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lov3nerdstuff · 4 years ago

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Voluptas Noctis Aeternae {Part 5.3}

*Severus Snape x OC*

Summary: It is the year 1983 when the ordinary life of Robin Mitchell takes a drastic turn: she is accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Despite the struggles of being a muggle-born in Slytherin, she soon discovers her passion for Potions, and even manages the impossible: gaining the favor of Severus Snape. Throughout the years, Robin finds that the not quite so ordinary Potions Professor goes from being a brooding stranger to being more than she had ever deemed possible. An ally, a mentor, a friend... and eventually, the person she loves the most. Through adventure, prophecies and the little struggles of daily life in a castle full of mysteries, Robin chooses a path for herself, an unlikely friendship blossoms into something more, and two people abandoned by the world can finally find a home.

General warnings: professor x student, blood, violence, trauma, neglectful families, bullying, cursing

Words: 4.8k

Read Part 1.1 here! All Parts can be found on the Masterlist!

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Robin woke up to her alarm the next morning, bright and early as usual. Or so she thought, at least, until she saw the brightly grinning faces of her two roommates right above her. With a groan, she closed her eyes for another second.

"What time is it?" She managed to mumble into her pillow, and finally blinked up at the two girls who had now taken residence on the far end of her bed.

"Six thirty." Cas replied happily, and Robin groaned again.

"You've officially stolen half an hour of my sleep." She sighed as she turned onto her back and then sat up with a very much tired face and an even more tired mind. "Half an hour might not sound like a lot to you, but it is when one's up with Snape all night." The two girls merely giggled at Robin's admittedly thoughtless statement, and thus made her groan again as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "You know perfectly well what I mean! Working until god knows when is bloody exhausting…"

When her mind finally was somewhere near awake and her eyes also able to actually see beyond a blurry sheen, she noticed that both girls were still sitting at the end of her bed with grinning faces. "What's even going on that you actually dare to wake me up?"

Both girls exchanged a mysterious look, then Jorien placed a small, neatly wrapped present in Robin's lap. "Happy birthday!!!" Cas said at the same time and both girls started grinning again like they had won the lottery.

For a moment, Robin felt shocked, then confused, and finally very much overwhelmed. "It's… it's the twentieth already?"

"Obviously." Jorien shrugged with a smile, and Robin was determined that the girl had picked up that habit from her and not from Snape. It might still originate from him, but she took too much pride in being a role model to blame it all on him.

"Wow…" Robin finally breathed with a smile, looking first at the present, then at the two girls. "Thank you, both of you. It's been quite a while since anyone has congratulated me on my birthday."

"What?!" Cas replied immediately, with a deep frown on her face. "You mean besides your family and friends, right?"

"No, I mean in general." Robin shrugged, but her smile stayed. This was actually making her happier than she had expected, and there was nothing that could take that from her now. "My parents don't celebrate birthdays, and I don't have any other family or friends who would have thought of it."

"That's cruel of them." Jorien said quietly and her smile turned into a smaller, sadder one. "I'm very sorry that they don't appreciate you like we do. Because we really do. Appreciate you, I mean. As a roommate, and a tutor and a friend."

"Yeah, I absolutely agree!" Cas added with an almost exasperated face. "Does that mean you also didn't get any presents in the last years?!"

Jorien rolled her eyes at her friend and shoved her to the side, which made Robin chuckle. They were so different in the way they were similar and yet they were best friends. It was truly admirable.

"No, I haven't gotten a present in a while." Robin admitted, and immediately had to think of the piece of the book page Snape had given to her a few Christmases ago. It hadn't really been a present, but she still carried it in her locket and treated it as such. She wouldn't tell her roommates that though. "But I'm very excited to see what you have gotten me. May I open it, or do you want me to wait?"

"Open it up already! I wanna see if you like it." Cas grinned immediately and both girls watched attentively as Robin untied the green bow and unwrapped the paper to reveal a small box. Gosh, she hadn't unwrapped a present in ages… the excitement of it was actually quite delightful.

"You've gotten me a box?" Robin teased them with a feigned frown, and both girls rolled their eyes as they laughed nonetheless. With an equally excited smile, Robin opened the lid and her gaze fell onto a seemingly tangled pile of different materials. Upon a closer inspection, she discovered that it actually was three bracelets which she picked up out of the box one by one. The first was made of dark green and black fabric, like a friendship bracelet, but with a more intricate pattern.

"I made it myself. We thought that black and green are the house colors, but you also wear them a lot, so… you must like them too." Cas grinned happily a second later, giving an explanation for the piece.

"It's perfect. Thank you." Robin replied and tied it around her wrist with a smile.

The second bracelet she went to inspect was made out of black string as well, but it wasn't knotted and instead held together tiny, round shells in a row.

"I… made that one." Jorien said once Robin went to put it on as well. "The shells come from the black lake. They're the smallest ones Professor Sprout could think of that I could gather without going for a dive."

"That's amazing, I cannot believe you guys went through so much effort just for me." Robin smiled at both of them in as much gratitude as she could consciously come up with, but she also still felt quite overwhelmed. If it wasn't for her wish to let the girls know just how thankful she felt for their present, she probably just would've shut off her outside display of emotions entirely to focus on the joy on the inside. It was an odd situation to be given a present like that after all, especially one that actually had thought in it.

"You haven't looked at the third one yet!" Cas smirked mischievously, and that sufficed to make Robin smile in all honesty despite the overflow of emotions already running through her brain.

The third bracelet in the box wasn't self-made like the other two, but consisted of a rather sturdy chain with something that upon first sight looked like a metal coin in the middle. Yet, once Robin took the piece of jewelry out of the box, she realized that it wasn't actually a coin, but an ornamented emblem. The very same one as on her locket, and obviously just as ancient. Robin's lips parted as she stared at the delicate piece of jewelry in her hand, then at the two girls on her bed.

"Where did you find this? How?" She asked in surprise, and a hint of wonder. "I mean… I didn't even know you knew of my locket."

"What locket?" Cas asked in mild confusion that immediately got Robin to frown as well. Jorien however shoved Cas in the side once more and gave her a pointed glare.

"This locket." Robin pulled her necklace over her Queen t-shirt, and both girls leaned forward to take a look at it. "You didn't even know I had this?"

"Uh…" Cas gave Jorien an insecure look, who rolled her eyes in return but mentioned for her friend to just go ahead already, which the blond girl did in an instant. "No, we uh… we actually didn't know that you had a locket with the same emblem."

"Either this is the biggest coincidence in the history of coincidences then, or you're not telling me everything." Robin gave them a pointed look, but it was accompanied by a smile. They hadn't done anything wrong after all, but she knew that they weren't telling her the whole story. And Robin was desperately curious.

"You see, this-..." Cas started, but she didn't get far at all.

"We're not supposed to tell her!" Jorien sighed even though she seemed rather unhappy about it herself.

"It's her birthday, I don't care that we're not supposed to tell her!" Cas complained and rolled her eyes at her friend. "With whom does your loyalty lie?!"

"With Robin, obviously!" Jorien frowned in return, and sighed. "Alright… do tell her then."

"I am listening." Robin replied in amusement, and went to clasp the third bracelet around her wrist as well. She had never been one to wear a lot of jewelry, but she had the feeling that she would keep wearing these three pieces just like she had done with the locket. They all were meaningful, even if she still had to unveil the meaning of this last band.

"As I was saying, this third bracelet just… appeared one day. I mean, Jorien found it on her bed a few weeks ago, wrapped in a piece of parchment with a note on it." Cas shrugged. "We have no idea who it's from; we've been trying to guess for weeks now, but with no result. It must've been one of the Slytherins though, if they got in here."

"That's interesting indeed… What made you decide to give it to me instead of keeping it for yourself?" Robin inquired and placed the now empty box and the wrapping paper on her nightstand to cross her legs under the covers like the two others did on top.

"The note was very precise about it being for you and for nobody else." Jorien replied with an equally clueless look. "It actually was what made us aware of when your birthday is in the first place."

"Ah, I was wondering how you knew that it was today anyway. I can't remember telling you about it." Robin smiled. "Do you still have the note? Maybe I can shed some light on your mystery."

Cas jumped off the bed immediately, even before Jorien could, and dug through the drawer of the nightstand next to the only empty bed. It had turned into somewhat of a common ground, but more so for the two younger girls than for Robin. She was quite content with the space she had to herself. Half a minute later, Cas returned and dropped down on the bed again, causing the mattress to bounce up and down while she handed Robin the note.

"Well, let's see…" She mused, and unfolded the paper with a very prominent idea about its origin in mind already that she only hoped to confirm now. And she could, without any doubt, as her eyes scanned the uncharacteristically neat but still very much familiar scrawled handwriting. Her lips curled into the widest smile as she read.

Robin's birthday is on the 20th of October. Make sure that she feels cared for on this day, you certainly will agree with me that she deserves that much at the very least. Ensure that she receives the object accompanying this note, it is meant for her alone. Please do not tell her about my involvement, it isn't of importance.

That was all it said. Robin looked up from the note towards her roommates, who were now looking both hopeful and a little nervous. Her smile dimmed down at their mixed expressions. "Why are you two looking so worried?"

"I don't want you to feel less appreciated just because someone else told us they care for you too and want you to have a nice day." Jorien shrugged, and Cas nodded. "We didn't give you a present because we felt like we had to, but because we honestly do care for you a lot! You know that, right?"

"Of course I know!" Robin smiled at them encouragingly, and hopefully somewhat reassuringly too. "And I'm very grateful for the gesture, VERY happy about your amazing present and I do feel very much cared for. This already is the best birthday ever, thanks to my three favorite people."

"Even though our presents can't keep up with the fancy one?" Cas asked with a doubtful frown, and Robin wanted to sigh at their worry. If only they could understand how much she appreciated them indeed, not for their presents but for their effort.

"They all hold a different meaning to me, but I adore all three of them just the same." She replied truthfully. "You know I never lie, so you might as well believe me."

"True…" Cas' frown turned into a small smile. "And after all, they actually look pretty great together!"

Robin looked at her newly decorated wrist and smiled as she traced each of her three gifts with her fingers. "I have to agree, they do fit together rather lovely."

"I'm really glad you think so, Jorien was being very annoying about it all fitting together." Cas teased, and earned herself another shove from her friend and a chuckle from Robin.

"So, do you have any idea who the note and the bracelet might be from?" Jorien asked while Cas still tried to shove her back, but seeing as she failed to do so she also chose to listen instead.

"I believe I know who they are from indeed." The wide smile returned to Robin's face, and the flutter to her heart.

"And?!" Both girls asked at once, while their curiosity was tangible in the entire room.

"It's from my best friend." Robin's smile turned into a sheepish grin, which she directed down at her hands in her lap though. Saying this felt both very much right and yet wrong at the same time. He was her best friend, undeniably and undoubtedly, but also the person she had been crushing on for well over a year now. If crushing even was still the appropriate term for it. And to him, she was neither of that. Which was absolutely fine, really, she wasn't complaining, not even to herself. It just made her feel a little bit weird to consider someone her best friend who maybe, if she was lucky, barely even considered her bearable in return at all. Not nearly weird enough to let it tone down her smile however.

"And… your best friend couldn't just give you a birthday present in person?" Cas inquired in her usual doubtful tone, giving Robin a questioning look along with it.

"Not this one, no." Robin chuckled. "His present isn't that bracelet, that's another issue entirely. It's getting you two idiots to make my birthday the happiest in years."

"Hey!" Cas protested with a laugh. "We're not idiots!"

"To him, pretty much everyone is an idiot." Robin shrugged with a smirk. "Even me."

"Sounds like he would get along really well with Professor Snape."

Robin couldn't help laughing at that. "Actually, I believe they don't like each other all that much." That was only true, really. The many faces of that man didn't always go hand in hand with each other, and Robin had seen them in conflict often enough. Over time it had gotten significantly less frequent however, especially around her, and especially when they were alone.

"Well, let's do what your friend wants us to do then!" Jorien declared, and finally shoved Cas off the bed entirely, with a smirk on her face. "Let's make your birthday the happiest in years."

… … …

Instead of going to the great hall for breakfast as always, Jorien and Cas led Robin to the kitchens with those same mischievous smiles that made Robin shake her head but follow them anyway. As it seemed, Robin enjoyed an impeccable reputation among the house elves ever since she had given Buttercup the Twirl and the 'order' to share it with her fellows, and thus the kitchen staff had been more than happy to comply to the two young girls' request to make Robin a special breakfast for the occasion. She ate by herself though, as Cas and Jorien wanted her to enjoy her alone time before the school day and retreated to the great hall themselves, leaving Robin sitting at a small table in the kitchens. In all honesty, Robin dearly appreciated eating without a couple hundred people in a noisy hall for once, and made sure the girls knew that she was very thankful for the lovely morning before she was left alone at last.

