#ANYWAY who's gonna write pippa on The Voice?

[forabeatofadrum]

Wielded by the righteous

Summary: Jamie learns to sword fight with Simon.

Notes: This post compiled a bunch of mostly cracky prompts that were posted in the Carry On Discord, and there are a lot of good ones, but the moment my eyes landed on @facewithoutheart‘s prompt about Jamie and Simon, my mind started writing it. So here it is.

AO3

--

SIMON

Jamie Salisbury is looking at the Excalibur that is sticking out of my new tea table as if it’s the most interesting thing in the world. Well, I don’t blame him for that. It once used to be his sword and it’s not like there’s anything else of interest in my flat to look at. And it also is not like there’s something to talk about. I’m an absolute shit host and I wonder what possessed me to invite Jamie to my flat.

Therapy. That’s what possessed me. I’ve gone back to therapy and my bloody therapist told me to invite Jamie to bond. She said it’d be good for me. (And I’m stupid and I believed her.)

Jamie’s been here for twenty whole agonising minutes. I’ve given him tea and he’s brought cake from home. We had some small talk about the cake and about my flat, but now we’re just both sitting in silence, staring at the ancestral sword of our family. (Our family. Huh, still getting used to that.)

I wish Baz were here, but the whole point of inviting Jamie was for the two of us to get to know each other a bit better. But this is going nowhere. I think Jamie is still a bit embarrassed about me having to find him locked in Smith-Richards’s basement and I honest to fucking God have no clue how to act. When Baz and Lady Salisbury are around, it’s less noticeable, since they’re fine with domineering the conversation, but they’re not here.

I asked Baz if he wanted to stick around. He was on his way out when I practically begged him to stay, but he just kissed my cheek and shook his head. He said some bullshit about how this is something I have to do myself for myself. Fucking therapy and whatnot.

I mean, I’m suppose I cannot ask him to be around all the time. He has a life and all that. He’s making friends at university and he’s thriving. I also cannot ask Penny to be my anchor, since she’s visiting Shepard’s mum in America.

But Penny would know how to break this terrible silence. And Baz actually bonded a bit with Jamie over topics like music and classic cars. I don’t know shit about that. Honestly, the only thing Jamie and I have in common is our last name. (Kind of. I’m still using Snow. I might never use Salisbury but technically I am a Salisbury.)

“So. Cake.” I say, again. I’ve already exhausted my comments about the cake, but the longer this silence stretches out, the worse it becomes.

“Good cake,” Jamie agrees.

“We can get another slice,” I say. It’s true. Lady Salisbury has given us an entire lemon drizzle cake. It’s really fucking good.

“That’d be nice.”

I take our plates and go to the kitchen to also catch my breath. Jesus fucking Christ. This is horrible. I feel like I have to be better, since he’s my uncle and everyone’s expecting us to have some kind of relationship, but this entire ordeal makes me want to go back in time and prevent past me from ever pulling that fucking sword out of Lady Salisbury’s dining table.

I splash some water on my face. I don’t know if it does anything, but it feels good. (Placebo effect, Baz would say.)

I get the cake box out of the fridge, but I cannot find my fucking kitchen knife. How the fuck do you lose a kitchen knife? This is why I need to go back to Ikea to buy more shit. I sigh and I reluctantly walk back to the living room. The sword will have to do.

Jamie watches how I pull the sword out of the tea table. I give him a quick nod to, I don’t know, acknowledge that he notices or whatever. Really, I am so fucking bad at this. I go back to the kitchen, open the box, and I suppress a sigh when I see that the kitchen knife is in the cake box. That’s apparently how you lose a kitchen knife. I still cut the cake with the sword, which is honestly pretty funny, and I take it back to the living room.

“Did you… just cut the cake with our sword?” Jamie sounds just as amused. He accepts the plate.

“Yeah,” I say with a cheeky grin. I put the sword back in the tea table.

Jamie lets out a genuine laugh and my grin widens. This is progress, right?

“Oh, mum would love that.”

I use one shoulder to shrug.

“It’s not like I have any use for it. Not anymore,” I say.

“Honestly, if it becomes a high functioning kitchen knife, then it’ll finally be useful for the first time in generations,” Jamie shrugs too. Is shrugging a Salisbury thing? “Grandma and dad always had it mounted on a wall. I sometimes stuck it in surfaces to make mum laugh, but it’s been a decoration for decades. Quite a pity.”

“Is it?” I ask. I mean, I never saw the Sword of Mages as a decoration, but I do know that people mount swords on their walls or put them in stones as some sort of sculpture. The Excalibur is seemingly no exception.

Jamie stares dreamingly at the sword.

“This sword has been in our family for decennia. It has been used in battle, I think, but now it’s been relegated to a wall decoration. I suppose it is a good thing that we no longer need it to fight or to defend ourselves, but I’ve always wanted to wield it like an actual sword, just for the fun of it. I just never learnt how. It must be so cool to actually know how to use an object as beautiful as this.”

“I can teach you!” I blurt out before I can stop myself.

Jamie has an amazed look on his face.

“But of course!” he says excitedly, and his excitement at the idea makes my nerves about this slowly disappear, “Of course, you’re an actual swordsman. You wielded the Sword of Mages for years and- oh!”

Jamie lets out a gasp and I look around to see if I missed anything.

But no, Jamie’s staring intensely at me. I think his eyes are becoming misty. I shrink under his gaze. This is very uncomfortable and confusing.

“Uh…” I say to voice my discomfort. (Another thing therapy is teaching me, although I think my therapist expects more than a simple ‘Uh…’.)

It does have the desired effect. Jamie quickly composes himself.

“Right, right! Sorry, it’s just, hah,” he laughs, “It’s poetic, isn’t it? You’ve gone from wielding your father’s sword to wielding your mother’s sword.”

“Right.” I wish Jamie hadn’t brought up the fact that the Mage is my father. I’ve known a little over two months now, but I still don’t think about it. Fuck, I still haven’t even told Penny. This is the longest I’ve gone without telling her shit.

“Oh, sorry!” Jamie quickly says. The Mage is a sore topic to everyone in the Salisbury family. My family. Yup, still weird. Jamie clears his throat. “But I’d be honoured if you want to teach me.”

“Don’t say honoured. It makes me sound like…” A Chosen One. Lady Salisbury has gotten over her awe of my quote-on-quote celebrity status, but it’s taking Jamie a bit longer. “Just say that it’s cool or whatever.”

“Yeah. It’s cool! My nephew teaching me how to use a sword is cool or whatever!”

“Whatever,” I repeat with a laugh.

“So, what’s, uh, the procedure now?” Jamie asks. He looks around the tiny Hackney Wick flat. It’s not a perfect place for big sword manoeuvres. The Salisbury house in Mayfair is bigger, but filled to the brim with stuff, so that’s not suitable either. I know the Salisburys also have a country home, but that’s a couple of hours up north.

“I’ll look into it,” I say.

--

And I do.

That evening, I’m telling Baz my plans. We’re sitting on my (still pink) sofa and we have a nice view of the sword. The tea table is a great addition to my flat!

I also tell him that Jamie’s visit became a lot more bearable, because I finally found a common interest and Jamie was very, very excited about the whole idea, so we spent the remainder of his visit talking about swords.

Baz looks fucking proud when he hears all of it.

“I need to get a second sword,” I tell him, “To spar. Where the fuck am I going to find a sword? I cannot summon the Sword of Mages.”

“And I wouldn’t want you to,” Baz murmurs. I ignore that.

“And why the fuck is London so jampacked with people and buildings? I can show him simple manoeuvres in here, on my side of the room-” Baz snorts “-but if he wants to go big, we cannot go home.”

“I’ll arrange a sword,” he says. I raise an eyebrow and he shrugs nonchalantly.

“You have a sword?”

“No, but my parents do. As Jamie said, a lot of people use swords as decorations. The Pitches might not have an Excalibur of their own, but there has to be something around the house. I’m driving up to Oxford this week anyway.”

I don’t go with him. We’re not there yet.

I nod. That’s one thing crossed off the list.

Now we only need a place to practise. Ideally I need a big open field, like the Great Lawn.

Then it hits me.

The Great Lawn! Watford!

“Hey Baz, does Agatha actually live at Watford now?” I ask.

“I honestly have no idea,” he answers.

“I’ll give her a call,” I say. It doesn’t have to be inside the school walls, also because I’m pretty sure Jamie and I can no longer open the gates, but it’d be nice to ask for permission to be around the school. There’s a lot of open space.

Well, in that case I should also ring Mitali Bunce, since she’s the headmistress now. Or Jamie can do so. I know now that headmistress Bunce and Jamie know each other through my mum. I trust Jamie to ask her for permission without letting it slip that I’m a Salisbury. (I want to tell Penny before I tell anyone else and yeah, I haven’t told Penny.)

Oh, it’s all coming together.

Baz leans his head on my shoulder.

“You sound happy, Snow.”

“I think I am,” I say and I press a kiss on the top of his head.

“You sound excited. I missed it.”

“I really love swords,” I simply say. I don’t want to unpack the true meaning of that comment. Not today. “I think it will all work out.”

--

Every week, Jamie comes to pick me up in his car. We drive to Watford with two swords in the trunk and a lot of sandwiches for lunch, because Lady Salisbury cannot let us go without them. Baz and Lady Salisbury come along at times, but most of the time, it’s just the two of us. This is our thing, after all.

Sometimes we practise outside of the walls, sometimes Agatha lets us in when she’s around. (That’s increasing a lot.)

I love being back at Watford, despite everything. I love being able to have my wings and tail out. I love occasionally flying with the goats. I love having something in common with Jamie.

It’s nice to have this thing with him to look forward to every week and to fall back on when life accelerates. I tell Penny and in extension the entire World of Mages the truth about my parents. I’m slowly meeting Baz’s family as his partner. People at Watford recognise me every now and then, which leads to awkward questions. Agatha at one point basically moves into Ebb’s old place.

But every Friday, I’m out here teaching my uncle the tricks of sword fighting. He’s ecstatic and a fast learner and during our breaks we get to know each other properly. We talk about my mum a lot and I’m slowly letting myself accept being part of this family.

And all of this because of a damn sword.

My mum’s sword.

I wield it with pride.

--

End notes: And then Mitali Bunce decides to start a combat class as some sort of extracurriculum and she asks Simon to teach it ✌.

[dream-a-little-bigger-x]

That’s Christmas To Me| Julie and The Phantoms Cast

Dream-a-little-bigger-x’s Countdown to Christmas 

Day 4 

A/N: I got so excited when I saw this one was the next one I had to write! I hope you enjoy! I also wanna thank @calamitykaty​, @vicesvsvirtuesfanfic​, @vrthngiwnt​ and @bright-molina​ for letting me pick your brains and bounce some ideas off of you. I love you loads! 

Pairing: Platonic! JATP Cast x fem!reader

Summary: 2022, season 2 was about to be released on Netflix and the cast was invited to promote the show on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. A dream come true. When the host asks them for their favorite holiday memory together, the cast immediately flashes back to that time at the Christmas Markets. 

Song(s) used: That’s Christmas To Me - Pentatonix | Happy Xmas (War is Over) - Echosmith ft. Hunter Hayes

Warnings: Spiked hot chocolates, but no one gets drunk and no one drinking is underage. 

Words:  3,970

Checking her outfit in the full-length mirror once again, y/n sighed nervously. All dressed out to the max for her very first talk show. Her styling team had outdone themselves once again. The gold flared pants, the white satin button down shirt and the white heels just made her feel so fabulous. 

Though she couldn’t deny the fact that she was nervous. She was going on a live show, not any live show, but the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, nonetheless. Her family watched that show religiously every single night. That thought did not calm her down either. 

A soft knock made her snap out of her thoughts and turn around to find Madison in the doorway with an excited smile on her face. “You look gorgeous!” she exclaimed excitedly and ran up to her newest best friend, engulfing her into a tight hug. 

She was sporting a gray glittery jumpsuit with black pumps strapped on her feet, her makeup done beautifully and her natural curls flowing over her shoulders with bejeweled clips pulling it out of her face. 

“So do you!” y/n retorted with the brightest smile she could muster, though Madison could see right through her and squeezed her hands reassuringly. “My heart is thumping.” The words came out in a whisper as though she was telling a secret. 

“So is mine, but we can do this. We got each other, okay?” 

Y/N and Madison had gotten along straight away the first day y/n came to set. It was nerve-wracking to weasel yourself into a tight group of cast members who’ve already spent two years working together, but they made it so agreeable. The first day, Madison and Owen came up to her and started bombarding her with so many questions about herself and her character. All she knew about the latter was that she’d be Reggie’s love interest and the villain’s niece who worked for him to try and get Reggie, Luke and Alex into his club. Which of course, would not work out as y/n’s character would fall for the bassist too. 

The entire cast welcomed her into their group straight away and the whole process became so enjoyable to the point where it just didn’t feel like work anymore. It just felt like spending time with friends and trying to memorize words and songs at the same time. It was weird. But so much fun. And now, they were able to finally promote said season. 

“Madison, y/n, time to go,” one of the show runners said to them when he passed y/n’s dressing room. The two girls nodded and after a simultaneous deep inhale and exhale of stress, they made their way to the hallway where the boys were waiting. 

Charlie and Jeremy offered y/n a wide smile to ease her nerves a little before Charlie held out his hand in front of him. “We got this. Legends on three?” The others nodded and, with a content smile on her face, y/n placed her hand on top of Charlie’s. 

“One,” said Charlie. 

“Two,” Jeremy and Madison added in unison. 

“Three!” Owen and y/n finished and all five their hands went up in the air as they yelled out “Legends!” Though it was scary, y/n knew she had four amazing people that would guide her through it. 

“Please, welcome the cast of Julie and The Phantoms!” Jimmy introduced them and, while the Roots played the infamous intro song, the cast walked through the red curtain. Madison and y/n ahead, holding one another’s hands as to not fall in their heels, then followed Charlie, Jeremy and Owen. 

The audience cheered and applauded until they sat down and the music faded away. “Welcome, welcome!” Jimmy said excitedly. “Thank you for being here!” The cast beamed at the host, unable to contain their excitement nor nerves. 

“Thanks for having us,” said Charlie, the polite Canadian. 

“So, exciting news, season two of your show Julie and The Phantoms premieres on Netflix tonight, is that correct?” 

“Yes!” all five said, though not quite in unison, and the crowd roared again. Y/N couldn’t hide the smile on her red painted lips as she looked out into the sea of people. 

Jimmy turned to the crowd, “If the people at home have never heard of your show, how would you explain it?” His eyes fell on the girl closest to his desk, which was Madison, allowing her to answer the question. 

“Uhm… Julie and The Phantoms is about this girl, Julie, who tragically lost her mom and, with it, her love for music. That is until one day, she plays this old CD she finds and out pop these three lovable, dorky ghosts who used to be in a band in the 90’s, called Sunset Curve. They died when they ate bad hot dogs--” the crowd let out a laugh, and it made Madison chuckle too. “Yeah! -- Anyway, and so these boys kind of help her find her love for music again and they form a band, called Julie and The Phantoms as the audience can see the ghosts when they play with Julie. And a lot of things happen and it’s funny and light and cute!” 

Jimmy let out a chuckle too, “And now there’s a season 2!” Another cheer erupted from the crowd. “What can you tell us about season 2, Charlie?” he directed the question to the boy next to the newbee. 

“A lot happens! We see what happens with Nick and Caleb, and we meet Philippa, Pips, Covington who will stir up some crazy stuff in the boys’ lives, especially Reggie’s,” he explained with a grin. He stirred in his seat a little before placing his arm on the back of the couch, behind y/n’s head. The girl tried not to react to the overwhelmingly amazing scent of sandalwood that emanated from this movement. 

Jimmy’s eyes landed on y/n and she was certain that for a moment, he knew what she was thinking, but then he asked her a question instead. “How was it for you, y/n, as the newcomer to the cast? Did they immediately embrace you or did  you have trouble being accepted?” 

“I hated it--” she replied seriously,  but then giggled, “No, I loved it! They were so kind and so welcoming, I immediately felt like I was part of their tight group. It did feel strange at first, I’m not gonna lie. But after a while, coming to work didn’t really feel like working anymore.” 

“And your character, Phillipa, was she accepted by the other characters?” 

She cleared her throat of any nerves before answering. “Pippa was… well-- she was working for her dead great-uncle, so she had to make sure she was accepted and weasled herself into the friend group pretty quickly. She knew how to get to Reggie especially and thanks to him, got into their friend group.”

“That’s amazing. I’m so excited to watch! My daughters are eight and nine, and they loved season 1 of Julie and The Phantoms. They’re thrilled to see the new season!” 

A chorus of “aw”s were shared within the cast as well as throughout the audience. 

“Yeah, they’re pretty cute.” He picked up his cue cards to remind himself of the next bullet point he needed to talk about. “Oh! Since it’s almost Christmas, I like to ask my guests to tell us a fun holiday themed story before I send them off, do you guys have a fun holiday themed story for us?” 

The cast exchange glances until Owen asked, “Should we talk about the Christmas market we did last year after filming?” The rest of the cast made sounds of agreement with a few giggles mixed in between. 

“Tell us about the Christmas Market!” Jimmy shouted excitedly, almost resembling a five-year-old getting their Christmas presents early. 

Owen took the lead on this one. “So, we were all in Vancouver, we had wrapped season 2 and we would soon be going home, but we decided to spend one last night together at a Christmas market in Vancouver city…”    

Bundled up in layers of sweaters and a thick coat, y/n trekked through the layer of snow that blanketed to grounds of Vancouver City. She was trying her hardest not to focus on the blistering cold that nipped at her nose but rather on the story Charlie was telling the others in front of her. His voice boomed into the busy streets, along with the others’ laughter. 

She always loved the way Charlie told his stories about every wild adventure he’d ever been on and the way Owen quipped back with the wittiest of comebacks. Or how Madison would chime in with her typical Gen Z humor none of the boys understood. Y/N was sure going to miss the entire dynamic of the group when they were back home. 

Thousands of lights flickered above y/n’s head as they strolled through the entrance of the infamous Vancouver Christmas Market. She let her eyes take in the beauty whilst her stomach fluttered from excitement. Her love for Christmas Markets had never faltered over the years. It still excited her in the same way it did when she was just a child. 

“Can we get a hot chocolate first? I’m freezing!” Savannah suggested, her teeth chattering as she snuggled into her thick scarf. Smiling, y/n hooked her arm around hers and pulled her closer in hopes the warmth of all her layers would help the blonde girl a little. 

“I heard they have a unique recipe that only the Christmas Market here ever uses!” Charlie added with a wide grin before leading the gang towards the warm beverage kiosk. It resembled a cabin from a ski resort, decked out all the way with Christmas lights and foliage. 

The group stood in front of the kiosk and read the menu to figure out whatever they’d want to drink. “Ooh, that Peppermint Hot Chocolate sounds delish,” Owen said, and when y/n’s eyes landed on the words, her mouth curled up into a smirk. 

“We’re going that route tonight, hm?” 

The hot chocolate he was talking about was spiked with peppermint schnapps and chocolate liqueur. This sounded right up y/n’s street, and she knew it would warm Savannah up from the inside. 

“Follow me or don’t follow me, that’s up to you, but I am taking that route tonight.” Owen rubbed his gloved hands together until the lady inside the kiosk looked up at him, signalling that it was his turn to order. “A peppermint hot chocolate, please.” He sounded way too confident for someone who had just turned 21 that year. 

The woman peered over her half-moon glasses, letting her eyes glide from his eyes to his toes before sneering, “ID, please.” Owen’s mouth dropped open and with a lot of cursing underneath his breath, he reached for his wallet. 

“Ha! Owen’s getting ID’d!” Charlie cackled, shaking his head. The woman’s eyes darted over to the second boy, giving him the same one-up before raising her eyebrows as if saying “I’m gonna get you too, little boy”. 

And she did. She ID’d Charlie too. No one else but Charlie and Owen, which everyone had a good laugh at as they were sipping their hot chocolates, which for three out of ten isn’t spiked. 

While Jeremy and Booboo were still teasing the two boys, y/n turned around and let her eyes scan the entire view in front of her. All the pretty lights and the snow whirling to the ground so gracefully and the music floating through the air made the cold more bearable. 

A gasp eliciting from Jadah’s tiny body made y/n snap out of her thoughts and turn to the younger cast member. Her eyes were wide and shimmering, looking up at the tall Christmas tree that was towering above their heads with tens of thousands of lights blinking back at them. 

“Isn’t that the walk-through Christmas tree?!” she asked, excitedly. 

Madison took her hand and, giggling, they weaved through the sea of people towards the one-of-a-kind festive fairyland. Y/N exchanged glances with the rest before they, too, made a beeline towards the tree, dodging people left and right. 

“Hey, Owen, are you sure you’re gonna be able to fit?” y/n asked the tall Oklahoman teasingly. The boy’s mouth dropped open, and before she could properly register it, he started chasing her. She ran past Madison and Jadah, and tried to duck behind any other visitor until he eventually picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. The girl shrieked, prior to a giggle.  

Jimmy’s voice echoed over y/n’s flashback to the most festive night of that year. “You guys really sound like a close group of friends.” 

“Yeah! We are! We’re like a little family!” Charlie replied, dropping the arm that was on the back of the sofa around the girl’s shoulder. 

“What happened next?” Jimmy then questioned, curiously. The whole scene almost resembled a toddler listening to his bedtime story. 

Jeremy cleared his throat with a chuckle. “Well, if this night were a movie, you’d now have a cute montage of us going through that magical tree and on the carousel like little children.” 

“Yeah, you’d see us stuff our faces with churros and pretzels,” y/n added, making Jimmy and the crowd laugh. 

“And we got a lot of Christmas shopping done too!” Madison chimed in with a smile. “I actually got everyone’s present when they were right there with me. None of them noticed.” 

“Oh, no, I noticed,” y/n replied with a smirk, to which Madison reacted with widened eyes. 

“What’s next?!” Jimmy queried. His eyes were glistening as he listened to the cast talk. He just loved their dynamic and how well they got along with one another. 

Y/N continued the story as her mind tumbled back into her daydream. 

The music had stopped just a few minutes ago, but only now y/n’s ears picked up on the sudden absence. Knitting her eyebrows together, she lifted her eyes to the stage in the corner of the market where singers were carolling minutes ago, and was now completely empty. As the small amount of alcohol made her brain a little woozy, her teeth gnawed on her bottom lip in thought. 

“Guys… Should we--Should we go sing a song?” she suggested, causing all of them to look up in surprise. “There’s no one on the stage… Should we?” she pointed at the podium to emphasize what she meant. 

As smiles appeared on each of their faces, the group walked up to the stage and grabbed a microphone each. Charlie reached for the acoustic guitar on the stand, but y/n stopped him. 

“Let’s do a capella for once?” she told him tenderly. 

When his eyes met hers, she felt her lungs expand with the gasp that left her body. How gorgeous could one’s eyes be. But with that one look, the boy also knew what song she wanted to sing. The one song that had been stuck in her head for the past month during filming. And the rest of the crew knew too because when y/n counted them in softly, they all started to sing along. Their voices mingling perfectly and floating throughout the night sky. 

“The fireplace is burning bright, shining all on me I see the presents underneath the good old Christmas tree And I wait all night 'til Santa comes to wake me from my dreams Oh, why? 'Cause that's Christmas to me”

Savannah locked eyes with y/n and a smile fell to their lips before they looked out to the audience they had assembled with their harmonies reaching across the entire Christmas Market. 

“I see the children play outside, like angels in the snow While mom and daddy share a kiss under the mistletoe And we'll cherish all these simple things wherever we may be Oh, why? 'Cause that's Christmas to me”

Owen came to stand next to y/n and wrapped an arm around her shoulder as they all sang the chorus together, the tall blondie on lead vocals and the others harmonizing in the background. 

“I've got this Christmas song in my heart”

“Song in my heart”

“I've got the candles glowing in the dark I'm hanging all the stockings by the Christmas tree Oh, why? 'Cause that's Christmas to me Oh, why? 'Cause that's Christmas to me”

As though they had prepared the entire performance, Booboo led them into the next verse while the others acted as backing vocals for him. His warm, deep voice sent chills down everyone’s spines, especially of the people in the crowd. 

“I listen for the thud of reindeer walking on the roof As I fall asleep to lullabies, the morning's coming soon”

His cast mates then joined in again and together, they sang the chorus once again with Jeremy taking lead this time. While they did, y/n took a hold of Savannah’s gloved hand, squeezing it as they looked at each other with intent in their eyes. Like they meant what they were singing to one another. 

“The only gift I'll ever need is the joy of family Oh, why? 'Cause that's Christmas to me I've got this Christmas song in my heart”

“Song in my heart”

“I've got the candles glowing in the dark I'm hanging all the stockings by the Christmas tree Oh, why? 'Cause that's Christmas to me Oh, why? 'Cause that's Christmas to me”

Y/N turned her head to the other side now, locking eyes with Tori and Sacha, and shooting them a wink before they lapsed into the chorus one last time. It felt good to sing with everyone for once. During filming, it was always just a select group of people that got to sing together. 

