#(but also i refuse to give Cora even an inch)

[horsechestnut]

Once Upon a Time missed a prime opportunity by not making Zelena both Regina and Snow White's half sister.

[blinderspeaky]

Amoret | Tommy Shelby

A/n: So this is my first piece of writing here and I apologise if it's too long! idk how accurate this is but I had fun writing it so that's all that matters I guess

Cora is going through a dry spell because everyone is too scared to make a move on her because of her best friend, Thomas Shelby, so he takes matters into his own hands -- literally.

Word count: 23,450

"I can't believe you did that." I flirtatiously giggle as if I didn't have to scrub my hands raw to get rid of the blood from the gory mess that happened just a few hours prior.

"I needed to get out somehow, I just didn't realise I was trashing hundreds of pounds worth of art." The handsome stranger laughs, leaning into me as we get more familiar and comfortable with each other.

"Terrible, just terrible." I smile fondly, my red lipstick gleaming at him as I fiddle with my fruity cocktail.

"I must say, you have the most gorgeous smile, if I knew how to paint I'd never run out of inspiration as long as you're around." The man charms and I have to suppress an eye roll.

What does a girl have to do to just get a bit of pleasure round here?

I'm not here to be charmed, I'm here for a fun time.

"Thank you, you really know how to charm a girl." I say, crossing my leg over the other, so that my leg is in between his legs from where he's sat on the bar stool.

"Only the pretty ones." He replies, pushing the little curled bits of hair framing my face behind my ear-- the rest of my hair is placed in a delicate low bun, pinned back with expensive pins. He rubs his knuckles against my cutting cheek bone, seemingly admiring my face. "It's unfair how beautiful you are."

"What are you gonna do? Kiss me about it?" I make the first move.

He smirks. 

"Thinking about it."

His eyes flicker between my eyes and my lips, and he's about to lean in when a voice interrupts.

"Cora." Tommy says as he walks up to us. "I'm going to head back to my office, I'll see you later to finish business, alright?"

"Yeah, just you?" I question, staring up at my best friend.

"Yeah, Arthur's pissed in the back room, thought I'd let you know, but everyone is still here." Tommy answers, giving my shoulder a squeeze.

"See yous." I sing, ready to turn back to my entertainment tonight.

"Bye." Tommy says and gives the handsome stranger a once over before leaning down to say something into my ear. I'm used to his teasing and he's used to my punches after, so I let out a huff, ready to hear what he has to say this time. "Careful, I've heard this one bites."

I look into his eyes with an annoyed look. "That's why I'm here."

Tommy lets out a quiet chuckle before wordlessly leaving the building, leaving me with the pretty boy.

Looking back at the stranger, I'm startled to find him wide eyed and inching away from me by the second.

"What?" I ask, taking a sip from my drink.

"That was... that was Thomas Shelby." He says, frozen.

"So?" I lift a perfectly arched eyebrow.

"He's a Peaky Blinder."

"So am I, yet you've been talking to me just fine." I state, knowing where this is going; this has happened way too many times recently.

People know of me but most people couldn't put a face to my name, which is why this happens a lot. I'm ready for the onslaught of rejection and a hint of terror.

"You're a Peaky Blinder?" He utters as if he can't believe it.

I nod.

"I've gotta, uh, go, have a nice evening but I must get going." He says and quickly gets off his stool to rush out of the room, practically tripping over his own feet.

Letting out a huff, I finish my drink before hopping off my stool to join everyone in the back room, everyone is more or less smashed, a slur of half hearted cheers go around room when I enter and it makes me smile. I sit down next to Finn, who offers me a cigarette, which I accept and light it up, tilting my head towards the ceiling showcasing the thin, long scar on my throat, I blow the smoke out, watching it billow towards the ceiling.

"Why are men so scared of me and Tommy?" I grumble.

"Because they know if they fuck up, either of you will rip their spleen out, darling." Polly comments, her slender fingers twitching her cigarette to drop off the ash. "Individually or together, doesn't matter." She adds.

"Match made in heaven... or hell, depends how you look at it." Michael states before downing his drink.

"How do you do it?" I ask Polly, taking a drag of my cigarette.

"Well, for starters, I'm not as ruthless as you and I guess I'm not attached to the hip with Thomas." She replies nonchalantly.

"What you need to do, right, Cora, is find a man who is handsome and can take a good punch." Arthur tells me and I raise an eyebrow at him. "Because whoever it is, he's gonna get punched by someone you know and by punched I mean shot."

"No one is bulletproof, Arthur." I say, not taking on his drunk advice.

"I am." John laughs.

"No, no you're fucking not." Finn retorts.

"How do girls not get scared of you guys?" I question, fiddling with my necklace. "On an extremely good day you guys can look intimidating and scary, how do you get girls?"

They all scoff at my teasing.

"Fuck off, alright." Arthur grumbles, knocking back another glass.

"The girls like the thrill. They come from a very traditional family and want a part of the danger but they also think they can change us." John answers my question seriously.

"Never fucking works though, does it?" Finn barks a laugh, nudging John.

We continue to chat for a while before I get bored and I'm still slightly pissed off about earlier, so I say my goodbyes not that anyone's really listening, too drunk to function so I slip out and step out into the brisk chilly streets of Birmingham.

Twisting and turning until I get to my destination, I open the door with the key I've had for literal years and brush my shoes off before stepping inside, closing the door behind me.

Making my way through the room, I wordlessly open Tommy's office, finding him sat at his desk going through paper work, cigarette in hand; he looks up, dropping his pen but goes back to his work.

"You're here earlier than I thought." He states, his tone light.

I huff, mad at him although I know it's not his fault.

"Same." I reply tightly, throwing my bag down into the little seating area in the corner of his office before I sit down in the chair opposite him.

"You don't have to be here, I can do this on my own, you know. I'm not forcing you to be here." Tommy replies in a sincere voice, taking a drag of his cigarette.

"I know, but no one wants me out there." I counteract, leaning back in my chair, a sour look on my face.

Tommy looks like he wants to ask but decides against it; he knows when I'll come around.

"Right, uh... so I talked to some connections and they said they know about the plans but are refusing to tell me any details, and I'm debating with either paying them a visit or selling their information." Tommy informs and just like that I'm back into business mode again, forgetting about my interaction from earlier.

Then we talk about business, business plans, plans for the future, and just random things whilst having a laugh.

As things are winding down, Tommy gets up to grab a drink from his own bar cart that he has in his office.

"Do you want one?" Tommy offers, looking over his shoulder at me.

"Sure." I accept and he gets another glass out, beginning to pour our drinks. I sink into my chair, rubbing my eyes as I let out a groan. I'm still bothered about earlier.

That guy just rubbed me the wrong way, it's happened plenty of times before tonight; I'm best friends with one the most notoriously dangerous person in the midlands, I guess tonight was just my breaking point.

If I saw him again, I wouldn't hesitate to send a few promises to him.

"Fuck, how come you can be a manwhore but I can't even get a single person to be interested in me for more than 20 minutes?" I question, accepting my glass from Tommy when he approaches me.

"Long enough to get the job done though." Tommy jokes, sitting down in the chair next to me, our feet hovering above one another where our legs are crossed. "I think it's a little thing called misogyny."

"Little thing my ass." I bitterly chuckle, taking a sip. "You're at fault for all this, by the way."

"The fuck did I do?" He asks with a light laugh, before taking a sip of his drink.

"You're the reason all these people get scared to either even approach me or go any further than some harmless flirting." I explain, tucking some hair behind my ear as I send him a look that only widens his smirk.

"Not my fault people are so delirious with terror when it comes to me." Tommy shrugs, placing his glass on the table beside his chair and he laughs at my disbelief.

"Yeah, because you definitely didn't put on a show at the garrison last month that we're still finding blood from." I roll my eyes fondly.

"Got to show my enemies what I'm capable of." Thomas brushes my words off. "And hey, it's not like you're innocent yourself. Didn't you destroy a guy's face so much they the police couldn't even identify him just a few days ago?" He teases, licking his lips.

"No, doesn't ring any bells." I shake my head.

"Funny, maybe that's why men are scared of you and won't approach you. I for one, am absolutely terrified of you." Tommy states, making me laugh knowing that's he's only half joking.

"Most people can't put name to my face so they generally don't know me, therefore it's your fault." I tell him, placing my drink on the matching side table next to me.

"Really?" He sighs

"Yes! Just earlier tonight I was talking to some guy and then you came along, Mr. I will cut someones ears off if they look at me, and you scared the bejeezus out of him, turned him into a puddle of foolery. Then I told him I'm connected to you and he freaked the fuck out, made an excuse to leave and he practically tripped over his own feet to get away from me." I reply grumpily, sitting up in my chair.

"Are you done?" Tommy asks, sending me a look.

"No, no I'm fucking not. I've not had sex in like 2 months, do you even know what that feels like? Most of the time it's not even me, it's you that scares them off!" I answer exasperated, watching him down the rest of his drink, placing the empty glass back on the table.

"No, I don't, actually. Why don't you just go outside of Birmingham for a fuck?" Tommy suggests, leaning forward on his knees.

"Fuck you. Mate, I've fucking tried and if we weren't literally sewn together that might work but everywhere I am, you are, vice versa. It's also such a faff to go all the way out or Birmingham for some dick that's probably mediocre. You ju---"

I'm cut off from my rant by Tommy's lips on mine.

I'm so confused and stunned by his actions that I don't know how to react. Freezing, I just sit there for a moment before I decide to kiss him back for a few moments before I pull back sort of abruptly, not in a big deal.

"What are you doing?" I question, searching his crystal clear blue eyes that are mere inches away from my face.

"If everyone else is so scared of me that they can't approach you, may as well take matters into my own hands." Thomas explains, and he gingerly cups my cheek, his thumb brushing over my cheekbone, his eyes soft.

I lean in closer to him, thinking over how this could play out, what it would do to our years long friendship.

It's no secret that we find each other attractive, we've said it to each other and everyone around us, but I can honestly say that nothing has ever happened between us. Two best friends that have expressed our admiration for each other.

I don't know if I want to ruin that.

Our friendship is incredibly strong and personal, I don't know if one steamy night could just throw that away.

My desire acts on it's own and as Tommy is searching my green eyes, I close the gap between us, moving in perfect sync with each other as I play with his hair and he squeezes my waist.

It's like I'm slipping into a trance and all I can think of is Tommy, I'm consumed with all things Tommy. This moment right now is making me feel lighter than air, I've got sparks on my stomach at how he's making me feel.

The burning need to be closer is killing me and it seems like Tommy is feeling the same as he uncups my cheek and places his hands on my waist, pulling me onto his lap.

Thomas agonizingly slowly trails his hand up my thigh, his fingertips grazing my exposed skin where my dress has risen up, leaving a trail of goosebumps behind. Tommy's hand comes in contact with the pocket knife stuffed into my stocking and he pulls away slightly, letting out a low throaty chuckle, "Classic Cora." He mumbles against my mouth, making me smile, and he pulls deadly weapon from my stocking, placing it on the table beside him. Giving my hip a momentary squeeze, Tommy swipes his tongue against my lip asking for entrance, parting my lips, his tongue meets mine and he begins to explore my mouth, seeing what gets a reaction from me.

His fingers find my precariously placed tied up hair, pulling the few pins out and then the hair tie, sending my thick, dark brown almost black curls cascading down my back, causing Tommy to let out a sound of appreciation and bury his fingers into my hair.

I don't usually have my hair down as it's easy to grab on to and it just feels more professional to have it up. I've also got so much of it that it gets in the way when I'm trying to work.

Disconnecting from Tommy I attach my mouth to his neck, leaving my mark. Tommy tilts his head, giving me space to find his sweet spot and he lets out a nice little moan as I set to work.

The pending feeling of his hand trailing my thigh is overwhelming and his fingertips approaching where I need him the most makes me pause, my bottom lip dragging up the skin of his neck.

"Do you want me to stop?" Thomas whispers into my ear, his pursed lips tugging at my earlobe.

"Fuck no." I consent, and his hand meets my underwear.

Beginning to confidently rub me through my underwear, I let out a shaky breath against Tommy's neck and I instinctively open my legs wider for him. His touch is as light as a feather, desperate for more friction, I grind on his fingers letting out a moan.

"Mm, sound so good for me." Tommy rasps, his teeth grazing the skin on my prominent collarbone. Moving my fancy lacy underwear to the side, without hesitation Tommy runs his fingers through my folds, collecting my wetness and bringing it up to my clit.

All I can do is bite my lip to conceal my moans.

Trailing my hand down his front until I meet is trousers and I begin to palm is growing semi, which makes him let out a groan.

I declare that as my favourite sound.

Suddenly in one swift motion, I'm moved off of Tommy's lap and placed right on the edge of his hardwood desk and he's standing right in front of me, his gorgeous blue eyes blown out, looking at me as if I were the only person in world, and he's hungry.

"You're really pretty." Tommy utters.

Before I can reply, Thomas captures my lips again in another sensual kiss that's full of tongue, noises of appreciation, and hands are roaming as we keep involuntarily grinding against each other.

Pushing his suit jacket off and watching it drop to the floor, Tommy's hands find the back of my dress, making quick work of undoing the expensive fabric, and pulling it off of me, leaving me in my lingerie that I definitely didn't plan on letting my best friend see tonight whilst he's in his trousers, crisp white shirt, and extortionate looking waistcoat.

"Wow." My best friend says, slightly out of breath, taking in my figure and how off guard and innocent I look.

Unlike the brutally violent and devious businesswoman I am.

"Unbelievable."

"Shut up and touch me." I chuckle bashfully, weirded out at how special he's making me feel.

I feel extremely exposed but in a weird way, I kind of like it.

Tommy smiles fondly and presses a series of short kisses to my mouth before I take hold of his lip, flicking my tongue against him, causing him to tighten his grip on me.

Disconnecting, Thomas kisses down my neck, leaving a mark or two on his way down, until he gets to my chest and I arch into him. Kissing my cleavage as he cups my right boob, his lips trail down my torso, leaving a trail of fire behind him.

Dropping down to his knees, Tommy takes hold of my hips pressing a gentle kiss below my belly button before he snaps open my garter one by one and effortlessly drags my stockings down my legs.

Grazing up my legs with his hands or mouth, Tommy after what feels like years pulls my panties down, throwing them out of sight, I watch as his eyes light up and if possible I feel even more exposed.

Flicking his eyes up to me, looking like he's asking for my consent, I brush my fingers through his hair and give him a subtle nod.

Burying his head between my thigh, Tommy licks a strip up my heat, making me let out a moan, and bury my fingers into his thick hair.

Leaning back onto his desk, Tommy pushes my thighs apart so he can get better access as he attaches his mouth so my core, sending me to all sorts of heaven.

"Fuck, Tommy." I whine, tugging at his hair as I arch my back.

"Let it out, we're here alone, scream my name, let me hear how much you want me." Tommy urges with a slight smirk.

Without any warning, Tommy pumps a finger into me and I conform to his wishes at that, not caring how loud I was being, I let his name fall from my lips along with my moans.

My legs shudder under his hand, he lapped at me as if I were his last meal, reveling in the sounds I was making, the sounds he was earning.

I was close and we both knew that, so Tommy speeds up his movements and adds another finger inside of me, curling up.

"Fuck, oh my god, Tommy, don't stop." I pant, tugging at his hair.

Tommy had me withering in moments, my fingers tugging at his hair which made him groan, only adding to the pleasure he was giving me.

"Fuck, I'm gonna---" I began which only spurred Thomas on, he sucked harder and pumped his fingers faster. My breathing hitched and shaky, breathy, and loud sounds left my lips as I clenched around him, my body shuddering from the orgasm he'd worked out of me.

He continues his motions making sure I'm done, then pulls his fingers out, standing up right, brushing some hair out of my face.

"Such a pretty girl." He whispers, eyeing my lips.

Tommy's thumb runs over my bottom lip and I open my mouth, he brings his fingers that were inside of me to my lips, and I stick my tongue out and he inserts his finger into mouth, letting me suck my juices off of his fingers; his eyes seemingly in a trance at how my mouth is working.

"Mm, just like that." He whispers.

Standing up to my full height, I guide Tommy to swap places with me and he's very much willing to do so, peppering kisses to his jaw before dropping to my knees, I innocently look up at him through my lashes, loving how he's so aware of all my movements and how he's like putty in my hands.

"May I?" I raise an eyebrow, digging my fingertips under his belt.

Tommy leans down and cups my jaw, pressing a deep kiss to my lips. "Of course." I grin in delight and snatch a quick kiss as he begins to retreat.

Undoing his belt, I take that off and throw it away before undoing his button and pulling down his zipper. Palming him through his undone trousers, Tommy lets out a hitched breath, it's a barely there pressure, enough to feel something but no where enough as much as he like.

"Stop teasing." He groans, bracing himself on his desk and his knuckles are milky white from how hard he's holding on to his desk.

I chuckle darkly. "Tommy, I haven't even started."

Continuing my actions mixing up my pressure and pace as he throws his head back in annoyance.

Pulling him out of his underwear letting him spring free, Thomas groans when I grab him, making my mouth water. This sight alone could give me immense pleasure.

The sight of me on my knees in front of him, him practically fully clothed with his dick out, just calling out for me to suck, all whilst in the middle of his office.

With my best friend let alone.

I would love to tease him for hours but the overwhelming urge to hear Tommy moan, moan my name and pull my hair gets the best of me.

Tightening my grip on him, I wrap my lips around his tip that's already leaking precum, sucking lightly, which makes him throw his head back in pleasure.

"So pretty, such a pretty cock." I utter, licking his entire length and wrapping my mouth around him.

"Fuck, Cora." Tommy gasps, threading his hand in my hair to keep me there, and I let out a hum, causing him to tighten his grip on my hair as he lets out an estranged moan.

Taking as much as I possibly can into my mouth, I begin to work my magic, pumping whatever I can't with my hand whilst Tommy breathes heavily and lets out his moans above me.

The sight of him with his head thrown back as he moans my name whilst he half heartedly guides me with his hand, too lost in the pleasure to properly commits to it, is ingrained in my mind.

We're completely lost in the moment, right now it's just him and I, there's nothing else in our mind except lust and each other, and I'm alright with that.

"Oh my... fuck, I can't l---" Tommy cuts his pleasured rambling off and lets out a large breath before pulling me off of him. "I wanna finish inside of you." Tommy states breathlessly.

I wordlessly stand up, more than willing to conform to his needs and begin to undress him, his hands pulling off his clothes as fast as he can until he's completely stark naked in the middle of his office with his best friend.

Realising I've still got my bra on, I undo the back and pull the straps down, watching it fall the floor.

Tommy and I stand in front of each other, completely enamoured with each other, feeling extremely exposed but I like it.

"Gorgeous." Thomas whispers before pressing his lips to mine, gingerly holding my face in his hands.

Thomas guides me back a few steps to his desk and I prop myself upon it, as Tommy's hands roam.

Taking hold of himself, Tommy runs his tip through my dripping folds, the both of us letting out a shaky breath.

"You ready?" Tommy questions, tucking some hair behind my ears before pressing his forehead against mine.

"Mhm." I hum, running my hand down his back.

Capturing my lips in a quick kiss, Tommy lines himself up with my entrance and pushes in until he's done to the hilt.

"Fuck." We say in unison, making us breathe a chuckle.

Beginning to move his hips, Tommy buries his face in my neck, dragging his mouth wherever he pleases, exploring my skin. I hold the back of his neck, trying to stay afloat as my toes curl, and we're too far gone to care when expensive things fall from Tommy's desk.

***

"You should wear your hair down more often." Tommy tells me softly as he's propped up on his elbow looking down at me as I lie on my back, settling into the fairly large seating area Tommy has in his office.

"It's so long, it gets in the way." I pout, rubbing my eye.

"I like it." He sincerely says, picking up a lock and twirling it around his finger.

We're have gentle pillow talk without the pillows, just looking at each other in a different way as we lie in our underwear in the warm room, talking in quiet voices as if the whole world could hear us.

"I like your hair, very imaginative." I tease, combing his locks with my fingers.

"Rude." He grumbles, poking me in the side making me jerk as I let out a laugh.

"When you first get it cut it feels like velcro." I chuckle, making him grin.

"Yeah, I've just got the worst barber." Tommy smirks, playing with my fingers.

"Bitch." I laugh, ruffling his velcro like hair.

Every other Sunday Tommy sits in my kitchen letting me cut his hair as we bitch about business or just forgetting about work altogether.

"Talented at your craft but the most annoying barber I've ever met." He shakes his head, amused.

"I tell you each time, I don't mean to tickle your neck or catch your ear, it just happens." I defend myself, making him laugh.

"I don't mean to stab you, it just happens!" Tommy imitates me, making me poke him in the ribs which only makes him laugh harder. "If only people knew of your barbering skills and not your knife wielding skills, maybe they wouldn't be so scared of you."

"If only people knew of your sewing skills, they wouldn't be so scared of your gun ridden hand." I retort with a fond smile, looking up at how pretty he looks in this light, with the small matching fond smile of his face.

"Shh, or I'll tell people you are a professional at juggling." Tommy smirks, pushing some hair out of my face.

"Yeah, with knives, that's cool as fuck." I reply, passionate about my talent.

"Careful or we'll send you away to go to the circus." Tommy chuckles, pulling me in for a smiley kiss.

I've always been known to wake up really late, always the last one up, the last one to finish breakfast if at all, and always the last one out of the door in the morning. It's not that I stay out really late, I'm usually at home at a reasonable time, I cosy down in my homely home, and I just relax after the usually hectic day and yet I still wake up late.

Except today.

I wake up tangled in a mess of limbs, Tommy's arms wrapped around me and I suck in a breath, wishing on everything in the world that he doesn't wake up. Easily slipping out of his grasp, I sit on the edge of the large ottoman, rubbing my face before letting out a sigh.

I need to get dressed and be out of here before Thomas wakes up, I do not want to have the awkward conversation of the morning after.

Quickly and quietly, I put my dress back on, throw my hair up as I approach the window, pulling one of the slats down to see what it's like at this ungodly hour of 5 in the morning, the Sun is just starting to rise, highlighting the permanent haze of smoke above Birmingham.

Shoving my ankle boots on, I tug the zips up and tip toe towards the door so that my heels don't click against the wooden floors.

Closing the door behind me as silently as possible, I let out a big breath when I succeed and begin to walk out the building that I visit everyday.

I know I'm going to see Thomas again in just a few hours but hopefully we'll both be consumed in work to talk about what happened. God I hope no one will pick up on what happened.

I don't regret last night at all and I can say that with my whole chest but I also love my friendship with Tommy, and I hope one night of mind blowing, amazing sex won't ruin that.

I've no idea where we stand and that scares me.

That's my best friend, he'll always be my best friend.

Opening up the door to my house that I never got to see last night, I begin to tidy up a few things as I've got some time before I have to head into work. This is my haven, this is wear I escape work, I try not to bring business back here, this is my safe place so I have to have it clean.

Shoving an old newspaper into the bin, I begin to make a bite of breakfast and head into my bedroom whilst it cooks so I can get properly dressed.

Pulling my wardrobe open, brushing my fingers over the hangers until I find a suitable item a clothing; a navy blue dress that gives the illusion that it's off the shoulder but it's got a see through mesh-like material hanging from my shoulders with tiny multicoloured flowers embroidered into it, it's cinched at the waist but it's got a wavy extra bit of fabric above my chest, the length is slightly longer than I usually go for as it's inches shy from my ankles, whilst I usually go for just below the knee dresses but I like it.

Just about being able to do it up myself, I pick out some appropriate shoes with a tall heel as I'm surrounded by a lot of men so I hate being the shortest person in the room.

Plus Tommy is quite a bit taller than me and he always teases me for that, so I use my heel to either kick him in the shin or step on his toes.

Gently brushing through my hair to make sure it doesn't frizz up on me, I throw it up in an intricate low bun, leaving some large parts out to frame my face.

Going back downstairs to fetch my breakfast which I eat whilst I read this morning's paper, before I head out of the door.

***

"Well I'll say, this has got to be a first." Arthur laughs, leaning back in his chair as I enter the betting shop.

"Wow," Polly starts, looking at her watch bewildered. "Only 45 minutes late."

Even though I got up at the ass crack of dawn, I'm still late as I may or may not of got preoccupied with the book I've been reading recently and then I got caught up chatting with some people on my way over here.

"I usually expect to see you at around 10 or 11." John smirks, taking his cigar out of his mouth.

"What can I say? Don't get used to it." I say, my eyes flickering towards Tommy's office where he seems to be as of now and I can't help by think about last night.

"It's almost as if you're acting professional and playing by the rules." Polly sarcastically replies, hovering above Arthur.

"Never." I shake my head, placing my bag on my desk then hanging my long coat on the coat hanger.

"Tommy's in a bad mood, so watch out." John jokes, swinging in his chair.

"Really?" I raise an eyebrow, looking at him.

"Well, he's not really in any mood, he's just brooding in silence and doesn't want to interact or talk to anyone." Polly rolls her eyes,making her way over to her own work station. "Maybe you can sort him out." She adds, with a small smile.

Doubt it.

"I've gotta get my forms so I have to interact with him." I huff and brace myself as I open the door to his office, I've never knocked before so I'm not gonna start now.

"Good morning." Michael greets me, sitting in the chair that Tommy kissed me in.

"Morning." I say back, my eyes flicking up to Tommy who's not taking his eyes off of his work in front of him.

"Do you even know what this time of day looks like?" Michael teases, and I roll my eyes.

"Don't worry, Michael, she's been up for hours, I'm sure Cora loves the sunrise." Tommy states before I can even think of replying to Michael.

I glare at him as he leans back in his chair, lighting up his cigarette not even looking at me.

If he wants to be hostile, I can always beat him at that.

"Practically pulled an all nighter, was busy with a piece of work." I tell Michael but my words are aimed at Tommy, and I'm right because Tommy can be a piece of work when he wants to be.

Tommy just exhales his smoke and looks at me devoid of any emotion as I refuse to look at him.

"Should've asked for a hand, I'd of been more than willing." Michael says, completely oblivious to Tommy and I's quips.

"No, couldn't do that to you." I wave him off. "Anyway, I only came in here to get my forms." I say, finally looking at Tommy in the eyes, waiting for him to give them to me as they're in his drawer.

