothing more on the subject and took the conversation in another direction.

“How’s Sam?”

“She’s good as far as I know.” I really should call her. “Do you mind if I stay for an hour or so until my next lecture?”

“Sure, you know what to do.”

Mulder walked in and went to one of the spare computers, he got to work and carried on chatting away to Frohike.

**********************************************************

Scully checked the time, she had about 30 minutes to grab some lunch before she had to go to her next lecture. She made quick haste to the small cafeteria as she had no time to go to her usual spot today. Grabbing a small salad and a bottle of water she went to meet Serah by the water fountain.

10 minutes later Scully was walking there expecting to see Serah hanging around with her friends. Instead, she spotted her alone in the shade, wearing a long sleeve jumper. She thought it was a bit odd but decided not to question her friend’s clothing choice. Scully looked again: she had to admit her friend did look quite beautiful. It wasn't necessarily the pose that her friend was in; but about how causal she seemed, her defences were down, she looked at peace. The leaves were scattered around her feet, the mix of green, brown, yellow and orange, contrasting against the green grass as well as Serah’s black jeans. She quickly got out her mobile opening the camera app and took a quick photo.

She walked over to Serah, lightly tapping her on the shoulder, which made Serah jump.

“Sorry I didn’t mean to startle you,” Scully said apologetically and sat down next to her, kneeling as best she could wearing the skirt she had picked, which as of today had become one of her favourites.  

“It’s okay Dana. I was reading some biography on Van Gogh, quite fascinating actually.”

“I’m sure it is.” Scully was smiling to herself, suddenly not paying attention. Warm memories of her escape that happened no less than an hour before flooded her brain.

“Well someone got laid this morning,” Serah said with a smirk and lightness to her voice.

“Umm, what was that?”

“Nothing,” Serah started laughing. “That’s a nice cologne you’re wearing,” and started laughing even harder when her friend turned a bright red.

Damn my Irish skin and also, shit! Do I smell of him? Do I smell of sex?

Serah started hiccuping, she was laughing so hard. When she finally managed to calm herself down she could see the worried expression on Scully’s face.

“Dana don’t worry I can’t smell him on you,” she leant towards her friend and smelled her skin. “Also you don’t smell of sex either, you have done a very good job with your perfume.”

Scully faced Serah and gave her a sceptical look: “How did you know then?”

“You were smiling. I haven’t seen you generally smile like that unless you’re thinking about a certain professor of ours,” the last part was a whisper so no one could hear her.

“Well yes, something did happen and I’m not going to discuss it so out in the open. While we are on the subject, I have the document for you to sign.”

“Thank you,” she looked at her watch “Dana, we must get going or we’re both going to be late for our lectures.”

Scully put away what she had of her lunch, and Serah put away her book amongst other things and both headed towards their lectures.

//  

A few weeks passed. Serah had indeed signed the document which leads to more sex which pleased them both. They were both enjoying their routine of Scully either being called to Mulder's office or her randomly turning up. Neither one were complaining, she was getting the best orgasms of her life and so was he. They enjoyed each other’s company but neither one was ready to admit to it. She was getting straight A’s and being true to his word she was not failing in his class.

Thanksgiving was just around the corner. Scully was looking forward to the welcome break away from school. It would be nice to see Mellissa again. She promised she would make it back from her trip in time and stay way past winter break.

On the flip side, Mulder was looking forward to seeing his sister again. She was making her way back from San Francisco for both Thanksgiving and Christmas and staying with him, first of all in the house he owned nearby and then in their father's old house in the Vineyard. Since both the parents died, he hadn’t had the heart to sell it, he instead rented it out for months at a time. That was why Sam was his whole world, they were all each other had.

*****************************************************

Scully had arrived at her mother's house. Dumping her bags by her side she gave her mum a long hug. She had missed her terribly.

“I thought I was going to pick you up from the airport Dana?”

“You were Mom, but I got an early flight. Is Ahab here?”

“Yes, he just went to the grocery store to pick up the fresh fruit and veg for tomorrow. Pick up your bags and put them in your room and if you want a small nap there are fresh sheets on the bed.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

Scully picked up her bags and walked up the stairs. Dumping them at the foot of the bed, taking off her jacket, she laid down and went for a small nap. It had been a long flight and an even longer day.

She woke up. The smell of a home cooked dinner mixing in with the smell of one of Melissa incenses. One thing was for certain: she had missed being home and spending time with the family.  

She wandered downstairs and peered through to the kitchen: mom and Ahab were putting the finishing touches on dinner. Bill, Melissa and Charlie were already sat at the table.

“Hey Starbuck, go sit down, dinner’s nearly ready,” her dad said before wandering back into the kitchen.

Scully peeked around the corner to see him hug her mom around the hips and kissing her on the cheek. She smiled. Maybe someday I will have a relationship like this.  

She walked back through to the dining room and Missy looked up and jolted away from the table the chair scraping slightly on the wood floor hugging her sister fiercely.

“Missy I can’t breathe!”

“Sorry.” She let go of her sister and sat back down.

