#//Or if he is just MORTIFIED and embarrassed that he’s babied when he’s practically thirty; making a lil angy cat face

[dutybcrne]

I love the idea of Kaveh having SO many moments of just. Squishing Haitham’s face back in their Akademiya days, bc he thought the lad was so adorable, it just set off his cuteness aggression.

[snelbz]

Life As We Know It {Chapter 21}

Summary: After the sudden deaths of Nesta’s sister and Cassian’s best friend, they gain guardianship of their nephew, Nyx.

Based on Life As We Know It (2010) and a prompt sent in by anonymous for our Nessian fanfic contest. This is a modern au.

Instead of doing a tag list for this story, we have decided to have a set posting schedule. Chapters will be posted weekly on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays. Occasional surprise chapters could be posted at miscellaneous times. Chapters will be posted on both my and Tara’s blogs! >> @tacmc.​

Life As We Know It Masterlist

Shelby’s Masterlist

Tara’s Masterlist

Before Nesta even opened her eyes, she knew that she’d gotten some of the best sleep she’d had in months. She knew it was early, since Nyx hadn’t even woken them up for his morning bottle yet. Sighing comfortably, she settled deeper into her pillows, the weight of a heavy arm slung over her waist, pulling her in close.

With sudden clarity, she remembered the events of the night before. She remembered the damn kiss that had started it all. She remembered the orgasms Cassian had given her over and over. She remembered seeing something shining in his eyes that had nothing to do with lust or sex.

She was sure it was reflected in her own, but couldn’t work up the nerve to let herself think about what they’d done last night, what it may have implied. What lines they may have crossed.

And the fact that she really didn’t give a damn.

Nesta couldn’t remember the last time she was this happy, and as much as she tried to pretend it wasn’t thanks to the man sleeping soundly behind her, in her bed, she couldn’t lie to herself.

So she gently rolled over, careful not to wake him, and took in his sleeping face.

It was kind of funny.

Nesta had known Cassian for a while, for five years, and before that in passing, considering Feyre and Rhysand’s relationship. She had watched him age, had watched him grow from a young man into the man that had taken her the night before, but looking at him now…

There was an innocence about him when he slept.

He snored, quietly, completely unaware that she was awake, that she was watching him.

He was cute.

So, so cute.

If he awoke at that very moment and saw her watching him sleep, she would have surely been mortified, but she couldn’t bring herself to care, she couldn’t look away.

Memories from the night before flashed through her mind, and it only made her that much happier. She couldn’t remember the last time she had fallen asleep in a man’s arms, but with Cassian, she had fallen asleep peacefully, nearly instantly, and slept amazingly.

There was something about Cassian that she couldn’t quite put her finger on, but she knew that she liked it.

She dared to gently brush a kiss over his cheek, before carefully climbing out of bed, his heavy arm making that a much harder endeavor than she was expecting. But he slept on soundly, not even stirring as she slipped from beneath the sheets and hurried into her closet. She wasn’t embarrassed by her nakedness, not after everything that had happened last night, but she knew that if he caught her naked, they were likely to take far longer getting downstairs to start their morning.

Not that she would have minded, but she was pretty sure neglecting Nyx was not a good enough reason for sex.

No, she’d enjoy him again later, as thoroughly as he’d enjoyed her last night, if he was willing. And she had no doubt that he would be.

Tying her robe around her waist, Nesta slipped from the closet into her room, glancing to make sure Cassian was still fast asleep. His snore confirmed he was.

Her chuckle was quiet as she entered the hall, sneaking down a few doors and opening Nyx’s. He was still asleep, as well, and with a smile, Nesta cracked his door and quietly padded down the stairs.

The kitchen was still a mess, his half-smashed cake on the counter and their clothes strewn around the room. Blushing, she picked them up one by one and tossed them into the laundry room, before making Nyx a bottle and starting on some scrambled eggs for his breakfast.

She could hardly focus. She was constantly thinking about the man upstairs, still sleeping soundly in her bed. Mixing a little cheese into the eggs, she stirred the eggs up in the pan before dumping them directly onto Nyx’s high chair tray.

Last time they’d slept together, Cassian had made her breakfast and then they’d both agreed it would never happen again. Regardless of the fact that it very much had happened again, Nesta didn’t like the sinking feeling she felt in her heart when she thought about having to agree to that once more.

Staring at the ingredients she’d pulled out of the fridge, Nesta sighed and braced her hands on the counter in front of her.

She wasn’t sure when it had happened, but she couldn’t ignore the fact that she had feelings for Cassian anymore. At some point, he’d gone from being a pain in her ass to the favorite part of her day. And that terrified her.

Letting him continue to sleep, she crept upstairs and gently woke Nyx up before he could start screaming, and carried him down to the kitchen, his sleepy head resting on her shoulder. He rubbed his eyes as she put him in his high chair, handing him the bottle, and she started working on their breakfast.

The entire time he ate, Nyx watched Nesta curiously, as if he knew something was up.

Maybe it was just her paranoia. Then again, he was Feyre and Rhysand’s kid and they were always snooping into Cassian and Nesta’s business.

Feyre and Rhysand.

Nesta bet they were pretty damn proud of themselves at the moment.

She heard him moving around upstairs and her heart began to beat a little bit faster. This was it, the moment of truth.

She cursed, all the while Nyx kept watching her as he stuffed his mouth with scrambled eggs.

Making herself busy at the stove, she quickly dropped some bacon into the hot skillet, sizzling filling the kitchen. Within seconds, a few pieces of bread were in the toaster, and she was rummaging through the refrigerator for the blackberry jam she knew he preferred.

Nyx’s babbling announced his arrival, and she turned to find Cassian standing behind his high chair, wearing nothing but a pair of sweatpants slung low on his hips. He picked up a small clump of eggs and popped it into his mouth, and Nyx angrily began talking at him, though the made up words were unintelligible.

“He doesn’t like to share,” she said, closing the fridge door with a hip.

Cassian grinned. “Desperate times call for desperate measures. I worked up an appetite last night.”

Nesta’s cheeks turned a soft shade of pink. “Is that so?”

Cassian nodded and walked toward her, slowly. Nesta remained still until he was standing just in front of her. “I have to confess that I was hoping you’d be there when I woke up this morning.”

Nesta stepped closer to him. “Breakfast and the baby called.”

Cassian scoffed and muttered, “Priorities.”

Nesta laughed quietly, but the sound was muffled by Cassian’s lips against hers.

It was almost instinct to lean into him, to smile against his lips. When she pulled back just a hair, his hazel eyes were bright. She whispered, “Good morning.”

“Morning,” he breathed, his mouth still so close to hers.

She blushed, even though she couldn’t figure out why and turned to the stove. “I…wasn’t sure what to expect this morning.”

Cassian hesitated. “What did you think I’d do?”

Nesta sighed, scratching her head. “I don’t know. I thought you might act like it never happened. Or, you’d say it was only a one time thing like last time.”

Cassian cocked his head to the side. “Last time I didn’t sleep in your bed.”

“And that changes things?” Nesta asked, quietly.

“Last night changed things,” Cassian replied, brushing her hair back out of her face. “At least, for me it did.”

“Me too,” Nesta replied, without any hesitation.

Cassian’s eyes softened. “Nesta, I-.”

“NANANANANANANANA!”

They both spun around, where Nyx was watching them with the most precious of pissed off expressions. His tray was empty, practically licked clean, and Nyx was not having it.

Cassian chuckled as he took a banana out of the fruit basket and peeled it before cutting it up into slices. “He’s awfully full of it this morning, isn’t he?”

“I think he knows,” she said, rolling her eyes as she flipped the bacon. “Not specifically what happened, but he knows something is…different between us.”

He paused his cutting and turned back to her, pausing with a hip resting on the counter. “Good different or bad different?”

“Good different,” she said, smiling. She cracked a few eggs into a bowl and mixed them up with some milk. “Definitely good different.”

For a moment, Cassian didn’t say anything, but when she turned he was grinning. “Really good different?”

Nesta rolled her eyes. “Shut up.” She turned back around. “But yes.”

“Good,” he breathed, coming up behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist. “What’ve you got going on today?”

“Work,” she said. “Seeing how the bar renovation is going. Looks like you’ll have to hire your replacement soon with how quickly everything is moving.”

Cassian groaned. “That’s the part I’m looking towards the least. I hate interviews. I hate being in them, I hate giving them, they’re awful.”

“But the sooner you give them, the sooner you leave that bar and come work at mine,” she crooned.

“Yours?” he repeated, offended.

Nesta snorted. “Ours.”

He and Kallias had both given their notice to the owner of the dive bar they worked in. He wasn’t thrilled, but he had always been a gruff bastard. He’d informed Cassian he wasn’t going anywhere until he’d hired not only his replacement, but Kal’s, as well.

“Speaking of,” he sighed, glancing at the clock. “I’ve got one scheduled for eleven-thirty. What time are you going to the restaurant?”

She poured the egg mixture into the skillet she’d cooked the crispy bacon in moments before and began laying the bacon on the toast she’d made. “Whenever,” she shrugged. “Helion is opening today. What time can Viviane be here?”

“Ten. I’m not working a shift today, so after the interview I can either come back here and give her the rest of the day off, or I can come to the restaurant.”

Nesta chewed slowly as she thought about it. “I wouldn’t mind if you came to the restaurant.”

“Then that’s what I’ll do,” Cassian said, placing the cut-up banana in front of a cranky Nyx. “And you, little man, better be good for Viv today. Because you’re grumpy.”

In response, Nyx spit out the piece of banana he had put in his mouth and smushed up the rest on his tray.

After scarfing down the breakfast that Nesta had made, and making a show of thanking her for it, Cassian was cleaning up the kitchen then hurrying upstairs to shower. Nesta was left cleaning up a fussy, banana-covered Nyx.

“I don’t even think you wanted to eat the banana, kiddo,” she muttered, cleaning off his tray, before wiping him down with an ungodly amount of baby wipes. “I think it was just to play in.”

He had plenty to say about that, just nothing Nesta could understand.

A few minutes later, freshly showered and dressed Cassian came downstairs, where Nyx was playing on the living room floor. She was up the stairs a minute later, hurrying to take her own shower. After an hour, she returned, purse and keys in hand. “I’m going to go ahead and head to the restaurant. I’ll see you in a little while?”

He nodded and as she made for the door, Cassian stood, catching her by the elbow and tugging her back to him. She stumbled a step, but he crushed her to his chest and pressed a kiss to her lips. When he pulled back, they were both grinning like fools. “I’ll see you in a little while,” he repeated.

“Okay.” She was backing towards the door, that smile looking like it was a permanent fixture on her face, before slipping out and leaving he and Nyx alone.

Who was watching him again, looking so much like Rhysand with that little eyebrow raised.

Cassian couldn’t help but snort and say, “This is your fault you know.”

A few hours later, right after Nyx had gone down for his mid- morning nap, Cassian heard a knock on the front door. Opening the door, Viviane rushed in. “I’m so sorry I’m late,” she said, shaking her head.

Cass glanced at the clock on the mantle. “It’s barely ten-fifteen,” he chuckled. “No big deal, you’re fine.”

She nodded. “Sorry, just— It’s been a crazy morning.”

“Everything okay?” Cassian asked. Viv was usually steady, so sure of everything she did or said.

“Yeah,” she replied, waving off his question. “I’m fine. Ran into my ex at the coffee shop and— Ugh, ignore me. Don’t worry about it. Is Nyx down for his nap?”

“Yeah, he’s been out for about fifteen minutes. He had a pretty big breakfast, so I doubt he’ll be too hungry when he wakes up.” Cassian gnawed on his lip for a second debating on whether he should ask what was on his mind. After considering how well throwing caution to this wind has worked for him last night, he decided why the hell not. “Does that mean you’re single? Since you bumped into your ex?”

Viviane froze and blinked. “Yes, but I don’t date my employers—”

“No, no,” he quickly said, holding his hands out in placation. “It’s not me. It’s a friend of mine and I think you two might hit it off.”

Viviane raised a brow. “A friend, huh?”

“Guy I’ve worked with for years,” Cassian went on. “Great guy, in fact. You’ll enjoy yourself, guaranteed.”

“Guaranteed?” Viviane chuckled. “Well, I can’t say no to that, can I?”

Cassian grinned. “No, you can’t, and neither can he. Tomorrow night, you free?”

“I suppose I am, if my boss is giving me the night off,” she laughed.

“He is, and it’ll be great, we’ll all go out,” Cassian said. “You and Kal, and me and Nesta.”

“Kal,” she said, the shortened name rolling off her tongue. “Yeah, alright. That sounds fun.”

“Perfect,” Cassian said, patting her on the shoulder as he swept past her. “I’ve got to get going, but we should be home around five or so. Call if you need anything.”

Viviane chuckled. “You say that every time, and have I ever called?”

“It’s a habit!” he called, as he hurried out the door.

When he got to the bar, Kallias had everything under control, which meant Cassian was taking a table in the far corner, waiting for his interviewee to arrive.

Sadly, this wasn’t the interview to replace his own job. That was proving to be far more tedious than he was expecting. But an hour later, after shaking the young man’s hand, Cassian let out a sigh of relief as he left.

“And how’d that go?” Kallias asked, wiping down a few glasses that were drying atop the bar.

“Well, your position is officially filled,” he replied, sitting across from him at the bar. “So congratulations.”

“Cheers,” he chuckled, raising the empty glass towards Cassian. “When are we celebrating?”

“Tomorrow night, actually,” Cassian said, crossing his arms over his chest.

Kal snorted. “Seriously? I was kidding.”

“I’m not,” Cassian replied, shrugging. “We’re going out tomorrow night. You, me, Nesta, and Viviane.”

Kallias blinked. “The hot nanny?”

Cassian grinned. “Yeah.”

Kallias looked at Cassian suspiciously. “I thought you were kidding when you said you were setting us up.”

“Oh, I never kid about love,” Cassian said, winking.

Kallias raised a brow. “Love? Who the hell are you?”

Cassian filled his glass and took a gulp of beer. “Just meet us at Rita’s at eight tomorrow.”

Kallilas continued to stare at him for a long while. “You slept with her again, didn’t you?”

Cassian’s grin widened. “Tomorrow. Rita’s. Eight.”

And with that, he chugged his beer and left.

*

The next night, Cassian and Nesta dropped Nyx off at Elain’s before making their way to Rita’s.

“Our first date,” Cassian crooned, reaching his hand across the car to Nesta’s.

She took it fondly. “Our first date? After all we’ve been through, do we even qualify for a first date?”

“Why?” Cassian scoffed. “Just because we’ve been sleeping together and living with each other and raising a kid together?” He snorted. “Of course, we deserve a first date.”

Nesta rolled her eyes but did not protest.

Cassian had slept in her bed last night after another night of lovemaking. Even though it didn’t seem possible, it got better with each time. The more they got to know each other’s bodies, the more familiar with one another they became, the more they became one in intimacy, the more amazing it was.

“You look amazing tonight,” Cassian said, quietly. “In case I haven’t told you that yet tonight.”

He had.

Multiple times.

But, Nesta couldn’t blame him. She did look amazing in her navy blue dress and her blush heels. She looked over at Cassian, in his jeans and button down shirt.

Coincidentally, it wasn’t much different than what he had worn on their actual first date five years before. She chuckled, and he looked over at her, brow raised.

“This is actually our second date,” she said.

Cassian shook his head, amused, before looking back out the window as he turned into the parking lot. “Well, hopefully this date goes better than that one did.”

Nesta agreed.

As soon as Cassian opened Nesta’s door, they spotted Viviane pulling into the parking lot. They knew she was a pretty girl, but she usually showed up to work with a ponytail, jeans, and a t-shirt. Now, she had really dressed to impress.

Cassian whistled as she got out of her car and Vivane blushed as Nesta’ jabbed him in the ribs.

“You look beautiful,” Nesta told Vivane.

“Thanks,” she said, and Nesta could tell the nanny was a little nervous, a little uncomfortable.

“I see Kal’s truck,” Cassian said, gesturing for the women to follow. “I guess he’s already inside.”

Indeed he was and he’d already gotten a table for the four of them and was working on a pitcher of a beer.

“Hey, man,” Cassian greeted him as Kallias stood and shook his hand. “This is Nesta,” he said, placing a hand on her back.

“It’s nice to finally meet you,” she said, reaching for his hand as well. They shook hands and Kallias smiled.

“You, too,” he replied. “I guess I should call you boss now, huh?”

“No, no, no,” she laughed, shaking her head. “Please don’t.”

“And this,” Cassian interrupted, rolling his eyes at the two of them, “is Viviane.”

As if he somehow hadn’t noticed the blond beauty behind Cassian until this moment, Kallias looked up at her and blinked. He was about to make some sort of hot nanny joke when Kallias breathed, “Viv?”

She was looking at him with the same dumbfounded look Kallias had on his face. “Kallias… Hey.”

Cassian and Nesta looked between the two, then at each other, and after a moment, Nesta asked, “You two know each other?”

Kallias still looked like he was trying to figure out what planet he was on, so Viviane answered, “We were…childhood friends. But my family moved to Velaris when I started middle school.” She shook her head, but she had been looking at Kallias the whole time. “I had no idea you were in Velaris.”

He finally remembered to speak, though Cassian was beginning to wonder if he’d need to answer for him. “I came out here for college. Loved the city and decided to stay.”

“College?” Viviane repeated. “You’re telling me that you’ve been here since your freshman year, and you’ve never called?”

Kallias chuckled. “I didn’t even know you still lived here!”

“Hmm,” Viviane said, taking a seat across from him. “Well, what a small world, hmm?”

“Yeah,” Kallias repeated, “small world.”

Cassian took a seat by Kallias and Nesta sat across from them as they went a little bit more in depth into their long lost friendship. Apparently they had grown up in the same neighborhood and had always gone to the same elementary school. Kallias was a year older than Viviane, but when he went into the seventh grade and Viviane was going into sixth, her family moved to Velaris for her father’s work.

They had never talked again after that. Their friendship was nothing more than a simple, joyful memory.

Seeing them now, Nesta thought, she just knew the two of them had gotten into trouble when they were little. Between their jokes and sly looks at one another, and the obvious chemistry, they had surely been up to no good and gave both sets of parents a run for their money.

“I’m going to the bar,” Cassian announced, looking at Nesta. “Care to join?”

Nesta had a feeling that it was less about going to the bar and more about giving the newfound couple beside them a few minutes alone. She nodded, and took his hand as they walked toward the bar on the other side of the room.

“They’re cute together,” Nesta said, sitting on a barstool.

Cassian sat on the one next to her. “Oh, I know. You know, I’ve gotta say, I feel pretty damn accomplished right now. I definitely made this happen.”

Nesta couldn’t help but roll her eyes at him, even as she leaned into his embrace. She wanted nothing more than to poke fun at him, to mess with him about his unexpected matchmaking skills, but as she looked at the two happy people laughing at the table across the bar, she couldn’t help but wonder if that’s the gift that Rhysand and Feyre had tried to give them all those years ago.

Even now, Nesta’s chest tightened as she smiled, so thankful for her meddling, baby sister.

[shellbilee]

What about Henry and famous gf do an interview together and he accidentally spills something embarrassing from their sex lives? Humor me! 😂😂💓

–

I love this H/C! Thank you for requesting! Hope it’s along the lines of what you wanted. This is my first ever head canon and I realise it’s really long but sue me. Requests for Henry Cavill or Chris Evans head canon’s open!

You and Henry had been dating for several months, having met during the initial casting call for the Witcher last year. You were an up and coming actress who’d thus far only had small roles here and there in TV shows and netflix movies. You’d been over the moon when you’d received the call to play the part of Ana, a powerful mage and Yennifer’s sister in the second season of the Witcher.

You’d arrived at your first table read for the new season and Henry had clocked you as soon as you’d walked in, remembering you from your audition a few months back. He’d been almost completely enamoured by you when he’d watched you audition, in awe of both how gorgeous he thought you were as well as how captivating you’d been with your scene. He’d known instantly that he wanted you to play Ana, feeling an instant chemistry when you’d acted out a scene together for the producers.

You’d beamed when he’d approached you, delighted that he’d even remembered you, unable to help your smile when he’d taken a seat beside you and proceeded to talk, laugh and joke with you through the table read.

A month of script practice, late night dinners on set and shameless flirting, Henry had asked you to dinner for a real date. It had been everything you’d imagined and more, Henry as always the perfect gentleman, ending the night with a goodnight kiss that had made your heart flutter and your insides turn to melted chocolate. The rest they say, is history.

That’s how you’d found yourself sitting beside Henry in a press interview, following the hugely successful release of the Witcher season 2. You grinned stupidly as you waited for the interview to start, glancing over at Henry and smiling affectionately when he’d squeezed your knee reassuringly.

“So Henry, Y/N, it’s great to see you both! How are you feeling about it all? Henry, you’ve obviously now been on two seasons of the show with Geralt, and Y/N you’ve just joined as the ever mysterious Ana!”.

Henry nodded and flashed his effortlessly handsome smile that made your stomach flip, going on to talk about how much he’d enjoyed playing Geralt and working with the rest of the cast and crew. It was more than evident as he spoke just how passionate he was about the show, and just how much he was actually enjoying playing the role. “Yeah the hours can be brutal, and the initial getting into shape even more so, but when you hear the final ‘CUT’ or even see the finished product on screen, it all just becomes so worth it!”.

“And Y/N what about you? This is the first major project that you’ve worked on. How has your experience been with it all?”. 

You grinned and nodded. “It’s been incredible honestly. And every one has been so supportive. My first day I was so overwhelmed, there seemed to be a million and one things going on at once and it was very easy to lose your head. Henry especially was great though, he helped me get settled with everything. Talking to a 'seasoned veteran’ like him is certainly helpful”

You flashed him a playful smile and felt your heart swell when you saw him looking at you with that same expression, completely enamoured and in awe just like he had that first day at the audition. 

The interviewer nodded, looking down at her list of questions before looking back up at the two of you. She went on to ask Henry a few more questions before turning to you. “So, there are quite a few nude scenes in the show. Henry you are as Y/N said, a 'seasoned veteran’ by now with those, but Y/N how did you feel? Have you ever done anything like this before?”

Henry laughed and you let out a nervous chuckle, glancing over at him with an amused expression. “Yeah…about those” you said as you turned back to the interviewer, “At the time I remember being ridiculously freaked out. I’d never actually done any nude scenes or any love scenes so I felt like a wide-eyed innocent on set compared to everyone else” you explained with a laugh. “I was incredibly nervous and I remembered feeling like all of a sudden it was like every single insecurity I’d ever had about my body was popping up at once”.

“Even though she has absolutely no reason at all to be insecure. I mean look at her” Henry added quickly, causing the interviewer to let out a quick 'aww’ as you’d felt your cheeks flush.

You shook your head dismissively and laughed. “Even so, even though I’d done months of training and clean eating prior to starting shooting - which might I add, was basically torture, even though I feel like I’m currently in the best shape I’ve ever been in, it was yeah, still super daunting for me”.

“You and Henry have several love scenes together in the show. Did you find it got easier to film them as you went on?”

You tilted your head as you considered her question, glancing over at Henry as he too thought about an answer. “Well, I initially and perhaps naively assumed they’d film all of those scenes together to just save time. But it wasn’t like that at all, they spread them out quite a bit actually, giving us time to recover I guess. They give you notice too actually, so you’ve time to prepare. We’d end a day of shooting and they’d be like, just so you know, we’re doing one of those scenes tomorrow.” you answered with a laugh.

“Was there anything you did to make it easier for yourself?”

You laughed out loud this time, shaking your head. “Well look, the first one I felt like I needed to have a few shots of tequila or something just to calm my nerves. And you know, like you’re acting that you’re having sex and it’s as far from the real thing as it can be. You’re supposed to feel completely relaxed, in the throes of passion type thing. In reality, you’ve got thirty people watching you, yelling out 'move this arm here’, 'louder’, 'squeeze his bicep’ that type of thing, so you feel the furthest thing from relaxed”.

The interviewer laughed and turned to Henry. “What about you Henry? Anything you do?”.

Henry chuckled, “Look not really. I can’t say there’s anything specific that I do. Like Y/N said, it’s hard to completely relax when you’ve got thirty pairs of eyes on you and people yelling out telling you what to do and you’re trying to convey this sense of erotic intimacy. I just try and block out everything around me and focus on the person I’m with. Try and make it as natural and comfortable for them as possible - especially when they’ve not done it before” Henry added, gesturing to you with a soft smile.

The interviewer nodded. “You and Y/N are dating though. Did you find this made it easier for you?”

You and Henry both laughed out loud at this one and you felt your face flame with embarrassment. Henry glanced at you and looked back at the interviewer. “Well for me, it was yes and no, but definitely yes more than no. It’s much easier to act something when you’re actually, feeling it, you know? But obviously, you also need to remember that you can’t get too carried away since it’s not just you two in the room. But yes, I’d say that it definitely made things easier. For me anyway”.

