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a-home-for-stray-stories · 5 years ago

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WWE Preference: Introductions

Roman Reigns

Seth Rollins

Finn Balor

Baron Corbin

AJ Styles

Jey Uso

Warnings: tiniest bit of language

These are kind of long...

Roman Reigns

You hopped in place while you were waiting in the gorilla. Shit was going down in the ring, and no one had a clue you were there. Only the Authority knew, because they were who brought you to WWE. The last four years you were having the time of your life in Ring of Honor, but it was time for this. Stephanie had spearheaded the attempt to recruit you, and she quickly became someone you looked up to. She was everything you wanted to be: strong, intelligent, and elegant. Well, from the short time of knowing her, that was your perception of her. You didn’t follow WWE. All you were told was the Shield and the Authority were bitter enemies and you were more than willing to take up the Authority’s cause - especially after the way Stephanie painted the story. If your focus were tangible it would have burned straight through the curtains. You could hear the commotion of the six men in the ring. Randy, Kane, and Batista were in a straight up brawl with Roman, Seth, and Dean. It was your turn to stir the pot. No music, you slipped through the curtain and strolled down the ramp. The men in the ring didn’t notice you at all, but Hunter and Stephanie welcomed you to the side of the ring with open arms. There was a good portion of the crowd who recognized you. Seth and Dean took a couple of suicide dives off the right side of the ring, and as they were getting up, they saw you and paused. You gave them a wink before your eyes went back to the ring. Randy was to your left in the corner closest to you, and Roman was sizing him up for a spear. You already knew what you wanted to do, and Stephanie placed a hand on your back, silently affirming your decision. Roman’s ‘oo-ah’ was your signal. At the same time you slid into the ring, Seth was up on the apron warning Roman. All you did was block his path to Randy, and the entire fight came to a screeching halt. Roman was able to stop himself, but only inches from you. He was just tall enough that you had to look up at him. You put your hands on your hips, smirked, and stared him down. This was a trick you’d used a thousand times before and every time it rattled the man across from you, but not this time. Roman dipped his glare to your eye level and moved closer. It took you off guard. They assured you Roman would immediately back away, but tonight he was too pumped up. The strangest sensation came over you when you found yourself fighting the urge to back away. He was fired up from the fight, and his pent up aggression was causing his body to shake.

“Get out of my way.” He growled. He was not what you expected. None of this was. In your mind they were pissy little brats, and that was not who was standing in front of you. A legitimate anger was radiating from him, and it made you question what exactly the Authority did to get him to this point. It made you question everything Steph had said to you the last few months.

“Get out of my way.” He reiterated.

Your bravado had slipped away and only a, “No” came out. It almost sounded like a question, and Roman gave you a confused look. You started to pull yourself together. “No” you said firmer. You gave him a hard shove, hardly moving him.

“Ha, nice try.” Dean called from the ropes. His voice pulled you back into the reality that this was bigger than you and Roman. If Steph had been lying to you, you needed to figure out the truth, but you couldn’t do that in this moment. You needed to pull this debut off like nothing was wrong, then reassess later.

“Try?” You ask Dean before stepping closer to Roman and tilting your chin up, “I did exactly what I came here to do.”

The crack of the kendo stick across Seth’s back was soon followed by the one hitting Dean. Kane and Batista had Seth and Dean in a corner. Roman looked from them back to you.

“Ball’s in your yard now, Big Dog.” You teased him. A ripple went through his jaw as he finally moved out of the ring and helped Seth and Dean over the barrier. Once he felt they were at a safe distance, Roman turned to look back and you were still watching them. The rest of The Authority was laughing and celebrating in the retreat as they slid into the ring around you, but not you. Your eyes held his a few more seconds until Randy laid an arm around your shoulders and whispered into your ear. Seth and Dean pulled Roman away as you faked a smile and let Randy do the same.

Seth Rollins

William Regal had done this for you because he knew there would be no stopping you anyways. Sure you’d be a great singles competitor to have in NXT now that your tag partner was out for an indefinite amount of time due to injury, but you were a loose, red-hot cannon with a single target: Lacey Evans. She had just slipped out of your grasp, finding out she’d been called up to Raw at the very TakeOver she took your partner from you. Regal was with you when you got the news...both about your partner and about Lacey.

“There’s no choice is there?” He said quietly as you stared at a wall.

The next Monday night Seth was delivering a promo when Lacey interrupted him. She was her arrogant self as she mocked him and the crowd and announced her arrival to the red brand. As she was explaining her mission to classy up Monday Night Raw, much to the annoyance of everyone else involved, your music hit. It was truly unexpected and the crowd went crazy. Seth was the most confused. He hadn’t met either of you in his life, and wasn’t quite sure how he found himself in the middle of this.

Lacey let out a laugh, “Aren’t there suppose to be two of you?”

You saw red and the next thing you knew you were on top of her. Before you knew it a big arm wrapped around your waist and pulled you off of her. You watched her roll into the corner as Seth moved in between you. Without thinking, you shoved him as hard as you could.

“Whoa!” He stumbled back a little and put his hands up.

Of course, you knew who he was, but seeing him in person was a whole different story. You had always thought he was hot, but damn he was really hot. You saw the smirk cut across his face like he was impressed and to your surprise, he moved out of the way. You went right back to work, only to be interrupted once again by Baron Corbin. His music was nearly drowned out by the boos of the audience.

“Alright, that’s enough!” He yelled from the top of the ramp. “As Acting General Manager, I keep order here on Monday Night Raw.” His words riled up the crowd some more. Lacey had rolled out of the ring leaving you and Seth alone in the ring.

“Oh, is that what you’ve been doing?” Seth quipped, pulling some laughs. Even you couldn’t keep the smile from sneaking across your face.

“Yes...Seth. Not that you would know anything about being a leader.” Baron continued down the ramp. “Y/n, I know it’s your first night here, but this attacking innocent people for no reason isn’t going to fly here.”

“Innocent...” You scoffed at the term.

“Acting General Manager Corbin...” Lacey had grabbed a mic outside the ring, “Allow me to introduce this nasty to everyone...this is Y/n and she’s just angry because she went and let her tag team partner get injured to the point she may not be able to come back...” Lacey was getting back into the ring as she talked. The entire audience booed, having seen it was her who caused the injury.

In a split second you saw an opportunity and you took it. As she was climbing onto the apron she got a stiff kick to the face, sending straight back to the floor. The crack it made was amplified by the mic in her hand.

“Y/n! What did I just say?” Baron jumped onto the apron, “You touch her again, I’ll send your ass back to NXT!”

Your heart dropped at his words and Lacey’s face lit up. Seth saw the pain in your face when you flipped around to see if Baron was being serious. You hadn’t been on Raw long enough to know how things worked.

“Back off...” Seth moved in front of him, “You don’t have that power.”

“You want to find out?” Baron challenged and Seth just stared back at him.

“I, for one, would love to...” Lacey said, glaring at you as she walked around the ring.

“I dare you...” Baron hopped off the apron and pointed at you as you walked to Seth’s side. “Touch her again and we’ll find out.” He and Lacey walked back up the ramp to Baron’s music.

“If he can really send me back to NXT...” You turned to Seth, “I can’t risk it.”

He nodded and took a deep breath, “Well, let’s go figure out if he can.”

He took a few steps before he realized you weren’t following him, so he turned around to see you giving him a confused look.

“You don’t have to help me...” You told him, not wanting him to feel like he had to.

“You got a better plan?” A smug smile hit his face when you shook your head no. “C’mon...” He motioned to the ropes, “I got resources.”

Finn Balor

You walked into your house after a late night dinner with yet another failed date. This one, though, this one had been particularly bad. No basic etiquette, no manners, and no filter between his brain and mouth. Two hours of trying not to throw up while watching him eat and listening to sexist garbage spew out of his mouth was pure torture. He didn’t even walk you to your door, which honestly you were grateful for. Before you put your keys down, your phone began to ring. It was a facetime call from you brother, Seth. He normally called you after his matches, so when you accepted the call, you didn’t bother to look at the screen. You left your phone on the counter while you took your shoes off and went straight into ranting about your date.

“Well, my life has been a living hell for the last two and a half hours...” You started, going to your refrigerator for some leftover pizza. “...get this, this is how it ended...he rolled down his window, as I am walking to my door, he YELLS out, for all my neighbors to hear, you sure you don’t want to go back to my place and, ya know, bump uglies or something.” You did your best impersonation of the guy. You let out a groan, “Who even says that?” Laughs burst from your phone, but one of them was definitely not your brother.

“You had to deal with that guy for two and a half hours? It must have been hell.” The thick Irish accent made your heart drop. You were so embarrassed, you didn’t want to look at your phone.

“Ya, not alone, Y/n” Seth called out. They laugh some more while you summoned the courage to look at the phone. You knew who Finn was, but you had never met him. When you finally looked at the phone, Finn and Seth were still laughing. He was sitting in the passenger seat as Seth drove.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that.” Finn told you through the laughter.

“Go ahead, laugh. Glad my misery is amusing you two.” You tried to hold onto your frustration, but a full smile lit up your face. The next few minutes you recounted the date.

“I’m sorry, sis. You want me to come beat him up?” Seth asked. You hummed in agreement as nodded your head and ate some pizza.

“I got something that’ll make you feel better.” Finn offered, “You wanna hear what your brother did tonight?” As soon as the words left Finn’s mouth, Seth was groaning, begging Finn to not tell you.

“Yes! What happened?” You asked. Finn looked over to Seth,

“You gotta let me tell her. I can’t let her night end with that shitty date.” His comment made you blush.

“Fine...” Seth groaned. You were just as excited to hear the story as Finn was to tell it.

“He got tripped up on the top rope and face planted on the mat...twice.” You both burst out laughing.

“It’s not that funny...” Seth mumbled.

There was a knock at your door and you all went silent. You flipped around and stared at the door wondering if he would have come back.

“Did he come back?” Seth was not playing around.

“Uh...” You went to peek through the window and relief washed over you, “It’s Katie, I forgot I texted her on my way home and asked her to come over.” You could see the relief in Finn’s face.

“Thank god...that scared the shit out of me.” Seth let out a small laugh.

“Well, thank you, Finn...that did make my night better.” You didn’t want to, but you needed to get off the phone.

“Anytime” His smiled.

“Bye, Seth...Love you.” You called to your brother.

“Love you too!” He answered back.

You wondered if Finn would hang up first, but you ended up looking at each other for a second before you hit the end call.

Baron Corbin

Your mom and Xavier’s dad met later on in their lives. Meaning you and him became step-siblings as young adults. Thankfully, the two of you got along rather well. Really well, actually. You both loved joking around and having fun. He introduced you to WWE. It was something you’d never seen before, but you fell in love with it pretty quickly. Xavier loved having you on Up Up Down Down, because you always gave it your best, but like WWE, it was all so new to you. One of his most viewed videos was when you found out Seth turned on The Shield. It only made it better that you were teaming with him at the very moment you found out. Tonight was a little more low key. Xavier invited you to a show and of course you went. You got there well before the show started and he had a small room set up with a few chairs and his games. Big E and Kofi were already in there when you and Xavier got there.

“Sister!” Big E shouted as he wrapped his arms around you and lifted you up in a hug. You laughed and hugged him back, no where near able to match his force.

“Don’t kill her, E!” Xavier laughed just before he put you down.

“Hi Kofi.” You smiled at Kofi as he gave you a much softer, but just as sincere hug.

“Alright, so as far as I know, it’ll be just us and Baron might come in a little later.” Xavier started messing with cameras and sorting through games.

“Oh good, plenty of time to whip your ass...” You flashed him a smile as you hopped on a table against the wall.

“Have you won a game ever?” He threw back before laughing again.

There was more trash talk as the games began. You each took turns switching out. When Baron walked in, you had just gotten up and Xavier and Kofi were playing. He didn’t make any attempt to hide the fact that you caught his eye,

“Well, Hi.” It was very obvious that was directed only to you. Of course, you caught that arrogant vibe, but for some reason coming from him it turned you on. If you hadn’t been staring at each other, your hi would have been drowned out by the other three greeting him at the top of their voices. You went back to the table you had been sitting on.

“Baron, this is my step-sister, Y/n.” Xavier told him, not looking away from the game.

“Well damn Woods...” Baron looked over at you again, “No wonder you’re so ugly.”

It shouldn’t be hitting you like this. You couldn’t control the smirk on your face and you just knew your cheeks had a pink hue.

“I’m pretty sure it doesn’t work that way.” Xavier raised his eyebrows and caught a glimpse of Baron looking at you, “I don’t like this...”

“I do...” Baron patted him on the back before joining you at the table. He leaned against the wall. You were definitely curious to see how the conversation was going to go, but to your surprise he completely sucked you in. So much so, you lost track of time.

“Oh, Y/n, if you want to be out there for the show, you better leave.” Xavier warned you, “I’ll take you.” They knew how to navigate the back halls of venues, but you definitely needed a guide.

“I’ll take her.” Baron offered you his hands to help you get off the table. It was totally unnecessary, but you slid your hands in his.

“I really don’t like this...” Xavier said, only partly joking.

You came up behind him and gave him a hug, “He’ll take me. I’ll see you after the show.”

“Do you want a hug from me too, Woods?” Baron asked, “I’ll miss you so much.”

“Shut up, Corbin. I’m watching the clock...” He looked at Baron and pointed a finger at him, “If you’re not back in ten minutes, I’m hunting you down.”

“Plenty of time...” Baron smirked back at him.

You rolled your eyes, “Oh my god...” You took one of Baron’s arms and began to pull him out of the room, “I’ll see you later.”

“Ten minutes!” Xavier called, but the two of you were already out the door.

A little more than ten minutes later Baron came strolling back in and sat down with Xavier, who gave him quite the glare.

AJ Styles

AJ’s name always came up when you were asked about your favorite wrestlers. You idolized him and secretly had the biggest crush on him, despite being nearly 15 years younger than him. The thought of meeting him made you nervous, but after you signed to WWE you knew running into him was inevitable. It took a few years, but after a stint in NXT you found yourself on Raw with a quickly growing fan base. It was because of your connection with the fans that you were put in the Mixed Match Challenge. Your partner ended up being Elias. The two of you weren’t exactly best friends, you couldn’t think of anyone else you argued more with. You always had to keep your eye out to make sure he wasn’t cheating, but to everyone’s surprise your team kept winning. All you had to do now was beat one more team, then you would be in the finals. The only thing was, the team you had to beat was Charlotte Flair and AJ Styles. You stood in the ring with Elias as Charlotte made her entrance and your stomach turned when AJ made his. You turned around and pulled on the top rope, warming up your muscles, trying to get your mind into the right gear. These were your toughest opponents yet, and eye-fucking AJ wasn’t going to help anyone.

“You got your shit together?” Elias’ voice never failed to drag you into a pissy mood.

“I should be asking you that...” You shot back, “If you cheat, I lose.”

He leaned close to your face, “Then don’t give me a reason to...”

God, you could backhand him across the face, but you settled for an eye roll. When you turned around, you found your competition in the ring. Charlotte had her robe off and your heart nearly stopped as AJ was in the middle of pulling his shirt off. They were ready to square up in the middle of the ring and Elias went to met them. Instead of going to his side, you ducked between the ropes and made yourself comfortable at your corner - something he had done to you. The fans, along with AJ and Charlotte were highly amused, but Elias was pissed.

“What happened to the team thing?” He yelled at you.

“I have total faith in you.” You told him, eyes one hundred percent contradicting you, “You got this.”

He barely did anything before he tagged you in. AJ tried to engage him, but Elias kept dodging. They circled the ring, and when Elias got close enough he gave you a rather hard “tag” on the shoulder. The boos from the audience were to be expected, but then AJ shoved Elias from behind.

“Don’t hit her like that.” He scolded, “What are you, twelve?”

“He's actually five.” You answered as you got into the ring.

“Shut up.” Elias said before shoving AJ back.

“Oh, so now you want to fight...” You got in front of Elias and pushed him back, “Well, too bad, it’s my turn.”

Charlotte just laughed, “How have you two made it this far?”

“How ‘bout I show you?” After you said that, things finally got moving. You did your best against her, but her experience was almost too much and eventually you had to choke your pride and tag out. You tumbled onto the floor and took a moment to catch your breath. Your moment was cut short when you heard the ref began a three count and you scrambled back on the apron to see Charlotte break Elias’ cover. She never saw your kick coming, and like all of the MMC matches, the whole thing devolved into chaos. The guys had managed to take their fight outside the ring and Charlotte tried to throw you out there with them. She didn’t see you catch yourself, but she did turn around in time to see you pulling yourself up to the top rope. With a quick swipe at your feet, she sent you to the floor, but AJ was there to break the fall. He hit the ground on his back and your knees went to either side of his waist. Your hands slid up his chest, but thankfully you were able to stop yourself just short of headbutting him.

“I’m so sorry.” You mumbled out, but it only made him laugh.

“You’re apologizing to the guy you’re trying to beat?” He asked, which really threw you off.

“I just- She- I didn’t mean to and I feel bad...” You knew you were rambling because you were nervous, but you couldn’t stop yourself. “I need to get off you, I’m sorr-shit.” You shook your head catching your apology.

His chest vibrated under your hands as he laughed again, a little harder this time. “It’s alright.”

Before you could move, a thick arm wrapped around your waist and hoisted you off of AJ. Elias nearly drove all the air out of you as he picked you up and carried you over to the barricade.

“What the fuck was that?” He grumbled, setting you against the timekeepers wall. You ignored his question more focused on breathing. What you couldn’t ignore was the fact that he was reaching behind you.

“What are you doing?” You asked, but he ignored you as the guitar floated over your head. AJ had just turned his back when Elias started towards him with the weapon. Charlotte saw it, but was too far to do anything except yell at AJ, which caught his attention and the ref’s. You only had a few seconds. On his back swing, you hopped up and grabbed the neck of the guitar. The way it twisted him backwards forced him to let it go.

“What have I said about cheating!” You yelled at him, taking the instrument back to its rightful spot.

“Why would you do that?” He was right behind you.

“We would have been disqualified, moron!” You turned around and shoved him.

“Tag! Y/n, in the ring!” The ref called to you. You didn’t even look in the ring.

“Only if the ref saw!” Elias was still arguing with you.

You crawled onto the apron, “He did see you! Everyone saw you!”

He yelled something else at you, but you had just gotten through the ropes and the moment Charlotte had an opening, she hit you with a stiff spear. That was it. Three count and you were out of the MMC. Once Charlotte was off of you, you rolled out of the ring. Angry? Disappointed? You weren’t really sure what emotion to call it as you sat with your back against the announce table.

Elias stood a few feet away, “Great job...”

“Shut up” You spit back.

He walked away, you figured to leave, but you looked up to see him taking his guitar to the ring. You caught him before he got there, snatching it once again.

“Would you stop?” He yelled as you got off the apron.

You pointed the guitar at him, “You’re an asshole.” With that you smashed it against the ring post. The entire audience erupted in cheers. Charlotte went over to gawk at the pieces of wood, but AJ couldn’t keep his eyes off you as you walked up the ramp.

Jey

Dash and Scott were two of your closest friends. While the three of you were in NXT, you had been an important part of The Revival, but had decided to stay in NXT when they moved on. Now a few years later, they asked you to join them on Smackdown and you couldn’t resist. You made your surprise debut helping Dash beat Kofi. Scott had the ref distracted and you slid into the ring and hit Kofi with a low-blow from behind. The next week you were a guest on commentary along with the Usos as The Revival and The New Day fought to see who would challenge for the Titles that the Usos held. The Usos made their entrance first, so when you came out with The Revival they were already chilling at commentary.

“Aw man...” Corey started as you walked out behind Dash and Scott, “There she is. I’m not a New Day fan, but I was hoping last week was a dream...well, nightmare.”

“Y/n made her Smackdown debut last week as Corey has just alluded to...” Michael clarified as they replayed the clip, “This means The Revival is now at full force.”

“Have you two had the...honor...of facing The Revival with Y/n in tow?” Corey asked The Usos.

“Ah, no we have not.” Jimmy answered. They kept their eyes on you as you came down the ramp.

“Consider yourselves lucky.” Corey added.

“She don’t look that bad.” Jey commented.

“She’s as bad as they come.” Corey assured him, “There’s no way around it. Y/n is just plain mean.”

You and Corey knew each other from NXT, so when you came around the ring you shot him a glare that could kill a man.

“Oh, there it is...” Jey mumbled. He was talking about the glare, but he caught way more than that. The way your heels wrapped around your ankles, the tan of your bare legs, the way your shorts hugged the curve of your hips perfectly, how your shirt was tailored to show you off, even if it had The Revival printed across it. You got on the apron and posed with Scott and Dash. Jey thought he would melt in his chair. Scott helped you off the apron and you took their jackets to your chair.

“You’re uncharacteristically quiet, Corey.” Michael pointed out.

“I’m terrified...We should all be terrified.” He answered.

“Don’t worry, Corey.” Jimmy patted his shoulder, “We got your back.”

You finally sat in the chair and put the headset on. You had yet to acknowledge anyone’s presence.

“Y/n, we’re glad to have you. Welcome to Smackdown.” Michael was the first to break the ice.

“Thank you, Michael. I’m glad to see one of you knows how to do your job.” You threw back.

“Oh come on...” Corey groaned.

“Don’t come at him like that.” Jimmy defended.

You leaned onto the table and looked at Jimmy, “You want me to come at you like that, champ?”