The day of classes went by like any other from that point on: her housemates as well as most of her classmates ignored her, the professors on the other hand were as usual very nice (with the exception of Professor Morgan, who had been trying to find reasons to mock or scold Robin throughout the entire last year already and obviously continued to do so this term as well) and Robin hurried even more to finish all homework and assignments before the evening. She wanted to focus on getting the Plangentine tonight, hopefully while Snape was still doing his paperwork, so that they could maybe get started on the potion tonight already instead of tomorrow. It really was a happy birthday she was having, and from time to time throughout the day she peered down at the three bracelets around her wrist and smiled to herself with a soaring heart and the knowledge that at least three people in this world cared about her. In some way or the other. That was the best present she had ever received, immaterial and invaluable.

The next surprise of the day came shortly before dinner. It was still a little while until the meal would actually be served, but Robin had arrived early to do some homework beforehand, and thus she found herself sitting at the very end of the Slytherin table when she heard a not so quiet 'psst' from the head table, followed by Hagrid waving her over once she looked up.

With a half smile and a frown, Robin left her things at her own table and walked up to the head table rather awkwardly. A few professors were there already, others still absent, but it made Robin feel a little weird to walk up front like this, even if Hagrid wasn't a professor, technically. Quickly, Robin moved around to the side of the table where he was sitting, so that at least she didn't have to stand in between the head table and the students' tables in the open space but rather between the teachers' chairs and the large window.

"Ey! 'appy birthday to ya, Robin!" Hagrid cheered once she stood in front of him, and Robin let out a quiet laugh in return as he wrapped her into a bear hug. Hugs were a rare thing, and she appreciated them whenever she could.

"Thank you, that's very kind of you." She replied with a happy smile and just a subtle heat creeping up her neck once she was released from his grasp. She could only guess how he had come to know about her birthday…

"Couldn't very well forget me best helper I ever had, eh?" He grinned, and pulled a large black feather out of the depths of his heavy coat. "Got somethin' for ya… Isn't the prettiest thing, a feather of a hippogriff, but the most ridiculous prices on the black market these things have! Must be good for somethin' then, I guess… You will know what to do with it, with all ya book smarts."

Robin carefully took the large feather out of his equally large hand, and brushed over the delicate object with gentle fingers in a moment of awe. "Wow, this is absolutely amazing. Thank you! These are hard to come by, because almost no hippogriff wants to part from them willingly and they only lose them very rarely… But they have a very wide range of uses indeed! It's a very valuable gift, are you certain you want me to have it?"

"Aye! Got me an entire box of these, hardly ever had much use for them though… Don't tell anyone I said that, will ya?" He gave Robin one of those funny regretful expressions, and she had to chuckle at the sight.

"I won't tell anyone about your stash, I promise." She replied with a wide smile, and held the feather to her chest in a protective gesture. It would soon join her other precious items inside her locket.

"Ah, Miss Mitchell!" Now it was Professor Sprout's voice that made Robin turn around, just as the herbology professor came walking over to take the seat next to the gamekeeper. "Happy birthday, I hope you had a pleasant day, dear."

"Thank you, professor. I had a lovely day, actually." Robin replied with a smile, and moved out of the way so the woman could take her seat. Honestly, who else knew that it was her birthday?! Throughout the day, neither Flitwick nor Trelawney nor Morgan had known, or simply not cared, and the students obviously shared either of those sentiments as well. Maybe she should just ask them? Would it be rude? But then again… both persons in front of her already knew that she was direct sometimes.

"If I may ask, how come you two are even aware that it's my birthday?" She asked curiously, keeping her tone polite and respectful though.

Hagrid nodded his head towards the herbology professor with a smile directed at Robin, and she understood where his information had come from. That still left her wondering how Professor Sprout had learned of it though.

"I believe Professor Dumbledore himself mentioned it to me this morning." The woman shrugged with a smile, and then frowned at Robin. "Usually I notice things like this when students talk about it in class… However I believe I wasn't aware of your birthday before today."

"My birthday wasn't an actual event until today." Robin shrugged as well, and realized that her statement probably didn't make all too much sense to them without context, but she also didn't feel like providing any. "Anyway, I'm very happy that you two thought of me. It really means a lot. But perhaps I better get back to my table, I wouldn't want to bother you. And dinner should start any moment now."

With another few polite words, Robin said goodbye to Sprout and Hagrid, wishing them a nice evening, and then made her way back towards her own place. Just as she rounded the side of the head table however, the small side door flew open and Robin almost ran into the headmaster himself.

"Oh, my apologies, sir!" She brought out immediately, the surprise making her voice a bit more shallow than normal. "I… should've looked where I'm going."

"All is well, Miss Mitchell." He smiled that small, kind smile again and Robin couldn't help wondering if it was honest or not. If it was a facade, it was a brilliant one. "I see you received a new feather for your birthday, yes?"

Oh bloody hell, he knew too?! Right. Sprout had said he'd told her in the first place. "Yes, Hagrid was very gracious and gifted me the feather of a hippogriff. It's not a feather for writing, but… you probably knew that already. Sorry."

"If you allow me the question, what do you plan to do with it? I'm curious."

"I will store it where I keep all things of value to me, until the time comes when I need it. Hidden away in a locket." She replied honestly, and wondered where this was going. It didn't sound like mere curiosity to her.

"A feather in a locket?" The old man raised his eyebrows at Robin in genuine interest, which made her wonder even more what the actual intention behind his questioning was.

Unlike the last time she had meant to show someone the piece of jewelry, which she still had a very vivid memory of, she actually unclasped the necklace first and then held it out to the professor in front of her. "It's charmed. There's a lot of space in there, and it's the safest place I know."

Dumbledore took the piece of jewelry out of her hand, but his gaze also flickered to the bracelets on her wrist for a broken second before returning to the locket. After a moment of carefully studying the object, he returned it to Robin with a smile. "A beautiful piece. But you see, I wasn't quite frank with you in my questions' intention."

"I realized." She replied rather flatly before she could stop herself, but also refused to apologise.

"Did you? I should have known." His smile changed into a slightly more honest one. "I see you also possess the bracelet to match."

"It was gifted to me today, but I've had the locket for far longer."

"Ever since… Professor Snape came to me with the request to remove the bracelet from the room of hidden things, I have been wondering why he had an interest in taking it. I assume he knew you possessed the matching piece, then?"

"I wear it every day, it's no secret, really." Robin shrugged, and tried to push the images of Snape and herself in the close proximity of him inspecting the emblem on her locket back in the room of hidden things out of her mind. "May I ask, why did he come to you before removing something from the room though?"

"The objects in the room of hidden things are, ultimately, school property. As such, it is for the headmaster to decide whether they may change hands if their provenance can no longer be ascertained."

"Interesting." Robin mused and frowned to herself for a moment. "So you cannot determine who the owner of the bracelet is?"

"I could not, which is why I left it to Severus. And seeing as he gave it to you, that would make you the rightful owner now." Dumbledore smiled again so very mildly, but his eyes were almost uncomfortably probing. He obviously didn't understand.

"You might be interested to know that… Professor Snape didn't actually give it to me as a gift, but rather ensured that I received it without being aware of his involvement." Robin stated then, in an attempt to make this entire thing sound more appropriate than it probably looked. She didn't want Snape to get into trouble… especially not for something that nobody but them could possibly understand correctly. "Most likely seems that he was merely trying to assist my roommates in finding a present for me, seeing as they couldn't acquire one elsewhere." That would have been a straight out lie, had it been phrased any differently. But it really did seem most likely, even if Robin knew that it wasn't the truth.

"I must admit I was under the impression that Severus had given it to you as a gift indeed." Dumbledore mused as he frowned to himself, and Robin felt the heat rising to her face at his disappointed tone. In the end, Snape had given it to her as a gift, even if indirectly… even if he didn't want her to know, and even if she didn't want anyone else to know in return.

Before Robin could give a reply she was yet to think of anyway, the door behind Dumbledore was opened once again, and the very man in question almost ran into the headmaster's back. With an irritated scowl, Snape moved around them though, and his frown only deepened when he saw Robin as well.

"Ah, Severus, just in time for dinner!" Dumbledore smiled at him like he had smiled at Robin moments before, and every trace of his previous frown or surprise was gone for good. His facades really were impeccable. "I was just wishing Miss Mitchell the happiest of birthdays, actually. You are aware that it's her birthday today, aren't you, Severus?"

"Yes." Snape replied tersely, and Robin couldn't help wondering why Dumbledore was messing with him like this now. Were these two something like friends? Or did he have another motive? Oh well… who could fathom what the headmaster was up to at any point anyway?

"I, uh… I better sit back down for dinner now." Robin stated a little awkwardly, clasping the locket in one hand and the feather in the other. "If you would excuse me, headmaster…" She gave a courteous little nod to Dumbledore, then turned to Snape with an attempt at a half smile. "I'll see you after dinner?"

"Obviously."

Without spending another second in this awkward situation, Robin skipped down the few steps in front of the head table and sat back down where her things had been pushed together by some other students who had taken their places by now. Geez, that had been surprisingly uncomfortable; Snape wasn't an issue she wanted to discuss with anyone at all, and especially not with Professor Dumbledore. Even if he had reacted surprisingly bemused by the entire ordeal. Robin shook her head to herself as she put the feather into the locket at last, then tied it back around her neck just as dinner was served.

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imanativeofswlondondahling · 4 years ago

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Becoming A Stark (4) Peter Parker X Stark! FemReader

A/N: So this is the longest chapter I’ve written for this so far! And it’s one of my favorites. Also my mom surprised me with a Nintendo Switch to make up for the fact that I haven’t been allowed to leave the house since March so I’m hoping to get another chapter of this out this weekend but there’s also Animal Crossing now so.......... As always let me know your thoughts on this or if you want to be tagged whenever I post a new chapter!

Word Count: 8346

Warnings: Mention of drug and alcohol abuse, swearing I think

Chapter One || Previous Chapter || Master List

“Well aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.” Tony’s voice is painted with the smile he wears as Pepper walks into the living room.

“You saw me two days ago.”

“Two days too long.” He says before kissing her cheek. “I didn’t know you were coming over.”

“That’s because this is just a stop. I’m not staying. I’m picking up Y/N.”

“You’re taking Y/N…?” He trails off in confusion.

“We’re going to get mani/pedis, do some back to school clothes shopping, and maybe get dinner. I want to get to know your daughter better.”

“She seems fine with hanging out with everyone except me.” Tony says dejectedly.

“You’re an acquired taste.” Pepper teases before placing a quick kiss on his lips. “Give her time. She hasn’t had even a week of having a father yet.”

“What time will you be back?” He asks, already knowing that he’ll have to fill his afternoon by himself.

“Six or seven maybe?” Tony glances at the Stark Phone that he’s actually started carrying with him now that it’s more personal. Natasha had snapped a picture of Y/N at, apparently, your favorite place in the whole city, which looks like a big book store. You’re not even looking at the camera, you’re carrying a ton of books and yet reaching for another one, but you’re smiling which is more than he can say for the past few days. When Natasha sent it to him, he immediately made it his background and lock screen. It may not have been a week, but you’re definitely becoming his world. “I’m going to see if she’s ready to go.”

You take one last look in the mirror, trying to decide if this is the outfit you want to be seen out in the world with famous Pepper Potts. Maybe you should change and dress up, but you’d rather be comfortable if you’re being honest. So instead of a dress or a romper, you’re in a pair of ripped denim shorts, a Rolling Stones t-shirt that you found at a thrift store a few months ago for so cheap but it’s in such good condition, and tie dyed high tops. You had thrown your hair into a ponytail with a red scrunchy only because the humidity was too much today. There’s a knock on the door. “Come in.” Jerk It Out by Caesars is playing over JARVIS, but he turns it down as Pepper walks into your room. You are in the middle of putting on the heart shaped pendant that Nana had given you for your thirteenth birthday as Pepper stands across your room.

“You ready to head out?” You glance back at the mirror once more time as you see Pepper in a red cocktail length dress.

“Do I need to dress up?” You ask, suddenly worried that your shorts and t-shirt won’t cut it in Pepper’s world.

“Honestly no. I probably should change. I came from a business lunch at this overly posh restaurant. If you’re good waiting like five minutes, I’ll go change.”

“Yeah I’ll be fine.” You grab a bag from your pile of bags, throw your wallet, a testing kit and then wander down to the kitchen to grab some low snacks.

“Rolling Stones?” Tony asks in mock surprise. “Couldn’t wear something like AC/DC or Black Sabbath? Have some taste if you’re really my daughter.”