He just stares at me, his cigarette burning in his hand, seeming like there's a million words in his head that he wants to say yet absolutely thoughtless at the same time.

"Run along then, Michael." Tommy says as he hands Michael a file, which Michael wordlessly takes and exits the room.

Letting out a huff, I walk around his desk and crouch down next to him to open his bottom drawer.

"You're a twat, Tom." I grumble, grabbing the wad and standing up.

"No what you were saying la---" Tommy gets cut off by me slamming the stupid forms on his desk and the grabbing his own gun from his holster and pressing it below his jaw as I hold his throat, pushing him back in his chair.

"Finish that sentence, I dare you." I prompt him, looking at his slightly taken aback eyes. "You know I'll do it."

He stays silent, clearly picking up on my vibe.

Putting pressure on my hands one last time before throwing his gun into his lap, gathering what I came in here for and leaving his office.

Tommy and I bicker all the time, disagree on extremely menial stuff but we only properly argue very occasionally but we always come around in the end because despite everything we love each other but god can we get on each other's nerves.

Not that I'd call that an argument, that was just a warning.

"We knew you weren't a morning person but fuck Tommy must've pissed you right off." Arthur laughs, as he chalks some stuff up on the big blackboard.

"More than you'll ever know." I grumble, and begin to get to work.

***

As the Sun sets, people start clearing out of the building as they finish their work, singing or grumbling a goodbye over their shoulder as they go home to their family or lonesome house. I could only dream of clocking out as I've still got a load of work to do and not even the kind I like, it's all admin and menial things that need to be done but I wouldn't consider it fun by any means.

It's kind of nice in a funny sort of way, it's dark outside and the lights are on illuminating the room with a soft glow, there's a slight patter of rain on the windows and it's just relaxing and quiet.

It's giving me a moment with my mind to think things over as I pretty much work on autopilot.

I know Tommy is still here, I can see him through the glass doors to his office, clearing extremely concentrated on whatever he's doing; I wonder if his mind keeps drifting back to what we did on his desk just last night.

I don't what to say to him, he's giving me the cold shoulder, refuses to talk to me unless it's necessary, and I just don't know where we stand. I don't know what I want to come from last night, I'm really happy with where we are right now and although I had - arguably - the best sex of my life last night, not much can come between our friendship.

I felt something that night, Tommy made me feel so special and like I was the most important person in the world to him, and I couldn't deny that those feelings.

Letting out a sigh, I drop my pen and grab a cigarette, placing it between my lips before I search for my matches. Striking a match, I tilt my head back and as I'm bringing the flame to my cigarette my eyes catch Tommy leaning against the doorway to his office, staring at me.

I pause for a moment before lighting my cigarette and waving the match out as I exhale.

"You look really pretty when you concentrate." Tommy states and if there were another person in here I don't think I would of been able to hear him.

"I don't do it often so you're welcome." I reply, never one to take compliments. "But thanks." I bashfully add.

"We both know that's not true." Tommy smiles ever so slightly.

"You look really pretty when you smile." I reply, taking a drag from my cigarette.

Tommy steps down the few steps and approaches me.

"Cora... what's going on?" Tommy asks, turning the chair beside me around so he can sit on it backwards, his arms folded on the backrest.

I look down, not sure what to say or where to look or how to react.

"I don't... I don't know." I say quietly, almost ashamed to admit. I'm always in control of a situation, I know the ins and outs but this time I have no idea where I stand, what's going on and I'm definitely not in control; neither of us are.

"Do you regret it?" He questions and I look at him properly.

"No, I don't. I can honestly say that I don't regret it." I answer sincerely, and a shimmer of relief speeds across his eyes. "Do you?"

"No. It was great and you don't regret great things." Tommy replies after a few moments, watching me stub out my cigarette. "But... I was hurt that you left before I woke up." He hesitantly adds, as if he doesn't know how to put his words together.

Neither do I.

Looking around the room as I try to gather my words, I can feel his bright blue eyes boring into my side and its quite unnerving.

"I didn't know what to say to you. Tommy, you're my best friend, you have been since year 9, we've gone through so much together and I can always rely on you ---you've always just been my best friend. Then suddenly when I get rejected by some twat who's scared of either women in general or the fact that you are my best friend and you decide to kiss me and then things escalate, things change. For good or for bad I don't know." I try to just put some of my thoughts into words.

"You could've left a note, woke me up if you really needed to go, silently got dressed with me and then we parted ways, anything... anything other than wordlessly leaving. Everything stopped, I slept a full night, I didn't have any messy dreams, I woke up rested, then when I saw you weren't there with me, none of that mattered anymore." Thomas explains with a small shrug, his eyes burning for a conclusion, a cohesive answer, anything.

"Only because you had company, female company no doubt." I state, sending him a tired look. His face is illuminated by the standing lamp behind me, highlighting his slight frustration, hurt, and confusion.

"No, I'm almost 100 percent sure it's not just female company. When I got back from fighting and I was having my night terrors, I'd call you up and you'd come sleep in my bed, and you'd help me fall asleep again and at least help with my dreams. When I was using you'd demand that we share a bed because you knew that I knew that you hated it. You've always helped me sleep." Tommy insists, leaning forward in his chair.

"I was just being a good friend, Tom."

"I'm not asking you to be my girlfriend or to marry me, I'm just saying I sleep better with you around. I don't know what I want to come out from this or where we stand but please promise that at the end of the day we'll always be best friends." Tommy pleads, grabbing my hand, clasping it with both of his.

"We'll always be best friends, Thomas. No matter how mad I am at you or you at me, I'll always be there for you." I assure, squeezing his hand with a small smile. "I hate not being in control, my whole life I've always been in control, had a grip on things, and just knew the ins and outs of every situation, then suddenly I don't it scares the living hell out of me, Tom. I don't know how to react."

"I'm not asking you to, I'm just as confused and lost as you are, I don't know where we stand or how to be normal again." Tommy says, his eyebrows raised. "I don't know what I want to come from this, but I know I'll always want you around."

"Same, always." I tell him, looking deep into his eyes. "I've gotta go, Tommy, I'll see you tomorrow." I lie, I've still got a load of work to do but if Tommy keeps looking at me like he is now, I'm not going to be able to make it out of here without my hair a mess.

Standing up, I push my chair back in and take a step away before Tommy says something.

"You can't keep running from your problems."

I pause, turning to look at him.

"Sorry?"

"You can't keep running away from things that you can't solve in 5 minutes." Tommy expands, looking up at me. He looks uncertain, as if he doesn't know how I'll react.

Keeping my gaze on his for a split second more before I swiftly bend down to press my lips against his, cupping his cheek. He seems surprised and stills for a moment then eagerly kisses me back, his hand also on my cheek.

We kiss for a few more moments until I pull back slightly, our faces inches away. "Watch me." I whisper, looking into his stormy sea of blue eyes, and my eyes flicker down to his lips before I stand up to my full height.

Taking a step back to make my move out of here but Tommy suddenly stands up straight and grabs my hand before I can escape and pulls me into him, immediately cupping my face with his soft hands and softly crashes his mouth to mine.

Without any hesitation I kiss him back, wrapping my arms loosely around his neck as I slowly relax into him. Tommy pulls me impossibly close to him, feeling every contort of his body, his hands steadily trail down my back as I work my mouth against his.

Once again, Tommy pulls my hair out of my hairband, letting my wild locks bounce free around my back. He buries his fingers into my curls whilst his other hand wonders, feeling my waist, hips and ass.

I press my hips against his and he leans against the nearest desk, he lets out a moan at the feeling of my hips and I take advantage of that so my tongue can get reacquainted with his.

Last time it was slow, hesitant touches, taking our time but this time it's eager, fast moving, and hungry.

I let out a moan when Tommy flicks his tongue against mine, completely lost in the moment; I can feel that I'm losing myself in him, his touch, his mouth, his mind. Disconnecting, Tommy attaches his mouth to the sensitive skin on my neck, dragging his lips up to the sweet spot below my ear.

The fast that he knows that fact sends me reeling over something so silly and simple, but it wakes me up.

Immediately I push myself off of him, taking a few shaky steps back with wide eyes. He looks shocked, his blown out eyes shining in concern, and he takes a step towards me.

"Co---"

"No." I shake my head. "We can't do this, I need to leave." I blurt out and make an exit, not bothering to pick up my coat on the way out as Tommy calls after me, but I slam the door on him, blocking out his voice that's always been comforting for me.

***

"Turns out it was just a fluke then." Polly teases, lighting up a cigarette as I enter the building.

"Seems like it." I agree, glancing at the clock, seeing it reads 10:45.

"Who's this raven haired beauty walking in?" A familiar voice asks, and I look to my left to see Ada proudly sitting on the closest desk to me.

"What are you doing here?" I ask, not being able to help the grin on my face as I approach her, pulling her into a quick hug.

"Thought I should come up as I haven't seen everyone in a while, and you even longer." Ada explains, and it's true as the last time she came up I was busy visiting my family that live down south.

"Well, it's great to see you again. Did you bring Karl?" I question, and as I'm looking at her I can't help the guilt that tugs at me as I slept with her brother just a few nights ago.

"Yeah, he's busy making a mess in Tommy's office with Finn." She answers, folding her arms.

"I'm sure he'll look forward to finding that." I smirk. "Is Tommy here by the way?" I ask curiously, hanging my bag up along with my coat, next to the coat I left here last night when I made a hasty exit.

"No, something happened at The Garrison or something and he had to go sort that out." Ada informs me, sending me a quizzical look when I let out a sigh of relief.

"Michael said someone got too rowdy and fired some shots at someone, no ones seriously hurt but Tommy went to go sort it out." Polly says, walking towards us creating a trio.

"When did your hair get so long?" Ada asks fascinated, her slender fingers coming up to grasp a few loose curls.

"I've not seen you without your hair up in what? Two years, maybe?" Polly comments, also looking at my hair.

"I just didn't have time this morning to do it, rolled out of bed, parted it and left." I tell her, running my hand through it.

"Didn't have the time? It's nearly 11 o'clock and you're only just strolling into work." Ada exclaims with a laugh.

"It took me ages to get to sleep, and I need my 8 hours." I retort, the reasons I couldn't get to sleep need to remain a secret.

Her damn brother.

"And just because you're you Tommy won't get mad. If any of us are more than 20 minutes late, Tommy will act like a child." Polly roll her eyes.

"How do you do it?" Ada asks genuinely.

Suck his dick apparently.

"I simply just show him my knife and he does whatever." I joke, with a smirk. "Hey, it's not like you have to be here at 8 or 9 on the dot, you're all founders of this company, you have just as much of say as that dumb fuck."

"True, but you can't deny that Tommy will throw a fit if we're late, where as you..."

"What can I say? Shelbys love me." I tease and leave the room.

It's just pushing 3 pm when Tommy walks into the room again, the first time I'm seeing him since I freaked out last night. It's been a busy and chaotic day so far, people coming in and out, I had to go deal with someone who wasn't paying up which got a bit messy, then I had to catch up on all the things I didn't do yesterday after leaving prematurely, and to do that with a messy head on top of that is difficult.

Tommy searches the room as he continues to walk through the room until he finds me. "You, my office." He points his finger at me and then towards his office doors.

"No?" I shake my head, quirking my eyebrows.

"It's fucking business that's all." Tommy huffs from across the room, giving me a slight glare before looking down and heading towards his office.

Pushing my chair out, I let out an even bigger huff than Tommy's and stand up, meeting him at his office doors. Our eyes flicker over each other extremely briefly before he opens his door and lets me enter first.

We both stop short at the sight of a man sitting in the chair opposite Tommy's desk.

"Who's that?" I whisper to Tommy, neither of us taking a step further.

"Mr Parsons, wants business with us." Tommy briefly tells me before moving forward. "Good afternoon, Mr Parsons."

"Ah! Good afternoon, not that good in a place like this." Mr Parsons states, looking up at Tommy as he goes to sit in his desk chair.

"Good afternoon." I greet and sit down in the chair next to him.

"Oh, a woman, a pretty woman that is." He comments with a weird smile of his face.

I send a quick look to Tommy who looks just as speechless as I am. "Thank you, business --- what can we do for you?"

Ever since I joined The Shelby Company Limited all those years ago Tommy's always asked me to join in with meetings. Not entirely sure why if I'm honest, he's always said and I quote 'you give me a level headed opinion', whatever that means.

"I need protection, I've recently moved to this shithole and I've heard that you so called Peaky Blinders are the best people for the job." Mr Parsons states, intertwining his fingers over his chest.

Tommy and I share a look at his choice of words.

"What do you need protecting?" Tommy questions, leaning back in his chair.

As Mr Parsons answers Tommy's question in his unique way of vocabulary, I take a good look at him. He's probably at the higher end of middle-aged, a full head of black hair growing white, a rather slim and tall build, well dressed, a thin greying moustache, and a sinister smile. He's not unattractive but there's something just off about his face.

"We will definitely look into that, Mr Parsons, we'll need to assess the situation ourselves first." Tommy says, gesturing with his hands.

"This pretty lady, I hope of course." He gives me a grin, and I grip the arms of the expensive chair to stop myself from showing him what I really think of him.

"No." Tommy bluntly tells him. "My brother will."

"That's a real shame." Mr Parsons sighs and looks at me as if I were his last meal on earth. "I must say, I think it's really great that you have so many women working for you."

"First of all," Tommy starts, leaning back in his chair and lights a cigarette, "They work with me, and secondly if you weren't so creepy and weird, you'd not speak of women as if they're a rare breed of dog."

Mr Parsons takes no notice of Thomas, just keeps his smile as his green eyes take me in, making my skin crawl. If the circumstances wear different and we were in a different environment I'd of either punched the guy in the face or threatened to do something worse by now, but because this is business and he could be important, I can't.

I lead forward in my chair to be closer to him despite my whole body screaming no. "You're coming on a little strong."

"That's just the way I act with beautiful women. A good one only comes around once and a while and you have to snap them up real fucking quick." He replies, with a wink, looking proud of himself.

"And you think it's working?" Tommy sasses and I stifle a chuckle, pursing my lip to conceal my smirk.

"I know it's working." He states over confidently, which even if I were into him, that would be a big turn off.

Like Tommy, he has a certain confidence about him but it's not stifling, big headed, or cocky, it's subtle, he demands it without verbally demanding it, and it's attractive.

Ew, since when did I use my best friend as a model of what is hot and not?

"Business, Mr Parsons, we're here for business." I remind him, sending him a stern look.

"See." Mr Parsons smirks at Tommy, and I roll my eyes as Tommy just stares straight through him, his cigarette seemingly forgotten as it burns in his fingers. "My business need protecting because I've made a few enemies in my year, and people like trying to tear me down."

"Wonder why." I mumble in a huff.

"What was that, sweetheart?"

"Oh nothing, just talking to myself, nothing for you to worry about." I wave him off, throwing a glare at him I how intrusive he's being.

"Anything that concerns your gorgeous mind is my concern, darling." Mr Parsons states softly before he grabs my hand that was dangling off of the arm of my chair.

I throw my head back in annoyance; I'd give anything to show this bitch my knife. I pull hand back, wanting to wash hands immediately.

"Why should we give you our protection?" Tommy asks, raising an eyebrow, taking a drag from his cigarette.

"Because, you clearly need it." Mr Parsons says, taking his eyes off of me from practically looking through my clothes to look at Tommy straight in the eyes.

Tommy abruptly gets up and rounds his desk towards me, he nods his head for me to get out of my chair, which I do and Tommy places his hand on my waist as we switch places to me sitting in his chair opposite Mr Parsons to Tommy sitting next to him, I can feel Mr Parsons' eyes on my body as I move. Tommy leans forward in his new chair, looking deep into Mr Parsons' eyes.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He questions, looking scary but it's kinda hot and to be honest, I'm slightly turned on.

"You live in a place like this, it's pretty self explanatory." Mr Parsons replies, crossing his leg over the other.

"I choose to live here, you don't have a choice." Tommy points out, clearly knowing more about him than I do.

"If that's what you want to believe, sure." He chuckles, throwing his head back.

"I'm not accustomed to being spoken to like that, especially not in my own fucking office." Tommy states, shaking his head slightly.

"What? No one been brave enough?" He chortles. "I've always been---"

"No one's seen the next morning after." Thomas cuts him off bluntly, and Mr Parsons stills for a moment.

This is such a dangerous and tense moment yet all I can do is keep my eyes locked on Tommy and all I want in the world right now is a repeat of the other night.

"I'm here to make a deal, Mr Shelby."

"Fine, give me your proposition." Tommy says, leaning back in his seat.

"50 percent of what I can--- no, will bring into The Shelby Company." Mr Parsons states with no remorse.

"And how do you expect to do that?" Tommy practically almost laughs, and I bite my lip to stop my guffaws coming out.

"With my business. If you protect me and people know that we're in bed together, you'll get even more people coming to you, you won't know where to put all the money." He answers, clearly delusional.

"Anything more you want from your so called deal?" Tommy asks, raising an eyebrow.

"A night with the girl."

We both freeze at that, both of us not believing that he just said that.

Tommy's always been protective of me, especially with people like this. I can even remember when I'd get people a year or two above me in school hitting on me or flirting with me, Tommy would always put them in their place and then ask if I was okay.

Yet at the same time, he knows to give me space and when I'm at my breaking point. He knows I don't like being smothered and accommodates for that.

"She's off the fucking table, untouchable." Tommy states with no hesitation or room for arguing. "Get the fuck out of my office." He shakes his head.

"I said sh---"

"Out." I push and he turns to look at me, his eyes widening at the sight of a gun pointed at his head.

"Yo---"

"Out." I push and pull the slide back.

He wordlessly gets up and Tommy and I escort him out as he swears a storm, slamming the door after himself.

Tommy and I stare at each other, alone since last night.

We both act on our own accord as I'm suddenly pressed against the wall, with Tommy's mouth on mine. I grip the back of his neck, my nails tickling his skin as Tommy pins me against the wall with his hips whilst his hands grip whatever he can.

Tommy wastes no time letting his tongue get reacquainted with mine, and I let out a moan at the feeling.

Last time it was soft, gentle, and slow, this time though, this time it's a lot more heated, passionate, and rougher.

"Jump." Tommy mumbles against me, and I do so, wrapping my legs around him as his hands go to my ass to get a steady grip on me.

I can tell he's holding back, almost as if he's refraining himself

"You can be rougher with me, by the way. I'm not made of glass." I quietly tell him, tracing his face with my fingers as we search each others eyes.

"Yeah?" He raises an eyebrow. "How rough?"

"We could set up a safe word?" I suggest.

"Like what?"

"Juggle?"

Tommy laughs before he presses his forehead against mine. "That works."

***

"What the fuck was that?" Tommy asks shocked, trying to catch his breath as his hand trails down the bare skin on my back.

"I don't know but oh my god." I shake my head, resting my forehead on his shoulder.

"This needs to be a regular occurrence, it's too good not to be." Tommy states, throwing his head back in his leather desk chair.

"Definitely." I agree, beginning to catch my breath.

I pull back, looking at Tommy who looks at me with hooded eyes and a small genuine smile, seemingly in a daze; we both are.

"You look pretty like this, no walls up, exposed and genuine." Thomas tells me softly, pushing some hair out of my face before quickly yet gently brushing his lips against mine.

"You're only saying that because I'm naked on top of you." I retort, beginning to have feeling in my legs again after riding him in his chair.

"I've always thought your were the most gorgeous person in the world, you know that, fuck, everyone knows that." He says and my stomach turns into liquid heat.

"Stop." I bashfully reply, burying my face into his neck as he breathes a laugh, continuing to stroke my back.

"You're so cute." He chuckles, kissing the side of my head.

"I've gotta get back to work, as much fun as this was, I like making money." I state, swiftly sliding off his lap and searching for my clothes that are strewn about the room somehow.

"So, what do you think we should do about Mr Parsons?" Tommy asks me, watching me fasten the back of my bra.

"You're not considering doing business with him are you?" I raise an eyebrow at him.

"No, fuck no." He shakes his head, getting up out of his chair to also get dressed. "Can't just let him come out of here with no repercussions."

"Probably just scare him, he didn't necessarily do anything, was just extremely unprofessional and disrespectful." I give him my two cents, before slipping my thick and dark jumper over my head. "But if there's anything that needs blowing up, you know where to find me."

Tommy chuckles as he buttons his shirt up.

"Of course." He nods with a smile, watching me slip into my skirt. "I'll send Finn his way."

"Terrifying." I smirk, finding it hard to believe that the boy I watched grow up could be intimidating.

"You seemed scared of him when he knocked on the door." Tommy teases, brushing his hip against mine as he walks past me.

"Well obviously, you had me up against the wall he was on the other side of; anyone could've caught us." I retort, looking in a mirror to sort my hair out as Tommy seems to have a fascination with it.

"Oh, so you're ashamed of me now are you?" Tommy asks, a teasing glint to blue eyes.

"Yeah, you're my dirty little secret." I laugh, before tying my shoes up.

Tommy tilts his head back to laugh as he slips his blazer back on, both of us looking put together again as if we didn't just have mind blowing sex.

"I'm going to have to kick you out of my office if you're going to speak to me like that." Tommy states, as we both near the door.

"We should really stop fucking on here. Next time my house." I tell him, looking up at him and the funny bright look in his eyes.

"Oh, so their is going to be a next time?" Tommy smirks with a raised eyebrow, look in proud of himself.

"You know as well as I do that there's going to be a next time." I send him a knowing look and he subtly licks his lips, looking pleased. "Can't get rid of you Shelbys if I tried."

Tommy laughs and presses a quick smiley kiss to my lips, "Don't ever change."

That's the start of an extremely natural, fulfilling, fun and sensual relationship. Nothing really changed within our friendship, only that we see each other naked a lot more.

It's definitely brought us closer together. We were extremely close before everything happened but now it feels like we've gotten to a new level, definitely a more intimate level but we're closer than ever before.

It kinda feels like we should've been messing around the whole time, it feels silly that we weren't. What we've got is so much fun and honestly it's a nice stress reliever at the end of the day.

It doesn't feel like we're tarnishing our years long friendship, this feels natural and free flowing.

No one knows, we made that a strict rule. We always try to mess around in the privacy of our own homes, but sometimes when it's late and everyone's gone home we can help ourselves or if tensions get high throughout the day.

I'm pretty sure no one knows. When this all started Ada was visiting and we were slightly sloppy with our secrecy, and she kinda cornered Tommy and I at different times but we got away with it as she never mentioned it again. After that we got our act together and any suspicion that was around died.

It's relatively unexpected from us, although we've expressed our attraction and admiration for each other to other people, we've always said we'd never act on it or that it was even possible to feel anything but appreciation for each other.

I've always joked that it'd be awful to be in a relationship with Tommy and that I'd hate to wake up to him everyday.

We also have another rule to not fall in love, which I laughed at when Tommy asked me to not fall in love with him, and then I told him to not flatter himself.

It's been kinda exciting sneaking around with Tommy. I feel like I'm hiding the resident bad boy of the town from my parents, but in this case it's one of the most dangerous people in the country and I'm sneaking around in front of his family, friends, and co-workers.

We generally don't really see each other outside of work besides on the Sundays that he comes over to my house to get his hair cut. Almost everyday we spend a lot of time together when everyone's gone home or ended their work day, we work together a lot, and I guess we see each other at the pub a lot; but to see each other outside of those premises isn't often. I occasionally go to Thomas' house but not by choice, only if he needs me there or there's a crises or an event going on but if I'm honest I don't like his house, which I've told him before and he always laughs at me because of it.

I love my flat in the heart of Small Heath and you couldn't get me out of their if you tried. I've lived there for years and it's my own place to call home. I could easily afford a house like Tommy's but you'd have to kill me to get me out of my flat.

In recent times, my house has sort of become his residence as he's spent so much time here recently. It's not just sex, we'll sometimes go to my house after work or after some evening entertainment, have a meal or just talk which leads to sex, and then half the time Tommy will stay the night; which leads to us having to sneak into work together without raising any suspicions.

Like now, it's honestly too often you'd find Tommy in my bed the morning after as the sun is beginning to shine through my bedroom windows, talking in quiet voices and having a few laughs.

Letting out a soft laugh at Tommy, I rub my hand over my face wake myself up a little bit more.

It's well into the morning, Tommy and I are lying in my bed, surrounded by sun spots that are pouring through my worn French windows, the Birmingham bustle is in full swing a few floors below us that we can hear small swings of from the window that is just slightly open, yet it's calm and quiet in this plant ridden room.

Just our quiet voices as if we were confessing our darkest secrets with the occasional stranger's shouty voice drifting through the window, and soft touches like we're handling a rare and ancient piece of history.

"Do you miss it?" Tommy asks as we're going through old memories.

"I miss my only worries being if Matthew Kennedy liked be back or not and being young and carefree, but I also love my life right now." I reply.

"Oh yeah, you planned out your wedding, how many kids you were gonna have and everything." Tommy laughs, his eyes glazed over as he thinks back to simpler times.

"It was gonna be outside with as many flowers as possible and we were gonna have 3 children, twin girls and a boy." I chuckle along with him, looking up at the crisp white ceiling. "But it turned out he was a shit kisser and only wanted to see my bed."

"I can still remember the black eye you gave him for that." Tommy grins, almost proudly.

"Deserved it, knob." I shake my head as he snickers before pulling me into him with the arm under me, curling me into his side, leaving the cracked open window to tickle my bare back with soft gusts of air.

"You're so violent." Tommy mumbles, pressing a gentle kiss to my hairline.

"Only to those that deserve it, which is a lot." I explain, before looking up at him. "So I can see how you got confused in perceiving me as a violent person, it's okay, Tom."

He send me an annoyed look as his fingers trace my back.

"You're so annoying, I've never met someone who annoys me so much." Tommy shakes his head, but despite his words his fingers stay consistent in tracing my back, running over my scars and smooth skin.

"You love it." I grin up at him.

All he does is grunt in response.

We lapse into a comfortable silence, with my head rested on his shoulder and my body pressed against his side whilst he has his arm wrapped around me, almost sending me to sleep again with his soft hands tracing my body.

"I can't believe you took a bullet for me." Thomas breaks the silence, running his fingers over the scar in my back.

"Only by accident." I reply, still slightly pissed off, making Tommy chuckle.