Jimmy furrowed his brow, but Jey smirked a little bit.

“I kinda want you to...” Jey said.

“Bring it on...” Jimmy challenged. Missing the fact that Jey was not on the same page he was. Before you could go for it, The New Day began their entrance. Once E’s introduction was over, you went to go at it, but Michael cut you off.

“What brought you to Smackdown, Y/n?”

You gave him an irritated look, “Because Dash and Scott asked me to, that’s why.”

“I’m just curious, why now?” He clarified.

You sat back in the chair as The New Day descended upon the ring, “Separate, we’re the best. Together, we’re the most dominant team this place has ever seen.”

“Oh really? Then why’re we the champs?” Jey slid his chair up to get a better look at you when you answered his question. He sure wasn’t disappointed when that smirk cut across your face.

“You haven’t met me.” For the first time, you actually locked eyes with him. He thought he saw a flicker of a slight crack in your rock solid confidence. He didn’t question the fact that your eyes stayed on him longer than you anticipated. A pancake to Corey’s face broke your gaze. E handed The Usos handfuls of pancakes as Kofi and Woods danced around.

“Let a pancake touch me...I dare you.” You warned E.

“You’re not nice!” Woods pointed at you. You feigned hurt feelings as Scott and Dash moved between them and you.

"Back off.” Scott warned.

“They’re idoits.” Dash told you, making you laugh.

“Eh, you an idiot.” Jimmy yelled at him.

“I’m sorry, of everyone present, who’s eating a pancake out of a grown man’s leotard?” You asked.

Jimmy just glared at you. The match got started and the bickering kept up. Jey noticed you rarely took your eyes off the action. It impressed him that you were able to fire back such snide comments when you clearly were fully invested in the match and not the conversation. Michael was in the middle of a comment when Scott stumbled onto the apron. You were growing impatient and wanted this match to be over. You took your headset off and walked over to Scott.

“This has been going on a while...” You told him.

He rolled his eyes, taking deep breaths, “It’s The New Day, what’d you expect?”

“More than this.” You scolded. “What do you need?”

As you spoke to him, you didn’t realize Big E was getting ready to spear him off the apron, but more importantly E didn’t realize that you were on the floor. As E began his charge, Jey made the connection.

“Oh sh-” He ripped his headset off. He had just enough time grab your arm and pull you out of the way. All you knew, was that you were talking to Scott then the next thing you knew you were buried into Jey’s chest. You hadn’t felt this way in a long time. The way he smelled fogged your brain, the way his arms held you tight against him made your knees weak. You only had one word to describe that feeling - stupid. You pushed out of his arms and turned around to see what he had saved you from.

He leaned into your ear, “You’re welcome.”

#wwe imagine #roman reigns imagine #seth rollins imagine #finn balor imagine #baron corbin imagine #aj styles imagine #jey uso imagine #roman reigns #seth rollins #finn balor #Baron Corbin #AJ Styles #Jey Uso #wwe preferences

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folkloreguk · 5 years ago

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❄️December 7th (part1)

A/N: Today’s scenario is actually a kind of continuation from the two last scenarios I wrote for 2017′s advent calendar (so the 19th and 21st)! I tried to write it in a way, so you wouldn’t necesssarily need to read the other two parts first, although (shameless self promo) I love those two scenarios a lot, and I barely ever say that about my writing rip (you’d find them on my masterlist)

words: 1.8k

genre: comedy? / smut in the second part I’ll post on the 9th), optional bias (male), enemies to lovers

Sorry that this stops so abruptly, this is part 1, I’ll post the rest on the 9th of December!

A week had passed since the Christmas party at your job. When you had gotten into a fight with your arch enemy over some Christmas lights and then over organizing the party together. One week, since you had hooked up with him.

And you couldn't say things had changed positively afterwards. You still bickered and fought over your boss' attention and neither of you had reduced the ridiculous amount of Christmas lights outside your houses, which stood opposite of each other. Long story short, you hadn't magically fallen in love with him, like your friend had expected you to be after you had told her what had happened.

But you could say things had changed... slightly. Additionally to the bickering, you now also flirted with each other, in the most subtle way possible. Neither of you would risk being obnoxiously flirty at your loved workplace. You seemed to still hate each other, but to be a lot more attracted to each other simultaneously. And to say it confused you would be an understatement.

He winked at you from across the room, making it hard for you to not flash him your middle finger, while you liked to remind him of the dress you wore a week ago, by setting a photo from the party as his computer's background when he wasn't looking. Although you needed to admit your plan backfired, since he didn't just give you a dirty look, but was also praised by your boss for having planned and enjoyed the party so much. You made a throwing-up expression at him when you saw his holy smile.

You went home that day, exhausted from too much H/N - interaction, as most days. At least you were happy with the work you had done that day, you told yourself, trying to get him off your mind, as most days. You were ready to have a calm evening, watching a Christmas movie and eating some of your favorite snacks.

You had already taken a shower and changed into your comfortable clothes, when you walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. You couldn't believe your eyes when you looked out the window.

Your massive glowing snowman was there in your front yard, practically staring down H/N's much smaller one. But that wasn't what was so unusual. On the steps to his house, H/N sat. One of his hands was buried in his coat's pocket while the other was holding a phone up to his ear. By reading his expression, you could tell he wasn't happy.

His cheeks and nose were red and the way he his shoulders were pulled up made it clear that he must had been freezing.

As much as you hated to admit it, you felt sorry for him. You weren’t sure what was going on, but he clearly couldn’t go inside his house. Who would sit outside in this temperature, voluntarily? If he needed me to help him, he could just come and ring my doorbell, you thought. But the second you had finished the thought, you knew he would never admit to needing your help.

So, you grabbed your coat and headed out the door. In your pajama pants, you crossed the street and found him still sitting on his front porch.

“What do you want now?” he asked, clearly angry at someone and letting it out on you.

“I wanted to make sure you’re not freezing to death out here, if that’s okay with you,” you snapped back. His expression softened slightly.

“I locked myself out and my parents who have a second key only come back into town tomorrow,” he said. “And I refuse to pay an insane amount of money for someone to come and open my door. So now I’ve been calling people to let me stay the night and for some reason no one seems to be at home or have enough space.”

“Okay, I feel you on that part with the money,” you said, and he gave you another annoyed look. “But you know me, and you haven’t tried me yet.”

“You’re not exactly my first choice for a sleepover,” he stated.

“Looks like I’m your only choice,” you replied. His hands were red from the icy temperatures when he pulled them out of his pockets. “Listen. I’m getting cold, so I’m going back inside. If you want to stay at mine, come with me. If you want to wait until your body has turned into an ice cube, that’s fine with me too.”

It only took a few seconds until you heard his footsteps on the pavement behind you. At first, you thought this would be awkward. But he managed to displace that emotion for annoyance in a heartbeat.

“Home sweet home,” he sang, walking into your house like he owned the place. You couldn’t believe he was about to keep you from having a peaceful December evening, but there you were, walking him into the living room.

“Not to sound like a douchebag, but do you have any food at home?” he asked, while he sat down on your couch and put his feet up.

“First of all, get your feet off my favorite pillow,” you said. This guy was unbelievable. “Secondly, I was about to make popcorn.”

You shot him another death glare as you walked off to the kitchen. You just about trusted him enough to leave him alone for five minutes. When you returned with two bowls of popcorn (absolutely not would you risk the awkward hands-touching-as-you-both-reach-for-the-popcorn-incident), he hadn’t moved a centimeter.

"I see you have a heart after all," he stated, as you gave him the bowl.

"Do you want me to throw you out again?" you asked. "Because that's what it seems like."

"I'm joking," he responded. "You know I always am."

"Is that a confession?" you teased.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he went on. “I thought we were good since our little pre-Christmas-party get together.”

He was giving you a look from across the room, since you had chosen to sit on the other end of the sofa. You knew he was just playing with you, and you refused to go with it. Although knowing he was thinking about sex right now only made you think of it too. You remember how well his body was built, and how his hands had touched you, in ways you had never imagined he ever would. But then you snapped out of it.

“We’re watching Home Alone,” you said, getting up to set up the movie.

“Oh, come on,” he began to complain, which only made you more upset.

“My house, my rules,” you said. “Besides, if you don’t know what’s good, I’m sorry for you.”

He seemed sulky for a moment. “Do you at least have a blanket, so I will find this remotely bearable?”

At this comment you could only laugh. Sitting down, you clicked ‘play’ and grabbed a blanket from next to you. Swiftly, you rolled it up into a ball and threw it – at full speed – at him. He half caught it and got half hit, letting out a sound that sounded almost like a genuine laugh.

“Are you trying to start something here?” he asked.

“I’m sorry, I can’t hear you over how good this movie is,” you replied. He only shook his head, directing his eyes to the screen.

And oh how much you would be able to tease him when this was over. Whenever you glanced at him from the side, one thing was crystal clear to you. He was having the time of his life. At first, you thought it was weird to laugh at the same time as him. It felt almost intimate – more intimate than hooking up with him – and you stopped yourself from laughing. But as the movie went on, you gradually stopped caring. You realized you had known him for what felt like forever, but had never really heard him laugh like you did now. And you had to admit, his genuine laugh wasn’t half as annoying as his fake laugh you constantly heard at work.

When the end credits started to roll, you didn’t know what to do next. So, to stall time and figure out what to say, you decided to grab your popcorn bowl and make your way to the kitchen. Suddenly, you heard his voice behind you, as he followed you.

“Before you say anything, I would like to remind you that I haven’t seen Home Alone in years and forgot how funny it was.”

“That’s a weak excuse but I’ll accept it,” you said, setting your bowl down on the counter. He had kind of messed up his hair, and his clothes looked wrinkled, but you couldn’t say he didn’t look handsome.

“How nice of you,” he mocked, but gave you a grin. “I hate that thing.”

You let out a laugh when you saw him staring at the ten-foot snowman outside the window.

“I’m sure it hates you too,” you joked, only making him roll his eyes. You watched as he ran his fingers through his hair, and inwardly cursed yourself at how you admired his hands. Stop being so thirsty, you told yourself. For a moment, neither of you spoke, but then you looked at him and let out an involuntary laugh.

“What?” he asked.

“Nothing,” you said. “I just thought about how I never seem to be able to get away from you.”

“It’s not like I locked myself out on purpose,” he stated. “Oh, and speaking of you not getting away from me. I told our boss we would love to plan the Christmas party again next year.”

“We?” you couldn’t believe your ears. You took a sip of water from a glass you had poured yourself. “So, there’s a we now?”

“Sweetheart there was a we ever since we figured out we disliked each other,” he spoke. You almost choked on the water. In response, he said nothing, letting you take in his words, only making it worse. If he hadn’t already brought up the hook-up earlier, you surely wouldn’t have said what you were about to say.

“Do you ever think about the Christmas party?” you asked.

“About the lovely conversations I had and the amazing food there? All the time,” he said, like he was completely serious. You could have snapped at him, but he unfortunately looked so hot that your head decided it had other plans.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about,” you spoke, setting down your glass and taking a step towards him. “And judging by how much you flirted with me in the past week, I’m going to assume your answer is yes.”

By now, your head was dangerously close to his. If he hadn’t wanted this, now would have been the time he would have stopped you. But he didn’t. Of course not.

224 notes · View notes

livingbecauseofwriting · 5 years ago

Text

Life’s Too Short

Hello loves! So i’ve never really done anything like this (except like 3 horrible short stories I put on Wattpad like 5 years ago), but I really hope you enjoy. Please like and share and comment what you think.

Me and my sister are doing a writing exchange where each month we draw 2 short dialogue prompts and a character and write a story and give it to each other at the end of the month. We just started this so this is the first story.

I posted something about it and someone responded saying they’d want to read it so here you go. Anyway Imma shut up, but If you like it and would like for me to continue posting each month’s story and possibly opening up requests and stuff to write regularly please let me know!

This month’s prompts were:

“Don’t think about anything, just tell me you love me and hold me tighter” and “What are you doing up?”

I got Grayson Dolan.

Word Count: 8487

Warnings: life threatening event but I don’t want to give it away.... and cursing if that needs a warning

(Tumblr fucked up the formatting when I pasted it in here so if it looks weird I’m sorry I tried to fix it)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bright golden rays cut through the curtains as the sun set high into the new day’s sky. The sunlight spread cross your modern style bed and illuminates you and your husband’s bodies. You were facing each other with your legs tangled together under your pure white comforter. The bright light spreads across your face and you groan softly as you come into a conscience state. Grayson smiles softly at your utter look of annoyance at the signaling of the new day that has brought you out of your slumber. Grayson has always been a morning person, while you are not, and would sleep until the late hours of the day if given the chance. Because of this, Grayson is usually a wake a good hour or two before you in the mornings and gets up, always careful not to wake you, to start his rigorous work days. Today, however, Grayson had a day off, something that had become increasingly rare in your lives, and so he opted to stay in bed and just admire the heavenly women that he gets to wake up to every morning.

He chuckles as you slowly shift in the bed in an attempt to block the sun from your eyes. He reaches a hand up and gently moves some of your messy bed hair behind your ear and places a soft kiss on your forehead.

“Good morning babe” He whispers, his voice still groggy and scratchy from sleep. Your eyes flutter open and you look up at him with both a look of love and annoyance.

“It would be a good morning if the sun wasn’t being so rude.” You pout and bury your head in Gray’s bare shoulder as he pulls you closer and presses another kiss to your hair.

You lie like this for a second until you suddenly become very aware of his presence as well as what time it probably is, seeing as the sun is shining so bright and he’s usually up and working at the crack of dawn. You pull your head away from him abruptly and look at him with a very confused look on your face.

“Why are you still here? You’re usually deep into your work and filming with E by this time of the day?”

When the twins started their online presence on Vine back in 2013, the rose to fame rather quickly. It was something neither of them expected. The videos they made were just of them having fun and being their own idiot selves and it turned into a massive following. When they moved onto YouTube in 2015 that following only grew. Now with well over 18 million subscribers, filming every day, marketing meetings, promo meetings, gaining sponsorships, creating video ideas, and finding new creative ways to reach an even bigger audience, the twins were busier now more than ever.

“Usually yes, but we did a lot of work this week and got ahead. So, we earned ourselves a day off.” Grayson explained softly as he continued gently caressing your hair as he studied every feature of your tired, yet beautiful face. It’s been just over 4 years since you two met, and every day he was still completely in awe that he got to wake up with this life, with you beside him. How’d he get you? I mean he honestly just couldn’t understand, how he possibly got this beautiful woman beside him? Every day when he saw you sleeping beside him, he silently thanked God for that day, that day that started everything for you two.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Back story ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You and Grayson met after you moved to California for an internship in your senior year of college. You had quickly discovered a coffee shop perfectly placed right between your apartment and work that became your favorite place to study and get work done. Coincidently, this was Grayson’s favorite coffee shop and he had been a regular since He and Ethan moved to Cali years prior.

After constantly seeing you in the café time after time, Grayson became curious. You were this mysterious girl who showed up out of nowhere and took over his coffee spot, even the workers were beginning to get closer to you and knew you better than they knew him, and he had been going there MUCH longer. However, he just couldn’t get up the courage to question the beautiful girl that made his day just a little bit better whenever he saw you there sipping your hot chai tea with almond milk and concentrating intensely on god knows what you had to work on that week.

However, the day came when he had no choice. You had only been at the shop a short while before you get an emergency call from work making you hastily gather your things and rush out the door at exactly the same time Gray was trying to enter causing you to slam into each other. Your hot chai went everywhere, mostly on you and your computer.

“SHIT!” You yelled looking down at your clothes and your probably now ruined computer. You quickly looked up at Grayson who looked just as stunned as you as Ethan completely lost his mind, laughing his ass off behind him.

“I’m so sorry. I should have been looking where I was going. I’m sorry. I just- oh my god this is probably ruined... and oh my god, are you wearing a Gucci shirt that I just ruined because of my clumsy ass self…” Your muttered so quickly that it practically came out as one sentence.

Grayson’s expression softened as he noticed how stressed and petrified you looked.

“It’s ok. I mean yes, it is, but it’s fine. I can just steal my brother’s, he has the same one.”

Grayson smiled. “Oh, shoot here let me get you some napkins” He said immediately after, rushing inside and grabbing a giant stack of napkins off the counter and bringing them over to you.

You smiled hesitantly still shocked and stressed and took the napkins from him and began to attempt to wipe the chai off your clothes, computer, and books.

“You look like you’re in a hurry, can I help you with something? Do you need a ride... or new clothes?” Gray asked chuckling a bit. You looked up giving him a look that you clearly didn’t find this funny as you continued to wipe your belongings.

“Um thank you, but I really do have to go. I’m so sorry again. Um, you come in a lot. Maybe I can make it up to you next time... I’m really sorry.” You responded quickly still in almost a single sentence. Before Grayson could even comprehend what you said or even mutter an “ok” you were halfway down the street rushing to your work emergency.

To say Grayson was stunned would be an understatement. He really didn’t care that you spilled hot chai all over him, no, he was mainly shock at how everything went down. This girl he’s been wanting to talk to for weeks and THAT is your first interaction. It was like something straight out of a movie. Grayson collected himself and punched Ethan’s arm as he made fun of Grayson’s flushed expression. He wondered if he’d see her again, and if he did what it would be like now that the ice had been broken.

He was disappointed when he didn’t see you in the café the following day, but figured either you were entirely too embarrassed to show your face around here anytime soon or you were busy sorting out your computer problem, either way, he desperately wanted, no, NEEDED to see you again.

That’s why his heart nearly stopped when he walked into the café three days later and saw you sitting there, your back facing him so you didn’t see him as you intensely poured over your books and typed away on what looked like to be a different computer but not necessarily a new one. He couldn’t resist the smile that spread across his lips and he silently thanked God that Ethan was too lazy to get out of bed and opted out of coming to pick up their coffee with him.

Grayson noticed you weren’t sporting your usual hot cup of chai and hastily went to the counter and ordered Ethan and his usual along with your chai tea order which he had picked up on after watching you order it every single time you came in. When the drinks were done he carefully made his way to your table. He still wasn’t entirely sure what he was doing but he knew there was no turning back, he was already in motion.

Grayson reached you and you still hadn’t noticed him as you were so focused on your work and had your earbuds playing soft music in your head. He cleared his throat gently and placed the chai tea on a clear spot of the table in front of you making you jump slightly as you quickly yanked out your earbuds and looked up. You smiled as a noticeable heated blush spread across your face.

“Oh, uh, hey sorry I didn’t mean to scare you. I uh got you your drink. I noticed you didn’t have one today and I thought I’d get you one to say, ‘sorry I got in your way the other day.” Grayson said awkwardly desperate to explain himself without looking weird or creepy as he rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged softly.

You smiled brightly and shook your head softly. “Please don’t apologize. It really wasn’t your fault. I need to watch where I’m going, but thank you this is very sweet.” You took a sip of the chai not sure what to expect that he had ordered you, but as soon as the drink passed your lips you looked up at him surprised. “Char tea with almond milk and an extra shot...How’d you know? Are you stalking me?”

Grayson’s eyes widened and he quickly shook his head, “Nononono, I uh, I don’t know if you’ve noticed but we’re here at the same time a lot and I’ve just noticed you get the same thing every time and honestly it’s not that hard to remember.” He said chuckling nervously.

You smiled at his quickness to defend himself. “I was kidding. Thank you though. I love this.” You took another sip and there was a bit of an awkward silence for a second before he gestured to the computer you were using and questioned, “You got a new one? I hope the other one didn’t mess up too bad. I know you probably had a lot of work saved on there.”

You nodded and placed the cup down sighing. “Not a new one just a loaner from a friend. I can’t get mine to turn on and I can’t afford a new one which is fine except I can’t retrieve any of my work from my computer so I basically have to start all over from scratch.”

Grayson nodded in understanding and cringed sympathetically at your pain. “I know your pain. My entire work exists in my computer but my brother’s very clumsy and has messed up one or two. So yeah I know a guy who’s been able to fix some of mine and if he can’t fix it he can at least retrieve the data from it. I can hook you up if you’d like.”

Grayson swore his heart stopped as he watched your eyes widen and a look of utter disbelief and amazement, but most of all relief, wash over you. It was adorable. “Really!?! That would be absolutely amazing. Oh my god you’re literally saving me so much time and work.”

Grayson smiled and nodded just glad he could help but also hoping this gave him an in or at least an excuse to spend some time outside of this small café with you. “Yeah of course. Actually, he lives just down the street from me. I can talk to him when I get home and see when he’s available.”

“That would be perfect. Here let me give you my number so you can contact me.” You said picking up a pen and ripping a small piece of paper from a page in your notebook. You quickly scribbled down your number trying to make sure it was readable as Grayson stared at you, his heart beating rapidly in his chest, he couldn’t believe it. You handed him the number and he took it tentatively, like it was the most valuable item on the planet, and honestly at the moment in his world, it was. Grayson starred at the number and quickly realized he didn’t even know your name.

“Thank you, but um, what name should I use for the contact, I don’t think I ever caught it.” You smiled surprised at his words and chuckled softly as you leaned back in your seat.

“You managed to remember my coffee order but never picked up on my name?” You questioned smirking at him watching in amusement as his face went completely red.

“I mean… now that I’m thinking about it, yeah. I’ve always just kind of referred to you as the ‘chai tea girl’… I mean not that I’m talking about you often but like the few times it came up with other people that’s what we called you.” Grayson said rambling nervously as his face went even more red. You chuckled and shook your head softly.