You felt your cheeks heat as you listened to Henry, instantly remembering the time that you’d actually had an orgasm on set.It was during your second or third love scene with Henry and you’d only just started having sex with him in your relationship. You’d been so ridiculously turned on from having his skin on yours, his thick muscles holding you as he’d ground his hips against you, it had just happened. The directors had praised you for doing such a good job and when you’d watched the play back you’d been silently mortified. Henry had picked up that it had been real almost instantly, teasing you mercilessly about it ever since.

“What about you Y/N? Is that the same for you?”.

“Uh well yes and no. I was new to the whole thing so having some one I was…for lack of a better word, familiar with, certainly made it easier to a certain degree. But yeah as Henry said, there is also that flip side”.

“We had plenty of….practice runs, both in and out of costume” Henry suddenly interjected, yelping when you elbowed him in the ribs almost instantly.

“Henry!” you squeaked in morbid embarrassment, burying your face in your hands as both he and the interviewer laughed. This was going to be watched by millions of people everywhere. You wanted to die of embarrassment.

“What?” Henry asked innocently, putting his hands up in a surrender gesture as he looked at you and grinned, “It was your idea to bring the wig home from set remember. And the leather pants”.

“Oh my god” you gasped, Henry’s eyes widening as he’d realised what he’d just said, the interviewer chuckling out loud.

“Can I go now? Before the floor swallows me up and I die of shame and embarrassment?” you asked, looking around dramatically and shaking your head at your boyfriend.

Henry only grinned sheepishly, shrugging his shoulders as he listened to you back pedal, trying to explain that it was to try and 'get comfortable with the scenes’.

You paused abruptly half way through a sentence, only shaking your head. “You know what, I’m just going to stop talking. Can we PLEASE change the subject?” you pleaded looking at the interviewer as she laughed and nodded, looking down at her questions.

You glanced at Henry and narrowed your eyes, giving him a look that said 'I’m going to kill you after this". He only grinned back at you with a chesire-cat grin, wiggling his eyes brows and leaning towards you so that his lips were at your ear.

“Oh baby I can’t wait”

—

REQUESTS OPEN FOR H/C’s - Henry Cavill or Chris Evans

Let me know if you’d like to be tagged!

[chelsfic]

Part Six - Wish You Weren’t Here - Diego Jiménez x Reader - Starz Power

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five

A/N: Here is some much needed smut. Along with some friendship fluff with Julio!

Warnings: Smut

Julio sends you a text when he gets to your building. You peer down through the sheer curtains of your living room window. The shiny, black Cadillac SUV sticks out like a sore thumb on your street. Your neighbors probably think you’re in witness protection or something. If they only knew the truth…

You send him thirty heart emojis in response. It’s been a week since Julio started driving you and you think you’ve managed to successfully weasel into his good graces. The key is to annoy him with friendship. A talent of yours, luckily.

You press a kiss to Pig’s head on your way out the door. 

“Bye, my baby!” you whisper into her calico fur. She blinks up at you and stretches out on the couch in luxury as you leave. 

It’s flurrying outside and now that you don’t have to walk in it you can appreciate how pretty the city looks under a fresh blanket of snow. You hop up into the passenger seat--literally hopping, you’re short and this vehicle is giant--and take pleasure in the heated leather seats. 

“Hey,” Julio greets you, handing you a cup of coffee.

You stare at it like he’s just handed you the Olympic torch. Then he gestures to the box on the center console and you squawk in joy.

“Julio! You got me coffee?? And...and--” you open the box--“Croissants! You went to The Usual Place? For me? I knew you liked me. Now we’re friends forever!”

Julio rolls his eyes and groans dramatically but you spot the tiniest indentation of his lips, the smallest hint of a smile. 

“Just don’t eat all the chocolate ones,” he grumbles.

You smile and warm your hands on the coffee cup as he pulls away from the curb. You’re really getting spoiled having him drive you to and from work every day. How will you be able to deal when you have to get yourself to the store to buy groceries this weekend? Unthinkable! You laugh a little under your breath. How quickly the snobbery becomes you.

Julio watches you from the corner of his eye and smiles sadly. He went out of his way this morning to make you happy. He’s still pissed at Diego. Julio has watched his boss pull you into passing kisses and embraces all week long. He doesn’t think anything else has happened yet--God knows Diego’ll let him know when it does. But he sees how you can’t stop smiling after Diego kisses you. And--despite his best efforts to remain aloof--you’ve somehow managed to make Julio like you. So he was pissed when his boss asked him to pick up Francesca and two of her friends last and bring them to the penthouse. He loves Diego but the boy can be stupid. And unintentionally cruel. He just prays you don’t find out. And he prays Diego isn’t stupid enough to continue his exhibitionist shit with you now that everything is...changing.

“Julio?” 

You startle him from his musings and he arches an eyebrow at you comically, watching you stuff the last bite of croissant into your mouth.

You take a sip of coffee to wash it down and continue, “Has...has Diego ever had a--girlfriend?”

Oh. God. You are thirteen years old. You’re starring in your own dumbass rom com Thirty Going On Thirteen. You slap your hand over your eyes so you don’t have to watch Julio’s face as he answers.

Julio clears his throat but he doesn’t succeed in covering the short laugh at your antics, “Diego? I’ve known him almost ten years. I’ve never seen him with a...girlfriend.”

You let your hand fall away from your eyes and look over at Julio earnestly, “So...he’s never had anything...serious?”

Julio turns to look at you as he stops the car at a red light. The pity in his eyes forces you to look away.

His voice is soft and you want to punch him. “His life just makes it...hard. You shouldn’t…”

His voice trails off. He wants to warn you. To help you. He likes you, damn it. You’re a little weirdo and it’s hilarious that his boss is so enthralled with you, but he knows Diego is going to hurt you. Still...it’s Diego. His boy. And he can’t bring himself to say something that would feel like a betrayal. You decide to save him.

“I know, Julio,” you offer him a fake smile. “Thanks.”

You do know. Really…

***

...It’s so easy to forget when Diego’s lips are trailing fiery kisses over your mouth, your jaw, the crook of your neck. You forget all the reasons this isn’t a good idea--all of Julio’s unspoken warnings. Your mind is given over to your body’s needs, overcome with the pulsing secret inside you, the yearning to ride Diego’s love into a blinding light that will doubtlessly eclipse all others. 

The mop clatters to the floor beside you and you launch yourself into Diego’s arms, forcing him to support you or buckle beneath the sudden attack. He perches you up on the kitchen counter, never letting his lips leave yours. If you had room to think you might marvel at how quickly this man has conquered your shyness, your reserve, your logic. 

He breaks the kiss to whisper into your ear, “Would it kill you to wear something with a little more...access?”

He grinds his hips against you for emphasis. Even through the denim fabric of your jeans you can feel the sweet bulge of his erection and you mewl in wanton need, pressing your mouth into his stubbled cheek to muffle the mortifying sound. 

“Sorry,” you huff, your breath shaky and short, “mini dresses with holes cut out the sides aren’t really p-practical…”

The words stutter to a stop when Diego’s fingers go to the waist of your pants, popping the button open and lowering the zipper. He shoves his huge hand inside, cupping your sex in his warm palm. All thoughts of Francesca and her ridiculous outfits fly from your head. You grind against him with a needy wail, burying your face into his shoulder in embarrassment as pleas fall from your lips. 

“Oh...my god, Diego. Please, please, please…” 

Diego smirks and lets his fingers drag through your folds, circling your mound with a feather-light touch that forces you to thrust your hips to gain any friction. You groan in frustration against his shoulder. He uses his free hand to grasp your ponytail, wrapping your hair around his fist and pulling it back until your upturned face is exposed to him. He eyes glint and he grins arrogantly as he increases the pressure against your clit, rolling the sensitive flesh between his fingers, all the while watching your face as you come undone. You’re sure you look pathetic--mouth hung open in lust, eyes dazed and half-lidded--you wish you could hide from his knowing gaze but when you try it, Diego tightens his grip on your hair and shakes his head slightly.

“I’m gonna watch you come on my fingers, guapa,” he hisses and laughs when the words evoke another lustful moan from you. “You like that, huh?”

He keeps his thumb rubbing relentlessly against your clit as his fingers dive down to plunge inside you, thrusting away into your wet cunt until you’re quivering around him and nearly sobbing with your coming orgasm.

You suddenly hear Julio clearing his throat from the elevator entrance and your body immediately tenses in alarm. Diego’s hand stills and you give the smallest cry of protest. Oh, god, you’re so close. But this--being watched--might be Diego’s thing... but it is definitely not yours. You lock eyes with him and you see the realization in his.

“Julio!” he growls, looking over his shoulder, “Turn around!”

Diego turns back to you. He releases his grip on your hair and lets you hide your face against his shoulder, cradling your head and ducking down to whisper, “Come for me, now.”

He starts up again, rubbing, circling and pulsing his hand against your wet sex. His movements are frenzied but expert and you’re crashing into your orgasm in seconds, swallowing your cry and clinging with your arms and legs wrapped around him like a baby koala. He rubs his hands over your back soothingly and ducks down to kiss you.

Julio pipes up apologetically, “Jefe...we have that thing…”

Diego lets out a ferocious growl and nips your lower lip sharply enough to make you gasp, “Ouch, Diego!”

His eyes go soft and molten and he kisses you gently to make up for it. He leans back and your arms fall away from his shoulders, you’re both out of breath and flushed. 

“Okay,” Diego grunts, running his hands through his hair. He’s already transforming before your eyes into the steely, dangerous version of himself that he wears out into the world. His eyes fall back to yours and soften a bit as he says, “We probably won’t be back until after you leave for the day...”

Quelle romantique. You’re sitting there, looking utterly debauched with your hair a mess and your pants undone, smelling of sex… Diego really has drawn you into something whether you like it or not. Julio’s unspoken warning lingers in your mind. There’s no room in Diego’s life for a serious relationship. If that’s true then you’ll just have to learn to accept it. But you don’t want what this is to be entirely on his terms--frenzied exchanges between murders and business meetings. You guess if you want something more you’re going to have to ask for it.

“Maybe--” your voice sounds high and squeaky in your ears-- “afterwards you can come by my place. I’ll order some Chinese food and…”

Diego looks up from tucking his gun into the waist of his pants. His face is a comical blank.

“Your place?” he repeats.

“Yeah…” you smile playfully, letting your hand brush up the length of his muscled arm and resting your palm against the back of his neck. You can see Julio’s guarded, worried expression from the corner of your eye but you ignore him. “My place.”

My rules.

Diego looks half intrigued, half reluctant. In the end all he’ll give you is, “Maybe. If we don’t get done too late.”

You try not to look too deflated, certain you’ll be spending another night alone. 

“Well...text me if you’re coming and I’ll order the food.”

Diego looks unnerved as he leaves the penthouse. Julio casts you an exasperated look and you shrug your shoulders with a grimace of apology. You don’t know what’s wrong with you either.

***

Walking home from the train station that afternoon you have to shake your head and laugh at yourself for reveling in the luxury of being driven around this morning. You’re still a poor girl even if your bank account is looking a little healthier lately and you may or may not have a millionaire drug lord coming over later for snuggles and...you know. A giggle erupts from your throat and an elderly lady passing by gives you a mean glance. Whatever...your life is so weird you might as well go with it.

As you’re skipping up the steps to your apartment something shiny a little down the street catches your eye. You glance over and do a double take. Dang--someone must’ve won the lottery. A gleaming, midnight blue muscle car is parked a few cars down from your building.

Well...good for them, you think and forget all about it.

A/N: Omg! Whose car is that?? It’s Tommy’s!

Tag List:

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[eeveevie]

indecent promposal

From this prompt list: basorexia - the overwhelming desire to kiss

Introducing: Rosemary “Rosie” Sheridan! She’s baby. Also has a super suppressed crush on Butch. It’s complicated. Thank you @dreamxng-forever​ for prompting and letting me write for her! I went overboard!

Butch Deloria x Rosie Sheridan (Lone Wanderer) 

2473 words | [read on Ao3]

Rosie thrived on scavenging—she loved discovering new wasteland objects or pre-war oddities that reminded her of home—Vault 101. She supposed the real reason she enjoyed surrounding herself with so much junk was because she was still trying to figure out her place in the Capital Wasteland, still forging her own path now that she was on her own.

Well, mostly alone.

Butch—she could hear him rummaging though boxes in a different part of the store, shouting little exclamations over to her when he’d find something of interest. He was something else that reminded her of home—she liked to think that was the only reason why she had agreed to string him along after finding him in Rivet City. Weeks of bickering had turned into months of amicable companionship, bordering on friendship. Rosie slowly found she disliked him less but was unable to formulate rational explanations in her mind as to why. Her childhood bully deserved civility, sure, but niceties? A second chance? Preposterous. Anything more than that made her head spin.

The light of his Pip-Boy illuminated his face as he unearthed an intact box, letting out a low whistle as he inspected the contents. “Hey Stitches, get a load of this!”

Butch had been calling her that since adolescence, as soon as she was old enough to begin assisting her father in the Vault clinic. About that time, the youngest Deloria would find himself needing Doctor James Sheridan for a myriad of reason, including stitches. It wasn’t uncommon that Rosie would perform these duties, and after so many visits, the moniker stuck. She would’ve preferred her actual name, but anything was better than Doc, or Nosebleed—both of which he still called her.

In the stretch of silence, Butch had brought the box over to her to see for herself. It wasn’t full of the usual wasteland garbage but instead contained what appeared to be pristine articles of pre-war clothing. Hesitantly she reached inside, gently touching at the soft fabric of the pink dress before removing it completely. She was careful as she unfolded it, holding it fall against her vault suit as she imagined briefly what it would be like to wear such a delicate piece of clothing.

Butch peered inside the box, tugging out a dark suit blazer from beneath another dress. He chuckled, eyebrows quirked up as he waved the arms of the jacket sleeves around. “Kinda reminds you of the gettup we wore to prom, huh?”

Rosie remained silent, sucking up her bottom lip between her teeth. She didn’t have fond memories of their time leading up to graduation, including the small dance the Overseer and adults had organized to celebrate the teenagers’ successes. She clung to the dress for a moment longer, before allowing the fabric to fold over her arms.

Butch’s expression faltered, but instead of becoming annoyed like he would’ve in the past he awkwardly shifted. “What?”

She decided that maybe an explanation was owed. “I didn’t go to the vault prom.”

“Whadd’ya mean?” he asked in return, brows furrowed. “You were there! With Amata!”

Rosie had to give it up to Butch’s memory and wondered how much more of their childhood he remembered. Though, this was only a few years ago, and they had known each other their whole lives. She sighed, suddenly unable to maintain eye contact. “Fine. I was there for all of thirty minutes before you spilt punch on my dress, and I had to go home.”

She expected him to argue or to deny it even happened. What Rosie didn’t expect was the frown and glimmer of guilt that flashed through his expression when she glanced his way. She continued looking at the pink, satin dress in her hands, wondering why this civilized version of Butch unnerved her. Not that she wanted him to taunt and torment her, but at least that would be relatively normal—but after all this time, would it?

“It’s not like I had a date, anyways,” she added, resentfully. Not that she had very many boys her age to choose from anyways. “I’m sure you did.”

“Ya’ don’t have to guilt trip me, Stitches,” Butch finally spoke, his laughter indicating a teasing tone. “Let ol’ Butch make it up to you.”

Rosie groaned, detesting the third-person speak for two reasons—it was corny, and usually mean that ol’ Butch had an incredibly bad plan. She didn’t even want to ask, but he was already gesturing to the dress in her hands and waving the tailored coat he held around.

“We could get dressed up, the two of us—”

She cut him off immediately. “Absolutely not.”

He stumbled, not anticipating her strong refusal. “Whoa, whoa! Let a man finish! Some fancy clothes, some good drink from the bar, some music on your fancy jukebox?”

“What?” she questioned. “A prom do-over?”

Butch grinned. “Exactly!”

“No.”

“You haven’t even heard the best part yet!” he argued.

She didn’t have to—did she even want to?. “No.”

“Come on, Rosie. Give a guy a chance why don’t cha?”

Sure, he was pouting a little too much for her tastes, but he had also done something so incredibly rare in speaking her name that her interest was piqued. She wished it wasn’t that easy for him to get under her skin, but something told her he wasn’t completely aware of what he was doing. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she thought about what it would be like to be the center of attention for once—to be the center of his attention. Her skin crawled—and she couldn’t decide if that was a good or bad thing.

She relented. “Okay.”

Butch clenched his fist with a grin. “Alright! You won’t regret it.”

The mirror in Rosie’s bedroom was cracked and dusty but served its purpose as she examined her appearance. She had pinned back her long dark hair, applied what little makeup she owned and had left her glasses atop her nightstand—for the first time she looked more like the maturing woman she was supposed to be and not a scrawny teenager chasing her father’s shadow. An enduring thought reminded her that she was still young, she had time to grow into her womanhood.

When she took a step back, she felt a rush of anxiety flood her senses. The dusty pink dress was very flattering and fit her in all the right places—Rosie was materialistically a girl’s girl and loved the color and fabric—but overall, the very fact she was dressed up while the rest of her surroundings were in shambles seemed foolish. Why had she allowed Butch to talk her into this? They had countless of important matters to attend to—no time to be reliving the past just because he wanted to make amends. As she adjusted the tie around her waist, she reminded herself that maybe it was more than that—thoughts she didn’t want to dwell on.

Rosie could already hear the Ink Spots playing when she emerged from her room, glancing to the fuzzy outline that was the jukebox and determined that Wadsworth was floating nearby. With a steady breath she approached the stairs and gripped the railing tightly as she began her descent. Butch was leaning against the back of the downstairs sofa, arms crossed as he stared up at her. Or at least, that’s what she thought, suddenly wishing she had opted for practicality instead of vanity when forgoing her glasses.

Halfway down the stairs, he whistled at her and the cat-call made her flush in a foreign way. Butch chuckled, catching the way she nearly stumbled. “Where’re your frames?” he asked, gesturing to his face.

She didn’t dare to let go of the handrail until her heels were planted firmly on the first-floor ground. He was more reminiscent of a blob until she approached, features clearing up as she stood before him. He was wearing the black, styled suit he had found—sans the tie—with the first few buttons of his collared shirt left open. Rosie figured that had been on purpose—she could teach him how to fix a tie later. He pointed to her face, reminding her he had asked a question.

Still blushing from the way he had whistled at her, she brushed a few loose strands of hair away from her face. She wasn’t entirely comfortable indulging her childhood insecurities. “Pretty girls don’t wear glasses to prom.”

“You’re such a dork, Stitches,” Butch softly laughed, but there was no insult to his words. Instead, he nodded at her, a hint of red peeking at his ears. “Ya’ look good,” he added. “Don’t let it go to your head.”

Rosie smiled, still feeling flustered by the entire situation. She wondered if it was too late to back out and suggest dinner at the Brass Lantern instead. As if Butch could see the excuses formulating in her mind, he jumped into action, raising his hand up between them in offering.

“Does my best gal want a dance?”

She desperately wanted a respite from how flushed her cheeks felt, wondering if they were as pink as her dress. She was mortified by her own embarrassment, confused by her own emotions—it would be so much easier if she had somebody else to talk to about all this. Like her father. A second thought made her realize her dad would be overly clinical, blaming it all on teenaged hormones. But she did want a dance—what else did she want?

“No dirty dancing!” she said, in her own way of acceptance. She grasped his hand, biting back the sensation of warmth that radiated up her arm. That hand was usually pushing her away—she hadn’t expected it to be so comforting. Butch smirked as he carefully placed his other hand along her waist, prompting her to rest her palm against his shoulder.

“Do we need a ruler?” he joked, eyeing the space between them. Rosie rolled her eyes, shifting a little closer as he led them in a little square-step, all the space her home allowed. Butch was surprisingly a natural and predictably, she was awful.

“I’m bad at this,” she mumbled, looking down at her feet as she very nearly stepped on his toe for the third time.

Butch paused, nudging his hand against her chin to catch her attention. The action was so bizarrely intimate that Rosie stared at him bewildered, her skin aflame—but he didn’t seem to notice that he had shocked her senseless, gripping her fingers to lead them back into another step. It had to be intentional—no way he was that clueless—the way he touched her. He had to know exactly what he was doing to her, and she wondered if it was all some kind of big joke.

“Better than most,” he assured, bringing her back to her senses. He winked. “So you’re a good date after all.”

Rosie wasn’t good at matching his wit or his teasing, but she wanted to try. She couldn’t just stand there and be undone by some nice words. She thought about asking about the full prom package—reminiscing about the day after in the vault when a few lucky girls walked around the halls wearing hickies like badges of pride. Forming the right way to ask such a thing didn’t sound right in her head—she wasn’t a natural flirt, didn’t have the experience and after so many pretend conversations floating in her mind she had to stop and ask herself why she was thinking about Butch Deloria kissing her neck.

Her heart was racing as she found herself staring at him, wondering when he had sprouted up and became so tall. Years ago, when they were fifteen. She had stayed tiny while he filled out, muscles more defined now that he was her companion out in the wasteland. Of course, he still cared about his hair—thick black strands quaffed to the front like the gangster-type he aspired to be—too bad he was the only Tunnel Snake left. When she met his baby-blue eyes, she was done for, cursing the day she found him in the Muddy Rudder. But maybe it was a forgone conclusion since their paths crossed that fateful evening—she’d forgive him, and eventually, gradually, perhaps begrudgingly fall in love with the boy.

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, Rosie thought, as Butch gradually scooted her closer despite her earlier warning. Nat King Cole was crooning a slow song, and they had slowed in their movements. He squeezed her hand in his, raising an eyebrow. “More quiet than usual, Stitches.”

She didn’t want to admit how annoyed she was with herself, and certainly wasn’t about to divulge how in that moment with Unforgettable playing from the balcony she wanted him to kiss her. She didn’t want a calling card on her neck—no, that could come later—what she wanted was something sweet and demure and chaste. What she wanted was something she had missed out on in her youth—her first real kiss. Ridiculous didn’t even cut it, feeling incredibly absurd for thinking she could ever get it from Butch—that she even wanted it from Butch.

“Um,” she hesitated, thinking he must’ve been able to feel her pulse racing along her wrist. She tried not to stare at his mouth, darting back up to his eyes—but that was worse. The heat radiating off her face could cook a brahmin steak.

He smirked, lips quirking up to the side. At first she assumed he was all too entertained by the sight of her aflutter but when she studied him carefully, she realized it was an endearing look and beneath the surface, he was perhaps just as nervous as she.

“Come’ere,” he tugged her right into his chest, and before she could protest he had wrapped his arms around her waist and back, one hand resting against the back of her head. “Dance like this for a lil’ bit.”

Not a question, but a statement. After a few sways, Rosie adjusted, tucking her arms around his middle and resting her cheek against his shirt.

The longer she stayed there, swaying to the songs that continued to play, the more she understood that they both needed this distraction that evening. Butch wanted to apologize, make up for the past in his own way, sure, but what they really needed was one night where the wasteland wasn’t demanding their attention. She was just as confused as ever, heart and mind filled with endless questions about life and love and everything in between, but for the first time in months, Rosie felt calm. Kissing Butch could wait, if only it meant she could dance with him for a little while longer.

[totally-incorrect-theatre-quotes]

Dust Covered Eyes (Fanfic)

 Wendy meets the family :)

Two months. It was absolutely crazy to Lydia that her and Wendy had been officially dating for two months now. It took some awkwardness at first with neither of them being sure at first if the other wanted something more than friendship despite the obvious signals they were sending each other. It was a grey area for the first two weeks where they would hold hands in the hallways at school, or Wendy would randomly run and hug Lydia from behind. Their friends would remark that they would make a cute couple, or how they were practically an old married couple already but being young they weren’t sure what to make of their relationship. It the end it took Lydia calling Wendy frantically about how she hadn’t picked out a Halloween costume and when she asked Wendy what she should be the response was “my girlfriend.” to which Lydia blushed and agreed but on the condition that she still got to be it when Halloween was over. Ever since then they had been a perfectly happy couple. 

They were hanging out at Wendy’s house one afternoon watching some cheesy show that neither of them were really interested in but were just using it as an excuse to be with each other that afternoon. Wendy’s mother ran off to go pick up a pizza that they had ordered for dinner that night leaving the two of them alone. Being teenagers left at home with no parents around that only lead to one thing….they impulsively built a blanket fort around the television and brought Wendy’s dog with them while they made a mess on the floor after throwing popcorn at each other. About thirty minutes into the episode Lydia was leaning on Wendy and she lamented, “Your mom is really cool.”

Wendy just kind of laughed in response, “She’s alright I guess. I wish she wouldn’t be so embarrassing whenever you came over.”

“Oh trust me my family is so much more embarrassing.”

“I would believe you but you still haven’t had me over your house yet. I haven’t even gotten to meet most of them!”

“You got to meet my dad and Delia.” Lydia pointed out

Wendy giggled, “Oh my god at the ice cream shop like over a month ago! I’d hardly call that a good first impression, I was wearing that stupid uniform and my hair was a disaster that night. I mean I’ve been dating their daughter for plural months now, don’t you think I should properly meet them and all? Come on, I’m charming, I’m polite. I’m like a well-trained dog, you don’t have to be embarrassed to show me to them.”