“If you’re having doubts, I’ll go home to Nana and Pops.” You say as you throw the applesauce pouches in your purse.

“Nope. Not happening. I’ll forgive your subpar music taste, but we’ll get working on music education soon.” You just roll your eyes. You weren’t going to admit to him that you already listen to AC/DC a good chunk of the time and when in the right mood you listened to Black Sabbath.

“Y/N Miss Potts wants to know if you want her to grab you a pair of sandals for your pedicure.” JARVIS asks.

“I’ll grab a pair.” Turning to make your way back up the stairs, you walk back into your room. Grabbing the first pair of sandals you see. As you walk out your door, you see Pepper walking towards you in a loose white top, denim shorts, and a pair of sandals. “That’s the most laid back I think I’ve ever seen you.”

“That’s because you see me coming from SI most of the time and I have to dress up for that. But we’re going for comfy and casual now.” She smiles at you. “Did your dad see your shirt?”

“And give me crap for my subpar music taste? Yeah.”

“I had a feeling he might.”

“That’s why he’s not invited.” Pepper laughs.

“It’s not because we’re going shopping and for mani/pedis which he would be miserable at anyway?”

“That too. But still, if he hates on the Stones, he’s not invited.” Pepper lets out another laugh as the two of you walk back into the kitchen.

“What joke did I miss out on this time?” Tony asks.

“You had to be there.” You say instead of explaining.

“It’s nothing.” Pepper says, leaning over to place a kiss on his lips.

“I can’t tell if you’re corrupting her or the other way around.” Tony says as the two of you walk towards the elevator. “Maybe I should come along for supervision.”

“Bye Tony.” Pepper says, rolling her eyes before telling JARVIS to take them down to the garage. “So where do you normally go for back to school shopping?”

“Well we never had a ton of money, so Nana and I usually hit up the thrift stores. But I find great deals like this,” You motion to your shirt. “Four bucks and it’s basically brand new. Well as brand new as an old shirt can be.”

“Where are your favorite shops?”

“We’d go to Buffalo Exchange if we were looking for more like dresses and stuff. Like that one I wore to dinner I got at the Buffalo Exchange on the lower East Side. But there’s also a handful of good mom and pop thrift shops in Queens and Brooklyn if you’d rather head over that way. Bayside Thrift Shop is a good one in Queens or there’s Out of the Closet in Brooklyn.”

“Which one do you have better luck at?” Pepper asks as they walk to where Happy is waiting for them.

“I’ve always had great luck at Bayside.”

“So lets start there and then we can head to Buffalo Exchange before mani/pedis.” Pepper suggests.

“Where are we heading?” Happy asks as you and Pepper slide into the backseat.

“Bayside Thrift Shop in Queens.” Pepper turns to you. “Want to put some music on while we drive over?”

“Really?”

“Nothing you put on can be worse than what Tony puts on when he’s in a bad mood.” She says with a smile.

“Um ok. JARVIS can you play my June playlist?” You ask before he can list that you have a playlist called Tony Stark Can Rot. For some reason you feel like she wouldn’t like that as much.

“Certainly Y/N.” The first notes of Sweet Child O’ Mine by Guns N’ Roses start to play and you relax into the seat. If you had headphones in, it would feel like all the times that you, Betty, and Astrid had gone between Queens and the main island during the summer. The biggest difference was you weren’t crammed into the humid subway car and sitting to your right was your dad’s girlfriend, who was the farthest from the evil stepmother character from the thousands of books you read growing up. In fact, she is sweet and kind, someone you could find yourself loving easily.

You turn your head towards the window and focus on the passing sights of NYC as you head towards the area you had lived your whole life. You could point out the hospital you had been born at if you turned down the right streets. If you went up a few blocks you would pass your elementary school, your middle school, and the school you’d be starting at in a little over a week. Your whole life up until a few days ago centered on this area of New York. That bodega was the first one you had been able to run to on your own and that’s the street you take to go the back way to Betty’s old apartment. “Missing home?” Pepper asks, seeing you staring out the window with longing.

“This place is all I knew for the longest time. I spent more time in Queens than I did in Manhattan.” You say with a shrug, not wanting to sound ungrateful, but you miss home.

“You’ve gone through a lot this week. It’s ok to miss it.” Pepper’s hand rests on yours and gives it a little squeeze. “Queens can always be home, even if you’re living in Midtown.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever give Queens up.”

“Even when I’m in Malibu, I miss New York like crazy. It’s definitely home.” You listen to what Pepper’s saying as Happy turns the familiar path to head towards your favorite thrift store. He pulls into a lot across the way from the thrift store before getting out to open the door for you and Pepper. “Now, will you show me your favorite thrift shop?” Pepper asks.

“Easily. This place is meant to be shared.” You can’t help but smile as the three of you cross the street.

“What do you like the best about Bayside?”

“They tend to have a lot of graphic tees. Both of like the band variety but also just like sassy variety. And I could live in tees if I didn’t have to wear other clothes sometimes.” You admit as you open the door and hear the familiar chime. You see Anita at the counter as you walk in.

“Y/N! We thought we were going to miss you for back to school shopping.”

“Never! I have to come to Bayside.” You say, being completely honest.

“Where’s your Nana?”

“I brought my… Pepper this time.” You say motioning to your dad’s girlfriend, but not knowing how to introduce her.

“Well any friend of Y/N is a friend of ours. We thought you might be coming by, so I set a few things aside that you might be interested in.” Anita reaches behind the counter and pulls a stack of about four t-shirts out. Pepper watches as your face lights up. “We just got them in.” You lift the top couple up to look at the bottom couple.

“These are awesome!” The black and grey shirts look similar to things that Tony would wear, but Pepper keeps that to herself.

“I’ve got them. You keep looking.” Happy says as he takes the shirts from your hands.

“Happy, I can carry them-”

“It’s clothes, they’re not heavy. I’ve got it.”

“Thank you Happy.” Pepper trails a couple steps behind you as you finger through the shirts handing. The first to get pulled off the rack is a Nirvana shirt with a yellow smiley face on it. Then a blue tie dyed Pink Floyd 1973 tour shirt follows it.

“That’s one your dad can’t even try to say he was at. Three year olds weren’t allowed.” You roll your eyes, but you can’t help but smile at Pepper’s comment. You find another more classic looking Pink Floyd shirt hanging on the rack a few shirts back that you add to your pile.

“If I had been wearing that would he have said I had better music choices?”

“Probably. He’s just judgmental when it comes to music.”

“The Stones are classics!” You argue as your hands run through the racks to fall on a Sweet Child O’ Mine Shirt. “Oh this one is a winner.” It has a faded look to it and you love that in your shirts.

“Definitely so.” Pepper takes it from the rack and hands it to Happy. “To be fair to all your tastes, I think this one is needed though,” she says pulling another Rolling Stones shirt from the rack and you smile at it.

“They are my favorite.”

“Tony would die if he heard that.” You shrug. “Wanna try these on?” Pepper motions towards the pile that Happy is holding.

“Sure.” But then an Eagles Hotel California Tour 1977 shirt catches your eye. “One more for the road.” You say before snagging the shirt. You try on the shirts you had found before getting to the stack that Anita had put aside for you. You look at the four finally. The first was a grey Pink Floyd 1972 Carnegie Hall T-shirt?! Holy shit! Your mind might explode. Then there’s a black Aerosmith shirt with a boombox with wings that says ‘Let the Music Do The Talking’ which is such a big mood. Underneath that one there’s a black Nirvana Unplugged in NYC shirt which you have been looking for forever since you love that album. And last but not least there’s a classic looking Guns N’ Roses printed on black shirt in a gold font. Anita knows you well. Four of your favorite bands and to be honest four of your new favorite shirts. So far all of the shirts fit pretty well, or even fall on the large side which is how you like your t-shirts.

Pepper knocks on the fitting room door. “I found a couple things I think you’d like Y/N.” You open the door wearing the Guns N’ Roses shirt. “Oh I like that one.”

“Really?” You’re surprised that Pepper would be into band shirts.

“You think I could date your father and not be into what he considers some of the greatest musicians of our time?” Pepper smiles at you. “But also gold is just a good color for you and your skin tone.”

“I’m not going to be Iron Man at any point.”

“Wouldn’t want you to be. However I did grab these shirts because I think your dad’s reactions will be worth it.” You look at them and laugh.

“He’ll never let me leave the tower wearing them.”

“So wear them around the tower to bug him.” You close the door and try on the two shirts. The first is a tank top that you probably never would have looked at had all of this not happened. But Pepper was right. Tony would react to it, hopefully. Across the black fabric printed in white the shirt reads ‘I’m A Female’. Then in pink it reads ‘Fe = Iron, Male = Man” before finishing in white ‘Therefore I Am Iron Man’. You open the door to show Pepper.

“If I walked into the kitchen one day wearing this telling him I was going on a run, how much of a heart attack would I give him?” Pepper doesn’t have a chance to answer before Happy does.

“He will lock you in the tower. And possibly never let you leave.” Happy states, knowing how protective Tony is even after only knowing this kid for a few days.

“Worth it.” You and Pepper say with a teasing grin.

“Can I take a picture? That might be my favorite shirt so far.” Pepper asks. You nod and then, shocking even yourself, you throw your hand out in the standard Iron Man pose and Pepper snaps the photo. “I love it.” You smile and turn back into the dressing room before the flush takes over your face at the affection from your dad’s girlfriend. You shake your head, pushing the thoughts that want to invade your mind out of your head as you lift the last shirt up to change into it.

This one is grey and in white letters say ‘Screw Your “Lab Safety” I Want Superpowers”. Your dad was going to hate it for sure, knowing so many scientifically modified people. But you love it. Plus it’s so comfy. You roll the sleeves a bit and then open the door to show Pepper and Happy.

“He’s going to hate that one as well.” Happy says the moment he sees it.

“Or he’ll laugh and say show it to Steve.” Pepper says, cocking her head to one side. “Either way, we’re getting it.” In your head you know you shouldn’t buy all the shirts that you tried on, but even if you let Pepper pay for the two that she found, the remaining ones should only come up to about thirty dollars, and you think you have that much in your wallet. You collect all the clothes in the dressing room, which Happy immediately takes from you, and you follow Pepper and him towards check out when your eyes fall on the most beautiful jean jacket you’ve ever seen.

It was a medium wash jacket, that had been loved just enough that it was no longer stiff. It had some wear and tear in some spots, but it was loose enough that it would sit perfectly on you. You have to try it on. Pepper sees you debating about the jacket, but can’t figure out why you’re debating. “It’s a gorgeous jacket. Try it on.” You take it off the hanger, gently as if it was a child instead of a jacket, and slip it over your shoulders. Rolling the cuffs up a couple times so it didn’t hang over your hands you look down at the jacket, loving that it hits an inch or two below where your shorts do. “Now that is how a jean jacket should fit.” Pepper says, smiling that you found something you clearly loved on this trip. You slide it off your shoulders and the price catches your eyes. Yes, thrifting can be great, but the jacket is still fifty dollars even at the thrift store. You don’t have that much.

“I don’t need it.” You say, not wanting to bring up that you can’t afford it even if you did need it.

“I’m not taking no for an answer on that. A jacket that looks that perfect on you has to come home with you.” She places her hands gently on it and lifts it from your hands.

“Pepper, really I don’t-”

“Tony can afford it and it needs a good home.” Then it hits you, Pepper’s not going to make- no let you pay for any of this.

“You found many things today.” Anita says looking at the pile Happy and Pepper had made on the counter. “This is going to look the best on you.” She places a hand on the jacket that Pepper had added.

“She pulls it off like no one else.” Pepper agrees. Anita and Pepper chat about the weather and honestly you’re not sure what else because you just watch as the number climbs. You’ve been coming here for years and never seen the number go that high. Your heart falls into your gut when the jacket gets added. Looking in your purse, you know you have about forty dollars to your name and that wouldn’t cover even half of that right now. But Pepper hands over a black card, similar to the one that Natasha used the other day, and doesn’t even stop the conversation. It’s like this money thing doesn’t even bother her. But it definitely bothers you. Anita puts the clothes into a cloth bag and hands it to you.

“Thanks Anita.” You smile at her, but you don’t know when you’ll be back. All you’ll remember now is feeling uncomfortable for spending Tony’s money here. Happy opens the door and you follow Pepper out of the shop. Pepper is trying to make small talk but notices you looking nowhere but the ground. She takes the bag from you and hands it to Happy.

“Can you put this in the car?”

“But-”

“Five minutes?” She says. And technically, Pepper is his boss, so Happy nods.

“I’ll be right across the street.” She smiles as he walks across the street.