“I’m just giving you a hard time… I’m Y/N, but I’d hate to mess up what you already know me as, so please continue referring to me as “chai tea girl’ if you must.” You laughed softly at your words and Grayson’s heart melted. Your laugh was like music to his ears, it’s something he could see himself listening to everyday. These thoughts were nuts to him. He barely knew you, yet at the same time he feels like he’s known you his whole life, it was like nothing he’s ever experienced.

“Y/N...? I like that name, it’s really pretty.” Grayson responded softly smirking making you blush. “I’m Grayson…”

“Yeah I know. And your brother is Ethan? You guys are a bit bigger than I think you’re giving yourself credit for. My sister really likes you and I’ve seen a few videos through her. You’re funny, and unique from every other YouTuber. I like that. Originality.”

Grayson smiled and nodded softly, proud of his brother and his work. “Thanks that means a lot. We work really hard to create good content that’s original to us so I’m really glad you like it. We do a lot of crazy stuff, shit happens, things break, that’s why I know this guy. He’s fix many computers and cameras for us and retrieved a lot of content we thought we lost. He’s good, he’ll for sure be able to help you.”

“That’s awesome. I hope so, I can’t lose all that.” You said sighing in relief. You were so intrigued by Grayson. Sure, he was hot af, but there was something else. The guy standing in front of you was so different from the guy everyone watched on YouTube and something inside of you was begging to find out more about this real, authentic version of Grayson Dolan.

The conversation eventually died out as Ethan spammed Grayson with texts asking where the hell his coffee was and you had to get back to work anyway but you left each other feeling like you were floating and neither of you could stop smiling.

Grayson texted you later after talking to his friend and you agreed to meet at his place the next day. It took his friend all of 5 minutes to fix your laptop and retrieve all your work. You were so relieved and in the rush of gratefulness to Grayson and his friend, and with all the time you suddenly had on your hands now that you didn’t have to do all that work over again, you and Grayson agreed to go out, somewhere other than the coffee shop.

The next night Grayson took you on one of the most unique and fun dates ever. What you thought was going to just be dinner turned into a picnic on top of a cliff under the stars and breaking into an old theater and performing for each other, just complete nonsense. You continued to an amusement park where Grayson of course won a stuffed t-rex with giant eyes after watching you freak out about how cute it was. You explored the city and later found yourself at a beach to watch the sun rise. Everything about the night was perfect. It was a night pulled straight out of a movie and neither of you could comprehend it, but that night was just the start.

Soon you and Grayson were seeing each other at least every week (outside of the café) and then once a week turned into three times a week until it got to the point that you were practically living with the boys. They started including you in bits and pieces of their videos and soon their whole fan base knew you. You and Grayson dated for two years before he finally asked you to marry him. Everyone knew you were meant to be together and it was just a matter of time, so it was no surprise when you finally sported that diamond ring on your finger.

It was quiet and intimate. Grayson rented out the whole coffee shop that started it all. The place was filled with fairy lights and all the tables were moved and the floor was covered with pillows and blankets and Grayson made sure you had all the chai tea you wanted. A screen was projected on the wall and once you were settled in it began playing starting with the Disney intro to fake you out, but quickly turned into a slideshow movie about you containing all sorts of pictures of you, you and Grayson, your friends and you all together, and a bunch of videos, some which you had no idea they were filming.

When the movie finished you had tears in your eyes, just seeing all these memories, you couldn’t believe this was your life. You turned to hug and kiss Grayson but he was down on one knee holding an opened velvet box with a beautiful, simple diamond ring inside. You didn’t know how you didn’t notice him get up before but there he was. It was incredibly cheesy but that’s just who he is. He already had tears in his eyes not even having said anything yet.

“Y/N…if that video isn’t testimony enough to the impact you’ve had in my life, then let me tell you. Babe I have no idea where I would be without you. From the moment I saw you, sitting in this coffee shop working your ass off on whatever project you had due that week and drinking that damn chai tea, my heart knew it needed you and I don’t care how fucking cheesy that sounds, it’s true. Everything happens for a reason, and when you ran into me two years ago, destroyed your laptop and ruined my favorite Gucci shirt, it was fate. That was the beginning of something so beautiful and nothing else mattered. Our love is once in a lifetime, and I’m so glad it exists in ours. I would fight for you and find you in any lifetime, and I want to spend the rest of this one with you by my side. So please God, will you marry me already?” Grayson chuckled and smiled as tears streamed down his cheeks.

“It’s about damn time!” You laughed crouching down to his level and flinging yourself into his arms. “I love you so much you fucking asshole. Of course I’ll marry you.” You giggled pulling away, cupping his cheeks in your hands and wiping his tears with your thumbs before pulling his lips to yours. You both smiled uncontrollably into the kiss and pulled away leaning your foreheads against each other. Grayson looked down and placed the ring on your finger before pulling you in for another long hug.

You guys decided to keep the engagement quiet for a while, only telling family and friends, just wanting to enjoy this special time to yourselves for a bit before letting the whole world know. When you did finally tell his fans you two made a short little video about it and both made Instagram posts shortly after the video went up. You got married a little over a year later and it was everything you could have asked for and more. The rest is history.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~End of Back Story~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You smiled, beaming brightly at his words. “Really!?! Oh my god it’s been so long.”

“Yes really.” Grayson chuckled softly at your excitement. He knew you needed this, you both did. You barely ever saw each other now-a-days. Grayson almost never had a day off and your days were usually spent apart, not seeing each other until you both fell into bed at night, and at that point it was much too late and you were both too tired to do anything together. “I was thinking we could go out, spend the day together doing the things we don’t normally get to do.”

You smiled wider and nodded in agreement before leaning in and pressing an excited kiss to his lips. You two sat like that for a second, just holding each other, enjoying each other’s presence before you gently pushed yourself up, Grayson soon following, and stretched your arms out, squinting at the harsh daylight pouring through the big floor-to-ceiling windows surrounding your room.

The twins had bought a compound with two houses on it overlooking LA with a beautiful view of the city and the beach. The twins always knew they wouldn’t able to live apart, but when Grayson and you got married and Ethan was sure to follow with a fiancé of his own eventually, the old house was getting too crowded. When the twins created this property with their house literally only 20 feet apart connected by a glass tunnel/hallway, it was an absolute dream come true for them. It was very modern and green. The whole house contained big windows for lots of sunlight to come in. There were plants everywhere, but placed perfectly to create a beautiful aesthetic. The floors were all wood and most surfaces throughout the house were all made of stone or marble. The house generally contained an all-white or grey color scheme with pops of color here and there and everything was very open. It was everything you imagined a famous California house to look like.

You pulled yourself out of bed and wrapped your silk robe around you and went to make your way to the kitchen before Grayson stopped you, wrapping his arms around you from behind and kissing your neck gently.

“Let’s eat out today love. No working in any way, let’s just enjoy this.”

You smiled and closed your eyes softly as his lips and hot breath grazed your skin as he spoke. You turned in his arms wrapping your arms around his neck and nodded kissing his softly. “Sounds lovely. I guess I’ll just get dressed then.” You two pulled apart and made your way to your separate closets. You picked a pair of black and white checkered slacks with a light blue sweater with your black vans. After you got dressed you went to the connected master bathroom and applied a small bit of makeup and pulled your long hair into messy bun. You walked out just as Grayson finished pulling on his shoes. He was wearing black ripped jeans and a white t-shirt with black and red strips and a pair of red vans. Damn did he look hot.

You smiled as he took your hand and led you out of the bedroom, grabbing his keys as he made his way to the car. He opened the door for you like the gentleman that his is and you jokingly curtsied to him in response as you both giggled softly. Grayson climbed into the driver’s side of his custom vintage 1960s teal Bronco and backed out of the driveway, one hand on the wheel while the other held yours in his lap. Neither of you knew where you were going or even had a plan but you knew it was going to be a perfect day no matter where you were.

Grayson drove slowly through downtown LA so that you both could scan the different shops and cafes to find a place to eat. You pointed out a small breakfast/brunch place on the corner and Grayson quickly found a parking spot and pulled in. Once again Grayson rushed over to your side and opened the door for you offering his hand, which you gladly took, as you stepped out of the vehicle and made your way into the corner café. It was a cute little place and had a modernized retro look, defiantly very California.

Once you and Gray were inside you were seated and ordered rather quickly as in the car you both had mutually expressed a craving for pancakes that needed to be satisfied ASAP. You made light conversation about what you wanted to do with the rest of the day, which neither of you had any opinions for and opted to just let whatever happens happen. When your food arrived, you couldn’t help but snap a pic of Gray, I mean you were both influencers now and had to please your audience and you knew this would make the fans drool… for the pancakes of course

@HeyItsY/N: Hey there good looking ;) …. Oh and @graysondolan is here too

After you both devoured some of the best pancakes you’ve ever had, you paid and made your back to the car. You hesitated as Gray opened the door for you.

“Why don’t we just walk. See what we see.” You said shrugging lightly. Gray smiled shutting the door without question and locking the car again. He grabbed your hand and you two set off down the street not really sure what you were doing or where you were going.

The day end up leading to places you wouldn’t have imagined. You and gray found a hidden park where you eventually brought food and had a picnic type lunch. You shopped around a bit at the different vintage shops around downtown LA. You bought a lot of thrifted vintage clothes and some new vinyls for the custom player Gray built. Of course, Gray had to go to the Gucci store and Louis Vuitton where you bought clothes he defiantly didn’t need but you didn’t mind because he looked hella good. You and Gray were walking along a sidewalk that had an open view of the mountains and valleys of California. It was beautiful and even though you weren’t speaking or doing much, you couldn’t have been happier than that moment. You wish you could stay here forever.

It was only about 3 o’clock and you and Gray were just getting started, still having big plans for the day. You were making your way back to the car to travel to some other nearby destination when Gray’s phone rang. He groaned and grabbed his phone out of his pocket and pressing answer before moving it to his ear.

“Hello? … Yeah… No, I’m out with Y/N … Why, we have the day off? … Can we do this tomorrow? … Are you sure? Ok ok calm down ... we’ll head over now. See you soon.”

Grayson sighed hanging up the phone and turned around to look at you. You could tell from little bit of the conversation that you had heard that your day-off was cancled, but you knew there was nothing you could do and you could tell Grayson wasn’t happy either.

“I’m sorry love, they need me to go to the warehouse and discuss some business shit I don’t even know. I’m sorry, I know you were looking forward to having this whole day. I promise I’ll make it up to you.”

You sighed and nodded softly taking Grayson’s hand. “Gray its ok. There’s nothing we can do. Plus, we’ve already done so much more than we usually get too and that’s all I could ask for. This day has been amazing. Let’s go, they’ll be mad if you make them wait.” You said and kissed him softly before hopping into the car to head to the twin’s business warehouse.

The twins had bought a small warehouse/business building that they transformed into their work center. They used this to take care of business meetings, storage for their merch and a secondary filming location for shit they couldn’t film at the house.

When you arrived at the office Grayson headed straight to the meeting room but not before leaving you with few soft kisses to hold onto as you waited in the small lounge area for him to return.

You became restless as you moved around the lounge trying to get comfortable as Gray had been in this meeting for over an hour now. You jumped a little as you heard a door slam and Gray came from around the corner looking mad but his face melting into sadness as soon as he saw you. He sighed and grabbed your hand ignoring your questioning as he led you out to the car.

The car ride home was silent and you anxiously starred out the window as your mind swirled with the possibilities of what had gone on in that meeting. When you pulled up to the house Grayson took a few moments, deep in thought, before pressing his lips to the back of your hand and getting out of the car, you following closely behind. You could tell whatever had happened in there was bothering him and he was torn over it and it killed you to not know, to not be able to help, but you didn’t want to push him.

A couple of very quiet hours of walking on eggshells around Gray went by before he entered your bedroom and signed softly as he sat down next to you. You looked up at him from your laptop stopping whatever the hell you were doing to keep yourself from going crazy from the tension and silence. You shut your laptop and look at him waiting for him to speak.

“I’m sorry I haven’t talked to you. You’re probably really confused, I just needed to figure it out myself because I know you’re going to be upset.” Gray says softly looking down as he intertwined his fingers with yours. You shift and move close to him now even more curious. Gray sighs rubbing his eyes as he figures out how to form the words to tell you what he needed to tell you. “The team has set up a bit of a radio/venue tour for me and E. It was a last-minute thing, everything fell into place, and they couldn’t pass it up. They didn’t even talk to us about it until today… They need us to leave in 2 days for London to kick it off. They said it’d probably last about 3 to 4 months.”

You furrow your eyebrows in confusion and take a second processing his words. “Can they even do that? I mean it’s your channel you get to make these decisions. You could say no if you wanted.” You barely saw Gray as it is and you live together, hell you’re married, but this would just drive a wedge between you two since you wouldn’t be able to go with him having your own job and life to take care of here in LA. You didn’t have the freedom like he did to just up and leave for 4 months.

Gray shook his head and looked at you. “I know I know. We can…to an extent. But these guys have really helped us out and this is a really great opportunity for me and E. We’d be able to reach a bigger audience and it’d be really good for the channel-”

“Wait, you’ve been walking around all day moping your ass off for something that you WANT to happen… can’t you see that this is a horrible idea? Why can’t you just say no? Why are you letting these people control you and your lively hood?” You question pulling away from him.

“I’ve been trying to figure out how to tell you because I knew you’d react like this which quite frankly is a little selfish… This is a really good opportunity for us and it hurts that you don’t support that!” Gray said raising his voice a bit. You opened your mouth and stood up from the bed looking at him in disbelief.

“I’m being selfish?! Oh ok, I’m sorry that I don’t want to be away from my HUSBAND who I barely get to see EVEN THOUGH WE LIVE IN THE SAME HOUSE!”

“Oh my God. I’m sorry I’m working every fucking day to make sure that we can support ourselves, that we can afford this house, that you don’t have to work as many hours as a normal human being. I’m so fucking sorry for being the fucking back bone of this relationship.”

You had no idea how you guys had gotten to this point but there was no turning back now, everything was coming out and there was no stopping either of you.

“Are you fucking kidding me? You have probably the easiest job in the world! People would kill to have your life. You’re ‘work’ is doing dumb shit with your brother every day and posting it online! But I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize doing something you love was such a burden, I didn’t know I was such a fucking burden! …And just to be clear, YOU asked me to stop working all together, I decided to keep it to part-time so that everything didn’t fall on you, but apparently that means nothing to you! I’m sorry for fucking caring about you”

You exchanged a few more choice and heated words back and forth for a while. You couldn’t believe he had the nerve to call you selfish when he’s the one up and leaving for the sake of “getting more followers” when the man has 18 million fans already. Gray opened his mouth to speak again but you couldn’t stand this anymore.

“Grey I think you should go stay with Ethan. Obviously, we’re not going to get anywhere with this except just hurting each other more. I need space to think and I can’t do that with you here.” Your voice cracked a bit and at this point tears had been streaming down your cheeks for a while. Gray closed his mouth and just nodded. You were both too tired to continue with a conversation that was going nowhere. Gray stood up and left the room without say anything and made his way to E’s place, which was technically the same house just a different part, but it didn’t matter, it was far enough for you to not feel like you were suffocating anymore.

You sat down on the bed processing what had just gone down before letting a few more tears fall from your eyes as you screamed into your pillow. As clique as it sounded, it really works.

You were exhausted and didn’t even realize you had fallen asleep until you woke up the next morning from the sun rudely shining in your face once again. You instinctively reached over to Gray’s side of the bed only to be met with an empty cold spot as memories of last night’s events replayed in your head. You didn’t want to get up, knowing the house was going to feel cold and empty, like it was swallowing you whole without his presence in it, but you also knew you couldn’t stand to speak to him yet, it would only end in more fighting. The argument was stupid to begin with but it turned into something serious as you both continued to share hidden feelings that got magnified out of proportion. You didn’t know what this meant for you especially with Gray leaving, but you had no choice but to just wait and find out.

In the past 2 days, the only sight you saw of Gray was him quickly coming into the house to gather some of his things to pack in his bags. You still hadn’t spoken. You were both stubborn as hell and it defiantly didn’t help the situation. So that night you laid down yet again in the cold, deprived of his warmth and presence.

When you woke up the next morning, you weren’t really sure what had come over you but you just knew you needed to see him. You practically ran over to Ethan’s side of the house and didn’t even knock as you burst through the door. Your heart raced and you gently called Gray’s name but was met with silence. The house was empty. E’s bags were gone and so were Gray’s. He was just gone, without even saying goodbye. Tears slowly rolled down your cheeks and you stood there in silence. You were sad and angry but you weren’t sure what feeling was more dominate. You couldn’t believe he’d leave like that and you were heartbroken you had missed him.

The next couple of days were a whirlwind of emotions. You had tried to call Gray a few times only to be met with his voicemail. You always made some excuse as to why he wasn’t picking up but you knew he was most likely just ignoring you. Why was he so damn stubborn? You listened to the radio shows they were on and you could swear he heard the pain in his voice, but he was so good at laughing it off that it was invisible to everyone else, but you heard it.

It had been over three weeks since you and Gray had last spoke, which was the night of the fight. You had managed to get a hold of Ethan who sounded so desperate to help you guys but then he’d say things like “oh we have bad reception here” or “Gray’s busy” and you knew he was just trying to be a good brother and saying what Gray told him to say.

You were driving home from work listening to the boy’s latest broadcast. You scoffed a little as the interviewer brought up their relationships and questioned how all was going, what the future held for their family, etc. Grayson covered it up with “Oh it’s really great. We’re really good. Happy.” It was a lie. The audience had no idea. The listeners would have no idea. No one had any idea what your reality was. Everyone saw these celebrities and their families as perfect people, absolute couple goals if you will, they saw the love and beauty, they saw the pictures you meticulously chose to post, they saw what you wanted them to see. They didn’t see the pain, or the long nights, the fights, or the going to bed without your husband by your side, they didn’t see the struggles.

You were deep in your thoughts that the next few moments were all a blur. It was about 7 o’clock, already dark out and you drove carefully, LA was a mad house at this hour, especially since it was Friday night. You proceed forward when your light turns green yet within moments your car is jolted to the side. The loud horn blared in the background, it sounded so distant, so faint. It took a moment for you to realize you were on your side. Your head pounded and your vision was blurry. You could faintly make out people yelling trying to talk to you and your mind screamed to just say something to them but your body failed. The red and blue flashing lights streaming through your shattered windshield was the last thing you remembered before everything faded into black, a piercing ringing in your ears before complete silence.

When you woke up, it wasn’t to the usual rude sunlight you were used to pouring through your window. No, rather, the room was very dark, an annoying beeping filled your ears, and you felt a heaviness weighing down your arm. It took a few seconds for you to actually collect yourself. Your throat felt like the fucking desert, your right arm was in a cast and sling, and your body felt like it had been hit with a ton of bricks. You shifted and looked over to see Gray holding your hand, his head rested on your arm as he slept. You moved your hand softly and nudged him.

“Gray… Gray… Grayson fucking Dolan wake up.” You managed to croak out before Gray finally shot up, his expression a bit disoriented before lighting up at the sight of you awake. He didn’t even hesitate as he pulled you into a hug, gripping you softly, scared he’d hurt your damaged body even further.

“Oh my god…Y/N… I’m so sorry... I’m so so sorry. Baby I thought-” Gray started to ramble before you cut him off, gently shushing him.

“Just shut up please.… Don’t think about anything. Just tell me you love me and hold me tighter.” You whispered softly as you held back tears. You vaguely remembered what happened but in this moment, you chose not to.

“I love you, I do… I love you so fucking much and I could never say it enough.” Gray whispered back, fighting his own tears. You and Grayson just held each other for a while before a nurse finally came in.

“Oh, you’re awake. Thank God. We were getting a bit worried.” She said and she walked over to your bed and poured you a glass of water. Gray sat back in his seat but kept holding your hand in one of his while he held the cup up for you with the other so you could drink from the straw. The nurse asked some basic questions and checked your vitals before looking at you seriously. “Do you remember anything that happened?”

You sighed laying your head back and closed your eyes. Everything was a blur. “I was in an accident, that’s obvious. I remember sitting at the light listening to Gray on the radio. I remember driving forward when I got the green light. I remember the horn, it was loud but everything seemed to happen in slow motion so to me it sounded far away and distorted and then a jerk. I remember it was blurry but I could see my windshield shattered, I-I could see blood on my hands and I could feel it dripping down my face. I remember the sirens and the police lights and then nothing and now I’m here.” You concluded taking a deep breath and opening your eyes. Gray wiped a stray tear from his cheek and sniffled softly trying to cover up his crying. The nurse nodded and took some notes.

“That’s good you remember. Yes, you were in an accident. It was a drunk driver. He ran the red and t-boned you. Your car flipped three times. You broke your right arm and three ribs. You twisted your leg bad but it’s not broken or anything. You hit your head bad and have a few stitches and a severe concussion and you’ve been unconscious for the past three days.” The nurse said gently trying to fill you in without scaring you. You nodded softly and thanked her before she left.

You turned to Grayson and squeezed his hand. “Hey. It’s ok. I’m ok. Please don’t cry.” Grayson chuckled and shook his head wiping his eyes again. “Damn I thought I covered it up… You know me too well.”