“I’m not embarrassed of you! I’m embarrassed of them, my family is far from traditional. I’m just worried it will throw you off how overbearing they can be.” 

“Lydia, my mom literally texts you. You don’t have to be worried about me getting weirded out by overbearing parents.”

“It’s a little bit more than my dad and Delia,” Lydia held back a shy smiled, she figured that the longer she put it off the more awkward it would be to tell Wendy about her entire family. She took in a deep breath, “Okay I’ll tell you but you have to promise not to laugh at me. I’m being one thousand percent serious, okay? Do you promise?”

Wendy snickered, “Okay I promise, what’s the big secret anyway?”

“So I live with my dad and Delia, that’s established you already know that, but I also live with three ghosts and they’re like a family to me now too. The two ghosts that live in the attic, they’re named Adam and Barbara, they’re really nice and they’re kinda like a second set of parents to me I guess? And then there’s this other half-ghost half-demon, his name is Beetlejuice, he’s at the house more often than I’d prefer. I guess he’s like a brother to me? That or the really annoying cousin at family reunions who always asks if you have games on your phone. Oh and also there’s the cats, but you already knew about them.” Lydia paused looking at Wendy for any kind of response, just bracing herself for the worst. That Wendy would laugh in her face and think she was so stupid and a liar and not want to be with her anymore. Lydia sat up off of Wendy to get a better look at her face and was just shocked by the expression. Wendy had a goofy grin on her face like she was about to laugh, but not in a mocking kind of way. Lydia relaxed a bit but still wanted the verbal response. 

“Liddy I wish I could say I was surprised, but you are exactly the kind of person to live in a haunted house and love it. Okay, okay, so you live with ghosts? That’s...okay, well if they’re like a family to you I want to meet them all! You brought my mom chocolates the first time you met her what do ghosts like?”

“You’re okay with this? Like no questions at all?” Lydia asked completely blown away at Wendy’s lack of doubt, “Like nothing at all? You’ve just accepted the fact that I do in fact live with ghosts?”

“Duh? Why would you lie to me about something like that, and so elaborately? I’d believe you less if you told me that you had a typical white picket fence family”

“Wow, alright then. Good to know that you trust me.” Lydia smiled

“I do have one question though.”

“Shoot.”

“Beetlejuice?” Wendy asked with a wrinkled nose, “What kind of name is that?”

Lydia laughed, “We usually just call him BJ and trust me he is just as chaotic as his name is.”

Still astonished about how well Wendy took the reveal of her whole family situation Lydia immediately went to work trying to prepare everyone at the house for them all meeting Wendy. She was oddly nervous at the whole situation and she wondered if Wendy felt the same way when she ha Lydia meet her family. They were all so awkward around her at first, the only person who wasn’t trying desperately to not embarrass themselves was Wendy’s little brother Silas who upon meeting Lydia for the first time promptly told her that he “hopes drinks lots of milk because she needs to get taller.” Wendy was absolutely mortified but Lydia thought it was hilarious, the boy was about the same age as Skye so she didn’t take offense to the jab at her shortness. 

The most difficult person to get on board, as expected, was Beetlejuice. They were hanging out in the attic painting their nails like almost every Saturday, it had become a sort of tradition of theirs when Lydia started school and wasn’t home as much. It gave Beetlejuice a chance to tease Lydia, and a planning opportunity for any pranks they were going to do that week.

“Come on, just do it for me!” Lydia begged

“I don’t even know what what’s her face wants to even meet me? It’s weird that you want your ex to meet your new girl.”

She punched him hard in the arm, hating it every time that he teased about how they technically were married at one point, “Shut up! God no, you said yourself it was a green card thing stop being weird.”

“I’m joking! I’m joking!” He replied covering his face with his arms while Lydia tried to smack him with a pillow, “You’re like the annoying little sister that my mom never had.”

“Little sister?” Lydia scowled, “I’m sorry please remind me who had to rush home from school one day because you lost your ice cube and then had to explain to you that a puddle hadn’t replaced said IceCube but that ice...in fact, melts.”

Beetlejuice fake sniffled, “I’m still mourning you asshole”

“Look can you please just act semi-normal around Wendy? I will literally pay you money if you behave.” 

Beetlejuice considered this, “I don’t want your money kid, besides wouldn’t Walton-”

“Wendy..I’m gay?”

“Wouldn’t Wilhomena want to get to know your real family? You know you really shouldn’t change your personality for someone just because you think it will make them like you, it makes you seem desperate and the last thing I would want is to make a terrible first impression on this girl you’re madly in love with.”

“I am NOT madly in love with her!” Lydia shrieked knowing there were tints of pink on her ears

“That’s not what I overhead when you were pathetically musing to Barbara about how “beautiful, and smart, and funny” this girl was. That doesn’t sound like just gal-pals to me.”

“She’s my girlfriend!”

“So you are madly in love with her?”

“No I….I just-”

“Come on just admit it. You looovve her, and you want the whole world to know.”

“I guess I love her…” Lydia mumbled, hoping Beetlejuice wouldn’t hear. She guessed wrong

“What was that? You love her? That’ll be something fun to share when I meet this chick for the first time. Girls love honestly, remember that

“Beetlejuice you CANNOT tell her I said that. Come on I am actually begging now, I will DIE if you say that to her. I don’t know if she feels the same way, we’ve only been dating for two months!”

“Relax relax, don’t have a tantrum. I’m not going to tell Winona how bad you’ve got it for her.” Beetlejuice looked at his fingernails examining the color he had picked, “But I can’t promise I’ll behave.”

Lydia smacked him again before adding a quick thank you for promising to not ruin her life and relationship by revealing how Lydia felt. It was a lot easier to get everyone else on board. Delia, Adam, and Barbara were thrilled that Lydia was bringing a girl home and while her dad tried to put on a tough “nobody is good enough for my baby girl” act, Lydia knew how happy Charles was that she was happy. As the day got closer to when Wendy was going to come over for dinner Lydia felt anxiety coursing through her chest. Everyone was trying to reassure her that everything was going to be okay but she still couldn’t help but worry that everything was going to go horribly wrong. Wendy had such a typical family and Lydia didn’t want to scare her off with her unique family, but she also didn’t want to hide this part of her life from anybody that she dated. She loved her strange and unusual family, they were always there for her, always supporting her, and they would always hold a special place in her heart. 

“Liddy I’m sure I’m going to love them.” Wendy assured her as they walked up to the door of her home, hand in hand, “If they’re anything like you I’ll love them.”

“Okay as long as you’re sure because we can just go hang out at your house again if you’re having second thoughts. I just want to make sure you’re not nervous about this.”

“I think that you’re the nervous one, just relax alright?” Wendy put her hand on Lydia’s face and Lydia stood on her tiptoes as she leaned in for a quick kiss, “It’s going to be perfectly fine.”

Lydia took in a shaky breath and lead Wendy in through the door and around the house. Everyone was already sitting in the kitchen and she could tell how badly Barbara was holding back the urge to gush about how adorable it was that Lydia had a girlfriend. Lydia gave her a stern look and Barbara glanced away while she tried to gain composure. She noticed how everybody was there but a certain demon was absent. She wasn’t sure if she was mad or relieved that Beetlejuice wasn’t there. On one hand, she wanted Wendy to meet the family in one sitting so she didn’t have to go through the awkwardness again, but on the other hand, now Lydia didn’t need to worry about Beetlejuice ruining everything by playing some elaborate trick or revealing to Wendy what Lydia had said in the attic

“Guys this is Wendy. Wendy this is my family.”

“You weren’t kidding when you said they were ghosts.” Wendy whispered, “I knew you weren’t lying but like actually seeing ghosts...with my own eyes. Wow.” She turned her attention back to the family looking at both of them eagerly, “Hey!”

Charles was the first to greet her he walked over the table and went in for an awkward handshake, “I’ve been hearing a lot about you, Wendy. It’s a pleasure to get to meet the girl my daughter’s been spending most of her time with, more so than she spends doing her math homework.”

“Dad!” Lydia hissed

“I’m kidding! Wendy, it’s really nice to meet you, well for the second time. Can I just say 

you sure know how to make a good ice cream sundae.”

“Oh thanks, Mr. Deetz, when you work for tips you kinda become a perfectionist at those kinds of things.” Wendy laughed to herself, “So you must be Delia?”

Delia looked the girl up and down before announcing, “She has a good energy Lydia, I like her.”

Lydia tried to laugh the remark off sheepishly but Wendy didn’t seem to mind the remark, and went on to compliment the crystal necklace Delia was wearing saying how she wears a similar one when she is taking tests because she thinks it’s lucky. Lydia made a mental note to not joke about crystal magic around Wendy again as she introduced Wendy to the pseudo-ghost parents. 

“This is Adam and this is Barbara, they live in the attic.”

Still in awestruck that she was meeting actual ghosts Wendy stammered out some form of greeting but Barbara went right in for a hug while Adam, similar to Charles, tried and failed miserably to pull off some kind of strict dad greeting. Wendy’s eye widened in amazement when she realized that the ghosts were solid but definitely not alive. “This is literally the coolest thing ever.”

Barbara smiled, “Yeah we think it’s pretty neat too. It’s fun to switch between solid and not, makes getting down the stairs so much easier when you can kind of just fall through the floor or appear in the kitchen at will.”

“I bet!” Wendy went to sit down at the kitchen table and Lydia sat down next to her. Charles ran into the kitchen to bring out the dinner he made. He had never been a good cook so Lydia was nervous about what was going to come in but Adam assured her that he closely supervised Charle’s cooking. They started eating dinner just making polite chit chat, asking about how Wendy was doing in school, asking about her family, and plans that the girls had for the upcoming weekend. Everything was going very smoothly and Lydia couldn’t have been more pleased that Wendy was getting along with her family. She would have considered it a perfectly relaxed evening if a certain demon had randomly appeared in the middle of dessert.

“Sorry I’m late everyone, but in my defense, I wasn’t ever planning on coming on time. I wanted to be fashionably late.”

Lydia tapped her fingers on the table impatiently, “You’re literally two hours late!”

“Fashion is always changing Lyds, look it up.” Beetlejuice hovered over to the table and piled a stack of cookies onto his plate which he promptly proceeded to practically inhale much to Lydia’s dismay but Wendy’s amazement.

“It’s Wendy right?” Beetlejuice asked in a tone that Lydia honestly didn’t hate, she briefly thought maybe the introduction would go alright by Beetlejuice standards, “I’m Beetlejuice or BJ, or ghost with the most. Whichever you prefer kid. Just don’t call me Lawrence, I’ll kill you if you call me Lawrence.”

“He’s kidding! He’s kidding!” Charles frantically tried to laugh it off as a joke when he saw the fear in Lydia’s eyes

“Nice to meet you BJ, Lydia told me a bit about you.”

“I could say the same thing.” Beetlejuice gave a teasing wink to a now fuming Lydia, “I have to say, Chuck, the cookies were a bit dry. Hey, Wendy want to see a magic trick?”

“NO!” Lydia shouted

“Sure?” Wendy replied, giving Beetlejuice all the permission he needed to animate all the plates and make them spin around the table and fly around everyone’s heads. Wendy’s grin grew bigger as the display went on and Lydia relaxed a little bit when she realized that Wendy was enjoying herself and that she wasn’t about to run out of the house screaming. Lydia gave a remorseful smile to Beetlejuice thankful that he found a way to still be himself but not embarrass Lydia in front of her girlfriend. The rest of the night went on full of laughter and fin conversation. By the end of the evening, Wendy thanked everyone for the delicious meal and wished them a goodnight when they went upstairs to go to bed. Lydia had already told her parents that they were having a sleepover in the living room, her father wasn’t exactly on board at first not feeling comfortable letting Lydia spend the night with her girlfriend but when Lydia compromised by promising to stay in the living room Charles reluctantly agreed but had Adam and Barbara on tap to check in on them periodically through the night.

Lydia and Wendy were sitting on the couch, sharing a blanket as they scrolled through Netflix trying to find a show or movie to have in the background while they either talked or played games with each other on their phones. Lydia had a winning streak in pool against Wendy and though every time Wendy threatened that the streak would come to a dramatic end Lydia always ended up winning, and Wendy pouted for five minutes before challenging her again. They were both getting tired around three in the morning and after bidding a truthful goodnight to Adam and Barbara Lydia came back downstairs with blankets and pillows for them to sleep on. Wendy took the couch and Lydia took the loveseat partly because it was polite to give the guest the bigger sleeping place, and Lydia was tiny enough to fit on the loveseat comfortably. They were still whispering to each other while they tried to fall asleep but the topics were becoming more and more incoherent the closer to sleep they got.

Wendy asked, “So like how did this all happen? Like how did you realize you were living in a haunted house?”

“It’s a complicated story that involves Adam and Barbara trying to scare us into moving out, Beetlejuice tricking me, and me briefly getting lost in the underworld.”

“You say that so casually.” Wendy snorted, “You literally have the most interesting life out of anyone I’ve met. They only interesting thing about me is how my older brother Levi got super drunk at my Bat mitzvah and fell off the stage and into the cake.”

Lydia chuckled, “Wasn’t he only like seventeen?”

“Yeah! That’s what made it even funnier, my mom and dad were so pissed at him. I was mainly just upset that my cake got ruined. Silas didn’t discriminate, he ate it right off the floor.”

“Seems typical of him.”

They both laughed and then there was a silence before Wendy whispered, “Can I ask you a question?” Lydia nodded hoping Wendy could see it in the dark, “If Adam and Barbara are ghosts….is your mom a ghost too? It’s just that you never mention her being around the house and if ghosts are real, I would think that she would haunt the house too I guess?”

Lydia instantly tensed up, “No my mom’s not a ghost. Not that I know of anyway. It’s kind of complicated, my mom is probably in the Netherworld which is like the afterlife I guess? Once a ghost goes to the Netherworld they can’t come back, Adam and Barbara are only still in the house because they never went there.”

“But that Beetlejuice guy he comes back and forth from the Net-Netherworld?”

Lydia rubbed her eyes sleepily, “Yeah that’s kind of complicated too. He’s half-demon and his mom is kind of the lady in charge of the Netherworld so I guess he just sorta figured out how to go back and forth as he wants? I can summon him from the Netherworld if I wanted to, and I tried to with my mom too but it doesn’t work.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry I brought it up. I know it’s a hard thing for you to talk about, I was just curious. I shouldn’t have asked.”

“No, it’s okay.” Lydia wiped away a stray tear in her eye, “You don’t need to apologize for asking. I know the whole situation is really confusing and I asked the same questions when I was figuring it all out too. I miss my mom a lot, I wish she was still here even as a ghost just so I could talk to her one more time. I mean she’d love you, I never got the chance to tell her, but I know she would just love you.”

Wendy shifted on the couch to sit up and look over at Lydia who was very evidently trying to hold back tears. She slid out from under her blanket and went over to the loveseat to pull Lydia into a tight hug. When they broke the embrace Lydia rested her head on Wendy’s shoulder and held her hand in her lap, “I’m sorry, I didn’t want to get all emotional.”

“Does it still hurt to think about her?”

Lydia shrugged, “Sometimes, a lot of the time it just hurts to think about all the stuff she’s going to miss in my life. I was only fourteen when she died, I still had so much more that I wanted her to see. She’s never going to see me graduate, or get married, or even have kids one day. It’s the small things sometimes, like this whole you meeting my family thing. I wanted it so badly to go perfect, but it just felt like somebody was missing. She’s never going to get to meet the people that I fall in love with, or give me those cheesy warnings about dating. Everyone here tries their best and I really appreciate it but times like that I still wish my mom was alive.”

“I wish I could have met her too. She is so important to you, and I’d have loved to get to know her.”

“She was pretty cool.” Lydia said with a soft smile

“Well now I know where you get it from.”

She rolled her eyes playfully, “You know you don’t need to charm me anymore, you already got me to date you.”

“Sorry babe I can’t turn off the charm, I’m just a chick magnet that way. I can’t help it.”

“Remind me again why I put up with you?”

“Because you loovvee me.” Wendy teased before giving Lydia a quick peck on the lips

“Yeah I suppose that’s a valid point. Now seriously you can’t share the couch with me my dad will freak if he wakes up to this tomorrow.”

Wendy begrudgingly slinked back to her couch and after a few more minutes of just talking to each other Lydia heard the soft snoring of the other girl and knew she had fallen asleep mid-conversation. Lydia pulled the blanket close to her face trying not to blush whenever she thought about how Wendy knew she loved her. 

[mfingenius]

Omg I love your writings Could you please write more of teenager Laurent and his massive crush on Damen?

Laurent has a routine. Wake up, shower, go to school, go to Auguste’s high school and sit on the bleachers, waiting for his practice to be over, and then go home.

The first few weeks, Laurent would sit on the bleachers and do homework, or read his book. He’d be productive; then Damianos Akielos caught his eye. Now, Laurent sits on the bleachers with his cheeks permanently red, holding a book he’s not reading a word of to try to disguise the fact that he can’t seem to stop staring at the fucking giant.

He’s in Auguste’s year, but they’re not particularly close, Laurent knows. He hasn’t dared speak a word of it to Auguste. He’s never liked anyone before, and Auguste would tease him and most likely laugh and it’d be mortifying. 

Plus, it’ll go away. It’s not like Auguste and Damianos are friends. Summer Vacation is just four weeks away, and after that, Laurent doesn’t have to see Damianos again for three entire months. It’ll be fine.

“Hey, Laurent,” Auguste ruffles his hair, and Laurent flinches, having not noticed him coming. He scowls and bats his brother’s hand away, and Auguste laughs and reaches for his water bottle. “It’s over.”

“Finally,” Laurent says, even though he’s a little disappointed. Damianos didn’t take his shirt off today. “You stink.”

“You say the sweetest things,” Auguste’s voice is dripping with sarcasm, but he’s smiling. “I’m going to shower. I just wanted to tell you Damen is coming over for dinner.”

Laurent freezes. His cheeks, which had already been pink, immediately go scarlet. ”Why?”

Auguste frowns. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine!” Laurent says, both mortified and impatient. “Why is he coming over for dinner?”

Auguste’s frown deepens. “Because we’re friends? Do you not like him?”

Laurent’s cheeks heat further. “No! I - I don’t know him. I don’t care for him.”

“Hey,” And then Damianos is right there, closer than Laurent’s ever been to him, and Laurent feels like he’s going to have a heart attack with how fast his heart is beating.

“Hey,” Auguste says, still frowning lighlty at Laurent. “Damen, this is my brother Laurent. Laurent, this is Damen.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Damianos has a dimple. He has a very noticeable dimple on his left cheek and Laurent spends almost an entire thirty seconds staring at it before he realizes Damianos is holding his hand out.

“Yes,” Laurent says, shaking his hand feebly. Damianos is very very warm. “Uh-huh.” His brain seems to finally start working again and he looks away. “I - I mean - a - a pleasure to meet you, too.”

Realization dawns on Auguste’s face, and a smile begins to spread. Laurent glares at him desperately.

“You stink,” he repeats, putting as much venom into his voice. “And I’m not getting into a care with you when you smell like that. Go shower.”

Auguste is still laughing when he walks away, Damianos confused by his side.

Laurent tries to get the blush off his cheeks by pressing Auguste’s ice cold water bottle against his them, and it works. He stands and picks up his books, putting his backpack on his shoulder again, the methodical routine only marginally calming his nerves.

It’s alright, he reminds himself. Auguste always spends the longest time in the shower, we have time.

Turns out Auguste chose that exact day to only take about twenty minutes before Laurent sees him and Damianos coming over again. He has a very smug smirk on his face, and Laurent wants desperately to wipe it off.

“We can go now,” He says, and Laurent - non-accidentally - steps on his foot as he passes by him. Auguste merely laughs again.

The ride back to the house is not awkward for anyone but Laurent. He sits in the back seat and tries his best to pretend Damianos isn’t in the front seat, which proves impossible when Auguste is talking to him - and his voice is simply the best thing Laurent’s heard in his life - and trying to drag Laurent into the conversation.

Laurent simply hums, or gives dry answers, thoroughly planning in his head how he is going to throttle Auguste when Damianos leaves.

When they pull up at the house, Laurent runs up to his room, only for his mother to catch his collar before he gets up the stairs.

“Whoa there, little hellcat,” she laughs, kissing his cheek. “Why the rush?”

“Nothing,” Laurent mumbles.

“We’re home, mom,” Auguste calls from downstairs. “I brought Damen for dinner.”

“Oh, we have a guest!” His mother smiles. She likes having people in the house, as does Auguste, both unlike Laurent. Laurent hates people in the house; it always feels far too invasive, which is why he always locks his room when Auguste has people over. “You know it’s rude to be locked in your room when we have a guest, little hellcat.”

Laurent bites back a groan. It was why he wanted to get to his room as quick as possible. “But mom-”

“But nothing, Laurent.” Hennike says. “Come on, it’ll be fine. It’s one of Auguste’s friends. We can order pizza.”

Which is how Laurent ends up in the dining table, sitting across from Damianos with permanently burning cheeks, nibbling at his piece of pepperoni pizza.

“You’re very red,” Damianos observes, and Laurent’s blush spreads to his ears. “Are you alright? Do you have a fever?”

“He’s fine,” Auguste says, mirth dancing in his eyes.

“You do look very red, honey,” His mother frowns, pressing a hand against his forehead. “Do you feel alright?”

Unbelievably embarrassed, but sure, he feels alright.

“I’m fine.” Laurent says, voice wobbly. He clears his throat when Auguste laughs silently.

“Auguste, will you help me bring dessert?” he grits out.

“I’m sure Damen can help you,” Auguste smirks, and Laurent glares tightly.

“Yes, I can-” Damianos is already standing up, and Laurent panics.

“No!” He says. Everyone looks at him, and his blush is starting to be painful. “I mean, I need Auguste’s help. Because... I - need... to...” he desperately scrambles for what to say. “I need to speak to him. About things.”

And he grabs Auguste’s arm and drags him away, laughing. Once he’s in the kitchen, he turns around and slaps his chest repeatedly, making Auguste laugh harder until he begins pinching him, which is when Auguste grabs his wrists to stop him.

“Ow, ow, ow,” he says, laughter not quite finished. “What did you do that for?”

“What did I do that for?” Laurent whisper-yells. “What the fuck are you doing? Stop laughing!”

He slaps Auguste on the shoulder, and Auguste’s laughter finally stops. He’s still grinning though.

“No cursing.” He says sternly, and Laurent rolls his eyes. Though they’re only five years apart, without their father around and their mother almost always working, Auguste had a huge part in Laurent’s upbringing. He still takes it seriously, even if Laurent is thirteen and not a child anymore. “And I’m not doing anything! I just think it’s cute that you have a crush on Damen.”

“I do not have a crush on Damianos!” Laurent snaps, grabbing the ice cream from the fridge. Auguste shoots him a knowing look, and Laurent glowers. “And if you laugh again, I will throw Ice cream at you.”

“I’d like to see you try, baby brother.” Auguste grins, grabbing the other tub of ice cream from the fridge. “I bet you hit Damen.”

Auguste leaves the kitchen before Laurent can snap at him again, and Laurent stomps his foot in frustration. He takes a minute to calm himself and goes back into the dining room, putting the ice cream, spoons, and bowls on the table before taking his seat.

“What flavor does everyone want?” Auguste asks, taking the lid off the ice cream.

Hennike eats vanilla - same as always - Laurent eats mint-chocolate chip, and Auguste chocolate fudge. Laurent hates Vanilla and Chocolate fudge, Auguste can’t stand mint-chocolate, and Hennike is allergic to cacao, which is why they always have those three flavors.

Damianos picks mint-chocolate, and, though it’s nothing to do with Laurent, he feels oddly proud of himself.

Laurent gets through dinner without embarrassing himself entirely, miraculously. When Auguste leaves to drive Damianos home, Laurent sits on the couch with his mother, and she smiles lightly.

“So,” she says. “He’s handsome, isn’t he?”

Laurent’s cheeks darken again.

“Is he?” Laurent asks in a disinterested tone. “I didn’t notice.”

“Oh, baby.” Hennike runs a hand through his hair. “You will. Believe me.”

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

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[ladylb]

To Cry

Chapter 16 Two Days

This chapter can be found here on AO3

To start at the beginning, chapter 1 is here on AO3 or here on tumblr

Summary: Marinette didn't have to wait very long for Lila to make the wrong claim...

Wednesday morning and Marinette was found on the front steps of the school again, with a slight blush and a smile on her face as she was typing away on her phone, saying good morning to Luka once more.

Adrien was shortly delivered by his bodyguard to the school and he joined up with Nino and Alya, who were of course standing by Lila’s side listening to her newest tale, based upon the newest newsworthy item. If only she knew that she was poking the bear… or in this case, by extension, the crocodile’s best friend.

While she tried for half a second, Marinette discovered that it was too hard not to ignore the chattering and gossip that was loudly being passed along around her, but she listened in anyway. Pressing record on her phone just in case. 

Good for her… not good for the resident liar.