“Oh, the joy that fills our hearts and makes us see Oh, why? 'Cause that's Christmas to me I've got this Christmas song in my heart I've got the candles glowing in the dark And then for years to come we'll always know one thing That's the love that Christmas can bring Oh, why? 'Cause that's Christmas to me”

As the crowd erupted into cheers and applause, the group shared an intense look, one that said they were always going to be friends. No matter how far away they’ll be from tomorrow on. Even if they don’t get picked up for a third season, they’re always going to be there for each other and be the best of friends forever. The only gift they’ll ever need is the joy of family. And they were family. 

“That was so beautiful!” Jimmy exclaimed after they’d told him about everything that had happened that night in a short synopsis. “Now, I believe you’re gonna sing for us now?” 

The cast nodded in unison. “Okay, what are you bringing us tonight? The song you sang at the Christmas market?” 

Madison giggled, “No, though we love that song, there’s one we collectively think is one of the greatest Christmas songs ever. It’s the ultimate classic Happy Xmas, War is Over by John Lennon.” 

“Amazing! You can go get ready!” he gestures to the tiled floor in front of the red curtain where the crew had set up their instruments and five microphones for them. “Catch Julie and The Phantoms season 2 on Netflix from tonight! They’re singing for us now. Madison, y/n, Charlie, Jeremy and Owen, take it away!” 

Owen counted them in by slamming his sticks together and then began playing the rhythm of the song. Y/N then chimed in with the jingling of the tambourine before the other boys and Madison joined with their respective instruments. Soon after, Madison’s voice floated through the talk show’s studio. 

“So this is Christmas And what have you done Another year over A new one just begun”

When the girls lock eyes, they shoot one another a wink before y/n takes over the next part of the verse. 

“And so this is Christmas I hope you have fun The near and the dear ones The old and the young”

Then the boys chime in, their voices mingling as they linger in the air for everyone to hear and enjoy. Y/N lets her eyes dart over to Charlie, who’s already looking at her with a smile on his face. 

“A very merry Christmas And a happy New Year Let's hope it's a good one Without any fears”

The others shut up, giving Charlie the floor now. He really was born to be a rockstar. The way he just owned the stage and looked like an absolute legend, singing his heart out and playing his guitar like a pro. And he’d only started learning when he was on season 1 of Julie and The Phantoms. 

“And so this is Christmas For weak and for strong The rich and the poor ones The world is so wrong”

For a split second, he locked eyes with y/n again as she took over and faced the audience with a smile, still working her little tambourine for the extra jingles. Somehow, this just felt like one of their jam sessions during rehearsals and not at all like it was a live broadcast on national television. 

“And so happy Christmas For black and for white Ooh, for everyone Let's stop all the fights”

Their voices mingled together again, and, in a boost of confidence, y/n grabbed the mic from its stand and walked over to Jeremy, rocking out with him as he shredded on the bass. 

“A very merry Christmas And a happy New Year Let's hope it's a good one Without any fears”

The music slowed down, and while Madi, Owen and Jeremy took care of the soft backing vocals, y/n walked over to Charlie and sang the lines to one another, never breaking eye contact. 

“And so this is Christmas And what have we done Another year over A new one just begun”

The music picked back up. Madison took over this time, and while y/n worked her tambourine, she danced her way towards the Latina girl with a smile plastered on her face. 

“And so happy Christmas We hope you have fun The near and the dear ones The old and the young”

She then turned to Owen as he took over on the next part. He shot her a quick wink whilst his mouth curled up on one side. “A very merry Christmas And a happy New Year Let's hope it's a good one Without any fear”

Each taking their turn, starting with Owen, they all sang a part of the backing vocals while the boys and Madison played the instrumental intermezzo. “Merry Christmas” 

“So this is Christmas”

“War is over now” 

Returning back to her spot, y/n placed her mic on the stand again, and along with the others, sang the very last lines of the song. 

“War is over If you want it It’s over now”

The crowd erupted into cheers and applause while the band assembled in the middle of the stage. Charlie grabbed y/n’s hand and gave it a small, reassuring squeeze. All five of them together took a bow before exchanging knowing glances. 

This time around, they knew they were going to see each other tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that as they were doing all the promo they could. It felt a lot more reassuring than it did that day at the Christmas Market when they had no clue when they’d see each other again. Though all of them knew that this was still the only gift they’ll ever need. Their little found family.  

JATP taglist: @hannahhistorian92​ @marinettepotterandplagg​@thequirkybookaholic​ @bookdealer5​ @tenaciousperfectionunknown​ @hemmingsness​ @iainttakingshitfromnobody​ @ifilwtmfc​ @angryknightstatesmantrash​ @kiss-themoongoodbye​ @rudysbay @thedarkqueenofavalon​​ @caitsymichelle13​​ @calamitykaty​ @wiselight​ @kcd15​​ @vicesvsvirtuesfanfic​ @stars-soph​ @kinda-really-lost​ @notasofti​ @alexpjoyner​ @n0wornever​ @kaitieskidmore1​ @tefilovesreading​ @pxperphxntom​ @crybabyddl​ @parkeret​ @headheartbellarke​ 

Names crossed out are the ones I couldn’t tag. 

Lemme know if you wanna be on my taglist! 

[talesofstyles]

Mess Is Mine

Hi again babes. I’ve got something for you; it’s a single dad!harry (and single mum!yn). This is something I never thought I would even consider writing (because the thought of the MC having kids not with Harry kills me... I know 😂) but the idea has grown on me and I’ve finally got my shit together and put it down in writing. I think this is one of my favourite things that I’ve ever written so far so maybe you won’t like it but eh I’ll just post it anyway. Right I’m gonna stop rambling. Tell me what you think!

YN had it all; a cosy three bedroom house in the heart of Notting Hill (and by cosy it actually is cosy as in warm, comfy and inviting and not just some word a landlord would say to cover the fact that the place is either cramped, falling apart or has never been updated), a fulfilling job, a drop-dead gorgeous, loving husband with really nice icy blue eyes (and arms and broad shoulders and thighs and… she could go on forever but let’s not dwell on that right now) and the sweetest gurgling little baby boy. People say he’s YN’s twin only with his daddy’s eyes and hair colour.

Two years later, with a baby girl in tow, the cosy little family of three grows into a lively family of four. It all seems perfect, doesn’t it? Their marriage was perfect. They were what people would call the typical Hallmark family.

But nothing truly is perfect, isn’t it? Happily ever after only does exist in children’s tales. With two children, they were no longer “that cute couple plus baby”, they turned into a proper family overnight. James and YN were less of a couple and more of a mum and dad 24/7, which took a strain on their relationship. And as if that wasn’t enough, James was also in the run for a partnership in his firm, which would make him the youngest senior partner in Addleshaw Goddard, one of the most prestigious law firms in the City. Being one of the top lawyers in the City and working with high-profile clients such as large commercial companies or financial institutions, James had already been working long, unsocial hours. But that was nothing compared to the hours after he knew he was in the running for partnership. He basically lived in his office. He took more big cases to put his name on the map so weekends off were merely a myth. He got what he wanted in the end, full equity partnership in Addleshaw Goddard, six figure salary, £500 an hour, but little did he know that in order to get what he had always wanted, he had to lose what was matter the most.

***

“What? Now?” James lets out a heavy sigh. “I can’t now, YN. Av’ got to see a client at lunch. But I’ve already cleared my schedule from 3:30 to 4:30 so I’m still picking up Finn.”

This time, YN lets out a heavy sigh. She knows that she can’t get pissed at her ex-husband for not being able to pick up their three year old daughter at her nursery. It’s her fault after all; she’s the one who forgot that the nursery only opens for half-day on that particular Thursday. Pippa’s teacher had to call her to remind her to pick up the little girl. “Alright, thanks anyway.”

“Anytime. Give her a kiss f’me,” James asks her.

“Will do. Bye,” YN pinches the bridge between her nose as she hangs up the call. Glancing at the clock on the wall for a second, she tidies up some scattered papers and puts it aside as she stands up and walks towards the lift.

“YN!” One of her colleagues catches her as she waits for the lift. “The guests just got here and they’re all in their dressing rooms. Lisa already looked over the script a few times and she said everything’s good. Oh no, wait, I think they’re gonna need to look over the red chair again but other than that it’s fine. And- wait, are you going somewhere?”

“Yeah. Pippa’s nursery is closed at half twelve today so I need to go and pick her up now,” she answers as she takes another glance at the Kate Spade on her wrist. She knows she needs to go really soon. “I won’t be long but just in case anything happens before I get back, find Mike or Tom. Thanks!”

“Ah, alright then,” the crew nods at her. “See ya!”

How could she go from Wood Lane to Portobello Road then back to Wood Lane in less than half an hour, she’d never know. It’s in the middle of the day, mind you. But anyway, YN is back at the studio with her very excited three year old who gets to go with her mummy to work. No doubt, her older brother would be very jealous when he finds out later.

It’s not the first time YN brings her child to work, she had brought even both of them a few times before but she never brought them on Thursday. Thursday is always her busiest day at work because they’re filming the show every Thursday and not Friday when it airs even though the show is filmed as live. As a production coordinator, YN needs to be on her feet most of the time, making sure that everything is smooth sailing.

“Hey! Who have we got ‘ere, eh?” Elliot, one of the camera operators, greets them with a smile as they walk into the set. He looks down at the little girl with a teasing smirk. “D’you work ‘ere, miss?”

The little girl shakes her head and giggles. “No.”

“Pippa!” One of the crews, Chloe, calls her name as she walks towards them and the little girl smiles, turning around to see who has just called her. “Golly! Look at how big you’re getting, sweetheart! That’s a very pretty dress you’re wearing, can I borrow it sometime?”

The little girl let out another fit of giggles. “It won’t fit!”

“Ah! Too bad, s’pretty.”

“YN,” another crew walks towards them, but calling her name this time instead of her little girl. “We’re going in five and Mike asked for you.”

“Ah shoot,” she mutters under her breath, realising that there were things that still need to be done and she’s only got five minutes left. Even less because she needs to find her boss first because apparently he’s been looking for her. “C’mere darlin,”

“I’ve got spare time if you want me to watch her?” Chloe offers. “Props all done for now until red chair and it won’t be for a while.”

“You won’t mind?” YN looks up at Chloe as if she were Mrs Claus and Chloe shakes her head, smiling as she takes the little girl’s hand. “Oh Chloe, you’re an angel! Thanks! Pippa darlin’, mummy needs to work so you’ll stay with Chloe for a bit, alright? Be a good girl and listen to Chloe.”

Knowing her daughter is in good hands, she crosses the list of things that she needs to do before they start filming without worry. Fortunately for them the guests are wonderful this week—yes, some guests could be a pain in the arse. One time some Hollywood A-List (YN truly believes that the A stands for arsehole) demanded not one, not two but TEN dressing room. That’s right, TEN.

YN is still supervising the set as they film when she sees Chloe walks in without her daughter. She knows that someone probably calls her to prep the set for the red chair segment but she thought Chloe was just going to drop Pippa with her before she started working. “YN!” Chloe calls her as she walks towards her. “We bumped into Harry Styles’s daughter in the hallway earlier with her nan. Pippa and her have been playing together since then. I asked Pippa to come with me but she refused and Harry’s mum offered to watch her, so I left her in his dressing room.”

“What?” Her eyes widen in surprise. Her daughter? Playing in the dressing room?

“I’m so sorry. I could go back and-“

“No, no, it’s fine,” YN cuts her short, smiling so Chloe won’t feel like she’s upset, trying to mask the fact that she’s not actually happy about the situation. It may or may not get her in trouble after all. “Thanks for watching her earlier. I’ll just go and get her now, I don’t want her to bother them.”

“They’re having fun, YN, really. ‘Sides Harry’s mum is so nice,” Chloe reassures her.

“I know she must be, but I’ll just go and check on them regardless,” she insists. “We’re gonna have a break in three anyway.”

Standing in front of Harry’s dressing room, YN takes a deep breath before she knocks on the door. She hears a soft woman’s voice, no doubt Harry’s mum, saying “come in!”, before she opens the door.

“Mummy!” Pippa giggles and runs towards the door with her arms wide open and ready to wrap her mum’s legs.

“Hi darlin’,” she looks down at her daughter before turning her head to smile at Harry’s mum and daughter. “Are you being nice to your new friend?”

“She’s wonderful. They’ve been playing nicely for a while,” Harry’s mum chimes in.

YN apologises. “I’m sorry if she’s disturbed you.”

“Oh, not at all!” She smiles at YN. Her smile is so warm and it reminds her of her own mother. “Pippa is so sweet and they’re having fun. Nothing to apologise, love. In fact I have to thank you for bringing her because otherwise Anya would get bored.”

YN chuckles. “Glad you think so. But I can just take her with me-“

“No, no, no, you can absolutely leave her here. I can watch her. They’re having fun and I don’t want to separate them if you don’t mind,” Anne reassures her, looking at the silly little girls who were giggling at each other as they poke each other’s nose.

“Oh that’s really sweet of you, but are you sure?” She hesitates. “My daughter can be a handful.”

Anne laughs. “She’s been wonderful with me, darlin’. Really, it’s great for my granddaughter to have someone around her age to play with.”

Everyone’s head turns towards the door when they hear someone twisting the handle. The fact that they don’t even bother to knock makes YN realise who’s behind it even before the person enters the room.

“Hello!” Harry smiles as he closes the door behind him. “Got a new friend, huh?”

“Daddy!” Anya beams. “S’my friend, Pippa!”

“Hi Pippa!” Harry sweetly crouches down to be at their level, before reaching out his hand to shake Pippa’s. “I’m Harry, nice to meet you.”

“Hi!” Pippa grins and shakes his hand.

“And you must be Pippa’s mum,” Harry smiles as he stands up and walks towards YN. “Sorry, I’m really terrible with names but you do look familiar. Think I saw you last time I was here as well.”

“I was,” she nods, the corners of her mouth quirk up. She chooses to apologise instead of acknowledging his comment. “I’m sorry my daughter has disturbed yours, she’s not supposed to be here. One of the crews tried to get her to leave but she wouldn’t budge.”

“Oh nonsense!” Harry counters. “I’m sure she’s not, they look like they’re having fun. Just let them play, s’nice for them to have someone around their age. If Pippa weren’t here, my daughter would ask for that, and I’m trying to cut down screen time,” Harry says, tilting his head to where the iPad is sat on the table.

YN chuckles. “Alright then if you’re fine with it too. Mrs-“

“Just call me Anne, dear,”

YN smiles at her. “Anne, would you like to save my number so you can just call me the second Pippa starts being a little terror?”

Anne and Harry laugh. YN thinks that even if you don’t know them, you probably could have guessed that they’re related somehow, seeing how similar their facial features are especially when they’re laughing. “I’m sure she won’t, but I’ll save your number just in case she asks for you.”

***

YN’s phone is buzzing for the second time in the span of five minutes, and the same unknown number appears on the screen. She continues to ignore it; first, because she simply hates answering calls. Second, because it’s bloody Saturday so if it’s turn out to be work related, she’s got an excuse not to pick up. Third, she just really really—and she couldn’t stress this enough—hates answering calls.

James picks the kids up every Saturday morning to spend the whole day with him and brings them back every Sunday morning. It wasn’t easy at first for YN; she ended up on his bed with the kids and him on his own couch more times than she would like but she has grown to be alright having the whole day for herself. In fact, now she likes it. And she won’t say this out loud of course but she secretly looks forward to it.

After the third call ten minutes later goes unanswered, she blindly searches for his phone on the end table next to the couch without tearing her gaze from the magazine that she’s reading. Looking at the screen for a second, she sees a notification for a new voicemail and she plays it.

“Hi YN, it’s Harry. We met the other day at the studio. I’ve got your number from my mum. Anyway, Anya has been asking for Pippa nonstop so I was just wondering if you guys are up for a playdate sometime soon? Please call me back if you’ve got time. Thanks! Have a good weekend!”

She’s just realised that she has been ignoring calls from Harry sodding Styles.

YN sits up straight immediately before she dials his number and he picks it up after only the second ring. “Hi YN! Y’alright?”

“Hello, sorry I didn’t hear when you called earlier. I’m good thanks. You?” YN tries her best to sound nonchalant and it’s going well so far.

“Good, thank you. Nothing to complain really,” he chuckles. “Anyway, I was just wondering if you’re up for a playdate sometime soon?”

“Of course! Pippa would love it. They really did get along the other day,” she agrees and she tries to stifle her giggle. If someone told her last week that Harry Styles would call her and ask for a playdate she would definitely laugh at that person’s face and say, ‘you joking?’.

“Great! When’s best for you?”

“Probably on the weekends. Is that alright for you?” She asks.

“Yeah! How about today? Are you busy? Have you got any plans? Anya and I are just chilling around the house and I could tell that she’s bored. She thinks I’m less fun now that she’s made a friend,” Harry jokes.

YN laughs politely. “I’m sure she thinks you’re just as fun. And I’m not busy right now but my kids are with their dad every Saturday. How about tomorrow? Or if you’re busy maybe next weekend?”

“Oh,” Harry pauses before he continues. “Tomorrow’s perfect! What time is best for you? We haven’t got any plans so we can go anytime.”

“Say 3pm-ish?” She suggests.

“That’s perfect for us!” Harry answers excitedly. “Have you got any idea where we should go? Pippa is basically Anya’s first friend so we’ve never done any playdates before.”

“How about the Heath? Is it too far for you guys?”

“Not at all! We live in Hampstead,” Harry informs her.

“Oh, that’s brilliant! We can meet on the east side of the Heath. See you tomorrow, Harry,”

“See you tomorrow! Bye, have a lovely day YN,” says Harry.

“You too!” YN says before she hangs up.

***

“Anyaaa!” Pippa wiggles her hand out of her mummy’s so she can run towards Anya who’s holding her daddy’s hand. Anya grins at her new friend and the two of them share the sweetest hug like two old mates who haven’t seen each other for years instead of two strangers who have just met three days prior. It really is precious to see their friendship blooms in such a short period of time.

“Hello!” Harry smiles as he walks towards YN and the kids. “Y’alright?”

YN nods and smiles back at him. “Yeah, thanks. How are you?”

“Good! Who’s this little man?” He says as he reaches out his hand towards the little boy. “Hi, I’m Harry. What’s your name?”

The little boy, much shyer than his little sister hesitates to shake Harry’s hand. He looks up at his mum and YN has to nudge his shoulder to make him reaches out his hand and shake Harry’s. “I’m Finn,” he says at last.

“Nice to meet you Finn!” Harry says before he turns his head towards his daughter. “Anya, come and say hi to Pippa’s brother.”

The weather is quite nice for early October. Shorts season is definitely gone but the autumn breeze isn’t quite bone-numbing just yet. The colour of the autumn leaves make the scenery as if it comes out of a painting, it’s simply beautiful wherever they look. They ask if the kids want to go for a walk, but they spot the playground and can’t help but run towards it before Harry and YN have the chance to convince them to go for a walk instead. All three of them.

Trying to be discreet, Harry takes a quick glance at YN’s hand as they walk into the gated area of the playground to see whether or not she has a wedding band on, but he’s not quick enough to fight back the smile that’s creeping onto his face when he realises she hasn’t got one. He recalls back to Thursday when they met at the studio as they filmed The Graham Norton Show and he realised that she didn’t have a ring on that day either. Harry knows that once, maybe she forgot. But twice? She’s not putting that on.

They play with the kids on the playground. Harry patiently helps them to climb onto the slide one by one and YN waits patiently for them at the end of the slide. Then they put them on one of those large net swings where they can put all three of them on one swing and Harry pushes them higher every time, earning a shriek of giggles.

When the kids finally had enough of the playground, Harry and YN take them for a walk towards Parliament Hill. Luckily, Anya warms up rather quickly with Finn as well as Pippa so the three of them have been playing together nicely. Finn walks in front of Harry and YN, holding Pippa’s hand on one of his hands and Anya’s on the other.

“Pippa is so sweet,” Harry begins when he realises that it’s the perfect time to start a proper conversation. It was just not possible when they were looking after the kids on the playground. He looks over to YN and smiles at her.

YN lets out a chuckle. “You’re just being nice, she’s a handful.”

“I’m not!” Harry shakes his head. “She’s really sweet. Finn, too. He’s a great big brother.”

“Well, they have their moments,” YN tells him. “But I’m lucky, I guess. They rarely fight. Pippa can be quite bossy sometimes though, so when they fight it’s usually just because Finn has had enough.”

Harry laughs. “Do you know where she gets that from?”

“Definitely her nan,” YN chuckles.

“Is she close with her nans? Both sides?” Harry asks as he waves at his daughter when she looks over her shoulder to see him. “Do you see them often?”

“Quite close, yeah, and with both sides. Both of our parents live in Surrey, mine in Farnham and James’s in Virginia Water so we see them at least once a month,” YN answers. “How about Anya?”

“Well, she’s named after me mum so she’s definitely her favourite grandchild so far,” Harry grins. “She’s basically Anya’s second parent, my mum.”

“Oh, I thought her mother is Russian!” YN exclaims. “I love her name.”

Harry’s grin widens as he shakes his head. “Thank you. No, my mum’s name is Anne and I want to name my daughter after her, but having two Anne(s) would be confusing. So I opted for another version of Anne.”

“That’s a really gorgeous name. Your mum must be very happy,” YN says as she tucks her hands inside her pockets because it’s getting a bit chilly.

“Definitely made her my mum’s favourite grandchild for sure. Well, she’s currently her only grandchild so that may change sometime soon,” Harry says proudly, grinning even wider. “I’m gonna be an uncle in a few weeks.”

“Oh, congratulations!” YN gasps. “That’s so exciting!”

“It is! We all can’t wait to meet the baby,” Harry adds. “But we don’t know how Anya is gonna take this though. She has been the baby in the family her whole life.”

“I’m sure she’ll be just fine,” YN smiles at Harry reassuringly. “Anya is a sweet girl. Bet she’ll love having a little mate to play with. ‘Sides cousins are the best!”

“You’re right, cousins are the best,” Harry nods, chuckling a little. “Finn and Pippa are lucky. They’ve got built in best friend forever.”

“Both me and their father grew up as an only child so even before we got married we knew we wanted to have at least two. We both hated the fact that we haven’t got any siblings,” YN explains.

“Do you plan to have more?” Harry asks, testing the water as nonchalant as possible. He has an assumption but before he can be sure of himself, he needs to hear it from her.

“Uh,” YN clears her throat, pausing before she continues. “We’re separated.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know,” Harry mumbles, looking down so YN won’t see the smile that’s creeping onto his face. He doesn’t even know why he’s smiling but he does. And he’s clearly having a hard time trying to hide it. “How different it is with divorce if I may ask?”

“Well, we’re just waiting really. Because one of the grounds for divorce is that we have to live apart for at least two years, and during that time we can get a legal separation. We haven’t reached that mark yet so we still have to wait, soon though. After that we can get decree nisi.” YN doesn’t let Harry respond before she continues. “How about you? I’ve never heard you talk about Anya’s mother but I don’t really follow celebrity gossips,” she chuckles. That’s a lie by the way, she reads glossy magazines like OK! and Hello! quite religiously every week.

“That’s because she’s not in the picture,” Harry smiles, pausing to clear his throat before he continues. “We weren’t together or anything, didn’t even know her to be honest. All I knew was that she got pregnant and that she was planning to give the baby up, so I stepped in and took her. Got sole custody. Nobody really knows about this so I’d appreciate it if you’d just-“

“Don’t worry, not my story to tell,” YN smiles at him reassuringly as she cuts him short. “So you took her on your own since she was born?”

Harry nods proudly. “Right from day one. Her mother didn’t even want to see her after she was born so after I got green light from the peds I took her home straight away. She was only five hours old, looking like a little pink sausage in a blanket,” Harry smiles, clearly reminiscing the day he got to bring his daughter home for the first time.

YN chuckles. “You’re bloody amazing. Just want to say this in case nobody has told you. But I’m sure they do.”

“Thank you,” Harry grins wider. “So are you. We haven’t got the easiest job, us,”

“I mean it Harry,” YN says, stopping abruptly from walking to look at Harry properly in the eyes. “Those early days are rough, I really can’t imagine doing it alone.”

“It was a blur,” he stops walking and lets out a giggle as he looks at YN. “T’was rough. But the good thing about being a single parent right from the start is that you’re used to being alone. I’ve never known what it is like to have a second set of hands. Well I’ve got my mum but it’s still different, I guess. And it must not be the case with you, so you’re the real MVP here,” he ends tamely.

YN lets out a chuckle and they lapse into silence. It’s definitely not an uncomfortable silence. They just look around at the magnificent view before them as they walk around, letting the kids take the lead. It has been a while since both YN and Harry feel at peace. They don’t know it yet, but happiness will be back within their arm's reach very very soon.

Part II

[expression-in-its-essence]

The Goldfinch movie.

7 min 26 secs in : Why the fuck did they start the movie like that. Why didn't the explosion take place? Theo's mom's apartment? His anxiety? Also.. why do they keep cutting the scenes abruptly? They ain't tweets... No limit.. then??