"Well if you hadn't moved I'd be dead." He states, looking up at the ceiling and easy smile on his face.

"And to think that you thought I was joking when it happened and you laughed." I shake my head, not being able help my smile.

I still remember that day as clear as ever.

We were outside the betting den with Arthur and Michael and I went to give Tommy a hug before I said goodbye and left but as we went to embrace each other I got a bullet straight into the back. I originally crashed into him and he thought I was joking before I crashed to the floor and my blood soaked my flowery blouse, that's when the laughter died.

"I said I was sorry!" Tommy claims, sounding anything but sorry. "I took care of you in the end though."

"You tripped as you entered the door, you knob!" I counteract, remembering how I was losing blood rapidly soaking his shirt, and as I was in his arms I laughed when he tripped nearly falling over.

"I was only trying." Tommy pouts, brushing his knuckles against my shoulder.

"Thank you." I breathe a small laugh before pressing a feather like kiss to his collarbone.

"You're not welcome." He jokes, before grabbing his first cigarette of the day.

Rolling out of his arms and onto my side of the bed, I do the biggest stretch known to man along with a loud and long groan. When I open my eyes, Tommy's giving me a look which I only grin at to annoy him, laying my head on my folded forearms as I lie on my stomach; I can't help but sigh as all I want to do I stay in the bed all day, preferably with him, not that I'd ever tell him that.

"Want one?" Tommy asks, offering his cigarettes to me.

"You know I don't smoke before 11." I tell him.

"I still don't get why." He shakes his head, exhaling the smoke.

"Habit." I shrug, knowing that it doesn't make any sense but I still do it anyway.

Running my fingers through my hair, I glance at my wardrobe, knowing that I should get ready sooner than later. Shuffling up onto my knees, I make my way over to Tommy's side of the bed as my wardrobe is situated on the left side of the room, I swing my leg over his, taking a brief pew on his thighs.

"You need your hair cut." I note, combing through his slight bed-head hair with my slender fingers.

"I know, but someone keeps putting it off." Tommy drawls, sending me a brief look be for he taps off the ash from his cigarette.

"It's not my fault that you come over to do it but you end up doing me instead." I chuckle, and he smiles.

"What can I say, it's just more fun."

I roll my eyes with a fond a smile before I go to get off Tommy's lap and venture out of this unbelievably comfortable bed but Tommy stops me by placing his hands on my hips, locking me in place.

"Yes?" I raise an eyebrow.

Tommy presses his lips against mine, pulling me in for a sensual, gentle morning kiss which leaves me breathless and wanting more. So much more. His touch is softer than ever as he cups my face in one hand and trails the other over the skin of my waist.

"That's all." Tommy shrugs, brushing his nose against mine with a small smile.

I mirror his smile and capture his lips one last time before I finally get out of bed, making my way over to my wardrobe and pull both doors open, my eyes darting over the hangers.

Picking out a dark dress with bright coloured flowers that has slight and subtle bell bottom sleeves, I shimmy into that before I make my way across the room to look out the window.

"Aw, it looks like it's going to rain." I frown, closing the window.

Tommy puts out his cigarette and gets out of bed, joining me at the window. "When doesn't it?"

"True," I shrug, then turn my back to Tommy. "Can you do me up?"

"Mhm." He hums and begins to do the buttons of my dress up.

"Thank you." I flash him a grateful smile and make my way over towards my vanity to do my make up as Tommy starts to change into one of the handful of suits that he leaves at my house.

This has sort of become the norm for us, Tommy spends the night, we spend a little too much time in bed in the morning until we ultimately have to get ready do the day and we have some banter whilst we get dressed and ready, the friendly banter is usually halted with kisses that make me feel warm inside as well as make my toes curl which always throws me off with how we can go from being best friends to acting like a couple in seconds.

I guess we are called friends with benefits.

Then we go downstairs and I make him breakfast, we talk about anything that's going on around us, business or people before our day starts and as soon as my front door swings open, we resort back to being best friends like we've always been, as if the night before didn't happen.

It didn't start like that.

At first it was strictly just sex. He'd only stay for a couple hours unless I really wore him out and he'd stay the night as much as he didn't particularly want to. We were kind of keeping it a secret from ourselves, reserving it strictly for behind closed doors, you wouldn't of suspected a thing; we slowly began moving forward, we stayed the night more, touches weren't just for nightfall anymore, and we knew where we stood with each other.

We don't refrain from showing each other affection anymore. Before this all happened Tommy and I would go through phases of giving each other affection but now it's different. I'd place a lot of money down for a bet to see if Tommy could walk past me without brushing his hand over my waist or back; he just subconsciously does it every time.

Sometimes there are moments where Tommy will be speaking with someone across the room or there's a family - even though I'm not family - meeting, and all I wanna do is just kiss him.

"You look nice." Tommy comments, coming up behind me as I'm putting some earrings in in front of my vanity mirror, bowing down to look at what I'm doing.

"Thank you." I reply as Tommy wraps his arms around my waist and leans down to press his chin to my shoulder blade, looking at me through the mirror. "You look alright."

Tommy flashes me a boyish smile before pecking the skin showing through the little triangle cut out in the back of my dress.

***

"See you tomorrow." I send Polly a smile when she makes her way out of the workplace.

"Bye, love." She mirrors my smile and closes the door behind her, leaving just a few Peakys peaking around.

Casting my eyes back to my desk, I carry on with my important task at hand before it swallows me whole.

As time goes by I sink further into my chair, the lights get softer as more people leave and my workload goes down. A loud groan disrupts my flow and it sounds like it's coming from Tommy's office.

Pushing my chair out, I head over Tommy's way not bothering to knock and I find him leaning back in his chair, looking stressed and defeated. His head whips up to look at me, his hard eyes softening when he sees it's just me.

"Why's it so dark in here?" I raise an eyebrow, noting the few lamps that are on in here, casting the room in a subtle orange glow when I walk towards him.

"Hurts my eyes." Tommy grumbles and I round his desk, taking a seat on his lap, his hand grazing my ass in the process.

"What's got you so gloomy?" I enquire, pressing a quick kiss to his jaw, feeling some tension release from his body as he settles into me.

"Just so much to do, so little time." Tommy replies with a soft sigh, placing his hand on my thigh and with his other hand he brushes some hair that got caught on my lipstick before he settles it around me.

"Seems that's how life's going these days." I mumble softly, sweeping the hair off of Tommy's forehead, causing him to close his eyes momentarily. "You should be careful not to overwork yourself, Tom. You make shit decisions when you're tired."

"What can I say? You tire me out." Tommy says with a fond smirk and slightly hooded eyes.

"You're a piece of work, got to put you to bed somehow." I fire back, matching his smirk.

Pressing my lips to the sensitive skin on his neck, working my way up towards his sharp jawline, Tommy lets out a satisfied sigh, beginning to properly relax. Connecting our lips in a sweet and short kiss, Tommy squeezes my thigh as I kiss him one time, two times, three times before going back to his neck.

"Mr Shelby?" Someone calls from behind the closed door with a hesitant knock.

We're too far gone to really care who it is or what they want so Tommy sighs and grants them entrance as I continue to work my magic on him. In comes a new lower ranked Peaky Blinder who's eyes widen at the sight of us, which it would be shocking to see us right now as everyone assumes we're still just best friends but here I am sat comfortably on Tommy's lap, marking him up.

"What can I do for you, Frank?" Thomas questions, trailing his hand up my thigh.

This poor boy is speechless, not knowing how to react and he looks like he wants to get out of this room as soon as possible.

"Uh, I just came in here to tell you that I've uh finished everything you asked me to do and it uhh all went smoothly." Frank states with anything but confidence.

"Great, thanks." Tommy responds, tilting his head to the side to give me more space.

Frank escapes the room as soon as possible and I chuckle at the hard working boy. We both know that he'd never utter a word to anyone about what he saw, that's why we didn't freak out. The boy want to go up in this company and he'll do anything to please anyone higher than him; he's too gentle and easily persuaded for this world.

"Is that everyone gone?" Tommy asks me.

"Should be." I confirm with a small nod.

"Perfect."

The next thing I feel is Tommy's hand creeping up my skirt.

***

"What?" Tommy utters, staring at a lower ranked Peaky Blinder with an ice cold stare.

"It's not my fault! I tried to get him to agree but---"

"Not your fault? This whole plan went down the drain because of you!" Tommy states, not believing the man.

"He had a gun to my head, what was I supposed to do?!" Matthew asks outraged.

"You should taken someone fucking with you, not just thought that you knew best! You need a wake up call because if you want to remain in this company you should know that that shit doesn't fly around here. Could've taken John, Arthur, Cora, fuck, even Michael for fuck sake, not just make decisions as you go along." Thomas retorts, frustrated beyond belief as he rubs his hands over his face.

"What's all the shouting about?" Polly questions as she comes up beside me from being in another room.

"Mathew fucked up and gave away Tommy's plans and shit, along with some other stuff that i don't quite know the details of, so Tom's losing his shit." I fill her in, looking up at her from where I'm sitting and she's standing.

"How the fuck did that happen?" She asks, confused.

"He ran into some trouble on the way or something, I'm not sure, I only came in half way through." I take an unsure guess.

"Men." She shakes her head, letting out a sigh.

"Boys." I correct, making her cackle as she turns to move further into the room.

"I don't need a babysitter, and I sure as hell am not gonna take a female with me." Mathew states in defence, his so called manhood damaged by the thought of a woman being able to do his job better than him.

Tommy huffs a small laugh.

"I wear heels bigger than your dick!" I joke from across the room, not taking his serious comment seriously.

"Just get out of my sight before I force you to." Tommy huffs, turning around and heading up to his office, not being gentle with the door as he closes it behind him.

"I'll go talk to him." I roll my eyes, getting up out of my chair, grabbing the knife from off my desk with me. "And you..." I start, showing Mathew my weapon. "Try not to be a sexist twat next time you're even vaguely threatened by a woman. We hold a lot more power than you can, so remember that next time." I give him a sly wink as I twirl the extremely sharp knife around my fingers.

Heading into Tommy's office, I lean against the door after I close it, watching Tommy lean over his desk, head hung low, tension present in his muscles.

"What is it with people not sticking to the plan?" Tommy grumbles, not bothering to turn around and face me.

"Some people think they know best, I guess." I say, coming up behind him and wrapping my arms around his waist, feeling some tension leave his body.

"He's my employee, this is not what I'm employing him for. I'm not paying him to fuck up." Tommy shakes his head as I press my cheek against his back.

"I know." I say, knowing he doesn't really want me to say anything, he just needs comforting and someone to vent to.

"This whole plan has gone to shit, I've spent weeks trying to perfect it, and the easiest task got fucked." He huffs.

"You shouldn't of trusted him to it, the man can't even tie a tie." I state, looking out of the window.

"I just thought I'd give him a chance, a try, whatever, but I shouldn't of." Tommy replies, lifting his head up.

"You learn from these things, got to know where you stand with the people around you." I tell him, moving my hands from around his waist to hooking under his shoulders.

"I guess, but I just expected more from him." Tommy responds.

And so I let my best friend vent some more, not just about this incident but anything that's on his mind, only replying when I feel the need to, and I think it worked because he's not all worked up anymore, the tension has dropped in his body, and he seems at peace.

"Thank you." Tommy utters, taking my face in his hands.

"For what?" I breathe a small laugh, holding onto his forearms.

"For just always being there for me, day or night, for the big things and the small things, I don't know how I could ever thank you enough." He says, stepping into my bubble, looking more sincere than ever.

"You do the same for me, that's more than enough." I assure, looking deep into his deep blue eyes. "Thank you for being my best friend."

Tommy smiles a small smile, before giving me a kiss, pulling me impossibly close to him, both of our smiles growing.

***

Glancing over towards the clock on the bedside table, seeing the time reads 6:30, I've got a long day ahead of me and I need to catch up on quite a few things as I seem to be slacking because I've been spending all my time with the duvet hogger to the left of me.

Granted it's not my house or room so I have no claim on it, but I seem to spend more time here than my own house; it feels more like home here, anyway.

Letting out a quiet yawn, I look over at Cora next to me, seeing how she's dead to the world looking effortlessly gorgeous whilst she's fast asleep. Her dark hair is splayed out on her pillow, her long eyelashes resting on her cheeks, and her bare shoulders are poking out of the duvet, with a small sun spot shining on her, and she just looks so pretty.

It feels weird not waking up next to her nowadays, it feels so natural seeing her warming up the other half of either mine or her's bed.

Sitting up, I shuffle out of bed and start to get dressed and I can't help but think of how I could get used to this.

Beginning to get ready for the day without waking up Cora, I don't bother with breakfast as I just don't have the time. Doing a once over in the mirror, I head over to Cora who's half awake to let her know that I'm leaving.

"Cora, lovie." I say softly, placing my hand on her exposed arm.

"Hm?" She hums, giving me a peak of her green eyes as she purses her lips briefly.

"'M gonna head into work now, I'll see you later on, eh?" I inform, watching her slowly wake up.

"Okay, have fun." Cora wishes, readjusting the sheet on her bare chest.

"Oh I'll try." I joke, brushing some hair away from her face with a fond smile. "I'll see you later." I tell her, planting a quick kiss on her lips.

She chuckles.

"Look at us, like an old married couple, who'd of thought?"

"Terrifying." I laugh, asking her laugh as I leave the room with a smile on my face that stays on my face until I open the front door, and as I'm walking to work I can't help but think that that doesn't sound so bad.

Leaning back in my chair, I grab a cigarette and flick my lighter against the end, quickly exhaling what I inhale before clearing my throat a little.

"I look forward to what the future holds for us, Mr Shelby." Mr Cliffo states, clearly chuffed with the way this meeting went.

"As do I, Mr Cliffo, as do I." I reply, wanting to get him out of my office as soon as possible as I've still got so much to do today.

"You've got a nice thing going on here, great business attitude, trust worthy co workers, it seems like your family really has its heart in this company." Mr Cliffo drawls, looking around the room.

"Yes, all of us here believe in this company and always want to strive closer towards our goals and ambitions." I nod, bringing my cigarette to my mouth again.

"I have to ask as curiosity has gotten the best of me, where's the woman that usually attends our meetings?" Mr Cliffo questions, and I sigh, it seems like everyone takes interest in my best friend nowadays.

She's extremely captivating and has a mysterious aura to her, Cora just has this way of drawing you in and making you want to know as much about her as possible.

"Busy." I inform, watching him carefully, how he has a ghost of smile on his face and seemingly looking back on his few interactions with her.

"I've missed her little quips and ideas." He tells me.

Widening my eyes as I let out an exasperated huff, I stand up and head towards the door, hopefully giving him the hint to get the fuck out of my office.

Which he does, so he stands up whilst doing the buttons of his blazer up, approaching me by the door.

"Pretty little thing she is." He says fondly, but not in a creepy way just a genuine compliment.

"She's certainly a head turner." I nod, not being able to deny it.

"Well, I must get going, errands to run." Mr Cliffo states and opens the door. "I'm sensing a promising future here, Mr Shelby."

"I'll look forward to it." I say, escorting him out to hurry him up.

We enter the main room where everyone seems to be, the shouting across the room and bustling noises greet us.

"Have a good day, Mr Shelby." Mr Cliffo bids and we shake hands briefly before he leaves, leaving me to head into John's office to relay some information about the meeting I just had.

"Good meeting?" John questions as I lean against the door frame.

"As good as a meeting with Mr Cliffo can go." I half joke, folding my arms.

"Still a boring middle aged fuck?" John laughs, dropping his pen.

"More of less." I confirm with a small chuckle.

I'm half way through telling John about what happened and our plans when there's a commotion on the other side of the room. I look over my shoulder and find Cora pinning Mr Cliffo against the wall with the knife that she keeps in her stockings under his chin

He looks sheepish, slightly terrified, and completely taken of guard whilst she looks dangerous, pissed off and not the slightest bit hesitant.

"What the fuck is goin' on?" John enquires, joining me in the doorway. "Fuck yeah, I love when she brings the knives out." He practically cheers for her.

"Touch me or any of the woman in here again and you won't see the next sunrise." Cora promises, and in some weird way I can't help but smile a little as she looks so natural at this.

"What's some woman gonna do?" Mr Cliffo attempts to belittle her in order to save his so called manhood.

That's not what he was saying about her earlier.

Cora sharply brings her knee to his crotch making him pale and let out an agonising groan. The impact enough to make any man wince.

"First time a woman's touched your dick in years, is it?" She taunts, pushing the knife into his skin.

He can't get any words out, clearly in too much pain.

"What? Cat got your tongue?" She all but smirks. "Get out of here before you do something you'll regret." Cora states and Mr Cliffo stumbles out of the door, no doubt planning to avoid this building for the rest of his life.

"Fucking hell, I learnt the day I met her not to fuck with Cora Witton and I'm still scared of her." John tells me, subtly interlacing his hands over his crotch making me breathe a laugh.

"Ladies." Cora grins at the women who she just protected from Mr Cliffo, and they mirror her smile.

"She may be small but she will hurt you." I comment watching her tuck her knife back in her stocking, not caring that people can see.

"No hesitation." John adds before he goes back to his desk.

"What the fuck were you thinking doing business with him?" Cora questions as she comes up to me, not mad just curious.

"We've worked with him before, thought I'd take it further." I shrug.

"And after each meeting he grabs my ass." She rolls her eyes, mirroring my folded arms.

"That's him?" I raise an eyebrow, surprised.

"Kinda." She nods, widening her eyes.

"Sorry, I didn't know, lovie." I say softly before kissing her cheek breifly. "This is why I need you in my meetings, give me honest and better judgement."

"Speaking of which, business is done and dealt with, Finn and Isiah are just finishing it up." Cora informs.

"Did it go smoothly?" I question, staring down at her.

"More or less." She nods and she's about to explain before Michael calls her over. "I'll tell you later." Cora tells me, gently fixing my tie before she heads over to Michael.

"You're close." John states, a teasing tone creeping into his voice along with the growing smirk.

"Fuck off." I grumble and leave his doorway, entering mine.

***

"Hi." Cora sings when she enters my office, an unfamiliar baby on her hip.

"Who's this?" I question, leaning back in my chair.

"My neighbour's son." She says, tucking some blonde hair behind the baby's ear.

"It's illegal to take people's children, Cora." I tell her, smiling when she rolls her eyes.

"My neighbour needed someone to watch him for like 15 minutes." She informs, sitting down in the chair opposite me, situating the young boy on her lap who's fascinated with the bracelet on her wrist.

"What's his name?"

"Ronnie."

"Is this the neighbour that complained about the noise?" I ask, with a cheeky smirk

"Yeah, I still can't look them in the eye." She bashfully answers, smiling through the pain.

I laugh as I look back on that experience, it traumatised her so much that we did all our rendezvous on my house for the next month until people started getting suspicious so we went back to her house most of the time.

"You do a lot of things, Cora, yet you can't look your neighbour in the eyes because they heard us one time." I state, amused.

"Uh, I highly doubt it was just the once." She confidently claims.

"Why don't you just move somewhere more remote?" I suggest, already knowing the answer.

"I can't! I love my place, you know that." Cora replies, readjusting Ronnie on her lap. "Isn't that right, Mr Ronnie?" She coos.

I rest my chin on my palm, hiding my smile behind my knuckles. She looks like such a natural with him and seeing her with a baby makes a weird thought come into mind and I can't help but entertain that thought.

Half of me and half of her, dear god help the child who's cursed with that.

A sarcastic and cocky bastard riddled with trauma and seemingly never ending problems.

I'm not planning on having a child with Cora ever, but the idea is entertaining and gives me an odd feeling.

She'd be an amazing mum, she would do anything for anyone that she loves, and to receive her love is one of the greatest things in the world. As I'm looking at her now, I want some of that.

I'd like a beautiful baby who's half me and half her.

"What you daydreaming about, Shelby?" Cora brings me out of the thoughts I'd never utter to her.

"Nothing." I shake my head, and try to busy myself with the work in front of me.

"In all the years I've known you, Tommy, there's always something in your head." Cora says knowingly, a teasing smile creeping on her face.

"Not true." I deceive.

"I'll find out, some day, I always do."

Not even over my dead body.

"Are you coming over tonight?" She questions, crossing her legs.

"Depends, do you want me to?" I retort, looking over at her.

"I think you know the answer to that." Cora tells me, meeting my eyes, a sly glint prevalent in her eyes.

"No?" I guess.

"Of course I do." She chuckles, her smile lighting up the room.

"Tell you what, I'll finish this in the next... 20 minutes/half an hour then we'll head over to your flat, and see where the evening takes us." I suggest, despite the fact that I still got at least a third of work to do today but this girl just does things to me.

"You and I both know exactly where the evening will take us." Cora laughs, running her hand through her hair.

"The sooner we're out of here, the sooner we can get there." I reply, sending her a knowing look.

"Sounds like a plan." Cora grins, gathering Ronnie before leaving the room.

***

"Ready?" I ask, brushing my hand over Cora's shoulder as I walk past her.

"Mhm, just need to give this to Michael." She hums, getting out of her chair to head over to Michael as I get my coat.

"Where are you two going?" Polly muses, leaning back almost smugly in her chair, a cigarette burning in her fingers.

"Home." I answer, turning to look at her.

"Early for you." Polly acknowledges, looking as if she knows something I don't.

"Maybe so, Pol, maybe so." I nod as Cora walks over towards us.

"Ready?" She questions and I nod before I guide us out of here by draping my arm over her shoulders, opening the front door, seeing its beginning to rain. "Shit, I didn't bring a coat." Cora pouts.

"I did." I smugly say, stepping outside and she tugs at the sleeves of her dress until she steps out, too.

We begin to walk the 15 minute walk to Cora's place, chatting about random things on the way, the rain only getting heavier; luckily we're sheltered by the roofs of the houses hanging over the pavement.

"No one annoys me more than my sister, not even you and you're really high up there, like too high." She tells me, making me grin, that's my favourite pastime.

"It's just so easy to do, nothing amuses me more than when you're annoyed." I chuckle, looking down at her annoyed glare and feigning pain when she punches me in the arm, watching her fold her arms to keep herself warm.

"I retract my statement, you annoy me the mos---" she cuts herself off when I drape my coat over her shoulders. "Tommy Shelby, you're so romantic." Cora laughs, a teasing glint in her eyes.

"I try." I mumble, with a small smile as we turn a corner.

"Fuckin' hell, rain's giving no mercy." She points out, and we both look out at the rain that's pelting down, making puddles and leaking through unlucky people's roofs.

Luckily we're sheltered by said roofs; for now.

Grabbing Cora's hand, I pull her out of the protection of the roofs into the rain, making her squeal and laugh which is just music to my ears as I laugh along with her.

"Tommy!" She exclaims and I pull her into my arms, pressing her against me as our hair and clothes get soaked.

"Cora!" I imitate to annoy her, as she wraps her arms loosely around my neck, bringing us even closer. I look into her eyes, seeing how carefree she looks, how much her face is lit up, the smile that always makes me weak in the knees, and how happy she looks, it makes me unbelievably happy. "Kiss me."

"What? Out in open? People can see us, rumours will spread." Cora tells me as she sweeps some soaked hair off my forehead and to the side.

"So? People are already suspicious." I shrug, cupping her cheek. "Kiss me."

She breathes a laugh before pressing her lips to mine, the both of us smiling into it.

I've never smiled as much as the time I spend with this girl.

We stand in the middle of the road, raining cats and dogs on us, intertwined with each other, more than just physically, out in the open.

Pulling back slowly, we take each other in with soft eyes and smiles, and as I'm looking at her right now, all I can feel is love.

I'm in love with my best friend.

Deeply in love.

I could call myself crazy but the way she's looking at me right now and how she's making me feel, I'd say she feels the exact same.

The words are on the tip of my tongue, aching to be said but I'm not brave enough, so I settle with kissing her again instead.

I'm scared to the bone but I'm also kind of revelling in it as it's a new feeling and fuck does it feel good.

"You look pretty in the rain."

"As do you."

***

After a successful business move that we've all been hard at work on for the past month, that called for a celebration, right? Which is why we're in The Garrison this evening, nestled in the private room full of Shelbys, Grays, and a few other Peakys including myself.

Which is predictably chaos.

"To business." Michael toasts, holding his drink up.

"To business." We all toast, clinking glasses.

"Michael, for fucks sake, you've made that toast like 10 times tonight." John groans, rubbing his forehead clearly exasperated.

"I'm a little drunk, and you keep joining so you're all as bad as me." Michael states, and there's some truth to his words.

We're all a little drunk, some more than others. Not to name names or anything but I'm definitely looking at Arthur, Finn and possibly Polly, not to mention Michael. The rest of us are tipsy, definitely feeling the buzz in our systems, but not off our face.

Although that might change as the night goes on.

"To business!" Arthur vindicates, and I groan, making Tommy chuckle.

"On behalf of my family, I am so sorry." Tommy jokes from beside me.

"What is it with you Shelbys and your liquor?" I question, leaning my head on his shoulder as I look at him.

"Born with it in our bloodstreams." Tommy tells me, brushing his fingertips against my arm as his arm is draped around the back of my part of the booth.

We're kind of in our own bubble in the corner, occasionally piping up with a quip or an opinion but we're mainly talking to each other like we've always done in these sort of circumstances.

"I assume you came out of the womb with a cigarette too, right?" I tease, crossing my legs.

"Yeah, the midwife was waiting with a match." He jokes with a small laugh, his smile staying on his face.

"I can't imagine you as a child. Of course I've known you since we were in year 9, and I'd seen you around a few times in secondary school, but to imagine you as an 8 year old is really hard." I tell him, smiling at the thought.

"Well first of all I was adorable, let's get that out of the way." Tommy states, trying to conceal his smirk.

"You still are!" I tease, earning myself a blank look.

"The ladies loved me." He continues.

"Even with your bad haircut?" I laugh, I've heard so much about his haircuts in the past that family members did for him.

"That's what brought them in, you whore." Tommy laughs which makes me laugh.

"Of course, all that extra hair just propelled these so called ladies to you."

"Exactly." He confirms as if it's obvious. "I've heard stories from your childhood from your family or partners." Tommy informs, a mischievous look in his eyes

"You know only what I want you to know."

"You're forgetting that I know every single thing about you, everything." Tommy says, nudging his knee against mine.