“Of course, I knew that they were going to get together, I introduced them after all, after saving his kitten that he had to give away because of his allergies.” Lila loudly proclaimed, repeating a former lie. “I mean I was the one who found a baby alligator in Australia a couple years ago that I knew he’d love, that’s how he got Kang.”

“Oooo!” Rose cooed, “weren’t you afraid of him?”

“Of course, not silly. Kang was only like ten centimeters long and abandoned by his mother. I knew Jagged would love him! Penny too. I’ve even helped them plan the wedding. I’ve passed on Gabriel’s personal number so that he could help them design their outfits of course.”

“What’s Lila talking about now?” Adrien asked Nino.

“Dude, haven’t you heard the news, Jagged Stone is marrying Penny!”

Adrien looked over at Marinette who had stopped the recording and was now forwarding it to a certain friend with a small grin on her face. She was shaking her head like she just couldn’t believe her luck.

“Marinette?” He asked in a questioning tone.

She looked up at him and answered, “Adrien.”

“Are you going to, uh? You know?”

Marinette only grinned wider at him with a glimmer in her eye.

“Oh yes, Marinette, what do you think about the news?!” Lila squealed. “I know you’ve met Jagged, but he really LOVES me!”

Marinette shrugged and got up, collecting herself as she calmly replied, “oh, I guess that’s nice? Although I will admit that I heard about the wedding a couple days ago though and I’m very happy for them.”

“Dude! You knew!” Nino exclaimed.

Alya shook her head, “no way! You would totally have told me.”

“Jagged and Penny didn’t want to have that information leak just yet.” Marinette offered with a shrug, “they just got engaged after all, besides they knew they couldn’t keep it a secret forever but they wanted to keep it to themselves while they could, so I didn’t tell anyone.”

“Gurl, I can’t believe you!” Alya looked on at her in shock, “I can totally keep a secret!”

“Sorry Alya, I know how to keep a secret, it wasn’t my secret to tell and they’re practically family. They came by and told us about everything Monday night, when they came to set up their taste testing for their wedding cake.”

“Just because I know him so well, you don’t have to lie and try to steal the spotlight Marinette!” Lila teared up, irritated that she had lost her adoring crowd’s attention, “I can’t believe you’d do that!” Then she ironically started up with the crocodile tears.

“I’m really not trying to steal anyone’s spotlight Lila.” Marinette pointed out with a raised eyebrow. “I really know Jagged that well and my parents ARE making his cake.”

“Yeah, she even had him over at her bakery once.” Adrien quietly supplied with a smile.

“Uh, yeah.” Alya looked confused, not quite sure what side to take, as if there were sides as she offered, “she even designed one of his album covers.”

“Of course, she did, I didn’t want Marinette to keep feeling bad about herself so I suggested that they give her a shot at that!” Lila offered.

“Umm, I think that was Jagged’s idea.” Marinette answered, “and I know I’m a good designer. I don’t feel bad about myself at all in that respect. Jagged thought of me because I had already made his Eiffel Tower sunglasses at that point.”

“Oh, you wouldn’t know that I suggested to him to call you up again! I told him not to use my name, I didn’t want you to think you were being chosen for the job out of pity.” Lila offered.

Marinette just blinked at that.

“That was so cool of you Lila!” Rose praised.

“Yeah, well, it was a really good thing for Marinette’s career.” Alya joined in, “you should seriously bake her some cookies or something Marinette.”

“I don’t think I could if I wanted to, remember Lila’s nut allergy?” Marinette parried. “Not that I was going to do that.”

Chloe had arrived a few minutes earlier, and just snorted as she tossed her hair. “Of course not, that would be ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.”

Lila gave Chloe a look since Chloe usually overlooked her lies and avoided her, “are you saying that I don’t know Jagged?”

“Silly me, of course not. He only stays at my father’s hotel and I’ve never seen you there visiting him.” Chloe mentioned off hand as she inspected her nails, “honestly, I think I know him better than you, and there is only one person here, unfortunately, that knows him better than Moi, and she’s not you Lie-la. It’s Dupain-Cheng. She actually comes to visit Fang, you know, his crocodile? Usually when he has a show or something and he has to leave it behind. Dupain-Cheng is one of the few that that beast will listen to and crazy enough to get near it willingly.”

“Oh, please, Kang follows me around like a puppy!” Lila laughed and waved Chloe’s information away.

“Uh, Lila, I can’t believe that I’m saying this but Chloe is right. Fang is a crocodile, his name is Fang not Kang and while he’s friendly to almost everyone, he won’t listen to everyone. He’s kind of spoiled that way.” Marinette explained.

Chloe rolled her eyes, “you better believe it. He’s chewed up my shoes before!”

Marinette giggled, “well, did you at least get some more shoes?”

“Eight new pairs.” Chloe proclaimed with a smirk, “and I’ve locked them all away from that beast!”

“Well, it just goes to show he has taste right?” Marinette joked.

“Yeah well, whatever.” Chloe rolled her eyes like her comment didn’t phase her, as she tried to hide her smile.

“Yeah, well, enough about the amphibian.” Lila began as she decided it was time to change subjects, “I can’t wait to tell you all about what Jagged and Penny want me to do for their wedding!”

Just then, a limo came racing down the street and hit the breaks in front of the school so hard the back of the vehicle rose off the ground for just a moment comically. People stepped back and then jumped away from the limo as the door opened and Fang the crocodile spilled out and ran up to Marinette knocking her over and started to lick her happily.

Jagged Stone and Penny Rolling exited the vehicle next and caught up to the happy crocodile. “Aww, Fang really likes you Marinette! I knew I contacted the right girl to help me with my wedding!” Jagged exclaimed.

Penny giggled as Fang finally let a laughing Marinette stand up, “thanks Jagged. I like Fang too!” She leaned down and started to rub Fang’s tummy and then he started to tap his leg like a puppy.

“Hey, that’s Uncle Jagged to you Marinette!” Jagged Stone proclaimed.

Lila was crowded by her fellow students and couldn’t leave. “Hey Jagged!” Rose called out innocently, “do you ever miss your kitten?”

“Kitten?” Jagged gave Rose a questioningly look, “I’ve never owned a kitten, right Penny?”

Penny shook her head, “not that I’m aware of.”

Jagged nodded as he snapped his fingers, “that’s right, I’ve owned Fang here for seven years, he was only about thirty centimeters long when I got him, but the farm I got him from said that he was about a year old and that he wouldn’t get along with any other pets.”

“But your friend Lila said that she saved your kitten and got you your alligator from Australia a few years ago.” Kim offered, “or was she mistaken?”

Jagged Stone looked at the crowd confused, “I have no idea who you are talking about. Fang is a salt water crocodile which is way more rock n roll than any ordinary gator and even I know there are no gators in Australia kid. Besides, I’ve never owned a gator and I don’t know a Lila either.”

“But Mr. Stone! This is Lila!” Rose objected as she pointed at Lila, who was looking for a way to escape. “Don’t you know her?”

Jagged shook his head, “nope. I just came here to meet with my niece.” He grinned at Marinette and began to just ignore everyone else, “I wanted to catch you before school Marinette. You see, I’ve been trying to find someone to design some rock n roll outfits for our wedding and no one will make a suit for Fang! Not even Gabriel Agreste!”

“You contacted Father?” Adrien asked from the edge of the crowd.

“Oh, yeah, you’re his kid.” Jagged frowned at Adrien as he shrinked away from the disapproval in the rocker’s gaze, “you’re the one that my niece USED to like.”

“Jagged!” Marinette and Penny scolded.

“Nope. I’m not having it. Blindness must run in his family,” Jagged put his arm around Marinette supportively as she covered her face with shame, “not only would your old man refuse to make something for my dear Fang, but I can’t believe you didn’t want to go out with this girl! She’s so amazing and talented! Don’t worry Marinette, Uncle Jagged is here for you.” Jagged hugged her close and petted her hair like she was breaking down.

She wasn’t breaking down though, she was embarrassed and a bit mortified.

“Jagged, A-Adrien is just a friend now! I told you that.” Marinette muttered from behind her hands.

The crowd gasped as Alya asked loudly, “you’re over him! Really? NO WAY!”

“Yep.” Marinette took a deep breath as she finally put her hands down escaped Jagged’s grasp and gathered her Ladybug courage before she announced with a wave of her arm. “Adrien Agreste has a new title, just a friend.”

…

Adrien had a confused smile on his face, he was happy about the friend part, but sad and hurt about the ‘just’ part for some reason.

He had a sinking feeling as he thought randomly, wow, karma sucks.

Penny and Jagged whispered amongst themselves as Lila took center stage once more.

Lila smiled to herself as she sidled up next to Adrien and clutched his arm, “I guess that means that Adrien’s available?”

Adrien pulled back from her unconvincingly, “ah, s-sorry Lila, there’s another girl that I like.”

“Dude? Really? I thought you an Lila…” Nino began.

“No way Nino!” Adrien almost shrieked as he looked at his best Bro incredulously.

How could you think that I’m with HER!

“Psft, you don’t know what you want Adrien.” Lila waved the idea off as if his feelings didn’t matter as she gripped his arm painfully again in a possessive way.

Adrien realized that no one seemed to notice this but Marinette who gave him a look which clearly said ‘well, what can you do?’

Lila didn’t notice and went on, “of course I could help you figure out what you want Adrien, I’d be the perfect girlfriend for you.” Then she loudly whispered for the whole crowd to hear, “you know we’re perfect for each other and you don’t have to hide it anymore, Marinette is over you and it won’t hurt her if you start going out with someone better than her, like me.”

Adrien looked shocked and didn’t seem to know what to say. Thankfully, Marinette did.

“Oh, PLEASE Lila,” Marinette stood up from petting Fang again, he was one spoiled croc after all as she announced, “as far as I understand it, Adrien either doesn’t want to be or CAN’T be in a relationship right now." Then she sarcastically adds with a shrug, "so he claims that he likes some girl that doesn’t seem to see him for who he is. I mean, I know it seems like she doesn’t exist because this is the first TIME that we’ve heard about her and while I know it’s odd that we don’t know her, and I have a hard time believing that ANY girl wouldn't jump at the chance to date Adrien at the very least if he's asking. Still, there is one thing that I’m sure of and that the girl that he likes is NOT YOU Lila. Now please, just let go of the poor boy and let him LIVE HIS LIFE!” Marinette demanded.

“But Adrien adores me!” Lila objected with false tears in her eyes, refusing to let go of Adrien.

“Umm, no. He doesn’t. I can’t believe I’m saying this because that means that I’m on the exact SAME side as Dupain-Cheng, but that’s WHY he’s leaning away from you.” Chloe pointed out. “That’s why he makes that face of revolution around you.”

“Even I can see it, and forcing yourself on someone is so not Rock-n-Roll.” Jagged commented as he now hugged Penny to his side.

“You know, they’ve all got a point.” Mylene pointed out. “Adrien has never said that he’s secretly dating Lila to anyone, has he?”

“She actually said that?!” Adrien demanded, and they believed her?

The whole class nodded as Rose chirped up, “she said that you had to keep it private because of your father and because you’re a celebrity.” Then she looked uncertainly at Marinette, as if confused for some reason, “plus, it would, ah, maybe hurt Marinette’s feelings?”

Marinette shook her head, “look, I know he tolerates Lila, but even I’d never believe he’d date her, and why would Adrien care about my feelings like that? We’ve never been more than friends and he’s never found me attractive at all.” She waved it off, “which is totally fine. I’ve finally figured out that he’s not really my type.” She returned to petting Fang as several people gasped for some reason.

That you know of. Adrien looked away bashfully, why does Marinette not know that she’s the most attractive girl in our class? And there it is again, why does her saying that we’re ‘just friends’ sting?

“Ah dude, you’re prettier than you think.” Nino told his girlfriend’s best friend, “besides, we all knew that you liked him, it was so obvious that even we could see it.” Nino bluntly explained to Marinette herself, “that’s why we didn’t say anything to you Dudette.” Which of course meant that he was quickly elbowed by Alya.

“That was a secret!” She hissed as she worriedly looked at Marinette.

Marinette laughed and waved the idea off, “oh, that was so last month guys. One sided crushes will always end like that.”

They… they do? Adrien looked at her worriedly, but what about Ladybug? Does that mean she’ll never love me?

Penny chuckled, “she’s telling the truth guys. There isn’t one poster of this boy left on her walls at home anymore.”

“Really?!” More than one voice exclaimed, the loudest of course was Alya and Adrien.

“Yep.” Marinette happily answered as she finished petting a now groggy Fang.

Adrien looked down at the ground, sad for some reason at her answer as he processed the fact that she truly had had a crush on him and it seemed like she was over it now.

“Wait a minute.” Kim of all people put it together, “Lila’s been telling us all not to tell Marinette that she was secretly dating Adrien…”

There was a flash of uncertainty that crossed Lila’s face, but she just held onto Adrien more.

“She wasn’t!” Adrien defended. “I’d never date her!”

“Never say never.” Lila flirted with him despite Adrien trying to gently pull away from her again. “I mean, I totally understand why you’d want to keep our relationship secret, I’m great with secrets after all my model-boo.”

Adrien’s face wasn’t the only one that cringed at the terrible nickname.

“Yeah, well, Jagged Stone just said that he doesn’t know her either.” Someone else pointed out.

“Totally.” Jagged shot them finger guns. “That girl is so not Rock n Roll!”

Alya folded her arms, “wait, that means at least three things she’s told us isn’t real. She’s not Adrien’s girlfriend…”

“Thank you!” Adrien squirmed under Lila’s grasp until he finally broke away from her.

Alya frowned as she went on thoughtfully as if she was still processing it, “then at least the two other things about Jagged. There was no kitten and she didn’t get him Fang.”

Lila looked around at the now wary crowd, no one wanting to believe it, but things were starting to look bleak for their world traveling, charity driving and well-connected girl, aka, Lila, soon to be, the liar… maybe.

Turns out the crowd needed a little more convincing…

“Rose?” The quiet voice of Juleka asked, “maybe you should ask Prince Ali if he knows her.”

“On it!” Rose brightly answered as she finished a text to her pen pal Prince Ali and sent it off.

Lila almost cringed as she tried to come up with something…

[wordsinthenight]

The Seventh Bride - Chapter 9

Summary: Reylo.  Through a strange twist of fate, Rey suddenly finds herself married to the Marquess of the Reach, a mysterious man who she has never seen and whose name she has never learned. All she knows is this: the Marquess has been married six times before, and each time, the dragon Kylo Ren has devoured his wife within a year of their marriage.

Medieval AU based off of “Psyche and Eros” and “East of the Sun and West of the Moon” with a healthy dose of “Beauty and the Beast” thrown in for good measure.

First Chapter Previous Chapter AO3

Scraaaaaaaaaaaaaape.

Rey opened her eyes blearily, the canopy above her slowly coming into focus.

Scraaaaaaaaaaaaaape.

Her husband was already gone for the day.  Rey sat up in bed, noting that the door on her side was already open.

Scraaaaaaaaaaaaaape.

There was a strange noise coming from outside of her room, and with it came the slightest shaking of the floor.  The sound made Rey’s skin prickle, and she had to resist the urge to scratch her arms.

Scraaaaaaaaaaaaaape.

Once she had dressed for the day, Rey left her room and went in search of the sound.  There was only one creature on the island big enough to shake the castle like that.

Ever since his wing had healed, Rey woke up about once a week to find that Kylo Ren had flown out across the lake.  Sometimes, he aided the Marquess in his business, though Rey wasn’t quite sure what that business was.  Sometimes, he went hunting - but when he did, he always returned to the island with whatever beast he had caught and shared a piece of his catch with Rey.

Even when he didn’t leave the island, he always sought Rey out at some point during the day.  Occasionally, it was to taunt her like he used to, though there was an air of affection to his teasing now, and the expectation that she would mock him back. Other times, he would only ask her questions - about her life before coming to the island, about how she was enjoying the island, if she was finding things to occupy her time.

It sounded strange, but her relationship with Kylo had become downright amiable, and Rey looked forward to their daily interactions.

Kylo Ren hadn’t left the island that morning.  Instead, Rey found him on one of the lower terraces, near the base of the castle.  Scratch marks covered one of the cobblestone walls, and the ground was scuffed.  The dragon hadn’t noticed her, and as Rey watched, he rammed his head against the wall before turning to scrape his cheek, then his side, along the wall.

Scraaaaaaaaaaaaaape.

“What are you doing?” Rey asked as she descended the steps toward him.

Kylo jumped when he heard her voice, despite the fact that she hadn’t been particularly quiet in her approach, and turned towards her briefly before turning away.  He hunched down, and Rey had to suppress a chuckle when he ducked his head to hide it under his paws.

He mumbled something, his words a low rumble in her ears, and Rey cocked her head.  “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you.”

“I’m molting,” he said louder, sounding somewhere between furious and mortified.  Without turning to look at her, he picked himself up again to smash his head against the wall once more.  “It itches.”  This time, when he rubbed his body against the wall, Rey could see a couple of scales pull loose from his hide and clatter to the ground below.  There were several dozen laying in the crease where the wall met the cobblestones.  “I hate it.”

“That bad, huh?” Rey asked, reaching out to rest a hand on his side.  As she ran her fingers along his hide, one of his scales moved strangely, and with a gentle tug, it came loose.

Rey glanced between Kylo and the inky dark scale in her hand.  The dragon had now turned his head to observe her.  “Does it hurt?”

“No.  I can feel it, but it’s not painful,” he told her.  “It’s...kind of like losing a loose tooth when it comes free, in that I can feel it tugging but it doesn’t hurt, and kind of like regrowing hair, because the new scales growing in itch.”

Sure enough, when Rey stuck her fingers into the space where the scale had been, she could feel the thin edge of a new scale poking out of the softer flesh underneath.  When her fingers touched his skin, a shiver ran down Kylo’s hide, his scales clicking together quietly.  “Tickles,” he mumbled by way of explanation.  “Sorry.”

Rey’s mouth quirked upwards as she set both hands to his scales this time to hunt out loose ones.  She tugged a loose one gently, but it stayed put, so she left it along for another day.  “So,” she said playfully, trying to hold back the laughter.  “Are we going to have a naked dragon on our hands sometime in the next few weeks?”

Kylo groaned at her comment.  “It’s like shedding, not like humans losing hair as they age.  Other animals lose their thick coats after winter - dragons regrow their scales to replace the old, damaged ones once a year.”

Rey smiled as she moved closer to his head, continuing her work as she went.  Scale after scale dropped at her feet as she moved along his body.  “You’re just grouchy because you’re going bald.”

“Shut up,” he grumbled, but lay his head down on the ground so she could reach the scales on his forehead as she reached his head.

Like the places around his joints, the scales on Kylo’s head where smaller, but more numerous, which slowed Rey’s work considerably.  One of the silver scales around his eyes came loose, and Rey turned it in her fingertips to get a closer look at it.  It didn’t look like a precious metal - more like a mirror, actually.  Rey could see her image reflected back at her in miniature in the scale.

“Pretty,” she murmured to herself as she turned the scale this way and that.  Kylo shifted slightly next to her, listening in on her talking to herself.  Rey wondered if shed dragon scales could be used to make armor - they were remarkably hard, and she imagined they might be heat-resistant, too.  Maybe she’d have to borrow a few to see if anything could be done with them in the forge.

For now, she tossed it to the side like the rest, and returned her hands to Kylo’s brow.  The silver scales lining his eyes reminded her of something - they almost looked like the little gray hairs some of the older residents of Jakku had sprouted as they had aged.

“How old are you?” Rey blurted out, suddenly feeling embarrassed.  It was one thing to tease someone young that they were getting old, but to comment on the age of someone who was already elderly felt remarkably rude - 

“Thirty,” Kylo replied, without a hint of hesitation.

Oh, thank goodness.  For a moment, Rey had been worried she had offended an old man.  Then, the strangeness of the statement struck her.  “Wait, you’re only thirty?  Don’t dragons live for millenia?  When do they reach maturity?”

“Well, for most dragons - ”

That was when she knew that she had him.  “Oh, gods, you’re a baby dragon, aren’t you?” she gasped dramatically.  “I can’t believe Maz has let me swear in front of and boss around a literal child - ”

“Rey, I am an adult by both dragon and human standards, and I have been for quite some - ”

“Please tell me the Marquess reads you to sleep at night; no kid should have to go to bed without a good bedtime story.”

Finally, Kylo caught on to the laughter in her voice.  “I dislike you very much,” he said, but there was a rumble in his chest that told Rey that he was chuckling as well.

Rey’s fingers were running across his snout when he spoke again.  “I might like it, though,” he said quietly.  “If you read to me from time to time - while it’s still bright out, so you don’t strain your eyes.”

“I’m not very good at it,” Rey admitted.  “We had people who came by to teach the apprentices to read when we were children, but I didn’t get much of a chance to practice.  My master thought there were better ways to spend our time than sitting around with our noses in books.”

“This is a good chance to practice,” he replied.  “I’ll help you.  I may not look it, but I am a great lover of books.  They just don’t make enough in sizes appropriate for dragons.  And...I like the sound of your voice.  It’s a good storyteller’s voice.”

“You have to say that if you want me to keep helping you,” Rey said as she plucked another scale and tossed it over her shoulder.

“I mean it.”  Kylo turned his head to look at her.

“Thanks,” she said at the same time as she plucked a particularly stubborn scale from just above his eye.

They settled into a companionable silence after that, interrupted only by the sound of scales clattering on stone as Rey pulled the loose ones from Kylo’s hide and threw them onto the ground.  Only once did Rey have to ask him to move, and he settled on his opposite side and stretched out his head so she could reach the scales on his chin and neck.

This hadn’t been the experience Rey had been expected when she had left Jakku.  Then again, she hadn’t known what she had expected when she had agreed to become the Marquess’ wife - maybe an angry husband who threw her around every time he flew into a rage, or one who would imprison her in a birthing room, expecting child after child until she gave him a son.  Or, worse - that she would spend her days cowering in the Marquess’ castle, hiding from a dragon on the hunt for his next meal.

This was the furthest thing from what she had expected.  Rey had been married for nearly half a year now, and she was all but ignored by her husband beyond him climbing into bed next to her at night.  Her days were peaceful, and she had found things to occupy her time with, though sometimes she still longed for the days of sprinting across the desert of Falcon’s back.  Strangest of all, she had managed to befriend the dragon under her husband’s command.

She didn’t know how it had happened, but it was true - she counted Kylo among one of her closest friends.  She shared secrets with him - not intentionally, but occasionally, tidbits of her old life or her dreams about her parents would slip out, and he would always react with kindness or wit or sympathy, but never pity.  Sometimes, he would let things slip, too - things about his mother, or tidbits of knowledge that a dragon would have no right to know - like that he enjoyed reading.

It was strange to say, but Rey trusted him, even against her instincts.

Even though she knew the fate of the six girls that had come before her - and what would likely be her eventual fate.

“I’m going to be really sad if you eventually have to eat me,” she mumbled to herself as she stroked her fingers down his chest.

Kylo’s ears were always sharper than she thought they were.  She felt his chest expand and deflate as he heaved a sigh and turned towards her.  A paw wrapped around her back to draw her closer to him and force her to look at him.  Despite the sharp claws hanging over her shoulder, Rey wasn’t afraid.

“Little Marquesa,” Kylo stressed, “I’m not going to eat you.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Rey waved him off.  “You don’t want to kill me, I don’t really want to be killed, by you or otherwise.”

“Then why do you keep bringing it up?  I don’t understand why you’re so worried about this.”

“Because it’s not either of our choice,” she snipped at him.  “Both you and Maz have told me multiple times - the Marquess will decide whether I live or die.”

“The Marquess,” Kylo ground out, “isn’t going to order me to kill you.”

“But you don’t know that,” she pressed back.

At this distance, Rey could hear Kylo grinding his teeth.  “No,” he finally admitted, “I don’t.  But I do know that he doesn’t want you dead.”

Rey sighed deeply.  “I know you think that,” she chided, “but you don’t know what it’s like between us.”

“Is he unkind to you?” Kylo pressed.  “He doesn’t hurt you or say unkind things to you?”

“Never,” Rey replied.  “He’s very...well-mannered, I suppose, but he doesn’t care about me, not as a real person.  We don’t speak, and I never see him.  I’m just the girl he happens to sleep next to at night.  It doesn’t matter if it’s me or someone else - I’m just another in a long line.”

“You’re not,” he snapped.  “You could never be replaced.”

Rey’s stance softened a little at his words, and she reached out to rest a hand on his cheek.  “I’m glad you think so,” she said quietly, “but in this case, it doesn’t matter what you think.”

Kylo jerked away from her touch, fuming.  Rey could see the hurt in his eyes, but couldn’t understand what she had done to put it there.

“I’ll make you understand,” Kylo snarled as he stood to put distance between the two of them.  “I’ll make you see that you have nothing to fear here.”

Rey didn’t see him again for the rest of the day.

She didn’t bring up their argument again when they saw each other the next day, and neither did he.

Deep down, he knows I’m right, Rey thought to herself one morning as she sat in front of the mirror and brushed out her hair.  He might not like to think about it, but it’s true.  The Marquess could order him to kill me at any point, and neither of us could do anything about it.  Maybe Kylo could refuse to do it - or could he?  Rey had no idea whether it was friendship or magic or something that bound the Marquess and Kylo together, but there was every possibility that Kylo had no choice but to follow her husband’s wishes.