8 min 2 sec in : Okay they went to the apartment. Audrey's sweater deserved more screen time. The lipstain on the mug in focus *chef's kiss* poetic cinema!

9 min 19 sec in : Do you see what I see? Tom Cable's face has a stark resemblance to Boris's face. Did Theo have a crush on him?

9 min 54 sec in : Mr Barbour's hand is shaking. I like that they put it in there. He was sick. Nice. (I'd imagined Audrey's apartment building entrance like they showed the Barbour's apartment building entrance. Wild.)

11 min 8 sec in : Don't shove it into his face that y'all are fancy okay? He's not used to that life style. He didn't have maids making his bed. ARE YOU GIVING HIM DRUGS, MRS BARBOUR? But you just glared at your husband for offering him the same sort of thing?? Oh God. Poor child. "it's perfectly understandable" my ass. You gave him meds just because your sleep was getting affected.

14 min 39 sec : Woah woah woah Theo wtf you're so smol how'd you do that? Also... Again. The frame of Theo and Tom standing close and Theo and Boris standing close when they kissed, Theo is wearing the same damn sweater.

16 min 58 sec in : Ayyyy Jeffery Wright!

20 min 33 sec in : "He drank a lot", Theo about his dad. Honey just wait up, you will too. (The grilled sandwich and the cute lil smile 😍 also this is the first time since the movie started that Oakes' voice isn't deep.)

23 min 54 sec in : Wizard of Oz poster, I see you!

24 min 19 sec in : I love how Oakes is expressing being caught off guard. Theo knows he did something bad and every time he's dealing with something he didn't expect to deal with, he's like OMG THEY KNOW ABOUT THE PAINTING AND IM FUCKED even if no one knows.

25 min 1 sec in : The glasses made a difference. He went from mature to cute. Angry bird to angry birb.

25 min 44 sec in : Another sweater? Or was this THE sweater of Audrey? (Off topic but Oakes is hella cute. I could murder anyone who hurts him.)

29 min 9 sec in : Pippa doesn't remember or doesn't wanna remember? There was something in her eyes that was hard to read. Also, why doesn't anyone say 'I'm sorry about your mom' to Theo? Do Americans not care? It's weird to see no response when he tells people that Audrey is dead.

31 min 17 sec in : "The Goldfinch, destroyed"? Then why is Theo upset. Good riddance. Oh yeah. I know why. It's Donna Tartt we're talking about.

32 min 39 sec in : Hobie just casually predicting the future. "It's only fake if you pass it on as an original". Theo's like, "noted, gonna do exactly that".

34 min 16 sec in : Why does Theo write like a five year old child? That's toddler handwriting! And omg all the Andy-prom-dress memes are making sense now. (Also did I mention that Mrs Barbour seems more selfish in the film than she does in the book. Like hey I'm putting up with this kid because he helps my kid. He's serving a purpose for me. What the hell.) (How old is Andy anyway? He looks younger than Theo. I think he's different. Didn't grow up like other kids. That was mentioned in the book right?)

35 min 20 sec in : Ayyy Hobie's earring!

35 min 49 sec in : He shopped for himself? Nice! Didn't know kids could shop without adult supervision in the West. (Because they can't in the East.)

35 min 50 sec in : Ayyyy Sarah Paulson! Damn she's hot. How can you dislike her? *heart eyes*

37 min 30 sec in : I can't bring myself to hate Luke Wilson since Skeleton Twins but SHUT THE FUCK UP LARRY! AUDREY DESERVED BETTER. Look at how Larry and Xandra are looking at the place like they're vultures.

39 min 34 sec : They got the airport scene right. STOP GIVING HIM DRUGS WTH IS WRONG WITH THE ADULTS IN THIS MOVIE!

41 min 12 sec in : Ayyy Popper!!!!!

43 min 27 sec in : It just dawned on Theo that he's alone. Oh god. My poor baby.

45 min 12 sec in : Let me take this moment to say that Ashleigh Cummings is pretty. And I finally get why y'all were pissed at the non linear storyline and the weird voiceovers. Guess I'd been prepared for that so it didn't really suck that much.

49 min 30 sec in : I'd imagined Boreo reunion like the Platt Theo reunion. In the day. Dang it. Also... Adult Platt Barbour was not supposed to be good looking? In the book?

55 min 34 sec in : Without context, none of it could make sense. Apologies to whoever didn't read the book beforehand. Crowley fucked this up.

58 min in : Ayyyy Finn Wolfhard! BORIS IS HERE AND IM SO EXCITED IDK WHY

1 hour in : It's such a Boris thing to leave the bag unzipped.

1 hour 3 min 20 sec in : Slumdog Millionaire's Jai Ho (2008) is playing in the background. The only song that I've recognized so far. Wow. Lets me know about the time setting. Nice.

1 hr 3 min in : Someone gif " That cost twenty dollars!" *Stare* "That would have cost twenty dollars!"

1 hr 8 min in : So Boris's room is exactly like I had imagined but Theo's room isn't. Boris just mentioned Kotku though.

1 hr 9 min 14 sec in : Isn't it hella hot in Vegas? Why are they wearing sweaters? Or does drug intake make you more vulnerable to the environment?

1 hr 10 min 15 sec in : Xandra Theo argument : gold. "Cocktail sausages that you like." I wanna laugh in Crowley's face. What was he thinking?? Omg I'm dying.

1 hr 11 min 17 sec in : The slap sound didn't work??

1 hr 13 min 53 sec in : I like serious Boris better.

1 hr 14 min in : The slum house Audrey dream thing was not in the book. That's an entirely new addition.

1 hr 18 min 26 sec in : The Welty Theo scene is awesome. The sound effects work. I feel suffocated. The ambulance noise fiasco is also nicely pulled off. (also Theo's Yellow bag was dirty af then how did it get all clean when he didn't even do anything to it?)

1 hr 20 min 57 sec in : Shhhh Potter.

1 hr 22 min in : Holy shit he got slapped twice!! Ouch! And Larry's audacity to tell Theo to stop with the crying?? Good thing he died. Asshole.

1 hr 25 min in : "You don't tell me a lot of things but that's okay". I see what you did there, Boris. Which was of course, I love you.

1 hr 26 min in : "Act normal" - Theo knows his way around drugs pretty well, doesn't he?

1 hr 30 min in : "No family No friends" line punched me in the face. (Also awww popchik's excuse was the last resort for Boris to make Theo stay.)

1 hr 31 min 17 sec in : That pause after "What do you have to tell me?". You can clearly see Boris struggling to hold something back. Which was of course, I love you.

1 hr 31 min 34 sec in : What the fuck is that music? Oh heyyyyyy they kissed!-- he fucking runs away?? Also what kind of a kangaroo runs like that? (Yes, the taxi driver watched. I don't have to wonder anymore.) (They didn't address why he took the bus instead of flying?)

1 hr 33 min in : I didn't imagine Welty's room like that at all. Also why doesn't Hobie seem happy to see Theo again?

1 hr 35 min in : Longer stretches of one storyline are kinda bearable. From drugs in storage unit to waking up beside Kitsey. We got Vegas and Young Theo. Nice. (Also, who the heck puts jewelry in shoes? Is Theo that dumb? And now I can't think of anything else than Boris piercing his ear for the emerald earring. Tumblr has fucked it up bad.)

1 hr 43 min in : They nailed the Kitsey Theo confrontation.

1 hr 44 min in : Ayyy Ozma of Oz!

1 hr 48 min in : I noticed it before but I wasn't sure... Now I am. Pippa has Welty's ring. On her finger. At all times. (also, is NYC always that noisy? Must suck to walk on the roads.)

1 hr 52 min 23 sec in : They nailed the Theo Pippa date. What's that song playing in the background? I want the name. It's almost like two hours and I still haven't seen Aneurin Barnard once. Why! (Jerome's mentioned in the movie btw.)

1 hr 52 min 51 sec in : Complained too soon. Boris is sat in the dark doing god knows what. My man Aneurin is here!

1 hr 53 min 37 sec in : BOREO REUNIONNNNNN - no don't look at me like that I only watched it thrice.

1 hr 56 min in : Boris saying "it's someone else" with a knowing look and Theo looking at him. The frickin yearning.

1 hr 57 min in : Boris is like you're unhappy, I'm here, we're both rich, let's f*ck. "We could"... What are you suggesting dude he's repressed!

1 hr 58 min in : "you unwrapped it and showed it to me." So many meanings. The heart, the love the soul... Wow. Good for you, screen play writers! ( It's kinda hilarious how Boris got mad at Theo for never quote unquote fucking opening it.)

2 hr 1 min in : I'm calling it. They're going to fuck up the Theo Hobie confrontation. They put it on the wrong time. And they also fucked up the text from the book.

2 hr 5 min 48 sec in : Even Platt is saving his sister's face. Also where did Todd go? Did he never grow up? I wish Mrs Barbour didn't use Theo like she did.

2 hr 7 min in : The frame where Boris is between Kitsey and Theo. Chef's kiss.

2 hr 10 min 54 sec in : *intense music playing* Boris put his leg up on the table and I burst into laughter THOSE ARE THE FAMOUS FUCK ME PUMPS.

2 hr 11 min in : AAAAA THE FOREHEAD TOUCH AAAAAAA (Theo just knows without looking that Boris is close enough to touch? Theo are you sure you don't feel feelings for him?)

2 hr 12 min in : Theo is so worried that I'm not sure if it's for Boris or for losing the painting again. Omg he just murdered a man. Oh god.

2 hr 14 min in : Theo is spiralling. In the movie they imply that Hobie played a part in him attempting suicide. So wrong. Poor Hobie. In the book that wasn't the case.

2 hr 15 min in : The transition of the Goldfinch into Audrey, wow. Also, is it the first time we're seeing her? The movie started so long ago that I've forgotten if I saw Theo and Audrey in the museum. Boris following right after Audrey? That's a subliminal message. Boris is here to rescue y'all.

2 hr 16 min in : No shit Boris is freaking out right now.

2 hr 17 min in : The diner scene. They're both crying. "Happy Christmas, Potter" - which was of course, I love you.

2 hr 18 min in : No don't you dare compare Audrey and Mrs Barbour. Audrey would never drug her child or use him for her benefit.

2 hr 20 min in : Poor kid bumps into his mom lol. I found it funny.

On the whole

The movie was nice if you'd read the book beforehand. The first hour was steak, The second hour was Korean BBQ and the rest of the twenty minutes were minced beef. If you get what I mean. Weird analogy. It could have been much better. But it was really very nice in some places. Most places I'd say.

I didn't like how the pop songs ruined the mood of certain moments. I didn't like how you couldn't hear the conversation over the music playing. For example in the engagement party when Platt and Theo talked. Or in the diner scene.

Both Borises killed the accent thing. They tried their best. Cut them some slack.

Oakes deserves an Oscar for holding up this movie on his smol shoulders. I was shook at how a kid could act that well.

Popchik deserved more screen time. I'm still pissed they didn't add the Popchik Boris reunion. But then they couldn't make it chronological, what were we supposed to expect anyway.

Ansel Elgort y'all. Theo sure improved his handwriting lol. Ansel's writing is nice. He was actually good in this movie. Better than he was in The Fault In Our Stars. The internet is just mean. The critics too. I will never understand the hate.

All in all, it could have been a better adaptation but it didn't suck as bad as everyone made it out to be. John Clownery should be punished nonetheless. Special shout-out to Roger Deakins for making it work.

[moodyvalentinestories]

Secret Santa Gift!!! Wahoo!!!

Hello there @hazelestelle​, it is I, your Secret Santa, bringing you your fic! I wish you a very merry Christmas, and I hope you enjoy your gift!

 Under the Mistletoe

Pairing: Seth Levine x Matt Rodriguez

Summary: When Seth and Matt star in a new Netflix show together, they enter a fake relationship ‘for publicity reasons’. Unfortunately, things are a little more complicated than that...

Word Count: ~ 1,500 words

Notes: Not gonna lie, I'm not super familiar with Matt and Seth’s characters (I used to romance both of them in RCD 1 but it’s been a hot minute) but I hope you’ll enjoy this, anyway. I also included as much from your wishlist as possible... yes, even *Grinch-y shuddering noises* the holiday theme.

Seriously, though, I had a lot of fun writing this and I hope you’ll have just as much fun reading. Happy holidays! 💕🎄✨

And thank you, @andi-the-cat​, for hosting this fabulous Secret Santa exchange!

Seth knew it was wrong of him to hide out on the balcony and ignore his duties as a host, but after the fifteenth guest had mentioned how absoluuuutely perfect he and Matt were together, he simply couldn’t take it anymore. These comments should have made him smile, he should have been absolutely delighted to hear people were happy for them, but they had the opposite effect.

Because it was all fake. Every touch, every kiss, every look they shared – all planned out by their publicists to drive up the hype for their upcoming Netflix series.

Except, for Seth, it wasn’t. At first, he’d thought it was just that Matt had been his celebrity crush before they’d become friends, but the more time they spent together, the more clear it became to him – Seth had fallen head over heels for his fake boyfriend, and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it.

He couldn’t even tell him. They weren’t supposed to break up for at least another two months, and he was certain that Matt would not be comfortable being around him at all if he knew. So it was him who had to suffer. Which, normally, he would have been able to hide well enough, but it was Christmas for heaven’s sake, and all Seth wanted was to snuggle up in front of a Christmas tree with the one he loved, sipping spiked eggnog and exchanging heartfelt presents.

Instead, he was stuck at his fake boyfriend’s mansion, hosting a fake Christmas Party for hundreds of people he didn’t even know, listening to their fake congratulations on his fake relationship. He wished he had never signed that damn contract. If only he could go back in time…

He sighed and looked wistfully at the twinkling stars above him. Maybe, he thought, a shooting star would be so good as to appear and make all his wishes come true. Unfortunately, he had no such luck.

Even worse, he suddenly heard the balcony door open, and he cursed himself for not finding a bathroom or some other place he wouldn’t be disturbed.

“There you are,” the intruder said and Seth felt himself relax as he recognised Jessica’s voice. She walked up next to him, resting her arms on the railing same as him. “I was wondering where you ran off to. What did Pippa say to you? I’m ready to throw hands if she’s done something.”

Seth let out a dry chuckle. “Relax, Iowa. She’s not the reason I’m out here.”

“Oh. Good,” she said with a sheepish grin. “Because a dance battle is one thing, but an actual fight? That woman’s got claws. Like, actual claws. Have you seen her nails?”

The comment took him off guard for a moment, eliciting a laugh, but it wasn’t long until his solemn expression returned.

Jessica furrowed her brows. “If it’s not something she said, then what is it? Why are you out here instead of enjoying your party?”

“It was something she said,” Seth sighed and turned to her. “Kind of. She told me Matt and I make a great couple.”

The creases between her brows deepened. “Isn’t that a good thing? It means people are buying it, right?”

“Yeah, it’s great,” he said sardonically. “I just love how everyone thinks we’re this amazing happy couple.”

“Is that it, then?” she asked, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. “If you want out, I’m sure we can find a way—”

“It won’t end when this relationship ends,” he said and realised, with sudden clarity, that that was the most terrifying part. Even when all of this was over – when he wouldn’t have to pretend to only pretend to be in love with Matt – his feelings would still be there. And he would still have to see him all the time. As a friend. Just a friend. He stumbled backwards and let himself fall into a chair behind him, burying his head in his hands. “Oh God. Oh God, I’m fucked.”

Jessica knelt down in front of him, taking his wrists and moving his hands away from his face so she could look at him. “Seth, you know you can talk to me. Tell me what’s wrong.”

She was right. They’d known each other for such a long time now, and she’d never – not once – betrayed his trust. She’d helped him whenever he’d needed her and, quite honestly, she was one of the best friends he’d ever had. And he needed to tell someone. The words demanded to be heard.

Still, when he spoke, his voice was but a whisper. “I think I’m in love with him.” Confusion washed over her face, then came realisation. And with it a small, fleeting smile that had Seth wondering how she could possibly find his suffering amusing. “This isn’t funny.”

“It’s not that, I’m just…” She shook her head. “It took you long enough to admit it.”

He frowned. “You knew?”

“Obviously,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “Have you seen the way you look at him? Hearts. Literal hearts in your eyes.”

Seth sighed. If she knew, then who else did? “Great. Does he know?”

She ignored his question. “I think you could use a distraction. Sulking out here just won’t do.”

“I asked—”

“Meet me in Matt’s room in ten. I’ll grab some liquor and we’ll get wasted away from everyone else, hm?” She jumped to her feet again. “Gotta go, see you soon!”

Seth wanted to protest but she had disappeared back inside before he could. Sometimes she was a little too eager to offer her help, he thought. It wasn’t a terrible idea, though, and he figured he’d indulge her. He did want to get away from the party, after all. It was why he’d come out here in the first place.

He waited a little more than ten minutes before going back inside and heading to Matt’s room. He was, of course, stopped by a bunch of people for small talk and more compliments, but eventually made it there. But when he opened the door, it wasn’t Jessica that he saw.

“And here I thought you wouldn’t come,” Matt said with a low chuckle as he rose from the bed and made his way to Seth, who stood frozen in the doorway.

He swallowed hard. Matt was not only not who he’d expected to see but also the last person he’d wanted to see. He wasn’t sure what to say, so he spoke the first words that came to mind. “Shouldn’t you be at your party?”

“Shouldn’t you be?” Matt countered, an eyebrow raised. He was standing right in front of Seth now, and he reached out to place one hand on his hip.

Seth turned to see if there was someone standing in the corridor or something but nobody appeared to be around. He turned back to Matt, eyes wide. “W-what are you doing?”

Matt smiled at him, then looked up. “We’re standing under a mistletoe.”

“We are?” Seth asked, his gaze following Matt’s. And, sure enough, there was a green twig dangling above them. Jessica’s doing, no doubt. “We don’t… nobody can see us.”

“I know,” Matt said and leaned in to press his lips to Seth’s softly. He stiffened at first, entirely unsure how to react. Until his instincts kicked in and he began kissing him back. It felt different this time. It felt real.

When they broke apart far too soon – it could have been an eternity and it still would have been too soon – they were both breathless. “What… was that?”

“I believe it’s called a kiss,” Matt chuckled softly. “And I’d say it was a pretty damn good one, too.”

Seth had somehow managed to gather his wits about him. “I know what it was. I’m just… why?”

“How many of those hot toddies did you have?” Matt asked, raising an eyebrow. “Because I wanted to. Honestly, I’ve wanted to for a while. And when Jessica told me you felt the same way—”

Seth huffed. “I should have known she’d meddle.”

“—I couldn’t believe my luck.”

It was then that he realised the full meaning of what Matt had said. He wanted him? No, that had to have been a mistake. Surely, he was dreaming. “But you’re Matt Rodriguez.”

“And you’re Seth Levine,” he said with a shrug. “Do you really think I would have agreed to this relationship if I hadn’t had any feelings for you? After what happened with Alyssa? I was never going to do this again.” Matt shook his head, then let out an amused little laugh that Seth thought was one of the most beautiful sounds he’d ever heard. “And then… then there you were. And the opportunity to spend time with you as… not friends. I knew it wouldn’t be real. I never dreamt it could be. And then—”

He couldn’t finish his sentence; Seth had already yanked him into another kiss. Fiery and desperate at first before it turned into gentle caresses of lips brushing against lips.

“We really should have talked about this a lot sooner,” Seth whispered.

Matt smiled into the kiss. “Yes. Yes, we should have.”

Bonus: Random little edit of Seth and Matt... in definitely not Matt’s house but, shh, we’re going to ignore that.

[mugetsupipefox]

RotG Secret Santa 2019

For @apropoptosis for @rotgsecretsanta! Happy holidays!

I didn’t really understand any of the AUs you requested, but I did my best!

-AU where Pitch is a cryptid, and Jack has made it his sworn duty to hunt him down-

Jack is halfway through packing when he hears the telltale creak of the floorboards outside his room. He immediately knows who it is by the sounds of deliberately quiet footsteps, as if the source is trying to be stealthy, but that’s kind of an impossible task when you’re a man as big as Nicholas St. North. Still, Jack grants him mercy and pretends he doesn’t notice, instead shoving Jamie’s cryptid book into his backpack, and then checking to make sure the batteries in the torch are still good. It might be worth bringing some spares, he thinks, just in case.

In the corner of his eye, North loiters in the doorway. He’s given up all pretences of being unheard after seeing that Jack’s lamp is still on. He looks at Jack, then to the pile of things scattered on his bed, and then to the backpack.

“You are not sleeping,” he observes.

Jack doesn’t bother to hold back his smile as he shoves his power-bank into one of the front pockets – you never know when your phone is going to mysteriously die, after all. “I’m aware.”

North makes that face he does when he’s trying to be Authoritative™, and Jack is being deliberately uncooperative. “Is nearly midnight.”

Jack doesn’t have a bedtime – and it’s one of the better things about living with North; the guy gives him room to breathe, and in return Jack does his best not to disappoint him (because there is literally no worse punishment than having North look at you with his Disappointed Face). Still, he’s normally at least starting to settle down around now, and North’s confusion is to be expected.

That doesn’t stop Jack from continuing to be uncooperative. “Yep,” he tugs the zip closed and slings the bag over his shoulder.

North narrows his eyes suspiciously, and takes in the rest of the room. His eyes land on the pile of laundry on the chair – yet to be put away – and the framed photo of the sister Jack only half remembers on the desk.

“You are not running away,” he concludes, sounding confused.

The thought is enough to put a grimace on Jack’s face. He’s been in and out of foster homes since he was fourteen, and run away from nearly all of them at least once. He’d long since given up hope of regaining anything close to what he’d lost by the time North took him in. And it’s not perfect – not when Jack is trying to compare it to an idealised life he can’t even remember – but he’s long since decided North and his... unusual group of friends are the only family he’ll ever need again. The very idea that he would take it all for granted and run away from the best thing to ever happen to him is absurd.

“And give up Phil’s cooking? Absolutely not,” he says instead of any of this. Because even after a year of living here, he’s still not very good at showing North just how much he means to him. He’s pretty sure North knows anyway, given the soft look that settles on his face.

“Jack,” North says, exasperated and entirely fond, “what are you doing?”

Jack snatches a long, hooked stick from its place against the wall. He’s had it for as long as he can remember. He leans it casually against his shoulder, and grins. “I’m gonna hunt down the Bogeyman.”

North stares at him. Blinks. Stares some more. Some convoluted series of expressions crosses his face before he settles on a frown. “Bogeyman is not real.” It comes out sounding like a question.

But Jack, who has been spending entirely too much time with Jamie, is prepared for this response. “Can you prove it?”

North raises a challenging brow. “Can you?”

Jack pointedly jostles his bag and holds up his phone in his free hand. “Not yet.”

North crosses his arms. He will have to be appeased if Jack doesn’t want to climb out the window – he has completely blocked off the doorway. “How do you intend to get this proof?”

Jack shrugs. “He’s supposed to live in the woods. So I’m going to the woods.”

“In middle of night?”

“Well I don’t think he’s gonna be around during the day, right?”

“You are not going into woods by yourself in middle of night,” North says in his Dad Voice™. And normally it’s enough to make Jack give in, since he rarely uses it and when he does it’s for sensible things like ‘No you cannot burn your homework in backyard we have fireplace’ or ‘No you can’t just go around with knife in shoe you might stab yourself, here I made you holster’.

But Jack has spent all week sharing conspiracy theories with Jamie and he Will Not Be Stopped.

“I’m not going alone,” Jack says, and holds out a hand.

Baby Tooth (Tooth’s ‘pet’ hummingbird, so called because she dotes on her like an actual child) flutters over to land in his hair. He’s bird-sitting, since Tooth has a dental conference or some equally nerdy dental thing going on, and couldn’t take BT on the plane. He’s pretty sure she wouldn’t want him taking her into the woods in the middle of the night to hunt down a monster but eh. What Tooth doesn’t know won’t hurt her.

“Baby Tooth is coming. Right, BT?”

Baby Tooth chirps and fluffs her feathers. Jack decides that’s a yes.

“Jack,” North starts.

“If you’re so sure the Bogeyman isn’t real, then there’s nothing to worry about, right?” There aren’t even wolves in these woods. The worst thing he might run into besides the Bogeyman is a tree.

North very obviously wants to say no. He also very obviously knows that if he does Jack will just sneak out later. “What if Katherine-?”

“Katherine,” Jack counters, “who has a thesis to write?” She’d honestly probably say yes if he asked, and would even drag her best friend along for the ride. The only person in town who likes stories as much if not more than Jamie is Katherine. But she is also super busy with college, and the last thing she needs right now is her foster brother dragging her out into the woods chasing cryptids.

North has no comeback for that one.

“Come on, North,” Jack does not whine. “You know I’ll be fine.” He’s spent several months at a time living on the streets – a fugitive hiding from social services. He knows how to handle himself, and when to pick a fight or run.

“Is not point,” North sighs, because it’s not. It’s probably something to do with responsible parenting or whatever. “If you can find adult to go with you, I will give permission.”

Ah, a compromise. Well, Jack supposes, he can work with this. He quickly opens his contacts on his phone and starts scrolling.

Tooth? No. Dentist thing.