“So wanna talk about it?” She asks, bumping shoulders with you.

“Talk about what?”

“Why the ground is so interesting?” Pepper takes a pause trying to give you a chance to speak. “Or maybe about why you went so quiet in one of your favorite places?” Normally, you’d just keep it to yourself but for some reason, you don’t think Pepper will judge you.

“We, uh didn’t have a ton of money growing up. Whatever money we did have went to making sure we could afford rent and my insulin and making sure that there was food on the table. So once I was about eleven, some of the other people in our building would let me run errands for them or watch their younger kids and they would pay me some pocket money for doing it. And that pocket money I saved in a jar throughout the year so that once I could go back to school shopping and twice a year I could buy Nana and Pops something nice from Christmas and their birthdays. We didn’t really celebrate many holidays, but the ones we did we celebrated really small. Santa would bring me clothes while my friends would get touchpads and toys and I didn’t question it because I knew that while their families didn’t have to worry about whether or not you were going to have to choose between buying medicine you needed to live or putting food on the table.

But Nana and Pops tried to make it so I didn’t feel that. So when I got the chance to go to The Strand or Bayside, it wasn’t picking everything that caught your eye because I was the one paying for it. So I would buy one or two books or shirts because I couldn’t afford to spend all that money if I wanted to buy Christmas presents too.” You play with Queenie’s tubing, not wanting to look Pepper in the eyes as you continue. “But in the past three days, Natasha, Tony, you, whoever, have made it clear that Tony’s made of money and that he’s fine with spending it on books, phones, clothes, whatever he or anyone else wants. But there are people out there that aren’t that fortunate.

The money that Natasha spent buying me books the other day could have paid for my Nana’s medicine for a month. Or how much you just spent on clothing for me could have bought me clothing for the whole school year and bought Nana and Pops Christmas presents. Hell I looked up how much my new phone cost Tony and it could have paid for four months of insulin. That’s sixteen vials. But more importantly that’s nearly 1500 dollars. And I bet if I lost it, he would have a new one waiting for me.” Pepper lets you continue the rant, and doesn’t let you know that he added more upgrades to your phone than the baseline one that does indeed cost as much as your medicine does. But what she would rather talk about is why does your insulin cost that much? “You guys might not care about money, but it makes me sick every time that you drop this money on me. I’m not worth it.”

“First of all, you are definitely worth it and so much more. Tony has money just wasting away in the bank and likes to waste it on the people he loves. That means he’s going to drop money on you. But coming from the lifestyle you grew up in, it’s going to take some getting used to. Plus in his mind, he has fourteen years of Christmas presents and birthdays to make up for.” Pepper watches as your eyes go wide and knows that this might be the wrong thing to say. “But Tony is also up for doing things for charity. So maybe you can come up with an initiative that he can throw money towards for you. Like maybe fighting to lower the cost of insulin for others? Because while it’s not a problem now for you to afford it, why should it cost so much for others? Tony would definitely like to fight that. And that is something that SI can also get behind as well.” You look up for the first time since finding the jean jacket back in the shop.

“Really? SI would get behind something like that?” You ask, not understanding why a tech company would get behind something like the cost of insulin.

“Tony wants to look into manufacturing things to make diabetics' lives easier, which I told him he needs to talk to you about before doing anything. But your name is part of the company. You’re a Stark now. So anything that SI does, takes an interest in what you have an interest in. So yes, the cost of insulin is something that SI will fight for too. Help me do some research on who to support and we can start the battle as one of your first introductions to the world as Tony’s daughter?” You nod, knowing this is something you’ve always wanted to help with but never had the power to do anything about.

“Thank you.” You say, before doing something without thinking- you throw your arms around her. Her arms wrap around you, but she’s not sure what she’s being thanked for.

“What for?”

“Listening. Being here. Being human?” You say, joking about the last one, but it feels right.

“Of course. I don’t know how to be anything else.” She says and pulls on your ponytail a bit. “Now you want to show us around your neighborhood a bit before we head back to Manhattan?”

“You want to see it?” You ask, surprised that Pepper wants to see Queens.

“It’s part of what makes you you, so yes.” Happy finishes crossing the street to be back with the two of you.

“There’s a really great coffee shop up this way. Or if we go down this way there’s an amazing sandwich shop called Delmar’s. Oh and Pops goes to play chess at this park down that way.” You point out three different ways.

“Coffee sounds like a plan.” Pepper says. You drop your arms, not wanting to hold on to her longer than you’re allowed to but Pepper keeps an arm around your shoulder as you walk towards the coffee shop you love. It was always a treat when you got to go, but the smell alone was something you had missed. They make all their syrups from scratch and you could spend all day there reading if you were allowed.

As you walk, you point out the book shop where you sold the books you were done with to make some extra money, the apartment building that you, Nana, and Pops lived until there was a rat infestation, and the bodega that you used to go to to stock up on low supplies. You wave to some people that you know by face alone and smile at the feeling of being home. It feels nice to share this world with Pepper, and almost makes you wish Tony was here to show him what home feels like to you. It’s not throwing money around on things you don’t need. It’s the feeling of the sun on your skin as you walk around the streets you’ve known all your life.

At the coffee shop, Pepper buys you and Happy coffee, yours iced and his hot, as well as an iced tea for herself. “So I was thinking, we could go to Buffalo Exchange to try and find you some bottoms to go with the shirts we found for you, or maybe a dress or two? That way you have some clothes until the rest of your stuff gets moved from Queens?” You don’t say anything, but you know she’s right. You only have a few more sets of outfits and half of them aren’t appropriate for school. You force yourself to take a sip of your coffee as you nod your head. “We don’t have to Y/N. We can hold off.”

“No, we should. I don’t have that much stuff left at the tower and some of it is more wear at home type stuff.”

“Do you want to make a stop at your Nana and Pops house and get some more stuff?” Pepper asks.

“Can I?” You miss your Nana and Pops so much it hurts.

“Of course. Tony isn’t trying to keep you from them. And we’re already in the area.” You can’t stop the grin from exploding on your face. You know that Nana and Pops won’t have much more baggage you can put stuff in though so you turn to Marcie, who’s working at the counter.

“Hey Marcie, do you guys have any boxes that you haven’t broken down yet?”

“Actually yeah. We got shipments in this morning of some stuff. What size are you looking for?”

“Big enough to put some clothes and stuff in.”

“Ah moving apartments again?” Marcie had helped you with boxes when the rat situation happened. “Rats again?”

“Not rats, but something like that.” You say with a teasing smile. She walks to the back and grabs the couple bigger ones.

“Will these work?”

“Those are perfect!”

“You can have them on the condition that you still come and get coffee occasionally.”

“Deal! I’m going to go to MSST so I’ll still come by!”

“Then the boxes are all yours.” She hands them to you and Happy offers to take them from you. Marcie looks at him with confusion but you wave it off.

“Thanks Marcie!” You say before returning to the table where Pepper sits.

“I’ll bring the car up,” Happy says. “Be back in five minutes.”

“Thanks Happy.” Pepper says as Happy takes the boxes with him as he leaves the shop.

“You seem to know all the people at your favorite shops.” Pepper comments.

“New York is more like a small town when you think about it. We all go to the same businesses over and over again. Why shouldn’t we know the people who’s shops we frequent?” You shrug. “Plus Marcie is the best person to get boxes from when you have to move buildings. Then you don’t have to pay for them.” Pepper and you both drink your cold beverages as you sit waiting for Happy.

“Have you ever traveled anywhere?” Pepper asks, wanting to get to know you better. You shake your head.

“I’ve uh never left New York. We never really had the money.” You glance out the window. “I don’t even have a state ID, much less a passport.”

“Well we can get you an ID sweetheart, that’s easy. And knowing your dad, he’ll want to get you a passport since deciding to take last minute trips is one of his favorite things. But if you could go anywhere, where would you want to go?”

“You’re not going to like plan a trip, right? Because you’ve spent plenty-”

“Y/N, I just want to get to know you. Now if Tony asks you, I would answer on the bet that he wants to take you wherever you answer.”

“The kid in me wants to say Disney World because who doesn’t want to go. But I think the actual answer would be the Grand Canyon. I’ve always wanted to see if it’s as big as it looks in pictures. And the third choice would be London. So many writers lived there and I want to see what inspires them to write the way they do.” You look back at your coffee. “I’m not the best at picking just one place.”

“Never said you had too.” Pepper says, trying to catch your eyes. “I think all three are wonderful ideas. Maybe we should go there, but leave Tony at home to finish the deadlines he never touches.” You look up at her with surprised eyes. “Ok, maybe he can finish them before the trips and then come along because if I steal his kid for that long, I’ll never hear the end of it. He might take my job away for stealing you for that long, if it didn’t mean he would have to start doing work again.”

“Really?”

“You’re all he talks about these days. And I don’t see that stopping anytime soon. He’s not someone that’s easy to get to know. And I would say he’s definitely an acquired taste, but once he’s in your corner, having Tony Stark have your back is sometimes greater than having Iron Man. I hope you get to learn that. Because I know he desperately wants to show you how much he already loves you.”

“But he barely knows me.”

“There’s this thing about being a parent, so I’ve heard, where you love your kid so much from the moment they enter your life. That’s how he feels, and how he’s felt about you since the moment he saw you for the first time. Every night since you entered his life he said to me ‘God Pep, I didn’t know I could love a kid so much.’ And I don’t see that stopping anytime soon.”

“But I’ve kind of treated him like garbage?”

“And you think you’re the first teenager to ever say things to their parents like that? You have a better excuse than most though. Most aren’t thrust into having parents as late into life as you were, but you’re dealing with a lot. Most people also aren’t dealing with having Tony as a father. I give you props for that alone.”

“You’re the one dating him.”

“Yes but that’s different.” Happy pulls up outside the coffee shop. “Come on. We have all the time in the world to debate who has it worse in regards to Tony.” Pepper teases you. You turn and wave to Marcie.

“Bye Marcie!”

“Good luck with the move!” She waves before returning to the order she’s in the middle of taking. You follow Pepper towards the car and climb into the backseat. Happy drives you towards the apartment he had taken-picked you up from less than a week from.

“Would you feel more comfortable if I stay in the car?” Pepper asks as you pull up and Happy puts the car in park. If it was Tony, yes. But you like Pepper. You want her to see the place that you think of as home so you shake your head.

“Plus I want you to meet my Nana and Pops.” You swing the door open before Happy even has a chance to open the door for you. You’re too excited to see Nana and Pops. Usually you would just run up the six flights of stairs to the apartment, but you’re not going to subject Pepper and Happy to that just because you don’t want to wait for the slow elevator. So instead you bounce on the balls of your feet as you wait for the elevator. If not for your fear of elevators dropping, you would have continued bouncing the rest of the way up. But finally, finally, the elevator arrives and you count the three doors as you pass towards home. It’s weird to not have your key so you knock on the door.

“I’m coming, I’m coming.” You hear your Pops voice and you could almost cry. He opens the door and you don’t wait a moment before flying into his arms. “Well aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.” He pulls you away to say something, probably like ‘there’s no way you’re my granddaughter. You’ve gotten too big,’ but you push against his arms to wrap your arms around him again. “I’m right here. Not going anywhere. I got you.”

“Who’s at the door Lou?” Your Nana calls and it sounds just like coming home now.

“It’s me Nana.” You say even though the sound is muffled by your Pops’ chest.

“Is that you babydoll? What are you doing here?” Your Nana rounds the corner and then you're out of your Pops’ arms and into her’s.

“We’re sorry to just surprise you. But we were in the area and Y/N has been missing you.”

“Never apologize for bringing her ho- to visit.” Your Pops voice is a little rougher than normal. “You must be Pepper Potts.”

“Yes, nice to meet you. And this is Happy, or um Harold Hogan, our head of security.” In the back of your mind you place the fact that Happy’s real name is Harold of all things, but right now you’re too focused on the fact that you’re home. “Y/N also needs to get a few more clothes and things so Happy has some boxes for her to put some stuff in.”

“That’s fine. She’s always welcome to come and get things. This may not be as fancy as where she lives now, but it will never stop being her home.” Pops voice rings out and Pepper can feel that he’s not welcoming them in like he welcomes you.

“Pepper, will you come help me get the stuff in my room?” You ask. You know Pops probably isn’t happy with the way things are working out either, but leaving Happy, he can at least go over the security plan or something. Leaving Pepper seems just mean after how nice she’s been to you today.

“Sure honey.” Pepper smiles at you. She follows you down the hallway to the door where your name is printed in block letters on a piece of computer paper. “I like this.”

“Thanks, Betty made it for me.” You pull it off the door. “Do you think I can hang it on my door at the Tower?” Pepper nods.