The next couple of days were spent trying to get your strength back. It was a bit more than a week before you were able to go home. The doctors just wanted to make sure you had no neuro damage because you were out for so long. You had a brace on your leg to help but you could walk… kind of… that is when Grayson actually let you. At home Grayson waited on you hand and foot and made sure you were ALWAYS comfortable.

It had been about a week and you convinced Gray to let you have some bit of freedom. Grayson finally stopped sleeping on the couch as you convinced him he wasn’t going to crush you or hurt you.

You stirred in your sleep and reached over to pull Grayson’s warm body closer to your freezing one, but you were met with his empty cold pillow. You furrowed your eyebrows as you opened your eyes. You checked your phone for the time, 2:35am. Shit.

You groaned softly as you pushed yourself up, your whole body still aching and screaming at you to lie down again but you needed to go find your husband. You threw on your robe and slowly made your way out of the bedroom and to the kitchen/living room area. The house was dark except for a single lamp dimly lighting the sofa area. You watched as Grayson sat on the couch wearing only his plaid pajama pants, starting at the black TV in from of him. When you made your way to him you gently placed your hand on his shoulder, careful not to scare him. He looked up at you, his eyes bloodshot and you could tell, even in the poor lightly, that he’d been crying.

“Gray? Love? What are you doing up?” You questioned as you sat beside him wrapping your arm around his shoulder. He opened his mouth to respond but simply shook his head as he buried his face in the palm of his hands, soft cries escaping his lips. You pulled him close and just held him letting him calm down.

“Gray baby what’s wrong?” You questioned gently as his cries subsided. He lifted his head to look at you and pulled you close to him.

“I’m so sorry… I’m so fucking sorry...”

“For what? You have nothing to be sorry for”

“Yes, I do…I fucked up… I made you believe you were worthless to me, that you were selfish and then I just left… I’m a terrible husband... I mean who the fuck leaves his wife in the middle of an argument like that and goes half way across the whole damn world refusing to even talk to her on the phone. I’m so fucked.” Gray speaks, voice cracking softly ever so often. This is the first either of you had spoken about the fight. In light of everything that happened you had thought you would just move on, but it was clear it was still a crushing reality.

“And I… I could have lost you Y/N…You could have died and the last thing I would have said to you would have been something so crushing, telling you you’re a burden, making you believe I hated you…I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself…” Gray whispers looking down at the ground ashamed. You sighed wiping away tears from your cheeks before cupping his cheeks in your hands and making him look at you.

“I didn’t die. I right here. I’m ok. We were lucky. If anything we should be looking at this as a second chance. We’re not finished. Our story isn’t over. I still have so much love to give you. I’m not finished with you Grayson Dolan. There’s so many adventures we still need to on, I still haven’t given you a baby yet, or taught you how to actually cook a damn meal. Yeah, you may be an ass sometimes, but you’re mine, so don’t you think for a minute I would die on you without kissing you one last time, or reminding you that your fans love me more than you...” You giggled sniffling softly at the joke. When you and Gray went public with your relationship the fans were so supportive and loving that Gray was constantly saying that they loved you more than him, so it became a running joke between everyone. It may be the Dolan Twin’s channel, but you were the star.

Grayson shook his head chuckling and kissed you softly. “I love you so much Y/N Dolan. You are the most caring selfless person I know and I have no idea how you can love me, but I thank God every day that you do.” Grayson smiled before kissing you passionately. You both cuddled on the couch for a while, neither of you tired anymore, just feeling content in each other’s presences.

The next day Grayson sat down with Ethan and their team and made sure the rest of the tour was canceled. Grayson and Ethan agreed they wanted more control over their work and had their managers and marketing team back off and those who didn’t were fired. After business was done, Gray and E sat down in front of the camera and made a video to the fans. They explained what had happened over the last few weeks and really opened up about their lives. They let the fans know that they would be taking a short break to focus on their family and when they came back they would start making content that they actually loved, and it would be on their own time and not just for the sake of feeling obligated to post. As the video came to a close Grayson talked to the camera about how important this was to them and how they hoped the fans could support this because this is how it should have been a long time ago.

“So that’s that. It’s been rough, but we’re figuring it out. If these past couple of weeks have taught me anything it’s that life’s too short to be worried about this kind of stuff or to be mad at people. You need to focus on the now, on this moment. Hug the people close to you and tell them you love them, because you never know when they’ll be gone. I’m lucky to be given a second chance to love unconditionally and uncontrollably. I wish I would have realized that sooner but I’m so grateful I have now. Life’s too short not to love. And please know we love you guys and we’re so grateful for all the continued support through everything. You guys are unreal. Thank you for everything… Until next time. Peace.”

#grayson dolan imagine #grayson dolan writer #grayson dolan fanfic #grayson dolan #the dolan twins #im new to this #imagines #fanfiction #fanfic

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parischangedher · 5 years ago

Text

This.

FF/Ao3. Season 17 promo spoilers. Integrates some ideas from posts about the reunion and how everyone will react. Hope you enjoy!

“Tony,” McGee said after his old partner answered the phone.

“Hey Tim,” Tony replied, distracted by his daughter’s voice in the background. “Hold on a sec--No, not now Tali. Go get ready and let me talk to Uncle Tim.”

Tali’s voice faded as she obeyed her father’s instructions. “Sorry. Can I call you back? We’re already late for school and I’m still packing her lunch.”

“No, Tony, it can’t wait.” McGee said, taking a deep breath. “She’s alive, Tony.”

Tony sighed. “Tim, I told you a million times that I don’t need to hear about these cases anymore. That part of my life is over. And, I really do need to get going. Speaking of Tali, though--don’t let me forget to tell you what she did to this kid bothering her last week. You’d be so proud. She could even be a star on those kid karate shows, you know, and I want to teach her some self-defense just in case, but I’m a bit worried because, well--”

“Tony, shut up!” McGee said, his voice a strange mix of excitement and annoyance.

Tony sighed, slightly intrigued as he continued making Tali’s sandwich. “Alright, McSerious. Calm down, I’ll bite. Who’s alive?”

McGee paused for a moment before answering, trying to find the right words.

"It’s...it’s her, Tony. It’s Ziva.”

The line fell silent as Tony’s jaw dropped. The knife he was using to spread Tali’s favorite peanut butter fell from his hand and clattered against the plate, suddenly incredibly insignificant.

He clutched the phone tightly in his hand as blood drained from his face. Feelings he’d long buried came rushing back, and his mind ran wild with questions and disbelief.

“Tony? Did you hear me?” McGee asked. “Ziva’s alive.”

Tony stayed silent, trying to form a coherent response as tears started to form. He covered his mouth with his hand as paralyzing surges of hope, anger, confusion, and guilt overwhelmed him.

“Tony, Ziva’s alive,” he repeated, growing increasingly concerned at the silence. “And, she’s in danger.”

Those were the magic words, apparently, because Tony suddenly stood up straighter with fire in his eyes. No one can hurt her again. He cleared his throat.

“I’m on my way.”

Tony hung up abruptly. Still grasping his phone, he crumpled to the ground in a small sob as the news finally started to sink in. She’s alive.

It was as if he was grieving all over again--but this time, grieving for the choices he made. For not staying with her in Israel or checking in with her for three years. For accepting that she was dead. For wasting so much time. Why didn’t I see it?

He was furious at her, too, of course. For not returning to DC with him and not telling him about Tali. And, now, for letting him believe she was dead for three years.

But most of all, he was overwhelmed with pure joy and the strength of his love for her. How, despite everything she put him through, he would do anything to see her one more time. He reached into his wallet and pulled her Star of David necklace from its permanent spot, fiddling with the pendant. He slapped his hand against the cabinet beside him as more tears slipped down his cheek.

Tali ran out of her room with her backpack in hand and stopped short when she saw her father on the floor.

“Abba, why are you sad?”

Tony looked up at her and laughed softly, finally letting himself see the love of his life in his daughter’s eyes. She looks just like her. He held out his arms and drew Tali close.

“I’m...I’m not sad, Tali. Well, I’m a bit sad. And mad. And guilty, like when you do something wrong. But, most of all Tali, I’m...I’m...very, very happy.”

"Why?”

Tony squeezed her hand. “I’ll tell you someday, love. I promise. But right now, we have to go see someone very special.”

+++

When it was all over, McGee offered to bring Tony and Tali to Ziva’s cabin. Gibbs’ house was still a crime scene, after all, and he knew they needed a place to work this out alone.

Ziva paced around the cabin, trying to calm her pounding heart. Although she had six years to think about what she would say to Tony if she ever saw him again, she felt completely unprepared to confront the man currently making his way to her. The man from whom she took so much. The man whom she treated terribly the last time she saw him. The only man who could render her speechless from just a glance. And, the man she loved more than any other.

She also had no idea how she would explain to her daughter why she left her with a stranger--even if he was her father--and ceased all contact for three years. A mission, perhaps?

A cold shudder ran through her as another possibility dawned: Will she even remember who I am?

Lost in her own thoughts, she almost didn’t hear the cabin door creak open. She turned quickly, involuntarily reaching for her weapon before finally, finally seeing him.

“Hello, Tony,” she said, the nervousness in her voice betraying her calm exterior.

He said nothing for a moment. He could only stare, not quite believing his eyes that she was really there, alive and standing before him, waiting.

Relief washed over her as he finally spoke.

“Ziva,” he said, her name feeling familiar yet out-of-place on his lips. He smiled gently and quickly made his way toward her, wrapping his arms around her like he was afraid she’d disappear again. “Oh, Ziva,” he repeated, his voice breaking as a few tears slipped down his face. He kissed her forehead before cradling her face in his hands.

“I can’t believe it’s really you.”

Ziva could only smile and nod, returning his embrace as a tear of her own started to fall. Tony wiped it away with his thumb.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

She shook her head. “No, Tony, I am fine.”

“Good,” he said before he ran his fingers through her hair. “God, I’ve missed you so much, Ziva.”

At that, Ziva glanced away as the guilt rose within her. “I know, Tony. I’ve missed you too. I am...sorry. I am so, so sorry.”

Tony rubbed her cheek softly, encouraging her to look at him. She met his eyes, silently begging him to forgive her for what seemed unforgivable. Her fear almost broke his heart. Again.

“I know that you did what you thought you had to do to protect Tali,” Tony said, his voice shaking. “But, Ziva...how you could you not tell me?”

After he was met with silence, he continued. “I would’ve been there, Ziva. I would’ve been there in a heartbeat. I wanted to be there--for her and for you. You didn’t have to deal with this threat and having our child--our child, Ziva--alone. You know I’ll always have your back no matter what. So...what happened?”

“I...” Ziva started, forcing herself to look at Tony. Her eyes pleaded with him to understand as she took his hand, interlacing her fingers with his. “I know. And I wanted to tell you, Tony. I did. It took a while for me to realize I was pregnant, and by the time I did the threat was already growing. It was...better for all of us if I didn’t make contact. Then, when it grew to be too much...I knew it would be safer if everyone thought I was dead. They would stop looking for her. So, I ran, and I sent her to you.”

“I know what it is like to lose both parents, Tony. I didn’t want the same for Tali. And I knew it was a real possibility with Zahar on the loose. When she was born, I promised her that she would have a better life than I did.”

She hesitated before continuing. “I also couldn’t stand the thought of something happening to you because of what I did all those years ago, if I had gotten you involved. I simply would not have been able to live with myself. So, I did what had to be done. I know it was a bit selfish, in that respect. But I was sure that it was the only choice I had. And, I honestly...I honestly did not think I would ever see you two again.”

“Neither did we,” Tony replied. Ziva stiffened at the words, her heart aching with regret.

“I get it--at least, a part of me gets it,” he said. “But I have to be honest here, Ziva. I won’t start whatever this is with a lie,” he said as he gestured vaguely between them. “The other part of me is still ticked. Your fake death almost killed me. I’m going to need some time. And more answers.”

Ziva's eyes widened with a mix of pain and hope about what he meant by this.

“But,” he continued. “I’m sorry, too.”

“You have absolutely nothing to apologize for,” Ziva said firmly. “I am the one who pushed you away. I didn’t tell you about Tali. I let you think I was dead, and I left you blindsided with a child you did not know you had. Please do not blame yourself for my mistakes, Tony.”

"I don’t. I blame myself for my own mistakes,” he said, rubbing his forehead. “I shouldn’t have left you in Israel, Ziva. I chose DC and all that crap over you. I didn’t check in on you. But mostly, I was a complete idiot when I accepted the idea that you were dead when I knew how well you are trained to disappear. Hell, I’ve worked enough cases to know that if there’s no body, there’s no proof. It’s crime 101.”

Ziva smiled softly and kissed his cheek. “We will get through this, Tony.”

“We must. Because I can’t lose you again, Ziva. I don’t care if I have to spend the rest of my life in some tiny South American village with no cell service,” Tony said, eliciting the laugh he adored so much.

“There are two mistakes I need to rectify immediately, though.”

"Yes?”

He didn’t answer right away. Instead, he took both her hands in his and gave each a soft kiss. A small shudder ran through her at the act, reminiscent of their time in the orange grove.

“Here’s the first: I will not let one more second go by without telling you. It’s actually on my bucket list,” he chuckled to himself.

“Telling me what, Tony?”

He took a deep breath before answering. No more wasting time.

“Telling you...that I love you, Ziva. I have loved you for years, and I will love you forever. When I said I couldn’t live without you, I meant it. I am a mess without you. I am hopelessly, hopelessly in love with you.”

His eyes bored into hers. He was scared. Half of him expected her to pull away, to end this before it even had a chance to begin.

A million emotions ran through her as she processed his words. Words she thought she would never have the chance to hear. Ziva moved closer to him and traced his jaw as a small smile formed.

“I love you too, Anthony DiNozzo. Movie references and all. I want whatever this is, too.”

Tony laughed and looked deeply into her eyes before he leaned down to meet her waiting mouth. Ziva wrapped her arms around his neck and returned the kiss as Tony snaked his arms around her back and pulled her closer. It was slow and soft at first, before it grew into something passionate and raw, full of pain and regret and hope and love. It marked a new beginning neither thought they would get, and they were determined to savor every moment.

Finally, Ziva pulled away as Tony moved to plant kisses on her neck. “What was the second thing?”

“Hmm?” Tony mumbled, now reaching her earlobe. Ziva couldn’t help but laugh. “The second thing you wanted to fix.”

Tony smiled and pulled back. “Ah. Yes. Well for that, I’m going to need a little help.”

He gave her one last peck before stepping away and opening the door, gesturing to the car. As quickly as she could, Tali ran from McGee’s grasp and into her father’s waiting arms.

“Tali, there’s someone here who wants to see you.”

Ziva’s anxiety spiked. She could barely hold back tears as Tali made eye contact with her for the first time in three years. She had gotten so big, so strong, and so, so beautiful.

Tali broke away from Tony and looked at her mother. She smiled shyly. “Ima?”

Ziva smiled and got on her knees to be at eye-level with her. “Yes, tateleh. It’s me. Do you remember?” She asked, praying to whatever God would still listen to her that the answer was yes.

Tali pondered the question, fingering the Star of David necklace she had around her neck. After a moment, she nodded and broke into a DiNozzo-esque grin.

Ziva grinned back and held out her arms, gesturing Tali over.

When the two met, Ziva couldn’t stop the tears she was holding back from streaming down her face. She gently rocked Tali, running her hands through her hair and whispering softly. “I love you, Tali. I am sorry I had to leave you. So, so, so sorry. Please forgive me.”

Tali started to pull back from Ziva--which nearly broke her. She then took something out of her pocket. “Abba told me that this is yours. I kept it safe on the plane for you, Ima.”

She opened her palm to Ziva, revealing her Star of David necklace. Ziva smiled and took it from her, replacing it with a kiss. “Thank you, Tali. I love it. And it’s just like yours!”

Tali giggled, again playing with her own child-sized star.

“Do you think you and Abba can help me put it back on?”

She nodded and looked at Tony, who came over and knelt down beside them. Tony took the necklace from Ziva and gently moved her hair out of the way before wrapping the chain around her neck. He easily clasped the necklace and softly stroked the back of her neck, placing a chaste kiss on her hairline. Ziva turned to face him and smiled. Her hand finally grasped the pendant she thought she’d never wear again.

“Thank you, Tony.”

He smiled and looked at Ziva and Tali. “It’s beautiful. Just you two.”

Tali grinned and reached for both of her parents, together, for the first time. Tony and Ziva smiled at each other before fully embracing Tali, staying that way before their daughter broke the silence.

“Ima! Abba! I am squished!” she yelled as she struggled to break free of her parents’ grasps. Laughing, the two let go. It felt like home.

Tony smiled and kissed his daughter’s head. “You better get used to it, kid. Because Abba and Ima aren’t going anywhere.”

#ncis #tiva #fanfiction #my stuff #ziva david #anthony dinozzo #tali david dinozzo #season 17 spoilers #my fanfiction

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fishfingersandjellybabies · 5 years ago

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(The Second) First Date - brood au

Characters: Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne, Damian Wayne, Jon Kent, Cassandra Cain, Conner Kent Pairing: superbat Summary: It’s a first date. Kinda. Maybe. Almost. A/N: Bruce has visited a few times between Whole and this. Dick, Jason and Tim are either doing some hero-ing or like, at jobs or something. I may write a part two about the date but not sure yet. Also shameless self-promo: money is tight! If you like what I do, or want to support me further, please check out this post to learn more about my Patreon, Ko-Fi, potential commissions and published stories! It’d mean literally everything. :)

Other Brood AU things.

Clark fixed his tie in the mirror, wondering if he was overdressing, or looked too…nerdy.

“So, I mean…” Damian hummed. Clark glanced at him in the mirror. He was flopped across Clark’s bed, staring at the ceiling. His cat was flopped across his chest, and Cassandra, who was lying against the pillows, had her feet dug under his back. “Did he call it a date?”

Clark snorted. “I mean…he didn’t say that word specifically, I guess.” He loosened the tie a little bit. “Why?”

“Well…I mean.” Damian repeated, but didn’t return his gaze in the mirror. “If he didn’t call it a date, then I don’t see why I can’t come.”

“…Damian.” Clark sighed, turning around. He glanced at Cassie. “Do you think this matches?”

Cassandra turned her head thoughtfully. “Hm…no. Too much.”

Clark nodded, and unknotted the tie.

“We talked about this, kiddo.” Clark returned his attention to Damian. “Bruce and I…just need to catch up.”

“So do we.” Damian pouted. “I mean…I haven’t seen him since I was a baby.”

“I know.” Clark swore. He glanced up when Cassandra lifted her hand, motioned for him to unbutton the top few buttons of his plaid shirt. “And you will. I promise, you’ll have full access to him.”

Damian looked up.

“Just…” Clark gave him a defeated grin. “Not today.”

Damian scoffed, and dropped his head.

“Like, okay.” Clark looked back to the mirror. “He didn’t ask me on a date, specifically. But he did ask me out. That’s the same thing isn’t it? The kids still call it that these days?”

“…I guess.”

“And besides. I just.” Clark sighed. “In case the conversations go…somewhere you kids shouldn’t hear.”

And Clark meant violence. He meant that they may start talking about Bruce’s traumas, the Court of Owls, the evil that kept them apart.

But sweet, innocent Damian took it to mean:

“I know about sex if that’s what you mean.” Damian informed him. “And I think Jason has condoms if you need them.”

Cassandra gasped a laugh and clapped a hand over her mouth. Clark felt the heat rising up his neck and across his cheeks.

“So, if that’s what you’re worried about then I think we’re fine.” Damian decided. “And that means I can come along.”

“No, Damian, it’s…” Clark laughed nervously himself. “Who talked to you about this?” He mumbled. He saw Cassandra shrug in the mirror. “Sorry, bud. Not this time. But soon. I promise.”

Damian huffed, hiding his face in Alfred’s fur.

“Well then if you two are going to bang then get a hotel room.” Damian murmured harshly. “Don’t come back here.”

“I am definitely having a talk with your older brothers…” Clark breathed. “Please don’t be too upset, kiddo.”

“Who said I’m upset?” Damian grumbled sarcastically. “…So what are you two planning to do?”

“Dinner, I think.” Clark said. “Maybe a walk before or after, through downtown. I don’t know. I don’t think we really planned anything.”

“Hm.” Damian responded. He peeked out over Alfred’s flank. “…Did you miss him a lot?”

“I did.” Clark returned softly. “Not as much as you though, I bet.”

“…Do you think you’ll get married this time around?” Damian asked. Clark blinked, and turned around.

“You didn’t get to…last time.” Cassandra agreed. “Maybe…maybe one of you propose today?”

“Ha! Not today.” Clark laughed. “But, I mean…never say never?”

Damian and Cassandra looked at each other.

“…Would you two…want us to get married?”

Cassandra nodded, and Damian shrugged.

“It’d make it easier for us, I suppose.” Damian explained. “Both dads under on roof. Everyone together.”

“What city?” Cassandra asked. “Bruce would…come here?”

“Well, maybe if we do propose to each other tonight, I’ll ask him.” Clark smiled with a wink. Then he leaned over, tickling Damian’s side, planting a kiss to his cheek as he squirmed. “Now, come on, I think I hear his car in Smallville.”

Bruce slowly pulled up the drive, glancing to the body sitting on the front steps.

It was Jon, his little elbows on his little knees and his little head in his little hands.

To anyone else, he’d just look like a bored little boy, but Bruce knew better. Knew that little boy was sitting on those old steps waiting specifically for him.

Jon sat up as the car came to a stop and the engine shut off, and stood as Bruce stepped out.