"I highly doubt that, every single thing? Really?" I question, nudging him back.

"Yeah."

"How old was I when I stopped hating you?" I test him, turning slightly to look at him.

"Trick question, you never stopped." Tommy answers, grinning because he knows he's right and I huff. "Yet you still suck my dick almost every night." He mumbles, making me punch him which only makes him laugh.

"I don't hear you complaining." I retort.

"I'd never." Tommy shakes his head. "Why don't we go back to your place and I'll show you how appreciative I am." He suggest, placing his hand on my thing under the table.

"Don't you want to celebrate with your family?" I question, looking over at everyone who's more or less plastered.

"Lovie, you are my celebration." Tommy tells me fondly, tucking some hair behind my ear.

This is the thing with Tommy. He can make you feel so special and make you feel like you're the only person in the room, despite the fact that it's filled with loads of people. He can set off a load of fireworks inside of you without even really trying.

"How about you meet me in the back room in five minutes..." Tommy suggests, sending me a mischievous smile.

"Sounds like a plan." I reply, matching his smile.

"I'm gonna go get more alcohol." Tommy announces, but no one's really listening, and Tommy leaves the room, leaving me alone with his family.

"I'm so glad that I never have to talk to another Bulgarian in my life." Finn says, as I tune into the family's conversation.

"What if you fall in love with one one day?" I question and he turns to me.

"Simply impossible." Finn shakes his head.

"You can't control who you love; you can lie to yourself, deny yourself of it, but it'll always be there." I tell him, sitting up straight ready to go.

"You can definitely control who you love, I can also choose who, when, and where." Finn disagrees, taking a sip of his drink.

"Okay, say you chose to fall in love with the old lady that lives next door to you. Could you do that?" I question, watching him falter as everyone chuckles at him.

"What do you know about love anyway?" Finn asks in a grumble, downing the rest of his drink.

I know a little something about unrequited love.

"I got proposed to." I retort, sending him an obvious look.

"Which you laughed at before walking away from him." He argues, with a laugh.

"Broke the poor guy's heart in front of everyone." Arthur stifles a laugh, refilling his glass.

"Who proposes after 2 years together?" I question, folding my arms.

"Loads of people." John answers, an amused look on his face.

"Shit, maybe I don't know much about love." I join the laughter almost sheepishly.

"I love being in love, it's one of the best feelings in the world." Polly states, leaning back in her chair with a dazed look in her eyes.

"Love is whenever something happens in your life, good or bad, you immediately want to tell them. When you know you can go to them for anything. Knowing you can do anything and they'll always be there for you. When they can always make you laugh, despite anything. Just feeling at home with them, basically. Love is when they're your home." Arthur despite being drunk, eloquently speaks.

My mind instantly goes to Tommy.

He's all of that.

Always has been.

"Love is never far, it's always closer than you think." Polly states, and I look over at her and find that she's already looking at me. Her eyes boring into my soul.

"The only things I love in my life is me and my flat." I announce, and get up to go meet Tommy.

"What about me?" Finn questions, looking up at me with puppy-like look adorning his face.

"Aww." I smile and ruffle his hair. "No."

Opening the door to be greeted with the rest of The Garrison that isn't closed off, I step out and close the door behind me, my eyes scanning the room. Rolling my eyes when I see Tommy talking to some guy at the bar.

He spots me as I approach him, a small smile quirking at his mouth.

"Sorry, I've got some business to attend to." Tommy excuses himself and swiftly yet subtly follows me through the room.

"Is that what I am now? Business?" I tease, as we're out of earshot from anyone around us.

"No, you're a lot more fun than business." Tommy says, grabbing my hand as we push past the doors that lead to the backrooms down the long corridor.

"I don't know, sometimes you get quite excited when things are going well." I tell him, making him laugh which resonates in this empty corridor. "Although---"

I'm cut off by Tommy pressing me up against the wall as he attaches his mouth to mine eagerly. Cupping his face, I match his pace and pull him closer as he buries his fingers in my hair and pins me against the wall with his hips.

"You're so pretty, lovie." Tommy whispers, making me grin.

"So are you." I chuckle, knowing how much he hates when I call him pretty despite the tiny blush that flushes his cheeks.

"You just love to remind me that you're my best friend, don't you?" He asks with a smile.

"Yeah." I laugh and kiss him again before Tommy begins to guide us to a more private area as our kiss begins to heat up and hands are roaming.

The door slams against the wall as we enter a storage room that is surprisingly clean, the heavy wooden door closes itself and Tommy and I stumble our way through the room as our bodies heat up until we hit a wall, I let out a breathy moan at the sensation of being able to feel ever curve and dip of Tommy.

Disconnecting our lips, Tommy dips his head to attach his mouth to my neck as I pant, beginning to fiddle with the buttons of my dress.

"Uh, Tommy? Cora?" A voice hesitantly speaks up, and we freeze.

You could hear a pin drop.

I look to my left and see Michael staring at us with wide eyes, looking scared yet too shocked to really form an opinion.

"Hi, Michael." I sheepishly greet as Tommy drops his head to my shoulder in defeat briefly.

"Has this been going on this whole time?" Michael asks after some silence, rubbing his nose.

"What are you even doing here anyway, Michael?" Tommy asks, turning to face him.

"I was uh... meeting a friend." Michael says. "Not your kind of friend though."

I look past him and see the small container splayed out on some stacked up pallets. "Friend, really?"

"Yep." He nods, inhaling sharply as he refuses to look us in the eyes.

"Not doing lines off old rotting pallets?" I suggest, putting my weight on one foot.

"To--- Who are you to judge me when you guys are fucking or whatever under people's noses?" Michael accuses, acting out. "Has this been going this whole time? You've been sneaking around for years?"

"What does it matter to you?" Tommy and I say simultaneously.

"Are guys together or what?" Michael questions, looking between us.

Tommy and I look at each other, not being able to come up with an answer.

"How does it concern you with what we do privately?" Tommy questions, looking pissed.

"I don't know about priva---"

I cut Michael off as I push him against the wall, swiftly pulling my knife out and holding I under his chin whilst I have my hand pressed against his collar. "You say a fucking word to anyone, your mum, your friends, your butcher, your fucking dentist and you'll be fresh meat." I warn as I look into his blown out eyes. "Understand?"

"Cora---"

"Understand?" I repeat, pressing the blade into his skin.

"Yes, I won't utter a word!" Michael conforms, keeping eye contact.

"Good." I grin, and affectionately clap his cheek. "Tell your mum I'll be in late tomorrow." I inform as I put away my knife before stepping back to Tommy, who runs his hand down my back and rests it on the small of my back.

"We're trusting you, Michael." Tommy tells him, giving him a stern look before we head out the door.

"Stay off the snow will you, Michael?" I suggest over my shoulder before the door slams shut.

"You're so violent, like my little weapon." Tommy teases, intertwining our fingers and I squeeze his hand lightly.

"How much do you trust him?" I question, as we walk down the long corridor.

"As long as we've got you around, I'd say 100 per cent." Tommy jokes. "As long as we don't have any interactions like that again, I'd say he's pretty trust worthy."

"Right." I nod, taking in his words. "Back to my house?"

"We're still celebrating, aren't we?" Tommy states, making me chuckle but it's short lived as I can't help but frown when he drops my hand as we enter the open again.

My heart sinks.

"Just wanna remind you that we've got a wedding next week." Tommy says and I roll my eyes.

You forget one important shoot out that's been planned for months and suddenly he has to remind you of every important thing for the rest of time.

"You didn't propose though?" I reply, gliding through groups of people.

"I didn't?" He raises an eyebrow, looking down at me with a small smirk.

"No, you didn't." I shake my head, smiling.

"Oh, shame, you look good in white."

***

"Well Arthur, the big day's come." I say, as I flip my collar up to put my tie on.

"Indeed, it has indeed." Arthur nods, taking a seat on the large ottoman in the middle of the room.

"Our Arthur's finally settling down, eh?" John smirks as he looks in the mirror to do his hair again.

"God help Linda." Finn grumbles, slipping into his blazer.

"Already is." John widens his smirk.

"I don't see any of you getting married so fuck off." Arthur replies, disregarding John.

"To be fair, he's got a point... god can only do so much." I state, tightening my tie and putting my collar down.

"Oi, you can barely keep your woman on the reigns." Arthur retorts, pointing a finger at me, as the others snicker.

"I've not got a woman." I reply although I know who and what they're talking about.

"You know, the girl you're always around." Arthur tells me, and I huff with a small smile at their tomfoolery.

"You mean the girl who punched you and you practically cried when she was like 14?" I ask, pulling my cigarettes out.

"She'd fucking kill you if she knew you were talking about her like this, Arthur." Finn says, smirking.

"Even if she were my so called woman, not that you'd ever be able to make her conform to that title, she cannot be owned. Not just because of feminism but she's too wild for that, she'd also punch me and that hurts." I state, lighting my cigarette.

"I think it's the other way 'round." John muses, gesturing with his cigar. "She's got you on the reigns."

"Have any of you lot seen Cora?" Polly asks as she bursts into the room, dressed in a fancy dress.

"No."

"Not seen her all morning."

"Not seen her since this morning."

"Me either."

"Fuck sake. She can do everything but turn up on time." Polly grumbles, shaking her head. "Well come on then. Time's getting on and the bride won't wait forever."

We all exit the room one by one, following Polly through the building but we stop short when we see Cora stepping into the entrance hall, looking up at the ceiling as she lights a cigarette, showcasing the thin but long scar on her throat that gave me nightmares when it happened.

"Shelbys!" She beams when she sees us, taking a drag of her cigarette, looking temptingly appetising.

"What time do you call this, Witton?" Polly barks, sending daggers Cora's way.

"There's plenty of time! Don't worry about it." Cora waves Polly off but all I can focus on is how good she looks.

Her dress has a few layers of thin, see through tulle with flowers embroidered into it, the underneath is a champagne sort of pink coloured dress that shines through subtly, the length sinks all the way down to her feet, it's cinched in at the waist with a controversial slit at the side showcasing her leg, and her sleeves are made of the same see through tulle that hangs off her shoulders to tickle her elbow in waves. Her hair is pinned up with a handful of thick curls dangling around her face, and her make up is subtle which really makes her green eyes pop.

She looks like an angel to put it simply.

"Careful, you'll catch flies." John smirks, elbowing me.

I push him back making him knock into Finn which causes him to start an argument.

The art of diversion.

"Nice dress." I comment when she looks over at me.

"Thanks, it has pockets." Cora replies, giving me a demonstration.

"Thought it was supposed to be the bride who's the prettiest today." I state quietly as no one seems to be listening to us.

"Aw, you're too kind." She smiles before pecking my cheek and guiding us towards the church.

***

An around of applause and cheers resonate in the tall church as Arthur and Linda kiss, I can't help but smile at the happy couple.

"How long?" Tommy jokes when he mumbles into my ear.

"Stop!" I laugh, continuing to clap.

"We're married!" Arthur announces as he and Linda turn to face everyone with grins.

Another round of applause goes around the room, mixed with whistles, hoots, and cheers. Arthur and Linda walk down the aisle as a newly wedded couple before everyone slowly begins to follow them for photos outside.

"I can't imagine you getting married." Tommy states when we stand up.

"I'm hurt, Thomas." I reply, shuffling out of the pew.

"You seem too... independent and strong." Tommy digs himself a bigger hole.

"What? So the point of marriage is supposed to break me?" I question with a chuckle.

"No, just the traditional way is that you'd stay at home, looking after the children, cooking or baking, and waiting for your husband to come home." He answers. "And that's not you... but I like that about you."

"I'm never stopping for some man, men don't deserve rights." I shake my head.

"Oh right." Tommy laughs, slinging his arm around my shoulders as we walk down the aisle. "I guess you work with a lot of males so you can say that."

"Thank you, for letting me, a woman, know what I can say and what I'm allowed to say, thank you husband." I joke and he bumps his hip against mine in response.

"The nagging wife part though, you've got that down." Tommy replies, weaving us through people as I lace our hands together with the hand that was dangling in front of my chest from where his arm is draped over my shoulders.

"Fuck off." I laugh, the fresh spring air hitting my face as we enter the outside, gathering at the back of the large group of people posing for photos.

"You love it." He grins before pressing a kiss to my cheek as I laugh.

A flash blinds me momentary, and I inwardly groan.

A few more photos, Tommy and I trying to annoy each other, and laughs later and we head off to the party.

***

"I've known Arthur since I was like 15, it feels weird to watch him get married after all this time." I tell a stranger that I've been talking to for the past 10 minutes.

"I've grown up with Linda, I've not heard the end of this wedding since she was 10." Linda's cousin makes a joke which I fake laugh at, before taking a sip from my flute of champagne. "Are you getting married anytime soon?"

"Oh, no, god no." I shake my head, chuckling.

"Really? Aren't you with Arthur's brother, what's his name? Thomas is it?" She questions.

"Tommy? We're not really together, well we aren't... Thomas is amazing but..."

"But?" She smiles warmly as if she's just done something.

Why aren't we together is the better question, Tommy is everything I've ever wanted, he respects me, makes me feel like I'm more special that I am, is always there for me no matter what, and can make me feel so carefree, I'm in love with him but he's just not.

"But he isn't one for relationships." I answer. "I'm gonna go annoy some of your family, you make me think when I'm here to get drunk. I don't like that."

Her smile falls and I float off towards a group of strangers, ready to judge.

"I heard that the Shelbys shot someone who accidentally bumped into them once." A middle aged man says quietly.

Perfect, this is the group I want to annoy.

"Really? I heard that they give their children guns." A little younger woman matches his tone.

"That's nothing, I heard that they stab children who beg." I cut in, doing this big exaggerated look around the circle.

"I heard that they hurt people who gossip." Polly comes out of no where, and I can't help but smirk at her when she meets my eyes.

"Are you two Shelbys?" A snooty woman questions with a sigh before sipping her drink.

"No." I answer, which isn't a lie.

"I'm Arthur's aunt and she's his brother's girlfriend." Polly states and I glare at her, before tucking my hair behind my ear and subtly flipping her off, which she suppresses a smirk at.

"Oh, I see. You seem like lovely people." Another woman replies with a tight lipped smile.

"We are." I nod.

"If you stay on the right side of us." Polly adds, lighting a cigarette.

"But if you don't, we'll drag you through hell."

"Simple really." Polly shrugs lightly.

"Of course... we're family now, nothing but love." The same woman replies with a nervous laugh.

As Polly makes them more uncomfortable I look over my shoulder at Tommy across the room, who's sitting at a large table with a few people but I don't think he's interacting with anyone really, cigarette and liquor in hand. He gives me a wink which makes me smile, and he gestures for me to come over with a nod of his head.

Leaving the group and Polly, I cross the room all the way to my best friend who takes a drag from his cigarette as I stand behind him and wrap my arms around his shoulders, letting my hands dangle above his chest life a necklace.

"Are you done antagonising Linda's family?" Tommy questions with a tiny chuckle.

"Not yet. They're so judgy." I reply, accepting Tommy cigarette when he offers it to me.

"Where do you think Linda gets it from?" He rhetorically asks.

"You look very pretty." I inform, pressing a quick kiss to his forehead when he looks up at me.

"If I look pretty you must be the prettiest person in the world." Tommy says, fiddling with my hands.

"Always a charmer you Shelbys." I tease.

"Eh we know how to talk the talk." He jokes, squeezing my hand. "Do you wanna dance?"

I look out at the dance floor where all the couples seem to be, it's a little bit crowded but seems comfortable.

"Sure." I nod and Tommy stands up before offering his hand with a boyish smile.

I match his smile and take his hand, Tommy leads us to the dance floor where I place my hand on his shoulder, keeping the other comfortably in his hand, whilst Tommy places his hand on my lower back. The song is quite a fast paced one, so there's no room for a slow dance.

Tommy and I expertly shuffle through the dance floor, him twirling me out every now and then, as we talk and laugh. "Why are old ladies so judgy?"

"I don't know, their better days are behind them and they can't get over that." Tommy offers an amused suggestion.

"I think it's because they---" I cut myself off with a squeal when Tommy surprises me by twirling me out into the dance floor making me laugh. "Give me a warning next time!"

He just smiles down at me as he looks into my eyes. "No, I like making you laugh."

"You always make me laugh, especially with your questionable choices." I tease, squeezing his hand. "I mean what were you thinking letting Finn---"

"I'm not going into this again, he wanted to do it and who am I to say no?" Tommy replies with a light laugh. "That would make both of us a hypocrite."

"We were more mature at the time..."

"Oh really? That's what you call maturity?" Tommy questions amused, as we swiftly move through the crowd as the song begins to end.

"We may have broken a few things but there's no harm done." I state, letting Tommy spin me one last time before a slower song comes on and we match our dancing to the rhythm.

"Sure, no harm done." He mocks me with a laugh, which makes me laugh.

Thomas sways us through the bunches of people as we lapse into a comfortable silence, settling into our own worlds.

"I think I'm falling in love with you, Cora." Tommy tells me, continuing to sway us as he looks deep into my eyes and it feels like he's looking into my soul.

All I can do is smile.

"Yeah? You think?" I chuckle and he matches my smile.

"Mm." He hums, with a nod.

"That's alright, because I think I'm falling in love with you, too." I reply, causing him to break out into the biggest smile.

We pause our moving, standing still amongst all the other couples dancing. Tommy cups my face with his hands and goes to kiss me. "What about your family?" I question, when were mere inches away.

He smiles. "Fuck 'em, they all practically know anyway."

I reply by closing the gap between us, kissing my best friend in the middle of the dance floor as couples dance around us whilst we're stood still, in the midst of his brother's wedding. Tommy's thumb brushes my cheekbone gently as we stand in our own bubble, oblivious to what's going on around us, smiling into our kiss.

"I love you, Cora Witton." Tommy utters, pressing his forehead against mine with a smile.

"I love you, Tommy Shelby." I utter back, kissing him again which makes my toes curl.

"What do you say we finish this dance, get a little drunk, and then go home?" Tommy suggests, tucking some hair behind my ear. "If you can handle Linda's stare that long that is because from where I'm looking, she doesn't look that happy that we stole the spotlight from her on her wedding day." Tommy chuckles, looking over my shoulder at his family.

I look over at them too, seeing how they look shocked yet look like they expected it, and I meet Linda's glare, happy at how I've pissed her off.

"You're such an attention whore." I joke, looking back at Tommy.

"You know it." He smirks and begins to sway us again.

It feels like everything I've ever worked for in my life has led up to this moment. This is what I get after years of struggling, and fuck is it worth it.

"I want this song to play at our wedding."

"Oh, we're getting married now are we?" I chuckle fondly, liking the sound of that.

"If all goes to plan, yeah."

[nomtterwhere]

highly requested part two to this fic!!

a/n: this is...vey long, i literally just couldn’t stop writing. (it’s actually so long that i reached the limit of text blocks, so now there’s going to be a part 3 so stay tuned for that!) but i hope you guys liked it!! also, the way i wrote elle in this is nothing like how she is in the movie, she is nowhere near as mature as this lol.

summary: after your break up with marco, you head to the beach for the senior weekend, where you finally have to face him

word count: 5854

it had been two months since you broke up with marco and you still haven’t talked to him. he’s sent you text message after text message before you blocked him, not wanting to hear anything from him. at school, you avoided him in the halls, taking every possible out-of-the-way route. and when in classes you shared with him, you avoided the urge to even glance at him.

you could feel his gaze on you, though. it took everything in you not to take one look at the boy you once called your own, but you were determined to stay strong. and as soon as class was over, you made sure you were the first one out the door.

rachel acted as your guard during school, walking with you in the hall, helping you avoid both marco and elle. you stopped going to your locker. it’s not like you ever used it anyway, it had become more a spot for you and marco to talk between classes than anything else. now, it was just an ugly reminder of your ex.

outside of school, rachel kept inviting you out with her and lee but you declined everytime.

“rach, it’s okay. really.” you said to her one night after she invited you to a movie night with her and lee. “you don’t have to include me in everything you guys do. you deserve time with your boyfriend.”

“...okay.” she responded uneasily. “but you know you’re always welcome to hang out with us.”

you would take her up on her offer every once in a while, but made sure to give them space when they needed. instead, you started spending more time with your friends (that weren’t dating anyone) and tried to enjoy the rest of your senior year.

marco had come over twice that first week, but each time your mom, bless her, would cover for you.

“i know she’s here, could i please just talk to her?” marco pleaded.

your mom slightly shook her head as you watched from the top of the stairs. “marco, i don’t know what happened between you two, but i do know she doesn’t want to see you right now.”

that was the night of the ddr competition and after that, your mom had come upstairs and held you while you cried into her shoulder. even now, you still hadn’t told her that he had kissed elle, just that you had broken up. you told yourself you didn’t know why you couldn’t just tell her the truth, despite you always telling her everything.

but subconsciously, there was a part of you that wanted to get back together with him. and you knew that if your mom knew that he had cheated on you, there would be no chance of that happening.

but it’s two months later and while you weren’t totally over it, you were much better. you weren’t your relationship, and it took you a while to realize the breakup didn’t mean the end of you.

and now you found yourself getting ready for a senior weekend on the beach, any remains of the heartbroken girl you once were left behind you. there was no doubt you would run into marco there, considering the entire senior class was going, but you refused to dwell on that.

as you finished getting ready, your phone buzzed with a text message from your friend liz.

slowpoke much? hurry up, i’m ready to go!!

you laughed as you quickly typed out a reply, letting her know you would pick her up soon. you then unplugged your phone charger before throwing it inside your bag, then grabbed it and headed downstairs.

at the bottom of the stairs was a medium sized cooler and when you opened it, it was filled with mike’s hard bottles and white claws. you grinned and turned to your mom who was sitting at the dining table on her ipad and wrapped your arms around her shoulders.

“thank you, thank you, thank you!” you said, pressing a kiss to her cheek.

she just let out a laugh. “now i bought it because i trust you. be safe, please.”

“i will, promise.” you gave her one last hug. “love you momma.”

“i love you too, baby. have fun!”

“see you sunday!” you called as you left the house.

you headed outside, giving a quick wave to your neighbor as you walked to your car.

she waved back and glanced at the cooler you dragged behind and the overnight bag over your shoulder. “senior weekend?”

you gave her a sheepish smile and nodded.

she winked, then glanced back at her house. she looked at you again and mimicked locking her lips and throwing away the key.

you laughed at the gesture, knowing her husband was a police officer.

you winked back at her. “thanks.”

after picking up liz, cora, and justine the four of you arrived at the beach, saying hi to your friends that had already arrived and checking into the motel room you had booked.

“okay, first things first.” you announced when your entered the room. “we are not letting anyone else in this room, okay? this is not going to be the room that gets trashed.” you stated and they nodded in agreement.

cora nodded to the cooler. “except that’s going to be the reason people will want to be in here.”

you gave her a grin. “and that’s exactly why it’s going in taylor’s room.”

“genius!” cora said, falling back onto her bed.

you laughed, taking out a few drinks and placing them in the minifridge for just the four of you. as soon as you stood up, justine made her way over it, pulling out a white claw.

“justine, it’s two pm.” cora said with a look.

justine cracked open the can and took a long drink. “and what about it?”

you laughed, heading out the door with the cooler. “i’ll be right back.”

you checked the text message taylor had sent you with his room number, realizing that you would have to go upstairs. you groaned, lifting the cooler with both hands, knowing you weren’t going to be able to roll it up the stairs.

you reached his door, knocking on it with your foot. putting down the cooler at this point seemed futile, considering you knew he would make you carry it inside.

except it wasn’t taylor that opened the door. instead, you were met with marco.

just your luck that they’re roommates.

he had been laughing at whoever was talking to him before he opened the door and the sound seemed to completely erase the past two months of healing you had been doing because suddenly all you wanted was to fall into his arms and let him hold you and laugh together and—

“y/n.” god, you forgot how great your name sounded coming from his mouth.

he smiled at you, then seemed to remember that you had spent the last eight weeks avoiding the hell out of him and cleared his throat.

“i, um,” you adjusted the cooler in your hands, raising it a little. “taylor said i could leave these here.”

“oh yeah, of course. here, let me get that.” he reached for the cooler, taking the handles from you and relieving you of the heavy weight.

“thanks.” you placed your hands in the pockets of your shorts, unsure of what else to do with them.

he stood there, still holding the cooler, but with none of the struggle you seemed to have.

of course, you thought as you tried to restrain yourself from glancing at his bare arms.

“look, y/n—” luckily for you, he was interrupted before he could finish his statement.

“y/n!” taylor said, entering the doorway. he looked down at the cooler marco was holding and his eyes widened at you. “did you bring this? you’re the best.”

you couldn’t help but laugh. “yes, i told you i was going to. have you been drinking already?”

“maybe like, a little bit.”

marco sighed, turning to you. “the answer is yes. since noon.”

“only like this much!” he holds his thumb and pointer finger out, only an inch of space between them. “okay, maybe a little bit more than that but jeez man, why you gotta be such a buzzkill!”

he turned his attention to you. “god, your ex is a real piece of work you know. i can see why you broke up with him.”

you laughed awkwardly. “yeah, okay taylor. um, i’m gonna go. you have fun, boys.”

you turned and walked away, ignoring marco calling out your name behind you. you entered your own room, immediately being hit in the face with a towel. after the initial shock factor wore off, you removed it from your face and saw your friends in their swimsuits, rubbing on sunscreen and grabbing things to bring to the beach.

“get in your swimsuit girl, we’re heading to the beach!” liz said, putting on sunglasses. “a bunch of people are down there already and i refuse to miss out on any moment.”

you laughed, throwing the towel back at them. “okay, okay!”

you removed your top and shorts, having worn your swimsuit underneath your clothes. you were putting them in your bag when you heard a whistle from the other side of the room.

justine lifted her own sunglasses to the top of her head. “damn, girl. where did you get that?”

your skin got warm at her comment. the swimsuit in question was normally out of your comfort zone, but for some reason when you had tried it on for the first time, you felt a surge of confidence.

it was a black one piece, but it was cut deep down the middle of your chest, cut out on the sides and the back, allowing for open space for your skin to show. and in front, there were two sections made of mesh. whoever said one pieces couldn’t be sexy clearly has never seen this one.