It didn’t matter either way.  If the Marquess wanted her dead, Rey had to doubt that he could find a way to do it, with or without his dragon’s help.

It was best not to think about it, though.  Pondering the inevitability of her own death was useless, and even if its shadow constantly hung over her, Rey didn’t want to go spiraling into turmoil and despair again, not when she was just becoming comfortable.

No, better not to think about it at all.

Rey was so preoccupied with her own thoughts, she didn’t even hear anyone enter the room.  She jumped when Maz placed the wrapped package on the table in front of her.

“From his Lordship,” Maz said.

Rey’s eyes darted from the package in front of her to Maz, who stared expectantly at her.  “From the Marquess?”

“Yes.”

“My husband, the Marquess?”

“I don’t believe there’s any other Marquess living on this island.”

Rey’s eyes finally focused on Maz.  “...Thank you?” she eked out.

“My Lady,” Maz said with a respectful tilt of her head downwards, then left her alone in the room.

Rey stared down at the parcel in front of her with no small amount of trepidation.  What in the world could her husband have gotten her?

With great caution, Rey pulled on the string that held the parcel closed and revealed what was within.

It was...not as terrifying as she had feared, but far more confusing.  Rey held each of the two items in her hands and stared down at them.  In her right hand was a hairbrush, in her left a mirror.  Both were made of what looked to be ivory, with patterns of gold adorning the back of both.  A single one was probably more expensive than everything she had owned in Jakku put together.

Why would he give me these?

Did he...not like her hair?  Rey frowned at the thought.  Was something about it unsatisfactory to him?

Slowly, Rey’s confusion turned to frustration.  What did he care what her hair looked like?  He wasn’t even around during the day to see it, and she certainly wasn’t going to style it for bedtime.  It was a waste of time and a waste of resources for something that she was just going to sleep in, especially if it was for the benefit of a husband who didn’t care for her existence in the slightest.

Rey had all day to stew on his mysterious gift, and by the time she had climbed into bed and the door had been sealed behind her, she was fuming.  When her husband entered the room, she didn’t say anything to him, nor he to her.

As he settled into bed next to her, he didn’t turn onto his side to face the wall.  Instead, he turned to face her.  Rey could feel his eyes boring into her back as he stared at her.  She could almost feel his expectancy in the air, like he expected her to thank him for his generous gift.

Rey pulled the covers further up her body and curled further into the bed, purposefully ignoring him.  If he didn’t like the way her hair looked, he could tell her himself, instead of sending her a passive-aggressive gift.  After a few minutes, Rey heard him sigh softly, and the burning in the center of her back disappeared as he closed his eyes.

That wasn’t the end of it, though.  Three days later, Maz stopped by with another gift, this time in a bag made of lavender velvet.  “From His Lordship,” she said simply as she dropped the bag in her lap and left once more.

This time, his gift was comprised of a number of small bottles of fancy bath oils and perfumes.  One of the glass bottles shattered in her right hand when she clenched it too hard.  Now her husband didn’t like the way she smelled?

It was like that from then on.  Every few days, Maz would appear with some new parcel or package.  “From His Lordship,” she would say, and Rey would do her best to thank her.  First came the pair of silk gloves, then brooch with the fire-red ruby.  Then came the diamond choker necklace and the fur wrap and the yards and yards of lace fabric.

Not all of them were criticisms of her appearance, which confused Rey the most.  Once, she received a box of truffles, with each chocolate painstakingly wrapped in edible gold leaf.  Another time, it was a bottle of wine, which Maz was told her was made from a plant that only bloomed once every hundred years.  Rey was ashamed to admit that she indulged in a small glass before shelving it on principle, like she had with his other gifts.

Then, every night, the Marquess would come to her, staring at her back as they lay together in bed.  Rey didn’t know what to say - too angry or confused or frightened to even speak.  Eventually, though, he would close his eyes, and Rey could finally fall into a fitful slumber.

The next day, the cycle would begin anew, and Rey dreaded it every day.  

This was something new from everything she had experienced on this island so far.  If things were the same, if they fell into a pattern, Rey knew that she was safe.  But the moment things changed, Rey’s fate was in limbo once more.

And that was the crux of it, wasn’t it?  Rey had no idea what the Marquess expected to gain from giving her these lavish gifts.  Clearly, he wanted something, but Rey had no idea what.  It wasn’t that she thought he was a bad person - her husband had shown her kindness in the past, and she didn’t believe he wanted to hurt her intentionally.

Then again, hadn’t he done just that to all of his other wives?

Rey didn’t know what to do.  She wondered if the other girls that had come before her had gone through this, as well.  Worst of all - the gifts were usually both expensive and useless.  What was she to do with a golden comb to hold up her hair?  As she looked at it, she couldn’t help but think of how many portions the silly thing could have bought her when she lived in Jakku.

Finally, Rey broke down one morning when she walked out of her room to find Maz standing in front of a dress form.  Hanging from it was the most beautiful, most frivolous thing she had ever seen.  “From His Lordship,” Maz said, once again.

The ball gown was made of cloth-of-silver, though when Rey picked up the hem, the fabric was as soft as silk.  The sleeves swept off the shoulders of the form and connected to a sweetheart neckline.  The waist of the dress was studded with sapphires that trailed down the skirt, with the jewels thinning out the further they went towards her feet.

Rey let the fabric slip from her fingers, smooth as water.  “Maz,” she said softly, “what does he want from me?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“He’s giving me all these things.  I didn’t ask for them.  I don’t want them.”

“You mean - you don’t know?”

Rey shook her head, still staring at the beautiful, awful dress in front of her.

All of a sudden, Maz began to chuckle.  Then, she began to laugh, her voice quickly turning into a full-throated guffaw that echoed around the castle.  Rey turned to look at her, feeling more than a little insulted that Maz found her confusion so humorous.

“I apologize,” Maz said once she had regained herself, though she was still chortling between phrases.  “I just...it seemed so obvious to me.  I’m surprised you don’t know.”

Rey flushed, but it didn’t stop her from stomping her foot like a child.  “Well, clearly, I don’t know,” she said churlishly.

“No, no, I don’t suppose you would,” Maz said, patting her on the back as high as her short stature would allow.  “Some people are more oblivious than others.  You two are well-matched.”

Rey shot her a strange look.  “What do you mean by that?”

“My Lady,” Maz said with a twinkle in her eye, “I believe he’s trying to court you.”

Next Chapter

[janeykath318]

Soulmates (Pike x Tilly)

Sylvia Tilly had long anticipated the arrival of her soulmate, wondering what her first thoughts toward him or her would be. Knowing herself, she knew they would be likely something really embarrassing or brutally forward. Hopefully, said Soulmate wouldn’t hold it against her. Her own words were a faint grey scrawl on her shoulder, mentioning how adorable she was.

“Could have been much worse,” she’d often thought. “Least their first thought won’t be about my boobs. I’ll take it.”

She’d met plenty of people in Starfleet she’d hoped would light up her words, but they remained stubbornly gray. Luckily, the fascinating science she got to do and the space adventures on the Discovery kept her quite occupied until she’d almost forgotten there was a soulmate.

Seeing Paul grieving the loss of Hugh was a sobering reminder of what could happen if she did met him, and Tilly did plenty of soul-searching at night, wondering if she could take the risk of loving.

At the same time, it was certainly heart-warming to see happy soulmate couples come together and she cheered for her crew mates who experienced it.

The moment it happened to her, it took her completely off guard. She was performing the DNA scan of their new Captain and shamelessly admiring his nice hands (those nail beds!!) when he acted like she’d hurt him then said “Kidding” when she’s apologized in horror.

The smirk he gave her was so very attractive that her mouth went dry.

“Dear Lord, I want his babies!” Was the impulsive thought that came, even as she verbally expressed her relief that she hadn’t broken the Captain.

He gave her another smile and at that moment, she KNEW. Her words started to tingle and if they hadn’t been covered by her uniform, she was pretty sure they were glowing silver.

“She’s ridiculously adorable,” was what Chris had thought the moment before his own words had started to glow. So this was the person who wanted his babies. Well, she was younger than he expected, but that wasn’t a deal-breaker.

He didn’t know whether to laugh or pretend it didn’t happen. Either way, it wasn’t great timing given where they were: on the bridge in front of everybody.

She looked like a deer in the headlights, staring open-mouthed in shock. Poor thing, he thought. She probably hadn’t been expecting a middle aged Captain as a soulmate.

When she accidentally brought up his file on screen, he could see her become even more flustered.

“It’s okay, Ensign,” he assured her. “It’s good that you all can see I am who I say I am, given what happened with Lorca. Trust can take time to rebuild. I’ll talk to you later, okay?” He added in a low voice.

She nodded in acknowledgment and managed a little smile.

“Yes, Sir.”

Tilly spent her shift in a bit of a daze, alternating between working feverishly, and sneaking glimpses at the Captain. Damn, he was hot being all commanding, but when those dimples showed up, he was irresistible. She thought she was one lucky girl having HIM for a soulmate, well, would be if he was accepting of it. This was a tricky situation, given he was a Captain and she was just an ensign.

Finding the Hiawatha and the dangerous journey to rescue the survivors in addition to Michael getting injured threw everything else out of her head for most of the next day, and when she finally got off shift, she was exhausted.

Slumping against the wall of the turbo lift, she heaved a weary sigh and tried to settle her crazy mind. It only worked briefly, because after about thirty second the object of her thoughts stepped aboard.

She jolted to attention.

“C-Captain! What a surprise!” She babbled. “That was quite a rescue you pulled off down there. I was both scared silly and incredibly impressed. How did you not die? Thank you for getting Michael out of there, by the way. It would have crushed me to lose her.”

The captain looked at her with a tired, but kind smile.

“You’re welcome. There was no way I could leave Commander Burnham—Or any of you—behind. But how are you doing, Ensign? It’s been quite a day for you, too.”

“Oh, I’m fine. Just tired. Nothing a little sleep won’t cure.”

He nodded, and there was silence for a moment as they looked at each other.

“So......about the other day,” Tilly began.

“I was wondering if you experienced the same phenomenon I did when we met.”

“And just what would that be, Ensign?” He asked.

Tilly hesitated, but kept going. She had to try.

“My.....Soulmate Words turned silver and tingled when I met you,” she admitted. “I know you probably think It’s bad, wrong, against regs, but.....I just had to know, if it happened to you, or if I was mistaken.”

“You’re not mistaken, Ensign,” Pike said, looking at her more intently. He pulled up his sleeve and revealed the silver words on his arm. (A very nice muscular arm, by the way).

Tilly’s blood ran cold and she blushed as red as her hair when she saw what it said.

Dear Lord, I want his babies was written in loopy silver writing on the inside of his wrist.

“Please shoot me out the airlock right now,” she moaned, red face hidden in her hands as she shook with mortified laughter. “I am so sorry, Captain.”

“Don’t be,” she heard him say, no judgment in his voice. “At least I made a positive impression.” She giggled a bit at the teasing tone. Positive was putting it mildly. She was lucky he had a sense of humor.

She sniffed a bit, and dropped her hands.

“It’s on my shoulder. You thought I’m Ridiculously adorable.”

She giggled again.

“Accurate,” Pike admitted, winking at her. “You are really damn cute, you know.”

“I strive to be,” Tilly shot back saucily, her spunk quickly returning at how well he had handled this situation.

“So how are we supposed to do this whole....soulmates thing?” She questioned. “It would probably go against a million regulations.”

“Not necessarily. Starfleet has made certain allowances for such situations. How about we start by a proper introduction?”

“Perfect. I need a do-over anyway. I’m Sylvia Tilly. Nice to meet you, Captain,” she said brightly, offering her hand.

He shook it with another one of those smiles and she swore her heart skipped a beat or two. It really wasn’t fair how good looking he was.

“Nice to meet you, too,” she responded. “And for the record, my friends call me Tilly. Only my mom called me Sylvia and we don’t really get along.”

“I see,” he acknowledged. “And when I’m not on duty, My friends call me Chris.”

Tilly beamed, but before she could respond the lift doors slid open on her deck. She’d never been so disappointed to reach a destination. Who noticed exhaustion when in the presence of such a man?

“Well, um, It was nice to talk to you, Captain—er, Chris. Maybe we can do it again sometime. Get to know each other.”

“I’ll look forward to it, Tilly,” he said. “Goodnight, now.”

“Goodnight,” She squeaked, managing to force herself to move out of the lift. Oh, she’d be dreaming about that magnetic smile tonight. She’d totally scored on the Soulmate front. Boy, would Michael be surprised when she found out!!! Grinning happily, Tilly practically skipped into her quarters.

[johnny-and-dora]

holding back the flood

“Oh god. Their baby is the size of a cherry. She’s tearing up again.”

or, the one where jake and rosa take care of a extremely stressed, highly emotional and mildly pregnant amy. (future fic) read on ao3

-

Amy really doesn’t know why she’s crying.

As a Santiago, she prides herself on having at least a reasonable amount of self control when it comes to emotional displays in the workplace; she was taught long ago that they were highly inappropriate, after all, and she takes great pride in being a teacher’s pet/star mentee.

Disregarding Holt’s advice (which isn’t something she often does), one of the thousands of things she’s learnt since she became a sergeant is that it’s optimum for everyone’s productivity – and overall physical wellbeing – if she can keep stress braids, Santiago-scale freak outs and full-on weeping to a minimum at work.

(No-one needs to mention the Great Printer Catastrophe again – and absolutely  no-one needs to mention that she’s permanently banned from being anywhere near the machine if it’s ever low on ink.)

Badly timed, apocalypse-inducing paper jams aside; Amy is a strong, emotionally resilient, rational woman. She rolls her eyes and smiles at Jake when he cries at films, she flawlessly multitasks with letting her anxiety get the best of her, and she tries her best to remain professional at all times (ignoring the extremely few instances in which her husband has tempted her into Supply Closet C). She cries when she wants to, when she needs to, but as a rule, she absolutely holds it together at the precinct, especially in front of her officers.

At least, that’s what she’s been firmly trying to tell herself for the past few days, because her usually reliable ability to “hold it together” currently seems about as unstable as her current hormone levels.

Since she got into work this morning, she’s cried four times already – once because they were out of granola, once because Charles’s lunch smelled at least ten million times worse and at least ten times more eye-watering than usual. Once, most unceremoniously, in a toilet stall on her break because her head wrecks and she’s so nauseous she can barely enjoy filling in paperwork anymore, and once because she suddenly remembered the sonogram picture, grainy and monochrome and forever universe-changing, that currently takes pride of place in their kitchen, stuck lovingly with an old I LOVE NY magnet to their fridge.

Notably - and most likely the shining, golden solve for why she might be spending 3pm on a Thursday afternoon sobbing her little heart out in the evidence lock up, riding out her own little hormone rollercoaster - Amy is nine weeks pregnant.

(Now is not the time, but something in her lights up every time she actually dares to think the actual word “pregnant” into existence; she fondly remembers snapshots of the past two months, the swell of joy in her heart at those two life-altering little lines, another test passed with flying colours. The look on Jake’s face when she told him, the way he’s been doing everything he can to take care of her. The time he came home with a little pair of baby sneakers that he “couldn’t resist” and she kissed him after lecturing him about how now wasn’t the time for frivolous purchases and they needed to be balancing their finances.)

(In short, they’re having a baby - and it’s terrifying and exhilarating and extremely, extremely nauseating, and she’s never been happier in her life.)

(And yet, she still can’t quite seem to stop crying.)

The emotional carnival ride of growing a human aside, she really doesn’t want to have an emotional break-down here, of all places, the one place in the precinct that’s meant to keep her steady. Quite frankly, Amy does not have the time to spare for these gross, irritating emotions right now. There is no time reserved in her tightly packed schedule for emotions of any kind, let alone multiple confusing and upsetting ones all at once.

She can’t even really note anything currently worth crying over. It’s just a simple detailed and meticulously planned patrol schedule due by the end of her shift that’s proving slightly harder to organise than first anticipated. Easy. Not a problem that she hasn’t solved a thousand times before.

Of course, that’s also on top of the thirty slide presentation about increasing productivity and efficiency within the precinct she has to give tomorrow that she’s barely had the time or energy to actually prepare for. And the in-depth evaluations she has to hand in of her entire squad by Monday.

And the fact that she’s already behind on the research for her pregnancy binder, and she still hasn’t revised their monthly budgets - because once she finally gets home she’s too exhausted to do anything other than sleepily curl up on the couch next to her husband, using Jake as her personal space heater while he strokes her hair and tells her about his day. She’s even too tired to yell at the TV during Jeopardy.

It’s nothing. At least, it’s nothing she would usually be worried about, tasks to complete that she would normally even be a little excited to feel the adrenaline rush of finishing early and getting some sweet spare time to revise her eighteen step plan to increase arrest numbers by 30% by December. Santiago-style.

And yet, to pregnant Amy, what usually constitutes as ‘nothing’ seems to currently signal the end of days - and so, here she appears to be.

Hormones raging, freshly applied mascara once again ruined, eyes red and puffy, breathing irregular, neon sign brightly flashing with the words “hot mess” directly above her head. She’s hiding, not exactly inconspicuously,  between the endlessly neat rows of closed cases, knees hugged as close to her chest as possible while taking tremendous care not to squish the ever-so-slight, barely noticeable bump that remains breath-taking proof that she’s growing an actual, real-life, cherry sized (as Jake cheerfully informed her this morning over breakfast) human being inside of her.

Oh God. Their baby is now the size of a cherry. She’s tearing up again.

She decides after a while, with the shred of rationality Amy seems to have left, that she is currently a hot mess that only one person is fully equipped to deal with. She reaches for her phone, sniffling, trying her best keep her breathing steady, anxiously fiddling with the shining silver wedding band on her ring finger.

She’s about to text a “Code Blue, Evidence Lockup” to Jake (who she thought she couldn’t love more up until about three weeks ago, when he woke her up at 3am with a meticulously crafted colour-based code system they could use to covertly deal with pregnancy situations - it made her both very emotional and super horny) – but she feels a flash of panic when it’s not in its usual place tucked safely in her back pocket. Her heart quickly sinks when she realises it must be still in the top drawer of her desk.

She lets out another stifled sob of dread and embarrassment and frustration and practically every range of negative emotion under the sun - which is, obviously, exactly when she hears the door to the evidence lock-up swing open.

A spark of fear immediately ignites in her chest as her heart starts racing – not now. She instinctively squeezes her eyes shut, hoping desperately that if she makes herself as small as physically possible, even in her current state, she’ll be able to completely disappear.

The Nine-Nine have seen her in a much worse state, sure. She’s more sure than anything that her chosen family would be able to make her feel better in practically any kind of situation. And yet, pretty much her worst, world-ending, blood-pumping fear right now is anyone – except Jake, seeing as this is the job he kind of signed up for when he married her - having to deal with her like this.

As weighted footsteps inch agonisingly closer, her heart plummets even further at the absence of the familiar sound of well worn sneakers – instead, she hears the equally familiar yet less comforting click-clack of black high-heeled boots on the cold concrete floor. She prepares for the worst.

The next thing she hears, deep yet uncharacteristically quiet and almost with a note of panic, is an unusually soft “Amy?” – when she finally opens her eyes, Rosa swims into view, eyes so comically wide that she can’t help but exhale a shaky, weak laugh. This is going to be fun.

“Heyyyyyyyy, Rosa.” She gives a little half-hearted wave despite herself, deciding to fully embrace the slightly hilarious and extremely mortifying situation.

(It could be worse. At least it’s less mortifying then being walked in on when making out with your boyfriend of one day, resulting in the heart attack and subsequent death of your new captain. Jake and Amy hold a lot of precinct records between them – the award for “highest amount of captains accidentally killed” is probably the one she’s least proud of.)

“Um, hey. Are you...”

“Chill? I’m chilled. I’m to-tal-ly chill. Chilled.”

If possible, Rosa’s eyes get wider.

“Do you possibly happen to know where my husband is, by any chance?” She laughs nervously with this sort of manic grin plastered on her face, putting all her energy into seeming like a normal human being. She’s failing miserably.

Rosa raises an eyebrow, but thankfully decides to indulge her.

“...He’s working on Charles’s B&E, some lame cheese shop downtown that Charles is too devastated about to get any actual police work done. They left like twenty minutes ago.” Amy exhales, trying not to let her face fall too hard.

“Right. Chill. Do you mind if I text him? I left my phone downstairs and I can’t exactly go down looking like...this.” She’s barely finished her sentence before Rosa is handing her phone to her, and she takes it gratefully.

She quickly finds Jake’s contact and involuntarily feels her lips tug up into a small smile at the incredibly unflattering dorky candid - from easily a decade ago, maybe even the Academy - that is his contact picture.

(Some things never change. She’s very glad his hair has.)

To: Jake Peralta, 15:06 Hey babe, it’s Amy. Code Blue, Evidence Lockup. I know you’re with Charles so don’t drop everything and immediately rush back here, just come when you can. Using Rosa’s phone because I left mine downstairs. Love you x

The painstaking minute and a half she takes to type out and send it to him – all while her hands are shaking from the incessant and deafening panic alarm sounding in her ribcage - are made even worse by the intense burning sensation of Rosa’s direct gaze on her the entire time. Hold it together, Amy.

“Thank you.” She hands Rosa her phone back, wishing more than ever that if she concentrated hard enough she could just disappear from sight completely. An awkward silence descends over them both, bringing with it an inevitable thickness in the air not unlike the first warnings of a thunderstorm. It’s unbearable.

It’s not like they’re not close enough to talk about exactly why Amy is sobbing hysterically in the evidence lock-up at 3pm on a Thursday – far from it, in fact. Ever since Florida, Rosa has become more and more of a valued and surprisingly skilled confidante, even if most of her solutions to Amy’s problems are tequila and Nancy Meyers films. (It, somehow, always seems to work.)

If anything, Amy is desperate to tell one of her closest and best friends all about how nauseous she is and how stressed out she feels and how, by the way, she’s casually just in the early stages of growing a human inside of her and she feels even more panicked than usual and what if she can never get the balance of being a mother and focusing on her career right and-

But she can’t. Because they can’t tell anyone, no matter how much Amy yearns to share this joy with the people she cares about the most, and how much Jake wants to gleefully yell that he knocked his wife up at virtually everyone they pass on the street. They’re just not ready – in truth, she isn’t ready for it to be official, real and an unavoidable, gargantuan force of change.

Thinking the word ‘pregnant’ into existence is enough to cause a hurricane of raw emotion – but it’s a light breeze compared to actually saying out loud.

And yet, they both known Rosa won’t leave until she gets some sort of answer out of her. They’re at an impasse – an uncomfortable, awkward, silent impasse.

Rosa’s gaze is scrutinising and calculating and Amy genuinely wouldn’t be surprised if lasers started shooting from her eyes at any second – it’s something of a old western movie stand-off parody, except they’re waiting out who’s going to suck it up and actually start the conversation they should probably be having right about now, no matter how uncomfortable both of them might be.

After an excruciating eternity of roughly ten seconds, the other curly-haired and always slightly terrifying detective eventually sighs and resignedly slides down on the floor next to her, discarding whatever file she had to the side. Her expression (as usual), is unreadable as she clears her throat.

“So - are you going to tell me what’s causing...this...” - Rosa makes an awkward sweeping gesture in her direction, which she assumes can only be in reference to the whole aforementioned “hot mess” state that she’s currently wallowing in – “or am I going to have to interrogate it out of you?”

“Rosa, honestly. I’m fine.”

“You and I have a very different definition of what ‘fine’ is, Santiago.” Amy just shrugs, so Rosa folds her arms and extends her legs across the floor like she’s prepared to be here all night, in true Diaz interrogation style. Amy’s thinking about laser eyes again before her friend’s expression unexpectedly softens.

“Do...you want to...talk about it?”

“I don’t know.” It’s an honest answer, to her credit. Despite everything they’ve been through, seeing Rosa try to talk about feelings can still be a little like imagining a turtle out its shell, and Amy’s really not prepared to honestly talk about her physical and emotional state right now.

She just wants her husband to bring her some chocolate and give her a slightly inappropriate-for-work and yet badly needed neck massage, and Rosa is not someone she’d willingly go to for either of those things.

She sighs again, averting her gaze from Amy’s face to seemingly anywhere in the room before she starts talking again.

“Look dude, talking about your feelings is gross. If you don’t want to talk about it and you just want to sit here and cry it all out, I get it. I’ll stay here as long as you need, then go file my arson case and pretend I didn’t see anything. But...I’m here for you. Even if your feelings are the grossest or lamest, if you wanna talk, I’ll listen. Okay?” She finally brings herself to look at Amy directly, dark irises electric with the most intense sincerity she’s ever seen.

Okay, yeah. She’s definitely going to start crying again.

“Wait, I didn’t mean –“ Rosa begins; but Amy is already hugging her, forcefully and tightly and awkwardly from the side, tears once again free-flowing. She smiles brightly and tenderly at the way Rosa only stiffens up for a second before equally as awkwardly leaning into it, patting Amy reassuringly on the shoulder with her free arm.