“You need to tell me all about Europe.”

“And you need to tell me all about that guy,” Missy said a bit to loudly.

Bill instantly stopped talking to Charlie and looked in Scully’s eyes with a fierceness “What guy, Dana?”  

“There is no guy , Bill ” She put emphasis on both the guy and his name.

She matched his look with one of her own. And it turned into a staring contest. No more than 5 minutes later the spell was broken with the sound of their parents walking in and setting the food on the table.

“What is it, Mom? It smells amazing,” asked Charlie in such a young voice. Barely 15 and the only one left still living at home.  

“Nanna’s family recipe for beef stew, with some fresh carrots potatoes and broccoli.”

All the family smiled, it was one of everyone’s favourites.

//

An hour later, the beef stew eaten, no one had room for dessert. Charlie had gone into his room, and Bill into his. The girls had sat down in theirs after helping clean up. They kept talking about the visits away from home.

“Europe was amazing, so many different cultures. Such beautiful architecture. I brought so many new crystals and learnt so much more over there than I ever would have over here.”

“Sound’s amazing Missy. Are you going back?”

No, I don't think so. I have an art placement at the museum, working on restoring old paintings.”

“Are you staying in Maryland?”

“Actually I have been thinking of getting a flat in Washington and that way it means less commute.”

“Congratulations.”

She was happy for Missy, she would be able to call whenever she wanted and always have her to fall back on if she ever got in trouble. Which she could not have done if she was still in Europe.

“Enough about me. How’s School?”  

“School’s fine I'm doing well, making good friends, the usual.” She shrugged, her shoulders trying to deflect the conversation away from her. Missy was having none of it.

“You meet any cute guys?”

“No.”

Scully was a little too quick with her reply.

“Ok good. Well, then I’m going to go ahead and set you up on that date.”

“Wait, what date?”

“Just a date with a guy I knew from high school.”

“No Missy, please don’t,” she pleaded with her sister.

“Why? Have you got some hot date waiting for you back at school?”

Missy was teasing her and she knew it but she still squirmed under her sister scrutiny and she could also tell Missy was enjoying every minute of it.

“No!”

Missy picked up her mobile, and mock dialled a number.

“Ok, I have someone,” Scully finally admitted.

“Go on.”

“Well, he is older than me, he’s in my Psych class. He has kind hazel eyes, mousey brown hair. A body to die for.” She trailed off and smiled thinking about Mulder.  

“Well, well, well. It sounds like you are quite acquainted with this person’s anatomy by the glint in your eyes and that big old cheesy grin you have.”

Scully turned bright red in front of her sister and she knew she was gone.

“What’s his name?”

“I’m not saying,” Scully didn’t want to break the contract by revealing her relationship with Mulder.

“You love him,” Missy stated.

“I do not.”

She was sharp and fast with the reaction to her sister’s statement. But the truth was she didn’t know what she was feeling for him. She knew there was an attraction but not how far her feelings ran.

“It would be breaking the rules anyway, no attachments and that way we can both walk away.”

“If you say so, Dana. But I can tell these things and I’m certain he feels the same way.”

“Shut up Missy, you know I don’t believe in that new age shit.”

“Oh Dana, that language. Does Daddy know you talk that way?”

“Who do you think I learnt it from?”

They both fell into a fit of giggles and laughs, Mellissa dropping the subject for now. Until the time felt right to bring it up again.

*********************************************

Samantha had arrived in the wee hours of the morning. Mulder had picked her up not trusting the cab drivers that early in the morning with his baby sister. He let her sleep most of the day while he graded papers and daydreamed about a certain redhead. He was so lost in thought that he didn’t notice his sister walk in the room.

“Fox, who’s got you all dreamy eyed?”

“Humm, no one.”

He placed the last assignment in front of him. Turning to look at his sister in her ¾ trousers and vest top, hair in two braids. He smiled and watched her walk through to the kitchen turning on the coffee machine leaning against the side. She turned around to look at him.

“I know you’re lying big brother, wait till I have had some coffee. Once I wake up and we’re going to discuss this.”

“Nothing to discuss Sam.”

She threw him a look that said everything that needed to be said and he reluctantly knew he was going to have to talk to her about Scully.

Sam made her coffee and sat down opposite Mulder on the sofa. She took a few sips: he could tell she instantly felt better.

“So, Fox, I see you broke the biggest rule.”

“No, I haven’t.”

“You’re going for plausible deniability, interesting.” She sat back on her seat, crossing her legs in front of her, nursing her still steaming cup of coffee. She was smirking at him.

“Sam, I haven’t broken any rule,” he said slightly aggravated now.

“Who is she? I know you can’t tell me her name because that would make two rules on broken.”

He couldn’t help but notice the slight comment but decided to ignore it for now.

“She has fiery red hair and the most beautiful blue eyes. The kind you get lost in. She’s sweet, kind, passionate about her studies and loves to challenge me.”

“So she is the perfect woman for you,” she said mockingly.

“I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t have to.”  She drank the last sip of her coffee, placing the empty mug on the coffee table.