“Hey there.” Bruce smiled, taking off his sunglasses. He watched Jon take in his outfit – jeans, tshirt and leather jacket – and cross his arms.

“What are your incentives with my dad?” Jon demanded.

“My…” Bruce blinked. “Uh…what?”

Suddenly, the screen door behind Jon popped open, revealing Conner.

“Intentions, Jon.” Conner corrected with a laugh as he leaned against the doorframe. Jon looked back at him. “The word you meant is intentions.”

“Oh. Yeah.” Jon turned back to Bruce. “What are your intentions with my dad?”

Conner shrugged apologetically behind him.

“Well, uh.” Bruce chuckled. “I’d like to give him a nice, relaxing evening.”

Jon narrowed his eyes. “Why?”

“In appreciation.” Bruce offered. “For…for what he did for your brothers and sister, all these years. A night off, so to speak.”

Jon kept his suspicious gaze.

“Damian said it was a date.” Jon accused. “Is it a date?”

“Oh my god, Jon.” Conner cackled behind him. “Don’t be a brat, it’s none of your business.”

“Yeah-huh!” Jon shot back, twirling around. “Besides, Dad did this that one time someone came to pick Cassie up for a date, so who’s going to do it for him?!”

“I don’t know. Cassie, maybe?” Conner smirked. “Definitely not a nine-year-old, that’s for sure.”

“…Only if your father wishes it to be a date, I suppose.” Bruce tried to cut in. “I’m under no assumptions, Jon. I promise.”

Jon turned back and sighed. “Damian said it was a date for sure. When I asked him how he knew, he said he saw you two kissing in the kitchen that one time.”

Bruce felt his face warm. That first day, when they were all reunited. That moment they finally got alone.

Clearly not as alone as they thought.

“So. I just wanted to make sure.” Jon explained, almost haughty. “Be nice to my dad today. And every day.”

“I will.”

“Because he missed you a lot.” Jon reminded, like Bruce didn’t know. “And I…I just…”

Bruce waited, then encouraged, just a little. “It’s okay, Jon, you can tell me.”

Jon waited another moment, then glanced up, eyes a little misty, despite how brave he was trying to be. “…I just don’t want you to hurt him again.”

And of course – Bruce didn’t blame the kid. But oh boy, did that hurt. The fact itself, the fact that the children all knew.

The fact that the children – that this child, in particular – thought he might do it again.

“…Sorry.” Bruce glanced up to Conner, who had spoken. He looked embarrassed, a little, but also ashamed that he clearly agreed with his youngest brother. “He didn’t mean-”

“No, it’s alright.” Bruce smiled, though it probably came out awkward, a little broken. He crouched a little, to get on Jon’s level. “Thanks for taking such good care of your dad. I’m so glad you love him so much.”

“He’s the best.” Jon whispered sheepishly. “He’s the best dad in the whole world.”

“I know he is.” Bruce agreed. “And I promise you, Jon, I will do my very best to make sure he never gets hurt again, okay?”

Jon pursed his lips, and nodded.

But if Jon was going to say anything else, Conner cut him off before he could, by glancing back into the house. “Move, Jonno.”

Jon huffed in annoyance but did as he was told, jumping back up the steps to stand next to the door. Just as he came to a stop at Conner’s side, Clark appeared, followed like a mother duck by Damian and Cassandra.

Damian shoved past everyone immediately, stomping down the stairs and walking straight towards Bruce. Without a word, he wrapped his arms tightly around Bruce’s torso, burying his face in jacket.

“Hello, son.” Bruce murmured, ruffling Damian’s hair. “How you been?”

“Better.” Cassandra smiled. “Clark said he had to…” She trailed off, but pointed at the ground.

“I told him he couldn’t come with us this time.” Clark explained, trotting down the steps. “Sorry I’m late.”

“Perfectly fine.” Bruce grinned. “Gave me a lovely chance to catch up with Jon and Conner.”

Clark glanced back, to the still-pouting Jon and the snickering Conner whispering to Cassandra. “…Hopefully Jon didn’t say anything too…bad.”

“Only minor threatening. No big deal.” Bruce winked. “Just looking out for his pop.”

“Oh, jeez.” Clark ran his palm over his forehead, and adjusted his glasses. “I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be. It’s sweet.” Bruce glanced down at his own youngest, who still hadn’t let go. “…Will you feel better if I promise to stick around after?” Damian looked up at him. “I plan on staying until tomorrow, but can always extend my visit if you want me to.”

“…I guess.” Damian conceded with a long-suffering sigh. Bruce smiled as Damian finally let go, but took his face in his hands anyway, and kissed the boy on the forehead. When Bruce released him, Damian shyly ran back up the porch, standing next to Jon. They looked almost like twins, with their matching pouts and crossed arms.

“Don’t stay out too late.” Conner teased. “And text if you’re going to get a hotel or something instead of come home. You know, for…reasons…”

“Don’t even…” Clark spluttered. Flustered, he turned towards the passenger door of the car. “Bye, kids!”

Bruce laughed and waved, blowing a kiss to Cassandra as he ducked back into his car.

“I swear, they’re not normally like this.” Clark was already apologizing. “They are normally way politer and...just…”

Bruce kept laughing. “Well, I guess it’s not every day your dad – or your dad’s former boyfriend – comes back from the dead and asks your dad on a date, huh?”

“…You said the word ‘dad’ three times in on sentence.” Clark said instead. He fixed his glasses nervously.

“I did.” Bruce nodded, throwing the car in reverse and backing up. He straightened the wheel, glanced to the four still watching on the front porch, and put the car in drive. Then, he looked at Clark and smiled, holding out his hand. “You ready?”

And Clark, nervous, excited, and butterflies cage-fighting in his gut, smiled back and interlaced their fingers. It felt so natural, and like the last tens years where he missed the sensation never happened.

“Always.”

#superbat #clark kent #bruce wayne #Damian Wayne #jon kent #cassandra cain #conner kent #brood au

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deanie1987 · 5 years ago

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Mostly positive thoughts about Shameless 10x11 Location, Location, Location

This wasn’t my favorite episode of the season, but I really enjoyed it. As always, I wish we could have gotten a little bit more in the way of emotional scenes/real in depth dialogue, but clearly this is not the show for that anymore. But I’m going to be positive and there was a lot to like in this episode:

The general nonchalance and irritation with which both Ian and Mickey registered the fact that Terry was outside of the house screaming his head off. Then the fact that Mickey told him that he was irritating everyone LOL.

This episode was full of great line readings and one of my favorites was the way that Mickey said “I DEFINITELY love one.”

I thought Terry’s line “it does if it falls on a dick” was kind of funny. I’m not proud of myself.

I loved how Ian was trying to get Lip to talk about the move to Milwaukee and then trying to get Lip to talk to Tami about it as well. He mentioned it a couple of times and was trying to be supportive of the move. Either the self-help books he read in prison really helped or that boy has been in therapy and didn’t tell anyone about it.

Along those lines, I appreciated that Ian seemed a bit concerned about Lip and the move. He was clearly thinking about it and distractedly playing with his ring right after Lip left. It reminded me of when he was in prison and worried about Lip, Tami and the baby and the way he looked last week when Lip made his announcement. I don’t know if Cam does this on purpose, but it seems like he has different mannerisms or facial expressions for different characters. The way he smiles at Mickey or the softness of tone he uses for Mickey, for example, was different than the softness he used for Monica.

I loved seeing Mickey at home in the Gallagher kitchen and interacting with the various Gallaghers. It has been one of the things that I’ve wanted most this season and I’m trying hard (and pretty much failing) not to be bitter that it took until the second to the last episode of the season. The promo for next week and the thought of season 11 helps though.

Another great line reading with Ian’s “what is happening?” and literally every single facial expression that he had during all of the wedding vendor scenes. From the eye-rolls to the stunned expression to the warning glances to various shop clerks and finally trying to limp after Mickey on the way to the caterers and his increasingly exasperated YESes as Mickey barked out questions about the infamous chairs.

I liked Sandy in this episode. I liked her being on Mickey’s side and I like her offense at Ian’s seeming indifference and incompetence. She and Noel play off each other well. I loved the line readings of “I can see why you called me” and Mickey’s sincere “thank you.” My favorite thing, however, is the disdain that she and Ian seem to have for one another. When Mickey asked about Ian’s ring, the way that Ian kept glancing guiltily at Sandy as he answered made me laugh. He’s like, “not only do I have to deal with Mickey but now this judgmental bitch too.” LMAO!

As much as the groomzilla stuff was played for laughs, I loved that Mickey took all of it extremely seriously. He has opinions about stuff, he’s clearly done his research and he wants the best for his big day. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if he has thought about his wedding day with Ian before. He knows what song he wants, he can envision how it looks and I love that he is focusing on the “atmospheric” stuff like candles, music, flowers, etc., rather than the more practical stuff like food and drinks. Mickey is an artist after all.

I wasn’t sure how to feel about Mickey as Groomzilla when we first saw the preview but I totally get it now, and as per usual, Noel played every between the lines note perfectly. Mickey seemed unbothered by Terry after their altercation but his increasing stress level and emotion was palpable. After everything it took to get himself and Ian to this point, obstacles keep getting thrown in his way and by the time they’re sitting at the Alibi he is overwhelmed and anxious. Noel conveyed both the humor of the situation (I cracked up everytime Mickey threw down his pen in annoyance and every time that he shot Ian an exasperated look). But he also conveyed the anguish that Mickey must have felt as he tried to do something meaningful and joyous and NORMAL. People in love plan wedding everyday, why can’t Mickey? Why does everything have to suck?

And I appreciate the patience that Ian had with him and the way that it slowly dawned on him that Mickey really did care about all of the wedding stuff AND that he was more affected by his dad than he was willing to admit. And I liked that he was willing to indulge Mickey on his plans but also gently remind him of why they were there. Because they’re Mickey and Ian.

I will admit that I am not a Bon Jovi fan and I often run my car off the road trying to turn the radio station should Living on a Prayer or Dead or Alive come on. I also don’t reeealllly believe that of all of the hair band power ballads that Mickey could choose from he would pick a Bon Jovi song. BUT I will admit that the lyrics do fit and the scene itself was sweet. The singer was terrible but that somehow made it better. As cute as Ian’s gesture was, I was still a little underwhelmed. Maybe it’s just that seeing Ian so much more expressive toward Mickey is still new to me and I notice it more, but I sort of felt that Noel underplayed this scene just like the proposal. Or at least the version that made it air. I wanted to feel more from this scene than I did. Is it just me? I think it might just be me. And it makes me a little nervous for next week because I really want tears and heartfelt vows and not misdirected emotion and 100% shenanigans.

As for everyone else, Liam was better this week. I’m so glad that the show remembered that he is only a ten year old kid, who misses his siblings and his father. I don’t know if the actors who played Debbie and Carl were better at that age or if it was the writing or a combination of both, but I still don’t feel for Liam the way that I felt for them for whatever reason and I wish I did.

I didn’t mind that Lip, Ian and Mickey let him ride the L to find Frank on his own because Debbie was running a daycare at that age, Ian was 4 years away from having sex with his boss and god knows the kind of stuff that Lip and Fiona were dealing with at that age. They shield him and encourage him where they can but he’s one of Frank Gallagher’s kids and in their view, he should be able to ride the L by himself to the nice side of Chicago without holding anybody’s hand. The fact that Lip told him to check in once he got there is probably more than any of the other kids got at that age.

Lip getting cold feet makes perfect sense to me as did all of the reasons he gave Tami. Lip doesn’t ever want to leave the Southside of Chicago. That has been hammered into our brains since season 1. He says he does and I think a part of him WANTS to want to leave, but he doesn’t really. He has always liked being a big fish in a little pond and he has always liked succeeding without having to make an effort. That’s who he is and his story with Tami could really be interesting, because for the first time, he has a real reason to try to work things out with a woman who is “forcing” him to better himself. And he has a reason beyond himself to want to do it. It is an organic and interesting dynamic and I hope it goes into season 11. I also see Tami’s side as well. I like her and I like her with Lip and I think that the actress is good enough to go toe to toe with JAW. All of this makes me very happy.

Frank’s screen time continues to be ridiculous. How many times did we need to see Frank walking nervously down the hallway looking for a ghost. I didn’t even hate his scenes this episode but there were soooo many of them in a time when that time could be spent elsewhere.

I’m glad Carl is trying to do good, but I don’t care. Debbie looks good in that tux, but again, I don’t care. Kev’s line reading of “do you even lift, bro” was funny. Vee looked incredible doing her plank on the keg. But...you guessed it...I don’t care.

The promo for next week looks INCREDIBLE. I have a tiny bit of hope that outside of Lip, the majority of the storyline will be the Gallaghers trying to white trash the shit out of this wedding and I hope that everyone will be involved. There is a lot of plot to move on that score and there are some things that I really, really want to see happen in the next episode (which I will probably post about later), so I’m trying to keep my expectations low.

#Shameless 10x11

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murderousbitcha · 5 years ago

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indie faith lehane of btvs / ats

est. 10, july 2015, adored by char ©

#btvs rp #indie btvs rp #lucifer rp #tb rp #twd rp #( have some more of my annoyance | self promo )

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jae-bummer · 6 years ago

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Do it, then Decide

Request: Could you do an enemies to lovers thing with changkyun please (I’m totally loyal to jooheon don’t think anything of this) :))))))

Pairing: Monsta X’s I.M x Reader

Genre: Angst/Fluff

You kept your fingers tightly locked to your lips as you clicked intently on the photoshop window before you. Hiding any remnant of a laugh, a smile finally started to turn the corners of your mouth before a small amount of hissing giggles escaped from the back of your throat.

This would really get him.

“You have dishonored me!” a deep voice bellowed, shaking you from your daydreams of disaster.

Looking up quickly, your eyes grew wide, and you dropped the hand you had been holding to your mouth. Hurriedly returning back to your screen, you minimized the window you had been working out of and returned your attention back to the man in front of you.

“I’m sorry,” you said quietly. “I don’t understand?”

He took a deep breath before slamming a piece of paper onto your desk and rolling his eyes. “I challenge you to a duel!”

“Duel?” you asked, lifting a brow. With cautious fingers, you picked up the sheet of paper and bit your lip, if only to contain the threat of more laughter.

Ah, it was your latest project.

“What’s wrong?” you asked innocently.

“What’s...what’s wrong?” he croaked. “What’s wrong is you put the Monsta X logo over my face, AGAIN.”

“Oh!” you gasped in mock shock. “I hadn’t even noticed! Well, you see, there’s such little real estate on the edge over here and-”

“And?” he interrupted. “This is the third promotion you’ve done this. I’m starting to think it’s a conspiracy against me.”

“You honestly have such a sense of self importance, that you think I’m going out of my way to do this?” you gasped.

“Self...self import-” he began, hardly even letting the words slip from his mouth. He lifted his hand, pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose, and let out a dissatisfied hiss.

“Chankgyunnie!” a rough voice coughed from down the hall. You watched in amusement as several other members of Monsta X came sprinting up. “Changkyun, what are you doing?”

“I told you, I won’t stand for it any more!” he gasped, stomping his foot. You tilted your head, watching the show before you.

Self important brat.

“Our manager said he would handle it,” Wonho whispered through clenched teeth. He glanced your way, turning the clench into an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry. I’m sure this has all been a huge misunderstanding.”

“Misunderstanding!” Changkyun pouted. “I told you, this isn’t the first time and I dare say it won’t be the last!”

“Ah, our youngest, so dramatic,” Shownu chuckled nervously as he clapped his hand onto Changkyun’s shoulder. “Come, we have practice.”

“I’ll be back,” Changkyun muttered, pointing his finger at you. “And that’s a promise.”

You watched with wary eyes as the three boys stumbled down the hall. Only after they turned the corner, you allowed yourself a small smile.

It wasn’t that you didn’t like Changkyun. You quite enjoyed his music, and in general, you championed most StarShip artists simply because you worked for their Marketing department. He, on the other hand, had just never been someone you had gotten to know, or enjoy being around.

He was odd. He was abrupt. And more often than not he said things that rubbed you the wrong way. As humans, we always look for someone or something to complain about, and for some reason, he had become one of your favorites.

You loved to hate him.

And even then, hate would be a strong word. Changkyun had become a casual annoyance to you over the years. The member who could never quite find the same angle as all of the others in a photoshoot. The one who stood out a bit too far from the group when editing photos.

He annoyed you and you didn’t even really know him.

“What just happened?” your coworker whispered above your cubicle wall. “Half of the women in the department had to take a bathroom break. Apparently idols are walking about.”

“Nothing notable enough to mention,” you sighed.

“I heard shouting,” she hummed. “Shouting seems notable.”

“Just an idol temper tantrum,” you murmured, pulling back up the PhotoShop window you were editing, grinning to yourself as a sun ray blocked the majority of Changkyun’s face.

Really, he did it to himself.

Leaning back in your chair, you sighed as you joined yet another Monday morning meeting. Your team often met like this to strategize on upcoming projects or discuss any difficulties you had been experiencing.

This week though, you were surprised to see a few fresh faces not usually associated with your department.

They worked for your company, sure, but you would categorize them in the department of...celebrity.

“Some of you may be wondering why we have a few artists in the room this morning,” your supervisor hummed, motioning over to the individuals most of you had only seen in the promotional work you had done. “This morning we have our Mad Clown, Monsta X’s I.M., and Soyou.”

A quiet round of polite applause circulated the room before you chanced looking up, feeling the heat of Changkyun’s focus on you. Giving a small smirk, he shot you a wink before looking back toward your supervisor intently.

You weren’t sure if he was trying to be a smartass or if he had completely lost his mind.

“Due to...recent events,” your supervisor continued. “We have been encouraged to work more closely with our artists, even bringing them into the creation process. That being said, each team, or team member will be assigned to work with specific artists. This includes both you, as members of the Marketing team, shadow these artists, and in turn, have the artists shadow you, as you create their promotional material.”

You rolled your eyes before leaning your head back on your chair. Of course this was Changkyun’s brain child.

“Now, as for assignments,” he continued. “The green team will be assigned to specifically work with K.Will, Soyou, and MadClown.

Blue group will be working with Boyfriend and Monsta X. Y/N, it has been requested that you work closely with Changkyun, so you can walk him through the editing and production process-”

“How? How is that allowed?!” you groaned. “He knows nothing about graphic design! He wouldn’t know a new ad campaign if it hit him in the face!”

“Like the Monsta X logo in the past three comebacks?” he chuckled.

“I think it’s healthy for our artists and business staff to collaborate,” your supervisor nodded. “Makes them aware of the process and makes you aware of how hard they work and deserve to be represented. That way, small mistakes like this will quit slipping through the cracks.”

“Why can’t he just slip through the cracks,” you groaned, covering your face with your hands.

“Y/N?” your supervisor asked, lifting his brows.

“I gratefully accept the challenge,” you croaked, not even bothering to dignify Changkyun with eye contact. “I look forward to working with you, Monsta X I.N.”

“I.M.,” your supervisor corrected.

“That too,” you hissed. “Next point please.”

For the following weeks, you were left to do just as your supervisor instructed. In your free time, you found yourself at Monsta X shoots, promotional activities, and show recordings. You begun learning the ins and outs of what it took to really be an idol.

But you still took no joy in being around Changkyun.

Just as he had previously, he had managed to only confuse you more. His quirks were on display daily for you to analyze, and he almost never appeared at your desk to shadow you as was expected.

If anything, your resentment grew as the days passed.

That was until...things seemed to change.

Just as you had given up all hope on this experience teaching you a lesson, you were in the midst of submitting a new editing project to your supervisor when you felt a breath on the back of your neck.

“Was the ray of light across my face really necessary?” Changkyun’s voice hummed thoughtfully. “Granted it does make the highlight pop on Wonho’s cheekbones.”

“I thought so too,” you said quietly, trying to remain even in tone. Your heart felt as if it would beat from your chest. In general, you weren’t a fan of people standing behind you, let alone the person you had so diligently edited out of your work.

“How about,” he continued. “Instead of using the photo where you can’t see my face, we pick a different one. Just a suggestion.”

“I think I’m the professional here,” you murmured, your finger hovering above the mouse, ready to send.

“And I think I’m the artist you’re supposed to be humoring,” he chuckled. “I know I may sound a little egocentric here, but I didn’t endure being a trainee, before being bullied on a reality show, to not get my face on a dumb poster.”

You sighed before shrinking into your chair, removing your hand from the mouse. “Well...when you put it like that.”

“Look, Y/N,” he sighed, his hand hovering over the arm of your chair before he retracted it to his side. You had never realized how awkward he was, how conscious he was with every movement. Swiveling your chair, you glanced up through your lashes to make eye contact with him for what seemed like the first time. “I know that we have this weird...whatever it is going on between us, but I’m honestly too exhausted to argue.”

“...should I get you a coffee?” you said quietly with a wince.

“I’m life tired,” he chuckled. “On top of regular tired.”

“So...coffee and a nap?”

He laughed again before looking away. “Let’s just make this work, okay? We’ll push out a badass promo, and everyone will call us the dream team, and then we’ll be co-employees of the month, and we’ll get our face on a plaque in the hall.”

“Is that a thing?” you questioned, tilting your head.

“Probably not, but it went with my pep talk,” he grinned. “Now let’s start by picking a photo that has my face actually on it, yeah?”

“I’m telling you, add a purple accent,” he hummed, resting his chin on the back of your chair.