They stay like that for a good minute, Amy sniffling and basically doing the exact opposite of holding it together, but also feeling like its okay. Like nothing she can do or say will end the world if she doesn’t let it. It’s a refreshing change of pace.

This, of course, means the second she finally finds the strength to detach herself from her best friend; well, it just kind of comes spilling out.

“I’m pregnant.”

Rosa’s eyes suddenly become comically wide again, and Amy laughs for real this time, bright and shining and clear.

“Seriously?”

“Mmm-hmm. 9 weeks yesterday.”

“Nice.” Rosa smiles, a genuine, rare glowing Rosa smile, giving Amy a light shove of encouragement. When Amy breathes out, it somehow feels like a huge weight has lifted from her shoulders. She grins.

“Yeah, it’s pretty cool. I feel sick all the time, all my clothes are becoming too tight, I can’t drink caffeine or alcohol or shame smoke and I’m so stressed out and emotional that I cry at literally everything – but, y’know.”

“You’re having a baby.” Rosa says with this kind of awe, and Amy gets this warm glow in her chest.

“Yeah.” She smiles. “I’m having a baby.”

“That’s...a lot.”

“Yeah. Everything’s just...a lot, right now.” She sighs heavily, still weighted with something she’s been worried about for the last week or so.

“We haven’t told anyone else yet, but – well, do you think it’s obvious?” She finally plucks up the courage to ask the question that’s been nagging at her mind ever since she started to have a little more trouble fitting in to her sergeant’s uniform, and the other detective pauses thoughtfully for a second to think about it.

“I don’t think so. You’re not...showing, if that’s what you’re so worried about.”

“No, no. We just... we didn’t want to tell everyone until...y’know. We were ready and it was the right time and...” She trails off, making a casual sweeping sort of gesture that somehow encapsulates her worst fears, and Rosa nods.

“I had my suspicions – you haven’t come out with us to Shaw’s in a long time, I haven’t seen you drink caffeine for a month, and you’ve been having even worse reactions to Charles’s disgusting food than usual. You don’t have to be a detective to start threading those symptoms together.”

“Damn. I thought we were doing a pretty good job of keeping it secret.” Amy sighs, folding her arms tightly across her chest, but Rosa just shrugs it off.

“You are. I saw all that but I still wasn’t sure. It just so happens that most of the people you’re trying to keep it secret from are highly trained NYPD detectives.”

Amy exhales a shaky half laugh and smiles, properly and genuinely, at the way her best friend looks at her with this kind of rare and precious softness, the corners of her mouth ever so slightly upturned into a smile.

“Also, I caught Jake on a baby name website last week and he panicked and told me he was brainstorming names for the monitor lizard you guys are thinking of adopting.”

“Oh, my god.”

“Yeah.” Rosa grins and Amy laughs at how wonderfully, amazingly stupid her husband can be, and her heart is actually warmed by the idea of Jake looking up baby names when he’s supposed to be working despite how irresponsible and stupid that is.

Somehow, she already feels better that she has all day, and there’s not a bottle of tequila or a DVD copy of The Holiday in sight. Another successful solve for the Sleuth Sisters (she’s still proud of that name and their corresponding cool-as-heck handshake, okay).

“Is that...why you’re here? You’re worried about everyone knowing?” Rosa asks, a little more tentatively than usual now she understands Amy’s fragile state a little better. She makes a face.

“Maybe. Honestly, I don’t really know why I’m here. It’s just between this stupid patrol schedule and this presentation I have to give tomorrow and my squad evaluations and my pregnancy binder and my actual pregnancy – well, I don’t know if I can handle it, okay?”

“...And that freaks you out because normally it would be something you could do easily.” Rosa nods, understanding, and Amy gives her a weak smile, letting her hands drop and rest naturally, almost protectively on her stomach.

“Amy, you are two months pregnant. There’s no way you can get done what you’d usually be able to get done by yourself, because you’re busy being exhausted from growing another human being inside of you. It’s perfectly normal to not be able to take on your usual superhuman workload, you nerd.” Rosa says, with this familiar exasperated disbelief at Amy’s overworking brain.

“I know, I know. It’s just...frustrating. I’m already struggle to balance family with career and the baby isn’t even here yet. It only just became a foetus, Rosa. A foetus!”

“Okay, okay.” Rosa puts her hands out like she’s trying to steady a horse, clearly fully aware that Amy’s about five seconds away from a Level 3 Santiago Scale Freak Out, Pregnant Edition – something neither of them are fully prepared for.

“I don’t have an answer to the whole baby and career thing, but you don’t have to think about that right now – you need to focus on you.” Amy clearly doesn’t look convinced enough, so Rosa sighs and tries again.

“Tell Holt you’ve been sick recently and you don’t feel ready for the presentation, and he’ll 100% understand, dude. Get Jennings to help you with the patrol schedule seeing as that nerd loves paperwork almost as much as you do, and you know your officers better than another sergeant in New York, so those evaluations will be easy – you could probably motivate them to even do it themselves. Problem solved, you get to go home early and kick your feet up with a non-alcoholic cocktail.” She flawlessly monologues off a game plan with an exceptional ease that leaves Amy in a state of awe.

“Wow. I...erm, yeah. That’s super helpful, actually.” Rosa nods, like it’s nothing that she’s just solved basically the entirety of Amy’s current mental-breakdown-inducing stressors in a matter of seconds, and then softens.

“You’re going to be fine, Amy. Trust me. Once the whole squad knows we’ll be queuing up to help you guys out.” She, of course, knew that already – but it’s nice to hear it out loud, a promise engraved in the unbreakable, indestructible bond of the 99th precinct. She’s definitely less close to tears now, which is always a plus.

She always knew she could count on her parents to help out, of course, and maybe a couple of her brothers when they weren’t busy graduating med school or travelling the world or having kids of their own. But it’s nice to know, to have it spoken, that she’ll always be able to count on her other family, too. That there are so many people who are more than willing to ride her stupid emotional rollercoaster with her, even through the seemingly endless loops.

“Thanks, Rosa.” “Anytime.”

As if on cue, their little bonding moment is abruptly hijacked when Jake comes crashing into the evidence lock-up – chaotic and electric and as hectic as she’s come to expect in the many, many years she’s spent slowly falling more and more in love with him, his eyes slightly wild , extremely out of breath. Amy’s heart rate spikes again as she realises with a jumble of adoration, frustration and amusement that he ran all the way here just to take care of her.

Not for the first time, amazingly not even for the first time this week, she quickly realises that she really couldn’t have found a better person to share the rest of her life with. She whispers a silent thank you to the universe.

“Ames! I’m so sorry it took me so long” – he pauses to take another breath – “I had to run from that stupid cheese shop, and I know you said not to drop everything and immediately rush back here, so I obviously dropped everything and immediately rushed back here, ‘cause I knew that you were just downplaying it and if it’s a Code Blue that’s important and-“

It seems to be only then that he notices Rosa watching them both, who gives him a subtle nod, unable to completely keep the smile from her face. Frozen, his eyes flick repeatedly and chaotically from Rosa’s to hers, as if he’s trying to telepathically figure out whether he can talk about the baby or not.

He looks like a cartoon character and/or absolute, complete utter idiot, and Amy laughs melodically, deciding to put him out of his misery.

“Jake, it’s okay – she knows.”

“...About the monitor lizard we’re planning to adopt?” He says slowly, and Amy and Rosa both roll their eyes simultaneously; neither of them bothering to poorly conceal their smiles anymore.  

In lieu of an answer, Rosa gets up from the floor and punches Jake in the shoulder, smiling wider than Amy thinks she’s ever seen her smile (except maybe when Alicia is around). It’s extremely heart-warming and only slightly unnerving – she doesn’t think she’s ever recorded so many genuine Rosa smiles in one day - except maybe on her and Jake’s wedding night, or when she oh-so casually mentioned over lunch a few months ago that she and Alicia were moving in together.

It’s different and unexpected and unusual in the best way possible – sharing this joy, especially with someone she cares about so much. Suddenly, she starts to understand why Jake wants so badly to yell it out into the street.

“Dude. I know. And for the record, I think you’re going to be a great...monitor lizard keeper.” Amy smiles as she sees the tension practically seep out of Jake’s frame and he relaxes a little, grins at Rosa, bright as the sun. She loves him so much.

“You really think?”

“I know. You two are going to kick ass at this. A thousand push ups.”  Rosa practically radiates sincerity as she places a hand on Jake’s shoulder. She doesn’t have to be a detective to know that she’s not the only one in the room who’s definitely on the verge of tearing up again. Jake, if possible, smiles even wider.

It’s all very disgustingly heart-warming and Amy thinks if it carries on much longer there’s a high chance that Hysterical Cry #6 could happen at any minute.

“Thanks, Diaz. We’re hugging now.” “No, we’re not.”

“Yes we are, c’mon, we’re having a moment.” Before she can object further, he hugs her tightly and Rosa hugs back - without hesitation or apprehension or any of it, just warmth. Amy takes the opportunity to wipe fresh tears away.

“Ames, you wanna get in on this?” Jake says after a minute, and she shakes her head.

“Nah, I’ve already had my one allocated Rosa hug today.”

“Just get in here, Santiago.” Rosa grumbles, slightly muffled, and Amy more than happily obliges, carefully lifting herself up and gladly sandwiching herself between two of her favourite people in the entire world.

Somehow, she can’t seem to remember what she was crying about.

“God, you guys’ lameness is infectious.” Rosa says after they break apart, quickly wiping her face with her sleeve like if she does it fast enough they won’t see. It doesn’t work.

“I’ve got to get out of here.” “...Haven’t you actually got an arson case to file?” Amy says, concerned, but she just shrugs it off.

“It can wait. You gonna be okay?” Rosa asks, and Amy pauses for a second, still hyperaware of the anxiety pushing down at the bottom of her stomach like lead and making her slightly dizzy. But then Jake squeezes her hand gently, anchoring her back down to reality, and she smiles.

“Yeah. Yeah, I am.”

“Good. If you need anything, ask, dummy.  I’m not massaging you, though. That’s Peralta’s job.” She adds as an afterthought, which makes Amy laugh.

“Ah, a job I do with zero experience, very little skill and far too much confidence. The Peralta speciality.” Rosa rolls her eyes and casually strides out of the evidence lock-up like she hasn’t just been given the life-changing news that the Peralta-Santiagos are expecting - like she hasn’t just spent the last fifteen minutes flawlessly consoling a highly emotional and mildly pregnant weeping police sergeant like it was nothing. Amy has really no idea what she would do without her.

She watches her go with a sense of awe and peace and finally, sweet contentment - before turning to Jake, who smiles that soft smile that’s guaranteed to melt her like butter even when she’s not crazy hormonal and super horny. He squeezes her hand again, another secret coded language they’ve been speaking for almost a decade with remarkable ease.

“You sure you’re okay? I can go get chocolate if you need it, I know where Scully keeps his secret stash.”

“Mmm. I’m okay. Better now you’re here.” She says, wholeheartedly meaning it, and he carefully, tenderly hugs her, placing a chaste, appropriate-for-work kiss on the top of her head in a way that makes her think this is it. They’re having a baby. Amy wants to yell it out to passing strangers in the street.

“We’re having a baby.” She opts for the more practical decision of whispering it gently with this sort of quiet, glowing glee - he matches it in the way he looks at her, in all her red-eyed, mascara ruined glory, like she’s the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen.

“Hell yeah, we are.” He whispers back, grinning ecstatically, and her heart is New York lit up in Christmas lights.

She’s still a little stressed beyond belief about that patrol schedule, and the inevitably anxiety inducing email she has to send to Holt about putting off the presentation for a couple of days. She’s still behind on the pregnancy binder, and their monthly budgets, and every day the cherry sized piece of her heart that’s growing ever bigger in her stomach provides a whole new set of challenges she’d rather openly weep about that actually get on with overcoming.

But she has a dork of a husband who will willingly drop everything and sprint 20 blocks just to take care of her, and a terrifying best friend who can solve her greatest problems and quiet her worst fears without a bottle of tequila in sight. She has a family, one that is always growing bigger and bigger – a totally bizarre, mismatched, unique and strange family, but one that she grows more grateful for every single day.

So when Jake hurriedly whispers a “love you” and kisses her softly before running back to tell Charles that the owner definitely broke into his own shop for the insurance money, and when Amy finally returns to her desk, smile on her face, to find Gary eagerly waiting to help her figure out the patrol schedule as Rosa so wisely predicted, she is no longer crying – she’s still nauseous and exhausted, sure, but happy, so deliriously happy, and so deliriously excited to finally embrace hurricane of change.

She opens up her phone’s calendar, where she quickly types “Announcement Day!” into the slot six days away, before sitting back in her chair, deciding what episodes of Serve and Protect they’re going to watch tonight, glowing smile on her face.

Then,  and only then, Amy just grips the bar in the carriage of her own little emotional rollercoaster before it can start up again – and she holds on tight, waiting patiently to enjoy the ride.

[ourdreamsrealized]

Chapter Thirty: Loving Memories

A/N: This is the beginning of the end of this series, and after the epilogue tomorrow, it will be complete. I really can’t believe that I’ve come this far, and I hope it will end the way you guys want it to. I’ll be putting up a survey tomorrow as well just to ask a few feedback questions. Until then, enjoy this last long chapter of In Loving Memory.

Also! Check out my new Bucky Barnes x Reader fanfiction. The prologue can be found here: { x}

Chapter: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | E

Pairing: Logan Howlett (Wolverine) x Reader

Synopsis: After surviving an accident, Logan wakes with no recollection of his time with the X-Men. He has forgotten most of the people he came to love, and the woman who came to love him back.

Based on this imagine: { x }  

Rated: G

Warnings: None

A tug on your skirt had you turning away from the full-body mirror in front of you and forgetting, for a moment, the nerves that were currently causing your stomach to do somersaults. You looked down at your daughter, now almost three years of age, dressed in white.

Her thumb was between her lips, and she was sucking on it furiously as she peered up at you with her big baby-blues, her fist still closed around a good chunk of the spotless gown you wore.

You bent down to pick her up into your arms, grunting a bit from her weight.

“She senses your anxiety.”

You looked from your daughter’s adorable face to Ororo. She entered the claustrophobic room, clad in a floor-length dress the color of robin’s eggs, only much much lighter in hue. She gave you an assuring smile as she approached the two of you, hands folded in front of her.

“Are you ready, Y/N?”

Your heart raced at the question, and you felt silly. So very silly.

You inhaled a heavy gulp of air and let it pass through your lips seconds later. “I don’t know why I’m so nervous. I’m already married to him…”

The corners of Ororo’s pink lips turn up as she takes D/N from you into her own arms, supporting her on her hip. “Well, perhaps it is because you know that this is his first wedding with you.”

You swallowed over the knot in your throat, realizing that this had to be it, but another part of you worried that he would change his mind. It took so long for you to convince him of marriage the first time around, and the second time, it was he who suggested that the two of you renew your vows and use the opportunity to have a real wedding.

You had been completely taken off guard at his proposition, but you were so ecstatic by it that you had tackled him to the bed and made love the rest of the night.

“He is sure of this, Y/N,” Ororo promised you, placing a comforting hand on your shoulder. “He would not suggest it if he was not.”

You nodded, a small smile on your rose colored lips.

Unfortunately, this wedding was not the only source of anxiety for you.

A knock on the door ended any chance of Ororo sensing that her attempt at making you feel more secure had failed. The two of you turned towards the entrance of the room, seeing your mother poking her head in, her hair piled up on top of her head. Her face was wrinkled in a grin as she took in your form, and she quickly shuffled in, her manicured fingers finding your cheeks before she leaned in to kiss your forehead.

“My baby girl…” she cooed, seemingly unable to help herself. You blushed softly at her attention, causing her to kiss your temple this time. “Your poor husband is fidgeting up there.”

The idea of Logan being unable to stand still was amusing, and you chuckled softly, despite yourself. You felt sorry for him, too, because he was standing in front of a crowd of people, a combination of some of your family and, mostly, mutants, friends, and mutant friends.

“It’s time, my dear,” your father stated from the doorway, his hands in his pant pockets.

Your mother turned to Ororo, giving her a friendly smile before taking her granddaughter into her arms. “You’ll be walking down with grandma, D/N.”

D/N just looked up at her, wrapping her free arm around the older woman’s neck.

You gave a kiss to both your daughter and mother before heading over to your father’s side, linking your sleeved arm with his. He was beaming as his eyes scanned the finery you were currently sporting, and you gave his shaved cheek one quick peck before lowering your veil over your face, your heart lifting into your throat as you heard music start in the main hall.

You peered out, seeing Kitty, Jean, Rogue, and Tabitha, all clad in the same dress as Ororo, with their respective groomsmen. They had each styled their hair to their own liking, as you had been the one to dictate to them what to wear, how their make-up should look, and the flowers they should carry.

Kitty was the first to walk down with Kurt in a smart-looking suit next to her. Rogue was arm in arm with Remy, her new boyfriend, and Jean walked to the back of the room with her husband, Scott. And Tabitha...She practically dragged Sam down with her; the boy was visibly tense, but somehow, when he was Tabitha, he was a bit less.

Ororo slipped passed both you and your father, joining Charles, who was to walk with her. He gave you a wink before turning his wheelchair and making his way between the rows of chairs.

You couldn’t see Logan just yet, a wall separating him from your gaze, but a large part of you could barely wait to be by his side...This would all be bearable then.

“I’ll see you two in there,” your mother said, her hand wrapped around D/N’s. Grandmother and granddaughter then made their trip to the end of the long aisle, signifying that you and your escort were next.

“You know...I’ll have to thank Logan for this,” your father said, his hand patting yours as he looked into your eyes. “I was a bit upset to find out that you were a wife and a mother after all those years...but that was mostly my fault.” He sighed, his happy expression faltering for a moment.

“Dad…” You looked up at him with concern, tears threatening to well up in your eyes and, possibly, spill over.

“No. It’s okay. I get to properly give you away today, so I’m content,” he exhaled, his fingers squeezing yours before returning to his side. “Shall we?”

The wedding march started up, and your heart skipped a beat, as if the song had completely thrown off its rhythm. You ignored the feeling and nodded, knowing that trying to speak would only make things worse.

As if he had the ability to read the state of your mind as Charles did, your father pulled you closer to him. “You look absolutely lovely, Y/N,” he whispered before leading you through your first few steps.

All eyes were glued to you, but yours were on the man you were strolling towards. He was beyond handsome in a black tuxedo and bowtie that he nonchalantly loosened. His gaze was heavy as he watched the distance between the two of you shorten, and when your father handed you to him, he almost forgot to accept you, stumbling over his words.

You had only seen Logan embarrassed a handful of times, but each time was more adorable than the last. His shit-eating smile was contagious, and you found yourself mirroring it as he held both of your hands in his warm ones. His palms were a bit clammy, so you tightened your hold on his fingers, intertwining yours with them. The gesture seemed to calm him, and he let out a long breath as the officiate began to speak.

The ceremony was beautiful, and Logan had said the same of you right before kissing you in front of everyone.

“You’re just glad I didn’t make you write your own vows,” you teased, though you didn’t really care that Logan could not handle spilling his heart to you in front of all the wedding guests. You knew he loved you.

He just shook his head at you before leaning in to kiss you again, and this time, he held your head to his, his tongue slipping right passed your lips to taste you.

Cheers erupted from around you, and in her grandmother’s moment of distraction, D/N broke free of her hold and ran up to the two of you. Logan was quick to lift her up with his free arm, the other firmly wrapped around your waist.

He brushed his lips against her temple, and she giggled while you brushed some of her hair back from her face.

“Mommy!” she reached out her hands to you, and you pulled her closer, snuggling into your husbands side.

“Yes, baby?” you asked, pecking her cheek.

“Brother now?”

Your face instantly went red as the officiate snickered and a few laughs burst from the bridal party. Logan looked absolutely mortified, and his horror-stricken expression worsened when she accused you of saying that you would see about giving her a sibling after the wedding.

“Come here, sweetie,” Jean, with an entertained expression on her face and wicked glint in her green eyes, stepped up, handing her flowers to the little girl in your husband’s hold. She took her from the two of you, telling her that Uncle Scott wanted to see her dress. D/N had a bit of a crush on the mutant, much to Logan’s chargain, so she had no issue letting her Aunt Jean take her from her parents.

“About what I said to D/N…” you began, turning to your husband, who was still recovering.

“It’s okay…” he sighed, pulling you closer to him. “I was just a bit surprised, Bub. No harm done.”

“Well...there’s more to it than that…”

“What?” His blue eyes widened at your sheepish smile. “Y/N…”

“Don’t be cross with your wife on your wedding day,” you chided him, poking his chest. “I’m not the only one to take the blame for this.”

“You mean…?” He raised a dark brow at you, his mouth moving into a slanted smile.

You nodded slowly until he cupped your cheek, bringing his lips to yours again, this time kissing you tenderly. When he broke the liplock, his eyes roamed down your body to the bodice of your dress, his focus on the slight curve of your stomach. “Have you gotten Hank to confirm it?”

“Yes…Are you okay with this?” You studied his face carefully as he lifted a hand to place over your belly.

“I’m more than okay, Darlin’,” he said, beaming with pride as his eyes moved to yours, and his warm gaze told you everything you needed to know.

The both of you would be happy. Together. Making new, loving memories.

@ruminationsofaraven, @selene-stormborn, @lynlovesherkittybabies, @blogdebooklover16, @thelovelyfangrell, @winterssmiles @nightowlss, @dieweibedame, @jugheadssouthsideprincess, @drewkelliii, @randompolypodizia, @imagination-factory, @deansbeautifulpie, @naga-pup, @browncoatforever, @avengers-bucky-fanfic, @white-magician, @the-chick-with-the-best-fandom, @thewondersofmysexuality

A strikethrough means Tumblr won’t let me tag you. Sorry! :(

Fanfiction Master List

Master List

[beachbabywrites]

Mistletoe // A Sharon Carter imagine

REQUEST: M-5-G MARVEL @the-cooliest-power-ranger

SUMMARY: Sharon hangs mistletoe up in her apartment

You slid the key into the door, a grocery bag on your hips and two men behind you as you pushed the door open. “Sharon!” You called out as Steve and Bucky set the bags down on the counter. “In the bedroom, I’ll be right out.” She called back. “Honey, Steve and-” “Oh.” Three of you said at once when Sharon rushed out in just a tank top and blue panties, her ponytail bouncing behind her. She froze, her face contorting in embarrassment as she pulled her tank top down in the front. “Um, excuse me.” She whispered, turning back into the bedroom. “I think we are past the point of modesty.” Bucky mumbled. “We practically live here.” “Right.” You responded, pulling food out of the bags. Sharon reemerged in a pair of jeans now, a light pink tint still on her cheeks as she eyed Steve and Bucky. “I forgot we were having guests tonight.” She explained and began helping you unpack the bags. “I can tell.” “It’s okay, we’ve seen you in much worse positions.” Bucky added. Sharon shot him a side eye. “You’re not helping.” You told him, trying to fight the laughter. “So Sharon. You decorated.” Steve said, looking around, his hands in the pockets of his jacket, taking in the lit garland over the cabinets and the lights in the windows. “We both did, yeah. We wanted our first Christmas to be special.” She said watching you, a sweet smile on her lips as she leaned over and pressed a kiss to your cheek. “Mistletoe, huh? Are there rules, can I pick who kisses me under it?” Bucky asked a smirk on his lips. “Hey Steve?” Steve chuckled, moved to step towards Bucky. “Stevie, move, you’re blocking Sharon’s path to me.” Steve froze and the four of you burst out laughing. “I can refuse to feed you tonight.” You warned Bucky. “No you won’t, you love me.” He wrapped his flesh hand around the back of your head and pressed a kiss to your forehead. You scrunched up your nose and pretended to be mortified. You and your girlfriend began cutting up the veggies while Steve prepared the chicken. “So do we have any plans for Christmas besides dinner at the compound on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day?” Bucky asked as he pilferred around the cabinets until he found a bag of chips. “What kind of plans are you thinking, (Y/N) and I have a few.” “Like what?” Steve asked. “Well, we’re going to see The Nutcracker, we are going ice skating one day, a big shopping trip right before Christmas. We want to go see the lights on 5th Avenue.” “Oh we should make the ice skating a double date.” You suggested, pointing the knife at Bucky excitedly. “Could you imagine?” Sharon snickered. “Bucky and his lack of grace, balance and coordination…” “Real funny.” Bucky made a face at you. “That actually sounds real fun. We should do that.” Steve said with a smile. “Would ya’ll want to see The Nutcracker with us too?” You asked. “Not really, Ballet’s never been my thing.” Steve explained. “Oh!” Sharon exclaimed. You jumped, expecting her to be missing a finger and the knife to be in the floor. “We could see the Christmas Spectacular on Broadway!” “Ehh.” “That sounds great Sharon!” Steve drowned out Bucky’s complaints. “Does he have to bring Bucky?” You asked the same time Bucky asked if he had to go. Steve and Sharon turned to the two of you and Bucky sent you a wink. Dinner was cooking, Steve and Sharon were in the kitchen, you and Bucky were in the living room watching tv. After listening to Bucky try to convince you to go kiss her under the mistletoe for what felt like thirty minutes (“Bucky, she is my girlfriend, I don’t need mistletoe to kiss her”), Sharon called for your attention. You rushed to the kitchen, she told you to start serving dinner. You set the plates down on the table in the living room so you all could watch tv while you ate. “(Y/N), baby, help.” She called out. You turned and saw her trying to carry a bottle of white wine and glasses out of the kitchen. You grabbed the bottle from her hands and two glasses. “Thanks sweetie.” She said as you set them down. You felt her hand wrap around your wrist and you were spun around. You yelped as you stumbled into her, the blonde girl giggling. Sharon gently gripped your face. Your arms wrapped around her waist as your lips met in a kiss. You heard a whistle from behind you and pulled back. “Nice!” Bucky shouted. “Our turn Steve, get up there.” Bucky told the blonde man, who’s jaw dropped instantly. “I heard Bucky hounding you from the kitchen.” She told you, you laughed, resting your forehead agaisnt her shoulder, her hands slid into your back pockets. “Thank you for making dinner.” You whispered to her. Sharon smiled down at you before slowly tilting her head to the side and pressing another kiss to your lips. “Don’t say anything, but there’s mistletoe over the bed too.” She said in a hushed tone. “Now that’s kinky.” Bucky chided from across the room. Sharon blushed a deep red as you laughed loudly.