“If you want to, I don’t see why you can’t.” You open the door and Pepper follows you into the room that is about a quarter of the size of your room at the Tower, yet feels more at home than the Tower. “So what is coming with this time?” Pepper knows that at least with most of the books and if you want any of the furniture, they are going to have to get a few men to move it.

“I’m thinking mostly clothing and maybe some of my books. Not all of them, but at least a few of them. Oh and there’s a blanket I’ve been missing.” You walk over to the dresser in the corner and open the bottom two drawers, which are filled with mostly distressed jeans and shorts. “All of these.” You say with a laugh.

“How about I work on putting those in this box while you get the blanket and pick out some books?” Pepper suggests. You shrug, it sounds like a good enough plan. Walking over to your shelf, you have to stop yourself from calling out to JARVIS to ask him to put on music and instead pull your phone and put on your playlist instead. Have you really gotten that used to living at the tower? Before you can get to the shelf, you spy the quilt you want sticking out from the under bed boxes.

You pull it out and hold it close. Part of you wants to unwrap it and drape it around your shoulders, but you know that you’d be wasting precious time doing that. So instead you trace your fingers over the different triangles of fabric. Pepper looks up and sees what you’re looking at. “Is this the blanket you were missing?” You nod and she comes to take a seat next to you on the twin bed that you grew up in. “It’s beautiful. Was it handmade?” Pepper asks, but doesn’t make a move to touch it since it’s clearly special to you.

“My, uh, mom made it.” With everything that has happened in the last week, Pepper hasn’t actually heard anything about your mom besides Tony talking about how your mom was a one night stand. “She was in a recovery program the first three months after I was born to try and get her recovered. Alcohol and drugs. Part of her recovery was making this quilt. Something to focus on as she went through withdrawal. It’s part of the reason I was placed with my grandparents. I was born two and a half months early and addicted to crack. So she wasn’t that fit of a parent. But they hoped that with rehab she would get better and come home. It, um, didn’t work like they hoped. She relapsed and they found her on the streets six months later dead of an overdose.” You don’t look up as you trace your favorite triangle, the peach colored one. “This is the only thing I have of her. I’d like to think she made it for me, but I think I know deep down, she only made it because the program made her.”

“She would have been lucky to know you.” Pepper says, wrapping an arm around your shoulder.

“But she didn’t so…” You trail off. “But I have Nana and Pops. And I have Tony now. And I guess you and the Avengers too.”

“You got bonus family galore.” Pepper holds you close. “I got you and I’m not letting go.” She whispers into your hair as she places a kiss there.

“Thanks Pepper.” You lean into her side, before placing the quilt into the box at your feet. “I’m glad you got me.” You admit.

It doesn’t take much longer to pack up the clothes and books you want from the room you love. There’s still other things you’ll need to come back for, but you can do that another day. You have the things you need to get you through at least the beginning of school. Before you know it, Happy is taking the boxes down to the car and you’re wrapped up in your grandparents’ arms once again. “You’re welcome anytime babygirl. You have your key for that reason.” Your Nana says into your hair.

“I know Nana.”

“And if you need a break, you come on over. Being Stark’s daughter isn’t the end all be all.” Pops’ voice is aimed more at Pepper than at you, but you nod.

“I know Pop.” You kiss both their cheeks. “I love you both. So much.”

“We love you too babygirl. Always have, always will.” Your Nana runs a hand through your hair. “Get going. You probably have big fancy plans for the day.”

“Still the same girl you know.” You say as you walk towards where Pepper stands. You follow her towards the door, but take one more look at your grandparents before you both start making your way downstairs. As you get outside, Pepper looks at you.

“Do you want to do more thrifting and mani/pedis or you want to call it a day? You still have next weekend? We can always do more back to school stuff then.”

“Do you mind if we don’t? I’m kind of exhausted.”

“I wouldn’t have offered if I did. Plus we can order food to the Tower and maybe watch a movie or something instead. Calm night instead.”

“That sounds awesome.” You say as Happy starts the drive back to the Tower. Going back to Manhattan took a little longer than normal, just because of the time of day. You scroll through social media, trying to take in your last day as Y/N Y/L/N. Tomorrow the news breaks about you being Tony’s daughter, so you’ll take the calm before the storm. Pepper is reading over things on her own phone, probably SI stuff if you had to guess. “Pepper?”

“Mmm-hmm?” She answers as she scrolls.

“Will the explosion from the news tomorrow be bad?” You ask before adding. “Like you dealt with when Tony announced he was Iron Man. Will this be that bad you think?” Pepper puts down her phone and looks at you.

“I don’t think this will be bad news. I think there will be questions, but that’s why SI has been putting together a lot of press packets for different situations. If the press tries to spin it in different ways, we will be ready. The most important thing we have stated in all of this, is that while Tony didn’t know about you until recently, he is very happy to be your father and he is doing everything in his power to provide the best home for you.” Pepper pauses looking for signs from you on which way you were feeling. “For now, how you feel about everything is going to stay silent because of your age and such, but eventually, if you feel up for it, we’d love to publish something about you and your dad together.”

“Why about me?”

“Because the public will want to know, but also because you are one day possibly going to be a face of SI. If that’s the path you wish to take. Again this isn’t a decision you have to make anytime soon. Right now, the focus is keeping you out of the press as much as possible.” Happy pulls into the garage as Pepper says all of this. “But I think the public is just going to be interested in learning about who you are because you are an extension of Tony and they like knowing about him.”

“I can understand that. But I don’t even feel like I know him all that well yet.”

“You will in time. I promise.” Pepper says as she walks with you towards the elevator you had left only a few hours earlier. You had grabbed the clothes from Bayside, but Happy said he would get the boxes and take them to your room for you. Upon arriving to the living room, Tony is surprisingly waiting for you and Pepper.

“My two favorite ladies, back already.”

“Finished early. Figured we could do a night in instead.” Pepper explains as Tony gives her a kiss on the cheek.

“Did you have a good day kiddo?” Tony looks towards you and you nod before turning to Pepper.

“Thanks Pepper.” You say before giving her a quick hug. “I had a lot of fun today.”

“Of course. I had fun with you too.” Pepper’s arms wrap around you, squeezing you back. And for a moment you can’t help but wonder if this is what it feels like to have a mom. Yours was out of your life moments after you were born. You let yourself relax in her arms for a moment before you feel Tony’s eyes on the two of you.

“Uh, I should go put these things away.” You pull away from Pepper and make your way towards your room, canvas bags in tow without saying anything to Tony.

“It’s not fair Pep.”

“What?”

“She hugs you.” Tony whines as he plops down on the couch. “All she does for me is make playlists called Tony Stark Can Rot. How is that fair?”

“Now how would you know what her playlists are called?”

“I asked JARVIS to play some of her music so I could know more about her since she refuses to hang out with me. He asked which playlist and started listing them. To be fair it has some great music on it. But still, I would never make a playlist called Y/N Stark Can Rot.”

“You don’t name your playlists.” Pepper points out.

“Not the point.”

“The point is you're jealous that she’s closing herself off to you.”

“Maybe I am. She’s my kid. I want to know her. I want to do everything for her and with her. But everything I try backfires.”

“So don’t try so hard.” Tony’s brows pull together as he looks up at Pepper. “You suggested her friends coming over for dinner and that worked really well.”

“Yeah worked really well in that she told me about a teacher that hated her enough to throw scissors at her.”

“She also acknowledged that you’re going to be here for her from now on. That’s a success. So try doing small things like that. Don’t make huge gestures. Don’t you dare buy her a gigantic bunny. Try to let her get to know you. And don’t try to buy your way into her life. She hates that.”

“You literally took her shopping today.”

“We went thrifting.”

“What? All of that needs to be washed immediately!” Tony starts freaking out.

“This right here?” Pepper motions towards him, “This is the kind of reaction that will push her farther away. She loves thrift shops. She told me and we went to her favorite ones to look for clothes. She opened up about her life before us Tony. That picture on your phone. That’s a moment she shared with Natasha. You need to give her a moment to open up to you.” Tony notices Happy walking by with a couple of boxes.

“What all did you buy her today?”

“We stopped by her grandparents’ house so she could pick up some more stuff. She mentioned she was getting low on some stuff.” Pepper motions towards what Happy is carrying. “She really misses them. I think we need to give her time to see them too.”

“I’m not keeping her from them.”

“I’m not saying you are. I’m saying I think we should schedule times so she doesn’t feel that way. Also I told her that SI would start a charity fund to fight the cost of insulin.”

“Not against that but why?”

“She was feeling really uncomfortable about how comfortable we all spend on a day to day, based on her background with money.” Pepper says, not really explaining.

“That tells me less than nothing.”

“It’s her story to share. You’ll have to wait until she wants to share it with you.” Pepper kisses his cheek. “But you have an amazing kid.”

“I know that. I just want to know her like all of you know her.” Tony says frustrated.

“Give her time.”

Permanent tag list: @wormonastringonastick

Becoming A Stark Tag list: @persephonehemingway @iamaunicorn4704 @furiouspockettoad @daughter-of-stark @eternalharry @huntective-kyeo @riiis-stuff

#peter parker #peter parker x stark!reader #Pepper Potts #peter parker x reader #peter parker fan fiction #peter parker fanfiction #peter parker fan fic #peter parker fanfic #Tony Stark #tony stark can't be dead if you just don't let yourself believe it #tony stark daughter #tony stark x daughter!reader #tony stark x daughter!you #imanativeofswlondondahling #becoming a stark?#happy hogan

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winterrose527 · 4 years ago

Note

I’m voting early tomorrow in Texas bc it’s my birthday and I wanna give my vote an extra oomph. I’m gonna wear blue since can’t wear specific political stuff and go with my friend.

I’d like something with a supernatural element for Myrcella and Robb, please. Maybe a ghost story.

Oh my goodness, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DARLING! So so happy you were born, and so happy that you are taking the opportunity to do that most important thing - vote!

Here you go, it may be a bit different than you were expecting...

Only Sansa Stark could make enough friends in a week and a half to fill the entire bottom floor, and part of the grounds, of their new home.

Home.

Robb looked around the grand room he was in, completely with coffered ceilings and marble pillars. It didn’t look like any home he was used to. Their home up North had been large but well… homey. It had been full of wood and old photographs and at least one fireplace was going at any given time.

The kids had been overwhelmed when their parents showed them this place, with the pool and the tennis courts and the all of it. Sansa had nearly fainted when his parents showed her the suite she’d call her own, complete with the dressing room and a separate sitting room.

It was far too King’s Landing for him though. He didn’t care about more room for his clothes, especially because none of the ones he wore up North were usable now.

It was Halloween and it was warm. Really warm.

Up North, Sansa would always complain that having to wear a coat over her costume or layers underneath ruined the effect. Tonight though, she’d worn her toga and sandals and headdress and looked every inch a queen - no parka in sight.

She’d had the idea to throw a party last weekend and their parents, so grateful that one of their children was adjusting, had readily agreed. He hadn’t paid much attention to the details, too focused on his college applications and football practice, so when he’d come downstairs this afternoon and saw a giant cauldron on the lawn being filled by uniformed waiters with water and apples it had been his first indication that the party was going to be more than a few friends.

He recognized some people as he walked through. There were people dressed as weirwolves, and minions, and nurses. One girl dressed as a bubble bath, which was far more endearing than the countless girls dressed as cats. He nodded at a guy from his football team who was dancing with a girl in his homeroom, the pair of them dressed up as characters from some show everyone was watching.

Sansa was somewhere, the belle of the ball. She fit in better down here than any of his other siblings, better than him. Though, she actually tried to when the rest of them were focused on getting back North to their real lives.

He tried not to be a grouch about it, to set a good example, but this was his senior year. He was supposed to finish it with Theon and Jon, get their last championship and do Senior Prank Day and Senior Skip Day and Prom with all the people he’d been going to school with since Kindergarten.

And he hated everyone in the south for not being them.

He walked through the kitchen where a couple was making out against the fridge and down the hallway past his father’s study to the library. He rarely came in here, but he just needed a few minutes away from the music and the people to gather himself.

The light was on, which was weird because it had been made clear that everything past the kitchen was off-limits. He looked around warily, figuring that a couple had come in here to do more than make out.

“Oh!,” a surprised voice said.

He turned towards the window, surprised he hadn’t seen her standing there before. She was a wisp of a thing, to be sure, but with her golden hair and sparkly dress she was hard to miss.

“I didn’t mean to startle you,” he said, adding in his head in my family’s private room.

That wasn’t the sort of thing you said out loud to a girl who looked like her though.

“That’s alright,” she said and then smiled, as though they shared a private joke, “I suppose I’m the one that startled you.”