“And I’m telling you, it’s going to wash out Shownu,” you muttered, squinting at the screen. You had been at it for hours, and most all other staff had gone home, Changkyun though, remained by your side.

“Just try it,” he asserted. “If you don’t like it, we can take it out.”

“I like how you conveniently use the word “we,”“ you chuckled.

‘Of course by we, I always mean you,” he grinned. “You are the one who pulls the weight in this relationship.”

Relationship.

You gulped, trying to keep your eyes on the screen. You knew he meant it innocently, but the last few weeks had gone surprisingly well between the two of you. You had no idea you could grow to enjoy the attention of someone who had previously gotten under your skin by simply existing.

“What’s that?” he murmured, pointing to a flurry of warnings appearing at the edge of your program.

“I’ve never seen that before,” you whispered, furrowing your brows. “I don’t think-”

You slowly trailed your mouse across the screen, searching for the save button, just as the screen turned blue.

You leaned back in your chair and rubbed at your temples. You couldn’t believe it. Everything. Everything you had worked so arduously on had been blue screened.

“I can’t -” you whispered, trying to choke back tears. “This was...this was.”

“What happened?” Changkyun asked quietly from behind you. His hand hovered over your shoulder, unsure of what he should do to help.

“Everything crashed,” you croaked. “I lost all of the work we’ve been doing and...” You couldn’t finish the sentence. The amount of trouble you were about to get in with your supervisor was monumental.

You turned around, finally allowing the tears to hit your cheeks. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

Changkyun furrowed his brows, his expression showing he was deep in thought.

After a few moments of silence and stifled crying, Changkyun finally let out a squawk. Looking up in alarm, you gasped as he grabbed your wrist, and yanked you from your chair.

“What?” you squeaked as he drug you down the hall.

“No time to explain!” he huffed. “Come on!”

“Yes time to explain!” you groaned. “Changkyun, you’re going to rip my arm from it’s socket.”

“Oh,” he hummed, his cheeks instantly turning a darker shade. He slipped his fingers between yours as if that would solve the issue before he began to tug again.

You rolled your eyes, but quietly smiled to yourself.

After being drug out of the building and the better part of two blocks, you finally reached another building that Changkyun began to pull you in.

“For the thousandth time, where are we going?” you complained. “I really hope you’re not taking me to some wiseman who is going to perform some sort of spell to magically get my files back.”

“Why would a wiseman live in my apartment building?” Changkyun clucked. “Sometimes you just don’t make sense.”

“Me?” you gasped. “The scenario I just described is literally something that I have heard you say verbatim.”

“No wise men today,” he murmured, launching up the stairs. “Just I.M. saving the day.”

“I.M. saving the day?” you huffed, your legs jelly from keeping up with your companion. You had ended up on the third floor before he finally released you from the stairwell and into a hallway. Rushing to one of the ornate apartment doors, he tapped a code into the handle and pushed in.

“I hope everyone is clothed!” he called into the home. You only had a moment to look around before he pulled you along again.

“I’m really getting sick of being tugged around,” you moaned. “What are we doing?”

“Looking for something...” Changkyun muttered, disappearing into what you assumed to be one of the bedrooms in the apartment. You cast a curious eye at your surroundings, noting the modern furniture, and lack of team members inhabiting the residence. “Are you coming to help?”

“Right,” you nodded. “Looking for something I don’t even know about.”

“This!” he gasped, emerging from the room with a wide grin on his face. Taking your hand in his again, he flattened your fingers before placing a small, square piece of metal in your hands.

“An external hard drive?” you grunted.

“Yeah,” he smiled shyly. “After helping you...I started to get curious about how to work the programs you were using. When you went on bathroom breaks...I synced files to this bad boy. It won’t have the changes we made this morning...but it’s some-”

“CHANGKYUN!” you screeched, gripping the drive, and feeling tears in your eyes again. You jumped forward, wrapping your arms around his shoulders. “I could kiss you right now!”

Burying your face in his neck, you hummed with happiness as he wrapped his arms around your waist.

“If I continue doing helpful things...” he said slowly. “Do I get more offerings of kisses?”

You leaned back, resting your hands on his shoulders as you looked at his face. Lifting your brows, you felt your neck grow hot as you stared at him. “If...if that’s something you’re interested in.”

You saw his cheeks grow flush as his eyes began to dart around your features. “I mean...it’s not, uh, the worst idea someone has presented to me.”

“Oh?” you managed.

“Yeah, I mean, you should hear the ideas that come out of Minhyuk’s mouth,” he grinned. “But I mean...I’m kind of the go to guy for bad ideas.”

“So...you say this isn’t the worst,” you hummed. “Does that still mean it’s bad?”

“Well,” he managed, biting his lip. It was difficult for him to keep eye contact at this point, but he was desperately trying. “We should probably do it, and then decide.”

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snowbellewells · 5 years ago

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Self-Promo Sunday: Do-Si-Dos and Tagalongs

(This is a little one-shot originally written for Halloween a few years back, prior to season 7 airing. I know that Halloween has passed, but only by a couple of days, and so I thought I would bring this little bit of mischief and fluff back. I suppose we might call this a sort of alternate s7 headcanon fic, looking at a bit of domesticity that might have happened had everyone stayed in Storybrooke post s6. Enjoy!!). I have attempted to use a “Read more” break - I hope it worked on mobile. If you prefer this fic can also be found on AO3 and ff.net in my “Of Swans and Swords and Hopeful Hearts” collection.

Summary : Emma stumbles into a bit of a household mystery, leading right back to her pirate husband and a very sweet reward for everyone.

“Do-Si-Dos & Tagalongs” By: @snowbellewells

It all began with little Robyn, as it often did, and her wisps of untamed auburn hair framing her face, with that mischievous, gap-toothed six-year-old child’s grin and twinkle in her bright, beguiling eyes – both features that never failed to remind those who had known him of her late father and the bit of roguish bandit his smile never quite lost, even after settling in modern day Storybrooke. She had come to the two-story house Emma, Killian, and Henry had called home for some five years, with a platter full of cookies and tarts, nearly three months past, beaming and incredibly proud of herself as she presented the whole thing to the Savior, her pirate husband, and their Author son, whom she merely called “Auntie Emma”, “Uncle Killy”, and “Cousin Henry”, as a ‘thank you’ to the three of them for helping her to corral and coax her erstwhile little black cat Mac back home when he’d gotten out of the house and made a beeline for trouble, just as his young mistress often did. Regina and Zelena both trailed after her, doing their best to look bored and unconcerned with the proceedings, hands in pockets of tailored coats and matching sisterly arched brows challenging anyone to assume otherwise.

It was Regina who had shrugged sardonically when Killian exclaimed over the deliciousness of the crisp, chocolate Thin Mints, “No need to get so excited, Pirate. We just over-ordered from the Girl Scouts.”

There had been a whole, long explanation required of Emma from her inquisitive Captain once the Mills sisters and their pint size charge had gone. ‘What were Girl Scouts? Why did they sell cookies? How does one procure such delicacies? Which flavors were the best?’ and so on. For the moment, however, Emma had not been able to do more than giggle to herself at her dumbstruck husband smiling affectionately at the little girl and her gift, crow’s feet crinkling adorably beside his eyes – not to mention Robyn beaming back at him. She had sneakily managed to snap a couple pictures of the whole thing with her iPhone before Killian realized, and though Henry had seen what she was up to and smirked knowingly, he had refrained from giving her away.

Emma hadn’t thought much more about the little episode since. As was always true of Girl Scout cookies (and homemade Enchanted Forest-style apple and cherry tarts too, she was quickly learning) the plate of goodies hadn’t lasted long. Henry, fully a teenager and having recently taken up track at Violet, Grace, and Nicholas and Ava’s urging, (‘His own little crew!’, the perpetual loner Emma had been all through her own school years kept crowing happily inside) ate enough for the three of them combined, Killian had the most ridiculous sweet tooth she had ever seen, and she was rapidly discovering her own weakness for warmed up baked goods of all kinds on a chilly Fall evening. Never in her life had Emma been so settled and comfortable in one place for so long, and she couldn’t deny that she was savoring it. So when her favorites, the Do-Si-Dos, Henry’s preferred Samoas, and Killian’s Thin Mints all vanished by the end of that week, she was disappointed to find their surprise treats gone, but not at all shocked. Nothing seemed strange in fact, until she went to dig through her purse where she always kept five or ten bucks worth of dollar bills tucked away for impulsive buys, and instead found nothing but empty space.

The first time, she merely shook her head at herself; confused, but figuring that she must have snagged something at the gas station counter the last time she filled the Bug and then forgotten to replenish her stash. But it kept happening – a second, third, fourth, and even fifth, time. The radar which used to serve her well as a bail bondsperson tracking down skips in Boston had been set off and her suspicious nature engaged. A strange little mystery had presented itself in her house by the sea – and Emma Swan was determined to get to the bottom of it.

[[MORE]]

Henry was her first suspect, as she thought he might have just figured he was getting a quick advance on his allowance to take his friends for Cokes and cheese fries at Granny’s after practice or something like that. Yet, after watching her son for just a couple of days – and his allowance payout coming and going without him offering to pay her back – Emma ruled him out as the culprit. That only left her sneakily playful pirate husband, and honestly she should have known it was him without even having to test her findings.

Emma wasn’t sure how Killian was managing to swipe his loot right out from under her nose without her being able to catch him at it, and she was even more puzzled by what he could possibly be buying so often that she never saw a trace of, but then, she had never doubted how slick he was, and he’d had centuries to perfect his skills.

The whole little intrigue carried on for nearly another month before Emma finally got the lucky break that spoiled Killian’s secret. She came home early from the station one afternoon; her dad having arrived a couple hours ahead of his own shift to give her a break, and as she turned the corner onto their street – though theirs was really the only house on it as the land began to roll down toward the harbor – she saw Killian closing the door behind him as he disappeared back inside, while Robyn with one of her little Girl Scout buddies in tow hopped down the front steps and out through the white picket fence onto the sidewalk, the two of them giggling together conspiratorially as they did.

Pulling up beside them, Emma parked her car at the curb quickly and hopped out to catch them before they could get far. She met the girls at the sidewalk, and for a moment wasn’t sure whether to crouch down at their level playfully, or to cross her arms and give them her ‘Mom’ look to get the answers she suddenly sensed she had found at last. She went with arms crossed authoritatively over her chest, eyebrow cocked expectantly, not wanting to consider the fact that she must look like some sort of blonde cross between her own schoolteacher-princess mother and Robyn’s Aunt Regina when she meant business. All she said was, “What brings you two here?” with a hint of a jest in her words, even though her stance clearly expected an answer.

Robyn had the decency to flush and look a bit nervous, her eyes falling to study the squeaky-clean saddle shoes she always wore with her Girl Scout uniform, before snapping her eyes back up to the Savior’s with a smile that would have done both her snarky mother and her charming outlaw father proud. ‘Oh yeah,’ Emma thought, she was definitely seeing a bit of Zelena’s formerly conniving streak now. “Nothing really,” the girl tried brightly. “Laney had just never met Captain Hook before, and so I told her it was no big deal, we were tight, and brought her over.”

The other little girl said nothing to confirm or deny Robyn’s claim, though her awkward shifting from side-to-side easily spoke for itself. Not that Emma would have mistaken her for the ringleader of whatever shenanigan was playing out here anyway; that had her unofficial niece’s fingerprints all over it. “That’s all, huh?” Emma questioned, making her tone clearly convey her doubt.

Zelena’s little troublemaker she might be, but Robyn had a penchant for stepping into mischief that was all her own and everyone knew it. When Emma didn’t budge, it only took a few more awkward seconds of stare down on the sidewalk before the little schemer cracked. When she spoke again, it was with the sincere tone of Robin Hood, legend of Sherwood Forest, which she confessed. “Oh alright, fine! You caught us! But it was just too easy not to try!”

“Wait…what was too easy?” Emma questioned, momentarily more confused than she had been, tapping her foot on the concrete and giving the youngster an even more searching look. “What are you talking about?!?” she pressed in near exasperation.

It was at this juncture that Robyn’s little pal lost her nerve and deserted the cause, clearly not having signed on to face questioning by the Sheriff-Savior. She blurted out an excuse about her mom waiting for her, blushing and stammering as she did, and then turned tail and ran.

“Fraidy cat,” Robyn muttered in disgust, the curled lip and glower she adopted as she crossed her own little arms in annoyance reminding Emma so strongly of the now reformed Wicked Witch in her heyday that for a moment she almost burst out laughing at the expression on such a tiny face, completely ruining the serious stance she was trying to hold.

“Okay, Robyn,” Emma sighed, once it was just the two of them. With a guiding hand on the little girl’s shoulder, she walked them back toward the front porch, taking a seat on the steps with her. “Let’s have it – the truth this time. Whatever you’ve been up to, it can’t be that terrible. I’m not really mad, just ready to get to the bottom of this little mystery.”

Robyn heaved a large sigh, dramatically aggrieved as only a little girl could be, and then finally started talking. “I just wanted our troop to sell the most cookies – and your husband’s such an easy target. You know that, right? I mean, I figured it out weeks ago when we brought you guys those ‘Thank You’ treats – Mom, Aunt Regina, and I… remember?”

Emma nodded, thinking back over evening meals since then, when Killian hadn’t eaten much and she had questioned if he felt alright, only to have him say he wasn’t very hungry; occasions where she had offered to make cookies and he had evasively insisted she needn’t trouble herself on his account, and again to the odd disappearance of her random bits of spending money. She was putting the pieces together even before Robyn finished coming clean.

“Your pirate just can’t resist us,” the kid shrugged, looking only a little bit sheepish now that she was caught, but not really sorry. “I don’t know if it’s the outfits, or little girls with big pleading eyes needing help, or if he just really likes our cookies, but every time I bring a new member of the troop by with boxes to sell, no matter how often we show up, he buys some more. It’s like he can’t help himself. And hey, who am I to complain?”

Emma snorted indelicately, struck by Robyn’s cunning and ingenuity, along with the sheer ridiculousness of the entire situation. Shaking her head in both disbelief and begrudging affection that wouldn’t have him any other way, Emma wondered mildly for a few seconds how she hadn’t known this was the case from the start. ‘Fearsome pirate of the seas,’ she mocked in her head, ‘bested by a bunch of cute six-year-olds with baked goods.’

Knowing that she shouldn’t simply let Robyn off with being so opportunistic and sneaky, yet not really sure what to do about it either, Emma merely gave the little girl a wry smile and light one-armed squeeze to her side with a gentle remonstrance. “Well, it’s not like you’ve really done much harm – except to my pocketbook.” She did frown just a bit there, and Robyn looked genuinely contrite. “But no more, okay? I don’t know where my pirate has been stashing his loot, but he has to be almost out of room. We’ve made our contribution to the Girl Scouts for the year. Got it?”

Robyn nodded dutifully, and though there was no judging the mischief that her hurricane “niece” could get into, Emma sensed that she understood the game was up.

Ruffling Robyn’s hair, Emma felt a momentary pang in her chest, picturing Henry at that age and wondering what he had been like and if he had been as playfully ornery as well. Having her son with her now, the relationship they had forged, and the family they’d become was incredible – so much more than she had ever thought she would have – but things happened occasionally, striking her at the oddest times and there would be a melancholy moment or two of wishing she could take a portal back in time to re-live what she had lost with her son, who would be grown up and ready to leave them all too soon.

As if sensing her change in mood, Robyn reached out her little hand to lay it on Emma’s arm. “Aunt Emma?” she asked softly, her voice as hesitant and concerned as it ever got. “Are you alright? Your eyes got kinda funny and far away.”

Shaking the bittersweet reflections from her mind, Emma gave Robyn another gentle smile. “Yep, Trouble, I’m fine. Just got sidetracked for a minute.” She stood and pulled Robyn up playfully beside her. “Now, you’d better go home before it starts getting dark. We’re good, okay? Don’t worry. I am gonna have to call your Mom and talk to her about this, but I imagine if you don’t pull any more get-rich-quick schemes, we’ll all just put this behind us.”

“Okay, Aunt Emma,” Robyn agreed, bouncing back to her usual chipper self and past the anxious moment with a child’s usual resilience. She gave her honorary auntie a hug around the waist, which Emma gladly returned, and then set off toward Zelena’s little house a block over.

“Go straight home and get there safe!” Emma called after her in parting, to which she saw Robyn nod smartly and wave back over her shoulder. Emma watched her until the little girl rounded the corner at the end of the street and out of sight.

Turning, Emma opened their heavy oak front door and slipped into their home soundlessly, hoping if her luck held, that she just might catch Killian unawares with his prize. What she got as she stood in the entryway, flabbergasted and mouth hanging open, was not quite what she had expected at all. Standing almost directly across from her, frozen before the door into the cellar that until now they had both skirted around and almost never opened – demons purged, but still not eager to loose painful memories – looking both startled at patently guilty, was her husband. Caught red handed, Emma’s inner voice supplied smugly.

“Why, hello there, Love,” Killian finally greeted, trying for suave and “turning on the smolder” as Emma had often teased him in calling it since showing her pirate Tangled and delighting in his resounding approval of Flynn Rider. He would have succeeded too, if she hadn’t known him as well as she did. “You’re home early.”

“Yep,” she stated simply, popping the ‘p’ sound as he often did in his own speech and immediately causing a change in his demeanor, alerted that she was onto his subterfuge. Emma pushed away from the door and stalked toward him slowly, the heels of her boots on hardwood the only sound in the quiet foyer as her gaze pinned him in place – turning all of his usual methods back on him and loving it.

“Would you like to tell me what you’ve been up to?” she queried, her voice practically a purr as she reached out a finger to run lightly through the chest hair peeking out of his overly undone shirt collar and batting her lashes seductively at him, as if she really were some blushing damsel in his original realm.

“Why – uh – whatever do you mean, Swan?” he tried, an equally over-the-top stab at guileless innocence on his face and in those stunning blue eyes, even as she also saw him swallow hard and scratch nervously behind his ear, the one tic he couldn’t seem to rid himself of, no matter how much a dead giveaway it was.

“I mean,” Emma murmured silkily, eyes narrowing as she leaned in even closer to him, nose almost brushing against his and her breath hot along his collarbone as she practically licked her lips while studying her quarry. Granted, her own pulse had skyrocketed at his close proximity, but she was more pleased to revel in the way her husband squirmed nervously under her hungry gaze. “You’ve been discovered, Pirate. Your supplier ratted you out.”

At that, Killian huffed out a low breath, eyes falling as he gave a slight chuckle and shook his head, having known his wife would eventually get to the bottom of what he had been doing, and almost relieved to have the secret out in the open. He truly had not meant to gather such and collection of the things anyway, but he simply could not bring himself to say no to the adorable miniature females in their sharp skirt and vest ensembles, and by this point, he was pretty sure they knew it and kept arriving at his doorstep on purpose. At any rate, Emma might have his head at the amount of money he had pilfered from her and spent needlessly, but surely they would enjoy the spoils, if nothing else. At length, with a short dip of his head in a resigned nod, Killian answered, “Aye, I figured she might at some point.”

Emma couldn’t help cracking the tiniest smile, the whole thing so silly, so domestic, so normal, and nothing like the trials they had faced ever since meeting one another and the secrets they once held back for fear of losing the other they had fought so hard to find. She shook her head, leaning in to rest her forehead against his, simply enjoying the warm comfort of his skin on hers and the soft texture of his hair where her fingers had delved in at his nape. “You’re hopeless, Babe… You know that, don’t you?”

“As you say, Wife,” he agreed good naturedly, his voice low and mumbled against the shell of her ear, making her tremble helplessly to the point of being weak-kneed, the stern composure she’d been trying to hold long gone.

“Well, let’s see this stash of booty you’ve stored up,” she prodded, curious now just how many boxes of Girl Scout cookies he had managed to amass, and anxious to tease him just a little bit more about how he had been so taken in.

Sighing with mostly pretended reluctance, Killian took her hand and led her back down the cellar steps behind him, into the once dark room she had not ventured to for some time. Once there, to her amused shock and surprise, right up against the bars where she had once, while possessed by the Darkness, bound Gold as a prisoner, were stacked boxes and boxes of every type cookie the Scouts sold, nearly reaching up to the ceiling. There was nothing else to do but burst into a fit of helpless giggles, and when she did, leaning into her husband’s side to stay upright, Emma felt his shoulders shaking as he joined in.

Never again would she look at this space and see nothing but lonely dark and a depth of despair and hate. Unintentional though it might have been, Killian had placed a whole new memory front and center.

They ended up bagging the cookies in half dozens and giving them out to very happy trick-or-treaters the next week on Halloween night.

And if they enjoyed feeding the remnants of the last couple boxes to each other in bed… well, that was their own delicious secret no one else need know.

Tagging: @whimsicallyenchantedrose @searchingwardrobes @kmomof4 @jennjenn615 @let-it-raines @resident-of-storybrooke @winterbaby89 @laschatzi @linda8084 @thislassishooked @therooksshiningknight @thisonesatellite

#self promo sunday #cs ff #cs family fluff #alt s7 one shot #do-si-dos amd tagalongs

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porkchop-ao3 · 6 years ago

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Unpicking

Here is another character study type fic that nobody asked for, this time mostly focusing on Tailor Rick. This one delves into his back story, his marriage to be precise. It’s a little angsty... But I.C makes an appearance towards the end for some fluff :)

Some fics that I reference in this include this masterpiece by @hoodoo12, and this one by myself that is NSFW (this one was mentioned real subtly but what’s the harm in some self promo, huh?).