“I love you, Sam, but you’re reading too much into this. Yes, she is a good student and a wonderful woman, but that’s as far as it goes”

“We shall see, won’t we?” She picked up her cup and proceeded to the kitchen, leaving him to his thoughts.

Did his feelings run deeper than he wanted to admit to himself? Did he see himself spending a future with Scully? But Sam was right: that was breaking the most precious rule he had set out. Never fall in love with the person you’re sleeping with. Never let your guard down. He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard Sam talk to him.

“You order the pizza and I will put on Silence of the lambs.”

****************************************

Thanksgiving was a good experience on both parts. They each enjoyed spending time with family. Melissa didn’t bring up the guy situation again. And Sam didn’t bring up the situation of Mulder falling for his student.

They had been back in School for about a week now. They hadn’t really had time to speak to each other. They said their quick hello’s in the gym each morning. He was busy with his lectures and she was busy making sure she had all of her assignments in and to a good standard.

He had found time on Friday’s lunch break to send her an email.

From: FWMulder@Hotmail.co.uk

To: DanaKScully@Hotmail.co.uk

Subject: Your Assignment.

Dear Scully, I would like to meet you in my office at 6.30pm to discuss the assignment that is due next week.

Yours Faithfully, Mulder.

Scully was at lunch when she received the email. Serah had just finished her club sandwich, and she was twirling her salad around with a fork. She read the email and her face lit up. She had missed him a little more than she liked to admit but this would probably be the last time they would meet up before they all went on winter break.

She wanted to tell him about her sister’s notorious idea of trying to get her on a date. They talked about Mellissa in the past and how she was the wild and free one and Scully herself was the shy one. Mulder had simply disagreed saying she was very wild in a certain department just remembering that statement made her blush all over again.

“Oh, loverboy messaging you again?” Serah said teasingly

“No, why would you say that?”

“You just get a look on your face that screams ‘I’m having great sex’”

“I do not.” Scully pushed herself away from the table crossing her arms around her chest.

“Yeah, you do.” There was a short pause and Serah turned to her friend and studied her. Dana’s body was tense: she definitely wasn’t amused and in complete denial. “Ok if you do not have any feeling more than just a casual sex relationship you should come to the party tonight. I’m betting there’re lots of young impressionable men and women that you could take advantage off.”

“You know I don’t swing that way,” Scully sharply replied.

“Whatever floats your boat, Dana. Are you coming or not?” she asked a little impatiently.  

“Humph, we will see.”

“Will you text me when you have decided either way?”

“I will do, promise. Now we really should be heading to class,”  she started putting her things in her bag and stood up.

“Sometimes Dana you can be a right stick in the mud” Serah also stood up and got pushed in the shoulder for the remark. “Ow.”

“Oh, poor baby” Scully replied sarcastically even putting on a mock pouty face.

“Shut up” she teasingly said back in the same manner.  

They both broke up into a fit of laughs and giggles walking back to the classes for the day.

//

Mulder had been pacing his office for the last hour. He was nervous; he knew he shouldn’t be, but there was that little nagging feeling that he had in the back of his mind ever since Thanksgiving when Sam pointed out certain things to him. There was soon a femine knock on the door. He turned on his heels and looked up at the clock. There was only one person that could be knocking at the door this time of day but the shadow of the woman was too tall to be Scully.

He walked up to his office door and opened it to find Vice Principal Fowley at his door.

“Good Evening Vice Principal Fowley. What can I do for you this evening?” He said with a sarcastic cheer.  

She walked into his office barging past him.

“Come straight in, why don’t you?” He muttered under his breath.  

“Fox, what are you doing this evening?” Mulder opened his mouth but before he could even get a word out she spoke again. “It doesn't matter, I want to take you to dinner since you’ll free.”

“Well, actually... Diana, I am not free, I have a student coming around. She needs help with her last assignment.”

She leaned close to him, his back flush with the door frame. Her fingers started walking seductively up his chest while whispering in his ear “But Fox I remember how much fun we used to have at dinner and after it.”  It physically made his skin crawl under her touch.

He placed his hand on her upper arms pushing her back slightly and looking her in the eye.

“Maybe once Diana, but that was a long time ago, and never again.”

He was still standing with his back against the door when he heard a woman’s cough from behind him. He turned seeing Scully standing there, her big blue eyes staring at him. God, she looked beautiful, her hair in two low pigtails, her face free of makeup, wearing jean shorts and a black tank top. He licked his lips feeling his heart hammer against his chest.  

“Miss Scully, do come in. Vice Principle Fowley was just leaving.”

Mulder watched Diana take a glance at Scully and her face soured like she had sucked a lemon. Scully smiled at Diana and walked into his office and if he didn’t know any better she put a little extra wiggle in her hips.

“Maybe another time Fox, good evening Miss Scully.”

Diana walked out of the office and out of sight. He instantly breathed a sigh of relief shutting the door behind him giving his full attention to the beautiful fiery redhead standing in his office.  