There was something in her voice - money and honey but something else that he couldn’t really place.

“A good surprise,” he admitted and then scratched his cheek, “Though uh, I’ll admit you’re not really supposed to be in here.”

The girl looked around the room and smirked, “Tell me about it.”

“What?,” he asked.

At the same time though she said, “I’m Myrcella.”

“Robb,” he waved awkwardly.

“It’s a pleasure to know you,” she smiled and he couldn’t help but smile back.

“I… haven’t seen you around,” he told her.

She looked to be a year or two younger than him, maybe Sansa’s class, so they wouldn’t have any classes together. Even still, he definitely would have remembered her if he’d seen her in passing. She looked prissy, and certainly spoke prissily, so it was possibly she went to a different private school in the area.

Sansa would have died over her costume. Like her, Myrcella had chosen a historical one. She was dressed as a flapper, but it didn’t look cheap the way the ones in the costume stores always did. He wondered vaguely if the dress had belonged to someone in her family.

More acutely he was focused on the girl inside it.

She placed her hands behind her back and nodded, looking out the window, “I don’t come out very much.”

“Why not?,” he wondered, “Too shy?”

She looked at him and bit her lip, “Something like that.”

“Well I can leave you…,” he started, hoping she’d say no.

She shook her head, “It’s nice to talk to someone.”

He nodded and went towards her. She looked at him like he was a hunter, so he tried to appear as non-threatening as possible when he sat on the couch.

She sat in one of the arm chairs, crossing her legs at the ankles. Her skin was practically shimmering under the overhead light.

“So how’d you know to come over here?,” he wondered.

She looked at him and said, “Want to know a secret?”

“Yes,” he agreed readily.

“I used to live here,” she told him.

“Oh!,” he exclaimed. “That’s… that must be strange to be back here then.”

She smiled, “Truth be told, it feels like I never left.” They could hear the music getting louder and she closed her eyes, “It’s just splendid that there are parties here again.”

He wondered when she’d lived here. Maybe as a little girl. It was unusual for people to move out of their family homes, unless there had been a tragedy. Death, debt, or divorce.

He looked at her, really looked. Even with the golden hair and the perfect cheek bones and the sparkling eyes, it was clear. This was a girl that had seen a tragedy or two.

“Wha-,” he started to ask but then he heard a loud crash. “Fuck - sorry, I um… I have to go see what that was… can you… will you be here…will you stay?”

She smiled sadly, “Oh, at least for a little while.”

He nodded and got up. He should ask for her number, just in case, but that crash sounded bad. He waved at her and ran out.

The crash was bad. There were two guys fighting in the front hall and they’d knocked over an antique vase. More people had crowded in.

It was a half hour before he’d been able to fully break it up, and by that time people had gotten a little out of hand. He and Sansa decided it was time for the party to be over, so they ushered everyone out the door.

By the time the last person had left it was after midnight. He ran to the library but found it empty, and cold.

Disappointed, he went up to bed and called Jon. He and Theon were at a party and they put him on speaker phone so that the whole party could say hi. When he hung up he turned out the light, wanting to fall asleep quickly, and sleep through the rest of the year.

That night though he had the strangest dream. Myrcella was there, dressed just as she had been that night, but everyone else was dressed like her too. There was something he had to tell her. Urgently. Like his life depended on it - or hers did. He kept getting close to her and then she’d slip away. And then there was a bang! and he woke up.

He padded downstairs to the kitchen and saw Arya sitting at the island eating cereal and his Mom unloading the dishwasher.

“Mornin’,” he grumbled.

“Our hero,” Arya cooed at him.

His Mom looked over at him, “Morning baby, thank you for keeping things from getting too out of hand.”

He shrugged, getting himself a mug for coffee, “Sorry about the vase.”

He sat down next to Arya and sipped his coffee, picking a piece of cereal out of her bowl. She slapped his arm but nudged her bowl closer to him anyway.

“So,” his Mom said, “Did you manage to have any fun at all?”

To his surprise he nodded. His mom looked at him in surprise and he said, “I met a girl.”

“Ooooooh,” Arya teased, making kissy faces.

He clamped his hand over her mouth and looked at his Mom’s happy face and explained, “She used to live here.”

At that his Mom’s face fell into a look of confusion, “Robb this house was vacant when we bought it. Had been for… oh say…. thirty years? The last owner didn’t have any children, and it had been his since…I think the twenties…Are you sure that’s what she said? Could she have meant in King’s Landing?”

He thought about it and nodded, “I…I guess she could have? I haven’t seen her around. You’re sure about the previous owners?”

She nodded, “Yes, it was a Mr. Baelish who owned it. A bachelor til the end… there’s some things of the house’s past owners still in the library… we’ve hardly moved anything… so you can check but I’m almost positive.”

“Okay,” he shrugged, “I’m going to go for a run.”

He went upstairs and got changed into shorts and a t shirt and pulled on his sneakers and grabbed his head phones. He was going to take a run in the woods, there was a path that he liked, so he went down the back staircase.

He was about to walk out the door when he saw that the door to the library was open.

Usually he wasn’t so curious, but it was a bit strange. She’d made it seem like she’d lived here. Not in King’s Landing. In this very house.

He walked inside and started looking on the book shelves. Mostly it was musty copies of old books, their gilded letters starting to fade.

He was about to give up when his hand, seemingly on its own, found its way to a leather bound album. He felt a chill go down his spine when he touched it, which was ridiculous. He was just creeping himself out.

He grabbed it off the shelf and sat down on the couch and opened it to the first page.

The Baratheon Family, 1921 - it said on the first page. It wasn’t printed, the way their family albums sometimes were, but written in an elegant, almost lazy scrawl.

He opened the first page and saw the house. Even in sepia tone it was still the same. He turned the page and saw a large brown haired man standing with a smaller one. The larger man was smiling but the smaller man was smirking.

The person had written, Daddy and Mr. Baelish.

On the next page was an elegant woman, that looked somehow familiar. She was beautiful but scowling.

Mumsie, Summer 1921.

He turned the next page and saw two blonde haired boys, the oldest only a year or so older than him.

Underneath this photograph the same person had scrawled. Tommy and Joff, Summer 1921.

He turned the next page and his heart stopped. It wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be possible.

But there, looking back at him was Myrcella. She was dressed similarly to how she’d been last night, an effervescent smile on her face.

Underneath it the person had written, Me, me as bright as can be!, Summer 1921

He looked through the rest of the album. She was there a number of times, with the boy named Tommy, and the dour woman. A picture of a whole lot of them, other golden haired dandies and powerful men. Mr. Baelish, with that same smirk.

He was starting to feel lightheaded, but it didn’t make sense. None of it made sense.

In spite of his better judgment, he pulled out his phone and typed Myrcella Baratheon into the search. There were listings for a couple of numbers and he kept scrolling and then came across the following headlines.

Violence Strikes King’s Landing

The Tragedy of Myrcella Baratheon

Bootlegging Scheme gone wrong, daughter pays the price

He clicked on that one and read the story. It appeared that Robert Baratheon ran a successful bootlegging operation, and a man named Petyr Baelish had been part of his crew. There was a sting operation, Baelish had cooperated with the feds to catch Robert and his sons and wife, who were all part of it. Myrcella Baratheon was meant to be out of the house, attending a party with the man whom everyone was convinced would soon be her fiance, Trystane Martell, but she heard shouting as she was about to leave and ran into library. She spooked someone, though the article did not say who, and was shot three times in the chest.

He clicked out of that article and into the one titled The Tragedy of Myrcella Baratheon. The story was written by a teetotaler, who was using Myrcella as an example of how innocent lives were being ruined by drink.

In spite of his better judgment, he said to the room, “Myrcella?”

Unsurprisingly, no one answered. He went back to the first article and his blood ran cold.

It was dated November 1, 1921. She had died on Halloween night, nearly a hundred years before.

He placed the album down on the couch and as if on its own it felt to the last page. There was no picture, just the elegant scrawl.

See you next year.

#prompt #robbcella #halloween

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allicekitty13 · 4 years ago

Text

Born To Run: Chapter 1

Mary-Alice Brandon has just returned to her hometown after an incident causing her to relocate just a year ago. Meanwhile, Jasper has become increasingly frustrated with his home life and decides to uncover just what exactly his brother had been hiding. In 1957 two people, with two drastically different personalities meet for the first time. Will their worlds clash or will they realize the only ones they can truly trust with their secrets are each other.

Read On Ao3

Read On FFN

Her eyes fluttered open at the prompting chime of her alarm clock currently ringing on the bedside table to her right. Mustering up as much energy as possible when one was just pulled promptly frum slumber, Alice rolled from the comfortable position on her side to lie flat on her back. Despite the powder blue clock still ringing throughout her bedroom, Alice couldn't help but to reflect on the wonderful dream she'd been having.

In the night vision, she'd been back in Paris shopping with her step-sister Kate. Being in France the past year had been like a dream come true, a much-needed break from the reality she'd been forced to return to. Kate was newly engaged and thus had decided to return home to Nevada with Alice and her fiance, Garrett, in tow.

Alice's stomach grumbled loudly and painfully, pulling her from the reminiscing session. She snapped her eyes shut tightly, attempting to ignore the alarm's offending bell and the painful ache in her stomach. Of course, it was no use; her vacation was over. It was time to come down from the clouds and return to reality. Needing to focus on one issue at a time and the alarm still prompting to her side currently being the most prominent, Alice took a deep breath accepting her fate. Summing the energy to flick the little tab on top of the clock to the off position effectively silenced the alarm blanketing the room in silence.

Willing herself to sit up fully, Alice removed the pale pink sleeping mask covering her eyes, finally greeting the day. She pulled the plush comforter away from her small body and swung her left over the mattress, placing her feet in the house slippers kept neatly next to the bed. She pulled the think pink satin robe that hung from her bedpost over her thin shoulders as she crossed the room to the window overlooking the back garden. Pulling open the lace curtains, Alice gazed down at the flowers.

It was just before dawn, her favorite time of the day. Alice reveled in the way the dim twilight touched down on the beautiful flowers and the small white iron bench she had coerced her father into placing in the middle of the lovely space. The scene was peaceful; day had started, although night hadn't quite ended. Nature reflecting how nothing was black and white; there were gray areas in everything, in everyone. Nothing like the reality she would be walking into in only a few hours.

Turning her attention back to the clock, the small teen accepted that she had been staring out the window, lost in thought for far too long. Something her step-father, whom she was meant to meet for breakfast shortly, was regularly scolding her for.

She didn't remember her biological father, and her mother rarely spoke of the man. The facts she had were that her parents had been wed young in an arranged marriage in 1938, Edgar Brandon had been drafted to join the war just two years after Alice was born. The man had gone missing in action, presumed dead.

Shortly after Alice's fourth birthday, Lilian had met a charming man by the name of Eleazar Burke. Before the year was out, the happy couple were married. Eleazar was the only father Alice had ever known. The now seventeen-year-old adored her unusual family; Kate was more than she could have ever asked for in an older sibling they, of course, fought at times but very close. While they may not be biologically related, Alice couldn't imagine a kinder, more understanding father in Eleazar. He loved all three of his daughters, including Alice, equally never playing favorites. He didn't play favorites, distributing the wealth and opportunity attached to his name evenly between the three girls.

Once she'd gotten moving, preparing for the day came like second nature. She now stood in front of the mirror with her hair and makeup done. She was fully dressed in her favorite skirt and sweater set, complete with the new petticoat she had picked up shopping with Kate over the summer. She'd been saving it specifically for her first day at school back in her hometown since the incident. The way it flared out the red skirt was both fashionable and made her hips look just a bit thicker. The matching cardigan hung somewhat loose, also in line with the current trends while slightly masking the frailness of her frame. She smoothed down the skirt and straightened out her pan collar perfectly before pinning both sides down with the lucky pearl collar pins inherited from her maternal grandmother. Alice took one final look in the mirror with a deep breath and silent prayer. She plastered a smile on her face, ready to face the day.

Meanwhile, across town, Jasper Whitlock was in for a quite literal rude awakening. "Wake up, sleepyhead. We're gonna' be late for school." With a groan of annoyance, Jasper opened his eyes to the familiar face of his cousin Rosalie. The sassy blonde was simultaneously one of his favorite people yet also the curse of his existence. Jasper frequently shifted between feelings of gratefulness for having such a fun-loving relative living next door and wishing her family had never moved across the country to help out after his mother's passing.

With her presently standing next to his bed, hands on her hips, very likely fully prepared to throw something at him if he didn't get moving. He was currently feeling the latter. "Since when do you care about school?" He groaned, sitting up on the thin mattress lying on the floor. "More importantly, why are you here, and how did you get in my room?"