Bunny? Absolutely not. Probably asleep right and will literally kill him if he wakes him up.

Phil? No. Phil is with the Fun Police.

North himself? No, as much as North would probably enjoy it. He’s got that big landscaping project due in a few days, and also has about as much stealth as a landslide.

Sandy?

Oh.

Yes.

Sandy.

The little guy is the quietest person Jack knows. He doesn’t even talk, communicating solely in sign language (which Jack is slowly learning), and emojis. He’s got a mischievous streak to rival Jack’s, and, just for bonus points, Jack is, like, 90% sure the guy is nocturnal.

He quickly shoots off a text.

Jack: Hey, Sandman! Wanna hunt the Bogeyman with me? I’ll bring snacks!

He gets a reply nearly instantly: a thumbs up, and a bunch of emoji faces that tell the story of a man who is very excited for a midnight stroll through the woods. Or maybe just excited for snacks. It’s hard to say.

Jack flips the phone around victoriously so North can see the screen. “Sandy’s coming.”

North deflates in reluctant acceptance, and steps aside so the doorway is clear. “Alright,” he concedes. “Be careful. Call if you get lost.”

They both know that won’t happen. No one knows the Burgess woods as well as Jack does. Still, he appreciates the sentiment, and promises anyway.

Sandy meets him out front ten minutes later. Standing under the streetlight in his bright yellow jumper, he looks like a very tiny star. For a moment, Jack is worried that the way he almost seems to glow will tip off any potential Bogeyman they find, but the fear proves unfounded when Sandy steps out of the light and fades to a dull mustard. He waves excitedly as Jack crosses the grass to him, and then they’re off, walking the short distance from North’s place to the edge of the woods.

They pause at the tree line. Jack gently coaxes Baby Tooth to his shoulder so he can flip his hood up over his white hair, and Sandy takes the opportunity to fish through the backpack. He pulls out a blueberry muffin and starts happily munching away on it.

“Okay, Sandy,” Jack flicks the torch on and shines it between the trees. All he sees are more rows of trees. “Here’s the plan: most of the rumours say he’s supposed to be somewhere beyond the lake, so that’s where we’re going. Keep an eye out for anything out of place. Jamie said that Pippa heard that he lives in a hole in the ground under a rotting bed frame.”

Sandy takes another bite of his muffin and nods.

“You ready?” Jack holds out his phone. “You’re on camera duty.”

Sandy looks up at him, and his expression grows very serious. He quickly finishes the last few bites, wipes his hands on his pants, and takes the phone. Together, they step into the woods.

It’s much darker under the trees; the canopy blocks out almost all of the moonlight. It’s pretty much exactly how Jack hoped it’d be – the darker it is, he reasons, the more likely they are to find the Bogeyman.

The whole thing has been the favourite topic among the kids for weeks. Jack’s heard every variation of the story so far, mostly because Jamie is a walking encyclopaedia of cryptid facts, and Jack has always been an enabler of weird behaviour. For the most part, though, they share three simple facts:

1.    The Bogeyman is a tall humanoid monster

2.    The Bogeyman lives deep in the woods (usually under a rotting bed frame)

3.    The Bogeyman eats kids’ fear

It was really no surprise when ‘Bogeyman’ became everyone’s favourite game. But Jamie isn’t satisfied with just playing pretend, not when there’s a possibility that these rumours are based in fact. And since Jamie can’t go running around in the woods at night, Jack will just have to do it for him.

Somewhere to their left, a stick cracks. Jack swings the torch beam towards the sound, illuminating a patch of grass. There’s no sign of anything that could have made the noise. Baby Tooth hunches, and chirps softly.

‘Maybe a rabbit?’ Sandy signs.

Jack eyes the darkness for any movement. ‘Too loud,’ he replies clumsily, not wanting to talk aloud and give themselves away more than the torchlight already does.

There’s another snap somewhere behind them, followed by rustling leaves. Jack and Sandy spin around, but again there’s nothing to find.

Sandy frowns. ‘A hare?’

No, Jack thinks. Something that loud has to be a lot bigger than a hare. But maybe they’re just a little jumpy. Maybe it’s nothing.

Famous last words, he thinks.

Still, there’s no point standing around wasting time. Whatever that noise was, they can’t see it, so they might as well keep going. He gestures for them to continue, and Sandy moves into step with him.

They head further in. It gets impossibly darker. Eventually, Jack can barely see a few metres ahead, even with the torchlight. The sound of unseen movement follows them the whole time, and for every disturbed bush and broken stick, Jack feels himself become more on-edge. There’s anticipation in the air, so strong that even Baby Tooth is not immune, retreating further into the folds of his hood for safety.

Then, finally, he spots something.

They’ve reached a small clearing, lined with rocks and shrubs and dotted with patches of grass. Despite being freed from the canopy’s shelter, it’s almost darker here than the deepest part of the woods. But what really catches Jack’s attention is the half-destroyed wooden bed-frame right in the centre. And under it, he can just see what could be a hole.

“Sandy,” he whispers urgently. He’d better be filming this!

There’s no response from Sandy. Jack glances back over his shoulder in case he simply missed the movement.

The torch dies.

Baby Tooth presses herself against Jack’s neck. He can feel the rapid beating of her tiny heart.

“It’s okay,” he reassures her. He smacks the torch against his palm, but the batteries are completely dead. “Don’t worry, I brought spares.”

He swings the backpack around to his front, and feels for the zip to the pocket where he stashed the extra batteries.

“Sandy,” he calls again, fumbling with the latch over the battery compartment on the torch. “Sandy? You there?”

There’s still no response; no shifting feet, no tap on Jack’s arm to let him know he’s still there.

“Sandy?”

Nothing. Sandy isn’t there. Have they gotten separated? How?

He finally slots the new batteries into place, and flicks the torch back on. It doesn’t work.

“Come on,” Jack complains, gritting his teeth and rapidly switching the torch on and off. These are brand new batteries! They should be working! “When did my life become a horror cliché?”

“Lost?”

Jack freezes. He doesn’t recognise the voice – soft, and smooth like velvet – but he knows it’s not Sandy. A voice in the back of his mind says, ‘There’s one more cliché for you’. He ignores it, rapidly darting his gaze from one patch of shadow to the next. But the voice echoed, and he can’t pinpoint the source.

“Who’s there?” he calls warily. The hair on the back of his neck stands up. Baby Tooth makes a distressed noise, and he idly raises a hand to soothe her.

The ever-present heavy footfalls that have been following them seem to pick up in number, coming from all sides, but at best all Jack can see are dark blobs, definitely not humanoid in shape. Laboured breathing, like from a horse, fills the clearing.

“Haven’t you heard what happens to children who get lost in the woods?” the voice responds, ignoring Jack’s question.

He whips his head around to where he thinks it’s coming from. At the edge of the trees, one large blob is closer than the rest, and beside it is what looks like the silhouette of a human. Only taller.

Jack tries the torch again. It still refuses to work. Where the hell is Sandy? “I’m not lost,” he says.

“No,” muses the voice. “But your friend is.”

“I guess it’s a good thing he’s not a kid, then.”

The voice hums contemplatively.

Jack’s every instinct is telling him to run. And yeah, okay, maybe coming here was a bad idea. But this is the closest he’s come to a discovery and he’s not about to quit now.

“Who are you?” he tries again.

Their tone turns sharp, maliciously teasing. “Who do you think I am?”

Jack takes in the restless shadows around him, the unnatural lack of light, the bed frame he only got a few seconds to look at, the way his torch still refuses to function. “Honestly, I’m kinda hoping you’re the Bogeyman.”

There’s a pause, then a confused, “You’re... hoping?”

Jack shrugs, regardless that it probably can’t be seen. “I mean, that is the whole reason I came out here.” He squints at the figure’s silhouette, trying to make out any features besides ‘tall’. “So... are you?”

“Do I look like the Bogeyman?” the voice asks, sounding exasperated.

As if on cue, the torch flickers back to life.

Jack wastes no time aiming it in the figure’s direction. It’s a man. Tall, dressed entirely in black so dark he almost seems to blend into the shadows. His skin is so pale it looks grey, as if it’s been years since he’s seen any direct sunlight. The only colour on him at all are his eyes; a bright gold that almost appears to glow.

“Ah, damn,” he mutters. “Just a malnourished goth.” And he had his hopes up and everything.

He turns the torch to the space beside him, and with no small amount of confusion discovers that there’s nothing there. In fact, all of the shadows are gone now that the torch is working. Had he simply imagined them?

The man looks insulted. “I am not a goth.”

Jack gives him a once-over. “If you say so,” he says disbelievingly. “Who are you, then?”

The man sneers at him, and steps back into the darkness dramatically. “Pitch Black,” once again his voice echoes. “The Nightmare King.”

“Ex-theatre kid,” Jack rolls his eyes.

“Some call me a monster,” the voice whispers in his ear. And then, from further back in the trees, “A Bogeyman.”

Ah. So the stories really were based in fact, just super inflated into something fantastical. Their exciting Bogeyman is just some random theatre goth who likes to hang out in the woods. That’s... a little disappointing, actually.

“You’re not very afraid,” the man says, sounding disgruntled and stepping out of the shadows to Jack’s right.

Jack turns lazily in his direction. “Of you? Nah. I’ve lived with people scarier than you.”

The man appraises him, and his expression is once again all sharp eyes and teeth. And wow, his teeth are actually sharp. Maybe he should see a dentist about that. He could ask Tooth.

“No, you’re not afraid of me,” he drawls, amusement returning to his tone. “But you are afraid of something.” He disappears again. “You’re afraid of being abandoned again. Afraid that the new life you’ve built for yourself will come tumbling down around you like so many pieces of a broken dream.”

Jack tenses. How does this guy know anything about that?

“After all,” the voice continues, coming from everywhere at once, “it’s happened before. It’s happening again right now.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jack grounds out.

“Oh? Didn’t you come here with a friend?”

“That’s different.” It is. They just lost sight of each other, is all. Sandy didn’t abandon him. Wouldn’t abandon him.

“Is it?” the man asks softly, once again standing in the shadows front of him. He reaches out, one impossibly cold hand wrapping around the one Jack is using to hold the torch. Jack finds himself unable to move as the torch is switched off. The man leans forward, whispering. “You’d best run home, Jack. While you still have a home to run to.”

Jack frantically steps backwards, switching the torch back on the second he feels the stranger’s hand release him. The light is almost blinding, and he’s forced to squint as he waves it around, searching for where the man has gone now. There’s no sign of him.

Something grabs his hoodie. Jack yanks it back, nearly dropping the torch in how quickly he points it at the cause, heart leaping into his throat.

Sandy steps back with a wince, one hand raised to shield his eyes, the other still holding Jack’s phone.

“Sandy!” Jack heaves a sigh of relief. “Where did you go?!”

Sandy is watching him worriedly. He signs so quickly that Jack only catches bits and pieces of it, but he thinks he gets the gist. Sandy had somehow lost sight of him, and has been looking for the last fifteen minutes, and is Jack okay?

“I’m fine,” he says, although he’s not quite sure it’s true. He’s feeling a little rattled, actually.

‘Did you find anything?’ Sandy asks.

Jack glances back over his shoulder, but there’s nothing to see but vegetation. Even the hole in the ground and the bed frame he was so sure he saw is now gone. “Sort of. There was a really creepy goth here a minute ago, but I wouldn’t exactly call him Bogeyman material.” Even if he did know WAY more than made any kind of sense.

Sandy does not look at all relieved by this. He’s quick to insist they head back, and suddenly feeling very tired, Jack doesn’t fight him on it.

As they leave the clearing, Jack resists the urge to look back.

He doesn’t see the glowing eyes staring after them.

[teatreethot]

UNPOPULAR MUSICAL THEATRE OPINIONS (im so sorry)

Okay first of all, I am a theatre kid. I literally did Phantom Of The Opera cosplay when I was 3 because I didn’t want to make an animal mask with the paper plates. Also, this is MY opinion. So please don’t spam the comments calling me a fake fan. This fandom is already toxic as it is.

- I don’t like Starkid. I’ve watched every Starkid show and honestly none of them are funny or entertaining.

- Hamilton, DEH, Heathers, BMC, BOM, Falsettos and Six are all incredibly overrated. Lemme explain why:

- Hamilton is overrated because Jesus Christ. I’ve listened to Hamilton since they were off Broadway and can I just say, while it is an amazing piece of art and is somewhat educational (literally half of it is fanfiction) the fandom has taken it out of proportions and destroyed it. It’s just gotten so cringy because of people who like it a bit too much. 

- DEH and Heathers are both good musicals. They are not bad okay. I’m not saying that but I feel like they are a bit too overhyped. Especially DEH. ‘Treebros’ is necrophilia and we don’t have that stuff on this blog okay. Again, I’m not saying that I hate them, because the music is good, but there are better things.

- Side note: DEH should not have won Best Orchestrations at the Tonys because The Great Comet was by far superior.

- I hate Be More Chill. I can’t even explain why. The thought of it makes me cringe. I can’t look at the cover of the soundtrack without flinching. I’ve listened to the entire thing and I regret it. I will never like it.

- BOM, Falsettos and Six are all great musicals, but everyone just keeps talking about them. Like yes, I know about BOM, and yes I know that it’s funny and has good music, but it’s not better that Phantom Of The Opera? And Falsettos is good but it is so goddamn overhyped. It was NOT robbed at the Tonys, because ti had a very limited cast and no ensemble so it was pretty obvious that it was going to be lost between things like DEH, TGC and Hello Dolly!

- Side note: I don’t think Hello Dolly! should’ve won all of the things it did but I’ll get to that later.

- Six is good. But it is so annoying. It was great at the start but the only songs that people actually listen to are Don’t Lose Your Head and Don’t Lose Your Head. I’m so sick of it.

- Anyways, classics like Phantom and Les Mis and anything Lloyd Webber or Sondheim are far superior to modern day musicals because they encompass the true spirit of musical theatre.

- The 2017 Tonys.

- The 2017 goddamn Tonys.

- I’m just gonna go and say it. Hello Dolly! did not deserve all of it’s awards. DEH did not deserve Best Orchestrations, which rightfully belonged the TGC. Speaking of TGC, that is a show that was truely robbed. Lucas Steele should’ve won best featured actor, not Gavin Creel. He literally danced, sung, acted and played advanced violin all at the same time. And the set of TGC was basically stairs and platforms, so it was more of a challenge. He deserved it an I will stand by that until I die.

- Mike Faist didn’t deserve the nomination. He was barely on stage and barely a character.

- Falsettos wasn’t robbed. Don’t even start me.

- I CANNOT HANDLE LAMS. OR JAMILTON. I JUST CANT.

- I you want to know why I can’t handle Hamilton ships (Lams and Jamilton in particular) than DM me and I’ll give you my 700 word essay because damn.

- I’m going to get attacked for this but here is a list of actors/actresses that are widely overrated in my opinion (I’m not saying that they’re bad because they are obviously amazing but I don’t really connect with them): Mike Faist, Phillipa Soo, Lin Manuel Miranda, Ben Platt, Daveed Diggs, Barret Wilbert Weed, Ben Frankhauser (i spelt his name wrong i am so sorry), Gavin Creel, Andrew Ranelles, Jonathan Groff, Laura Osnes (butchered her name too i think?), Willemijn Verkaik, Desi Oakley, Mariah Rose Faith.

- I don’t really like Mariah Rose Faith’s voice and while she is honestly amazing, I feel like she isn’t right for Regina George.

- One of the best shows to ever grace the Broadway stage is Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812.

- I’ve read War and Peace over 4 times. I know the plotline. TGC covers it perfectly. The acting, the actual stage and how it is so interactive, Lucas Steele, the way that all the ensemble dances, sings and play and instrument, Lucas Steele, Lucas Steele playing the violin. Like damn. It is the true meaning of robbed.

- Lucas Steele deserves so much more recognition.

- I like Denee’s Natasha better than Pippa’s. They are both incredible singers who blow me away everything they open their mouths, but I feel like Denee really shows Natasha’s character. Pippa does the same with Eliza.

- Lucas Steele and Reeve Carney recognition month. Their falsettos can blow me into next Spring.

- The ‘and Peggy’ joke was never funny. Watch me offend the whole Hamilton fandom with that.

- Lams isn’t or wasn’t real. Sorry.

- Say what you goddamn want, but I will literally never like the Prom. I have been called homophobic for not liking it so many times and I really am not. I just don’t like the music, I’m not saying that I’m against the LGBT community,

- I have watched all of Glee (and a secret deleted bootleg of Darren Criss’s Hedwig run) and I don’t like Darren Criss. There. I said it.

- Here’s a list of underrated actors/actresses: Leslie Odom Jr, LUCAS STEELE, The entire Broadway cast of Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812, Rachel Tucker, Jessie Mueller, Eva Nobelzada, REEVE CARNEY, Christy Altomare.

- I don’t like how LMM was actually in Hamilton or In The Heights. He can write songs, sure, but he’s not the best singer. I feel like Javi should’ve been on the cast recordings. Then I would be more inclined to listen to them.

- These are only the ones that I can think of without having to actually think (this sentence makes no sense) so I’m sorry if I offended you. Please remember that this is just my opinion.

[ivory-in-rapture]

The Beautiful by Renee Ahdieh: A review

I had to take a break from writing this review. It was four pages of angry salty rant and all over the place but now I’m calm so I can review the book in a logical manner.

Name: The Beautiful

Author: Renee Ahdieh

Genre: Historical fiction, fantasy, paranormal, vampires

Category: Young Adult

Rating: 2/5 stars

The beautiful is a historical romance, a young adult novel with themes of vampires, horror and mystery.

Summary: “It’s 1872. (wow really?!) Meet Celine. A young French seamstress who is moving to the new world (specifically New Orleans) to start anew away from the monsters of her passed. But then a series of crimes begin to terrorize the citizens of New Orleans just as Celine begins to fall for this super-hot, emo, sexy boy with a really weird edgy attitude. And obviously, it seems like this love-interest is the murderer. (of course!)”

                                                   ****************

I have a lot of problems with this book. I’ll start with the good though. The story is very beautifully written. Ahdieh has a lot of poetic, scenic descriptions and all the emotional descriptions are grand and lovely and beautifully expressed. The descriptions of the city of New Orleans are very beautiful. In fact, my favorite part of the story was the exploration of this new town and its customs. I just wish there was more of that in the actual story. (Aaaaaand there ends the nice things) In fact, while the story tries very hard to be diverse and open-minded, we only really discover the very…not-diverse side of New Orleans. I would have loved for the story to get into the other cultures that really define New Orleans as a fictional landmark but it was the same as reading about the rich of Paris.

Well failed to be nice there. Anyway, I have condensed my disappointment in this book down to three points:

1. This was not a good vampire book

2. This is not really a vampire book

3. Vampires aside, this book is actually not good.

I’ll explain. Expect spoilers.

1. This was a bad vampire book.

A lot of readers might have gotten into this book knowing nothing but this book had been hyped for over a year as the “resurgence of the vampire genre in YA lit”. Everyone in the YA community was talking about how this book is going to be innovative and breathe new life into the dead trope and it was subversive and I got really hyped!

I used to love vampire books (until I got tired of the cliche plots.) I have read many vamp books and after reading the description and beginning of this book, I thought I knew just how this book would be different.

I thought Celine was the murderous vampire terrorizing the city and she was actively seducing the guy so he’d get blamed while she can get info about his personal life to further the illusion and also so she can have deniability if she gets caught!

I was wrong. This book actually didn’t do anything innovative in its vampireyness. The story is about a “strong female character” in the most cliché and transparent way you can imagine. Celine takes stupid, illogical risks without any sensible reason because she’s just “so brave!”. She makes mistake after mistake and for some really lousy reason, she becomes the object of the vampire’s obsession. Everyone she meets falls in love with her. She’s just…a really cliché vampire-genre heroine. Just like its genre, this trope of protagonists is outdated now. There’s this push to make vampire stories less creepy by making it so the woman seems so in control and powerful but news flash: Vampires are creepy! It’s not gonna be a vampire story if it isn’t creepy! That’s the whole point! That’s why the trope still works for adult novels but it’s just not working for YA anymore. YA has moved on to better things. All this said, this book?

2. It’s not even a vampire story!

Despite the excessive marketing of this novel, this isn’t actually a vampire book. This book is not interested in the horror, the mystery or even the aesthetic of vampire stories. There are vampires somewhere in there but it’s not really important. The word isn’t even mentioned until 140 pages in and the characters don’t really ever talk about it either. We get every mystery resolved before we really get to stew in it. There’s really no shock or smart plot twist in it (oh there are plot twists, they’re just not smart). We get these long, boring chapters from the perspective of the vampire/killer which just ruins the whole allure of it. This killer is such a snooze! He was so boring that I’m pretty sure I zoned out during his chapters and missed some heavy exposition. The victims of the crimes are skeleton characters we barely care about, too. I mean, I’m pretty sure we learn the name of one victim after he is killed! The stakes are below ground in the story. The story is actually about two humans… reluctantly falling in love...and there are some vampires in the background besides the boring killer, who really should join a theater group and get his angst out there instead of on his food. We only really get some vampire-related action at the very end but by that point, I was already so exhausted by the boring plot and the terrible main character that I was too irritated to care. And that brings me…to the third point

3. This was just a really bad book.

I am sad. I really liked The wrath and the dawn (I’m actually questioning that these days too…) but I have yet to read something else by Renee Ahdieh that I’ll enjoy. It’s possible that we just don’t work; her writing and my reading taste.

But I really think this book was bad. Like I mentioned before, this book has both a plot problem and a character problem.

The plot first: The story doesn’t make sense in a lot of places because the character doesn’t operate on a logical wavelength! It’s terrible at building tension; mysteries get solved before they really sink in and the explanations are not good enough. There’s no cohesive rise and fall to the plot. It’s mostly grunt work; we move from the main character arguing with someone in one scene to her arguing with someone else in another scene. All around, there was just so much argument in this book! Celine is such an outspoken woman that she just can’t leave anything well enough alone. She has to fight with everyone over everything. It was exhausting and she argued over the most mundane and ridiculous things. She is probably one of the worst characters I’ve ever had to tolerate throughout a book! She never actually argued about anything that mattered. It was always about her pride and just for the sake of being stubborn. I think she even says at some point that she didn’t disagree with the character but she just had to argue with their point.

On top of that…Celine is not like other girls. She’s different. She actually thinks she’s better than the other girls she meets on her journey. She acts like she doesn’t want a husband but then goes and falls for the most eligible bachelor of the town after three meetings. (One just a glance, the second an argument…and the third, another argument.”) It’s instalove and it’s convoluted and stupid. By the end of the book, she’s so in love that she’s shrieking over the body of the guy, she’s almost had sex with him and she already knows everything about him because they had one nice conversation while they walked about being mixed race.

This brings me to the character issue: The story tries too hard to be diverse and edgy but it just comes across as fake and pretentious. Every character has one or two “diverse points”. This one is a lesbian, that one is half Chinese and the other is half African. The main three have diverse points of their own which they ‘bond’ over and that was actually one of the few saving graces of the story but as a whole, the book chooses to be about the most boring characters of the story! Others might disagree but even the meek friend, Pippa, who we are supposed to look down at in the story for being a good and nice girl, is more interesting than Celine. If the story was actually about the lesbian vampire side character, this book would have actually been something special. The love interest is so boring? He’s like a nice guy in the most innocent ways possible. A pioneer of consent and equality in 1870s, Bastian is treated as devil-incarnate because he beat up a creepy dude that one time! The book keeps saying he’s a bad boy…but then like he’s one step away from joining a 2010s women’s march! It’s just almost laughable. I don’t have anything to say about him. He’s just a really handsome, nice but bad boy looking guy?! I don’t know.  

Okay, I think I’m done. I could nag more but I’m going to cut it here. This was still salty but oh boy! You should have seen the first draft. There was a lot of all caps!

Anyway as a whole, I think this book was a total failure because it failed in every sense. It failed to be true to its marketing promises, it failed its genre. The plot was poorly thought out and uninteresting and the characters were not compelling or sympathizing.  

I’m not going to read the sequel. Even though the cover looks gorgeous and we might have a main vampire character. I just dislike Celine too much to tolerate more of her irritating narrative voice!

I really hope someone reads this.  Thank you if you stayed through this. I know it was long.

[itsybitsybatsyspider]

If You Give a Troll a Taco

Part 1/?

Summary: Jamie Bennett knew that a lot can happen during the night. He just never thought that he could make friends with a half-troll and aspiring wizard with tacos. 

Notes: takes place 4 months after the Battle of Arcadia and 6 years after the encounter with Pitch Black. Jamie is 15 years old and still believes in the Guardians. Jamie has been taught by the Guardians how to defend himself and he sometimes helps them with problems that they have or just as a helping hand. And Claire is learning magic from Merlin. She has a new staff now, and i’ll reveal the powers of that one in later chapters. Switching perspectives.  

warnings: minor swearing

word count: no clue. I’m just writing this as i go. 

ENJOY!!