“So, professor, you have been busy”

He looked at her and her face was blank. They stared at each other and he watched her lips curl up at the corners and a full grin broke and a very girly laugh filled the room.

“Sit down Scully tell me how seeing your family went.”

They walked through to his private office and she sat on the sofa. He watched her, and couldn’t help staring at her ass, licking his lips again as those shorts left little to the imagination. He sat down next to her, his jeans touching the bare skin of her knees. Her hand resting on his leg just above where their knees touched.

“Thanksgiving was nice, Missy was back from Europe and she told me her stories about how exotic the men were there.”

He started kissing her neck, biting, nipping, licking up and down from her ear to the clavicle. His hand moved underneath the hem of her tank top making slow circles with his fingers.

“There’s a funny story, actually, do you want to hear it?”

He stopped kissing her neck and answered in a hoarse whisper.

“Yes”

He moved his hand up her stomach making small horizontal lines underneath her breast feeling her heartbeat underneath his hand. Her breathing was fast and small droplets of sweat were forming on her brow.

"Well while I was down visiting my family, Missy….. Oh, God."

He lifted up her top, so it was now sitting just over her breasts. He took a nipple within his mouth biting down hard, making her back arch away from the sofa and more into him. He greedily took more breast into his mouth and sucked vigorously.

He moved his hand down her stomach and underneath both her jeans and underwear finding her soaking wet for him. He glided his fingers through her wet folds before finding her clit. He played with it and gently flicked it with his fingers before making small circles in it. His mouth started working on her other breast giving it the same attention.

"She tried to set me up on a date," she blurted out.

Upon hearing this something clicked inside him. He couldn't place the sudden feeling within him but there was one emotion overruling them all. He felt anger towards her for the first time since they had met, the prospect of her going out and having sex with someone else made him angry.

He was brought back to reality when he heard Scully moan his name. With his mouth still on her breast his fingers still on her clit he wanted to cum and make her cum hard. He thrashed his fingers in her clit and bit down as hard as he could without drawing blood. He soon felt her body convulse and twitch under him. He smirked in satisfaction and removed his fingers and went and sat back on the chair across from her.

He sat there and watched her come out of the post orgasmic bliss and her realisation that he was sitting across from her. His anger bubbling inside of him.

"Did you agree on the date?" He said with a venomous sneer.

"No, why would I?" He watched the look of confusion come across her face.

"You're a beautiful young woman," he said it more as a statement than an answer.

"That may be true, but I didn't want to."

"Why? It's not like the contract says you can't sleep with anyone else."

"Wait, who said I was sleeping with anyone? It was just a date," she spat back angrily, she placed her top back where it was meant to be and stood up.

"Well you sleep with me, don't you? So I wouldn't be  surprised that a 'date' would turn into sex?" He was fuming with anger now. If there could be steam coming out of his ear there would be.

"Fuck you Mulder! I have no idea what has gotten into you but I am not your personal punching bag."

"We have done that several times."

"Maybe you should go sleep with Diana. Every student knows how well that went down." She walked out of his office and slammed the door behind her leaving him still seated staring at the door.

//

She walked down the hall ready to punch and scream at anything that got in her way. Why had he treated her like that after just giving her one of the best orgasms of her life? She hated him so much right now. She got her mobile out of her bag and punched number two on her speed dial.

"Hello?"

"Serah, are you still going to the party?"

"Yes, why?"

"Is the offer still open?"

"Of course! Does that mean you going?" Scully heard the change in her friend's voice; she went from sounding bored too very excited in 30 seconds flat.

"Yes. When are you leaving?"

"I was going to leave in 30 minutes, but now I need to help you with an outfit and makeup and hair."

"Thank you, I will be there in about ten."

"See ya then!"

Scully heard the dial tone and put the phone back in her bag. She was kind of glad Serah didn't ask about Mulder. She didn't want to get into it right now with anyone. She wanted to get drunk and forget about it.

1 Hour and 30 minutes later

Frat house

9.30pm

Serah and Scully were walking up towards the frat house with its disco light shining out of the windows illuminating the dark sky. The music could be heard from a mile away, and the vibrations could be felt while getting closer. They stood outside with drunk couples kissing and fornicating on the front punch. There were even a few people already passed out drunk sleeping on the grass.

Scully was wearing a slimline short lace dress with a sweetheart neckline. It wasn’t the dress she was comfortable in, and it was certainly not a dress she would ever buy. But as Serah pointed out, she wouldn’t care as soon as the alcohol kicked in, and she was right. She also pointed out that this dress would catch anyone's eye whether they were male or female.  She wore black stiletto heels making her seem a little bit taller and her slim legs longer. Her hair was wavy curling framing her face, her make up smooth with a smokey eye, and a deep red lipstick making her cheekbones and smile define her face.

Serah was wearing a spaghetti strapped crop corset with high waisted black leather look trouser with simple strappy heels. Sometimes she wished she had Serah’s confidence. But tonight wasn’t about sad thoughts it was about forgetting them entirely.

They walked arm in arm passed the people fornicating, passed the people asleep into the house in search for drinks to knock them senseless.