"The door, your dads passed out again and it was unlocked." Rosalie shrugged, crossing the room to take a seat at the only chair not covered in clothing, sheet music, or records as she examined her nails. "Anyway, I don't care about school, but I don't want to miss the fireworks, so we're at least going to morning classes. Now, get up and get dressed."

"What are you yammering on about?" Jasper responded as he threw the worn, tattered blankets to the side and grabbed a white t-shirt from its place, lazily shoved into an already open dresser drawer directly to the side of his mattress.

"Mary-Alice Brandon is coming back today."

"Yeah," The other teen rolled his eyes. "Well fuck Mary-Alice Brandon."

"Oh, come on, tell me you don't care about the inherent entertainment of watching everyone flock back to following her lead and leaving poor Charlotte in the dust."

"You're demented."

"You know how petty high school politics amuse me so." The tall blonde woman shrugged before she stood straightening out her leather jacket as she crossed the room. "At least come to support your best friend? Charlotte is either going to be elated or upset. If it's the latter, it's going to make Pete upset. Relationships are kind of like dominos that way. Now hurry up, Riley's waiting outside, and we need a ride, oh favorite cousin of mine."

With that, Rosalie confidently strutted out of her cousin's room, down that hallway. In the Whitlock's living room, her mother and uncle were engaged in the same decade-old argument they'd been having from the moment Ruth and Joseph Hale had packed up their family moving from New York to Nevada. Rosalie had only been one at the time, having no memory of what actually happened. The backlash, however, had caused a ripple effect through the lives of everyone in the family. Because of this, it was no secret that Irene Whitlock had passed away shortly after Jasper's birth. That uncle Thomas had fallen into deep despair losing his job and drinking the days away.

It was concern for the boys, James and Jasper, that had prompted the move. Her mother so worried for her nephew's well being that they'd relocated their entire lives to be there and help take care of them. It was meant to be temporary until Thomas got back on his feet. Seventeen years later, the siblings were still arguing over it. Her mother pleading for the man to think of his children.

Unwilling to witness the same fight yet again, Rosalie left the house and headed to the street where her twin brother stood leaning against Jasper's car. "Is he coming?" Riley asked, disinterestedly kicking absently at the pavement, scuffing up his shoes in the process.

"Yeah, I had to guilt-trip him, but he's coming."

Just as the words had left Rosalie's mouth, the seventeen-year-old in question came shuffling out of the house. Once the door was carefully and quietly shut behind him, Jasper's demeanor shifted, and he confidently stalked down the sidewalk, climbing into his car without uttering a single word. No sooner had the twins piled into the vehicle behind him than Jasper had peeled out of the driveway headed in the direction of the local high school, barely giving Riley enough time to pull the door shut.

Outside the school, Peter, Jasper's best friend, a tall boy with dark hair, was standing in the parking lot talking to Charlotte. The pair had begun dating over the summer, much to Jasper's annoyance. Their relationship had started in the fall when the girl had entered the antique shop owned by Jasper's uncle that Peter worked in part-time. The two had hit it off as instant friends. Despite a plethora of drama involving Charlotte's now ex-boyfriend Demetri and her friend Jane, the pair had entered into a romantic relationship.

While Jasper didn't particularly care for the girl or her crowd, Peter was gone for her. So the teen put up with Charlotte, and more often than he'd like the teenage queens who followed her around like puppies. Over time, though he would die before admitting it to anyone, he'd even begun to almost like her.

So, when he exited his car, Jasper nodded in greeting to the new couple from across the parking lot before turning to his own social circle in the parking space next to his own. The teens were gathered around admiring Benjamin's new car that he'd won in a race just a few weeks prior. Maria, one of his oldest friends having grown up in the same neighborhood, was already stretched out across the hood leaning back against the windshield. A cigarette burned from its place tucked loosely between her fingers as she chatted with Lucy and Nettie about their plans for the afternoon once they'd ditched.

Jasper was well aware that most if any of the assembled teenagers would be ducking out before the end of the school day. Personally, he intended to be long gone as soon as Rosalie's attention was elsewhere. Which, judging by how engaged she seemed to be in her conversation with Benjamin and Randall on the mechanical details of the new car, wouldn't be long. However, he was already here, and it wouldn't hurt to at least stay for first period. So he elected to join in on Riley, Makenna, and Charles's conversation about the new Buddy Holly single.

Jasper had just made plans with the latter two to head to the local diner later and play the song on the jukebox when Peter, followed closely by Charlotte, headed over to collect his best friend for homeroom. Bidding his friends goodbye, Jasper followed the other boy, his girlfriends, and the group of students she associated with into the building where their lockers were located. As always, because lockers were assigned alphabetically by surname, Peter and Jasper's lockers were right next to each other.

Not planning on being an active student, let alone showing up at school more often than necessary, Jasper hadn't brought alone anything to warrant keeping in a locker. So, he took a seat on a bench located under a window next to the set of lockers letting the other teens chat as they placed their belonging in the metal storage structures.

"Is that Mary-Alice?" Eric Yorke, a rather talkative and, in Jasper's opinion, annoying boy gasped out capturing his and Charlotte's attention. The latter turned away from her conversation with Bella and Jane to look at the boy in confusion.

Charlotte had known her best friend was back in town, but when they'd spoken earlier Alice, as she'd decided to begin going by dropping the first half of her name, had stated her parents would allow the tiny teen to skip the first week of classes. Being an exceptional student well on the way to becoming valedictorian, and taking the incident into consideration, the school had happily accommodated.

"I thought you said she wasn't coming back until next week Char?" Bella spoke quietly, her eyes now following the same trajectory of Eric's

"Looks like the reign of Charlotte is over." Mike snickered, also staring at the top of the stairwell. Following her friends' gaze, Charlotte's expression quickly morphed from one of confusion to that of utter delight.

Jasper didn't care much for the particulars of high school politics. Prior to Peter's entanglement with Charlotte, the name Mary-Alice had been nothing more than a blip on his radar. The two ran in vastly different circles, he being a proud greaser surrounding himself with like-minded truants who cared more about races and the newest records than anything else. She, a spoiled overachiever. The goody-two-shoes type who headed every committee whose word the majority of student's hung on. Still, even he'd noticed when the girl had disappeared a year ago. So, he turned his attention to the sight that had captured everyone's attention, curious as to what the commotion was about.

He was met with the sight of a girl who's smile was so pure she almost seemed to glow. Short despite her blatant attempt to make up the difference with the kitten heels she wore. Her slightly curly hair was a chocolate-colored brown rested just short of her chin. Based on the perfect angles of her collar and the way she kept nervously smoothing out her skirt, it was apparent that she'd taken great care to ensure every aspect of her appearance was perfect. His dislike for the teen was instant; he hardly tried to hide the scowl from his face as he watched her scan the hallway. Once her blue eyes landed upon the small group, she burst into a bright smile and a somehow graceful run down the stairwell.

"Charlotte!" Alice exclaimed in a melodic chirp as she reached the gathering.

"Alice!" The taller girl responded with equal enthusiasm throwing her arms around her friend. "What are you doing at school?" She questioned the smile never leaving her face as she released her friend.

"Papa thought it might be best to just jump right in if I was up for it since I'm home already." Her smile faltered at the statement but returned quickly. "Who are our new friends?" She asked catching sight of Jasper and Peter eyeing the two with curiosity. The former of whom rolled his eyes at the assumption, he was not nor would her ever be her friend.

Jasper opened his mouth to inform this 'Mary-Alice' of as much, but Charlotte responded before he could get the words out. "Alice," She stated grabbing Peter's hand. "This is Peter, my boyfriend. And that's his best friend Jasper."

"Wow," Alice's eyes widened. "I have missed a lot. It's lovely to meet you both." She smiled once again as she took a seat on the bench next to Jasper, expertly tucking her skirt underneath her slim legs as she descended. "The four of us should go bowling after school; I'd love to get to know the both of you better."

Jasper's annoyance grew at the suggestion, unable to put up with anymore he stood in a haste. "That's never going to happen." He shot the small girl a glare and stormed down the hall out of the building. Forget Rosalie, he thought approaching his vehicle in the parking lot. Forget school, and most of all forget Mary-Alice Brandon.

#Jalice #jasper hale #alice cullen #twilight fic #Twilight

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irepookie · 6 years ago

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Infinity Chapter 4-

Meet The Family (PT.1)

Summary: QUEEN AU where Rog (aka Rowan Queen) is a young single dad struggling to make it into music industry.

Warnings: not really. Just fluff, sappiness and swearwords here and there

Disclaimer: I don't own the pictures. The boys are based on Queen, but Piper, Gina and Callie are mine

John: Rick Lincoln (Cause he is John Richard Deacon born on August 19th 1951™™™™™)

Brian: Terry Garrett (Cause my uncle used to have a black puddle named Terry and I had no choice)

Freddie: Len Mars (Yea I couldn't help myself)

Chapter 4- Row opens up with the boys about the raisin.

“I'm a dad”........

"Okay, let's... let's get over this again: A daughter?" Terry, the band's guitarist couldn't believe his ears.

"Yes, Terry. A daughter" Row repeated for the 19th time from the other side of the phone.

"A baby." Len said, taking another sip of his tequila.

"No, a 30 year old alpaca." Row said sarcastically. "Yes, a goddamn baby. Fucking gorgeous, just so you know"

"And you're gonna keep her." Rick, who had been quietly plunking his bass' strings, added. "Are you sure?"

"It's done. I've already kept her. And it's not like I'm rescuing a shelter dog. She's mine. Period."

"Sorry, was just trying to... Wrap my head around it"

To be honest, Row still couldn't quite believe it (that he was a father). Not even now, as he tried to convince his best friends while holding his girl with the other arm.

"And is your mom okay with it?" Terry asked

He scoffed, clutching his Lil raisin close at the thought "My mom has no say in this".

"But she knows" Rick said.

He sighed "Yes, she knows. And she was a bitch about it, okay? She can disown me for all I care". It's not like there was much to inherit, anyway.

There was a general sigh from his three best friends.

"And what are you gonna do?"

" 'bout what?"

"Um, I don't know, man. About School? Maybe about your life in general?"

"School ain't something I'm worrying about".

"What a surprise" Rick rolled his eyes.

"But you're still in the band right?" Len said

"Oh, of course. Of course. You guys are gonna be the only ones keeping me sane"

They chuckled

"But we ain't gonna babysit for you, huh?"

"As if you knew anything about babies"

"Well, the same as you." Terry said

"Just what I was saying: nothing at all" Row grinned

"Her future looks bright, then" Len half teased.

"Incandescent, in fact" Row could pretty much hear Terry's arched eyebrow.

The youngest member could only roll his eyes and try not to take it as an insult. He knew this was a lot to process all of a sudden and that in the inside, beyond the sarcasm and teasing, they were happy for him.

"Whatever, guys" he replied, as Pips began to frown. He sighed, knowing that meant smelly treat was on its way "Gotta go. By the way, she just told me she thinks you guys stink" he grinned, before hanging up.

The other three men exchanged a confused glance, and stayed in silence for a minute, until Len broke it:

"I say he'll go completely nuts in seven days".

"That long? Nah, I think less than 24 hours after they leave the hospital." Terry said

Len smirked "Bet?"

"I'm a bit tight at the moment, pal"

"Then not money. If I win, you'll be my model for the midterm design project. It's 30's fashion. For ladies, of course".

"Ok. But if I win you'll do my chores for a whole weeks."

"A whole week?!"

"Seven days, if you prefer it."

They shook hands "Deal. Rick? Join us?"

"I actually rather believe that they'll be alright" Rick got up and stretched.

"Well of course they will. Eventually. Row always figures things out." T said

"The fun part is to watch him go crazy in the meantime" Len chuckled "Like when he first moved in and left a fork in the plate when first using the microwave"

They laughed, remembering how their friend had called them at 9 PM in panic, screaming the microwave had exploded.

"Let's just hope for the best. I mean he seemed quite sure of himself this time. And who knows, maybe being a dad is the best way to grow up." Rick defended

"Yea, well a bit radical, don't you think?" Len said

"Like sock therapy. If smokers quit when diagnosed with lung cancer, maybe Row settles down now he has a baby"

"I just still don't get why he didn't just put her in adoption" T said

Rick shrugged "Would you if you were in his shoes?"

"Absolutely"

"That's exactly how Row would've answered, say, a week ago. That's what we all answer. Until it really happens. I think it's one of those situations where you can't really picture until you live it."