               All Jamie wanted to do that night was sleep. But no, he had to study for his damn science test in the morning. Why did he have to have science as his very first class of the day? Why did the school have to give tests so early? Why did he have to be so bad at it in the first place? Why didn’t he listen to Jack about skipping science till sophomore year? He banged his head on the table and let out a groan. A loud thud resonated through his room and Jamie winced at how loud it was. He didn’t want to accidentally wake up his mom, or worse... Sophie. He was thankful when he heard no sound come out of their rooms. Heaving one last sigh he sat back up in his chair and spun around. Overlooking his room as he twirled around. 

Over the years, it had changed drastically but a few things still remained the same. Like the positioning of his bed, the drawing he made when he was nine with him flying on his sled, the desk stayed in the same spot and so did his bookshelves. But other than, everything was different. A lot was different these days. It was kind of hard to remember the way things were in the times when Jamie had still been a kid. Oh, how he missed those days. Spending hours outside with his friends, playing with Abby, his greyhound, and watching cartoons with Sophie. Sometimes he wished he could go back to those days. But alas, Father Time said no when he had asked, and what Father Time says goes. The encounter had left him a little disappointed. But what could Jamie do about it? Now, he barely had much time to go outside, with his job, chores, homework, and school getting in the way. He still hung out with his friends, but it just wasn’t the same anymore. Abby died a few years ago when he was in seventh grade, and it had really hurt him. He had loved that dog and he knew that there’d never be another one like her. But he was bitterly happy for her. She was getting old and it was her time to go, but that didn’t make the ordeal any less sad. And as for watching cartoons with Sophie, well, let’s just say that Sophie got a lot more annoying than she had been six years ago. So hanging out with her frustrated him a bit. Jack had mentioned that once he got older, he would connect with Sophie more and care for her more than he did then; but that time still hadn’t come yet. So yes, his life was different. And sometimes he wished to have a bit of excitement one more time. Just for old times’ sake. But his wish hasn’t been answered yet. 

Jamie shook his head, trying to clear his mind and gather his thoughts as he kept indirectly procrastinating. He glanced at the clock next to his textbook, his shoulders sinking in defeat. It was 1 in the morning. He was going to fail his test for sure. And on that note, he closed his book shut, gathered his papers and notes and proceeded to put it all into his backpack. But while he was doing so, a clash rang through his room. Jamie jolted in surprised and almost yelped. Heart beating loudly in his chest, he tried to calm himself down, but to no avail. Then he heard talking, or more like scolding. 

“C’mon, Zulg! Don’t do that! You know we can’t do that! What do i keep telling you?” Someone, a boy, scolded. He sounded to be about Jamie’s age, but Jamie couldn’t tell exactly. There was something off about his voice that just didn’t seem right.

“To not dig through the metal cans.” another voice said. This one sounded gruff, as if the person who owned it was gargling rocks. 

“Because?” the boy said. 

“Because it can risk someone seeing us.” The rocky voice replied, sounding meek, obviously ashamed that he got caught. 

Curious, Jamie crept towards his window, careful to not make any noise. Even though it was unlikely that they could even hear his footsteps, he still thought it better to be as quiet as possible. He thought of different scenarios as to how this would be a normal conversation, to anyone, but he couldn’t come up with a single one. Why would someone be going through his trash anyways? Or not want to “risk” someone seeing them? It was probably just a couple of hobos right? But none of that was even close to what it truly was. He wouldn’t have expected in a million years, to see talking, living stone walking through his back alley. Jamie’s jaw hit the floor. He had never seen anything like them in the six years he had been around magic! What were they? They were all different colors, and had what looked like fur on top of their bodies in differing locations. Strange grooves were carved into their “skin�� that somewhat resembled tattoos and some of them had pointed ears or horns curving out of their heads. Jamie was stunned to say the least. None of the Guardians had ever mentioned such a thing like them!

Two of them in particular, caught Jamie’s attention. One was a normal looking girl, about his age, with raven hair and a white streak going through it; she wore a casual purple t-shirt, some cargo capris, hiking boots, and a black backpack. She would’ve passed for a regular high schooler if it wasn’t for the glowing purple bracers and greaves she was wearing on her arms and legs.

 But compared to the person she was walking beside, she looked ordinary. He was tall. That Jamie knew for sure. He looked like one of the stone-beings, but also looked too much like the girl to be one of them. He had blue “skin” and long ears that peaked out from his nest of hair. But the horns were the most distinctive part of him, that clearly said he wasn’t human. Jamie could already tell, by the way he held himself, that he didn’t wanna mess with him. He stood and walked the exact same way Bunny or North did. Like he knew how to handle himself or fight at a moment’s notice. The “boy” wore a large sweater and those baggy pants that were elastic at the bottom. What were they called again? Oh, right! Joggers. He was wearing joggers. But they seemed to be just a bit small on him, as if he was in a rush while he was getting them. He wasn’t wearing small bits of armor like the girl was, which confused Jamie a little bit. But he still seemed just as ready for an attack. He watched as they slowly began to make their way past his house. 

Jarring out of his stupor, Jamie realized that they weren’t gonna be there for long, if they kept walking at their pace. So as quickly and quietly as he could, he walked to his bed stand and unplugged his phone that was charging; he went to the window and quickly opened the camera app, taking a swift picture of the stone-beings as they walked away. But he forgot to turn his flash off.

Oh, shit! 

Jamie ducked down underneath his window right when he heard a girl’s voice say. “What was that!?” 

shit shit shit shit shit shit please think it was nothing, please think it was nothing, please think it was nothing!

“Well, whatever it was, it wasn’t good. We have to keep moving. Let’s find somewhere to set camp.” the boy from before said. Nobody said anything after that. It was quiet, and for a few minutes Jamie was too anxious to peak over the windowsill again in case they were still there. But after about twenty minutes of sitting on the cold wooden floor, he gathered enough to courage to check outside. There was nothing. Jamie breathed a sigh of relief and got up off of the floor. 

Shuffling to his bed, he laid down beneath the cool crisp sheets and thought about what he saw. He’d have to tell Jack about this the next time he visited Burgess, and of course he’d tell his friends at school tomorrow. This was more exciting and important than some silly old science test. He could tell that it was the start of something, he just didn’t know what. But one thing was for sure. He wouldn’t be getting a lot of sleep tonight.

“Guys, i’m telling you! There were like stone creatures behind my house last night!” Jamie said to his friends while they were sitting together at lunch the next day. 

“Jamie come on. When was the last time something like this happened? It’s been years since we’ve seen that many myths in one place, and you’re telling us that you’re the only to see them?” Claude whispered skeptically to Jamie. They were all a bit wary when Jamie told them what he saw last night. To them, it just sounded like a dream from a conspiracy theorist freshman who stayed up too late and had one too many Redbulls. So of course they were gonna be a bit cynical to Jamie’s claim of seeing stone-beings in his backyard. 

“The only reason i saw them was because they were going through my trash cans and the noise startled me while i was studying for today’s science test!”

“You don’t think it could’ve been just a few hobos that were going through your trash?” Pippa suggested. She trusted Jamie when it came to these kind of things, but based on how late it was and how much studying he did, she knew it was enough to make anyone hallucinate. 

“No, Pippa, there weren’t any hobos! They were creatures made of stone! Simple as that!” 

Cupcake grunted in annoyance. “Pictures or it didn’t happen.” Jamie went to grab his phone. “And by ‘pictures’ i don’t mean that blur of a screen you call proof.” Jamie’s hand fell. And so did his confidence. 

“Why won’t you guys believe me? Has the last six years really changed you that much?” Jamie asked. His friends didn’t answer him, which only made him feel even better about the situation. 

“Like Cupcake said,” Monty began, “Pictures, or it didn’t happen.” 

Jamie’s face scrunched up in mild disgust. He couldn’t believe what his friends were saying right now. Why were they doubting him all of a sudden? Is this gonna be a repeat of what happened six years ago? Cause Jamie really wished that it wasn’t. “You know what? Fine! I’ll get pictures. And I’ll have ‘em by tomorrow. See you guys later.” He said as he packed up his stuff, threw away his lunch garbage, and walked out of the cafeteria. 

He was determined to get those pictures, and he didn’t really care if he had to pull another all nighter to get them. And besides, it probably wasn’t going to be any more dangerous than taking on Pitch Black, or sparring with North or being the target of one of Jack’s pranks. Right?    

Boy, this was a bad idea. Jamie thought as he walked through the streets of Burgess. What was i thinking? He began his search right after school, and it was 9 o’clock at night right now. He had been walking around Burgess for six hours, and nothing. Nothing to show for his hard work and nothing to show his friends for tomorrow. Jamie grunted in frustration and kicked a rock. 

“Ugh, this is hopeless!” he exclaimed to no one in particular. “How can i not find a group of walking rocks the size of cars that shuffle through garbage cans in the middle of the night! Honestly.” He kicked another rock. “Might as well go home.” he mumbled to himself. Shoulders sinking in defeat, Jamie turned around and began his trek home. He was on the other side of Burgess, and the only thing separating him from his house, was Lionel Park. Usually, the park was closed at this hour, but on more than one occasion Jamie would walk through it during a rough night or when Jack was visiting. The park was a good place to have a conversation no one could hear, and it made it easier than talking in his room. Jack could get claustrophobic easily and sometimes his mom would hear them talking when she walked past Jamie’s door. Or more like, he’d hear Jamie talking to “himself”.  So they both thought it better to just chat in the park. It also helped Jack get more believers. 

The park was quiet, as it always was at night, and the only sound that could be heard were the crunch of Jamie’s footsteps, crickets chirping by the pond, and the sound of leaves rustling in the wind. It was dark, as September nights always were, and the shadows of trees adorned the ground, creating mesmerizing patterns making the shadows look dark and deep enough that if you made one misstep, they’d swallow you whole. The cold September wind bit into his nose and ears, making him shiver as he walked. You’d think that hanging around a winter spirit most of the time would make you used to the cold. Apparently not. The sky was clear that night, and Jamie looked up at the stars as he kept going along his usual path, mentally pointing out the constellations he recognized. Another wind blew, and his nose and ears were nipped at again. The leaves rustled, his feet crunched the dead leaves beneath his feet. It was quiet. 

Hold on.... Quiet?

Jaime froze. His eyes wide, body stiff and tense, but not from the cold. Ready for something to happen. A year after the events with Pitch, North took it upon himself to teach Jaime a few things, just in case Pitch showed up again wanting revenge on him. Soon, Jack joined in, and then Bunny too. Eventually. The only problem, was that they taught him how to use swords or boomerangs, or staffs. Barely any hand to hand. So Jaime was worried. He kept his ears open, and listened for any small noise that gave away his supposed attacker. When he heard nothing, Jamie began to walk again, slower, this time. Eyes and ears still open. A twig snapped and Jamie froze once more. 

shink!  

Standing barely a foot away from Jamie, was a gleaming silver sword, buried halfway to it’s hilt and glowing menacingly in it’s silver light. His heart pounded inside his chest and his blood roared in his ears. Every instinct he had was telling him to Run Away! but he couldn’t move! His mind went blank and he couldn’t think... all he could hear was the roar of a beast he had never heard of before, and the flash of silver light before he squeezed his eyes shut, and waited for.....................

[hamiltontrashaccount]

Promise Me: Part 5 (Anthony Ramos x Reader)

Hey everyone! I know its taken me a while to get to this update and I’m sorry! But I’ve been pretty good with my writing lately, so the updates will come out a little more often (at least until school starts, which is why I’m rushing to write everything now lol). But yes, I hope you all enjoy :))

Pairing: Anthony Ramos x Reader, Platonic Phillipa Soo x Reader

Word Count: 4468

Warnings: Cursing (like always, Idk how to not curse), some NSFW, underage drinking

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7

MASTERLIST

“What?”

“The elevator hasn’t moved.”

“Oh no.” You said, looking around the small space as if you could find the answer on the floor.

“Holy shit, is the elevator stuck?” Anthony shouted. “The elevator can’t be stuck!”

“I don’t know! This has never happened before.” You shouted just as loud.

Anthony walked over to the doors and started trying to pry them open. You started jumping up, trying (unsuccessfully) to reach the hatch at the top.

“Stop jumping. You’re going to make the cords snap!” Anthony said after he gave up with the doors.

“I don’t even weigh 145, and you’re worried that the cords will snap under my weight?”

“Well we already have bad luck being trapped in this elevator. What makes you think we won’t get more bad luck?”

“Anthony Ramos Martinez, I’m pretty sure my small ass isn’t going to break the fucking elevator.”

“You never know!”

“I do know!” You screamed, stomping your foot on the floor, earning a warning glance from Anthony.

Anthony shook his head. “I can’t believe we’re stuck in here.”

“We’ll be okay. We just have to call the authorities.” You said calmly, taking out your phone.

No bars.

“Well, we’re fucked. No bars.” You showed Ant your phone. “Now we have to wait until someone comes.”

“Fuck that.” Anthony said before he started shouting, his voice cracking. “Help! We’re stuck! Help us!”

Suddenly the elevator doors opened.

“What are you screaming about?” Phillipa asked when the doors were completely open.

“Oh my god, Pippa. I’ve never been happier to see you.” Anthony said, trampling Phillipa with a hug.

“Oh okay.” Phillipa laughed before hugging him back.

“The elevator wasn’t stuck. We just didn’t push the button.” You realized.

Anthony pulled back from his hug with your sister.

“We didn’t? I could have sworn we did.”

“No, you started whining about the cold and none of us pushed the button.”

Suddenly you and Anthony just started laughing. Phillipa laughed too, although not as hard as you and Anthony.

When your laughters started dying down (almost 10 minutes later), you both looked up to see tears in each other’s eyes.

“Are you crying?” You asked through your giggles.

“I was scared.” He defended. You shook your head and let out a couple of more giggles before stopping.

“Are you both sane now? Can I go upstairs and sleep?” Phillipa asked.

Anthony nodded his head. “Yeah, sorry Pippa.”

“It’s fine. Thanks for walking Y/N home.” She said, opening her arms out for a goodbye hug from him. He hugged her, gave you a pat on your shoulder and left.

“Did you both seriously think you were trapped in there?” Phillipa asked while stepping into the elevator.

“It didn’t move! What were we supposed to think?”

Phillipa only laughed and put her arm around you.

Since it was late, you and Phillipa decided to just watch a couple episodes of Gilmore Girls, then went to bed.

The next morning, you woke up to a bunch of texts in yours and the boy’s group chat.

Daveed and Oak were making fun of you and Anthony for the night before.

“How in the hell did you guys find out anyway?” you asked in the group chat.

“Pippa told everyone right as she got in.” Anthony explained.

“What a fake.” you said, referring to your sister.

“Y/N you should come visit us at the theater. And bring food b4 you come” Daveed texted.

“Only if you guys pay for it.”

Daveed, Oak and Ant all sent “Deal”, and you stood up to get ready.

You ordered Chinese food for you and the boys.

When you stepped into the theater, you could see everyone’s head turned. They could smell the food, you guessed.

Daveed suddenly came bouncing towards you.

“Thank you for this, you can leave now.” He said, grabbing the food then shooing you away.

You just stared at him until he smiled and put an arm over your shoulder. Because you were much shorter than him, he had to bend pretty far in order to properly wrap his arm around you.

“We’re all in our dressing room.” Daveed said, guiding you to the room.

Once you stepped foot in there, Ant and Oak both cheered.

“The food is here!” Ant shouted.

“Yes she is.” You mumbled than you shook your head. “Wait, no. That’s not what I- No! I swear that came out wrong I- Daveed stop taking a video of me! I didn’t mean to say that!”

Daveed put his phone down and, while still laughing, asked, “What did you mean to say then?”

“I-I- ugh! I don’t know, but shut up and pretend like that didn’t happen.”

“That was hilarious, Y/N.” Oak said, patting you on the shoulder before sitting back down on the floor and grabbing his food from the bag.

You sat next to Ant, who was also sitting on the floor (opposite of Oak), and crossed your legs.

“I- I didn’t mean what I said.” You explained to Ant. His face was red as he nodded his head, telling you that it was okay.

You didn’t see Daveed give Anthony a wink, making him blush even harder (if that were possible).

Whatever conversation the boys were having before you got there continued. You laughed, not giving your own commentary to the topic, but laughing at the ones the boys gave while eating your rice.

“Woah is that a tattoo?” Anthony asked, pointing at your thigh. His fingers gently touched your skin, and you immediately got goosebumps.

“Yeah, I got it before I went to Europe.” You lifted up your shirt, revealing the elephant that was on your inner thigh.

“Why an elephant?” Daveed asked, an egg roll stuffed in his mouth.

“Phill and I loved elephants when we were younger. So I got one so that she would always be with me.” You blushed. “God that’s cheesy.”

The boys laughed. “It’s cute.” Anthony said. “Do you have anymore?”

“Yeah, I have one on my foot, another two on my back, one right here,” You pointed underneath your breast.  “And one on my stomach.”

“Ooooh, let’s see them.” Oak said, shoving a wonton in his mouth.

You put down your own food and lifted up your shirt then angled yourself to reveal the ones on your back. The names Eliza and Natasha were written below your shoulder blade.

“Eliza for Eliza Hamilton, and Natasha for Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet?” Daveed asked.

You nodded your head, then turned back around to show the one on your stomach. It read In the Heights in bold letters.

Daveed gave you a face saying “Really?”

You giggled and shrugged your shoulder. You dropped your shirt so that you could show the one on your ankle. All you had to do was lift down your sock. The tattoo read Libertyville.

“Gotta remember where you came from.” Oak commented. You nodded your head while smiling, then grabbed your food to start eating again.

“What does the other one say?” Anthony asked, eating some noodles.

“It says mine and Phillipa’s name.”

“Nice.” Anthony said.

The boys had another hour before showtime, so you all decided to play a game: Uno.

You and Oak decided to be on the same team, while Daveed and Anthony were on the other.

You stood up to swtich to your team’s side then the game began.

Daveed was getting annoyed with you and Anthony. If he had to watch you two give each other more flirty looks again, he was going to shoot himself. If he had to hear you tw giggle at each other’s mistakes one more time, he was going to shoot you both.

“20 minutes till showtime!” somebody called from outside the room.

“Oh thank God.” Daveed groaned, standing up from his seat on the couch.

“If I had to hear you guys giggle at each other one more time I was gonna kill myself.” Oak added. Daveed was glad he wasn’t the only one annoyed by the two.

“We’ll leave the room, so you guys can do whatever to let this shit out of your system.” Daveed said, walking out of the room, grabbing the remnants of his costume from the seat in the corner.

Oak did the same, and soon you and Anthony were alone in the room.

“We weren’t doing anything right-”

“Yeah, no we weren’t!”

“They’re just being assholes-”

“That’s exactly what they’re doing.” You said, ending the back and forth between you and Anthony. You both sat in silence before Anthony decided to speak.

“Maybe I should finish getting dressed.”

“Yeah. You do that and I’ll leave.”

“No, you can stay. If you want.”

“And watch you get undressed?”

“I only have to change my shirt.” Anthony shrugged.

“As appealing as that is, if Phillipa wonders where I am, she can’t find out I was in here watching you take off your shirt.”

Anthony nodded his head. “You’re right. I don’t want her to kick my ass.”

You laughed and walked out of the room, closing the door as you left.

You stood backstage, keeping whoever wasn’t on stage occupied. By Act 2, Anthony was pretty much the only one you were consistently with. At one point, you guys were too busy laughing for Anthony to notice that it was his time to go on stage.

As you watched Ant die on stage, you started crying. That entire scene never failed to make you shed tears. As the scene ended, Anthony bounced to where you stood, off to the side of the stage.

“Are you crying?” he asked, a teasing lilt in his voice.

“No,” You wiped your tears from your face. “I’m sweating. It’s hot as fuck back here.”

Anthony laughed and he stood beside you, watching Lin and Phillipa mourn over Anthony in It’s Quiet Uptown.

“I think Phillip is my favorite character to play.”

You turned to look at him. “Why?”

“I don’t know. He’s just so innocent and trustworthy. The way he just assumed Eacker would be respectable and not shoot him. It’s just… Really commendable, you know?”

Your eyes starting tearing again, thinking about how poor Phillip only deserved the world and all he got was shot in his stomach. “I know.” You said, nodding your head.

“Oh jeez, are you crying again?” He laughed.

“No. Like I said, it’s hot.”

“Yeah sure it is.” Anthony said sarcastically.

The both of you watched the show in almost complete silence, only sharing commentary at the most interesting moments.

When the show was over and everyone was out of their costumes and ready to head home, Daveed invited you out with his a couple of his friends, Oak, Ant and Renee among the group.

As you were about to accept, Phillipa butted in. “It’s really late, so we should be heading home.”

“Sorry Phill, my bed time isn’t until, like, midnight. And it’s about 10 now, so...”

Phillipa didn’t respond, just gave you a look from the side of her eye, telling you that you should decline the offer.

“I’ll take a raincheck on this one, Diggs.”

Daveed nodded, said his goodbyes then left.

Once he was gone, you turned to Phillipa. “Why did you do that?”

She looked shocked. “Do what? It’s late, we should go to sleep. Tomorrow’s a busy day.” She hiked up her bag higher on her shoulder and started walking.

“What are we doing tomorrow then?”

“Steven and I are going out tomorrow.”

“Are you seriously inviting me to your date? With your fiance?”

“You like Steven.” Phillipa defended.

“That doesn’t mean I want to go on a date with you guys!”

“You know he wouldn’t mind.”

“I’m not going on a date with you tomorrow Phill.”

“You’re not- ugh, fine. What are gonna do tomorrow then?”

“Stay home, sleep, eat food, sleep.”

“You see that’s not productive.”

“Oh and being a third wheel is?”

“You’re not going to be a thi-”

“You of all people should know that being the third wheel isn’t fun.” You said as a taxi finally stopped to let you and your sister on.

“I- wha- That was once! I was only 15! And I didn’t even know I was being a third wheel!”

“Doesn’t erase the fact that you were one.” You said, raising up your hands in surrender.

“God! Okay fine, you don’t have to come. You win, happy?”

“Very.”

Back home, you and Phillipa got ready for bed and went to sleep. You stayed up a little longer, scrolling through instagram before you finally felt tired enough to fall asleep.

The next morning you woke up pretty early. Phillipa already left, her and Steven obviously wanting their date to last the whole day.

Since it was only 10 in the morning, you decided to just laze around, doing small chores. You collected up your dirty clothes from that week so you could walk to the laundromat across the street. When you grabbed your phone, you noticed a text from Anthony.

“Wanna hang out today?” he asked.

You typed out a yes and asked when and where.

“Anywhere you want you sexy thang ;)”

“Wow” you sent, with a crying laughing emoji behind it

“Ha I know, you're probably drooling rn”

“im really not though but we could meet up at Mulligan’s?” Mulligan’s was a bar that was a couple blocks away from the theater where Phillipa worked.

“Sounds great. See ya in 10?”

“make that 15, I dont have appropriate clothes on”

“Alright, see ya”

You quickly got dressed in jeans and a tank top that you had bought months ago but never got a chance to wear. You only put on mascara then walked outside your apartment building to hail a cab, completely forgetting about you laundry.

I could do it later after we hang out. You thought to yourself.

Only five minutes late, you step into the bar and look around for Anthony. You found him sitting at one of the few tables in the bar and walked to the table to sit across from him.

Anthony smiled wide when he saw you.

“Hey!” He said. He stood up and took out your seat for you. When you were sitting is when he finally sat back down in his own seat.

You smiled at him. “What’s up?”

He shrugged. “I don’t have anything else to do today so I called you up.”

“Umm, okay so I see I’m second rate. I’ll just leave then.” You joked.

Anthony shook his head and laughed. “Chill. Anyway, I thought you’d be pretty cool to hang with.”

“‘Pretty cool’.” You mocked. “So I am second rate?”

“Always.”

“Asshole.” You laughed.

The waitress came by and put a cheeseburger down on Anthony’s side. She looked to you, her eyes unfriendly.

“Do you want anything?” She asked in a bored voice. She rolled her eyes when you took a second too long to answer.

“No, I thought I was just gonna sit here and stare at my boyfriend eat.” You answered, earning a baffled look from Ant. He opened and closed his mouth before deciding to keep quiet. You didn’t notice the light tint of pink on his cheeks, or the smile that was spreading across his face. He liked you saying the word boyfriend.

“He’s your boyfriend?” The waitress said. “You managed to snatch him up?”

“Yup. Are you jealous?”

She rolled her eyes. “Please. If I wanted to, I could take him from you.”

Anthony snorted. She looked at him before looking back at you.

“Not with those shit stains on your shirt.”

Her eyes darkened with anger. “It’s food.” She walked away, mumbling under her breath.

“Boyfriend?” Anthony said.

You looked up. “She liked you, and when she thought I was moving in on you she got pissed at me. I had to mess with her.”

Anthony laughed. He grabbed the knife beside his plate and cut the burger in half. He handed you one half.

“What if I didn’t want a burger?” You asked, taking a bite out of it.

“You, not eat a burger?” Anthony said. He snorted. “Not likely.”

“Fuck you.” You mumbled with food in your mouth.

“Besides, she’s not coming back over here. Ever again. And I also wanted to go restaurant hopping. I’ve never done it.”