A few hours later

Scully was sitting on a brick wall, her heels next to her. Her feet freely swinging in the air. She was staring into the dark sky, watching the darkness floating, disappearing, swirling around the twinkling of the city lights. Her body was buzzing from all the alcohol consumed. She was lost in thought when she felt a warm feminine shoulder touch her shoulder and glide across her shoulder blade. She turned to see Serah sitting down next to her in someone's jacket.

“What are you staring at?”

“Nothing, just thinking.”

“No thinking tonight, you promised,” Serah pouted lightly pushing Scully’s shoulder.

“I know. Jesus, Serah, how many have you had?”

Serah swayed slightly before answering “Oh I lost count after the third or fourth shot,”  she placed her hand on top of Scully’s. “Why did you decide to come?”

“Mulder acting like he doesn't give a shit about anything or anyone. And best of all, he had the Vice principal with him.”

“He didn’t! That bastard...”

“Oh god, I’m too drunk to even think about this right now.”

Scully was momentarily taken back when Serah placed her lips against her own. Soft and succulent, so completely different than kissing a man. But this wasn’t right; this was her friend, her best friend. She is a woman, I don’t have feelings for her, do I? It’s just the booze. Isn’t it? She pulled back.

“Shit, Dana, I’m sorry.”

“I... I... can’t do this.”

“Dana!”

But she didn't listen to the rest of what Serah was saying, she picked up her shoes and went back inside.

Why is today going so wrong? First, it was Mulder, now it is Serah. Fuck this shit! I need a shot or two.

With many more shots consumed it was the early hours of the morning, around 3 o’clock, with what she could work out. Many of the party goes had passed out drunk or gone home. She wanted to go to her room but she didn’t want to see Serah. She started walking not knowing her destination.

This was all Mulder’s fault. She would have never got angry, got drunk, kissed Serah, fell out with her best friend, drank more, got hit on a couple more men...

She pulled out her mobile and started going through her contacts searching for professor Mulder’s name in her phone book. It’s a bad idea but I don’t care. I need to tell him how I feel. She punched dial and put the phone up to her ear listening to the ringing and eventually Mulder’s voice at the other end of the line.

"Hello."

"Prrrofessssoorr Mulderr," she noticed her Ss and Rs rolling, she couldn't help it.

"Scully?"

"No, it'sss your sssex ssslave." She tried to sound seductive but it wasn't working.

"Scully?"

"It'sss all your fault, Mulderrr."  She pouted, as if he could see her. She felt her legs starting to get sore, maybe even already sore. She wasn't really sure anymore. She sat down on the floor, cold and bumpy "If I didn't have feelingsss for you, thisss would neverrr have happened, and I would be getting laid rrright now"

"Scully are you drunk? Are you ok? Where are you?" He sounded aggravated now. Good, now we're getting somewhere.

"Ssshut up Mulderrr, was Diana good company? Or yet, even better, was your hand?" She let out giggle she couldn't help it.

"Scully where are you?" He still sounded angry.

"I'm sitting down, where are you?" She noticed herself starting to sober a little.

"I'm at home. Now, Dana where are you?" Now there was confusion in his voice.

"I'm on Frat Street at the end. I think."

"Stay there, I'm coming to get you."

She didn't even get a reply as she heard the dial tone.

//

Mulder hung up the phone and drove 5-10 minutes to find Scully standing up, holding her heels in one hand, with a frat boy hunting off her hip.

What was she thinking? Getting drunk flaunting herself. Damn it if I will let her get herself into any trouble. He sat for a couple of seconds as the man’s hand went up her dress and lent in to kiss her. She pulled away but he pulled her back.

He stepped out of the car. Making his presence known by fake coughing. Now he was closer he could tell it was a Med student he knew, as Daniel Waterston.

"Miss Scully, are you ok?" he said sternly.

"No, Professor Mulder, but Daniel was just leaving..." her voice wavered.

"Yes, I was just leaving..." and he snuck back into the shadows like a mole burning its way to the earth.

"Dana," he walked up to her.

"I think I'm gonna—"

And she fell and he caught her. He moved her into a better position. She barely weighed anything in his arms. He placed her laying across the back seat of his car making sure she was safe and secure before moving back to the pavement picking up her shoes and placing them in the passenger side of the car next to him. He sat in the driver’s side contemplating where to take her. He soon made the decision and drove her to his apartment.

******************************

Quick note;

 there is a scene in this chapter where Scully and Serah could get it on. Would you like to see this as an alternate scene? or maybe even a future chapter? or not at all? please let me know in the comments. I will also be posting a poll on twitter.

Thank you for Reading I appreciate your feedback good or bad.

[nikatyler]

*gasp* a replies post! A long replies post! A long replies post where I overshare again! *o* Yeah I kinda missed doing these. I’m now at home, but won’t be for much longer. First, I’m going to meet some of my new classmates on Friday and I’ll spend the whole weekend with them! We’re going somewhere...well I don’t even know where that is, just that it’s in nature and I’ve never been there before! Thank gods we’re meeting at the main station in Prague, or else I wouldn’t get there myself. Then on Moday, I have to go to my uni, and then once more on Wednesday I think? And on Wednesday, I’ll have to wake up at 4 am. my LiFe Is SoOoOOOoO HaRd oH mY gOd. No, I’ll be fine.