[geochic03]

Amber Sunrise: Chapter 5

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Fandom: Final Fantasy XV

Pairing: Gladio x Female OC, Ignis x Female OC

Rating: T (For now)

Words: 5,428

Read on AO3

A/N: So just a heads up, heavy OC content ahead.  One day I might post my Ignis x Female OC story but until then, you can enjoy pieces of her in this story.  I think it's important for Peri to bond with another female other than her sister.  I feel like Juliet will fill that role nicely.  Plus I love papa!Ignis.

Two days later…

 “So as friends huh?  Well that progressed quickly.” Sera said with a smile as she wiped down the bar.

 Peri rolled her eyes as she finished her beer “Just whatever…since I can’t seem to shake him I figured I would humor him.”

 Sera smirked “Right...humor that’s it.  I don’t understand why you can’t just admit you have a little bit of a crush on him.  I wouldn’t blame you yah know.”

 “I don’t have a crush on him.  Yeah he’s easy on the eyes but nothing more than that.” Peri responded hopping off her bar stool to join Sera behind the bar.

 Sera sighed as she placed her hand on her sister’s shoulder “Peri, I’m worried about you.  You’re a smart, attractive girl…there’s been a ton of guys I have seen hit on you or try to get close to you and you’ve pushed them all away.  I know how tough it was for your after Ollie died but do you really think he would want you to continue on like this?”

 Peri bit her lip as she thought of her fiance, the only man she thought she would ever love “No…he wouldn’t…”

 “So what’s the harm in seeing where things go with Gladio?  I mean it’s not like he’s asking you for commitment.” Sera asked her.

 Peri sighed in defeat “I guess you right.”

 Sera smirked as she wrapped her arm around her older sister “Besides when was the last time you got laid?”

 “SERA!” Peri yelled at her sister, flushing at her comment.

 Sera roared with laughter at her embarrassment “What?  You need to live a little sister you’re not getting any younger you know.”

 “You don’t need to remind me.” Peri groaned.

 “I’m not saying you’re an old maid or anything but Gladio seems pretty interested and pretty available.  Besides, you know dad is dying for grandchildren.” Sera said matter of factly.

 Peri narrowed her eyes in suspect “If that’s the case why aren’t you jumping at the next guy to take you off the market?”

 Sera shrugged “I told you, after that ass-hat Dillon I was swearing off men until I was thirty.”

 “Right…that’s why I saw you giving googly eyes over at that guy by the Justice Monster Five machine…pretty sure you aren’t going to last another seven years.” Peri said with a smirk.

 “Hey no one said I wasn’t going to stop having fun.” Sera said with a wink.

 “Nope, didn’t need to know any of that.” Peri said blocking her ears.

 Sera laughed “Well…if I’m being honest, there is this one guy I met a few weeks back.  Came into the bar for a drink…actually he seemed to be a friend of Gladio’s.  He introduced us and we seemed to hit it off.  He was sweet and funny in that weird awkward kind of way, had some crazy stories to tell and cute to boot.  He had these amazing innocent blue eyes…like when he looks at you it’s like he thinks your the most gorgeous thing in all of Eos.”

 Peri raised her eyebrow in interest “Wow sis, that might be the most detail I have ever heard you go into about any guy you’ve dated before.”

 Sera shrugged “Well, we aren’t dating.  Only met the once.  I gave him my number but haven’t heard a thing from him since.  He’s a hunter or something so I just figured he was busy.  Maybe he will mosey his way back in here someday.”

 There was silence between the two before Sera looked over a Peri with a smirk.

 “Oh no…I know that look…whatever you’re thinking…no…no way…one hundred percent no!” Peri said waving her hands.

 “You could you know, maybe ask Gladio to bring him around again…” Sera said with a hopeful smile.

 “Sera I’m not doing that!” Peri said angrily.

 “Oh come on Peri!  I never ask you for anything!” Sera pleaded.

 Peri scoffed “Umm false, you ask me for everything.”

 Sera rolled her eyes “Ok, fine you’re right.  But you’re my big sister and you love me and want to see me happy and…”

 “Ugh fine ok, when he’s back in town I will mention it to him ok?” Peri said finally conceding.

 “Yay! Peri did I ever tell you you’re the best?” Sera said coming around and pulling her into a hug.

 Peri rolled her eyes “All the time, but you owe me.”

 Sera pulled away “Ok deal!”

 “Whats the big deal with this guy anyways?  Usually you never need my help when it comes to guys.” Peri asked curiously.

 Sera tapped her chin in thought “Well…I don’t really know.  He’s definitely different from most guys I’ve dated.  Just something about him…sometimes you just know something is worth pursuing you know?”

 Peri bit her lip knowing exactly what she was talking about “Yeah…I know…”

 Maybe Gladio was someone that could end up being worth pursuing.  She hated to admit it but maybe her baby sister was on to something.

The next day

Peri sighed as she made her way through Patella Market.  Before the darkness it was filled with vendors and people, but now with the shortage of supplies and goods there were more people than vendors.  Even on off peak hours the market was packed to the gills.

 Working a full day at the power plant and closing out the family bar the previous day had done a number on her and she was feeling the repercussion today.  All she wanted to do was get her supplies and get out as fast as she could.  

 Speaking of crowded, Peri suddenly jolted forward as a fellow shopper roughly bumped into her.  Rubbing her back she turned to yell at whoever was careless enough to bump into her but stopped short as she observed a young woman with long bright red hair struggling to balance her basket of items and a baby girl in her arms.  She couldn’t help but notice the brilliant green eyes and tufts of red hair the baby in her arms had, it was rare you saw that type of coloring around.  She wonder if they were refugee’s from outside of Lucis.  The woman looked up mortified as she adjusted the baby in her arms.

 “Oh! I am terribly sorry!  I didn’t mean to bump into you are you alright?” she asked fretting.

 Peri looked at her shocked at her apology before giving the woman and her baby a small smile “Don’t worry about it…you have your hands full.”

 The woman gave a nervous laugh at her statement “Yeah, I guess I am still getting used to balancing everything with my boyfriend gone so much.”

 Peri looked on as the woman tried to gain her composure back.  Peri pursed her lips remembering the conversation she had with her father a few weeks ago.  Feeling for the woman, she couldn’t help but utter her next words “Did you need help getting back to your place?”

 “Oh no, I couldn’t ask you to do that…I’ll be fine.” She said as she dropped another package.

 Peri couldn’t help but laugh as she bent down to pick it up for the woman “I really don’t mind, besides, she is quite the little cutie.”

 The woman looked back at her and gave her a warm smile before looking down at her daughter “Well what do you say?  Shall we accept this nice young woman’s help?”

 The baby girl cooed happily in response reaching out for Peri.  She took her tiny hand in response and shook it.

 “Well I think we have our answer.” Peri said with a smile, taking some of the woman’s packages and following her out of the market.  She was never usually this open with strangers, but something about this woman felt comfortable and familiar.  Besides, she figured she could do one good deed for the day.

 “Thank you again for your help umm….” the woman said trying to think of her name.

 “Uh Peri….and you are…” Peri said nervously.

 “Juliet…and this is Isabelle…well, Izzy for short.” Juliet said smiling at her little girl.

 Peri continued walking “Well it’s nice to meet you both.  And nice to meet such friendly people now a days.”

 “Tell me about it….” Juliet added as they continued.

 “So your boyfriend is gone a lot?” Peri asked making idle conversation.

 Juliet nodded “Yes…he’s a hunter of sorts…it’s a long story really.”

 “I know all about long stories…” Peri responded with a nervous laugh.

 Suddenly Peri looked up to see Juliet starring at her as they walked.

 “What?” she asked confused.

 “Oh, uh nothing just…nah you’ll think I’m crazy.” Juliet said waiving her off.

 Peri shook her head in disagreement “Trust me I doubt that.”

 “Well…I feel as though our meeting may have been fate, don’t you think?” Juliet said contemplatively.

 “I don’t think you’re crazy…but I can’t say I believe in fate.” Peri responded as they approached a blue door at the end of an alley way.

 Juliet smiled as she readjusted her grip around her daughter “Well maybe I can turn you into a believer…”

 With that she turned the key and opened the door that led to a large staircase.

 “Well this is my place…why don’t you come on up?  I made cookies earlier…although I can’t say how many may be left as I left Cid to his own devices.” Juliet said with a small laugh.

 “Cid?” Peri said confused.

 “He’s my surrogate grandfather of sorts.  Now come on.” Juliet said not even bothering to wait for her answer.

 Peri followed her up to the 2nd floor flat, surprised by how well she managed to balance her remaining bags while holding a baby.

 Noticing she was staring Juliet looked back and smiled “I’ve had some practice.  You would be amazed by how easy carrying a baby is after you’ve done it a hundred times.”

 Peri laughed nervously “I uh, wouldn’t know.”

 Once they reached the top Juliet opened the top door to reveal a modest but aging apartment.  Once they walked in Juliet pointed to where she could leave the bags and waited for her to return.  While standing in the small living room she noticed a group of photos on a small shelf to her left.  In one of them was Juliet, posing with three very familiar looking young men, one of them with the same scar markings on their face as Gladio.  Did she know him?  There was no way she would run into one of his friends…right?

 As she continued to look through the pictures she noticed another one, taken in what looked to be an aging cabin.  There stood figures she immediately recognized, Cor, the immortal Marshall, Monica the woman who was in charge of dispatching the newly restored Kingsglaive, and three men who she definitely remembers seeing years ago briefly as she left Meldacio to move back to Lestallum.

 Was Gladio one of those men from all those years ago? Peri thought to herself. 

 “Well, I didn’t know Julie was bringin’ a visitor with her.” a voice said behind her.

 Peri turned to see an older man slowly walking into the room, he was dressed in a leather jacket with cargo pants, a cap flattening out his gray locks.

 “I uh…” Peri began before the old man extended his hand.

 “Cid Sophiar…mechanic extraordinaire.” Cid said with smirk.

 Peri reluctantly took his hand as he shook it.

 “Are you a new friend of her’s?  I’ve been tellin’ her it ain’t no good being cooped up in here with the baby all the time.” Cid lectured.

 “Oh hush, you know that’s not true” Juliet said as she returned.

 Cid frowned “You know I’m right.  Cindy would agree with me too if she were here.”

 “Cindy if off repairing a few of the dispatch trucks for the Kingsglaive.  And besides, I get out you know that.” Juliet said waiving the older man off.

 Cid shook his head “You know I really should have a word with Cor about sending Ignis out on all those missions.  He’s gonna regret missin’ all this time with the little one.”

 Peri looked on as the two bantered back and forth, more confused than ever by their conversation.  Who was this woman she just met, and clearly she seems to be friendly with Gladio.

 “You know Ignis has been working hard over these last seven years to even get where he is now.  I’m not saying he doesn’t wish to be with his family more, but you know how things are with the current state of the world.  So will you relax, you’re scaring my guest with your nonsense.” Juliet said sternly.

 Peri’s attention snapped back to the two who were now looking at her “No it’s ok I can just go and…”

 Juliet surged forward and grabbed her hand “Nonsense, come on I put the kettle on.  You could at least stay for a few minuets for a cup of coffee…or tea if that’s more your speed.”

 “I uh…ok…” Peri didn’t know how to say no to her.

 As Juliet turned to make her way to the kitchen Cid approached Peri once more “So you got a name kid?”

 “Peri, sir.” She said turning towards the older man.

 Cid raised his eyebrow “Just Peri…”

 Peri bit her lip before responding “Lorenzi…”

 Cid rubbed his chin as he processed he information “Lorenzi huh?  Don’t happen to know of a Frank Lorenzi do yah?”

 “Yeah he’s my father…” Peri responded in shock.

 “Well I’ll be damned what a coincidence.  Frank and I go way back, all the way to my day’s in the Crown City.  Tell me how’s he doin’ these days?” Cid explained.

 “He’s still chugging along I guess.  He’s here in town.  My family runs a tavern not far from here.” Peri responded.

 Cid smirked “Don’t tell me it’s Frank’s Place?”

 Peri nodded in response causing Cid to laugh.

 “Well I’ll be damned all this time….tell you what, tell your old man that he better stop by here one day and visit an old timer every now and then, I’d come to him but I ain’t able to get around like I used to.” Cid grumbled.

 “I’m sorry to say neither is he…but I’ll let him know…” Peri said looking away from the older man.

 Cid rubbed his chin in deep thought “Well that’s too bad,  Frank’s one of the good ones.  We sure had some good times way back when.”

 “He doesn’t talk much about his days back in the Crown City so…” Peri said not knowing how to respond back.

 “I’ll tell yah it’s bull shit what how all that played out.  But enough of talkin’ bout the past, now tell Juliet I’ll handle the babe while you girls go talk about whatever it is that you two came here to talk ‘bout.” Cid said walking way.

 Peri nodded before turning to enter the small kitchen behind her.  As she walked in she saw Juliet quietly pouring two cups of hot water into mugs.

 “Have a seat, I put out tea and instant coffee so help yourself.” Juliet said turning to her as she placed the cups on the table next to a plate of home made cookies.

 “You really didn’t have to do this….” Peri said looking down into her mug.

 Juliet gave her a warm smile “Yes I did, you really helped me a lot at the market.  And like I said, it’s hard to find nice people like yourself these days.  It’s like this darkness has turned people into animals.”

 “Yeah…I guess and apocalypse will do that to people…” Peri responded as she mixed her instant coffee.

 “I hope you like that kind, it’s hard to find the good stuff these days.  My beau is kind of a coffee connoisseur if you will, so this stuff shouldn’t be too bad.” Juliet said as she handed Peri one of the cookies she had spoken of earlier.

 As Peri took a bite into the cookie she couldn’t believe how good it was.  It was a perfect balance of salty and sweet.

 “Holy crap that’s good…” Peri said inspecting the cookie.

 Juliet smiled “Well I’m glad you like it.  It’s a recipe Ignis perfected while we were traveling around Eos.  I think he got this one from some time we spent out in southern Cleigne.  If you want I can give you the recipe.  Ignis won’t mind.”

 “Ignis is your, uh boyfriend right?” Peri asked quietly as she took another bite of her cookie.

 Juliet nodded as she got up to get a piece of paper and a pen “Yes.  And don’t mind Cid.  He just worries about me, especially after we had Izzy.  Iggy really is a great father.  I know it kills him to be away from myself and our daughter for so long, but we both know he has a duty to fulfill...we both do.”

 “A duty?” Peri said confused.

 “Like I said, long story.” Juliet said with a wink as she sat down and began writing.

 Peri looked down again “Uh, right…”

 “Besides, we both want a world for our daughter where she doesn’t have to worry about what lurks in the dark at night, or when the next invasion is going to be.  We want her to know what it’s like to have a sunburn, and see the light shine off the sea midday, and experience a sunset.  We know to achieve that there are sacrifices.  In the end, it will be worth it.” Juliet explained as she handed her the paper with the cookie recipe.

 Peri took the piece of paper and folded it into her pocket as she looked back at the woman now in deep thought.  She couldn’t help but admire her fierce determination and will to stay strong during such dark times.

 “So…have you guys been together for awhile?” Peri asked curiously.  Why was she suddenly asking her such a personal question?

 Juliet nodded “Yeah…about seven years.  As I’m sure you can imagine, Isabelle wasn’t exactly planned but we both couldn’t imagine life without her.”

 “She is pretty cute.” Peri commented as she took a swig of her coffee.

 Juliet smiled, brushing a strand of her bright red hair behind her ear “You think?”

 Peri nodded “Yeah…I’ve never seen such bright green eyes before.”

 “Well she got those from her father.” Juliet rebuffed.

 “Oh…” Peri said awkwardly.

 There were a few moments of silence between the two women before Juliet spoke up again.

 “So I heard while I was in the kitchen your family helps run a tavern?” Juliet asked curiously.

 Peri nodded “Yeah, my father owns the place but my younger sister for the most part runs it.  I just help out sometimes, I work full time at the power plant.”

 “Oh so you’re one of Holly’s girls?” Juliet said intrigued.

 “Yeah…do you know her or something?” Peri asked curious at her familiarity with her boss.

 “Kind of…she’s more of a friend of a friend.” Juliet said as she sipped her tea.

 There was silence between the women once more as Peri thought back to the pictures she saw in her living room.  It looked like she had a pretty loving and happy family but Peri couldn’t help but wonder why she and ‘Ignis’ weren’t married.

 “Uh, I hope I’m not being to forward but…why haven’t you and Ignis married?  I mean you guys seem happy and you have a kid and all…” Peri asked quietly.

 Juliet smiled “Don’t worry you’re not.  It’s not that we wouldn’t want to get married in the future but with everything go on, a wedding is the last thing on our minds.”

 Peri nodded “Got it.”

 “Besides, we both know where we stand.  We very much love each other, we don’t need a piece of paper to prove that.  Anyone who is important to us knows anyways.” Juliet continued.

 “I get it…kind of hard to plan a wedding during an apocalypse anyways right?” Peri responded.

 “What about you?  Anyone special in your life?” Julie smirked at her.

 Peri almost choked on her coffee at the question “What I…umm…not really…”

 “Well, I am sure one day you will find someone who is.” Juliet said with a friendly smile.

 Peri shrugged in response, specifically not mentioning Gladio, or his heavy presence in the woman’s living room.  Why would she mention him anyways?  It’s not like they were even a thing…were they?

 “What about you would you ever get married?” Juliet asked her honestly.

 Peri as jolted from her thoughts hearing Juliet’s question. She sighed as she thought about her deceased fiance “I…yeah…well I…umm…I was engaged…once…”

 Juliet raised her eyebrow “Oh?”

 Peri nodded “Yeah…I guess you would say we were high school sweethearts.”

 “Oh…what happened?” Juliet asked curiously.

 Peri paused for a moment before taking a deep breath “He…he died…umm about seven years ago…”

 Juliet frowned, taking her hand in hers and squeezing it “I’m so sorry…that’s heartbreaking to hear.”

 Peri attempted to shake her comment off “It’s ok…it’s in the past so…”

 Juliet nodded, taking her hand and giving it a small squeeze, seeing how deeply affected she was by the loss “I’ve lost people very close to me too, it’s hard.  But then one day, you wake up and realize that the world keeps going and you have to keep going, otherwise it will drive you mad. It’s ok to always love them and to miss them…no one will ever fault you for that.  If I’m being honest, it took me a long time to come to terms with that.  But I did, and you will too. ”

 Peri looked back at her, stunned by her comforting words of advice.  Here was this woman who she barely knew baring her soul and making an effort to reach out to her.  She knows everyone has been telling her to move on from what had happened all those years ago, but hearing someone else, someone she barely knew, who has seemingly also gone through something similar really affected her.  It had been seven years since Felix was taken from her…and six and half since Ollie…the world had gone to shit but here she was pushing everyone away from her.  Maybe she needed to start listening…maybe it was time to finally start opening up.

 It was at that moment that Peri saw the several missed phone calls from her father on her cell phone. She quickly unlocked the screen to see how late it was getting.  Peri quickly finished the rest of her coffee before standing up from her seat.

 “Well thank you for the cookies and coffee…and the hospitality and what not but I uh, gotta go.” Peri said pushing her chair in.

 “Going so soon?” Juliet said slightly disappointed.

 Peri nodded “Yeah I have to get back to my dad…he’s been expecting me.”

 “Right, no problem.  Maybe we will see each other again?” Juliet said with a hopeful smile.

 “Yeah…maybe…” Peri said giving her a small smile back.

 At that moment Peri turned to see the door to the apartment open and a tall man with tawny hair make their way in.  As he lifted his head up, Peri couldn’t help but notice the man’s prominent scar on his left eye, covered by his dark visors.  She noticed how he seemingly didn’t may eye contact with her as he carefully took off his shoes by the door.

 “Iggy!” Juliet said as she speed towards the man.

 Ignis smiled in the direction of Juliet as he placed his dark jacket on the coat hook by the door and turned to embrace her.  Peri looked on as the couple shared a tender kiss before pulling away, still holding on to each other.

 “Has Isabelle already gone down for the night?”  Ignis asked her as he ran his hand through Juliet’s long hair.

 Juliet shook her head in response “No, Cid is with her in the other room while we have guest. ”

 “A guest?” Ignis said cocking his head.

 That was when Peri realized it.  Anyone who still had their sight by now would have at least acknowledged her presence by now.  Juliet’s other half was blind.

 “Uh…yes, I was just about to leave actually.” Peri stuttered out, feeling guilty for intruding on such a private moment between the two.

 “This is Peri, she helped Izzy and I at the market today.  She works at the power plant for Holly.” Juliet said with a smile.

 Ignis turned to her direction, going simply buy the sound of her voice from her statement before and held out his hand “Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you Peri.  Ignis Scientia, thank you for helping my Juliet and Isabelle today.”

 Peri reluctantly took the man’s hand and shook it “No…problem.”

 “I had no idea you would be so soon.  I figured the daemon nest would take you guys at least another day or two.” Juliet said to him crossing her arms.

 “Well, we were able to break through and make headway much quicker than the Marshall had calculated.” Ignis responded as he folded up his sleeves.

 Juliet smiled “On the bright side, I hope we get to have some time together as a family before you have to head out again.”

 Ignis nodded “Yes, Talcott isn’t due back for another two days.”

 Juliet leaned in and gave Ignis a quick peck on the lips “Great, wait here I’m going to get Izzy.”

 Peri watched as Juliet left the room.  She turned her attention back to Ignis.  He went to take out the daemon nest?

 “Umm, Ignis?  That daemon nest you help with…was it near Cauthess?” Peri asked hesitantly.

 Ignis nodded “Yes it was.  Did you hear about the mission?”

 “No just…someone I know said they were going to help out with it.” Peri said trying to be discrete.

 Peri watched the man as he seemingly made a connection in his mind before giving her a knowing smile “Well, not to worry.  There were no casualties.  I am sure Gladio will be reaching out to you shortly.”

 It was in those very few words that Ignis had confirmed what she had been suspecting the majority of the time she was in their apartment.  They knew Gladio, and clearly knew him well enough that Ignis went hunting with him.

 Peri’s eyes widened from his statement “I…”

 At that moment Juliet returned with Isabelle in her arms.  Peri’s focus returned to the little family reunion as she could have sworn she felt her heart melted as she watched the little girl instinctively reach for her father, with Ignis readily taking her from her mother’s arms.

 “And how are you my love?” Ignis said placing a loving kiss to his daughters forehead.

 The baby girl cooed as she grasped at Ignis' finger.

 “I uh better go…thanks for the coffee and cookies Juliet.” Peri said finally taking her leave.

 Juliet smiled “I hope I’ll see you around, and thank you for your help.”

 Ignis held his daughter close as he lifter her tiny hand “Say goodbye Isabelle.”

 Peri watched as Ignis moved the baby girls hand in a waving motion as she giggled.

 “You’re welcome…have a good night and uh, thanks for the recipe.” Peri said finally leaving.

 As she walked out of the apartment building Peri couldn’t believe what had just happened.  What were the chances that she would run into someone who clearly knew, or at the very least seemed very close to Gladio.

 At that moment Peri looked down to see she had a text message waiting for her.  As she slid open her phone she couldn’t help but shake her head at the message.

 Gladio: Now about that dinner…

[meenasmoon]

How about Johnny and Meena getting a little intimate and Rosita (or one of their parents) walks in on them, leaving them all embarrassed? (I love your work!)

Thanks for the prompt anon. I didn’t want to make this too sexy but I can totally picture these two getting carried away at the end of the day. 