“Oh that’s so fun!” You said. “We did it all the time in London, there are so many restaurants over there. But I can’t.”

“Why?” Anthony said after swallowing whatever food he had in his mouth.

“I have chores to do.”

He shrugged. “I’ll help you with them, what do we have to do?”

“First laundry. Then after that I was gonna go shopping cause none of my clothes really fit me anymore.”

Anthony was nodding his head. “Alright, alright. What else?”

“Umm… I was also gonna check out the NYU campus.“

That made Anthony turn his head. “Why?”

“I kinda want to go back to school. Or at least take some classes so I’m not behind when I decide to go back full time.”

He nodded his head. “Alright, that’ll be fun.”

You both finished your meal quickly and stood up. You started taking out some cash before Anthony stopped you and took out his own cash. He paid for the meal (a guesstimate, since the bitchy waitress never gave you guys your bill), leaving no tip for the waitress and put his hand on the small of your back, guiding you to the door.

“Ant, I can pay for my own meal, you know?”

“It’s cool.” He said, shrugging one shoulder.

“Stop being nice to me, oh my god.”

He smiled and put his arm around your shoulder. You were glad he did, because the air was colder than when you first went out.

“Where to first?”

“My apartment so I can grab my clothes.”

After grabbing your laundry, you and Ant walked to the laundromat. Directly in front of the laundromat was a hotdog stand and Anthony bought one, for you and him.

“This counts as restaurant hopping right?” He asked.

“Yeah, definitely.”

Your laundry didn’t take long, since you didn’t have too much clothing. After dropping off your clothes, Ant led you the opposite direction of where you wanted to go.

“Uhh, Ant? The mall is that way.” You said, pointing behind you.

“There’s a clothing shop a couple blocks from here. You’ll like it.”

The walk was short, as he’d promised, and you soon stood in front of a store called, “European Fashion.”

“Nice.” You said. “Is this just because I went there?”

He nodded. “Pretty much, yeah.”

Inside, the store was normal. Nothing special, just regular clothes that you would’ve found at the mall.

You tried on a few outfits. You stepped out to ask Ant his opinion on one of them only to find him gone.

“Anthony?” You called out.

The lady who owned the store stepped from around a rack of jeans. “Your friend stepped out.”

“Oh, okay.” You said. “Thanks.”

You stepped back inside the dressing room and changed back into your own clothes.

You weren’t worried, cause you knew Anthony would never leave you. But you did wonder where he went.

By the time you had all your clothes picked out, Anthony stepped back into the store.

“Your girlfriend was looking for you.” The owner of the shop said again.

“Thanks.” He said, smiling. He came up to you and you noticed he had two small cups in his hands.

“What are those?” You asked, placing your items on the counter. The owner started ringing everything up.

“Italian ice.” He said, handing you one and making a spoon appear from his back pocket.

You thanked him and started eating it. It was almost $100.

“Do you have enough?” Anthony asked, staring at the total like it was gonna form into a human and attack him.

“Yeah.” You said, unsure if you actually did. Miraculously, you had 4 20’s, 3 10’s and 2 5’s in your wallet. You paid the owner and soon you and Anthony were walking back out.

Taking another quick trip to your apartment, you and Anthony then decided to go to another restaurant.

“After this, we’ll go to NYU.” He said.

“Nah, I think we can do that next time. I really just want to eat food right now.”

Anthony gave you a look.

“What? Don’t look at me like that. I like food.”

Anthony rolled his eyes.

“Okay, but next time we’re seriously going to go check out, alright?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, Mom.” Anthony rolled his eyes again, but let the subject go.

The rest of the afternoon was spent restaurant hopping. Everyone continuously confused you and Ant as boyfriend and girlfriend but neither of you corrected them. With the way you two were acting, it was no wonder anybody thought you were together.

Any time the other would do something, you both would giggle and laugh until people gave you weird looks. Any time you could, you snuggled up close to him and tucked your head underneath his chin.

And the thing that made everyone believe you two were together was something neither of you noticed the other doing. Every time you smiled, Anthony stared at you as if you were sent from heaven above. And every time Anthony would start talking, you would stare at him and only him, a smile playing at your lips.

When you and Ant were at your fourth restaurant, someone walked up to your table. It was an old friend from high school.

“Oh my god! Y/N! How have you been?” he asked.

“Hey, Andrew! I’ve been great, you?”

“Good too, college sucks, you know?”

You laughed. “Can’t relate.”

“Lucky.” He said. “Hey, my frat is having a party tonight at 8. You should come over, bring your boyfriend too.”

“Oh… He’s not my boyfriend.”

“Oh really?” Andrew said, now giving Anthony a flirty look.

“Sorry, man. Don’t bat for the other team.” Anthony said chuckling and putting his arms up in surrender.

“Ah, I’m just messing with ya. I have a girlfriend anyway. But yeah, you both should come.”

“Yeah, definitely.” Anthony answered. You looked at him. He only shrugged one shoulder.

“Yeah, I guess we’ll go. Where is it at?”

Andrew gave you the address. “Knock twice on the door and that’s how they’ll know not to charge you guys.”

“Alright cool. See ya man.” You said. Andrew hugged you, gave Ant a fist bump then left.

You looked at the time on your phone. It was currently 7:30.

“Well, I guess we could start walking there. By the time we get there the party will have started.”

You nodded your head. For the fifth time that day, Anthony paid for both your meals.

“Ant!”

“I can pay it. Just relax.” He said. Once outside, Anthony took out his phone and typed in the address.

“Its this way.” he said, pointing to the left. The moment you both started walking, Anthony put his arm around you and you responded by snuggling closer to him.

Halfway to the party, you and Ant decided to take a cab the rest of the way. When you finally got there, at 8:27, Anthony paid for the cab. You gave him a dirty look and he just took your hand. You both walked to the door and you knocked twice.

The guy at the front let you both in, free, and you stood by the doorway.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’ve never been to a frat party.” You said.

“It’ll be fine.” Anthony said. He gripped your hand tighter and you walked deeper into the house.

The music was pretty loud and the entire house was dark too. Eventually you and Anthony reached the kitchen, where you saw Andrew talking to a girl.

“Hey, it’s Y/N and her boyfriend!”

Andrew’s girlfriend came up to you and hugged you. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Same to you.” You said. She hugged Anthony next. When she pulled away, she took a good look at Ant.

“You’re right, babe. He is hot.”

“Told you.” Andrew laughed, putting an arm around her. “Beer is in the fridge, and there might be some vodka bottles floating around somewhere. Have fun, and if you guys need anything, let me know.” He gave you a wink before walking away.

You walked to the fridge and grabbed a beer for both you and Anthony.

“Well, this’ll be fun.” He said, opening his beer and taking a sip.

Fun it was.

About two hours later, you were completely wasted. An hour after you, Anthony himself got wasted.

There was, in fact, lots of vodka bottles floating around the frat house, and you and Ant drank your fair share of it.

With now no inhibitions, you and Ant flirted freely.

“Blue looks so fucking amazing on you.” Anthony said, grabbing your hips and pulling your dancing body closer to him.

“Everything looks amazing on you.” You giggled. Another guys walked up to you both, asking you to dance with him.

Anthony gave him a dirty look and said, “If you touch her, I’ll break your fucking hand.”

The guy walked away, finding another girl to dance with almost immediately after.

Even though he couldn’t, Anthony kept trying to bring you closer to him. You were practically humping on his leg, but you were so drunk you didn’t even notice.

A new song started playing, and it was much slower and sensual than the last few songs. The few people on the dance floor who didn’t have a partner left.

You and Anthony stayed dancing, slowing down your rhythms until your grinding matched the song.

Anthony’s mouth trailed slowly up your jaw before his mouth reached your ear.

“It's 2 o'clock... I'm driving home.” Ant sang into your ear. “Texting you... tryna wrap your legs around my face.” His hand started trailing up and down your arm. His other hand moved from your waist, lower and lower until it was grabbing your ass, pulling you down more onto his leg, until the only thing that you were grinding on was his leg.

“But have no fear… Cuz' what we did… Scratches on my back… That good love.” Anthony continued to rasp into your ear. He bit your ear, making you inhale quickly at the sharp pain. Anthony’s lips started moving lower, kissing your neck then kissing whatever other skin he could find.

“You tweet but you ain't calling… And now I'm feeling horny… I got no patience.” He said, before moving his face up. Your noses were touching, your breaths mingling. Anthony’s lips moved closer to yours, until they were barely touching.

“I got no patience.” Anthony sang once more before his lips covered yours.

[jazzyyyjones]

Jealousy

*Daveed Diggs x reader *Word count: 1206

Summary: You and the rest of the original cast are hanging out at Daveed’s apartment for a little cast party when somehow, Oak gets the dumbest idea to play seven minutes in heaven, and now you’re stuck in a closet with Groff and Daveed doesn’t like that very much and basically iT GETS WILD K

A/N: Okay, so I’m ALMOST finished with part two of Broadway, but of course, I ended up getting writers block right in the middle of writing it and now I can’t seem to think of any good ideas for it and then this fic happened. Requests are open and I’ll try to get Broadway out sometime this week! Love you guys :)

Warnings: Um the usual ,,, cursing and love confessions whooP

masterlist

“I can’t believe we’re doing this.” You mutter as you take off your most precious possession, a diamond necklace your mother had given to you when you were younger, and put it into the beanie that Oak was holding out to you with a smug expression.

“Relax, Y/n/n,” Groff teases as he puts his watch into the beanie, using your childhood nickname that you despised. “Yeah,” Daveed snickered, sitting on the other side of you. “It’ll be fun.” You scoffed, blowing your hair out of your eyes as you turned to face Daveed and Groff with an incredulous expression. “Yeah, for you guys.” You huffed, crossing your arms and trying to ignore the blush that decided to make an appearance on your features when Daveed slung an arm across your shoulders.

Of course, that blush didn’t go unnoticed to Pippa and Lin, who simply looked at each other and smirked, before turning away and facing you two again.

Eventually, everyone had put an item into the basket and now Jazzy was drawing an item from the beanie, and when she finally pulled it out, everyone groaned when she pulled out Anthony’s bracelet, “no fun,” Renee complained, shaking her head before laughing a bit at the irony of Jasmine pulling out her boyfriend’s item.

“Whatever, let’s go,” Anthony laughed, leading Jasmine to the closet. “Don’t be too loud, you two! We’re still here!” Lin whooped, snickering a bit when you leaned across to smack him gently on the shoulder.

Seven minutes later, both Jasmine and Anthony walked out, Anthony with a smug expression and Jasmine with her cheeks tinted pink and disheveled hair. Oak whistled, winking playfully at the two.

“Alright, Groffsauce, it’s your turn.” Oak called out, handing the beanie to Groff so he could draw something from the beanie. He then pulled out your necklace, which made him immediately stand up and bow in your direction, using his fake British accent he used every night, “M’lady,” he teased, holding out his hand for you to take.

Of course, you didn’t notice Daveed tensing up when you took his hand and allowed him to lead you to the closet. “Don’t go crazy!” Anthony laughed, high fiving Lin and Oak, whereas Daveed just crossed his arms and muttered bitter words under his breath, which made everyone turn their attention to him and laugh.

“What? You don’t like it that your girlfriend is in the closet with Groff right now?” Lin cooed teasingly, pinching Daveed’s cheeks which made him groan and slap Lin’s hands away. “Shut up, she’s not my girlfriend,” he pouted, and it was obvious that he was upset.

“This is a stupid game anyway.” Daveed muttered, running a hand through his wild hair. “Chill out, D.” Renee rolled her eyes, “you’re acting like a child. You know they don’t like each other romantically and nothing’s gonna happen.” Daveed sighed, he knew it was true, but there was still this lingering feeling in him that wouldn’t go away.

After the seven minutes were up, you and Groff walked out, Groff sporting lipstick on his cheeks and forehead, which made everyone whistle playfully. “I’m never cleaning my face again, my love.” Groff sighed playfully, pretending to swoon as he took your hand and batted his eyes. You both sat down and you cupped his face, “I’ll love you forever, my dear.” You pretended, trying not to crack.

Daveed couldn’t take that and immediately stood up, muttering something about grabbing a drink and storming off, his fists clenched.

You frowned, removing your hand from Groff’s and looking at everyone, “what happened?” You wandered, making everyone shrug, yet you knew that from the expressions they all had, they knew. But you didn’t push and only sighed, getting up to go find the man and ask him what was wrong.

You found him, pouring some vodka into a shot glass and chugging it immediately, slamming the small glass cup onto the marble counter. “D?” You wandered, moving towards him and gently placing your hand  on his bicep, frowning up at him. “What’s wrong?”

He shook his head, rolling his eyes and muttered something, though you couldn’t understand.

This went on for a few more minutes before you got annoyed, pulling away from Daveed and glaring him. “Daveed, look at me right now.” He groaned, setting the glass he was ready to drink down and looked at you with a stone cold expression.

“What’s up with you? You were fine before me and Groff went into the closet.” You ranted slightly, “and now- now you’re acting like a child! And I don’t know how to help you!” You threw your hands in the air to make it a bit more dramatic, narrowing your eyes at him.

“God, it’s nothing, Y/n. Just leave it alone.” He growled, shaking his head.

“But it is something.” You argued back, stepping a bit closer to him which made him narrow his eyes as he took a shaky breath.

“Fine, you really want to know?” He cracked, making you nod your head. “I-I, I love you,” he laughed, no humor lacing his voice as he spoke. “This is so cheesy and stupid but when I saw Groff pull your stupid necklace out of that stupid beanie, it was the worst feeling in the world.” He continued. “And I know you would never date him and he doesn’t like you romantically but it’s still an awful feeling-”

“Daveed, shut up.”

He stopped, looking down at you with a hurt expression when you pulled his face down to meet yours, pressing your lips to his.

It took a few moments for him to reciprocate but he finally did, wrapping his arms around your waist and pulling you up onto the counter, kissing you as if he stopped, you’d be gone.

You both eventually, and reluctantly, pulled away to catch your breath, smiling breathlessly at each other.

When you both went back, hand in hand, you were greeted with this scene~

“Who the hell put a deck of cards in the beanie?” Oak groaned, frowning at the deck in his hands which made Lin sheepishly raise his hand.

“What? Did you seriously think we would make out? Nuh uh. We’re gonna play Go Fish for the next seven minutes.”

“Why do you even carry a deck of cards with you?”

“You never know when you’ll need them.”

“You’re so weird.”

“I know.”

[strongenoughfoundation-blog]

Chinese Food and Confessions (Lin-Manuel x Reader)

Summary: You’ve been Lin’s friend for years and after a bottle of wine and some pressing questions you learn he’s in love with someone.

Word Count:1,904

Warnings: I’m getting increasingly more cliche so that’s a good one to start with. Drinking. Swearing.

A/N: Did anybody order a lame “you said you were in love and I’m too dense to realize you meant with me so I’ve been moping all week” fic? No? Well here, have this one on the house. Someone feel free to stop me at any time. You’re gonna keep getting these halfhearted ideas until I finish battling this one fic I’m working on. It’s angst. I’m bad at writing angst. I have a blurb I’ll post later to make up for how lame this one turned out though. ________________________________

“C’mon, you have to tell me something! There has to be something I don’t know about you.” you pushed, swinging your legs up onto Lin’s lap. His hand wrapped around your calf, adjusting your placement. The wine in your glass sloshed around but managed to stay where it was - your couch eternally grateful for that.

“I think you know just about everything about me at this point. This game seems kind of moot.” Lin chuckled at you.

“Just about. But not everything.” you countered and he paused to think of something that might be enough to satisfy your sudden pressing need to know every deep, dark secret he had - which wasn’t many. His hand absentmindedly traced patterns on your leg as the thought.

“Alright, I have something but there’s conditions if I tell you.” Lin posed and you frowned.

“What kind of conditions?” you asked carefully.

“I’ll tell you my deepest, darkest secret and you can’t ask for any more information than what I volunteer.” Lin stipulated and you groaned.

“You know whatever it is I’m gonna wanna ask something!” you protested.

“Those are the terms.” Lin shrugged and you groaned again. He watched in amusement as you began your internal debate.

“Fine, but this better be good.” you huffed.

“I’m in love.” Lin admitted and your jaw went slack. “I have been for years.”

You opened your mouth to speak and closed it about a dozen times as you processed this information. About a hundred questions became immediately pressing, one above most.

“Who?” you couldn’t help but blurt out.

“You look like you’re malfunctioning.” Lin laughed. “I told you no questions.”

“That’s unfair. That’s unreasonable. That’s unjust.” you cried.

“Do you have any more synonyms or have you run out at three?” Lin teased, clearly having fun with all of this. You, however, were not. You were absolutely reeling. 

Was it you? What if it was you? Is that something you wanted? You decided fairly quickly that the answer was a definitive ‘yes’. What if it wasn’t you though? Could you live with the notion that Lin, your Lin, was in love with another girl? Could you live in peaceful coexistence with a girl who had somehow captured Lin? More importantly, could you meet this girl without immediately asking her how she did it. What had you done wrong that she had done right?

“I can’t believe you won’t let me ask questions.” you pouted.

“Unkind? Thoughtless, maybe? Prejudice just doesn’t fit.” Lin listed off a few more choice synonyms for you. “You really did take all the good ones right off the bat. That’s probably why you kick my ass at word games.”

“You’re really not gonna give me any more information other than ‘I’m in love and have been for years’?” you asked incredulously, drawing Lin’s attention back to the situation at hand. He looked back at your questioning eyes with an even expression as he seemed to debate what more he could tell you.

“One question. It can’t be ‘who’ or any other identifying question.” Lin finally granted. You wracked your brain for the one question you would want to know above all others. 

“What’s she like?” you finally settled on and Lin’s eyes seemed to soften. You chalked it up as nothing more than an involuntary response to the thought of this girl. 

“She’s more than younger me could’ve ever dreamed up. She’s so intelligent, sometimes when she speaks it just blows my mind that she’s coming up with these things. Her ideas and her thoughts are incredible and hearing it in that voice.” Lin shook his head incredulously. He didn’t even have to pause to gather his thoughts as he continued. 

“That wit seeps into her humor. I mean I know some witty people but no one has one liners like her. And she can always tell when I need a good laugh.” Lin smiled fondly and you pretended not to feel sick. “She’s kind, generous as long as it’s not her food you’re asking for. She’s confident but she should be. When she walks into a room it lights up. She’s more than I can capture with words, but god, have I spent years trying.”

Your mind was ready to tune him out if he kept going but he seemed to know that. Or maybe he was just too caught up in the thought of her to remember he was there with you. It didn’t matter anyways, you were busy running through all the faces of the girls you’d ever seen in Lin’s life. Maybe it was the barista, god knows he spends enough time in the cafe. Maybe it was Karen Olivo, she was all of those things and more. Maybe it was Pippa, but she was engaged but that was less likely. 

“She sounds wonderful.” you resigned and Lin's eyes drifted back to you. The buzz from your wine had quickly worn off.

“She is. I’ve dreamed up hundreds of ways of telling her but not one of them seems right.”

“Sometimes a sincere conversation is better than any romantic gesture.” you advised, ready for the conversation to be over. He nodded thoughtfully.

You week was going less than great. Nothing monumental happened - you weren’t fired, you weren’t struck by lightning, at least not yet. But so many little things piled up that you were beginning to be overwhelmed. 

Monday someone had bumped into you on the street just as you got off the train, which tended to happen. But they had somehow managed to spill the entire contents of your cup all down the front of your favorite work blouse. There wasn’t a drop that landed anywhere other than the white material you were wearing. You might’ve been more impressed by the sheer luck of it if you hadn’t spent the entire day with a setting stain and smelling like a latte.

Tuesday ran long, you had spent the entire day bouncing from meeting to meeting with no breaks in between. You were starving and exhausted and wanted nothing more than to sit in silence for a few hours - or days. You somehow had managed to pick the train car with the spontaneous mariachi band, and to make matters worse the train broke down mere stops from your home. By the time they had gotten the train up and running you had a pulsing headache from the band who saw the delay as their time to shine.

Wednesday was nearly okay until your boss pulled you into his office for an emergency meeting. That proposal you thought you had til the end of next month to finish? He needed it on his desk by tomorrow morning. 

Now it was Thursday and you were running on little to no sleep from the urgency of your work and the only person you wanted to call was in love with someone else. You had dialed his number countless times during the week before you cleared your screen and returned to your day. The last thing you needed was for Lin to tell you he had finally confessed to this girl and it was all thanks to your advice. With the way your week was going you were half expecting his wedding announcement in the mail. 

You collapsed onto your bed after one coffee spill, train delay free day. You were hungry but you wanted nothing more than to have one decent day this week and the only way to ensure that that day was today was if you immediately went to sleep. So, you changed into pajamas and got ready for bed. 

You were in the bathroom washing your face when you heard your phone ring and you couldn’t help but to let out a loud, frustrated huff. Of course someone needed to talk to you at this very moment. Maybe it was your boss to tell you that he’ll leave a box for you to pack your desk into tomorrow. Or maybe it was an ex-boyfriend that had a few more choice words to call you. You threw your towel onto the counter before stalking out of your bathroom and snagging your phone from the bed where you had left it.

“Yeah?” you answered annoyed, not bothering to check who might be calling.

“Hello to you too.” Lin chuckled and you ran your hand down your face as if you could physically wipe your annoyance away.

“I’m sorry, I’ve had a bad week.” 

“Come open the door. I have Chinese food.” Lin persuaded and you hung up as you trudged from your room to the front door. You slid the chain from its place in the lock and tugged the door open. You couldn’t even get a word out before Lin launched himself at you, pulling you into a tight embrace. You cuddled further into him and he rubbed your back soothingly. Then your stomach growled, ruining the moment. Lin laughed. “C’mon. I knew you hadn’t eaten.”

“How would you know that?” you mumbled, following him into your kitchen.

“I sensed it. Just like I sensed you were having a bad week on Tuesday but you never reached out.” Lin eyed you, piling containers onto the counter. He pulled down plates.

“I didn’t want to ruin your week too.” you gave a half-assed lie. It was partially true. Mainly, you didn’t want to hear how great his week might’ve been.

“You could never ruin anything for me.” Lin assured you, gesturing for you to dish yourself up.

“What about Summer of ‘69?” you recalled a memory from the beginning of your friendship, already feeling slightly better that he was even there.

“Okay, so you can ruin one thing for me.” Lin corrected and the laughter that bubbled from your chest, surprised you. “Do you want to tell me about it?” 

“Not really. Why don’t you tell me about your good week so I feel better?” you moved to dish yourself up food finally.

“Who said I had a good week?” Lin arched an eyebrow.

“Didn’t you?” 

“No, not really.” 

“Oh.” you said dumbly. “Why?”

“I thought you wanted to feel better.” 

“I just don’t want to think about how shitty my week has been.” you clarified.

“I was going to confess this week but I couldn’t because she ignored me all week.” Lin admitted and your heart clenched. Instead of replying you moved into the living room. He dished up his own plate before following after you. It had at least given you some time to form what you hoped to be less than bitter sentences. 

“She’s stupid.” you blurted. Sure, you were aiming for ‘less than bitter’ but you had always been a pretty bad shot.

“You don’t even know who it is.” Lin chuckled.

“If she stopped talking to you, it says it all.” you shrugged. Lin sighed, watching you eat. It was silent for a few moments before you looked up to meet his eyes.

“It’s you.” he confessed and you dropped your fork. It clattered loudly against the plate. You were quick to set it all down on the coffee table to avoid any more possible mishaps. 

“Are you sure?” 

“Did you really just ask that?” Lin laughed incredulously, setting his plate beside yours.

“I mean,” you struggled to figure out what you were trying to say. “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure. I’ve been sure since you spilled my own coffee on my notebook that day in the cafe.” Lin recalled fondly. “You gave me yours in an attempt to make up for it. It, much like you, was too sweet for me.”

“Stop, don’t say anything else cute. I’m already having a hard enough time forming complete sentences.” you frowned and he laughed again. You wanted to spend the rest of your life hearing that sound and knowing you were the cause of it.

“Alright, I’ll just tell you in simple terms. I love you.”

“You love me.” you repeated and he nodded. “I love you too.” 

“That’s a relief.” Lin chuckled, pulling you towards him. “May I?”

“Please do.” you agreed easily and he pressed his lips to yours. 

Tagged: @overcaffeinated-and-underslept 

[sunshinemiranda]

King of the Lost Boys - Anthony Ramos x Reader (Chapter 1)

Summary: Anthony, or Pan as he is known, is the leader of the messy gang of Lost Boys. He takes a particular interest that borders on feelings, and yet remember: love? He has never heard of it. 

Warnings: Alcohol! Swearing! Probably drugs! They’re Hoodlums™! 

Words: 6,451 (listen...kill me)

A/N: Day 3 of the Write-A-Thon already? Oh my goodness. So when I started this Peter Pan AU, I had no idea how it was going to go. Apparently, that meant this huge mess. This will be a three part series! Thank you to @hamilbye for letting me use her as a wonderful wingwoman in our story! Enjoy. 