And a month from now, I’ll be moving to my dorm. That’s some crazy stuff. I can’t believe it’s happening. Last week, my dad actually took me to Prague and we went to see where it is. The location reminds me a lot of my home, but I won’t tell you what exactly that is because no one needs to know that. Anyway, school starts in October. I’m actually looking forward to studying, but the “living alone in a big city with people I’ve never seen before” part is scary. D: I’ll give you updates.

Anyway, today was a weird day. First, I sat alone by the lake when these two guys came and talked to me (I didn’t mind that actually, they were kinda nice), then when I got up and said I had to go home, one of them complimented my legs...which would’ve been really nice but then he basically implied he’d go to bed with me...and like literally five minutes ago he said he had a girlfriend...basically men are scary. Then later, mum and I went grocery shopping and I saw my middle school crush with his girlfriend...and decided that his girlfriend is cute, way cuter than him actually...bisexual culture I guess, crushing on your middle school crush’s girlfriend lmao. Then we went to pay for our groceries and the cashier...was my childhood friend who also happened to be my first crush and also my last crush and these days I’m wondering if I’m really crushing on him or if I’m just holding onto him because I don’t know any better. Long story but if you ever feel like I have a thing for childhood friends to lovers trope, maybe blame him.

Wow. Oversharing much? Let’s get to those replies then, before I tell you what colour my underwear is or something.

Also!! Stream Lover. You won’t regret it.

volcanopasta replied to your photoset “@ ea guess what we still don’t have in ts4”

I miss spooning

I feel like that’s one of those little things half of the community misses. ;-;

simlishprincess replied to your photoset “MAGNOLIA???”

she’s morphing

She’s broken like this really often and it scares me :D

tiny-tany-thaanos replied to your photoset “Vanessa: “So do you forgive me?” Gwyneth: “Of course I do. I must...”

Lol, a bpr founder telling thez plan no more children, they are so funny

These sims have no clue what I have in store

And just you wait for gen 2

Just you wait

tiny-tany-thaanos replied to your photoset “There it is. Wonder what she could use the computer for…;) (no, I...”

Well I can`t say this is surprisingXD

Yeah...do most people go for purple? At least most bpr people I follow/followed went for this colour :D I also wanted to do this thing where the founder chooses the pink person, but the heir is purple. Idk why, I just wanted it to be like that haha

tiny-tany-thaanos replied to your photoset “Uhh oh hi again. You guys are seeing this right after the last post,...”

Jeez, Vanessa looks like that liquid Terminaor from Terninator 2.Funnily enough he was posing as a police officerXD

Lol I have no idea what you’re talking about because I’m bad at watching iconic movies (read as: I haven’t watched any of the movies that people think everyone has watched :’D) but I’ll believe you lmao

dandylion240  replied to your photoset “I really can’t justify this, can I? Listen, I have to stay true to my...”

Sometimes the aliens won't let you go even if you want to.

Oh you’re right

create-a-sim replied to your photoset “She traded her policeman hat for a fishnet top. Fashion, you know.”

me as a policeman

Saaaame

tiny-tany-thaanos replied to your photoset “You know how I said I couldn’t justify this? Well…Alexa play Oops I...”

Yeah, make Roxanne that purple sibling/s

Careful what you wish for 👀

dandylion240 replied to your post “The power of what sharing a worry with someone can do amazes me, as a...”

Awe I'm glad you didn't delete without telling anyone. You would have been missed. But you're not the only one who thinks about doing that though.

I love seeing you on my dash ❤️

1o8percent replied to your post “The power of what sharing a worry with someone can do amazes me, as a...”

I’m glad that sharing your worries was able to help you. Simblr can be overwhelming and well life in general can be too. It’s nice to have someone to let it out to. I’m glad you’re still around!

♥♥♥

Thank you guys so much. This happens to me from time to time, but it’s never been this bad.

desira-sims replied to your post “Random thoughts and ideas: NSB, BC and my hair (again)”

I’m slowly working through the sentence starters too. I didn’t realize quite how difficult some of them would be. Lol

Same! I might incorporate one of them into my yellow gen because it would fit there perfectly. God I’m really going to milk this one awful awful event for angst huh. That will be frowned upon. As for the other...I have an idea for it but it doesn’t fit the og Raleb timeline at all (it was for them) and I want it to be canon...like I kinda just don’t want to call it an AU, but I guess I’ll have to.

aiseinei replied to your photoset “Eden: “Ughhh oh my god my life is soooo hard!”

I would be too if I was stuck staring pink in the mirror for the rest of my life �� no very cute!

Oof same haha. One of the reasons why I was hesitant about starting BPR was the pink :D

And then I went and made my founder marry a pink sim and have four pink children with her, because that makes sense. I love making myself suffer, yay!