Caught Red-Handed: Rosita

Rosita was all packed up for the day and was walking out of the theatrewith Gunther when it happened. She stopped dead in the middle of the lobby andfocused on the slight tingling feeling that she was getting behind her ears.When she stopped walking Gunther kept walking for a second before he realizedthat he was talking to no one. He looked around in confusion for Rosita andwhen he found her he looked at her in confusion.

“Rozita? Vat iz vrong?” He asked but Rosita just held up her hand tosilence him as she looked intently back at the theatre. She took stock of allof her little family members who had already left.

Eddie had been the first one to leave to get in line for some video gamethat was coming out tomorrow. Personally, she didn’t quite understand how avideo game was worth sleeping outside of a store all night and then getting upat the crack of dawn to spend money but Eddie has his heart set on it so whowas she to stop him.

As soon as Ash had run out of coffee for the day she had packed up herthings and started her short walk back to her and Johnny’s apartment. Busterhad retreated to his office/bedroom for the night and Ms. Crawley was stillputtering around the upstairs area, busily shutting down the lights andanything else in the office area.

That left Johnny… and Meena! She gasped and dashed back towards thestage, the tingling growing stronger as she hunted for the young couple on thedarkened stage area. Her mom senses were tingling and that was never a goodthing. By the time she found them in the costume area her mom senses were goingcrazy. She stood there and gaped for a second, just staring at them.

The young couple was in a very compromising position, and by the looksof it this wasn’t the first time. Johnny had Meena pressed up against the wall,one hand trapping her in his embrace while the other slid down her upper back,ghosted over her chest and then made its way down to cup her butt. Rositawatched in silent horror as her innocent little Meena didn’t even flinch at theovertly sexual touches, and instead arched into his touch. As if to seal theirfate, every touch was accentuated by how their lips were practically gluedtogether, locked in a passionate embrace. Rosita was snapped out of her dazewhen Johnny’s hand moved to the zipper of Meena’s jacket and slowly pulled itdown.

“Jonathan! You watch your hands young man!!” She yelled,startling both teens. In a spectacular move of complete awkwardness Johnnystumbled away from Meena at the exact same time that she shoved him away with alittle more force than she originally thought. As a result Johnny was sentflying into the costume rack which. Then proceeded to collapse in a pile ofclothes, metal, and a mortified gorilla.

“Oh my gosh Johnny are you-“ Meena rushed forward to help her boyfriendup but stopped short when Rosita pinned her with a glare. She nervously heldher hands up in surrender and eyed Johnny’s struggling form with concern.Johnny eventually wrestled himself away from the feather boa that wasobviously trying to strangle him. He stumbled away from the pile ofclothes and was immediately pinned by Rosita’s glare.

She just glared at both of them for a minute, her eyes narrowing moreand more with each passing second. Johnny exchanged questioning glances withMeena who just barely shrugged in response. Johnny tried to shift towards Meenain an effort to protect her from the obviously oncoming onslaught but that justmanaged to set Rosita off. Like a time bomb she exploded out of nowhere, the entiretyof her mom rant focused on Johnny.

“Excuse me young man would you like to explain to me what I just sawgoing on here?” She roared with a surprising amount of fury. Johnny opened hismouth to try to explain the situation but Rosita continued scolding him withouteven taking a breath.

“No! Don’t say anything I don’t want to hear your excuses. You should beashamed of yourself, groping each other in the dark like…like a couple of hornyteenagers!” She blurted and Johnny looked down at his shoes, his cheeks brightred in mortification.

“And you young lady!” She turned to Meena who jumped slightly and pulledher ears in close to her head. “What would your mother think of your actionshere today? You were just as much a part of this as Johnny.” Meena’s eyeswidened at the thought of her mother finding out about their little make outsession and she immediately shrunk back against the wall that she had beenpressed against only a few minutes earlier.

“You’re lucky that I’m not gonna call her up right now.” Rosita took adeep breath and ran her hands over her shirt to straighten out any wrinklesthat had been caused by her vigorous rant. She clasped her hands together infront of her and awkwardly glanced at the young couple.

“I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to give this talk for a long time butI think after today it needs to be done.” She said slowly and Meena and Johnnyexchanged frantic looks. Their matching blushes grew even darker, probablydarker than they had ever been before.

“Now when a man and a woman love each other they start to get… urges.”Meena covered her face with her ears in embarrassment and Johnny looked arounddesperately for an escape route.

“And these urges can result in kissing, ‘special’ touching,and something called sex.” Johnny sputtered in shock and tried franticallyto salvage the conversation that was already spinning out of control.

“ ‘Oo said anythin’ abaht sex?!” His voice went up a couple octaves butRosita just ignored his protests and continued on with possibly the worst sextalk on the face of the planet.

“Sex is what happens when a man touches his ‘special parts’ to a woman’s‘special parts’. This can make the man and woman… very happy.” She stumbledover her words awkwardly but she just clutched her purse to her chest andcarried on.

“Oh god.” Johnny whispered in mortification and Meena refused to meethis gaze.

“Now this may sound like fun to you two irresponsible young kids butthis is how babies are made!” Her tone became stern once more and she shook onefinger at them, her blue eyes icy and serious. It was becoming hard to take herseriously considering how she had just described sex to them.

“Rosita really…” Johnny tried to stop her once more but Rosita was stillon a roll.

“I don’t want to see any little babies running around this theatre untilyou’re thirty! Got it?!” She glared at both of them until they both nodded inunderstanding.

“Good. Now I think that it’s way past time for the two of you to headhome.” She nodded towards the theatre exit. Meena grabbed Johnny’s hand andthey bolted to the door, urgently trying to escape the theatre, Rosita,and the entire situation.

Silently they got into Johnny’s truck, and began the drive to Meena’shouse. Johnny was staring down the road like a madman, his eyes unmoving andMeena was staring listlessly out her window at the passing houses. Theydrove in complete silence for the entire drive, absorbed in their own chaoticthoughts.

Johnny’s mind was a frantic whirlwind as he tried to sort through hisembarrassment and the ways that he could salvage the night and theirrelationship. He wouldn’t blame Meena if she never wanted to kiss him again. Itmade him sick to his stomach even thinking about the awkward situation thatthey had just escaped. All he could see was the horrified look on Meena’s faceas Rosita lectured them and ruined the mood in a way that probably topped anyother mood killer before. Maybe every time he tried to kiss her that would beall she would think about. Maybe she was disgusted by their kiss now and thiswas the end of their relationship. He couldn’t lose her now, he wasn’t surethat he would be able to handle that. He squeezed the leather steering wheel ashard as he could, his anxiety mounting with every horrible thought thatkept building on top of the next one.

Next to him in the passenger seat Meena was trapped in a similar stormof negative thoughts. She had been self-conscious to start out with and now sheall she could think about was how that mortifying situation was the nail in hercoffin. What if all Johnny could think about when he was with her was theembarrassment of that moment. Maybe he would be embarrassed to be with her andhe would realize just how unattractive she really was. Maybe he had beenembarrassed because he had been caught kissing her! She began tohyperventilate, her frantic breath fogging up the window slightly. The truckslowly came to a stop in front of Meena’s house at the same time that Meenareached a breaking point and turned to Johnny.

“Do you still think I’m attractive?” She blurted out and then coveredher mouth with her hands as if trying to stop herself from saying anything elseembarrassing.

“Wot do ya mean?” He asked, startled when she broke the silence in a waythat was completely unexpected.

“I-I mean do you… now that ’that’ happened… do you still think I’mp-pretty?” She said nervously as she fiddled with her faded blue jacket, unableto meet his eyes just in case he decided that she wasn’t worth dating anymore.Despite her fears, Johnny leaned over and gently lifted her gaze from her jackand over to his warm brown eyes. He gave her his signature crooked smile andstroked her cheek gently, soothingly.

“Oh Meena. Ya ‘re the most beautiful woman I ‘ave ever met, and yaalways will be. Nuffin’ could ever change that.” He leaned in hesitantly, stilla little unsure of himself and whether or not she would want to kiss him. Tohis surprise Meena grabbed him by the collar and pulled him into a passionatekiss. He closed his eyes happily and reached up to cup her face in his handsbut suddenly her lips were gone and she was getting out of the car and dashingup the driveway towards her house.

“See you tomorrow Johnny!” She called as she ran away and all he coulddo was watch her go and admire the soft blush on her cheeks.

Yeah, they were gonna be just fine.

[hazzamylouworld-blog]

Act My Age

Harry got pregnant when he was just sixteen years old by his long time boyfriend, Louis Tomlinson. The boys were terrified but they were also very, very in love and loved their child from the moment they heard his heartbeat. They got married when Harry turned eighteen. Thankfully due to Louis' remarkable footie talents, he signed a million dollar contract right out of high school with a national footie team. Louis was able to take care of their son, Jack, at night while Harry took night courses and Harry took care of him during the day while Louis had practice. When Harry turned 19, he gave birth to another baby boy, Harrison. Harry continued to go to school and got his law degree. Jack is now sixteen years old and Harrison is thirteen. They're getting to the age where being around their parents is quite "uncool" so Harry was delighted when he figured out he was expecting again. He's only thirty two so he and Louis are still very young and very capable of taking care of young children. It's just too bad his sons don't feel the same. His sons, to put it lightly, are mortified that their father is pregnant when they are already in high school. Harry thought his boys would lighten up on him when he told them they were going to have a little sister but to his dismay, it didn't help in any way. And now, at thirty eight weeks pregnant, their attitudes are only getting worse toward their father and his pregnancy. "Ready for your game today, Jack?" Harry hums from the passenger seat, smiling back at his son. Jack bites his lip. "Wait...you're coming?" Harry frowns. "Well...of course. It's the play-offs. I wouldn't miss it." "But um...dad's already coming.." Harry frowns. "I know, but I wanted to see you play." "I'll completely understand if you aren't there." "I WILL be there though.." "DAD! I don't WANT you there, ok?" Harry's eyes widen as his heart shatters in his chest. The car is silent but everyone can hear the small sniffles coming from the front seats "Jack.....don't even THINK about asking to go ANYWHERE after your game. Do. You. Hear. Me?" Louis asks, voice low and threatening. "I-" "No, that's..um...that's ok, Lou. I...I'd probably get too tired anyway. I'll just drop you guys off and head home.." "Harry.." "It's fine. Good luck at your game, Jack. I know you'll do great." Everyone can hear the tremble in Harry's voice and Jack feels quite buried in guilt. It's just none of his friends parents are pregnant. They're all older and Jack gets hounded with questions anyway about having two fathers. He doesn't say another word going to the game and once Harry drops them off, he gets a firm tell off by his father. And his phone taken away. Louis and Jack get a ride back with Niall and his kids after the game, Louis not wanting to make Harry come back after what happened in the car. He finds him in bed asleep, belly rolling with activity, and he frowns because he sees definite tear tracks on Harry's cheeks. Anger flares in his chest at his oldest son. All the things he does for them and THIS is how he's treated. A week later, Harrison comes home with grand news. He's got a girlfriend and he wants to bring her by to show her where he lives. Harry is a mess of emotions, excitement being the biggest one. "So when is she coming, H?" He asks, stirring a pot of noodles. "Um...yeah...Dad? I was wondering if maybe....you could meet her later? I mean...after the baby's born...just..you know..so you don't have to walk down the stairs and stuff.." Harry frowns. "What do you mean? I'm downstairs." "Yeah but...I mean, I don't know what time she's coming and it might be late so-" Harry's heart feels the same shattering pain as it did before Jack's game. "You don't want me to meet her?" "No, it's not that it's just...you're pregnant and-" "Harrison, your dad is NOT going to hide upstairs while you and your new girlfriend traipse around down here and if I ever hear you talk to your dad that way again you won't have a mouth to speak with me." Louis snarls, hearing Harry's breathing become rapid. "No...Lou...I....I have a headache anyway. Was going to call it an early night. I'll just be upstairs..." "Harry, don't you dare go upstairs." "Louis, I'm going, ok? It's FINE." "It isn't FINE, Harry. She's not coming over here, not when he acts like that." "DAD." "Don't you dare speak to me right now. Go upstairs before I give away all of your electronics." Harrison looks at him in shock. "DID I STUTTER? GO NOW!" Harrison runs up the stairs and Harry falls in down in a heap. "W-what have I done wrong, Louis? Why do they hate me so much?" "Oh lovely. No, no, they don't. They're just having trouble adjusting. Don't let them talk to you that way, Haz. Take up for yourself, it infuriates me." "T-they're my babies. I-I love them and I just want them to love me back.." He whimpers, words cutting off with a sob. Louis sees red, stomping up the stairs and barging into each boy's room, ripping all their game systems from their TV's and swiping phones, car keys, and anything else he can get his hands on. Both boys rush downstairs after him in complete shock. "WHATS GOING ON?" Jack screams, face red with anger. "THAT," Louis points to Harry crying, "THAT IS WHAT's GOING ON. You need to learn some respect, I'm sick of seeing your father cry because of you. You lot don't deserve anything he's done for you. You'll get these back whenever I feel like giving it back." "D-dad's crying...because of us?" Jack asks, biting his lip with guilt. "Every night he does. Feeling good about yourself, Jack? Feeling big and bad because you can make someone cry? You're a coward is what you are. You too, Harrison. You spoiled brats. That's your PARENT. He brought you into this world." "Dad, I'm really-" "Don't talk to him. Don't even look at him. Go to your rooms." Both boys stand still in shock. "I SAID GO TO YOUR ROOMS NOW BEFORE I GO BACK TO SPANKING LIKE YOU'RE A BLOODY TODDLER." Both boys run upstairs and Harry sniffles hard behind Louis. "Oh love, don't cry. Please, please don't cry, I can't take it." "Was having another kid a bad idea?" "Harry, how can you say that? This baby is a miracle. She will be so loved and she's so wanted. Don't ever think that way." "I'm heartbroken, Lou." "I know you are, I know. Things are going to change, ok? They will." Louis kisses his curls and rocks him back and forth. Things do change. Jack and Harrison keep a fairly low profile, walking on egg shells around their parents. In all honesty, both boys want to apologize but they're so ashamed they don't even know where to begin. Harrison has cried himself to sleep every night knowing he hurt his father in such a major way. Jack feels like the biggest loser on the planet and wishes he could tell his father how much he loves him without feeling "uncool". And then, Louis gets the call that he has to go out of town. "It's too far to take you with me, love. You can't get on a plane this far along. But the doctor says baby won't be coming this week, right? No dilation?" "Not yet anyway..." Harry sniffles, rubbing his rounded belly. "Have you felt anything?" "No...." "It's only for a night love and I'm just a phone call away, ok? I'm so sorry, H. I really HATE leaving you." "T's ok. I know you have to for work." "I love you with all my heart. And you my little princess." He coo's, kissing Harry's rounded belly. Harry giggles. "That tickles, Lou. Stop it." Louis throws his bag over his shoulder and kisses Harry once more before heading downstairs to talk with the boys. Harry sneakily follows behind him and listens in. "Daddddd. We want to go with you!" "Yeah dad. Dad can't do ANYTHING right now." "WHAT IS WITH YOU AND YOUR DAD? Why are you both so nasty towards him? And no, you aren't going with me because I honestly don't really want to see you right now and I bet your dad doesn't either. Stop being so selfish." "It's my friends...my friends keep telling me weird it is to have a pregnant parent at this age." Harry's heart does the aching thing again at Harrison's words. He slides down on the steps and bites his lip hard. "It's embarrassing!" Jack whines and Harry's barrier breaks, tears flowing from his eyes. He sobs quietly on the steps and feels a slight cramp tighten over his belly. He catches his breath and places a hand on his side, attempting to control his breathing and stop his crying. Being this upset has definitely caused some major cramps and he can't afford to have too many of those while Louis is away. Louis tells off the boys one last time before he leaves the house. Harry waddles into the kitchen and wipes his eyes. "Hey lads." His voice is shaky but he smiles sweetly. "Hey dad." Jack says. "Hey." Harrison waves. "So um...what do you boys want to do tonight?" "I'll probably just watch tv in my room." "Same. Maybe go play some basketball outside." Harrison adds, shrugging. "Oh." "Hey Dad?" Harrison asks. "YES?" Harry asks with a bit of enthusiasm. This is it. He's going to ask him to come watch, Harry knows it. "What's for dinner?" Harry's heart drops. "I was thinking of making pizza. Do you guys want to help?" "Um....the game is on." Jack says. "Well, you can watch it down here, can't you?" Jack sighs. "I guess so." "You too, Harrison. You're not going outside right now." "But-" "I'm putting my foot down." Both boys groan but sit on the couch anyway, turning the TV on. Harry turns around with a small smile. He pulls out the dough for the pizza and begins kneading at it. He feels his belly seize up again and gasps, gripping onto the counter and bending over himself a bit. "Mmm..." He moans lightly, rubbing a hand over his belly. He closes his eyes and rotates his hips a bit until the pain ends. Eventually it does and he sighs in relief. He continues kneading the dough and then walks over to the cabinet to get marinara sauce. As he reaches up to grab the jar, he feels another pain radiate over his middle. He places the jar down and places both hands to his belly, rubbing front to back with a scrunched face. "Wooo...wooo....wooo..." He breathes rhythmically, turning from side to side gently as the pain washes over him. He's quite used to these pains now after two kids but these are quite intense for Braxton Hicks. He's hoping it's just because it's his third pregnancy and he's older, NOT because he's in labor. Harry finishes up dinner, stopping every minutes to ride out another pain in his belly. He's pouring drinks when he feels an intense twinge in his belly, tightening it in a vice like grip. He grips onto the counter and bends over himself, face scrunching tightly. "Mmmmmm....mmmmmmmm...." He moans quietly as his belly heaves and misshapes. "Wooo....." He breathes in discomfort once the pain ends. He waddles to the table, placing plate after plate on it, along with the drinks. He places the last drink on the table and opens his mouth to call for the boys when his belly seizes up again, bearing down with pressure. "Mmmmmghh...." He groans, bending over again and rotating his hips through the pain. "Owwww...not now, babes. Not now. Please. Owwww...." He groans as his tummy tenses tighter and tighter. It eventually lets up and he wipes the tears away. "Wooo...." He breathes, rubbing a hand over his belly, "Lads...dinner." He mumbles unenthusiastically. Jack and Harrison file in and sit down without a word. "Are you not eating, Dad?" Harrison asks at the lack of Harry's plate. Harry shakes his head, kneading his fingers into his sides with a look of discomfort. "Um...everything ok?" Jack asks, watching his fingers. "I'm fine." He mumbles. The boys begin eating and Harry moves around in his seat uncomfortably, bending over himself then stretching out to try and alleviate the tightness and ache in his belly. It's not long before his belly throbs with another contraction. His face scrunches and he huffs. "Ohhhh..." He whispers, rubbing the top of his belly,  "Ohhhhhhhhh....ohhhh..." "Dad..?" Jack asks. "Mmmmm....ohhhhh..." Harry grips onto the table and moves his legs about. "I'm fine. I'm fine. I....I think I need to go lie down. Do you mind cleaning up the kitchen?" "Daaaaaad. I have plans." Harrison whines. "Your father said you weren't allowed to go out." "But he's gone." "And the rule remains." "But we've been nicer!" Harrison says. "WHEN? WHEN HAVE YOU BEEN NICER TO ME?" Harry explodes, standing from the table. "We haven't made any more comments about you being pregnant." "Oh WOW thanks you two. You're the best, REALLY. I'm SO lucky! WHAT'S THE PROBLEM WITH ME BEING PREGNANT ANYWAY?!" "There isn't one." Jack says, feeling guilty. "Oh yes there is. You've treated me like SHIT since finding out." "We're EMBARRASSED." Harrison hisses. "WHY?" "BECAUSE YOU'RE THE ONLY PREGNANT PARENT IN OUR HIGH SCHOOL." "So WHAT? I had you both when I was a teenager and so I'm STILL young enough to have another baby! AND BY THE WAY IT ISN'T YOUR DECISION TO MAKE IN THE FIRST PLACE." Harry's belly heaves with contractions as he yells, pain getting more severe, making him scream at the boys louder. "YOU DON'T GET TO DE-OHHHHHHHHHHH..." He groans, gripping onto the table and scrunching his face tightly. He feels an intense amount of pressure mount and a pop. Water drenches the floor below him and his eyes bulge. "Dad..." Harry curses. "My water....my water broke." Jack curses and moves toward him. "Ok...it's ok, dad. Sit down, ok?" Harry slowly lowers himself to a chair and bends over, "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...." He grips onto the chair below him and nearly folds in half from the pain as his belly heaves forward. "Ok. Ok dad, breathe, ok?" "Mmmmmm I want your dad...." "I know, I know, Dad." Harrison stares in shock and Jack rips him by the arm. "You bloody idiot! You caused him to go into labor because you're such an ass hole. You better hope the baby's ok. Call dad!" Harrison stands still. "CALL DAD NOW." Jack throws Harry's phone at his brother before going back over to his father. "Ok dad...breathe. Breathe." Jack places a shaky hand on Harry's belly and rubs in circles. "That's what hurts, yeah? Your stomach?" Harry sniffles and nods before leaning over on his arm. "Ohhhhhhhhhh my g-ohhhhhhhhhhhhh..." He moans as the pain grows along with the pressure. "DAD DIDN'T ANSWER, JACK!" Harrison says in a panic. "He's still on the plaaane....ohhhhhhhhhhh he's not going to make it...." Harry groans out. Harrison's eyes bulge at the realization. "And you boys hate me already..." Jack's heart drops. "Dad....I don't hate you...I love you. I love you so much and I'm so sorry I've been such a shitty son." "You h-haven't. I love you." Jack's eyes fill with tears. "Stop dad. I have. I've been the worst. I'm sorry. I'm not ashamed of you, I'm proud of you. I'm proud to be your son." Harry smiles and leans forward to hug Jack but is caught off guard with another contraction. "Ok. Lets get you lying down. H, get some um...get some towels and some scissors, CLEAN ONES. You have to wash them first and um...one of the baby's outfits, ok?" Harrison just nods with large, wide eyes. Jack helps Harry over to the couch and lies him down before sitting beside him and rubbing circles into his belly. "Does that help?" He asks, biting his lip. Harry shrugs before gripping onto the pillow he's lying on and pressing the other hand to his throbbing belly. "Owww...owww...owwwwwwwwwww....ohhhhhhh......ohhhhhhh....." He flattens his hand and presses it harder into his belly as the pain grows. He's getting no breaks now and he's terrified to to do this without his husband and just with his two sons. "D-dad?" Harrison asks, thirty minutes later as Harry sobs on the couch. "What do you want, Harrison? He can't talk right now." Jack snaps, pushing his brother back as his father sits up and grips at the couch, rubbing a hand over his belly. "T's ok, Jack. What's wrong, H?" "I-I'm so sorry too. I caused you too much stress and now you're in labor without dad and I-" He lets out a sob and Harry shakes his head. "Mmmm....mmmmmm come here.." he motions. Harrison walks forward and slumps down to Harry's level. Harry falls into him, hugging him tightly. Harrison feels his belly contort and contract against him and hugs back tighter. "I love you so much." "I love you too....ohhhhhhhghhh they're getting bad....AHHHHGH.....Jack? Jack, it's not-it's not going to be much longer, ok? I need you to...I need you to help me up and put a towel beneath me over there by the....ohhhhhhghh the door frame." Jack helps Harry up quickly before placing a towel beneath his standing body. Harry sways back and forth as contractions wash over his throbbing belly constantly. He slips off his shirt and throws his head back, gripping onto the sides of the frame. "Ohhhhhh...ohhhhhhhhohhhhhohhhhhhhghhhh..." He pushes slightly when he feels a bit of pressure and feels the baby move down with it. "Hmmmm...hmmmmmmghhhhh-ahhhhhh...ow..ow..." "DAD WHAT CAN I DO?!" "T-try your dad again. And call an...call an ambulance." Jack's eyes bulge but he directs Harrison to call his dad and grabs the house phone to call 911. "Nnnnnghhooooooooh...MMMMMMMGHHHOOHHHHHHH..." Harry feels an intense onslaught of pressure and pushes back harder. "Wooo...wooo...wooo..." He rubs down his belly and sways back and forth before squatting down deeply. "Mmmmmmmghhhhohhhhhhhh....OHHHHHHH..." "DAD?! Dad it's Harrison! Dad's in labor!! We....we I don't know! I think he's pushing or something! Jack is calling an ambulance, please come home!" Harrison's in full on tears now, worried for his father. He drops the phone when he hears Harry scream and rushes over to him. Harry sways back and forth before gripping onto his knee and pushing again. He feels his daughter's head free from him and gasps. By the time the ambulance makes it to the Styles-Tomlinson residence, Harry is surrounded by his three children. Harrison and Jack refuse to leave him in the ambulance as they are rushed to the hospital. Both Harry and the baby girl are fine and are soon brought to a room. Jack holds his sister in complete awe as Harrison looks over his shoulder. "I want you to name her." Harry says. "What? Us? But we were so awful." "You were my heroes today. Name her." "I like...I like Chelsea...like the footie team, is...is that ok?" Harry giggles. "Your father will love it." And Louis does. He loves the name. He loves his daughter. He loves his sons. And He loves his husband.