The Lost Boys were a charming band of beautiful boys from the wrong side of town. They were the people your parents ushered you away from on the sidewalk, the boisterous laughs in the town square, the ones who spray-painted “the world is ours” on the water tower. They were the bad kids, the ones who smoked cigarettes when the lunch bell rang, the ones who barely made a celebrity appearance in class, and the ones who the students both idolized and feared. They called themselves the Lost Boys because that’s who they were: perpetually wandering the earth, purposeless, wild and free, made of ivy plants, cigarette smoke, sunshine, whiskey and worn leather jackets.

The first of the characters on the sidewalk is a grinning Lin-Manuel, affectionately nicknamed Slightly for his slim build and incredible talent at snatching wallets. He is the most confident of the bunch with an easy gait and a grin that seems to exude solidarity and assuredness. The only people allowed to call him Lin-Manuel are his parents. At school, he goes by Lin and if you break that rule, he’ll break your arm.

Next up is Daveed, also known as Diggs or Nibs. He is the personification of black satin fabric: smooth, beautiful to look at, and utterly desirable. His voice is a weapon of choice when it comes to coaxing a woman and there is no hiding the fact that he is the most popular of the gang, if the survey at school is any indication. A playboy in any context, it’s not odd to see him with a rotation of girls on his arm. There is never one for Diggs; it stems from his inability to make decisions, though he’d never admit it out loud.

Oak is just behind, his codename a source of embarrassment and status. Tootles, they call him, and anyone who giggles a little too hard will receive a glare hot enough to burn a forest down. He is the tallest of the Lost Boys and the strongest. There is no one in their right mind who would willingly attempt to enter a ring with Oak, but despite his size, he is the least violent of the group. In many attempts of gang wars, he is the first to move towards diplomacy and is known for his smooth, persuasive logic. Oak is the ultimate judge.

Chris is slow to follow but does so anyway. Curly, as the boys know him, is quiet and almost always attached at the hip to Slightly. The two had been throwing punches for each other since preschool. This boy is the one who speaks the least and yet secretly adores singing, though he’ll never perform for anyone. Always frowning, it seems, with a cigarette constantly drooping from his lips, Chris is the most mature of the boys. However, that isn’t to say he pulls away from the fights. Rumour has it that it takes Chris a single punch to knock a man’s front teeth out.

The Twins are next, two young men who are together more than they’re apart. Leslie and Jordan, brothers who spend all their time together, are prone to speaking scarily in unison and finishing each other’s sentences. The most mysterious of the group, not many people know their origin or background. One year, they simply appeared, like two sibling rabbits from a hat, blended seamlessly into the leather-studded background of the Lost Boy group and had been a part of that misshapen family ever since.

Pippa, or Tink, is the only female of the group. She was an innocent girl gone typically bad; dyed her hair, picked up a leather jacket and a cigarette and hadn’t been the same since. Respect throughout the school for the only girl in this band of boys grows daily and she has proven herself more than worthy time and time again. She is the right hand man, the second lieutenant, and the girl who is always by the side of the cavalry boy who leads this band of rebels. Tink seems to exude glitter; it is everywhere at once, in her hair, between her toes, underneath her fingernails. No one knows where it comes from.

The best is saved for last. At the front of the group is the leader of the pack, Anthony, or as the entire school whispers, Pan. His name is said with a mixture of awe and fear for this is the boy who resembles the stars, and speaks with a voice softer than a fire’s touch in the middle of winter, and who is built like an angel, whose each and every freckle must be a kiss from the sun. He is the boy who all the boys want to be and the boy who all the girls want to hold. Pan is flawless; he is the epitome of perfection, knows how to hold a cigarette just so, knows how to ruffle his hair to the side just slightly, knows how to snatch your heart with one crooked smile. Pan, the world murmurs, and everyone wonders how such an angel fell from the sky. He must have done something and everyone marvels at it. A boy like that cannot be evil, can he? But the truth is there, hidden in plain sight. It is in the creases of his leather jacket and in the scent of smoke and alcohol on his white t-shirts. This boy is dangerous. Beautifully so.

So now you know who the Lost Boys are, and now we can begin our story about a Pan who fell in love and nearly self-destruct at the thought. Take heed. It is not the gang that makes this boy threatening. It is the ease with which everyone falls in love with him that makes him dangerous.

Not every weekend promised entertainment and a memory that would follow you till the sun came up, but this one was. After a half hour of convincing and another half hour of getting ready, the night had become a prosperous oyster to be cracked open with coaxing hands to receive a shiny pearl. Nat, the one needing all the convincing, seemed to have an allergy to this kind of shellfish.

“How the hell are we even gonna get into this place? We’re minors, remember.”

Sidled up to the mirror in a violet dress, Nat was pouting as she pressed a mascara brush through her eyelashes. You, ready twenty minutes earlier, had been reduced to waiting outside the bathroom, eyes rolling every time Nat fretted.

“What do these fake ID’s look like to you? Just plastic decoration?”

“Oh, shut up. I get nervous. You know that.” She pulled away, looking at her reflection with a satisfied grin before looking over to you. “You look hot.”

A dove grey dress was hugging your body, black heels strapped to your ankles and you responded with a wordless smile. Rumours of an amazing bar that seemed to go easy on the ID process and went hard on promises of alcohol had all but set your school on fire. High school kids, when sniffing out rum, were better than freaking basset hounds. Tonight, with no classes the next morning and plenty of time to be hung-over, was the perfect opportunity to drag a girlfriend out to party.

“Ready?” You questioned, glancing at your phone before shoving it into your clutch.

“Yup. Let’s do this.” She grabbed her own purse before leading the way out of the small house your busy parents had left behind. A taxi had been idling outside and as you slid in, the smell of leather seats gave you a bit of a thrill. Tonight held promise. It was heavy in the air.

Belle Rêve was a messy, badly secured club in the sketchier part of the downtown area. It had opened about two months ago and had gained popularity faster than anyone had thought. Apparently, these people didn’t mind having a couple minors in the place, as long as you had a fake ID that they could pretend to look at and if you didn’t create too much of a stir.

“ID?” The bearded man at the door asked monotonously, and you flashed your best smile, handing over a card.

He glanced at it, grunted, handed it back and waved you through. Nat went through the same process, visibly nervous, and was waved through in moments. A contagious grin spread from your face to hers.

The place was dark, almost as dark as the night outside. Black light glow lightened the whites of waitress’ eyes and enhanced the predatory smiles of young men. A beat vibrated the floor so heavily that it made the lyrics of the song practically nonexistent and the occasional flash of the lights made everything feel light and surreal. Belle Rêve meant “beautiful dream” and God; the club certainly lived up to its name.

“Drinks?” Nat suggested, and you nodded, letting her pull you over to the bar to take a sight.

“Can we get a couple shots please?” You half-yelled over the music and the bartender nodded, disappearing before sliding two small glasses over to you and your friend.

“To this crazy idea,” Nat laughed and you could only grin back, knocking your glass against hers before tipping it back into your throat.

The burn was a welcome feeling and you straightened with adrenaline increasing in your veins, grin still on your face.

“Holy shit,” you laughed.

“I know. More?”

With a nod, Nat flagged down the bartender and you let your eyes wander around the place, trying to find any familiar faces. The sound of a laugh that miraculously carried over the music met your ear before you saw the source. It was a boyish, smooth kind of sound and it pleased you so wonderfully that your gaze was dragged, against its will, to the curly haired boy it had come from. He was turned away from you at the moment, surrounded by several other boys, all of them clad in leather jackets. The boy you were watching seemed to feel your gaze and he turned, a half smile tilting his lips up on one lopsided corner of his mouth. A breath stopped halfway up to your throat.

“Jesus fuck. Is that Anthony Ramos?” Nat’s voice cut into your hazy mind and posed the very question your mind had been repeating.

“Yes.” You swallowed, gaze still locked into his as he refused to stop staring.

You were not one to back down from a fight and, crossing your arms, you met his eyes and didn’t back down, frowning slightly. He grinned and finally, finally, half turned so he could break the connection between you.

You raised an eyebrow and smirked, as if to say, “See? I win” but he only smiled and turned back to his crowd.

Nat was staring at you, eyebrow cocked with a hand on her waist.

“What?” You questioned, eyes narrowing.

“Well, if you’re done eye-fucking our local bad boy, I’d like to have my best friend’s attention back.”

“Oh, shut up, we were just…having a staring contest.”

“Staring contests are for third graders. Third graders don’t undress each other mentally. Now take this freaking shot with me.”

Rolling your eyes with a good-natured smile, you reached out and downed another drink, slamming the glass down on the table. Before you could quip something to Nat about going to find some cute guys to dance with, a brunette waitress set a martini down in front of you.

“I didn’t order this,” you frowned, turning to face the woman (Pamela? Phoebe? The nametag was hard to read in the dark).

“It’s from him,” she threw a glance in the corner and you looked up to meet Anthony’s gaze all over again. He was grinning fully this time.

Frowning, you slid the martini away from you. “Tell him if he wants to talk to me he should do it himself and stop bothering the employees.”

The waitress grinned at that and walked away, moving to speak to him. He watched you during the entire exchange, his grin growing as he received the news. Content that he would stop bothering you and your friend, you turned away and back to Nat.

“What the fuck was that?” You huffed, leaning forward to rest your arms on the bar counter.

“That was a hot boy getting you a drink. For free. Should have just taken it and wasted his time.” Nat sent you a grin.

“You’re right, but with a guy like that, you gotta be careful not to stroke their ego too much.” You sent her a smile and she giggled.

“Hey, I’m gonna head to the bathroom. See you in a bit.” She gave your hand a quick squeeze before standing and finding her way across the club.

You turned back to the bar, leaning over to wave the bartender down. He was a bit busy hitting on a blushing boy on the other side of the bar and you rolled your eyes. Typical. What was a girl supposed to do to get a drink around here?

“Not a martini kind of girl, huh.” A smooth voice, all playful and soft, quipped from behind you.

You swivelled in your seat to come face to face with the same boy who you had been playing eye-games with, just five minutes before. Pan, as everyone knew him, was not just any boy. A drink from him was already impressive. A visit was like Halley’s comet: rare and a lucky chance to see. He was beautiful in the low blue lights of the club. His long, curly hair was tucked around one ear and that crooked grin was showing off his teeth again. The leather jacket he wore fit him so damn well.

“No, I prefer Sex on the Beach.” You gave a shrug, leaning back as you glanced up at him warily.

Everyone heard things about the Lost Boys and what they did, the kinds of people they were aligned with. This was the leader of an unpredictable group of boys approaching you and that could be a bad thing, but the thrill-seeking half of you wanted to wait it out.

“The act, or the drink?” He grinned, taking a seat on the bar stool Nat had abandoned.

“Oh, that’s real class. Haven’t heard that one before.” You rolled your eyes, turning to try and wave the bartender down again.

“Mm, thought not.” He watched you huff with an amused tilt of a brow. “Need some help getting that guy’s attention?”

“In fact, I do.”

“That’s odd. Didn’t think someone who looks like you would have trouble getting a man’s gaze.”

Jaw clenching, you whipped around to meet his eyes. It was time to end this. “Look, I don’t know what the fuck it is you want from me, but you’re probably not going to get it. Now can you please just go back to your gang of “quirky misfits”? I’m trying to enjoy myself.”

Your hands dropped from the air quotes you had added to your scathing remarks and turned away. Out of your peripheral, you could see his shoulders shaking. He was laughing.

“You’re all kinds of feisty, aren’t you? Hm. Okay.” He leaned over the bar and placed two fingers in his mouth, letting out a loud, New York-cab type whistle.

The bartender whipped around, shaken out of his next pick-up line to deliver to the unentertained boy he was hitting on. He walked over with a quick apology to Anthony.

“It’s fine, Isaac. All I need is a quick Sex on the Beach and then you’re free to get back to your, otherwise, very important business.” Anthony shot him a grin.

A moment later, Anthony took the drink and placed it down in front of you, lifting an eyebrow. You stayed silent, completely unwilling to speak to him.

“Take it.” He nodded toward the orange drink on the counter in front of you. “It’s a peace offering for us getting off on the wrong foot.”

Letting out a breath, you slid your hand out to pull the glass closer to you so you could bring it to your lips and take a sip. It would be a shame to let it go to waste.

“What the hell do you want from me?” You murmured, setting down the glass and turning toward the leather jacket-clad leader of the pack.

“A dance.”

You scoffed, reaching to sip your drink again. “No, seriously. What do you want? A one-night stand? Someone to stroke your ego? You came to the wrong place, Pan, I’m not that girl.”

“First of all, I’d prefer it if you’d call me Anthony, and no, you’re not that girl. Which is why all I’m asking for is a dance.”

A pause flowed through the space between you. You reached the bottom of your Sex on the Beach and stared at the melting ice cubes. Wasn’t high school about living fast anyway?

“Fine. But only one dance.” You held your hand up to warn him physically, the drinks settling into your body as a buzz warmed your limbs.

“Wouldn’t dream of asking for anything else.” He grinned and stood in one fluid motion, taking your hand and pulling you onto the dance floor as he stepped forward.

The place was crowded with couples and friends, all of them not paying attention to any boundaries or courtesy of space. There were no rules on the Belle Rêve dance floor and Anthony seemed to be the king of the court. The moment he delved into the crowd, the flow of people seemed to break like water around a stone and he tugged you, almost immediately, to the centre. He turned to you, teeth gleaming in the darkness and reached for your arms, bringing them to wrap around his neck, his own touch drifting to find your waist. 

“What’s your name?” He pulled out that half-smile and the snarky comeback you were going to deliver died in your throat. He had a really good smile.

“(Y/N). And I know who you are.”

“Really now?” He chuckled; hands drifting to grasp your waist, using the newfound leverage to pull you flush against him without warning. “Then you should know to stay away from me.”

There was no response possible then, because your conversation devolved into a dance quickly. With your arms around his neck and his hands pressing into your pelvis, there was a lack of communication that made everything better. After a moment, your eyes closed and you leaned forward, head landing just under his chin. His heart was pounding in his chest and you could hear it louder than the beat. His hips moved fluidly, pressing against you with an insistence that made the hours in the day infinite and the world cease its spinning. People had been right to say that Anthony was a magical kind of boy.

At one point, your eyes flew open and you leaned back to watch him, only to find that his gaze was on you. His hair was wild; curls flying all over the place as your bodies moved amongst a hundred others. There was a sheen of sweat glistening on his collarbone and you had a sudden desire to reach out and lick the length of his neck. A slow grin pulled into place on your mouth and it seemed to bring one from him as well. He leaned forward to whisper against the shell of your ear, setting a shiver down your spine.

“What are you thinking about?”

You looked up at him, pausing. “I feel immortal.”

He threw his head back and laughed, and you made a silent commitment to save that image in your memory: him in your arms, laughing with his hair back and sweat lining his cheekbones. It was a beautiful picture.

“Baby, stay with me and you’ll never have to grow up.” He was still grinning as he promised this and the pet name didn’t go unnoticed.

After that, your eyes closed again and your head found its place against his chest. The song seemed to last forever, but then it ended and there was no point in moving, so one dance melded into three, and then a fourth. By that point, you were covered in sweat and mashed in between Anthony and some other girl’s back.

With him so close, and your view of his face obscured, it was easier to justify your acts. It was easier to pretend that none of this had consequences. You tilted your head just enough to kiss his neck, eyes still closed as if in denial. His skin tasted like smoke and ivy. He tilted his head to the side, giving you better access and you nipped harder and harder, until there was something to show for your work, a purple mark that clashed against his bronze skin beautifully.

You pulled back, eyes half-lidded and all hazy. He was grinning again.

“Guess I’m going to have to be covering that up for a while, huh.” He chuckled, reaching up to push a strand of your hair out of your face. His touch was warm and it took significant will power not to lean into it.

“Anthony,” you mumbled, eyes closing for a second as a decision ran through your mind. The music was pulsing under your feet, making everything seem magnified.

“Yeah?” He replies, already leaning towards you, his hand cupping your jaw with callused hands.

“Kiss me.”

There is not a second to lose, it seems, and he is there before the alarms in your head can go off. His mouth is vicious and insisting, yet pliant against yours and his hands tug you closer. The world is reduced to starbursts of colour under your closed lids and you cannot help the aching tug of your heart as you realize that this boy is better than any kind of adrenaline rush. He is drug-like; someone made of star matter that the human body cannot resist. This is why mortals should not be allowed to kiss angels that fall to the earth. It is too much. It is all too much.

You pull away, hand moving to press against your mouth, trying to scrub the tingle that refuses to go away. His eyes fly open and his mouth is already tilted into that half smile. Fuck, his hair was all ruffled from your grasp and it made you want to kiss him again.

“This is wrong.”

“Come on. I’m not that bad of a kisser, am I?”

“Anthony, this isn’t fucking funny. I can’t do this.” Your mind, in its self-destructive whirlwind, summons a face. “Oh fuck.”

“What?” He moves toward you cautiously, voice concerned now. “What’s wrong?”

“Nat, I lost her, shit, where did she go?” You push yourself onto your tiptoes, searching the room frantically. “I need to find her.”

“Is she the girl you came with?” He asks, eyes scanning the room too.

“Yeah.”

“I think I might know where she is. Come on.” He takes your hand and the warmth of his touch is too comforting for you to turn down at the moment. He leads you through the crowds and to the table where his crew is accumulated, all laughing and talking.

“Yo, Pan, what’s up?” Oak stands to reach out and grasp Anthony’s hand.

“Hey man. I need to know where Nibs is.”

“He was talking to this girl, took her off somewhere. Think maybe in the lounge.” Oak says all this with a shrug, gesturing down the hallway. Then he sees you, hidden behind Ant, your hand clasped in his. “Who’s this?”

“(Y/N) is that girl’s friend. I’m just helping her find her.” Anthony’s voice is oddly tense as he plays it off. Immediately, he lets go of your hand.

“Okay,” Oak raises an eyebrow but doesn’t push. “Good luck.”

As soon as Anthony has led you far enough from his group, he reaches for your hand wordlessly and you don’t fight it. There is a submission to his touch that you seemed to have signed earlier in the night. It was pointless to pull away from something you wanted.

In the dim light, you spot a familiar head of hair, wrapped up in the embrace of what seems to be the professional womanizer of the Lost Boys. You reach over and grab Nat’s hand, giving a tug violent enough for her to stumble into you as she makes a sound of indignation.

“Nat, Jesus, I’ve been looking for you.”

She looks up at you, reaching a hand up to wipe the mouth that was just on Daveed’s, a sheepish smile on her face. “Oops. Sorry.”

“Diggs, come on, man.” Anthony is standing beside his friend, one hand on his hip. 

The culprit is still lounging on the red leather couch, giving a lazy shrug as his grin grows in size. “Pan, it’s not my fault girls love me this much.”

“You disgust me.” You snap at him, giving Nat’s hand a tug as you march toward the exit. A thought that Anthony is calling after you registers dimly but you pay no mind.

It isn’t till you’ve managed to push your way to the doors that he actually catches up and cuts ahead of you.

“(Y/N), wait up!” He puts a hand on your shoulder and you flinch out of his touch, turning to face him.

“What do you want, Anthony?”

“I just…when am I going to see you again?” He asks, voice soft. Nat makes a noise but you squeeze her hand viciously.

“I don’t know. Just leave it, okay? I’ll see you around.” You breathe out and turn away, pushing out of the doors to wave down a cab.

It’s too much. All of it, it’s accumulated so fast that it’s overwhelming. At the start of the night, Pan was just a name to you and the Lost Boys were simply a reputation with no substance. But by now, Pan has become a shadow like personality, the Lost Boys are a reality and Anthony is the centre of all your mind’s twisted thoughts. You were wrong to think a kiss with an angel would not prove consequential. You were wrong to think that Anthony would not be special. You were wrong, and there was no satisfaction in a feeling like that.

The taxi ride was silent. Nat, treated to one too many drinks by Daveed, had passed out on your lap and your hands idly pulled through the tangles left in her hair. There was too much room in the car that left your brain defenceless. Thoughts came and wait without your consent and too many slides of Anthony’s face were projected in your mind’s eye. A tingle that had never really disappeared tickled at your mouth and you reached a hand up to brush over the remnants of lipstick, trying to rub his presence off your mouth. It didn’t work.

With Nat’s arm draped around your shoulders and her groaning, the door was difficult to open quietly but not impossible. As soon as you had her on the couch, turned safely on her side in case she threw up in the night, you tugged the afghan around her and pressed a pillow under her head.

Tired, aching and frazzled, your bed looked wonderfully comfy at the moment. The dove grey dress came off and the battle heels were discarded, all in favour of a worn short sleeve shirt and a pair of shorts. The taste of peach schnapps was souring quickly in your mouth, so a toothbrush full of toothpaste was reached for. It was just as you were rinsing your mouth that the first tap sounded at your window.

Must have been the oak tree beside your window. As you busied yourself with wiping off streaked make-up, another came. Then one more, and then a steady tap, tap, tap, tap that had become so incessant that it couldn’t be a harmless tree branch.

Small shadows were hitting the windowpane, and your view revealed tiny, harmless pebbles smacking against the glass. You waited for the rocks to stop, and a pause came. Pushing the window up, you peeked your head out, squinting into the darkness.

“(Y/N), it’s me.” That voice, one you were not at all acquainted with but could pick out amongst a thousand others rang out quietly. It crossed your mind that you very much enjoyed the way he said your name.

“Pan?”

“I thought I told you to call me Anthony.”

“Are you out of your fucking mind?”

“Yes.”

“What are you doing in my fucking yard? Leave.”

“This is what I get for trying to be spontaneous. I should have known a girl like you would have seen it as creepy and not romantic. Hang on a minute, I’m gonna get up there.”

“Like fuck you are!”

He didn’t reply but instead let the rusting of the tree’s leaves fill the space instead. You stood, fretting, at the windowsill, leaning down as you tried to make out his form in the darkness. Through the night, you couldn’t quite tell how he had even managed to scale his way up to the small slice of roof next to your window. Pretty soon, his white teeth were illuminating the dark next to you. 

“Jesus, how did you get up here?”

“I flew.”

“You’re hilarious. Anthony, what are you doing here?” You were whispering furiously, arms crossed as you realized that he was encroaching on a private space that you had felt un-scrutinized in.  

“I came to see you.” He made himself comfortable on the tin roof and shot you another grin, looking down to idly brush at his jeans.

A breath filled your lungs and you stared at him, wide-eyed, for a moment. “You’re crazy. You are actually crazy.”

“So I’ve heard. Now are you going to join me, or am I just going to have to freeze, Titanic-style, on your freaking roof?”

You let out a disbelieving squeak, but paused, hands worrying at the hem of your shirt, before you cursed under your breath and pulled a leg up to crawl out the window. The metal was cool under your exposed thighs and the night air nipped at any exposed skin. A shiver ran down your spine. His mention of a very classic romantic comedy tucked itself away for further leverage. Why were you out here? Was it the request of a boy that your lack of control could not deny? Or was it just a simple agreement that yes, this could be enjoyable? Damn you and your inability to steel decisions.

“Anthony.”

“Mm.”

“Why are you here?”

“I thought we addressed this, sweetheart,” he turns toward you, pulling his legs up to cross them, a youthful grin on his face. “I’m here to see you.”

“You don’t even know me.”

“Exactly. Me being here solves that.”

“Does it?”

“Absolutely.”

An attempt at a scoff bubbled up from your chest but came out in the form of a chuckle. His grin widened. You hadn’t quite meant to let him have the satisfaction of making you laugh but it seemed to be too late.

“Look, I’m sorry about Diggs.” Anthony let out a slow breath. “Women are his vice.”

“Yeah, I figured. I should have known, Nat is everybody’s type, she’s beautiful, and your friend doesn’t seem to be especially picky either. I’m not angry.”

He sent you a slow smile, all innocent and sunshine-y. Your heart dropped to your stomach as you stared, but you quickly turned to the sky. The temperature seemed to be dropping even further down and you shivered a little more violently, hands clenching into fists. Warm leather came down on your shoulders and tucked easily around your waist, a touch lingering for a moment and then pulling away.

“What is this for?” The leather jacket is worn but comfortable as you tug it a bit closer around you.

“Honey, you looked cold.” He deadpans. “What do you think it’s for?”

“I…” The scathing remark your brain was fighting to come up with seems to lose its light and the point of keeping up an argument becomes arbitrary. “Thanks.”

“Anytime.” He grins.

A silence fell with heaviness, a proper mix of uncomfortable and content, as if neither one could decide whether this was an enjoyable pause or not. Thankfully, the question didn’t have to last long.

“Do you know the story of Altair and Vega?” His voice is soft, and you turned to see that his gaze was trained on the night sky.

“Like, the constellations?”

“Yeah.”

“Well…no, not really.”

“They were lovers,” he smiles, giving a gentle chuckle. “You can see them, just up there.” He scooted closer to point more accurately, and though the story’s focus was the constellations, almost all your attention was focused on the warmth his thigh provided as it pressed against yours.

“See, their parents didn’t approve of the match. Vega, she had immortal family who were gods and Altair was just a cow herder.” Out of your peripheral, you can see his eyes drift towards you at this.