“holy shit, y/n. and i thought i looked hot.” liz added.

cora gave you a sly smile. “marco’s not going to know what hit him.”

you gave her a look. “please, this has nothing to do with marco.”

“oh, sure, of course not.” she says, walking towards you and leaning in and whispering, “but it never hurts to show them what they’re missing out on.”

you looked at her and pretended to think about it before giving your response. “okay, so maybe the swimsuit is a little bit about marco.”

the four of you burst into laughter before gathering the rest of your stuff and heading out the door. after making sure everyone had their key, you shut the door behind you and made the five minute walk to the beach.

for the most part it was just the seniors that had come for the weekend, but you saw a couple other groups of people spread out along the beach. the four of you found a clear spot a few feet from the lifeguard tower to put your towels down.

justine propped up the large umbrella she had dragged along with her from the motel along with her beach chair. she laid down in her chair underneath it, closing her eyes, and slipping her sunglasses onto her face.

“do you even plan on going in the water?” you asked her, spraying sunscreen onto your skin.

“nope. my plan today is to get his attention.” she nods to the lifeguard near us. “but i’ve gotta get my energy up first, so i’ll just be taking a nap if you need me.”

you just laughed, throwing your sunscreen bottle onto your towel and tucked your phone into your beach bag.

“i’m gonna stay and tan for a little so i can watch our stuff, don’t worry.” cora said as she watched you throw your sweatshirt over your bag.

you gave her a grateful smile before standing back up.

“looks like you’ve caught someone’s attention.” cora said, laying back on her towel, nodding her head behind her.

you looked up and saw marco, taylor, and and few more boys walking towards the beach, all of them talking excitedly to each other. except marco’s gaze was focused on one thing.

you.

you watched as his eyes scanned your body from top to bottom, his eyes stopping on the cut out parts of your swimsuit. you felt a small shiver course through your body at his actions. you knew you looked goof, but when marco looked at you like that... 

you couldn’t help but let your eyes drift as well. he was only in swim trunks, putting his upper body on display for all to see. as he got closer, his muscles only became more defined, his skin practically glowing underneath the sun.

“um, chile...anyways, so.” cora said, snapping you out of your reverie until you looked at her. “y’all are practically eye fucking each other, you know.”

you laughed at her, sparing one last glance at marco, only to see that his eyes were still on you. you looked away quickly before he could notice and turned back to cora.

“mission accomplished.”

she gave you a high five before you linked arms with liz and made your way to the shore, knowing you were giving marco a nice view of your backside as well.

as if liz could read your mind, she laughed and leaned in to whisper. “oh, you are bad.”

you moved in front of her, walking backwards towards the water. “who, me?” you feigned innocence.

she shook her head smiling, and then reached forward, pushing you backwards.

you hadn’t even realized you had reached the shore and when you fell back, you fell right into the ocean. you stood up laughing, pushing your hair out of your face.

“oh, you’re dead.” you say and liz squeals, jumping into the water herself.

the two of you join a group of your other friends, hanging out for a while before you head back.

when you get back to your station, cora is sitting up on her towel and the beach chair next to her is empty.

“where’s—?” cora cuts you off, pointing in one direction.

you follow where her finger is pointing and see justine talking to the lifeguard that was stationed a few feet away from us. good for her.

“well alright then.” you said with raised eyebrows and a proud smile before looking back at cora. “if you wanna head down, i can watch our stuff for a while. i’m pretty tired of being in the water, anyway.”

she smiled at you. “thanks!” she started towards the water before turning and taking off her sunglasses.

you held open your hands and she tossed them to you. you set her sunglasses down next to you and decided to take justine’s chair to sit in. it’s not like she was using it. you settled yourself in the chair, grateful for the shade the umbrella provided and pulled out your phone, put your earbuds in, and started scrolling through tik tok.

maybe an hour had passed when you felt a hand tapping on your shoulder. you quickly took out your earbuds, turning to whoever tapped you.

“oh, i’m so sorry, i didn’t...” your voice trailed off as you realized who it was that had tapped you.

elle evans.

“can we talk?” she asked.

she looked nervous. good. she should be! what kind of nerve does she have coming up to you after kissing you boyfriend on stage in front of thousands of people?

but before you could say any of this to her, she spoke again.

“i know you have no reason to speak to me and i understand that you probably hate me. i just, really want to explain.” she said.

you wanted to say no. you wanted to say no so badly and just stay mad at her. but even you couldn’t admit that your curiosity was getting the best of you.

so you just nodded, motioning for her to sit down on one of the towels.

she looked grateful, giving you a smile before taking a seat.

“look, i’m just going to get right to it. i know it was wrong, what i did. but i was hurt. i was angry. and marco had been so nice to me for so long and i thought noah was cheating on me so...” she trailed off so you finished her sentence.

“you cheated on him instead?”

elle looked at you, remorse in her eyes. “yeah.” she sighed. “i know, it’s all so stupid and i’m not proud of it, i want you to know that. but i was lucky enough that noah forgave me for that. and i know you haven’t forgiven marco.”

you swallowed, looking down.

“i wasn’t even thinking of you when i kissed marco and that’s on me. i am so, so sorry y/n. and i wish there was some way i could make it up to you.”

you sighed, looking her in the eye. “look, elle. thank you for apologizing to me. that’s great that noah forgave you, but that’s not something i can just overlook...it’s not just on you, it’s on him too.”

she let a moment of silence pass between you.

“you know he would always talk about you during our practices?”

your gaze had drifted back to the ocean but went back to her when she spoke again. “what?”

“he felt so guilty every time he had to cancel on you. and maybe i should’ve taken that as a sign as to what i was doing, but i didn’t. and for that i apologize too. but with the way he talked about you, i really didn’t think anything i could do would ruin what you had.

“i guess that was pretty ignorant of me.” she laughed a little. “y/n, he loves you. he really does. and i get it, the kiss was completely out of line and you don’t owe him or me anything. but if you think for a second that marco would ever choose me over you, you’re wrong.”

you didn’t say anything in response to that. what exactly were you supposed to say?

and when elle realized you weren’t going to respond, she sighed. “of course, i can’t change your mind and i don’t know how you feel. all i ask if that you talk to him. he misses you.” and with that, she got up and left without another word.

you laid back in your chair, putting your earbuds back in and turning on some music. you thought about what elle said, and you appreciated her coming to talk to you, but it still didn’t erase what marco had done.

but at the same time...

had he really been talking about you to her? did he really feel sorry about the canceled dates? because to you, it always felt like he was choosing her over you.

maybe elle was right, maybe you should just talk to him.

you groaned, closing your eyes. i thought this weekend was supposed to be fun and stress free, you thought.

you reopened your eyes and saw liz and justine standing over you.

“what was elle doing over here?” liz immediately said.

you loved how protective your friends were and smiled at them, making sure they knew it was nothing they had to worry about.

“it’s okay guys, she just wanted to talk.”

“about what?” justine was giving a nasty look in elle’s general direction.

“actually, she apologized.” you said and both of their head snapped to you.

“apologizes, huh?” justine said.

“yeah. but i don’t wanna talk about that right now, let’s just relax, yeah?” you said, trying to distract them.

they obviously wanted to talk about it but your distaste for the subject must have been clear on your face because they backed off.

“if you insist. but you have to get out of my chair first.” justine said with a smile.

you laughed, grabbed your phone and got up from the chair to sit on your towel. “how did it go with the lifeguard?”

“well, i got his snap and a date with him tonight, so you tell me.” justine said, laying back on her chair.

“you have to teach me how to do that.” liz said, sitting down on the towel beside her.

later that night, justine was off on her date with the lifeguard but the rest of the seniors were out on the beach, having a bonfire.

you, cora, and liz were in your room, getting ready to head out onto the beach when you heard something topple over.

you jumped, looking over your shoulder at the hair straightener that liz had dropped.

“oops.” she giggled.

“shit, liz.” cora said, picking it up and decided to finish liz’s hair for her. “are you drunk already?”

“honestly, i haven’t been sober since four pm today.” she admitted.

you shook your head, strapping on your sandals before standing. “why am i not surprised.”

cora looked up from liz’s hair and grinned. “i love the outfit. very cute.”

you looked at yourself in the mirror. you were wearing a spaghetti strap lavender crop top with black cotton shorts and gold sandals. you smiled at yourself.

“yeah, i think so.” you turned to cora. “thank you.”

“i think you look hot.” liz said with a funny smile.

“of course you do.” you said, slipping your phone into your pocket.

you stayed in the room until cora finished straightening liz’s hair and then you all went down to the bonfire together.

you headed straight for the cooler that stood on the outskirts of the large group, grabbing a white claw. there was music playing, and everyone was either dancing with one another or just hanging out by the fire.

you took a seat on one of the logs surrounding the fire, not in too much a partying mood for tonight.

“mind if i sit here?”

you didn’t need to look up to know it was marco who had asked but you did anyway, and made eye contact with the boy in question.

you shrugged, but didn’t say anything.

that seemed good enough for him because he took a seat next to you, leaving space between you. not enough apparently because you could still smell his cologne, the scent making its way into your senses.

marco fiddled with the drink in his hand, obviously thinking. you recognized the habit as one he did whenever he needed to get something off his chest.

“whatever it is, you can just say it.” you say.

he looked over at you and then looked back at his drink. “elle told me she talked to you.”

“yeah. she did.” you looked at him, but he was still looking at his drink.

“and from what she’s told me, sounds like i was living rent free in your mind.” you joked, trying to lighten the mood.

“you were. you are.” he said back, except he was 100% serious.

he finally looked up and met your eyes. “you’re all i think about.”

at that moment, you heard a scream and looked over to see one of the boys had tossed cora over his shoulder, carrying her to the water as our classmates cheered him on.

“can we...go on a walk or something? just find somewhere quiet to talk?” marco asked you over the commotion.

you knew you wouldn’t be able to avoid talking to him any longer, and quite frankly, you didn’t want to. so you nodded, standing up alongside him, finishing off the last of your drink before tossing the can in a garbage bag by one of the logs.

marco did the same and the two of you started walking away from the bonfire.

“you might wanna take your sandals off, it might make walking a little easier.” he said to you and you shot him a look.

“i think i’ll be fine, thank you very much.”

you regretted your decision as soon as you took that first step but you were determined not to say anything. but with every step you took, you could feel sand getting into your sandals and finally you groaned in defeat.

“hang on.” you said and bent down, unbuckling them and then slipping them off your feet.

you gathered your sandals in your hand and continued walking, feeling the sand moving beneath your feet.

“that’s better.” you said.

you looked over at marco when you realized he was laughing.

“and what exactly is so funny? don’t forget you’re already in hot water with me.” you raised an eyebrow.

“just reminds me of when we went to the beach earlier this year and i told you to bring a blanket, a sweatshirt, anything really, because it was going to get cold.”

you rolled your eyes at the memory. “right, and i didn’t. but only because i really didn’t think anything of the weather.”

“nuh uh, i believe your exact words were, ‘i do what i want.’” he raised an eyebrow at you.

“and what is your point exactly?” you laughed.

“well considering you spent the rest of the day in my hoodie and huddled under my blanket, mi amor, my point is that you can be extremely stubborn.” he laughed, before he realized what he said.

your heart clenched at the nickname, missing it already. but it reminded you of why you were out here with him in the first place.

“why did you kiss her?” you asked, quietly.

he paused and you inhaled, holding your breath in fear of his response.

“i could stand here and say i don’t know, but that would be a lie. i think...i think it was because a part of me thought i was already losing you.”

you stopped. “wait, what?” you looked at him. “why?”

he shrugged. “we never really talked about college and what would happen after graduation. i kind of assumed you would want to break up. and when i had rehearsals with elle, it didn’t seem to bother you that much, even when i had to cancel dates. i mean, until you said something at the competition, i didn’t realize how you felt about the whole thing. i thought it was because you were, i don’t know, getting tired of me.”

he may have had a point. despite your initial feelings towards him spending all of his time with elle, you never really expressed that to him. he would tell you he had to miss a date and you always responded with, “that’s okay, maybe next time.”

“so, at the competition, when elle kissed me, it felt like i had nothing to lose. but i’m an idiot. i don’t even like her. and when i saw you,” he looked at you, his voice thick with emotion. “i realized how much i screwed up. i couldn’t believe that i had hurt you like that.”

“marco.” you were standing in front of him now. “i need you to realize that every canceled date resulted in me calling rachel to scream my head off about the lack of time we were spending together. but i wasn’t about to tell you to not help her, i wasn’t going to be that girlfriend.

“i do realize that i could have said something sooner, though . elle had mentioned how you were upset about the dates we missed as well.” you glared at him. “but that doesn’t excuse you kissing her on live television!”

he shook his head. “no i know, i know. and it’s not an excuse, it’s just how i felt. what i did, no matter the reason, was wrong. and i am so, so sorry y/n. i never should have kissed her, and i regret it more than anything. i regret losing you.”

you turned your back to him, afraid you were going to start crying and you didn’t want him to see.

you had been avoiding him for so long for this very reason. you didn’t want to hear an apology. you didn’t want to forgive him.

but hearing him apologize and regret what he did made you question why you didn’t want to hear it. while your heart wasn’t completely full once again, heating those words did something to you. it made you feel...heard.

both elle and marco took the initiative to come to you even after you making it clear that you refused to speak to either of them for the past two months. despite what they did, that says a lot about their character.

“y/n?” marco called from behind you.

you took a deep breath before turning to face him once again.

“i forgive you.”

marco looked shocked. “i—thank you.”

“and i’m sorry for ignoring you and refusing to even give you the chance to apologize. i just,” you shrugged. “wasn’t ready.”

he nodded, gazing at you intently. “i completely understand. what i did...” he swallowed. “you were hurt. you were angry. hell, i would be too.”

“yeah, well. that hurt and anger didn’t do anything for me. but you and elle talking to me did. so thank you.”

“i had to let you know how i was sorry. i couldn’t let you go thinking there was anyone in this world i would rather be with than you.” he said, and when you looked in his eyes, you could see he was sincere.

“marco.” you breathed, realizing how close the two of you were.

one of his arms slipped around your waist and you let him pull you even closer. your breaths mingled as your lips were only centimeters apart and you felt your eyelids start to flutter shut.

“tell me to stop and i will.” he whispered to you.

every pulse in your body was screaming at you to just let him kiss you, to fall into his arms and be his again. but in your brain, there that one rational part that was telling you to stop this now.

damn your rationale.

but you knew it was right. you were both running high on emotions, whatever you did now, you weren’t sure you wouldn’t regret it tomorrow. so you tilted your head down, grabbing onto his forearms.

“i can’t.” you managed to croak out.

he exhaled, his mouth by your ear now so you felt the rush of air against your skin.

“i want to, believe me. but right now i just, i can’t.”

he nodded. “you don’t have to explain yourself to me.”

you wrapped your arms around his waists in a hug and rested your head against his chest. marco hesitates for a moment, making sure you weren’t going to pull away before hugging you back. his chin rested on the top of your head and the familiar embrace filled you with warmth.

“can we just talk?” you mumbled into his shirt.

he chuckled lightly. “of course. whatever you want.”

so you did. the two of you sat on the sand and talked. about elle, the ddr competition, what you forgiving him meant. but you also talked about the past two months. college acceptances, last minute applications, applying for scholarships, any accomplishments, everything. you talked and talked until you ended up falling asleep on the beach.

you slowly blinked your eyes open as you felt the sunlight hit them. you sat up and looked to your side where marco was still dozed off. you looked at him with a small smile, you had missed seeing him in such a peaceful state. you remembered the times he had woken up before you whenever he slept over at your house, opening your eyes to see his brown eyes gazing down at you lovingly. it was rare that you ever woke up before him, so this sight was a rare one.

his was lying on his back and you could see his chest gently rise and fall with every breath he took. at some point his shirt had come unbuttoned and the wind blew it back against the sand, exposing his chest. you rolled your eyes at yourself, compelling yourself not to even think about it. you traveled your gaze up to his face and saw the relaxed expression. the emotion from early last night was no longer there, he was just...marco.

in all honesty, you probably could have spent the rest of the morning waiting for him to wake up. but you weren’t 100% sure what your reaction would be to seeing him in the morning for the first time in a while. so, you brushed a few of the curls on his forehead back into place, then leaned down and pressed a kiss to his forehead before getting up and walking back to the motel.

you entered your room as quietly as you could. a quick look at your phone let you know it was nine am and you were unsure of whether or not your friends were hungover.

however, as soon as you entered the room, you were met with cora pouncing on you.

“she’s back!” she yelled as your other two roommates groaned in response.

“what?” liz mumbled from underneath a pillow.

“okay, spill. where were you all night?” cora demanded.

“oh, please. like we don’t all know the answer.” justine sat up on her bed and gave you a teasing smile. “with marcoooo!” she singsonged, making kissy faces at you.

you rolled your eyes. “okay, it wasn’t like that.”

“wait, so you were with marco?” cora gasped. “and on the beach? you dirty dog.”

“why is everyone yelling?” liz grumbled, pressing the pillow against her head tighter.

you couldn’t but laugh at what cora was implying. “yes, i was with marco, but we just talked! honestly. it was nice.”

“you just talked all night? huh. i’m not buyin’ it. you?” cora turned to justine.

she shook her head. “nope. liz?”

“absolutely not.” her muffled voice came.

you scoffed. “well, i don’t care what you think happened. because i’m telling you nothing happened.”

“okay, say we believed you. what did you talk about?” justine said.

you shrugged, taking a seat on your bed and tossing your sandals to the ground. “everything. i mean, we haven’t talked in two months, we had some stuff to unpack.”

“are you guys getting back together...?” liz asked, peeking her head out from beneath the pillow.

the other two watched you intently, waiting for your response and you laughed.

“right now? no. i don’t know. all i know is we talked, fell asleep on the beach, and it was nice. that’s all.” you said. “i missed talking to him.”

“so what happens now?” cora asked you.

“i’m not sure. but i feel a lot better about whatever does happen now.” you say confidently.

with that final statement, your friends drop the subject. you didn’t want to think to much about this anymore. last night was great but you were determined to make the most of the last two days of this beach trip.

the marco situation would have to wait.

taglist: @mayakblack @devilishdior @write-from-the-heart @shherlxck @minnyvees @lover1307 @sonnyalice @caro1115 @sandovalali12 @yongboxerrr

keep an eye out for part three (which will be the final part) and if you want to be added to the taglist, send me an ask! requests are always open!

[alj4890]

Love/ Lust Prompt

(Thomas Hunt x oc*Amanda) in a steamy situation as requested by a number of people.

(Thomas x Amanda) as taken by And Then I Met You

A/N Yes, I've received your messages loud and clear. LOL. If you only knew how much I struggle writing these type of situations and still am unable to go full out NSFW. With cheeks somewhat burning, here we go.

@lxaah11​ @alleksa16​ @penguininapinktuxedo​ @blackcoffee85​ @stopforamoment​  @cocomaxley​  @hopefulmoonobject​  @krsnlove​   @annekebbphotography​  @cora-nova​  @hopelessromantic1352​. @moodyvalentinestories​@sunflowergirl05​ @desiree-0816​ @greywitchyshots​ @lilyofchoices​ @emceesynonymroll​ @dr-nancy-house​ @aworldoffandoms​ @ab1901​  @lolablackwrites​  @flyawayboo​ @i-bloody-love-drake-walker​. @trappedinfandoms​ 

Masterlist

Type

Thomas leaned against the doorframe and studied his wife. He now understood why he had heard the strange sounds coming from the study.

Amanda was sitting at her desk. Wads of paper littered the floor. The cursor on her lap top blinked on a blank page. And she, well, she was slumped over with her head on the desk. Her hands were gripping some of her own hair while another sound of frustration was muffled.

He walked over behind her chair and gently rubbed her back. "Having trouble?"

She slowly turned her head to respond. "What makes you think that? I usually write with no words and guttural sounds." She propped her chin on her hand and looked at that cursed cursor blinking. She didn't want to even think of how long it had blinked with nothing following.

Thomas ignored her sarcasm and began to massage her tense shoulders. "What are you working on?"

"It..." She swallowed a tad nervously. "It is a love scene. I should have never thought I could write something modern! Holly sent a script over that was originally some type of mystery but Ryan wants it turned into a romance."

"What is the premise?" Thomas asked.

Amanda sighed and leaned back against him. "Two people work in an office together. Day in and day out they are constantly meeting and interacting, all the innocent touches are driving them mad with desire." Her eyes narrowed in thought. "Then I thought it would come to a head one night as they are the only two in the building together."

Thomas nodded. "I see."

She got up, dislodging his hands. "I need to just leave it or forget about it. I don't have to be known as an author that can occassionaly leave her comfort zone."

Thomas grabbed her hand and tugged her back to him. "Perhaps I can help."

Amanda cocked an eyebrow. "How? In what capacity?"

"By setting the scene." He explained. "I have been invited to give a series of lectures before I begin filming again." His eyes began to slowly travel down her body. "I will have a private office and could use a secretary."

"You want me to be your secretary?" She asked, her smile held hints of mischief. "Isn't having an affair against the university's rules?"

He chuckled. "I'm sure it is. I've never had a secretary before." He leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers. "We can't get in trouble if caught because we are married."

"I see." Her arms looped around his neck. "How do you propose we build up the sexual tension?"

His lips firmed in a frown. "Is it necessary?"

She nodded. "It would help in my ability to describe it better."

He looked out the window and motioned toward the guest house. "One of us could live there while we do this."

Amanda's smile grew in excitement. "I should live there. You will be my boss after all, thus the bigger home would economically speaking be yours."

He groaned softly. "I guess this means that we won't be acting this out within the first day?"

"No. We won't." She pressed a kiss to his lips. "And you are terribly sweet to offer this chance to me."

He held her close. "Since I haven't officially hired you yet," he moved her over to the couch. "We will enjoy one last intimate moment."

___________________

One week later...

"Read that back." Thomas ordered.

Amanda picked up her notepad and began to read back the email he wanted sent to the students and other visiting professors. He leaned back in his chair while his eyes traveled down the black sheath dress she wore.

She cleared her throat to get his attention.

He lifted his eyes to her face. He realized that the only time he had seen her this week were in these moments after his lectures. She had not attended them and had insisted that she drive herself to the university. She had also stood firm on them not visiting each other while she was in the guest house.

He returned his attention to what she was saying. "Er, just type it up."

She nodded before leaving for her desk, shutting the door behind her.

Thomas flipped through the calendar. "Another three weeks." He set it down and tried to think of something for his next set of lectures.

____________________

Two weeks later...

"Any plans this weekend?" Thomas asked on his way out.

Amanda barely looked up at him. "A couple." She returned to finish typing his notes for his lecture. She hit print and scooted around him to get to the printer.

He grit his teeth against the sensation of her rear brushing his front. "What are your plans?"

She looked at him over her shoulder. "The usual. Dinner. Maybe go see a movie."

His eyes narrowed. "With whom?"

Her lips curved in a teasing smile. "Are we getting personal Professor?"

Thomas folded his arms. "In this particular case, we are, Mrs. Hunt."

Her lips trembled with mirth. "I made plans with Addison." She handed him his notes and brushed by him, facing him the whole time. "What about you?"

His eyes had darkened in intensity at feeling her entire body for a moment. Perhaps it was because he knew how this would end or because of his lack of physical contact with her for more than two weeks, but he was already feeling the grip he had to hold on his responding passion.

Amanda wasn't as unaffected as she let on. She took a deep breath to steady her nerves. She had not anticipated finding him as the commanding boss so sexy. The way his eyes remained on her as he dictated his notes had made focus near impossible.

"I haven't made any plans." He muttered. "Are you ready to leave?"

She nodded. This one aspect he refused to act the distant boss. He insisted on walking her to her car to make certain she got home safely. She softly smiled as they stepped out into the dark night.

He opened her car door and waited until she slid in. Her skirt slid up her thigh, drawing his eyes to the revealed skin.

"Thank you, professor." She reached over and shut the door. She waved goodbye before backing out of the parking space.

Thomas cursed himself the entire drive home for thinking of this situation.

________________

The following Monday monring...

Thomas held the chair out next to his for Amanda to sit during a meeting.

She smiled her thanks and quietly sat down while one of the other visiting professors spoke about the subject matter he was covering.

She crossed her legs and set her notepad on the table.

Thomas leaned close to whisper in her ear what he needed her to focus on. He noticed how she tensed and stilled completely. He glanced down at her legs and placed his index finger against one.

Her eyes briefly closed at the slight tickling sensation of the slow feather like caress. She tried to inch away from him so she could concentrate on her work.

He continued to tease her to distraction. No one would have known what he was doing by the table hiding it all.

Amanda gave up on her notes. She turned to whisper that she needed to be excused. Her breath caught at how close his face was to hers.

Their eyes met. Her lips parted and his gaze dropped down to her mouth.

"Don't you agree, Thomas?"

He cut his eyes to the recently retired director. "Sorry, I missed the question."

Amanda excused herself and hurried out as the question was repeated.

_______________

Another week later...

“No" Thomas leaned over her shoulder and pointed out the paragraph she needed to change. "That bit about The Letter, the film's ending is different from the play due to the production code."

Amanda quickly deleted what she had typed and started it again. She knew that about the film. Why am I making so many careless errors? Thomas remained leaning over her shoulder. His hand was on the back of her chair while the other braced against her desk. Everytime she took a breath, she ended up with a whiff of his aftershave.

She peeked over at him from beneath her long eyelashes. He had lossened his tie and discarded his blazer. The top two buttons of his dress shirt were undone. His early morning clean shaven look had disappeared and been replaced with his usual evening stubble.

Knowing how that stubble felt against her skin made her slightly squirm in her seat. She was on pins and needles waiting for him to make a move. She felt as if she would burst from the sexual tension between them. Her mind had already thought of a number of the different ways he could take her.

Should I make the first move, she wondered.

"Amanda?"

"Hmm?" She turned her head toward him. Their faces were nearly touching.

His lips curved. "I didn't say, Should I make the first move."

Her eyes widened and she looked at the paragraph where she had typed her own thought. Color flared on her cheeks.

"Whoops." She mumbled while deleting the question.

Thomas moved away from her. "Perhaps we should finish up in my office."

She grabbed her laptop and followed him back inside. He cleared his notes off his desk and motioned for her to set her laptop down for him to review. He then told her to come around to follow along with him.