Thank you, btw!

medleymisty replied to your post “I'm not saying I want to re-read my entire NSB but...I kinda do. Will...”

*hugs* We're our own worst critics. I used to cringe at my old stuff too, but really it was decent. I might have learned more since then, but it was still good. I'm glad you can see the good in yours. :)

I’m definitely not as hard at my younger self anymore. I went and read some of my stories written when I was 13-14, and I tried to look at it that way. They weren’t perfect, but maybe they were good for a child of that age. I mean, I always got good grades on my writing homework, and my teachers have always liked how I worked with words, so...yeah, it’s not perfect, but I’m not going to have perfectly fleshed out characters and storylines when I have barely even understood that the world isn’t just black and white, good and evil. There are shades inbetween.

That got deep again but I have a lot of feelings about this and I’m sorry to my younger writer self for how I’ve treated her. Keep going, kid.

xiapxls replied to your post “Well, of course my bad wifi had to ruin everything. I guess I will go...”

Me! Whenever I come across a new blog I'm interested in I always read everything before I hit follow

whysimstho replied to your post “Well, of course my bad wifi had to ruin everything. I guess I will go...”

It was how I found your blog actually!

yamekamerainbows27 replied to your post “Well, of course my bad wifi had to ruin everything. I guess I will go...”

I have! ✋✋

elisabettasims replied to your post “Well, of course my bad wifi had to ruin everything. I guess I will go...”

I feel like I read over 90% of it?

dandylion240 replied to your post “Well, of course my bad wifi had to ruin everything. I guess I will go...”

Me. Was in love with Ross since he was born in game. He was such a lil cutie!!

desira-sims replied to your post “Well, of course my bad wifi had to ruin everything. I guess I will go...”

Me! Came across a Ross and Caleb post and went back to the beginning to read it all.

1o8percent replied to your post “Well, of course my bad wifi had to ruin everything. I guess I will go...”

I have ��

Wooow there’s a lot of you. And you stuck with me through the bad and the worse, through all the dumb ideas I got...thank you. Seriously, thank you. There’s more in store, I promise.

You’ll want to punch me in the face eventually, I’m just saying.

Speaking of punching someone in the face, yesterday I was waiting for my hair to dry and I thought hmm, let’s go read gen 2 of my NSB. And...I knew Ross was an idiot when he was young, but I forgot he was that bad. I’m glad none of us accepted it and we only collectively forgave him when he got his crap together. Yay. Also yay we didn’t cancel him because cancel culture is disgusting, people can learn from their mistakes.

I’m going off topic again. That happens when I’m in a good mood.

elisabettasims replied to your post “Let's play a game, "how many more curly maxis match hair can I...”

It's true, there is never enough.

dandylion240 replied to your post “Let's play a game, "how many more curly maxis match hair can I...”

There is never enough

Glad we’re on the same page haha

tiny-tany-thaanos replied to your post “��”

Yes, tumblr finally stopped bullying me and send my ask!

Yay tumblr, it got its crap together for once!

No, jokes aside, if you ever send me an ask and I don’t respond, feel free to send it again. I think I got better at answering my asks fast, so you can definitely tell by that. Also, if I answer everyone else’s and not yours...that’s also a sign because I hardly ever keep asks private (unless I’ve been asked to do so, then I’ll always respect your wish!)

tiny-tany-thaanos replied to your photo “I have to catch a bus in like ten minutes but here’s what I’ve been...”

This hairstyle suits Ross!

It kinda really does?? It was also the closest I could get to his ts4 one haha.

toxoplasmajuice replied to your photoset “Contestant number seven has arrived! Talia: “Is everything alright?...”

god yeah as an experienced bc player i feel that, introductions take SO long and get SO annoying

I had an “ok I’m never doing this again” moment with literally every contestant because 1) it was taking forever and 2) making ten different and yet still entertaining dialogues was hard

And I write a lot so you’d say that would be easy for me, but nope :’D

doka-chan replied to your post “I don't know how many of you are interested in my book...”

Book recommendations are always a plus. Thank you ! :)

I like them too! Not only because, well, I get a book recommendation, but also because I’m always curious about what people read haha.

vintageplumbobs replied to your post “Just queued episode 2 of the BC and one of the posts got flagged…wanna...”

Not all of us have time for breakfast! I can’t be looking at that in the staff kitchen! People will riot! ����

Oh that’s right, forgive me tumblr, I have sinned

desira-sims replied to your post “But I’ve never told you that before.” Caleb and Ross, please? ��”

That is the sweetest thing ever. ������

dandylion240 replied to your post “But I’ve never told you that before.” Caleb and Ross, please? ��”

I love it ❤️

Thank you guys ;-; ♥ I loved writing this so much. It gave me that nice warm feeling inside, you know what I mean? They make me so happy! ;-;

wcif a vampire best friend that would eventually end up marrying me?

dandylion240 replied to your post “Just queued episode 2 of the BC and one of the posts got flagged…wanna...”