5.5k words. Enjoy!

Tailor and I had been going non stop all weekend. He'd been nominated for an award at a men's fashion event, and it'd been non stop dinners, networking events, talks, presentations, cat walks, interviews… all sorts. He wasn't doing well, I could tell that much. Despite his fame, Tailor really didn't 'do’ people. He liked to keep to himself, being surrounded only by people he trusted and could tolerate; but this weekend he'd been hassled by hundreds of people he didn't know from Adam and I'd watched him get more and more agitated as the event went on.

He didn't even seem to cheer up after he'd been announced as the winner. He was brought up in front of a crowd, expected to give a speech. When the time came, he walked up to the microphone and said;

“I'm not one for long speeches, and I know none of you really want to sit here and listen to me thanking a bunch of people who I supposedly wouldn't be here without…” He'd started wistfully, everyone in the crowd was rapt, hanging on every word as he stared at the etched glass plaque in his hands. We were all expecting a 'but’, followed by an inspirational outpouring, someone so articulate such as Tailor would surely leave a lasting impression!

“So, thank you for the award.”

Then he just gave a nod, and walked off stage.

There was an awkward stretch of silence. I began to clap, and as social cues were hard to ignore, so did everyone else.

And now we were in an almost empty bar, far from the event (not even on the same planet), and Tailor was necking glass after glass of whiskey. I was still on my first glass of wine, unable to keep up with him even if I tried. I'd attempted to make conversation, but he was responding in grunts and nods, clearly exhausted. If not physically, mentally. So now I was quiet, enjoying the music playing in the background. It wasn't like music from earth, it was more tinkly sounding and didn't have any lyrics; just this constant, calming burring sound that changed in pitch with the beat.

Tailor made me jump, slamming his hand down on the table to push himself up. I noticed him swaying on his feet, but he managed to get himself over to the bar to order another glass. I frowned. What was with him? He'd won an award, had been showered in praise and congratulations all weekend. Surely he was at least a little bit happy? Instead he was looking like he was drowning his sorrows.

When he came back and slumped down into his chair, he leaned his head in his hands, staring down into his glass boredly. I leaned forwards on my elbows and looked at him for a while before deciding to speak.

“Hey.” I said quietly. He didn't even react. “Everything okay?” I asked.

“Everything is perfect.” He told me.

“Then why've you got a face like a slapped arse?”

That got his attention. His gaze snapped up to me, a frown creasing his brow.

“I'm just having a quiet evening, okay? Leave me be.” He grumbled, his voice a little slurred but still stern as usual.

“You don't look happy.”

“I'm not particularly happy.” He admitted.

“Why's that? Aren't you pleased about your award? The prize money alone must be good.” I asked tentatively, keeping my tone careful; I didn't want to set him off.

“Money is inconsequential.”

“Oh.” Was my pathetic response. What was I to say to that?

“Sure, I'm pleased I won. Though it was a no-brainer. I'd have been offended if any of the others had won over me. It'd be an insult.” He murmured, though it sounded like he was talking mostly to himself. “I'm just sick of being pestered. I never started this to acquire fame. I d-don't particularly want it.”

“I get that.” I nodded sympathetically and he narrowed his eyes.

“Do you, now?” He hissed in annoyance. I thought about it for a moment, and shook my head.

“Well, no, but I understand why it would bother you.” I corrected myself. Despite being by Rick's side for most of the event, nobody had batted an eye at me. I couldn't comprehend being actually famous, the center of attention, the object of a whole crowd of people's undivided admiration.

He grunted an unaffected, wordless response and swallowed down half of his drink.

“Why don't we go back soon, hmm? Just get in bed and sleep it all off. It's done now and we're going home tomorrow.” I suggested.

“You wanna go? I c- I can portal you back, no problem.” He replied, his expression never shifting from a combination of boredom and irritation.

“No, it's okay.” I sighed, if he was going to drink himself stupid, I thought it best I be here to help him get back. Not that I had a clue how to work his portal gun.

We fell into silence again for a long time, and I finished off my wine. Tailor seemed to be taking this glass of whiskey a little slower, for which I was grateful. I picked up a coaster from the table; it looked incredibly familiar in that it was cardboard and reminding me of the kind we had back at home in the pubs. Stained and dog eared and advertising alcohol; though there wasn't a Fosters logo in sight. This was all in a foreign language I couldn't understand. Still, it reminded me of home, and I wondered if that's why Tailor picked this place of all pubs in the universe.

“They asked me about my marriage.” Tailor broke the silence and I was startled into looking at him. “At- at that interview this afternoon, the one you weren't allowed in for.”

“Your marriage?” I repeated.

“Yes. Y-you are aware I was married, aren't you? Six years.”

“Yes, I know. You've never really said a lot about it, though.” I nodded slowly, my attention completely grasped by the topic. I had always wondered about his marriage, but never dared ask.

“Hmm. Well in that interview I- I-” He stopped and sighed. “It was the first time I simply didn't know what to say.” He admitted.

“That's okay. You don't owe anyone answers about your private life.” I said leaning my cheek on my fist as I watched him twist the ring on his middle finger.

“While that may be true it- it caught me off guard. I told them I wouldn't be answering anything like that and they moved on, but it completely cocked up the rest of the interview. I couldn't answer anything properly, I-I-I just sounded like a blithering idiot, stumbling through my words.” He heaved a sigh and slumped back in his chair roughly, his body going lax in a way I'd never seen before. He looked startlingly like any other Rick I'd ever seen, no longer holding himself with his particular brand of poise.

“I'm sure it wasn't like that; we tend to remember things being much worse than they actually were.” I tried to reassure him but he flicked his hand at me, waving away my response.

“That isn't my point, dear.”

“Oh. What did I miss?”

“Nothing. I suppose I am just surprised and irritated by how much it affected me. It was such a small thing, a thoughtless question that I was under no obligation to answer. And yet I…” he was spinning his ring again.

“I don't know anything about your marriage, but whatever happened, it's understandable that being asked about it at such an unexpected time would be jarring. Don't beat yourself up. Your marriage… it’s personal.”

He looked at me for a while, his brow arching in mild worry; he very rarely showed any emotion on his face other than annoyance, and it was weird. His bottom lip twitched once, twice, then he cleared his throat and picked up his glass, finishing off its contents.

“My marriage. You wanna hear about my marriage? P-put it this way.” He lifted his hand, the back of it facing me. The gold band around his middle finger caught my eye. “I s-still wear the ring as a reminder to never, ever do it again.”

My face must've betrayed my surprise, and I continued to stare at the ring even when he lowered his hand.

“But not on your ring finger.” I observed.

“Absolutely fucking not.” He seethed, narrowing his eyes. I could feel his bitterness permeating the atmosphere, and I couldn't help but pity him despite knowing the last thing he wanted was my pity.

“I think we should go back to the hotel.” I said. I was expecting him to lash out, but instead he nodded his head. He searched around in his inside suit pocket to retrieve his portal gun, then hauled himself to his feet unsteadily. The man was hammered, I'd seen him tipsy before but never like this.

He fired the portal gun at the nearest wall and slowly made his way through it; I followed close behind, poised to act if he stumbled. It was pretty sad, actually, seeing him in such a state. Tailor always carried himself with so much dignity and class, he never appeared anything but perfectly composed, it was difficult to swallow watching him stagger across the floor of our shared hotel room to collapse face first on his bed.

“Christ, I am fucked.” I heard him mutter into his pillow.

“Yeah, don't puke in here cause I'll use your credit card to book out a room at the Ritz for myself.” I warned, deadly serious. He grunted in response. “Take your shoes off. And your tie, I don't want you strangling yourself in your sleep.” I added, slipping my own shoes off and leaving them by the door.

He sighed heavily and pushed himself up just enough to wriggle out of his suit jacket. He let it drop to the floor, soon followed by his tie. I picked them up for him, knowing he'd freak out if he found them like that in the morning; that was if he wasn't too hungover to notice. I hung them up in the wardrobe for him, then turned to watch him attempting to remove his shoes. He was on his back, and when he lifted his leg up, his hands missed his foot once or twice before he managed to get ahold of it. Eventually he managed, throwing both shoes over the end of the bed. I sighed defeatedly and made my way over to my own bed.

There were two single beds in the room, placed a couple feet apart. Tailor'd been pissed about that when we arrived, complaining that we might as well be sharing, but he didn't seem to care anymore. I took a seat on my bed, leaning up against the headboard with my legs stretched out in front of me. I looked down at my toes, wiggling them back and forth to try and stretch out the arch of my foot; we'd been on our feet practically all weekend and they were aching terribly.

“I wanna dirty kebab.” Came from beside me, startling me a little. I thought he'd fallen asleep.

“A dirty kebab.” I repeated incredulously. Copious amounts of shredded, reformed lamb drizzled in thick garlic mayonnaise, perhaps with a little salad and wrapped up in a pitta bread, served in a yellow polystyrene tray… was not exactly the type of meal I pictured Tailor ever going near. But then, everyone had to treat themselves once in a while…

“I could see if they're still doing room service?” I suggested, searching around for the menu they'd given us amongst the pile of papers on the bedside table; all itineraries and leaflets we'd collected over the weekend.

“Th-they won't be. But I want a kebab, I-I-I'm craving doner meat.” He slurred, rolling onto his side to face me. His hair was messed up, his shirt ruffled and unbuttoned down to his chest… my stomach seemed to drop at the sight. I'd never seen him look anything like that and I was ashamed to realise that I felt a seed of something frighteningly close to arousal blossom in my gut.

So, sue me. Blame it on the fact that with the messy hair he looked just a little more like my boyfriend; I.C.

“What do you want me to do about it?” I asked, quirking a brow.

“Call them. C-call down to reception and tell them to bring us one- two. I'm not eating alone.” He instructed, regaining just a smidgen of his composure and let's face it; his authority over me.

“Will they even do that?” I questioned.

“Sure they will. They'll have some useless gorm go out and fetch it, tell them to charge whatever they want for it a-and the delivery.” He murmured, sitting up and mimicking my position, leaning against the headboard.

With a sigh I picked up the phone. I suppose it was far better to just do it myself than insist he do it if he wanted it so much… I dreaded to think what he'd be like speaking to hotel staff drunk. He was rude enough sober.

To my surprise the hotel staff were extremely accommodating, and had no trouble agreeing to the odd request. Though I did wonder what figure would come up on the bill. While we waited we put the TV on and sat staring numbly at it, mostly in silence until, surprisingly, Tailor broke it.

“S-so how're things with Mr. Whippy?” He murmured. He didn't really seem interested in my answer, but he rarely seemed interested in anything and I now just chalked it up to his mannerisms.

“I.C? He doesn't know what that nickname means, by the way. He's always so confused…” I mused. Bless him, the adorable man. “But things are fantastic. They always are, he's a sweetheart.”

“You mean you haven't told him what it means?” He questioned, then rather uncouthly snorted. “Good, don't. He looks cute when he's confused.”

“Oi.” I warned, turning to narrow my eyes at him.

“What? I-I-I can't compliment your boyfriend? Don't worry, my dear, I'm not interested in stealing him from you. H-he's too nice for my taste. Bit of a doormat, I presume.” He explained monotonously, rolling his eyes at me. “But I do see what you see in him. That little bow tie is just darling.”

“Damn right it is. He's the cutest thing ever.” I said, twisting my fingers in the bed sheets below me with this weird sense of frustration… maybe it was because he wasn't here and I wanted him to be.

“Besides I think you two are good together. As much as I can't stand to be around you two when you're acting like you do… perhaps I'm just a little happy for you. You seem to have found happiness in each other and not many people manage that. Well done.” He told me dryly, like he wasn't even taking notice of the words coming from his mouth.

“Oh, I don't know. I'd say it's pretty common. Lots of people are in relationships.”

“Relationships don't equal happiness. You'd be naive to think everyone in love is as happy as you are.” He retorted a little scathingly. “You're one of the lucky ones, don't forget that.”

I looked down at my feet and pressed my lips together, uncomfortable and not sure how to respond. I didn't bring this up, Tailor did. I heard a sigh coming from beside me, then a rustling sound as he rolled over to face me.

“H-hey. Don-don't listen to me. I didn't mean to make you feel bad just for being happy, okay? Ignore me. I'm just a bitter old bastard who didn't have it so good.” He slurred. I glanced over at him, taking in his forlorn expression, the down turned edges of his mouth and his furrowed brow.

“Do you want to talk about something? I know you- you've mentioned some stuff before and I get the impression you're kind of dripping all this information because you…” I paused, taking a breath and considering the best approach. “Because maybe you want someone to listen.”

“No. It's fine. I'm fine, forget about it.” He grumbled, rolling onto his back.

A knock at the door signified the arrival of our food, and I got up to answer it since it didn't look like Tailor was going to. The smell of doner meat hit me as soon as I opened it, and my mouth began to water. We hadn't eaten much all day, just snacks since breakfast, so I was ready to demolish anything. After a short exchange with the hotel staff, I closed the door and handed Tailor his box of cholesterol. I would've sat at the little dining table in the corner, but when I saw Tailor was happy to eat in bed, I just shrugged and joined him. He was one of those people who somehow managed to pick up the whole thing inside the pitta bread and eat it like a sort of sandwich. I always had to use a knife and fork, my hands were too small and I'd end up wearing more than I ate otherwise.

Our earlier conversation hung in the air, and I wasn't exactly sure how to shift the mood. If Tailor didn't want to talk about it then that was up to him, but I couldn't help but feel a little sad; I knew just from looking at him that he wasn't happy. All this stuff bottled up from his marriage clearly had him hurting, and as his friend I felt powerless to cheer him up when I didn't actually know what the problem was.

I'd managed to get garlic mayo down the side of my hand, and was licking it off when Tailor spoke.

“Alright. I suppose I can trust you with this information. Lord knows I know enough about your relationship, you flaunt it enough.” He rambled, staring straight ahead at the TV.

My mouth was full and so I simply waited for him to continue. It took him a while, but he did.

“My marriage dissolved a long time ago now, before my business really took off. At the time I was working out of an old laundrette; bit of a shit heap, really. But that's besides the point. Di- My wife. She… wow, she was something.”

A small smile formed on my face as I watched his expression change at the thought of her. It was softer than it usually was.

“She had me wrapped around her talon.” He snorted, that softness gone in an instant, replaced with resentment. “Fucking bitch, sh- she- God, I loved that woman like nothing else. Would've had my knob chopped off if it meant she'd smile; hell, she probably would've. She'd have been doing the chopping.”

The room went quiet, save for a thud in his tray when a piece of doner meat dropped from the pitta bread he was holding, but not eating.

“Six years we were married. We had the wedding when she was pregnant; everyone at the ceremony knew that was why it was happening. But I was over the moon. Maybe I knew she'd never marry me otherwise, I thought I was lucky, that the universe was being kind to me by having her fall pregnant.” He sighed, dropping his kebab back into the box and leaning back, deciding to just pick at the meat instead. “I don't know, maybe that was selfish of me, being happy about the fact she was trapped between me and our kid. I should've seen it coming really.” He muttered.

He didn't continue for a long time; so long that eventually I felt the need to prompt him.

“Seen what coming?”

“Isn't it obvious?” He questioned dryly, glancing over at me. My blank expression gave him his answer. “I came home to her bouncing around on top of some sweaty fat bastard in our bed. Stupid, dumb whore.” The poison in his voice was palpable, and I recoiled. I had to remind myself that he was well within his rights of insulting her in such a way.

“Rick.” I said softly. I didn't know where I was going with it, but I didn't need to go anywhere cause he spoke again.

“Then it turned out she'd been doing it from the start. Fucking other men left and right, before we even had Beth. Sh-sh-she was so fucking honest about it too, like she had no shame. It was people I knew, half the time. Fuck!” He slammed his head back into the (luckily) cushioned headboard. “I'm surprised I n-never fell into that gaping hole of a cunt of hers.”

I felt a little sick, suddenly losing all interest in food.

“An-and for a while, I didn't even know if Beth was mine.”

“What?” I hissed. Somehow, that was the most shocking thing I'd heard.

“She wouldn't let me have a paternity test, wouldn't tell me if she knew. That nearly- shit, I've never said this out loud before, b-but that nearly killed me. To this day, I don't have any physical evidence. The only reason I believe she's mine is because I found other Ricks. Y-you know most of them have Beths, right? Your boyfriend does, doesn't he?”

I nodded my head.

“So unless all Dianes are cheating slags, well… well Beth's gotta be mine.”

“I'm sure she is. Either way, though, you're the man who brought her up. She's your daughter no matter what.” I said softly. He didn't respond verbally, he just sighed and plopped another chunk of meat in his mouth. “Where is she now?” I asked.

“Fuck knows. Last I heard she'd moved to Spain with her new fella.” He told me boredly. “Even Beth hasn't seen her for years. I'm glad about that; at least she hasn't managed to turn her into a poisonous clone of herself. My Beth's a princess.” He mused quietly.

“Does she take after you?” I asked, a little smile forming on my face as I tried to steer the conversation more positively.

“Thankfully, yes. She's got a good head on her shoulders, she's a vet, you know?” He explained, and I nodded. Just like I.C's daughter. “For a while I wished I'd never met Diane but then I wouldn't have Beth. It might've screwed me up royally, but at least some good came of it all.”

“How did you meet her, if you don't mind me asking?” I questioned and he glanced over at me. He looked at me silently for a while before deciding it was safe to answer.

“Sh-she was a client of mine. She was a bridesmaid at a wedding and they all came to me for the dresses. I thought as soon as I saw her that she was the prettiest thing I'd ever laid eyes on. I should've known. Nobody's that attractive without being a total cunt.”

I winced again at his language.

“Is this why you told me you don't date clients?” I asked, remembering when I had my dress fitting with him, right after we first met. Tailor snorted.

“I told you that because I had to tell you something, and – I’m completely terrified of women – just didn't seem to cut it.” He admitted dryly.

“Is that true?” My eyes widened. Tailor terrified of anything just didn't seem to compute in my mind. He sighed.

“What do you think? Did you ever see me responding to the countless come-ons from women this weekend?”

“Well, no. I thought you thought you were better than them.” I replied, causing him to scoff in mild offence. “I never thought it was cause you were scared of them.”

“I'm not scared of women in the sense I'd run away from them, screaming at the top of my lungs. I just don't trust them. Quite frankly I think the majority of them are evil. My mother included. Present company…” he gave me a suspicious look. “Possibly included. I haven't decided yet.”

“Huh. Well I guess that makes sense that you'd feel that way. And for the record I hope you don't decide I'm evil and toss me out of your life.”

“Why's that? So you can slowly destroy me from the inside out?” He cocked a brow. I couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

“No. Cause I've grown to like you, and I consider you a friend.” I told him seriously. He gave me a brief dirty look, then turned to his kebab.

“Well I suppose I can divulge that my estimated odds of you being a soul sucking she-demon are only at around twenty percent.”

“I love you too.” I smirked. We fell into silence again and each of us finished off our kebabs. I took his trash from him and binned them both. He was laying with his eyes closed, his head tilted back and up towards the ceiling. “Are you going to sleep? Shouldn't you brush your teeth and get changed first?”

“One night won't kill me. I'm fucked.” He murmured.

“Alright.” I shrugged. I wasn't his mother.

I peeled my socks off and tossed them onto the floor and shimmied out of my jeans. Tailor had seen me in my underwear multiple times during dress fittings and such, so changing into my jammies in front of him didn't bother me in the least.

“Rick?” I said, before he could fall asleep. He hummed in acknowledgement. “Thank you for telling me.”

“Telling you what?” He tiredly mumbled.

“About your marriage. It's nice that you opened up to me, even if I couldn't exactly say or do anything to make it better.” I explained. He hummed again.

“Well, I'm drunk and sad and I overshare when I g-get like this.”

“It's okay. I won't bring it up when you're sober.” I promised, pulling on the oversized t-shirt I wore to bed.

“Much appreciated.” He opened his eyes and sat up a little. “Next time we drink together, I'm getting you totally rat-arsed.”

I snorted. “Yeah, I'd like to see you try. When's your next sesh?” I asked.

“I’m planning on heading back to that bar I dragged your whining ass to before. The one with the bar-lady who quite clearly wanted a slice of your boyfriend.”

My eyes narrowed at the thought and I hmphed in response.

“But I'm not extending the invitation to you. It's quite the Rick hotspot and I need to get myself laid. It's been a while.” He admitted to my surprise.

“Wow. We're real open tonight.” I observed.

“Well it's like you said. You won't bring it up when I'm sober.” He said – no – warned. “Shut up and turn everything off, will you?” He grumbled, rolling onto his side and flipping the duvet over himself.

“Fine.” I sighed, turning the TV off, then the light. I fumbled my way towards the bathroom to brush my teeth. “Night, Rick. See you in the morning.” I called behind me.

I was used to his non-verbal responses, and smiled when I saw him waft his arm dismissively in the dark, letting loose an irritated grunt.

…

It was good to be home. The journey back Tailor was acting his usual self; nothing of the night before had been mentioned. I knew that would be the case, so it didn't come as a surprise and I certainly wasn't about to be the one to bring it up. Tailor had put his trust in me; opened up and told me his pain and that took a lot. So quietly I felt closer to him; and despite his silence on the subject I could feel a slight change in him. He appeared a little more relaxed around me, and it was nice to see.