She walked over and let out a surprised gasp when he pulled her into his lap.

"Comfortable?" He asked in a deep tone.

Comfortable was not the word that came to mind. "Yes." She managed to respond. Her heartbeat was poundind in her ears. Her nerves were practically screaming in wait for the touch of his lips.

It did not come.

He continued to read over her shoulder. Hands loosely grasping the arms of his chair.

She released a frustrated sigh and retyped the mistakes he pointed out.

Thomas waited until she was once more relaxed before his lips skimmed the back of her neck.

Her audible sharp intake of breath was all that was heard in the small office.

Thomas looked up at the screen and saved what she had written before pulling up a new blank document.

"Type." His voice held heat.

"What?" She asked in a shaky tone.

"Type everything." He gently bit her earlobe. "Everything I do to you for as long as you can."

Her eyes open and stare at the blinking cursor. "Alright." She had to fight to keep her hands steady as he began.

_________________

What she typed...

"Type everything." He whispered in that dangerous tone I adored.

The nerves under my skin that practically buzz burst into song as his lips touch my neck.

His long fingers skim over my dress, teasing each area of my body. I lean my head back on his shoulder while he gives me that delicious torment that I know is only the beginning.

His hands leave my front and he tells me to sit up. He finds the zipper to my dress and he slowly pulls it down.

I go to stand up to remove it when he yanks me back into his lap.

"I'm not finished with you yet." He growls.

He turns my head to meet his lips. The kiss is ravenous as his tongue plunges in my mouth again and again, mimicking what is to come. He bites down on my bottom lip, then gentles the kiss to soothe it with his own, sending me further into heady desire.

With each touch, I can feel his need for me. The long weeks apart in every sense has finally ended. The hunger is at long last being sated.

His hand delves down, drawing moans from me. I try and keep still, but my body immediately responds to the intimate touches he lavishes on me.

He releases his hold and tells me to stand up.

"Take that off." He orders. "Then get on the desk."

_________________

Thomas takes her laptop over to his couch. He types out a few more lines while unbuttoning his shirt.

_________________

What he typed...

I try to hold myself back from taking her once and for all.

All the tension that has held us in prison for this past month is finally broken.

Her skin, that I thought I knew so well, is a surprise of satin with hints of every delectable delights known to man.

My hands are unable to touch her fast enough to satisfy me. My lips can't kiss hers enough to quench my desire for her alone.

Now she sits there, the soft glow of the desk lamp highlighting her creamy skin. The lacy bra and underwear barely hide that which I want to explore most.

Her body trembles from anticipation and need when she notices me staring at her. Her eyes never waver from me.

"Thomas?" Her voice pleads in a breathless tone that never ceases to drive me past my breaking point.

My love and desire for her refuse to let her linger in question.

I must worship her.

[coraxheartfield]

⌠katie mcgrath, 35, cis female, she/her ⌡welcome back to gallagher academy, cora heartfield! originally hailing from gallagher, this alum specializes in covert operations. when i see them walking around in the halls, i usually see a flash of (a knife hidden in a perfectly tailored power suit, heels clicking against a checkered marble floor, passports with different names, a charming red lipstick smile, and the fizzle of champagne being poured). it’s the (capricorn)’s birthday on 01/19/1985, and when they were still in school their most requested dish was pekking duck from the school’s chefs. hopefully their presence can help ease the minds of gallagher students. ⌿ kendal, 24, she/her, est ⍀

About Cora

Full Name: Cora Margaret Heartfield

Age: 35

Birthday: January 19th

Zodiac: Capricorn

MBTI: ENTJ

Gender: Cis female

Sexuality: Bisexual

Birthplace: London, England

Bio

For six generations the Heartfield family had had only boys and before Cora was born, her parents expected the same thing to happen a seventh time...until it didn’t, making her the first female heir to Heartfield Enterprises.

Heartfield Enterprises is a private espionage organization, masking as a consulting firm in the public eye, that has been run by the Heartfield Family since World War 1. They work closely with both MI6 and the British royal family, but can also be hired for assignments by other companies or people or governments for the right price. They recruit from various spy schools around the world.

Her mother died on an assignment when she was a toddler and Cora only has pictures to remember her by (she’s the spitting image of her). She was raised only by her father, who in his own odd and subtle way gave her all the love in the world, and her tutors and instructors. 

She grew up on the Heartfield Estate in the countryside outside of London. What looked like an old and grand English manor to most was really a high tech fortress that was visited by agents and royals and dignitaries alike. Her daily lessons consisted of topics like Russian, horseback riding, ballet, advanced mathematics, and marksmanship before etiquette and more.  

Cora was privately educated and trained at home until at 18 she was sent to America to attend the best girls spy school in the world, Gallagher Academy.

Gallagher was a great adjustment at first, going from England to America, from a private education to a public, to constantly being around girls around her own age and having her posh upbringing making her stand out amongst brash and bold American mannerisms. But Cora knew how to adapt and Gallagher quickly became her home, where she excelled in her Covert Operations classes.

When she graduated she went back to London and immeadiately went to work for her father and Heartfield Enterprises. She spent half her time on missions in the field and the other half on the Estate and in London high society being groomed by her father to take over the company once he retired.

Last year on an assignment in Shanghai, Cora let her guard down for a moment and she was shot in her stomach. It’s only thanks to her partner that she didn’t bleed out and die right there on the street.

She spent months in recovery on her family estate and has only recently found the strength to go about her normal, daily routine. She is retired from the field....for now and has taken over many of the duties of running Heartfield Enterprises as her father is starting to step back more and more as he gets older.

When she got the call and the offer from Headmistress Sutton to mentor at her old school for the semester, Cora jumped at the chance. Gallagher will give her a chance to recover even more, to get her strength back so that she can go back into the field, and to get out of London for a bit. 

She wants to help the Gallagher students as best as she can, and to be a firm but fair mentor. 

Personality

Level-headed, analytical, and practical, Cora always tries to think things through, especially as a spy and since she’ll soon be head of her family’s company and have to continue the Heartfield legacy.  

Raised in British high society, she has a tendency to be posh and likes things to be a certain way, with an air of elegance and sophistication.

Having grown up groomed for leadership, Cora has a take charge and get shit done attitude, with little patience for laziness. She’s the boss and won’t tolerated being treated as anything less. 

She’s passionate about what she does and expects others to be the same. 

She also doesn’t have any time for anyone’s bullshit and will let people know it. 

While firm in her opinions, she knows how to negotiate and find compromise. 

Cora is incredibly charming and also knows how to use that charm to be very persuasive. 

She will fight to the end and work as hard as she can for what she wants. 

Deep down, beneath the spy and the CEO, is a soft heart that has a great capacity for compassion when allowed to show. 

Misc

Speaks fluent Russian, French, and Mandarin and has a killer American accent.

May be friends with Meghan Markle, she doesn’t like to gossip about it.

Knows how to ballroom dance.

A better marks-woman than hand-to-hand combat fighter.

Wears her trademark red lipstick and Coco Chanel perfume everyday, as well as her silver ring with her family crest on it. 

Loves a good power suit but also a beautiful couture gown if the occasion calls for it.

If she wasn’t a spy she would probably be the CEO of a fortune 500 company. 

Very tall at 5′10 but will wear 3 inch heels on a daily basis. 

Brought her own tea supply with her to Gallagher because she refuses to compromise on it and drink any “tea” produced in America.

Her injury still causes her pain if she pushes herself too much but Cora refuses to take painkillers for it, not wanting to risk becoming reliant on them. 

Possible Connections

Friends from her Gallagher days

Exes both from school and from when she worked in the field

Old school enemy / rival

People she knows from the field / has worked with in the past

Students that she mentors

Give me drama, give me angst, give me love, give me friendship, give me all

[shadowdianne]

Hello there! I just want to say thanks for writing swanqueen they are my otp besides xena and gabby. Just 2 things, i hope that you love japanese cause theres a show called Miss sherlock!! Plz go and give it a try! First time where sherlock and watson are female!!! Its AMAZING!! And lastly a prompt if you can. Drill Sargent regina and recruit emma swan! Almost like officer and a gentleman. PLZ PLZ PLZ!!! Or rival news reporters! THANK YOU AGAIN FOR WRITING IN THIS FANDOM!! Sooooo APPRICIATED 😊

Hey there ;) I’veheard of the show, but I haven’t watched it. Thanks for the rec! I’m notexactly buoyant on free time these days but I’ll try to find a page that allowsme to watch it or something Xd As for your prompts… I decided to do a small nodto a story I eventually took down and do the rival news reporters version of itall Xd I hope you like it and thanks for the prompt

The small caféwas bathed in tranquil murmurs, the vague sounds of people speaking quietlyover coffee mugs a barely-there whisper that didn’t disturb Emma as she kept onstealing glances at her watch, a satisfied smirk on her lips and her notebookin front of her in where haphazardly taken notes stared back at her in a messyhandwriting that very few people could truly understand.

She hadbeen told more often than not that she shouldn’t try to make notes via paper; theblue ink against thin white a problem if she didn’t put them on a screen thesecond she was able to, but the blonde refused to let go of the paper and ink,the aesthetic of it all pleasant to her.

Takinganother sip of her drink as she stole yet another glance at her watch and thehectic whirlwind that waited for her outside of the small café she almostsighed at the office building that rose just in front of the smallestablishment. Humming, Emma rose her brow in anticipation as the door of thecafé swung open, a brunette impeccably dressed walking in with nothing but fireon her eyes.

Emma had purposelypicked the table she knew would be the one new eyes would zero in the secondthey entered into the café but she still feigned surprise as she kept on takingher coffee -the amount of sugar she had previously put there for it to bedrinkable a detail she wasn’t willing to share- while her free hand drummed atuneless staccato at the table’s surface, next to the notebook in where the blueink felt much more vibrant than before.

“Miss Swan.”

The fewpatrons that were seated around glanced up at the icy tone, filled with barelycontained anger despite Regina’s intents of keeping it at bay but they didn’tdo more than that. Many of them were already familiar to the two women meetingsin that same place and knew that there was nothing they could truly do as the newcomerapproached the table, hands into fists and her high-heeled cladded feetmirroring the staccato the blonde was drumming on the table, satisfied smirkwidening just enough for the standing woman to growl at.

From thecorner of her eyes Emma saw Ruby sighing deeply; the waitress that had turnedinto her friend over the last year she had spent working on the Daily Mirrorrising a brow of her own and mouthing a question she couldn’t but chuckle at.

“What did you do?”

ReginaMills, reporter extraordinaire and Emma’s superior in every shape of form if itwasn’t by the fact that any possibility of being promoted was thin at best dueto the harsh times the newspaper was fairing, stopped an inch away from theedge of the table, brown eyes smoldering and murderous.

Rising her cupa little bit higher and giving the brunette a lopsided smile as she tilted herhead a little to the left, Emma hummed, as if she hadn’t known the woman would walkinto the place at that hour.

“Hi Regina.”Free hand finally stilling over the notebook, obvious enough that the brunette’seyes lowered enough to address it, the blonde hummed as she took a sip of heralmost empty mug, quickly placing it next to the scribbled words. “Is your lunchhour already? Funny how time works.”

At anyother time, the brunette would probably have answered to that, a scathinganswer that would have made Emma reply with one of her own as Ruby groanedbehind the counter, the words “just fuckalready” coming out in not so quiet whispers that both reporters wouldfeign total deafness to. But this time was different: Emma knew it, Regina knewit and so the brunette shook her head eliciting her brown locks to shudderbefore falling back into place as she pursed her red lips, the colorcomplimenting the blouse she wore in a way Emma refused to think about. Noteven when, she noted after a quick glance, the usual three top buttons were unmade.Which was, she suspected, the only detail the always proper woman standing infront of her, allowed herself as a way to break the code the even sterner CoraMills had first used when she had opened the newspaper.

Her thoughtswere derailed as the brunette, not even glancing around to any of the patronsor Ruby for that matter, put both of her hands at the table’s surface,shoulders square and fixed as she bared her teeth, grinding her words andinfusing her voice with the anger that burnt on her pupils.

“How.” She began,and Emma felt her smile widening, her own pride shinning through in thedeliberate way she rose her chin, exposing her neck and not missing for amoment the way Regina’s eyes fell to it for a moment, a second that had herclutching the mug’s handle. A detail that, thankfully, Regina seemed to miss asshe glanced back, lips curling. “I’ve tried to get Spencer talk to me for thepast month.” She threw an accusatory finger at Emma’s notebook and, for amoment, the blonde was almost surprised Regina’s incinerating tone didn’t setit on fire. “How did you do it?”

And thereit was. Notebook intact and Spencer’s name on her lips Regina rose to her fullheight -and then some thanks to the high-heels- and let her arms fall at bothsides of her torso, hands still twitching, not quite curled but not relaxedeither. She looked even more riled up that Emma had expected her to be and, forthat, she chuckled and made a sign to Ruby, the one she knew would make thelanky woman sigh deeply before readying Regina’s usual as the patrons kept on eavesdropping.Some of them even with interest going beyond the usual fight, the surnameRegina had so carelessly dropped a powerful one after all.

Noteveryday one got to have a private interview with the corrupt lawyer that hadbeen discovered to be working with Rupert Gold, the two men one of the mostpowerful in the entire town and certainly the direct culprits of huge sums ofmoney always ending up in the hands of the smaller mafia bosses Gold allowed toexist around his own empire. Not everyday one got to make a deal with the devileither, but Emma had been ready for both. Which was something she wasn’t goingto disclose in the middle of the café, the fact that she was enjoying all ofthis a little too much not clouding her mind to that degree.

Preciselybecause of that and waiting until Ruby approached them with a  glare on her own eyes, the blonde smiled andnodded as the waitress put Regina’s own coffee in front of the older woman, thelook that granted her enough to turn everyone into ashes.

Which wassomething that Ruby almost did as she bite down on her bottom lip, shaking herhead and turning, pointedly glancing at Emma before backing away once more.

One ofthese days the waitress was going to kill Emma for her antics. But not today.

Feigning nonchalanceand picking the notebook before fanning herself with it, the blonde kept on lookingat Regina, at the untouched coffee and the brunette’s ire.

“I have myways.”

And shedid, she truly did. For every epithet Regina kept using with her every timethey were seated in front of each other, trying to come up with ways of writingnews in this small town, the brunette knew by then that she had ways, that shehad resources, and she planned on showing them all to the brunette. (If the womanallowed her that, not like Emma would ever admit that Ruby’s pleas regardingthat them both needed to bang had any real base)

Jawtightening, the brunette in question growled, the ring she always had danglingfrom her neck catching the light and winking as she ran a hand through herhair.

“Miss Swan,I’m not joking.”

Emma pursedher lips and put the notebook back in the table, placing it closer to thebrunette.

She had herways and was too stubborn, just like Regina was too proud but despite her needto gloat she was also fair. And she knew that Regina needed the exclusive morethan she did after Emma had managed to snatch the coveted interview with ReulGhorm a few weeks ago in retaliation for Regina managing to be the first whotalked with Sheriff Nolan after the first rumors regarding Spencer and Gold’spartnership had made to the public.

Eyesnarrowing and refusing to acknowledge the surprised look on Regina’s eyes, theblonde stood and picked up her red leather jacket with one swift move. She wasn’tgoing to stay and give answers she wasn’t ready to answer.

“Enjoy thereading.” She called just as she rushed past the older woman. “Every squigglyline that will look like an “m” is an “s”, just so you know.”

Yes, Reginawas going to ask for her head, she thought as she heard her surname beingcalled again, every patron gaping at her as she opened and closed the door ofthe café, but she didn’t mind it. Not too much. Not when she knew Regina wouldprobably do something equally big in order to make her be the one who enteredinto the café with anger and surprise and she truly lived for those moments.

Perhaps,she wondered as she crossed the street, she should truly think on Ruby’s ideas.But not today.

[sterekgala-blog]

A rec list will be posted every day with a few of our favorite Sterek Christmas fics, and a masterpost of all our rec lists will be posted on the 31st. Requests are always welcomed!

New Year’s Countdown Rec List #2

A Royal Christmas Engagement by skoosipants || 25k                               

Young omega Warden Lord Mieczysław Stilinski, given the royal request of marrying Crown Prince Derek Hale of Triskelion, predictably messes the whole entire thing up.

Or –

An arranged marriage, mistaken identity, a/b/o, accidental heat fic

If you’re looking for a hallmark worthy fic to read this season this is the fic for you. It’s so fluffy and the Hales are just too perfect in this I couldn’t stop smiling!

Mistletoe’s Overrated Anyway by Stilinski || 8k                                

Derek remembers a hyperactive eleven year old with a buzzcut and an irritating habit of getting underfoot - his memory doesn’t lend to the lean, doe eyed brunet in his hallway; he’s talking on his phone and scowling something fierce but Derek’s mouth goes dry at the way Stiles runs long fingers through his hair.

“Coffee?” Derek asks abruptly, turning to look at Laura. “There’s a fresh pot. Cora’s gone out on a last minute supply run - is, uh, Stiles staying?”

“I offered your wonderful hospitality until he can find a flight to take him home,” Laura says, following him back into the kitchen and leaving Stiles in the hall. “I know you have the space, and it seemed a shame to leave him stranded. Nobody should be alone on Christmas.”

Such a beautiful story with a truck load of fluffiness everywhere

Layover by dr_girlfriend || 3k          

Big, serious brown eyes were staring right into his from only a few inches away. The child had clambered half over the arm of Derek’s chair to study him at close range, her little rosebud mouth pursed in concentration.

“Uh.” Derek couldn’t look away as the girl reached out one pudgy hand and patted him gently on the cheek. Her scent was soft and sweet and somehow a bit familiar, just enough to keep Derek from shying away. Derek didn’t know too much about kids but he guessed this one was probably three years old or so, head still oversized in proportion to the short limbs and round little belly.

She seemed fascinated with Derek’s beard, eyes widening further under incredibly thick lashes as she petted Derek’s cheek some more, smoothing down the short stubble. Finally she grinned widely. “Good wuff.”

Derek jerked upright, hands clenching on the edge of his seat. Did she just say?...

“CJ!” The child was suddenly gone, lifted up by a strong, tattooed forearm around her little potbelly. “You scared the he— heck out of me! What have I told you about wandering — Derek?”

Single dad Stiles reconnecting with Derek in the airport thanks to the cutest daughter ever??? Uh, yes please, give me all of that ish!

tide pulls from the moon by paintedrecs || 45K  

When Derek left Beacon Hills, finally ripping the tether free and remembering how to breathe, how to live again, it was Stiles who came after him. Stiles, who showed up at his door with blazing eyes, looking like he wanted to punch him in the face, but wrapping his arms around him instead, making him grunt in surprise at the raw strength of his embrace.

“You asshole,” Stiles said, slapping him heartily on the back as he extricated himself, his voice rough under his bright smile. “You couldn’t have made yourself harder to find, could you?”

This is probably one of my favorite sterek fics I don’t even have the words to describe how beautiful this story is and I’m so happy I was able to find it again

Mother of Dragons by Lissadiane || 11k     

Since Hogwarts had opened its doors to werewolves, many Hale children had apparently come through, wary and angry, refusing to socialize with the other students. And one by one, they’d been sorted into Slytherin, obviously, with the odd Ravenclaw to mix things up.

And then along came little Derek Hale, who’d barely gotten his ass on the stool before the hat was calling out Gryffindor.

Everyone thought it was funny, even now, when Derek was in his seventh year. Stiles, though, found it fascinating.

It helped, of course, that Derek was two years older and hotter than the sun.

This was one of the first hogwarts aus I read and I’m still completely in love with it after all this time. Also, it has tiny little dragons in it that are the most adorable little things ever! 

1|| 2|| 3|| 4|| 5|| 6|| 7|| 8|| 9|| 10|| 11|| 12|| 13|| 14|| 15

Submit in your favorite winter fics here so they can claim a spot on our countdown list! Any winter fics, old or new, are welcomed!!!

[allyndrixx]

Christmas in Andromeda

In the Resistance headquarters on Aya, Evfra scowled at the strange email in his inbox. It was an invitation of some sort, clearly, but the regular format had been changed to show snowflakes and some strange plants around the text. More perplexing than the images was the note that word of the party could not spread to Ryder.

He dismissed the others in the room before heading to the vidcom and punching in Jaal’s direct line. When the image appeared, it was obvious the other angara was in the tech bay on the Tempest, where he spent most of his time.

“Greetings, Evfra. To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?”

“Are you alone?”

Jaal paused, “Yes, is something wrong? Is it the Moshae?”

“No, it is about this email you sent me,” Evfra growled.

“Oh! The invitation. I hear those flowers are called poinsettias. Deadly, but beautiful.”

“What is this email about, Jaal?”

He cocked his head, “It is an invitation for a party. The human holiday called ‘Christmas’ is coming up, and we are going to surprise Ryder with a party.”

“What is this…Christmas?”

“It is a holiday of giving and family. Liam told me all about it. Apparently, humans buy each other gifts, wrap them up, and put them under a special kind of tree, decorated with lights and shiny ornaments. Some also set out socks to be filled with presents by a ‘Father Christmas’ who comes the night before Christmas so no one can see him.”

Evfra could feel a headache starting, “And why is this so important that you are asking me to leave my post on Aya for a holiday?”

Jaal’s eyes grew big and filled with emotion, “Ryder is the last of her family. Her mother and father are dead. She has no one else in Andromeda. The others say she was left alone on human holidays because her parents were dedicated to their research. We want to make this a good holiday in Andromeda.”

“And why must I be there?”

“When was the last time you celebrated a holiday with loved ones, Evfra?”

“The kett do not take holidays,” he muttered.

“And if you agree to go with us, we will drop you off at Voeld. We are heading there to check on the outpost and bring more supplies before we head to Kadara to deal with Sloane.”

He could feel his resolve weakening. Not only would they save resources, but it was a chance to be close to Ryder. Evfra would have been lying if he said the human Pathfinder didn’t intrigue him.

Since her crash landing on Aya, Ryder had gone out of her way to help the angara, endearing herself to the people, and proving herself to be a steadfast ally. Whenever they encountered issues on the Nexus, Ryder was there to smooth the way. She took on dangerous missions to save his people, learned more about the kett in a few months than they had in years, and even saved worlds they thought were lost to the Scourge. She was bold and fascinating. Evfra found himself intrigued by her in a way he’d never felt for any woman before.

“I...suppose I could attend. If you promise to drop me off on Voeld when the celebration is over. I need to see how things are progressing, and we need to conserve resources when we can. When will you arrive?”

Jaal beamed, “We will be there in sixteen days. This will be the day called ‘Christmas Eve.’ We will stop on Aya at dawn and leave shortly after midday. Some of the crew wishes to do their shopping on Aya, and we will need to refuel.”

“Very well,” he nodded, “Is there anything else?”

“Will you need help selecting gifts? I could put your name on what I am giving.”

“I am to give gifts as well?” Evfra spluttered. What was he supposed to buy these aliens? The only crew members he knew anything about were Jaal, Ryder, and Vetra. How was he supposed to buy them all gifts?

“It is a tradition. If you like, I can send you a list of things the crew likes. For example, Cora likes plants. Suvi is a scientist, and Drack likes hitting things, and a kind of drink called ‘ryncol.’ I am told some of our merchants have a similar drink. If you like, I can purchase gifts for you and you can give them out,” he offered.

“Fine. Whatever you think they will like, but don’t spend all my money.”

“And Ryder?” Jaal asked, a knowing smirk on his face.

Evfra ignored the strange feeling in his chest, “What about her?”

“Did you want me to purchase something in particular for her?” he pressed, “Or should I just get her something small as well?”

He knew what his friend was implying, but he didn’t take the bait. Instead, he glanced at the hair tie Ryder had once left on his desk by accident, a small smile creeping across his face, “I think I have something in mind actually. Stay strong and clear.”

“Strong and clear, my friend.”

*******

It had been worth it just to see Ryder’s reaction. Evfra had marveled at how much the Tempest crew had been able to do over night. Apparently, not many humans had brought decorations from the Milky Way. Those who had, had been reluctant to share. In the end, most of the decorations were circles of branches from back on Aya that Suvi and Cora had crafted into wreaths and tied off with red ribbons. They’d also managed to find instant packets of a drink called ‘hot chocolate’ with dehydrated white things called ‘marshmallows.’

Liam had been able to find music suitable for the holiday, tunes from Earth that seemed to sing of the cold weather and the warmth of loved ones. Gil and Vetra had somehow managed to find strands of twinkling, white lights to decorate the conference room. Peebee had been responsible for finding several, large candles to light up the room and provide a soothing scent. A scent that somehow reminded him of Ryder.

Drack and Kallo had not been involved much in acquiring items, but they’d done what they could to help decorate. Even Evfra had been persuaded to hang strings of lights.

The look on Ryder’s face when she entered the conference room had been worth all of the tangled lights, and the hours of work. Evfra couldn’t help but smile when he saw her face light up with joy. None of them could. She’d even shed a few tears, though whether they were tears of joy or tears of sadness, he couldn’t be sure. Jaal had mentioned this was a holiday of family, and she had none. Unless one counted her crew, which Ryder seemed to.

It wasn’t long before Evfra realized most of the gifts under the tree were for Ryder. There was an upgrade for her jump jets from Cora. A HUSTL patch from Liam. Drack had managed to find a bound copy of a book called “The Art of War,” though he refused to answer how he found it. Gil and Vetra produced a red piece of clothing called a dress and a strange looking pair of shoes called high heels, while Kallo and Suvi had produced a meal as close to a traditional human feast as they could manage. Lexi had brought several bottles of alcohol, two per member of the crew.

Peebee had forgone a gift, but Jaal had outdone himself. He’d made a map of the stars and collected as many stories about the constellations he could to teach her their own myths and legends. Apparently, it had been one of her hobbies back on Earth.

Watching Ryder’s excitement over each gift made Evfra both pleased and anxious. There were all thoughtful gifts from people who obviously knew Ryder better than he did. What if she didn’t like his gift?

After the gift giving, Suvi and Vetra had lead Ryder back to her quarters, insisting she change out of her Initiative-issued clothes and into her new gifts.