Every single post of Emerson bc was flagged and they weren’t nsfw either mostly

Yeah, this is so weird...I know people say it happens when the picture has a lot of “skintone” coloured pixels...but that’s not always the case with my flagged posts??

Also (I’ll never shut up about this)...why is there a female-presenting nipples rule when it clearly can’t ever tell female and male nipples apart? I’m just saying. And yes I get it, for AI it sure has to be difficult to tell such things apart but in my opinion that’s exactly why they should get rid of it and only incorporate it when it can tell it apart. Actually, hold on, nope. The nipple rule is stupid no matter what gender the nipple is.

And I’ve just used the word nipple more times than ever before in my nineteen-something years long life.

desira-sims replied to your photoset “Some more pictures of Aretha ♥”

She's so pretty

Thank you! ♥ I’m happy with how she turned out.

vintageplumbobs replied to your photoset “I did not forget about those townie makeovers! @epicvictoria suggested...”

That style really suits her. But then...maybe I’m biased...

I think it suits her way better than her original outfits too, but same, I might be biased...vintage/retro aesthetic is my jam.

tiny-tany-thaanos replied to your photoset “How to tell which characters are my favourite? Well, they probably...”

Looking good!

omiscanking replied to your photoset “How to tell which characters are my favourite? Well, they probably...”

I'm scrEAMINGGGG

Haha thank you! I hope it’s a good kind of screaming :D

toxoplasmajuice replied to your post “Thoughts?”

screenshots are cool and all but i say if you wanna rely more on text then go for it! especially if you've figured out that taking all those screenshots is an obstacle for you - do what works best for you, you know?

doka-chan replied to your post “Thoughts?”

For me a story is up to its writer. I don't mind only one picture with a huge text, or the contrary a lot of picture with little to no text. As long as we got attached to the characters, it's not important, as long as it's progressing and understandable.

dandylion240 replied to your post “Thoughts?”

I don’t mind reading a lot of text. Pics are always second to the story to me.

desira-sims replied to your post “Thoughts?”

I sort of think there should be a balance. No, not everything needs to be shown as a ss, but it should be more than one photo for a wall of text.

Thank you for your feedback! I think it would be no more than one Word page of text. Which is a lot still but I think that’s the maximum I’d go for. And I mean, I’d show all the important moments. It’s just, I guess I don’t need ten different pictures of the same conversation when these people are just standing next to each other. And it doesn’t need to be split into ten different posts either.

I’ll figure it out, don’t worry.

deathflowertea replied to your photoset “the softest bean �� alternate, boring caption: So I finally decided to...”

TS4 looks good on her! ��

tiny-tany-thaanos replied to your photoset “the softest bean �� alternate, boring caption: So I finally decided to...”

Cute!

alfalfalegacy replied to your photoset “the softest bean �� alternate, boring caption: So I finally decided to...”

I love her!!

Thank you guys! I really like how she turned out too.

tiny-tany-thaanos replied to your post “I'm thinking of starting something like "random facts about..." tags...”

I do love when people talk about their characters and stories! It makes OCs more real and all the small details are just adorable!

Me too. I want to know all the details. Tell me how you came up with this or that. Tell me what inspired you to do this. Tell me which song you associate with them. Tell me little things like what shower gel they’re using. I JUST LOVE OCS OKAY

toxoplasmajuice replied to your photo “Nicky: “This is a tragedy. Can I burn my picture before anyone sees...”

me whenever i finish a drawing

big relatable mood

create-a-sim replied to your post “list 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the ask box for...”

I love good lyrics as well ;)

I’ve recently found a lot of appreciation for lyrics that seem simple, but then you get into them or read some behind the scenes facts and realize they’re not as simple as they might seem. Then I feel like the person who wrote it is a genius.

ineptbubbles replied to your photoset “Could I ever get bored of her? Nope.  Could I ever get bored of making...”

Omgosh I love that shirt!!

Me toooo and I need one irl ;-; But I mean, I’ve told my sister so many times this week, maybe when my birthday comes around in December, she’ll remember and she’ll tell my parents I want it? :D I mean I could just ask them for that myself but I just know I’d be embarrassed for some reason.

mlpsimmer replied to your photoset “Roxanne: “Dad, what are you doing here?! You told me you were supposed...”

Your sims are gorgeous!

Thank you so muuuuch! ♥

desira-sims replied to your post “Fluff sentence starter 16. “Do you think the moon is jealous of how...”

These two. �� My heart. I just love them.

dandylion240 replied to your post “Fluff sentence starter 16. “Do you think the moon is jealous of how...”

I love this thank you ❤️

Same. They borrowed my heart, said they’d give it back and then ran away with it and I never saw it again. smh guys, stealing isn’t nice

And no, thank YOU for making me write this ♥

mlpsimmer replied to your post “Tumblr……..your protect-kids-from-seeing-nipples algorithm still isn’t...”

It happened to one of my drafts, which was never published. They were fully dressed, too! It's a little annoying.

Yeah, I just talked about this above in a reply to an older comment. It’s...ugh tumblr, what is u doing