"But this is Rowan Queen we're talking about. Rowan <<Made out with both Jones Twins at the same party Cause I didn't remember which was which>> Queen. I mean, he does know that a kid is gonna freeze his sex life for indefinite time, right? What the hell was going through his head?" Terry said

"I can't believe you think that." Len interjected "I mean, I'm the one who's never gonna be a dad here, and the one who failed biology, but even I get it. He met her right? Before any decision was made, he met her. Once you meet your kid, you're tangled up forever. And you might think you're not but if you give them away you'll never get rid of a feeling of remorse."

"Wow, Lenny, that was deep"

"Yea, where'd you get that from?"

"Just common sense."

"Funny, considering you're the one who's started the bet" Rick grinned

"One thing doesn't prevent the other. And out of the two of us, I'm the optimistic! He gave him one day, I gave him seven! I trust him"

"Well I'm not sure if I do. I mean, I love him, he's a great guy, a great musician, and everything else, but he's not reliable. Remember his first job as a waiter? I'm still waiting for the fish and chips I ordered last April"

The other two chuckled "I once lent him a t-shirt, and I swear I saw Liz Michael's wearing it" Len said

"See what I mean?"

"Yes, well, we can't do anything about it, T. It's his life"

"But this affects us too, one way or another. This affects the band. And he didn't even consult us"

"Well what did you expect him to do? Call and go <<Hey guys, are you fine with me having a daughter? No? Okay, just checking. Bye>>?" Rick imitated a phone with his hand, doing a decent impression of their friend's high voice.

"A head's up would have been nice"

"Terry, just chill for fucks shake. I mean, this is unexpected, but Row's our best friend, our brother, and we have to support him. Because, if he's a dad, that's makes us her uncle's. And it'll be fun having a little niece we can spoil" Len smiled at the idea.

"Spoil? With what money?" Terry, always realistic, put his hands on his hips

"With the upcoming tour's, of course darlings" he twirled majestically around the room

"First, that's in four months" Rick reminded

"If it does happen at all"

They still had one last song to arrange And record. Plus, they didn't know how Row was gonna make it work now he had a baby. But nobody addressed that concern out loud.

"Oh don't be so goddamn negative, fellas! C'mon! We're uncle's! Row's made a very important, life-changing, mature decision, and we should be proud of him. So" he went to the fridge and returned with three beers "I say we toast for him and the lil Queenie"

The other two grinned and accepted the cans, opening them.

"Oh, I say we Split a fourth beer in his behalf, cause parents shouldn't drink while breastfeeding" Terry mocked, earning a laugh

"To the Queens" Rick raised his can "For our little bro to take this seriously and not fuck this kid up"

"To the Queens" Terry and Len crashed theirs as well.

🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁

Meanwhile, in the hospital...

"Goddamn it, raisin! How can someone so small produce so many colors of something so stinky?" Row exclaimed, holding his breath as he clipped the fresh nappy on his daughter "We only feed you milk! Like... Like white milk! How can you turn a white liquid into rainbow pudding? Holy shit" he held the dirty one at arms length and threw it in the bin "It's a damn good thing I love you, cause I won't do this for anyone else" he told her, lifting her up to his chest again before walking around the room

"You gonna be a good girl for me for the next eighteen years? Huh?" He kissed her chubby cheek "What am I saying? You're my daughter, of course you're gonna be a trouble maker. But we'll get along, you'll see. I ain't gonna be like my parents. Don't worry. I won't be a bloody pain in the ass like mom, and I will never ever do anything my old man did. That I can promise. But I gotta admit I do want you to be like Gina. Yea, she's a control freak sometimes, but let's face it: she's gotta be the strongest person I've ever met. You should've seen her kicking the bastard out the house. She took no shit."

He smiled somewhat proudly at the memory, and for a second forgot how mad he was at her for turning her back on them.

"You wanna be a badass gurl like her? Huh? Yes you do. Yes you do" he cooed, craning his neck so he could brush his nose with her little button one. Her fist chose to close around the nearest strands of blond hair on reach, which he found secretly adorable.

But a part of him did wish he had mom's support. After all, despite the rough patches through his teens, they had always had each other's back; through thick and thin. She had have to raise him all alone, and although he hadn't even begun with Pips, he already knew it hadn't been easy. She may be stern, and a bit inflexible when it came to negotiating allowance. She could come across as rude if you caught her in the wrong mood (which many neighbors had) but above all she was a good person and a good mother.

And looking back, he hadn't been such a great son. He could have been more responsible, less handful and more obedient. Less rebellious, too. He could have thanked her more often for the thousand things she did everyday. For the meals. For all the jobs she had taken to provide for the two of them. For the surprise birthday gift she had got him with the money she had been saving: a real drum kit. For helping him move out her house into that one room crappy appartement which would be Pip's home.

But still she had rejected Piper without a second thought, regardless of her anger towards him; Pips was her granddaughter, she had done nothing wrong and as her father, Row doubted he would ever forgive Gina.

He sighed, untangling the hand of his hair and bringing it to his lips "But you don't have to worry about all that. Just concentrate on staying strong and growing up. And I promise I'll focus all of me on being the best dad. That you'll never miss a mom cause you don't need one. You've got me and I swear I'll be enough. Even if I'm still young: I'll have it all more fresh won't I?" He grinned "You're the one person who's never judged me yet, and I don't wanna let you down"

That a was vow. And he was determined to keep it.

🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁

This one goes to my mega-paragraphist @definitely-darcy who's got my engine going through the usual inspiration blocks, and who's reviews help me improve. She's made me believe in this fic, and encouraged me to keep going despite the one digit notes.

Xx- Pookie

#queen band #roger taylor #single dad! roger taylor #dad roger #brian may #Freddie Mercury #john deacon #queen fic #no smut just fluff #non romantic #Infinity fic #baby prune

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kpki · 5 years ago

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Homecoming for Alice Walker in Eatonton, GA

Alice Walker, the first African-American female writer to win a Pulitzer Prize for Literature, came home to Eatonton, Georgia on Saturday, July 13 to a public celebration of her 75th birthday year.

I joyfully attended the sold-out Alice Walker 75, an event of welcome, inclusion, and openness. The kind of day where you sit with strangers and make new friends, where you alternately beam with joy and cry with the type of happiness that comes with the feeling that, here, in Alice Walker’s calm presence, all is right in this little corner of the world.

Walker was the eighth child of sharecroppers born and raised in Eatonton, a sleepy, segregated middle Georgia town that she left after being awarded a scholarship to Spelman College in Atlanta. As Valedictorian and Homecoming Queen at the all-black Butler-Baker High School, she was well aware of class divisions and racism in her native Georgia, which inspired the activist spirit in her soul.

Despite loving relationships with her family and friends, Walker consciously put Eatonton in her rearview mirror. Her participation in Alice Walker 75 marked her first official connection to the town since 1986 when Eatonton hosted a premiere of the film The Color Purple (based on her award-winning book by the same name).

Alice Walker 75

Walker and Valerie Boyd during their conversation

The Saturday, July 13, 2019 celebration was a first-class affair organized by both locals and several Atlantans, including co-chairs Valerie Boyd, UGA journalism professor and author of Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston, and Lou Benjamin, co-founder of the Briar Patch Arts Council of Eatonton. It was presented by the Georgia Writers Museum and many sponsors.

My View

Being a busy weekend in the middle of summer, none of my friends were available to join me. So, I bought myself the full-day ticket and secretly cherished an opportunity to take it all in without any distractions.

As soon as I drove into the quiet downtown, the sight of street banners welcoming Walker and her guests immediately brought tears to my eyes. How far we’ve come, I thought, from my early career days with Georgia Tourism promoting the Uncle Remus Museum and Rock Eagle. While those are still beloved, it feels like the town has come full circle toward its authentic identity.

I walked the block full of storefronts in downtown Eatonton, where each was decked in purple clothing, balloons, ribbons and photos of Walker. One storefront displayed copies of Walker’s books, 60s female artist album covers (Roberta Flack’s First Time Ever I Saw Your Face and Janis Ian’s debut album) and Walker quotes incorporated into handmade art.

As I meandered down the block and east to the Plaza Arts Center, host location of most activities, the red carpet welcome could not have been more evident, from a sign pointing to free event parking at the Methodist Church to nature doing its part with a profusion of purple Passion Flowers in bloom at the gorgeous Victorian home across the street.

I made my way inside the beautifully refurbished Arts Center, once a school, where an abundance of local volunteers in brightly graphic event T-shirts made the check-in line short and friendly.

And So It Begins …

When we bought our tickets, guests were given a choice of sold-out area bus tours or a documentary film showing. Those who know me well can probably guess which choice I made, to see the 2010 documentary Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth followed by a conversation with filmmaker Pratibha Parmar. The exceptional documentary brought forth much emotion from the audience. I highly recommend watching it; you can stream it for $9.99 on Vimeo.

After the film, I took my bagged lunch outside and invited myself to sit with perfect strangers, who turned out to be a diverse group of new friends I hope will stay in touch. I met the retired Emeritus Professor of History at Georgia College & State University and his wife, along with another Georgia College professor who was the main tour guide volunteer, and two Atlanta women in their 50s who have been friends since high school in New Orleans.

Attendees with Rebecca Walker (2nd from left) and her father Melvyn Leventhal

Among the many things I learned from my new friends is that there is an entire track of study at Georgia College based on the history and works of Alice Walker. I may have to enroll!

While my observation was that there were more African-American women over age 50 in attendance than any other demographic, the crowd was a healthy mix of black, brown and white: young people, elderly folk, and area residents more apparent by their attire which ranged from seersucker jackets and pressed khakis for the men to specially-made Butler-Baker High School T-shirts worn by Ms. Walker’s friends. The latter gesture was a complete surprise to her. The shouts, screams and hugs when her friends spotted her in the auditorium left few dry eyes in the room.

An Inspiring Afternoon

During the afternoon, an accomplished group of writers and performers paid tribute to Walker as she sat in her namesake boxed seats in the Arts Center auditorium. Violinist and writer Melanie Hill got the entire crowd, including Walker, moving in their seats with her stirring opening of Stevie Wonder’s “As.”

Walker’s biographer Evelyn White, Atlantan Tayari Jones, author of the bestselling 2018 novel An American Marriage; Agnes Scott College poetry professor and author Kamilah Aisha Moon; Daniel Black, novelist and Clark Atlanta University professor; and Walker’s daughter, writer/activist Rebecca Walker, all touched me deeply with their poignant choices of Walker’s poetry and book passages. At one point, my seatmate handed me a wad of tissues. Maybe it was when Rebecca read “We have a beautiful mother,” crying as she struggled to get those five words out.

Walker’s 14-year-old grandson, Tenzin, capped the tribute with his polished piano performance of a song he composed just for the event, which visibly moved both Walker and her daughter.

Later in the day, Walker seemed happily surprised yet again when her former husband, noted Civil and Voting Rights Attorney Melvyn Leventhal, and Margaret Avery, the actress who played Shug Avery in The Color Purple, both offered champagne toasts to her.

It’s Not a Party Unless You Dance

Walker and Valerie Boyd during their conversation

Following the last event, a no-holds-barred conversation between Walker and Valerie Boyd, we all got a fun surprise – an invitation to join Walker and Boyd on stage, and as Walker said, “it’s not a party if there’s no dancing.” Around 100 of the 500 guests, myself included, took her up on the offer. Walker’s curated song choices: Rock Steady by Aretha Franklin and As by Stevie Wonder. You may find evidence on the Instagram hashtag #AW75!

No one that I interacted with left this event with anything but happy feelings and I’m still experiencing the Alice Walker high.

Closing Thoughts

I met a 36-year-old Political Science professor at Georgia College, Claire Sanders, who grew up in neighboring Greene County. Like my own, her joy was apparent. “This event is renewing my sense of hope for this area, for Georgia,” Sanders said. “Things are changing for the better here and being in the presence of Ms. Walker and having others see the inclusivity today is a highlight of my life.”

One of the organizers shared with me that the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department deputy, a white male, stationed outside the Arts Center said that, despite having to change his uniform three times due to the heat, he wanted to convey that it was one of the most meaningful events of his career.

Daniel Black made many of us laugh when he said, “She did not wait to die to be ancestral.” Indeed, Ms. Walker offered nearly 700 of us a wide-open look into her life, her family and her writing process.

What a gift she, the organizers and 119 volunteers gave to us! Happy 75th to my favorite American writer!

Rose Scott of Closer Look on WABE/90.1 FM interviewing author Tayari Jones

Read Atlanta Magazine’s story on Alice Walker 75 here!

#AW75 #Alice Walker #pulitzer prize #75th birthday #African American Writers #Tayari Jones #Melanie Hill #Rebecca Walker #Eatonton #The Color Purple #Authors #Writers #Poetry #Kamilah Aisha Moon #WABE

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beautshirtss · 4 years ago

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