Evfra was in the middle of a conversation with Gil and Jaal discussing creating more vehicles like the Nomad to trade with the angara when Ryder returned, and his heart stopped. He had been in the middle of saying something when he suddenly found his mind blank. He couldn’t think, couldn’t speak. All he could do was watch her.

The red dress was fitted, and stopped several inches above her knees to show her long, shapely legs, further accentuated by the strange shoes she was wearing. The top barely covered her chest, held up by slender straps that crossed in the back. She was stunning, though she seemed uncomfortable with the eyes of everyone on her.

Liam moved to offer her an arm and a compliment, but Gil swept in, taking Ryder by the waist and leading her to her seat at the head of the table. The others gathered around, grabbing seats at the table. Liam reached for a seat next to Ryder, but was nudged out of the way again by Jaal, who pushed Evfra toward the empty seat. Across from him, Suvi was already settling in between Ryder and Vetra.

After dinner, Evfra spotted Ryder standing off to the side by the Tech Lab, a strange look on her face as she watched her crew. He moved to stand next to her, “It is an interesting holiday.”

She laughed, “Interesting is the word humans use when they can’t say anything nice.”

“No, no, it is nice. The poisonous plants as decoration are strange, but angaran holidays are also about time with family.”

“So, what does that mean for those of us who have none?” Ryder took a deep breathe, then forced a brief smile, “Forgive me. I think the wine is getting to me.”

“Jaal told me that this is your first holiday without your family. You must miss them.”

“I do. My family never really did holidays together, but...now I’m here. Alone.”

“I, too, lost my family. But...the Resistance offered me the chance to be part of a family again. We fight together, laugh together, and cry together. Is it not the same with your crew?”

She smiled again, this time for real, “You’re right. Sometimes, you have to make your own family. I got pretty lucky with this one.”

His mind made up, Evra reached into his pocket, and pulled out a small cloth sack, “Here. I did not have a chance to give it to you earlier.”

“Evfra, you didn’t have to get me anything.”

“Jaal mentioned it was customary to give gifts,” he said quickly, forcing it into her hands, “Since I am your guest, I wanted to show my gratitude for this. And for...all you have done in Andromeda.”

Ryder reached into the bag, her eyes lighting up as she pulled out the necklace. It was a stone streaked with reds and oranges, polished and wrapped in wire and attached to a golden chain. He’d spent several hours working the small metal around the stone, and several more deciding whether he should use leather or gold to hang the necklace.

“Evfra, it’s beautiful,” she beamed, and held it out to him, “Can you help me?”

He froze, “Help you?”

She turned her back to him and lifted her hair to show her bare neck, “Can you do the clasp? I haven’t seen that kind before, and I’m not sure I can manage it myself.”

His heart pounded in his chest as he took the necklace. Carefully, he drew it around her neck, shivering as his hands just barely brushed across her warm skin. It only took a moment to attach it, but his hands lingered there on her neck for just a moment before he pulled away.

Ryder turned back around, beaming at him as she touched the pendant, “What do you think?”

Evfra started, but not at the necklace, at her. At the woman who had somehow captivated him. He held her gaze, “Beautiful.”

She blushed, glancing down at the floor, “Where did you find the stone? Does it have meaning?”

“Stones have meaning?”

“Well, some human stones do. I don’t know about other cultures. I didn’t really know about the meanings for stones on Earth until I started hanging out with Suvi.”

“Ah, no. It is a stone from your first outpost, Prodromos. I am not aware of any special meaning, but I thought you might like it, as a reminder of how much you have done for your people, and for mine.”

Ryder looked up at him through her lashes, a move that set his pulse racing, “Sounds like a pretty good meaning to me.”

He started to reply, but Gil shouted, “Hey, look! Someone got caught under the mistletoe. You know what that means.”

Ryder looked up and rolled her eyes, “If you can call that sad shrub mistletoe.”

“Come on, Ryder. You know the rules.”

Evfra looked to Ryder, “What rules?”

She sighed, “The rule is that if two people are caught under the mistletoe, they have to kiss. It’s a silly, old human tradition.”

He glanced around at the rest of the crew. They were all staring at the two of them, impish smiles on their faces. Except Liam. He had turned red in the face and stormed out of the party, though Evfra thought he might have been the only one who noticed.

“You gotta set a good example, Pathfinder,” Cora teased, her face flushed from the excitement, “Don’t break the rules.”

“Well, Evfra, it looks like we’re facing a mutiny,” Ryder growled at her crew, though there was no malice in her tone, “Guess we have no choice.”

He didn’t answer. Couldn’t. His face flushed as Ryder reached her hand up to his face, lightly brushing a kiss across his cheek, then pulling away, as though that simple touch hadn’t undone him. As though that kiss hadn’t set every nerve in his body on fire.

“Oh, come on!” Gil whined, “You call that a kiss?”

“Just because you can’t get anyone to kiss you, doesn’t mean you can live vicariously through me,” Ryder retorted. The others laughed, and turned back to their merry-making. They shot several more glances to the pair under the mistletoe, but Evfra didn’t notice.

“Sorry if I made you uncomfortable,” Ryder said so softly he could barely hear her, “They can be over the top sometimes.”

“I-I was not uncomfortable,” Evfra managed. His heart was still pounding in his chest, “It is a strange holiday rule to make people kiss under a plant.”

“Sometimes lovers would put it up on purpose so they could get caught and they would kiss under the mistletoe. Or someone might try to catch someone they have feelings for and see if a kiss could start a spark. It’s a silly tradition.”

He hesitated a moment, “I did not mind.”

This time, Ryder’s face flushed as she stood on tiptoe again, and planted another kiss on Evfra’s cheek, “Happy Christmas, Evfra.”

Not noticing the eyes of the crew on them, Evfra ran a hand through the silky strands of her hair and placed a kiss on the top of her head, “Happy Christmas, Sara.”

[sterekloveaffairs]

Lost - Derek Hale

Author: sterekloveaffairs

Characters: Reader, Derek Hale, Isaac Lahey, Scott McCall, Stiles Stilinski

Warnings: angst, depression, violence (sort of?), nightmares, just really sad okay

Word Count: 2,913

I had noticed it as soon as I entered the loft. I heard three heart beats. One was Peter's, steady and calm. The other one was Cora's, weak and slightly irregular, yet stronger than it was before and stronger than I expected it to be. And the third one was the one I could recognise among thousands. The heavy thumping that belonged to Derek that always managed to reassure me. But not this time. It sounded different. Quicker, less balanced. I walked inside, Isaac following me close. I looked around the loft, Peter was sitting on the stairs, a weird expression on his face. When he looked at me, his eyes were washed over with something I would call very close to pity.

“Derek?” I heard his heart beat speed up, then I heard his feet shuffling across the floor. He came into sight, and I felt all of my muscles tense when I saw his posture: shoulders hanging low, regret and sorrow sculpted in the frown on his face. He looked different. I couldn’t say what it was. But it was a look similar to the one he had when he told me that Erica was dead, the same look when we both moved Boyd's dead body. Isaac put his hand on my shoulder, sensing my nervousness.

Derek softly said my name. It was the only thing he said. His voice was different too. And again I couldn’t tell exactly what was different. He seemed to lack... Power.

“Is she better?” I asked. If there was something serious enough going on, he would tell me. And if he didn’t start about it himself, it wasn’t worth wasting my time. Derek looked back over his shoulder, to Cora I assumed, and nodded.

“Yeah. She’ll make it.” The huge ‘but’ that he left unspoken was ringing in my ears, pounding in my head and making me nauseous. Derek walked towards us, Isaac was still rubbing my shoulders. It didn’t help.

“We need to talk about something,” Derek said when he was close enough to brush a lost strand of hair back behind my ear, carefully caressing my cheek. How I hated those words. ‘We need to talk' was never followed by ‘Let’s go to Disney World' or something equally as joyful. It was followed by ‘your dad and I are getting a divorce’ or ‘grandpa died' or ‘we are moving to the other side of the country'. That’s at least what my experience taught me. So I couldn’t help squinting my eyes at my Alpha, a silent warning that I would not accept just anything. I would though. Whatever Derek told me was okay. He was my alpha. He took care of me when no one else did. He made me who I am today, and he gave me a family. Or that’s what I call it. I don’t think there is a better word for a group of people taking care of each other the way we do. Except for ‘pack’ maybe. So I followed him to the sofa, and I let my head rest on his shoulder while he was gently stroking my back. Isaac sat down on my other side, and I knew he was just as nervous and curious as I was. Derek’s heart was racing, and anxiousness was wafting off him. It scared me. I felt insecure seeing him like that, he always seemed to know what to do. I gladly let him lead me, because I knew he would do the right thing for us. It was nice having someone caring for you the way Derek cared for the pack.

“I had to give up a lot of strength to save her.” Derek slowly explained the process, how he had passed over part of his power to Cora, to help her heal, help her survive. He did not just use it, he said, he literally gave it to her, like jump starting a car. And when he told me what the consequences were, I was overwhelmed by disbelief and disgust. I couldn’t answer him, and suddenly the patterns he drew on my back, were meaningless.

“Please say something,” Derek begged. I glanced at Isaac, who was staring at the ground, as if his mind wasn’t even here.

“You’re lying. It's not true,” I said harshly. But I knew it was. That’s what I had smelled. It was indeed a lack of power. He was no longer an Alpha.

“I would never lie to you, you know that. It’s true.” The pain etched on his face made me want to curl up with him, cuddle him until he would feel better. I know that it’s what he would do for me. Or Isaac.

“So how do you fix it?” Isaac asked. I felt a spark of hope in my chest, but it quickly faded when Derek shook his head.

“This can’t be fixed. I knew what would happen. It was the price I had to pay to save her. A price I was willing to pay.” Anger started flooding my veins when he spoke those words. How could he have made that choice without even telling us? We were his pack, and to be honest, I would never make a decision like that without every pack member agreeing. Did we mean absolutely nothing to him? Were we so unimportant that he would give us up in the blink of an eye? Because how could we be a pack without an alpha? When I looked at Peter, I got even more heightened. He had a guilty look in his eyes, like a toddler that had stolen the last cookie, but only felt sorry because he got caught. No regret whatsoever.

“I want to bet all of my teeth that you are the one who talked him into this,” I hissed at Peter. He got to his feet when I got closer to him.

“Y/N.” I ignored Derek, despite all of my instincts protesting that decision.

“I only discussed the possibilities with him,” he said, not even a little bit impressed by my threatening stance, “my niece's life was at stake.” I growled at him, the low, rumbling sound echoing off the walls.

“I don’t recall you being that fond of your nieces, the last one wasn’t lucky enough to be on your good side,” I snapped, claws out and ready to strike.

“Y/N!” My feet stopped moving, I clenched my fists. Derek walked to over to me, positioning himself between me and Peter while softly rubbing my shoulders.

“I knew about this without him telling me. I would have made the same choice even without him. In fact, he warned me, told me to think about it carefully.” I glared at him, lost my control. I pushed him away from me, all my anger directed towards him now.

“Then why didn’t you? Why didn’t you think Derek? And if you did think about it, why did you not think about us? About me and Isaac. We need you. We are your pack. We trusted you. And you abandon us in the blink of an eye. You didn’t even discuss this with us, you just throw it in our faces when it’s too late for us to do something. I thought you cared about us!” It’s only after that endless stream of words that I become aware of the tears dripping down my face. The blood welling up from my hands where my claws are piercing the skin. But it’s nothing compared to the pain in my heart. My breathing is deep, fast, almost like panting. The thought of no longer having a pack is tearing me apart, inch by inch. It's almost a physical pain, and I grab my head with both hands to stop the thoughts and emotions from racing. What am I going to do now?

“I already called Scott. You are welcome to join his pack. Both of you.” Really? Did he really think that would be sufficient as a consolation price? As if.

“Scott is not my alpha, Derek!” I shoved him again, he did not fight me. Of course not. He was no longer stronger than me. He was not an alpha anymore.

“He is a good alpha,” Derek tried again. I turned on my heels, making my way to the door, yelling at him before slamming it shut:

“But not mine! Never mine!”

 That was a few months ago. And I was still miserable. I hadn’t slept in weeks without nightmares. I felt lonely, and cold. Isaac tried supporting me, but he couldn’t. He had found a spot in Scott’s pack, but he visited me regularly. Our conversations were nice, they reminded me of when we still had a pack. But he also made me look at him like a traitor when he talked about Scott, or Stiles or whatever. I did not have a problem with Scott. I barely knew him before Derek had turned me. But he was not my alpha. And I blamed Isaac for accepting the leadership and guidance, for settling with other people. I couldn’t. I missed my pack. I was scared and lonely, feeling more and more pain every day. I tried so many things. I had gone back to the train station where Derek gave me my first training. I had found a hoodie in my room that Derek once gave me and wrapped myself in it. I tried telling myself I didn’t need him if he obviously didn’t care enough to tell me about important things, if he was prepared to dump me like garbage. Nothing worked. It was like trying to scratch an itch you just couldn’t reach. I cried myself to sleep every night, only to toss and turn and scream myself awake after only a few hours.

I was a wreck, but I kept on refusing the hand that Scott still reached out to me. Isaac was worried. But he was not my pack anymore, and that was his own decision. Just like Derek decided he didn’t want his pack anymore. They left me, and they didn’t give me the chance to do something about it. They wanted me to join Scott. They didn’t ask what I wanted, how I felt about our pack being ripped apart. I was so broken after losing Erica and Boyd. But I had Derek and Isaac. Now I had no one.

It didn’t help that Derek had left Beacon Hills. After Cora had gotten better, they decided to look for some peace and quiet. Sure. They were already being selfish anyway.

Tonight was the full moon. The third one since our pack disappeared. I hated them. My shift was so hard to control, the anger raging through my body, fuelled by loneliness when my desperate howls remained unanswered. I had gotten so short tempered that I started to doubt myself, knowing I was a danger to every human around me. But at the same time, I couldn’t help it.

“You have to do something about it,” Isaac hissed at me in the hallway. I kept on walking, looking straight ahead.

“You don’t have to tell me what I should or shouldn’t do,” I replied coldly, almost ripping my locker door out of its hinges when I opened it.

“You almost chewed up Greenberg's face!” He said, slamming his hand against my locker and shutting it again. I gritted my teeth, pushed his hand away and made another effort at putting my books in there.

“He had it coming.” Isaac muttered in frustration, his hands at his temples.

“For fuck’s sake, he was just looking at you!” I slammed my locker shut, started walking away from Isaac. His presence was annoying me, making my insides whine for my old pack.

“Reason enough for me.” I went outside, ignoring him shouting my name. Scott and Stiles were waiting at my car, and I had to use all of my willpower not to rip their heads off. I tried to walk past them and completely ignore them, but scoffed when Scott put his hand against my shoulder. My eyes started glowing, I hissed from between my clenched jaws:

“Let go or you will regret it.” Scott’s eyes started glowing too, a sting went through my heart when the shade of red was slightly different from the one I was so used to. It made me even angrier, and I shoved Scott aside. I knew he let me, because there was no way I could be stronger than an alpha. I got into my car, my hands gripping the steering wheel as I took a few deep breaths, not even caring that Scott was still standing next to my car, despite an anxious Stiles trying to get away from me. I was so close to shifting, so close to losing control. Why? I had been so good. Derek had told me that I was the best of all of them, that I had the most self-control. That he was so proud of me for trying so hard. Tears welled up in my eyes, I hated myself for it. Why was I still crying for someone who didn’t think twice about leaving me? Leaving his pack, leaving us. Why was it impossible not to care? Why was it that the only thing that I wanted right now was his touch, comforting me, telling me how everything would be fine, how I would have perfect control eventually. Like he did before. Things would never be the same again, and that thought shattered me once again. I turned the key in the ignition, my tires shrieking on the asphalt as I got away from the school as fast as I could. Away from Isaac the traitor, away from Scott who wouldn’t leave me be, away from everything. Everything but my broken heart and the hollowness inside.

When I got home, I felt tired. I didn’t feel like going out tonight, the loneliness crushing my bones and weakening my muscles. I didn’t even bother with saying hello to my parents, or taking a shower, or doing homework. It all seemed so useless. So senseless. I threw off my jacket and crawled into bed, pulling Derek’s hoodie from underneath my pillow. I pressed it to my nose. His scent was still lingering. But it was fading. I made no effort in stopping the tears from streaming down my cheeks. I knew my parents could hear my loud sobbing, my mother worriedly talking to my father. But I didn’t care. My chest hurt from the feelings that were stuck inside. And no matter how hard I cried, I couldn’t get them out. I had pulled up the covers, but I was still cold. I hadn’t been I cold since my transformation, until Derek left. Until I lost everything that was dear to me. My skin was itching, the nearing full moon trying to lure out the wolf. I closed my eyes, only to start crying harder. I was so cold. I just wanted to sleep, forget everything. I wrapped my own arms around me, curling myself up under my sheets. I started to understand why the phrase ‘lone wolf' could have such a sad undertone. We were not made to be alone. We were not supposed to be on our own. We needed our pack.

I felt the mattress dip behind me, two arms wrapped around my waist, hands layering over mine. I would recognise that smell anywhere. My heart jumped up, my sleepy eyes opening in shock.

“Derek?” He kissed my hair, I felt his breath on my skin when he put his head down on my pillow behind me.

“It's okay. I'm here. You’re not alone.” I was crying again, filled with intense happiness. I had craved his touch, the touch of belonging, pack, alpha. I pushed my body back into his, his grip around my chest tightening.

“I was so lonely, Derek.” I closed my eyes in content. He didn’t answer, he only held me tight. Very tight. He seemed to close his grip, slightly more with every passing moment. One of his arms moved to my neck, I gasped when he kept on applying pressure.

“Derek, what are you doing?” I whispered, trying to get out of his hold. He hushed me, pushing his mouth next to my ear.

“You’re not alone anymore,” he said softly, his hand now gripping my throat. Fear was washing over me, mixed with utter disbelief. I couldn’t breathe, and he didn’t release me even when my claws sank into his arm.

“Derek, let go. Please, Derek.”

 “Derek!” My eyes flew wide open, I was panting and sweating, confused by the dark contours of my room. The moonlight creeped in, making it all too clear to me that I was alone. Derek wasn’t here. I had my sheets tangled around me, too tight to be comfortable, Derek’s hoodie crumpled underneath my face. Great. I created my own nightmare this time. I didn’t remember falling asleep, as usual, and as usual it required me to wake up to realise that it was just a dream. This was nothing new. I looked at my hands, claws still out because of the tension and the full moon. I sat up, feeling every nerve in my body pull me towards the window. The wolf wanted out, she needed to run, to howl, to be. I wouldn’t let her.

Not without my alpha.

[stophookingatmeswan]

We’re Strange Allies with Warring Hearts

A deleted scene from 3x14 in the aftermath of “if it can be broken, it means it still works. Beautiful artwork by @somethingalltogether

Rated: M for sexual imagery because smut bunnies gonna smut bunny. Heavy on the angst and self-loathing with sprinkles of fluff.

Written for the 2017 CS Storybook, which can be found here.

Also on AO3

“Is that enough humor for you?” 

The words haunted him in the dark, the stars overhead dimmed by fog, an unintended assist by nature to help reflect his mood. There was something beyond a chill in the air; Killian was cold to his bones even through layers of leather and rum, and he laughed humorlessly – a short staccato that reverberated on the water – at the metaphor of it all. 

Those hero types, always talking about hope. And for once, he’d had hope in spades. Hope that he could find a magic bean. Hope that the offer to trade his ship would be enough, and that the accord with Blackbeard wouldn’t be too bitter a pill to swallow. Hope that when he found Emma, True Love’s kiss would break the curse and cause her memories would return. Hope she would come with him back to Storybrooke. 

Hope that there would be an us. 

One by one, those final hopes were dashed until he was left sitting alone at her kitchen table as she went to tend to the us she had with another man. Monkey or not, he’d had her heart, at least far more of it than Killian had ever had. It was a bitter pill to swallow and burned as much as his first sip of rum all those years ago and sat in his gut just as heavy and burdensome. 

That acidity had bubbled up and over as they walked in the woods searching for Zelena as Emma questioned him about how he’d spent his time during the missing year. He’d lied and doubled down when she called him on it, and then brazenly changed the subject, simultaneously guarding his own heart and breaking it as he asked about the proposal. 

I was in love, so of course I was considering it. 

Sitting in the dark he allowed his envy to shape a different reality; one in which he rarely indulged. He usually allowed his frustrations to manifest themselves carnally, preferring a hand on his cock and her on his mind to soothe the ache in his loins to dreaming of things that multiplied the ache in his heart. 

But instead of envisioning a veil of blonde hair in his lap, he stared at the water and let himself picture Emma in a veil made of tulle and lace that did nothing to obscure the joy on her face as her parents walked her down a makeshift aisle on the deck of the Jolly Roger where he stood waiting at an altar. 

Her name fell from her lips – not as an oath as he spilled over his fist, but as a vow as he said I do. 

He wasn’t holding her in arms against the door of the captain’s quarters as he fucked her breathless. They were dancing as husband and wife, his hand at her back and her fingers curled around his hook as they moved in unison to music she’d picked to play.

Killian’s breath caught suddenly as the visions of a life he so desperately wanted clouded, his mind’s eye distorting his own face until someone else stood before Emma on her wedding day. 

With a curse, he willed the phantoms away; throwing his flask into the water at the spot on which his gaze had been fixated for good measure, hoping the ripples on the water spread his heartbreak just a little further when a familiar epithet in an even more familiar voice mingled with his own. 

Shite. 

Humor me. 

Said entirely without humor and with measured challenge in his eyes, Hook’s words had put her on the defensive, not that she hadn’t already been on edge. 

She almost preferred him flirty and laden with innuendo, his push and her pull (away) keeping things from becoming too complicated. Emma had kept things light as they trekked through the trees, joking about his hook and the swashbuckling adventures he must have had in the year she’d been in New York. 

Instead of taking the bait with a snappy comeback offering to show her just what he could do with his hook, he’d become even more sullen and lied to her face – superpower be damned – and then refused to back down when she called him on it. 

The water was calm tonight; the stillness a stark contrast to the whirlwind Emma had been caught in since the moment she’d downed a potion handed to her by a mysterious man whose presence unsettled her, baffled her and made a tiny corner of her heart ache in ways she couldn’t explain. 

Life in New York had been comforting, each building serving as a stalwart soldier and obscuring the next in a never-ending battlefield of hustle and bustle. She supposed in hindsight there was a metaphor there; a parallel to the chaos of life in Storybrooke that somehow faded into the background at the water’s edge; water, she was loathe to notice, that was missing a familiar ship with yellow trim and tall rigging. 

“What the hell were you doing for the last year alone on that trip?” 

In the woods she’d been distracted by his caginess and deceit, anything but drawing him out the furthest from her mind but alone with her thoughts and the gentle lap of water against the docks, her mind wandered as she turned a rock she’d scooped up on her walk to the harbor in her hand. 

Had he been alone? She’d left, his promise to think of her every day lost in the fog of a curse. What if he’d moved on as she had, spending his days one swashbuckling tale after another and his nights on the narrow bunk in the captain’s quarters, moving over and inside a writhing body from which he tirelessly wrung pleasure? 

The thought infuriated her, the ire of being lied to pushed aside by a possessiveness on which she rarely allowed herself to dwell. He’d come back for her – to save her. Would he have done so if he’d spent a year indulging in sins of the flesh? 

Scrubbing a gloved hand over her face, she wanted to scream into her hands, instead huffing out a forceful sigh. The warmth hung in the air, much as it had earlier when she was face to face with him, his hope and her fear mingling in the still air along with their breath. Since when did flowery, piratey phrases such as “sins of the flesh” replace things like the blunt but much more Emma Swan-like “banging some random wench he picked up at a bar.” 

It felt like he’d been slowly seeping into her bloodstream and it was disconcerting. When she was cut, he bled and she didn’t know what to do when he stood in front of her, wounded and wanting something from her she didn’t think she’d ever be able to give. 

With a loud, “Fuck!” she tossed the rock she’d been holding into the water, startling when a different curse echoed back in the darkness. 

Shit.

They sat in their respective solitude for a moment, neither wanting to be the one to make the first approach. Emma had frozen when she heard Hook’s voice, wondering if she could just play possum and wait for him to leave if he hadn’t caught onto the fact that he wasn’t alone. Her ass was already all but frozen to the bench, so what were a few more minutes? 

Her second bout of swearing was quieter but just as forceful when his voice rang out again, clear as day and closer than she’d anticipated. 

“Swan, I’d recognize your dainty, ladylike ways even without the quiet veil of night.” He kept his tone light, the heavy burden of his private thoughts pushed aside by the possibility of a light game of cat and mouse. He even laughed when she called back, her voice gruff and filled with the exasperation he was beginning to think was just as natural a state as her willingness to fight. 

“I’ll show you dainty and ladylike, pal.” Emma lobbed the retort, leaving the window open for some patented Captain Hook innuendo and he didn’t disappoint. 

“Well, darling, if that’s the only slot left on your dance card for the evening, I’d be happy to oblige.” 

They sat in an odd, companionable silence for a moment, drinking in the normalcy of the exchange. When she didn’t answer, Killian found himself lamenting the loss of his rum, suddenly in need of liquid courage. He wasn’t often at a loss for words, but somehow she brought it out in him. And after their exchange in the woods he was keenly aware of how far a divide there was between saying something and saying the right something. 

Emma fell silent, too, knowing if she playing into his mentally wandering hand, things may go too far and wondered when the hell a quick scratch of nature’s itch with a gorgeous man became complicated. So, for once, she followed his other lead, the space between them giving her courage she hadn’t had earlier in the day. 

“Did you mean what you said?” 

“I’ve said a great many things, love. You’ll have to be more specific.” Killian bit his tongue – a tongue that had been saucily poking his cheek just a minute before as he’d once again pictured him wrapped around her, swaying to imaginary music as they coupled in a bed he could no longer call his own. 

“That if a heart is broken, it means it still works.” It was a bastardized version of what he said, but Emma figured it was close enough as the moment of candor got away from her. “Sometimes I wish Cora had been able to pull my heart out of my chest. Just to see that I still have one. Sometimes it feels like it’s been ripped out, over and over again.” 

Her sudden openness was a welcome surprise and Killian thought carefully but quickly before replying, not wanting to give her time to regret and repress. For once, his quick tongue might be useful for something other than talking himself out of a scrape. 