He'd dropped me off at my home and left with a simple nod as his goodbye, and I told him to drive safely. A statement he always rolled his eyes at like I was an overbearing mother. Thankfully his sarcastic responses had died down over time.

When I entered my house I.C was already there; I'd been expecting him, but it still set my heart racing when I laid eyes on him. I wordlessly crossed the living room carpet and climbed onto his lap, sitting sideways and wrapping my arms around him, burying my face in his neck.

“Tell me about Diane.” I whispered to him. His ex wife was someone who had come up in a number of conversations since we'd been together; it was to be expected, she was the mother of his daughter. Still, I didn't know an awful lot about their relationship, and I was curious now more than ever.

“Diane? Wh-why'd you want to talk about her?” He asked, completely befuddled.

“I wanna make sure she treated you right.” I explained, leaning back so I could look him in the eye. He chuckled softly at my reasoning.

“She did. She's a nice lady, perhaps one of the nicest I've met.” He admitted, looking down at an invisible spot on my chin. “But she wasn't my forever. And I wasn't hers.” His shoulders lifted and gently dropped.

“So your divorce wasn't a bitter one?” I asked, tilting my head as I played with the hair at the nape of his neck.

“Oh, not at all. W-we parted mutually when we realised that being together was only holding each other back from what we wanted to do. I wanted to travel a lot for my business, she wanted to stay put, she hated that I was all over the place. Never wanted to come with me or anything, so towards the end we barely spent any time together.” He trailed off, looking back up to my eyes. “So we realised we were incompatible and simply moved on as friends.”

“Do you still talk sometimes?”

“Occasionally, but we both have our own lives now, really the only thing we have in common now is Beth. When we see each other, it's when doing something for her or the grandkids.” He explained. “She's still dear to me, of course. She always will be, but like I said. She wasn't my forever.”

“What is your forever, your business?” I questioned. He laughed at some silent punchline.

“Baby, I hope you're joking.” He smiled.

“No, why? Your business is everything to you, you've put so much into it-”

“I'm hoping that it's you, truth be told.” He interrupted. “I'm no spring chicken, I'm getting to the point where I just want to enjoy the rest of my life with my favourite person, and that's you. So, as far as I'm concerned, you're my everything. For as long as you'll keep me.”

I blinked at him. Rick and I's relationship had blossomed rather suddenly, and falling for each other had taken no time at all. Things just flowed between us, it all fell into place. So in a way, I wasn't surprised by what he was saying. Conversely and somehow at the same time, I was completely and utterly surprised. He just came out and said it so easily, didn't stutter once. Sometimes it astounded me just how open and honest he was, never scared to share his feelings. I thought about it for a moment and realised that was a big part of why I loved him.

“I'm not planning on tossing you out anytime soon. I think I kinda like you.” I mumbled in response, feeling my face heat up as I struggled to deal with his words. He smirked in amusement, then pressed a kiss to my cheek.

“I’m glad.” He whispered. “God, it's good to have you back. I'm starting to resent that guy for keeping you away from me.”

“Don't go too hard on him.” I giggled.

“I th-think we need to work out a schedule between us; for how many hours he gets versus me. I'll have more, of course. I have boyfriend priority.” He told me and I snorted, shaking my head. He grinned and leaned in to kiss my neck, his goatee tickling me like it always did.

“Or maybe I need to get a second job being your assistant.”

“Hmm are you sure that's a g-good idea? Remember last time?” He pulled back to give me a meaningful look. My thoughts immediately turned to the time I tried making an ice cream cone in his truck, and promptly blushed.

“Good point.” I nodded. He licked his lips, his expression turning just a little flirtatious.

“We'd never get any work done but it sure would be fun.” He said, his tone low and rumbling in my ears so wonderfully. I shuddered.

“I should probably stick to juggling rolls of fabric for Tailor.” I chuckled.

“Maybe it's for the best.” He agreed. “As long as you can put up with me turning up as soon as you clock off every day.”

“Hmm, I'm sure I can deal with that.” I nodded, leaning in for a kiss before my huge smile had a chance to fade.

#rick and morty #rick sanchez #rick sanchez x reader #my ocs #ice cream rick #tailor rick #oc ricks #fanfiction

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shirohcsbecausewhythehellnot · 6 years ago

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Nurse Shiro

Prompt: “hi there! your writing is so beautifully detailed and well written, it captivated me immediately! i was wondering if you could write something (head-cannons, one shot, whatever!) about how shiro would take care of his s/o that suddenly came down with a really bad cold/illness?? like, on queue dizziness, confusion, coughing, faintness, all that good stuff? cured with fluff. you can play with this however you want, i just really love your writing. thank you so much!<3″

Thank you so much for this sweet message! It really made my day when I checked my notifications! This blog is only three days old and I’m already getting messages like these! You guys are honestly the best!

Fandom: Voltron Legendary Defender

Pairing: Shiro x Reader

Genre: Fluff

Word Count: 1,296

Warnings: Just some light swearing sprinkled here and there. Not much to shield the children from.

You were tired and in pain. Your body was in that constant state of “sleepy, but not sleepy enough”. And your head was in so much pain that you wanted to sleep for the next ten thousand years. It was the type of headache that sent a sharp pain if you moved your head the wrong way, or laughed, or sneezed, or coughed. And there was a lot of the last two. It had been a day after you and the paladins came back from an ice planet where it was rumored to be a Galra hideout. After hours of searching in the cold, you found nothing and returned to the castle empty handed and with the worst fever ever. Shiro forced you to stay in bed until your temperature was back to normal. And because you couldn’t sleep, you were bored out of your god damn mind.

The door to your bedroom opened and you looked over to see Shiro walk to you with a bowl and a damp towel in hand. You gently laid your head back down on your pillow and closed your eyes.

“If that isn’t aspirin, I don’t want it.” Your voice was raspy and your throat was extremely sore. A cough escaped you and you let out a quiet ‘ow’ from the pain of both your throat and head. You heard Shiro chuckle lightly at your words as he removed the warm towel from your forehead and replaced it with a much cooler one. He removed the sweaty strands of hair from your face and tucked them behind your ear. You sighed in relief.

“Unfortunately, no. They don’t have Earth aspirin in an Altean castle.” He replied, emphasis on ‘Earth’. “I have, however, come bearing soup.” You opened your eyes slightly and looked at him warily.

“Who made the soup?” Shiro rolled his eyes.

“It’s just soup. Do you honestly think I’m that bad of a cook?” You opened your mouth to mention how he once blew up an omelet (neither one of you entirely sure how that was physically possible) but decided against it and went for the more pressing matters.

“Shiro, who made the soup?” You repeated. He sighed.

“Hunk made the soup, okay? Better?”

“Much.” You replied and quickly sat up, regretting it immediately due to a splitting headache that appeared from the quick movement. You felt a wave of dizziness wash over you but pushed through it and took the soup from Shiro’s hand. He handed you a tissue box and you took one gratefully. “Thanks, Nurse Shiro.” You said teasingly before you blew into the tissue. He smiled at you with pride.

“You say that as if it were an insult. That is a compliment in the highest order. Nurses are our unspoken heroes.” You let out a quick laugh then a long, painful moan as another sharp pain ran through your head. Shiro sat down at the edge of your bed and gently rubbed your back. You took a spoonful of soup and sighed as the warmth spread through your body. You quickly finished the bowl and handed it to Shiro as you lied back down. Shiro picked up a dry towel and dabbed the sweat away from your neck. You looked up at him gratefully and mumbled out a quiet ‘thanks’.

“Is there anything that you need?” He asked you softly as he ran his fingers through your hair.

“Death and/or sleep.” You muttered. “Either one would be much appreciated.” You leaned into his comforting touch. Maybe sleep was an option after all. Your hopes and dreams shattered when you let out a giant sneeze and the force of that, plus the feeling of what could only be a bomb let loose inside your head woke you. Your head and eyes were throbbing and you let out a loud groan of pain and annoyance. Shiro bent down to give a little kiss on your nose and continued to stroke your hair.

“I’m afraid giving you death is beyond my jurisdiction but I’ll gladly give you sleep. He nudged you a little to the side of the bed and laid down next to you.

“What are you doing? You’re gonna get sick.” Shiro just chuckled. He rolled over to his side to face you and supported his body with his arm.

“Well, then why don’t we speed up the process?” Before you could answer, Shiro bent his head down and kissed you deeply. You looked at him with wide eyes after he had detached his lips from yours.

“You’re gonna regret that, you know?” You warned. He only smiled.

“I’ll take my chances.” You rolled your eyes and snuggled into him with a sniff and he wrapped his arms around you. Sooner then you anticipated, you found yourself drifting away into sleep.

Two days later, your headache had completely disappeared and your fever had gone down considerably. Shiro, on the other hand, was quite the opposite. He had gotten your illness and it seemed to be worse for him than it was for you.

“I told you you’d regret it.” You sighed as you dabbed the sweat off of him and laid and damp towel on his head. His eyes were closed as he let out a quick laugh and then winced as his headache reappeared.

“The day I regret kissing you under any circumstance is the day I die.”

“You probably will,” You replied teasingly. “or at least, prefer it.” A grin spread over Shiro’s face as he opened his eyes to look at you.

“I can’t really deny that.” You hummed in amusement as you slowly propped him up to hand him some water. “What, no soup?” He teased. You rolled your eyes as he finished his glass in two gulps.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get your soup. I’m just letting it simmer.” He handed you his empty glass with a confused expression.

“You’re making the soup?”

“Yes, Shiro. Because unlike you, I don’t start fires when I’m in the kitchen.”

“It was one time.” He defended.

“That I’m aware of.” You walked out of your shared room to return the glass and retrieve a bowl of soup. You headed back in to see him in the same position as you left him and gave him his bowl. He looked at you mischievously.

“Feed it to me.”

“You’re not a baby. You’re a big boy. Feed yourself.” You smiled back. He let out a little huff and put a spoonful in his mouth. His head snapped up and looked at you with a baffled expression on his face.

“Where the hell did you get chicken?” He asked.

“It’s not chicken. It’s some.. alien.. bird..thing…? I don’t really know. Ask Hunk, he’s the one who gave it to me. But I guess it tastes like chicken so good for you.” Shiro shrugged his shoulders in acceptance and continued eating. He quickly finished it and handed the empty bowl back to you with a grateful smile on his face.

“Thanks, Y/N.” He said warmly. You smiled back.

“Don’t worry about it. I owe you for taking care of me when I was sick anyway.” You bent down to kiss his cheek “And if I were to let my boyfriend die of a fever then that would make me the worst partner ever.” Shiro grinned at you.

“Well, you’re doing a pretty good job at being the best partner ever.” You gently pushed him down into bed and tucked him in.

“Damn right I am.” You gave his lips a light peck. “Now sleep.” Shiro let out a soft grunt and closed his eyes as you ran your fingers through his short hair. It wasn’t long before he fell into a deep slumber.

A/N: My second request is finally finished! Seriously though, to the person that requested this, you’re honestly so sweet! It makes me super happy to see messages like that. Thank you!

~🐼

(Also, again, I’m not really one for self-promo but it would be great if you guys liked and reblogged. You know, to just kinda spread it around. You don’t have to though!)

Masterlist

#Shiro x Reader #Takashi Shirogane x Reader #takashi shirogane #shiro voltron #shiro headcanons #shiroxreader #takashishiroganexreader #voltron #voltron lengendary defender #voltron headcanons #voltron headcanon request #shiro x reader #takashi shirogane x reader #i write shit

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bughead-ficz · 7 years ago

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Cabin In The Woods (C2)

Chapter 2- Forgiveness

Summary: A three-parter based off of the 2x14 promo /// The Core Four attend a luxury weekend to Veronica’s family’s cabin to relax and unplug. Little do they know, relaxing is the exact opposite of what they’re going to do as secrets are revealed and a new danger is just around the corner.

☾ ☾ ☾

Jughead sat melancholily in front of the weeping lake, his mind a wreck. He wondered if he decided to jump in, would he find himself in another world, different and better. Would it be like walking through the Looking-Glass? Probably not. Although, he did seem to have a growing urge to swim in the filled cavern.

The silence around him seemed to be smothering these thoughts, smothering his very existence. It encouraged him to imagine things he really didn't want to be imagining. Things like Archie's hands on Betty's hips, their lips slowly engulfing one another...

"Jughead?!"

The timid, yet loud and clear voice reached his earlier-deafened ears, slicing up his imaginings. He could pinpoint that voice from a mile away. It sounded desperate, but with undertones of soft comfort. It felt and sounded like home, the good parts anyway. It sounded like Betty Cooper.

She found him near the lake, peering down at it with a cold stare ripped across his features. The sight made her tremble inwardly, knowing it was her doing that made him like this. It was a make or break situation, whether they'd talk it through or end everything. Would they decide to sink into their hidden, dark personas, or would they grasp desperately onto the small hint of light that seeped out of the two?

"Juggie?" Betty whispered, approaching her boyfriend.

She noted his beanie that was rarely absent from his head, now grasped tightly in his right hand. She silently prayed that this meant they'd take the conversational route and talk things out. She couldn't lose him. Hesitantly, she sat next to him, Jughead's stare focusing on the view in front.

The two youths sat in the quiet for a while, taking in the scenery. Betty could see how intently Jughead was focusing on the gloomy lake, like it was an old familiar friend. So she too peered at it. However, she struggled to pay attention to the rippling molecules of the water due to the reflection that the mirroring surface provided.

In its reflection, dark stripes of blue and gold seemed to hypnotise the surface, causing her to look up. The sky above burst with colour of both warm and cold tones. Splashes of deep-blooded orange and crimson swam around the base of heavy-hearted blues and blacks. The two different tones seemed to battle each other in some sort of peaceful, civil war. However, Betty could spot the smudge of pink seeping from the cracks of the battle, like a tranquil referee, bestowing a type of peace treaty.

"The sky looks amazing tonight," Betty spoke after a while of fragile and tension-filled silence. Jughead didn't reply. The blond eyed him carefully, swallowing before speaking again.

"I've never seen it look like this before." Still no reply. So she tried again.

"I didn't even know it could become some of these colours. All at once, I mean." Silence. "Funny though. The blues with the gold-"

"What happened between you and Archie?" Jughead's voice spoke fast. So fast, he wondered how he'd managed to not trip over any of the words, like he usually would. He heard Betty sigh.

"I'm sorry, Jug. It didn't mean anything," she began, steadily. "We weren't together when it happened. I would never betray you like that."

Another silence began to creep up, lingering in the chilled air.

"When?" Jughead enquired after a few agonising minutes.

"The night we caught The Black Hood." Betty waited for Jughead to say something else, but realised he was waiting for her to expand. So she did.

"Archie and I were sat in the car after questioning Nana Rose. Everything... was a mess. I was freaking out and he held my hands to calm me down. He was just there. He said we'd save Mr Svenson and bring The Black Hood down for good." The blonde paused as she thought of the memories, noticing Jughead listening intently. For once, he wore a face she couldn't read. Betty continued.

"I was scared. We both were. We didn't know what was going to happen. For all we knew, we could have died. It just happened." She felt Jughead tense.

"So you slept with him?" Jughead whispered, vulnerability lacing his voice.

Betty's eyes widened in shock, her eyebrows furrowing in surprise.

"What? Of course not!"

"But Veronica said-"

"No, Juggie. We kissed. That's it." Betty tenderly placed her hand on his cheek, turning her body towards his. He didn't resist, yet remained in his position. "A simple 'my life is in danger and so is yours' kiss that didn't mean anything."

"So why didn't you tell me when I asked you if you'd done anything with anyone else?" Jughead grumbled, his eyes finally meeting hers in annoyance. "I told you about Toni, but you lied. Why?"

"To be honest, Jug, I just forgot. Because it didn't mean anything. So I just answered, I don't know, subconsciously, I guess." Betty then paused, taking a deep breath and speaking the following words with great hesitance. "And when I realised, I still didn't want to tell you because... I didn't want to disappoint you."

"Disappoint me?" Jughead echoed in confusion. Betty withdrew her hand and tucked her legs into her chest, wrapping her arms around them and resting her chin on her knees.

"At your birthday party. When you said that stuff about me being with you because I was waiting to be with Archie. I didn't want you to think that was true. Because it isn't." The blonde could feel her nails begin to curl into her palms, sharp edges grazing the soft, pillowy skin. Until she felt a different hand grasp hers, one that felt foreign to her own self-deprecating ones, yet like home. She looked down to find Jughead's hand intertwined with hers, his thumb stroking it absentmindedly.

"I really am sorry, Jug. If I could take it back, I would. You're the one I love. Please, don't be mad." Betty saw something in his eyes soften as they dove deep into hers. He pulled his hand away and tucked a piece of her cascading locks behind her ear, his fingers lingering on her cheek.

"Say that again." The beanie-less boy whispered, his eyes soft yet darkening with something Betty couldn't quite pinpoint.

"Don't be mad?" Betty asked again, not fully understanding. This earned a slight chuckle from Jughead's part.

"No, the other thing." Betty frowned for a second until she realised what he'd meant. She let out a relieved smile.

"I love you, Jughead Jones." Her hand returned to his face, softly cupping it as he stroked her cheek with his. "I love you so much-"

Betty let out a squeal as Jughead's lips captured her own and brought them tumbling down onto the ground from the force. Specks of dirt gathered in Betty's hair as her head softly met the ground, Jughead's form hovering above hers. But she didn't care, all she cared about was his lips on hers and the fact that he'd forgiven her. Jughead Jones had forgiven her.

After a few minutes he pulled away, his face within centimetres above hers.

"I'm not mad. The situation you guys were in was crazy, and I'm just glad you didn't get hurt." The boy grinned, love filling his darkened, protective orbs. He ran a hand through her hair as they both sat up. "Sorry, Betts. You just washed your hair and I got dirt in it."

That sparked something mischievous in the blonde's eyes. Her teeth came down and trapped her bottom lip in a knee-weakening bite, as she slowly stood up.

"Guess I'll just have to wash it again." She whispered, and began grabbing at the hem of her shirt.

Betty slowly brought her shirt further up her stomach, never breaking eye contact with the bashful boy in front of her. She saw him gulp before pulling the shirt over her head, discarding the fabric onto the floor. Giggling to herself as she noticed Jughead's eyes fixated on the black bralette from earlier, she swiftly tugged down her jeans. Once she was left in just her underwear, Betty gently grabbed Jughead's hand and began leading him further towards the lake.

"Come on." She laughed, beckoning him seductively.

Before Jughead knew what was happening, the blonde beauty dove elegantly into the lake, small splashes hitting him at the impact. Suddenly, the lagoon didn't seem as dark with dismay as he saw Betty's delicate form gliding under the surface.

As she came up, she let out an exclamatory giggle. Jughead swore that sound made him fall in love with her all over again.

"Come on, Juggie. What are you waiting for?" God she was so sexy.

Jughead scrambled clumsily to remove his jeans and shirt, kicking off his shoes so he was left in his boxers. He tripped over his clothes a few times, earning more giggles from his girlfriend. Then, he hurriedly jumped into the lake, the whole area splashing violently from the impact of his cannonball in true Jughead style. Betty squealed as the splashes covered her.

She looked around at where the boy had landed, frowning as she failed to spot him.

"Jug?" The blonde yelled after a few moments. No reply. Frantically, she once again peered around at the lake, looking into its deep abyss.

What the-

All of a sudden, she felt something fleshy and hard snake around her torso. Betty let out a small, surprised scream as her boyfriend popped up from the water right in front of her. She jokingly smacked at his forearm, laughs escaping the wide smile on her face.

"God, Betts, it's freezing!" Jughead exclaimed, bringing his chest closer to hers in hope to exchange body heat. Concern seemed to flood his face as he began to rub his girlfriend's arms in an attempt to warm her up a bit, large hands caressing her body. She grinned sweetly at the gesture.

"Its fine." She wrapped her arms around his neck as they bobbed up and down in the water. Leaning close, she whispered in his ear, "look up."

As he did so, the sky had seemed to change drastically. It was now a solid dark blue stretched over the entire area, that seemed to carry on for miles and miles. However, it was now brightly lit by thousands of shining stars, each one gently blinding to the naked eye. The view was breathtaking.

"I know." Betty's voice whispered, taking note of his astonished reaction. "I've never seen something so beautiful."

Jughead peered at her as she stared up at the twinkling sky. She looked like a child at Christmas, an adorable adoration filling her features. And Jughead saw her. And he thought to himself.

"I have."

☾

"Why are you two wet?" The sharp tone of Veronica sliced into Betty and Jughead's love-filled bubble as they walked back into the cabin.

"We were in the lake." Betty spoke carefully, treading on eggshells around her friend. She knew she'd betrayed Veronica's trust, and she desperately wanted her forgiveness now she'd received Jughead's.

"Listen, V-"

"If you guys wanted to swim, you should have just told me. There's an amazing hot-tub here." Veronica smiled sweetly, confusion bubbling up in Betty as she frowned. "Go on, put on your suits and we'll all meet in there."

And with that, she began to flounce away, leaving the couple lingering in the doorway.

"Do you think she's okay?" Betty questioned Jughead, apprehension flooding her face.

"Maybe Archie explained everything." Jughead shrugged, placing a comforting arm over her shoulders. "Come on, that hot-tub sounds like fun right about now. I'm freezing."

With that, they walked towards their temporary bedroom, possessing a hope that Jughead was right. A hope that wished they could now just put everything behind them and start afresh, and begin to have fun together as friends. Little did they know, this was just the calm before the storm.

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