“Isn’t that all sadness is though, Swan? Pulling our own hearts out over and over to look at the damage.” He shifted on his bench, every inch of his being trying to not transport himself to the deck of the Jolly watching the crocodile crush the life out of Milah right before his eyes. “As a man who has spent more than his fair share of lifetimes seeking revenge in a shroud of misery, I might be an expert on such matters. There have been times I’ve been the villain in my own story, hell bent on crushing my own heart. But every time I’ve pulled it out, it’s still been beating with purpose. It’s up to us to define that purpose and not let it rule us.” 

He had a point. Several of them. As she mused on his offering, Emma heard him laugh. 

“Take that all with a grain of sand, Swan. Wisdom for others I may have in spades, but it was also borne of hundreds of years of singular vengeance.” 

Laughing along with him in spite of herself, Emma pivoted away from the depth of conversation into shallower waters. 

“Must be the one hand. Keeps you from multi-tasking.” 

His indignant gasp put a smile on her face as she stood, the cold and the gravity of the moment more than she could take. 

“I’m heading home, Hook. You should do the same. And…thanks.” 

Awkward, but better than nothing. 

He caught himself before he could blurt out that he had no home, but it was neither the time nor place for such revelations. 

“Good night, Swan.” 

Her boot steps fell, echoing on the water, and Killian strained his ears as they grew faint until he could no longer hear them. He pulled his coat closer, the air still breathtakingly cold but with a new sliver of warmth in his chest. 

Because even if it was broken, his heart still worked.

[perseus-huntress]

Winging it

Feels like I haven’t written anything vaguely coherent in ages, all thanks goes to @puppypopcornpizza for the encouragement and bombarding me with Reyes related media :P 

Ryder watched Reyes from the bar, trying to drown out Jaal’s incessant complaining. So far he has bemoaned the filth, the smell, the weather, the Outcasts, the Collective, the squawking birds, the acid rain, and the state of the floor in Kralla’s Song.

“And your Vidal is the worst offender” Jaal boomed.

Ryder rolled her eyes, but bit “One, he isn’t mine. Two, enlighten me”

“He may as well be. The way he puffs himself up whenever you show up is comical. His lack of subtlety is pitiful.” He sneered.

“Subtlety, something you know a lot about, is it Jaal?” Ryder grinned.

His face hardened “If I wanted to, I could bring you to your knees, Ryder. Don’t tempt me”

“Try me big boy” she attempted to smolder at the angara, but failed at the last moment bursting into a peel of bright laughter “Ha, no, I am sorry that was fucking awful”

Jaal smiled at her “I agree, definitely needs work.”

“Rawr rawr rawr Ama Darav, I’ll have you know I am amazing at this, if I want to be, I just don’t feel like it right now…” she trailed off mildly embarrassed, her pride was gently bruised by that last comment.

“Teach me then, Pathfinder.” A wicked grin formed on his face as he nodded toward the other end of the bar where Reyes was engrossed in a conversation with an asari. “It will be a useful insight into human courting rituals”

“Why? You’re doing fine without it. Cora turned a delightful crimson last time, I’d like to have curtains in that colour, they would look great” Ryder laughed.

“Don’t change the subject” Jaal’s eyes narrowed. “Impress me”

A muscle in her jaw twitched, she did not take well to being ordered, but something inside of her also wanted to show him up, wipe the smug look off his face.

“Fine. Watch and learn.” She hissed at him, he met her glare with an easy smile.

Ryder huffed and slid off her stool, straightened up and stretched her shoulders.

Jaal looked down at her bemused “Is the flexing mandatory?”

Ryder’s lips drew back in a snarl, but before she could chew him out, he sighed and said “Just go”

She really wanted to deck him, but her attention was suddenly drawn to the high pitched giggle coming from the asari opposite Reyes. He leaned towards her whispering something, as she fluttered her eyelashes at him.

Ryder’s stomach twisted into an unpleasant knot, it all suddenly seems like a horrible idea. She half turned to Jaal, but her mouth flew shut as soon as she saw his expression. He leaned on the counter, resting his chin in his hand, watching her with amused interest.

Her expression hardened with determination. She was not going to give him the satisfaction of seeing her fail. She set off, putting an extra swing into her hips as she strode towards Reyes.

He was too engrossed in the asari to notice her approach, edging closer and closer to her as he spoke.

“Reyes” Ryder purred as she reached his side.

“Ryder!” Reyes yelped in surprise, twisting toward her so fast that his elbow slipped on the counter top, upsetting his balance and sending him falling sideways as his feet tangled with the stool he was perched on.

Ryder reacted without thinking, lunging forward she grabbed his waist, arresting him mid-fall.  

“Woah there, didn’t mean to startle you” she looked down at his horrified face frozen inches away from hers “You okay?”

Reyes breathed unevenly, his face flushed red “Fine, thanks…”

“Can I let go now?” she raised an eyebrow after a couple of seconds as he made no attempt to disentangle himself from her.

He blinked once, twice, before his composure returned and his mouth curved into a smile “Do you have to?”

She almost dropped him then and there on principle, but the memory of Jaal’s self-satisfied expression swam before her, she just couldn’t let that happen.

“No, but what do I get out of this?” she simpered.

The corners of his eyes crinkled in a wicked grin, he opened his mouth to answer but was interrupted by the asari clearing her throat loudly.

Reyes grimaced.

“Pathfinder, Arysa Setora. One of my associates” he muttered, finally disentangling himself from Ryder.  

"A pleasure" the asari smiled broadly, her face strained from trying to contain laughter "I've heard a lot about you"

"Good things, I hope?" Ryder returned the smile leaning back on one leg.

"Only the best" Arysa winked at Reyes.

His face was unreadable, but a storm was brewed in his eyes.

"Ryder, will you excuse us? We have a delicate matter to discuss. I will find you afterward" his voice was level, friendly even, but his eyes bore into Arysa, threatening violence. The asari remained impassive, smiling broadly at him.

"Have fun!" She grinned at the asari, and turned back to the bar. That was not how she expected that to go down. She wasn’t sure how she wanted it to go, but the hammering of her heart told a story of its own, one she refused to acknowledge just yet.

Jaal was in fits of silent laughter when she reached him, he dabbed at his eyes wiping away tears of pure joy.

"That was spectacular Ryder. I applaud you" he choked as another fit of laughter threatened to overwhelm him.

"Oh hush you" Ryder frowned, slumping against the bar. 

Sensing the change in her mood, Jaal sobered up, raising himself up from the chair.

"Cheer up Ryder, Vidal watched you walk away," he said, “I say that was a success” 

[kestrelsansjesses]

Poker Night

[[Summary: A more light-hearted chapter of New Galaxy, Same Old Thirst that can be read as a standalone. After the emotional difficulty of discovering the turian ark may be lost, Kandros joins Ryder and the crew in a game of poker, resulting in yet another drunken proposition.

As always, I love to hear what you think! What's going to happen next for me these two? Will they finally be more than just a hookup?

Tiran Kandros x Ryder

AO3]]

“And I fold before I owe Gil every credit I own and the Tempest.” Stepping back from the table, Wren Ryder stretched her shoulders and neck, rolling it back and forth to try and work the cricks out of it. If she could escape this game with some of her dignity intact, all the better; she already owed Gil 347 credits, and refused to give him one more. SAM could have helped, but she had no interest in cheating. Well, not today. Next game, though, if no one managed to dethrone their reigning poker king… Things might be different. “Anyone else joining me?” Her head was pleasantly buzzing with the free flowing drinks, and a snack was in order.

Jaal and Gil didn’t even bother to look up, absorbed in their cards. Liam shook his head, and Cora gave a curt gesture. Kandros, the newcomer to their ship, also shook his head, but Vetra stood up as well, echoing Ryder’s stretch. “I’m also out. Let’s go, Ryder.”

She didn’t follow Vetra right away, just needing a moment longer. “You good, Kandros? I can’t send the head of Nexus Security back completely broke.” The past few days had been difficult on everyone, from learning that the turian ark was possibly lost to pressing forward to Elaaden, knowing that nothing good could await them. Everyone sorely needed this game.

“If I can win a game against Sloane Kelly, I can beat anyone. Don’t worry, Ryder.” At least he was relaxed now, not exactly happy but filled with enough of the turian liquor Tupari to approximate it.

“You’re the boss. Well, I’m the boss, but you know what I mean.” Before heading down the stairs, Ryder clapped a hand to Kandros’ shoulder, resting it there a moment longer than friendship would dictate. He was a grown turian and he could handle himself. If he couldn’t, well… That was on him, and on Gil. She had to trust that not bankrupting everyone in the Andromeda galaxy wasn’t in her engineer’s best interests. Right now, if the cotton feeling of her mouth was any indication, she also needed to drink something that wasn’t beer. Time to swing by the galley as promised, see if she couldn’t find something to at least prevent tomorrow’s hangover from being too brutal.

In the Tempest’s galley, Vetra nibbled on a piece of some kind of dextro-based cracker, shooting Ryder a look laden with questions as she walked in.

“So… This is going well,” Ryder finally ventured, trying to down a large glass of water and look as guilt-free as possible.

“What part of ‘not discussing boys’ do you not understand, Ryder? Or ‘smuggler and security officer don’t mix.’” Taking another bite, Vetra clacked her mandibles in irritation, in as much as Ryder could judge turian facial expressions. “Don’t give me that look. Fine, it’s going great. I’m sure you’ll have lots of awful hybrid children together.”

Rolling her eyes so hard that she thought she could see through the ceiling of the Tempest, Ryder took another drink, silence pointed. After a tense few seconds, Ryder gave in and shrugged. “I’m going to go to bed.”

“With Kandros?”

“Vetra, I will airlock you.” Vetra’s laughter broke the tension between them, following Ryder back to her quarters, where she was more than happy to sit back on her couch and simply unwind with an actual, honest-to-god paper book in hand. The jacket said it was a weighty history tome, but truth be told, it was a direct from the vid adaptation of Fleet and Flotilla. A girl had to have some guilty pleasures.

Just as the titular fleet (turian) and flotilla (quarian) were about to consummate their relationship in a flood of dextro-based fluids, there was a knock on Ryder’s door. Damn it. Always when she was getting to the good part, cheeks slightly flushed.

Dropping the book down on the couch, she stood and yelled out, “Pathfinder Ryder is a very busy woman, so this better be important.” If only she could get a sign on the door that told people to go away; if only she could get a moment of peace and quiet.

“Ryder.” Kandros stood on the other side of the door, swaying slightly. “Your skin looks great tonight.” An empty bottle of Tupari dangled between two claws, and he suddenly leaned against the doorframe, trying to look suave but only accomplishing looking like he couldn’t stand. “You wanna?” He made a gesture with his free hand, a twirl of the fingers that was somehow universal.

Sighing inwardly, Ryder plucked the bottle from Kandros’ fingers, putting it down on her small table. He reeked of the strange combination of what was definitely alcohol and whatever it was they put in the drink to make it appropriate for the turian GI system- something that smelled slightly chemical and astringent to her, though Vetra had said time and time again that it ‘smelled like heaven.’

“Kandros. I do. It’s not that I don’t.” She ran her hand through her hair nervously, trying to formulate a sentence when it seemed like words had left her. “But I also want to be more than that. That was the whole point of this mission. I don’t just want to be your booty call.”

“My… what?”

“Sorry, human phrase. But I like you a lot, Kandros. Even when you’re like this. It’s still kind of cute.” Cute was not a word normally associated with a turian nearly seven feet tall with a penchant for power armor, and yet.

Silence greeted Ryder’s proclamation; it looked like Kandros was having trouble focusing on her, though he finally managed to get both eyes facing forward. His pupils, some part of her noticed, were slightly larger than normal. “Ryder, you’re good, for a human. A good person. I’m going to go to bed.” It wasn’t exactly a stirring declaration of feelings, but at least he hadn’t totally rebuffed her. He started to walk away, managing to trip over his own two feet and going sprawling across the floor, lying there and accepting his fate. His temporary quarters were on the upper deck, and there was no way Ryder would be able to drag him up the ladder to his own bed.

“Kandros, you better come in.” Helping him up (and nearly falling over in the process), Ryder led Kandros to her own bed, one side of it undisturbed. “You can sleep here tonight.”

“You change your mind?” He leered, if such a thing could be possible with that face.

“Not even a bit, buddy,” she answered with a grin. Damn it, but she really did like him. “But there’s no way you’re getting home like this. Just kick back and relax.” He didn’t say anything else, and while Ryder went to go fix herself another drink, he apparently passed out, fast asleep and neatly within his confined half of the bed. She shook her head again. He looked comfortable, at least.

With a shrug, Ryder called it a night, stripping down to her pajamas, knowing that she was safe from him watching. Crawling into bed, she was prepared to sleep with a carefully maintained set of inches between them, but in his sleep Kandros turned to face her, one arm stretching out and looping around her waist possessively. Okay. Well, this was okay. Tomorrow was a new day, after all.

[venteamocha]

Obligatory question post

This is gonna be long as hell, sorry in advance. orz

(I haven’t finished the game yet, just fyi, on the Hunting the Archon quest right now)

The basics! Whats their full name, gender, and sexuality? Describe their general appearance and/or include a picture. Is there anything you canon beyond what the game allows? 

Althea “Thea” Marie Ryder. Cisgender Female. Bisexual. Picture at the top of the post.

Beyond the game - She has a small amount of chub that she can’t get rid of no matter how in shape she gets and has begrudgingly learned to accept it.

Can’t always wear Initiative whites and blues, Whats their dress style like? Do they prefer casual wear, or being in armor? Is it the same as it was in the Milky Way? How, if applicable, has it changed since arriving in Helius?

She loves cool and dark colors, like navy and deep purple and black and dark gray and forest green. She prefers casual wear, and lives in jeans and hoodies. Occasionally skirts and drapey shirts. Heck, she went to meet the Angara while in her favorite hoodie (she wore it for luck). Yeah, it’s the same as in the Milky Way.

Do they have piercings, tattoos, or notable scars? Do they dye their hair, or is it a gene mod?

She has a belly piercing and a celtic knot between her shoulder blades towards her midback. She dyes her hair in random colors depending on her mood, and decided to make it white before she went into cryo, as a sort of clean slate type thing. She’s lazy about it and lets it grow out an inch or so before she redyes because her hair grows very fast. And is very thick and bushy. Which is also why she generally keeps it short.

Beyond the game - I’d change her hair color every so often if I could, since she’d redye it for various events and also just because.

What’s their personality like? How do they feel about being Pathfinder? How do they change, if at all, over the course of the story?

She’s a bit flippant and sarcastic, but mostly she’s a sweetheart. Sometimes inept, occasionally says something idiotic and offensive, but rarely on purpose. Seriously, she cares a lot. Doesn’t matter if she knows you or not, if you like her or not, if you need help and there’s a way she can help you, she’ll do it.

However, her biggest problem is that while she is more than willing to share her happiness, she very nearly absolutely refuses to share her problems, and will distance herself and block everyone out while she deals with it on her own.

It’s very noticeable because she’s usually very cheerful and bubbly, but when she’s in a bad mood or going through something, she’ll go very, very quiet.

Being Pathfinder just made her more stubborn and determined to do this, since she feels that she needs to be an example, and needs to show everyone what they need to see rather than... the flawed human she is. It also made her even more determined to take on everyone and anyone’s problems and fix them the best way she can.

She’s changed somewhat over the course of the story though, through getting to know her crew. Liam and Jaal especially are helping her to learn to open herself up and express herself in a healthier way.

She’s also an incredible nerd. Loves exploring and finding new things. Loves learning as much as she can about almost everything.

What’s their preferred profile, or class? Were they naturally inclined towards combat or technical skills? Were they a developed biotic, or did they first experience it with SAM?

Biotic. All the way. She wasn’t naturally inclined towards using her biotics for combat, oddly enough, preferring instead to use them to screw around and fling shit around the room. She gained her biotics through the exposure to eezo that her mother received.

Canon says they served in the Alliance before joining the Initiative, do you keep this canon, or have you made some changes? Explain their backstory either way.  

She did serve in the alliance, almost more as a punishment than anything else. She was... a bit wild and got herself into some rather serious trouble, so it was her parents way of getting her shit together while also helping out the alliance.

Beyond the game - AFAIK Ryder canonically grew up on the Citadel. Not my Ryder. She spent most of her life on Earth, growing up in the southern US. She only moved to the Citadel in her late teens. She was only there about six years or so before they left the Milky Way altogether.

She’s got a slight southern drawl that gets stronger when she gets mad or upset. She uses southern slang without thinking about it sometimes, but sometimes she does it deliberately because it confuses others and she’s a little shit.

Everyone’s got one… List their (or your) favorite powers, weapons, and armor sets. Any special reason for these choices?

Weapon - N7 Eagle pistol. She modified it to shoot energy blasts and she freaking loves that thing.

Power - Lance. Love how it just splats directly into their face.

Armor set - Not particularly. 

Its all in the family. Explain their relationship with Alec, Ellen, and their sibling. If you changed anyone’s names or added a different sibling in your canon, explain why.

Alec - He was very distant, always busy, so she doesn’t actually feel that close to him. There is still a bond, and she still has this urge to make him proud, but that’s... about all.

Ellen - She loved her mother very much, they were very close. It was her mother that helped instill in her the love of exploration and of learning that she has.

Scott - Her and her brother have a sort of love/hate relationship. They give each other a hard time, insult each other at the drop of a hat (usually they don’t mean it though) but they have each other’s backs no matter what. They were the sort that made up their own secret language and hand gestures to get into or out of trouble.

What’s their favorite memory they have of their sibling? Of their parents? How have they dealt with the aftermath of Habitat 7? How deeply does this effect them?

Her and Scott are both biotics, and since they were little shits they’d often try to think of games and stupid things they could do with them. Like the time they tried to play volleyball by hitting the ball with biotic blasts. It didn’t work. They ended up putting a hole in one of the walls. The parents were Not Amused.

Honestly, Habitat 7 hit so hard and so quickly that she was in shock for a while afterwards. She didn’t really deal with it, she just kind of packed it away.

As they unlock the memories, how does this change, if at all, their view of their parents?

As she started unlocking Alec’s memories however, she started to actually come to terms with his loss. It made her feel a little empty, since she didn’t feel like she’d actually had a lot of him there to lose.

Explain the way they feel about their squadmates, both initially and over the course of the story.

Liam - Initially she saw him as just another squadmate. Didn’t think about him, he was just kinda there. “Eh, seems an ok guy. Hope he doesn’t die or anything. That’d be a shame. Oh, shit, I forgot to get a drink before we left. Dammit.” After she got to know him though? Shit, he’s her new bestie. “There are so many movies we gotta marathon. Also, I have to make you some of my marshmallow popcorn. I swear you’ll love it.” There was a brief bit of flirting, but she ultimately decided they’d be better off as friends, and they’re both perfectly happy with that.

Cora - Initially she was kind of put off. I mean, she basically just talked about Alec and Asari and... yeah. But as she got to know her, they got to understand each other more and are now comfortable with each other. Sees her as a sort of surrogate big sister.

Vetra - Initially.... “Wow, what a badass. *hearteyes*” Now? “Wow, what a badass. And she’s my friend! What the fuck! This is amazing!” Secretly admires her cereal hoard. Secretly wants to steal Sid to be her own sister.

Peebee - Initially? Peebs jumped on her and she just kind of stared back in shock and somewhere deep within her brain she was like “I... have GOT to bang her before I die.” It was nearly instant crush. “She’s so cute! And smart! And sassy! I’m so gay!! How did I not know I’m so gay?!” Now? Well, she did bang her so that’s done (but it was no strings so..). The instant crush has mellowed out, and she cares for her a great deal. She doesn’t know how it’ll go yet.

Drack - Initially... holy shit, she actually squeaked out “Daddy!” when he first showed up, thank god he didn’t hear her. Liam did and snort-laughed so hard he nearly choked. She totally meant it in the family way though, not the “daddy” way, I swear. He’s practically adopted her by the time of his loyalty mission though so it worked out for her. He swears that she’s got a little krogan in her, and she just laughs that she must get it from him. Would have totally headbutted a krogan on Elaaden had the chance presented itself. He would have been so proud.

Jaal - Initially she didn’t really see him as an individual as much as she did just a representative of the Angara. She had a lot of scientific curiosity, and was bound and determined to make sure that he’d be taken care of and such, since he went with them in good faith and it’d be pretty shitty to send him back with a missing limb or something like that, but that was kind of it. She was kind because she’s a kind person and genuinely wanted to help his people, but she didn’t really care for him specifically in any real way. Then Liam started talking about how he wanted to get to know Jaal as a person and such, and she started seeing how the crew helping him effected him, how he kept commenting on how kind she was, and it really started sinking in. She started actually trying to get to know him too and spend time with him, talk to him about things that weren’t just her picking his brains over his culture and people (although she did that too). And whoops, she cares about him now a whole lot more than she ever expected to. She’s shying away from putting a label on those feelings as of yet, but whatever they are, they’re strong.

Explain the way they feel about the rest of the Tempest crew?

She finds Suvi to be an adorable little nerd even if her cooking is terrifying, she likes and respects Kallo quite a bit, and she likes Gil a lot even if she also sort of thinks he’s a petty little shit at times. Her pyjack, Jackjack (creative, isn’t it) and her hamster, Boo (yeah, I did that) are beyond reproach, even if she lives in fear of Jackjack pissing on her bed. 

Beyond the game - She doesn’t keep Boo in that tiny little glass trap. What kind of cage is that? What the fuck? She put a nice hamster setup in her room and occasionally lets Boo run wild in a little hamster ball (only under supervision).

How about Nexus leadership and the people on the Nexus in general? What were their reactions to the Angara and the Exiles? How did learning there was a whole new species in Helius affect them? How did news of the rebellion affect them?

On the whole she likes the Nexus’s people. Mostly she’s neutral. Director Tann and Addison both annoy the hell out of her but Kesh and the turian (wtf was his name?!) are a-okay in her books. 

She was actually scared shitless when she first met the Angara because she was certain they were gonna blow her ass out of space. Then she was just nervous because, while they hadn’t shot her, they still weren’t very happy to see her. And she was the first human they’d ever met. She can’t fuck this up!! She can’t!! Holy shit!!! Then Jaal got in her face. Overall it was very nerve-wracking and she tried to be as chill as she could but ended up telling a stupid joke anyway (but it all worked out in the end).

The rebellion and the Exiles both make her sad, and feel like the Nexus really really dropped the ball and let them down. Mostly she wants to help the ones who want help, and let the ones who don’t want it do their thing and be left in peace.

What about their interactions with the Kett?

She wanted for that first meeting to go well, she really did. When she found out how they were treating the Angara though and what they were doing, she felt less bad and is more or less out for their heads.

Did Ryder fall in love? If so, with whom? What drew them to that person? Would their sibling approve?

Things are complicated for her right now on the romance front. She is definitely crushing on Peebee, but she may or may not be falling in love with Jaal. She’s also kind of in denial about all of it, because, like Peebs, she’s skittish about matters of the heart. What drew her to them? Peebs is not only a fellow nerd, she’s a lot of fun, and a genuinely sweet person. Jaal is such an open and great guy that she seriously feels like she’s becoming a better person just by being around and close to him.

Would Scott approve? Possibly. Mostly he’d just be shocked that his weird little sister was actually in such a position in the first place. And that she’d already banged one of them. Jesus, Thea, wtf were you up to while I was out of it?

What does Ryder do in their spare time? What are their hobbies and interests? Do they share these with their friends, or are they more private?

Listens to music. Reads up on all the new info on stuff in Andromeda. Paces around the ship. Randomly pesters everyone else about whatever they’re up to and their thoughts on various things going on. 

She’s more private about her reading, but occasionally shares her music with the others. Tried to set up a karaoke night but it was shot down. She did end up singing in the bar on Kadara once, though. It was pretty fun.

How do they feel being in command of the Tempest? Whats their favorite part of the ship? Least favorite?

She loves the Tempest. It’s gorgeous. It’s got space. It’s fast as hell.

Favorite part - Her room.

Least favorite part - Doesn’t have one tbh.

How about driving the Nomad? Are they a good or terrible driver?

She absolutely loves driving the Nomad. She’s a shitty driver in that she will drive up every mountain and over every cliff she sees like she is trying to kill her squadmates. She does it for the thrill though. And efficiency. 

How do they feel about their connection with SAM? What’s their views on AI in general? Knowing Milky Way history and the attack on Eden Prime and the Citadel a recent memory, did the Geth influence this view? Does their view on SAM change?

SAM is a blessing and a curse. He is learning to be more human, but he can still be cold at times, and... also very, very repetitive. Honestly, all the stuff that happened with the Geth just made her more set in her opinion that AI should be treated with dignity and respect like any other sentient life.

Favorite world they landed on? How do they feel getting to be the first human to step in many of these places?

Her favorite world is actually Kadara. She freaking loves the sand and all the pools of hot water (well, after they got fixed so they wouldn’t melt you). She can’t wait for it to stabilize to the point that it becomes a spa planet. Then she’ll probably live there. The political climate is much more stable, and all she really wants is a tiny hole in the wall. The people are all liars, but the planet itself is a+. And there’s a great bar!

She doesn’t think so much about how she’s the first human, she just gets caught up in how amazing it is to see everything for the first time.

How do they feel about the Remnant? Are they worried? Curious? Simply accepting of what they can do with it?

She’s a little worried about the rem-tech. The more they use it, the more it feels too good to be true. She still uses it though, since it does so much good.

Do they ever wish they could just return to the Milky Way? Do they miss anything in particular about their old home? Did they bring anything special with them?

Honestly, she misses people more than places, and there’s no going back to them. 

What she brought - Tons of music and picture files of particularly scenic places.

How do they feel about what they’ve accomplished in Helius? Are they proud? Worried? Do they feel positive about the chances for a cluster-wide unity? If they could change anything that had happened since everyone arrived in the cluster, what would it be and why?

Overall she feels like she’s doing a pretty good job. She’s proud of herself and the Initiative as a whole (even if they’ve stumbled more than she’d like). She does kind of wish they’d gotten there sooner, maybe they could have helped the Angara out more, prevented some things from happening, but there’s no way to know that for sure so she doesn’t think about it much.