“But they disobeyed their parents and spent every minute they could together. When their parents found out, they split them up on either side of a river. The Milky Way Galaxy spiral makes this little trail between them. They stare at each other from across the water and weep for their lost love.”

“Come on, are any of the constellation stories happy ones?” You interrupted, a nervous babble that seemed to spew out of your mouth without regarding your own thoughts. Luckily, he laughed.

“There’s more. The magpies sympathize with them; so once a year, they flock together over the river and make a bridge so that Altair can go to her and they spend a single day together. It’s enough for them. But it’s all they get.” He shoots you a soft smile.

Was this really the person who led the Lost Boys? The notorious leader of the pack who was put on a pedestal and revered for his playboy-ish ways? It couldn’t be. Pan’s mask was crumbling to reveal a boy named Anthony who wasn’t quite like the role he played.  

“Romantic constellations? Titanic? Don’t tell me the famous Pan is a secret softie at heart.” You shot him a grin, bumping your elbow into his ribs.

“Hey, not me.” He chuckled, holding his hands up. “I’m a badass through and through.”

“A badass who knows about lovers in the sky and has seen the most iconic sad romance movie of all time.”

“Yes.”

“Some badass.” You laugh again, a fuller sound this time and he takes note, turns to you with a delighted grin.

“So she knows how to laugh!” His grin only widens.

“Sometimes. And usually at better jokes than yours.”

“Ouch. And just when I was going to pull out another one of my constellation stories. How ungrateful.”

“He’s got another one?” You grinned, giggling. “Pan: confirmed softie.”

“Hey, this one is cool.” He pointed again, motioning to a star that gleamed a little brighter than its neighbours.

“See that? That’s the second star to the right.”

“To the right of what?”

“Just to the right. Now listen. That is my star. It always has been.”

“Anthony, no one is allowed to take a star, that’s not-“

“Are you gonna listen, or not?” He cocked an eyebrow, tilting his head with a chuckle.

You huffed, but nodded, properly reprimanded. He chuckled again and nodded. 

“That star has my name on it, I’m sure of it. And if you’re ever in trouble, or you need someone, and I’m not around…just look to the second star to the right, and know that it is my star always watching you, no matter what. Okay?” Anthony turned to you, a soft smile that knocked the breath straight out of your lungs. It was hard to breathe, and harder still to speak.

“Okay.”

He had pressed a hand to yours as he made his promise, then moved his touch to cradle your jaw. The night was cold and his touch was fire. The world ceased its rounds, just as it did in the club, and you were falling towards him with a speed that astounded you. His mouth is just there, millimetres from granting sweetness but no, no, no, stupid girl.

“Anthony, I can’t.”

He stops immediately, freezes where he is and his eyes flicker from your lips to your eyes in seconds.  

“Why?” His voice is barely a whisper.

“Because I can’t. We can’t, it-it doesn’t make sense. Let’s just not get ahead of ourselves. Okay?”

He pulls back, looks down at the hand that had just been cupping your face, then returns his gaze to yours. He’s smiling, all soft.

“Okay.”

Relief fills your body, but the cold left over from his near electrocuting touch bothers you more than you had hoped it would.

“Now, I need to get to sleep. And you need to get off my roof.” You shoo him with a laugh, and he grins.

“I suppose you’re right. Get some rest.” He calls as you turn to crawl back through your windowsill.

“Goodnight, Anthony.” You turn to see a last glance of the shadow perched on the precipice of your roof.

“Goodnight, (Y/N).”

You had been expecting him to swing onto the oak tree’s branches, but instead he crouched, balanced for a moment, and then jumped. The movement took you so badly by surprise that his name nearly came flying from your mouth, but after waiting to see the damage, you saw the shadow of his outline stepping across your lawn and soundlessly making his way down the street.

That boy really could fly.

With the cold finally kept outside, your limbs warmed quickly and you reached to rub some blood flow back into your bare arms, but underneath your touch was leather. Anthony’s jacket was still hanging loosely around your shoulders, scented of whiskey and mist. Taking it off gingerly, you ran an absent finger over the creases of the worn fabric, then perched it gently on the chair before retreating to curl up in bed.

Sleep came easy but dreams of a figure sprinkled with ivy leaves and a laugh that sounded like Anthony’s traipsed through your mind all night. Flashes of scenes at the club, the feeling of his body and his mouth on yours mixed together and by morning, all you could remember about the whirlpool of visions was the gleam of a familiar star. The second one to the right, to be quite specific.

[main-shit]

You'll Catch Flies. ~ Daveed Diggs

Okay, so I want to say this before I start the story. If you request multiple prompts for one story I have trouble with adding more than two ideas to one story. I wanted to say that because someone requested that I use more that one prompt for a story and I'm having trouble writing it. That's why I'm writing this, to get my mind off of writing the other one. Anyways, on with the story! ~Onto the story!~ I put my earbuds in and open spotify. I select CLPPNG and push the shuffle play button. I hear dotted notes and automatically recognize it as Tonight. I start to head out the door to the Richard Rogers theater. Turnt than a motherfucker Bought that ho a shot 'cause you wanna cuff her All these other motherfuckers think they stuntin' But they spot is 'bout to close and they ain't pullin' nothin' I bob my head to the beat of the song as I walk along the ice covered streets. I look up to make sure of where I am then look back down at my phone and continue to read fanfiction. I read a part of the fanfiction that makes me blush profusely(It was probably a lemon) and I look around to make sure that no one is staring at me crazily. Walls smell like pussy when it sweat Snort it to the face, but the club wet Trying to get a taste, baby wanna flex Sick of pushin' weight in an alley with a mind full of sex She walk to the floor, leave the bar stool soakin' Drop it down low, make it wade like the ocean And every man up in here wanna see her bust it open But you ain't gonna get it if you so soft-spoken I come up to the theater and I walk in. I pass by a lot of my friends on my way to my dressing room, they see me with earbuds in and assume that I don't want to be talked to. Or, most of them do. Until I pass by Lin. He pulls an earbud out of my ear and puts it in his. He hears Daveed's voice and smiles at me then takes my phone pausing the song. "What are you listening to (Y/n)?" he asks me. I look at him and shake my head. "I was listening to Clipping, until you paused it. Now I'm listening to you speak." I answer him and put my earbud back in my ear. Flashing lights, molly dreams Face down low, DJ screaming "Last call" That liquor dark, that dick gone hard With visions of her legs up in the air over your face under her ass And breaking lamps from beating pussy purple 'cause she like it fast I unpause the music and continue to walk to my dressing room. which unfortunately  has to be as far away from the entrance as possible. Lin continues to follow me and I continue to listen to my music until Daveed walks by and asks me what I'm listening to. "Oh she's just listening to you rapping, I believe it's  the song Tonight..." Lin answers for me and Daveed's face turns pink. "Um...(Y/n)?" Daveed says my name and I pause the song to look at him. I turn and see that his face is bright pink. "What's up Diggs?" I ask, I never thought that I would have the chance to be friends with an idol of mine. "So, you like my music?" he asks and I roll my eyes at him. I stop walking and Lin runs into me. "Yeah, I've loved your music since I was a teenager!" I reply quickly, showing the age gap between us. He rubbed the back of his neck, then I looked at the time on my phone and groaned. We have and hour until showtime, I need to get ready! "I gotta get ready for tonight guys I'll talk to you in a bit." I say and finish the walk to my dressing room. I unplug my earbuds and unpause the music again, turning it up. Wha-wha-wha-what's your fantasy? Ass like Trina, face like Beyonce And tell your story, try to whip her fine ass free 'Cause she's probably used to ballers and ballin' you may not be But shit, this spot's about to close and you still ain't pulled you a freak? I hear multiple people walk by my dressing room, some knock and ask if I'm 'presentable' and  want to talk. Others just walk by without a word, 'They're probably getting ready as well' I think as I finish up putting my first costume on. It's the last song of the night Don't forget to tip the bartender You got fucked up, that's alright That's not the only thing you came to do 'Cause there's bad ones all around And you ain't pulled your one yet If you ain't locked it down by now Then it's time to figure out who fuckin' tonight, who fucking tonight Who fuckin' tonight, who fuckin' tonight I get Jazzy to help me with my make-up. I've never been very good at applying make-up on myself. Once she finishes with my face I do my hair, which doesn't require much talent to do. I walk to Daveed's dressing room and hear Lin and him talking. "When are you going to tell her the truth?" Lin asks Daveed and I hear a new voice. "Yeah, you gotta tell her at some point, man." The voice says and I realize it's Anthony. "I don't know guys, what she doesn't take it well?" Daveed says to Anthony and Lin, I hear loud footsteps and I assume that one of them is pacing. Most likely Daveed. I want to butt in but I turn and see Pippa walking my way, "Hey girly," she starts but I put my finger up to my lips and put my ear back on the door. "What are you doing (Y/n)?" she whispered and put her ear to the door as well. "She needs to know Daveed, you can't just keep this big of a thing from her!" Lin yells at Daveed and he gets close to the door. "How do I tell her?" I hear Daveed say more to himself rather than Ant or Lin. "We need to m-" Pippa starts to say something as the door opens and I fall into Daveed's dressing room. "-ove." she ends what she started to say and I look up at her. "Ya think so?" I say laughing at myself and taking the hand that was held out for me. I hear some music playing and I look up to see Daveed pulling me up and Lin playing Tonight from his phone. I'm drunker than I ever been, higher than I ever been Don't you want to take me to the bar to get a shot again? Don't you want to take me home? Don't you want to see me roam? Music beatin', twerkin' to the sound, I'm all up in my zone Lookin' for a victim, caught him slippin', I just want some sex Nothing else to do when I leave the club so that's the best thing next Here, just take my number, when you leave be sure to send a text I'll be at the Waffle House waitin', baby fuck the rest If you at the club and you feel trashed and it about to close Make sure you have a freak that knows how to bend and touch her toes Make sure that that boy know, he gotta play when he weighin' that soul He get to see me do dances and shit, doin' a split and I'm killin' this shit I realize that it's not playing from Lin's phone but from mine. Lin had come into my dressing room and started playing with my phone earlier and he must've switched them either by accident or on purpose. I'm guessing that it was on purpose. I glare at Lin as the chorus comes on and I sing along with it calming my glare. It's the last song of the night Don't forget to tip the bartender You got fucked up, that's alright That's not the only thing you came to do 'Cause there's bad ones all around And you ain't pulled your one yet If you ain't locked it down by now Then it's time to figure out who fuckin' tonight, who fucking tonight Who fuckin' tonight, who fuckin' tonight I start dancing around Daveed's dressing room and I grab Anthony by his hand. I push him and Lin out of the room and close the door to Daveed's dressing room. I lock them out and tell Pippa to make sure they don't run off. "Sure thing girly!" she says and she calls Jazzy and Renee in to help her watch them. "So, Daveed what is this 'big' thing that you're keeping from me?" I smile but I make sure to smile in a way that makes him uncomfortable. "Um...Now is not the right time to tell you..." he says stalling. I grab my phone and check the time. Twenty-five minuets until showtime. "We have time Diggs." I say walking over to him slowly. Yeah, it's Clipping bitch Tab on the bank card, molly on the gums Last shot dark, brain, 808 bass drums Laser in the eyeball, callous on the feet Cab to the someplace, head in the back seat Stumble up a staircase, floor missing boards Hands fumbling through denim, keys, keys open doors Tumble to the futon, teeth into soft skin Fists full of weave, rip, lick, suck, coughin' Acrylic on the spine, hand prints on the hips Rug burn on the knees, salt on the lips Beat it up, spread it out Bust it open, take it down Eyes rolling, bones shaking Lungs weak, breathing in somebody else's breath Shit, hold up, what's your name, what's up with that breakfast? I take Daveed's hand trying to hold back my own blush and look at him with puppy-dog eyes. No one has ever said no to them before, well, except my parents. "F-fine..." he says and looks away with a bright pink blush on his cheeks. "Ireallylikeyou(y/n)andIreallywantyoutobemygirlfriend!" he says quickly and I look at him confused. he sighs and says the before sentence more slowly. "I really like you (y/n) and I really want you to be my girlfriend." "Daveed.." I say and look up at him. It's the last song of the night Don't forget to tip the bartender You got fucked up, that's alright That's not the only thing you came to do Cause there's bad ones all around And you ain't pulled your one yet If you ain't locked it down by now Then it's time to figure out who fuckin' tonight, who fucking tonight Who fuckin' tonight, who fuckin' tonight "I totally understand if you don't feel the same way, I didn't even ask you if you were single before a-" he starts to rabble and I laugh(or Laf(I know I'm not funny)). "What's so funny?" he asks and I just simply answer with, "Yes." "Yes what?" he asks and I mentally facepalm. "Yes, I'm single. Yes, I feel the same way. And yes, I'll be your girlfriend." I say and laugh at his face. He had his mouth open wide. I push his jaw closed and as I walk out of his dressing room I say, "Keep your mouth closed or you'll catch flies."

[musical-miranda]

That’s What Friends Are For

@hamwriters write-a-thon: femslash day (2)

pairing: phillipa soo x reader

summary: Pippa is reader’s childhood best friend and when reader finally gets out of an unhealthy relationship, she is right there for her through all the tears. 

warnings: swearing, very brief mention of sex, i think that’s all?

words: 2894

a/n: this is going to be a little two part bit of fluff. i was just going to make it into one part, but that was a LOT of writing to finish in one night, so i decided to split it up. i hope you enjoy!!

tags: @bluesnowyangel @hamrevolution

“Luke, I can’t keep doing this!” You snapped as your boyfriend came stumbling through the front door of your shared apartment. It was 1 am and he reeked of alcohol and another woman’s perfume, but you were so exhausted you couldn’t bring yourself to care.

Falling limply into your arms, Luke let out a loud groan from the back of his throat then mumbled a few incoherent words. You grabbed onto him tightly to drag him over to the sofa just a few feet away and tossed him there with a sigh.

“You were supposed to be at a meeting for work,” you hissed at the dark haired man.

His response was much less coherent, but you were able to figure it out through the slurs. “But baby, I was!”

“Don’t fucking lie to me! I have proof right in front of my eyes that you weren’t at a meeting!”

“I was meeting with a friend!” He tried to snap in defense, but he sounded more like a whining seven-year-old.

You shut your eyes and took in a deep breath to stay calm before you responded, then turned your gaze right to Luke who was already half asleep. “Sleep on the couch tonight, I’ll see you in the morning.”

With that, you made your way back to your bedroom and shot a quick text to a friend before laying down.

To: Pippa 1:27 am

He got home safe, but he’s absolutely trashed. Smells like whiskey and cheap perfume. If he wasnt so attractive, i’d’ve punched him in the face 9 times by now.

From: Pippa 1:30 am

Glad he’s home safe, but you deserve better babe. You need to end it.

To: Pippa 1:31 am

But I love him, pips.

From: Pippa 1:33 am

You love having a partner

To: Pippa 1:34 am

I can fix things with him, sober him up, clean up his act.

From: Pippa 1:37 am

It’s unhealthy babe, you need to end it asap.

From: Pippa 1:43 am

Good night. Please remember that you and your health should always come 1st.

To: Pippa 1:44am

I love you, good night.

When you woke the next morning to loud snoring, you saw Luke sprawled out on the floor by your bed. It looked like he had tried to get onto the bed during the night, but his intoxication made it damn near impossible.

You decided to make yourself a quick breakfast before you woke him up, so you popped a bagel into the toaster and poured yourself a glass of orange juice. While you waited for the bagel, you hummed softly to yourself and got the cream cheese out of the refrigerator.

During your brief breakfast, you thought deeply about the conversation you had with your best friend the night before. You knew she was right that you had to end things, but a small part of you was whispering that you would regret leaving him.

Luke always insisted he had business meetings or had to work late, when it was clear as day that he was out drinking with friends. If you were to guess, he was probably visiting a strip club every other night and finding a quick fuck in the bathroom of a bar every other night.

You knew you needed to confront him, so after you finished your breakfast and got dressed, you went back to your bedroom and tried to shake the snoring man awake.

You tried this for a few minutes to no avail before you decided to fill a cup with cold water and throw it on him. Sure enough, his eyes shot open and he sat up straight, whacking his head on the nightstand he was underneath.

“Fuck!” He shouted, trying to shake himself dry like a dog.

“Good morning, sunshine,” you greeted bitterly.

“What the hell was that for?!” Luke rubbed the back of his head and groaned.

“You wouldn’t wake up.”

“And why did I need to wake up?”

You just chuckled softly and ran your fingers through your hair. “Because we really need to talk.”

“Talk?” He gaped at you. “What do you mean talk?”

“I mean…” You took a seat on the bed. “This relationship isn’t working out for me, Luke.”

Luke quirked an inquisitive eyebrow. It was like he was taunting you.

“You’re coming home drunk and high as a kite every other night. You’re clearly having sex with other women. And when you aren’t doing either of those things, we’re fighting. I really can’t be in this type of a relationship.”

“It isn’t every other night! And you signed up for it, you made the relationship official.”

“I didn’t ask for any of this! It wasn’t supposed to happen like this; I trusted you, I loved you, but you changed!” You were shouting at this point.

His voice raised along with yours. “Well, what do you want me to do about it?”

“I want you to clean up your act!”

“I enjoy partying, Y/N. I’m not gonna stop for some silly girl. But I will gladly leave.” Luke’s voice pierced your typically thick skin like venom as he pressed your buttons.

“Well then get the hell out of my apartment!” You finally yelled at him, your voice shaky as you held back tears. “Go on now, leave! See if I care!”

As he started pulling his suitcases out, you pursed your lips and tried to calm yourself down. There were a few minutes of silence, so you spoke up again. “Frankly, I couldn’t care less, Luke.”

“Oh, you’re gonna regret this decision,” he spat before yanking drawers open to throw his clothing out.

“I really don’t think I will. The only thing I’ll regret is not doing it sooner.” You took in a deep breath. “I’m going out with a friend, and I want you gone by noon. I don’t want a single trace of you in this place when I get back. Leave your key on the counter.”

The moment you finished your sentence, you walked out of the room and rang your best friend as you slipped on your shoes.

Three short rings later, you heard her voice through the phone. “Y/N babe! Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, everything’s good Pip! I just kicked Luke out and he has two hours to clear his things out of my apartment.” You laughed shortly. “Are you free to go out somewhere? I don’t want to be around while he’s packing his stuff.”

You could hear the smile on her face through the phone as she spoke, and that itself had you grinning like an idiot. “I’ll meet you at the Starbucks by your apartment building in five?”

“I’ll see you there.” You paused for a second. “Thank you.”

“That’s what friends are for, right?”

“Of course. Love you, see you in five.”

“Love you too, Y/N.”

You slipped your phone back into the pocket of your skinny jeans once the line went dead then walked out of the front door and left the apartment building.

The Starbucks you always met Pippa at was just at the end of your block on the corner, so you were inside the building within two minutes, tugging your coat closer to your skin to keep warm.

Just as you got in line, the bell on the door rang as it swung open and Pippa had her arms wrapped around your waist from the side. She nuzzled her face into your shoulder when you wrapped your arms around her in a tight hug, resting your head against hers for just a second.

“How are you doing? Alright, I hope?” Pippa asked, her voice tender as ever.

“I’m fine, I promise,” you insisted with a quiet laugh, squeezing her once before breaking away from the hug.

“Okay, okay. I just worry about you.” Her eyes crinkled up in a fond smile. “Do you know what you’re getting?”

Your stare at the menu was rather intense while you tried to decide what you were getting. “A Frappuccino of some sort… It’s between chocolate chip, caramel crunch, that cotton candy one, and a lemon one.”

Pippa pulled you out of the line with a gentle chuckle to give you time to decide on a drink. Decisions had never exactly been your strong suit, which is probably how you ended up where you were; sometimes you wished people would just make these decisions for you.

It took close to fifteen minutes of silent contemplation for you to decide on a drink and by that time, the line was gone. You went straight up to the counter with Pippa and ordered your Cotton Candy Frappuccino, pulling your wallet from your purse.

Before you could even take your cash out of your wallet, Phillipa was swiping her card to pay for both drinks. “Pips, you didn’t have to-”

“You just broke up with your boyfriend.” She interrupted with a laugh. “Let me pay for your drink. You don’t have to pay me back.”

You couldn’t argue with that.

“Y’know...” Pippa started while you waited. “I never understood what you saw in him.”

“Honestly? He was really good in bed. And those arms… God, those arms could do things to me.”

Both of you immediately burst into a fit of laughter that filled the small coffee shop. “That’s an awful reason to stay with somebody! He was a total dick!”

“Oh my god he was such a dick! Like, if you look up “fuckboy” on Urban Dictionary, I’m pretty sure his photo comes up.” You threw your head back laughing. “Even his name screams stay away! I was pretty dumb to get into it.”

When your names were called for the drinks, you grabbed yours and took a sip. “Should we walk and talk or sit and talk?”

Pippa thought for a few seconds then swallowed a sip of her drink before she answered. “Walk and talk.”

“At least I knew the breakup was coming,” you pointed out as you walked out of the Starbucks, flicking your eyes between the sidewalk and Pippa.

“That’s true. What were you together, a year?”

“Just over. Remember, we met at a New Year’s Party and went home together. That should’ve been my first sign not to get involved.”

“You should never get involved with a hookup. It never ends well.”

You just chuckled at this, offering a warm smile to her. “Thank you, by the way.”

She raised a confused eyebrow but smiled anyways. “For what?”

“For being such a good friend. Convincing me to break it off finally. I know I should have done it sooner, but I’m just glad I did.”

Pippa reached over to give you a side hug, her free hand resting on your waist for just a few seconds, but long enough for you to realize how perfectly her hand fit. It just felt right. “That’s what friends are for, right?”

“That’s what friends are for.”

Over the next three weeks, you and Pippa were practically inseparable. If she wasn’t hanging out at your apartment, you were at hers watching a movie, playing a game, or just sitting on the couch with her.

It would be an understatement to say this was the closest you’d ever been with your childhood best friend, and you couldn’t find one thing to complain about.

Whenever you even mentioned a sad thought, she rushed to your side with a pint of ice cream and her copy of Titanic. You could not have asked for a better friend.

Everything was going wonderfully until you checked your calendar one day to see when your period was due. You knew it had to be soon, it felt like it’d been close to a month since your last one, so you wanted to be prepared.

When you looked at your calendar, you saw that you were 9 days late. Your immediate reaction was to google possible causes of a late period other than the obvious. But you didn’t fit the bill for any of them.

To: Pippa 2:17 pm

SOS!!!!

To: Pippa 2:18pm

I’m panicking. my period is 9 days late.

From: Pippa 2:19pm

Oh my god!! I’ll be over asap with some pregnancy tests, okay??

From: Pippa 2:21pm

Don’t panic, it’s gonna be alright!!

For the next ten minutes, you paced around your small apartment anxiously with tears in your eyes. You weren’t ready for a baby. There was no way you could be a single mother living in a New York City apartment. Your job barely paid enough to cover rent, let alone everything you would need for a child.

Pippa bursting through your front door and yelling out ripped you from your thoughts. “Go, take them all right now!” She tossed a bag with a few pregnancy tests in them at you and you caught them, scurrying off to the bathroom.

The five minutes you spent with Pippa waiting for the test results were the longest five minutes of your life. You rambled on that entire time about how scared you were, but she assured you that no matter the results, she would be there to help you. It was a comforting thought, but not strong enough to overpower your fear.

When the timer rang, signaling the end of the five minutes, your stomach dropped and your head started spinning from fear. You didn’t want to look at the tests. Your entire future was sitting on a paper towel in your kitchen and you didn’t want to know what it would be.

“You look first, Pippa. I’m too scared.” Your voice shook and you shut your eyes.

You could tell when she looked at the tests because she took in an audibly sharp gasp. Your heart was pounding in your chest; her reaction almost guaranteed the answer.

Hesitantly, you fluttered your eyes open and dropped your gaze to the tests in front of you. All three had plus signs on them.

“Oh,” you breathed out, swallowing thickly and trying to keep your cool.

“You’re… You’re pregnant, Y/N,” Pippa whispered.

When reality struck, you fell to the ground and let out a loud sob, tears quickly streaming down your face as you clutched onto the carpet. Phillipa immediately rushed over and wrapped her arms around you gently, pulling you into her warm embrace.

She stroked your hair slowly to calm you down as much as she could and instead of the carpet, you now had her shirt balled up in your fist as you sobbed. You tried to speak, but as sobs caught in your throat, you just buried your head in your best friend’s chest.

“I’m here for you, no matter what happens,” Pippa whispered in your ear, rocking you back and forth in a soothing motion. “I’ll support you no matter what.”

Several shaky breaths later, you finally managed some words. “I-I’ll need time. To know what I’m gonna do. Would… Would it be crazy to have a baby? I b-barely have a stable job.” You sniffled and looked up at her with red eyes.

“Not crazy, no. It would be difficult, I’m sure, but if you want to keep the baby, then I’ll help you in any way I can. If it comes down to it, I’ll move in with you to help support you.” Her fingers running through your hair helped calm your panic further. You leaned into her touch and listened.

“I’ll do anything to help you. Literally. But something we should do now is schedule a doctor’s appointment to get you checked out.” Pippa let her hand slip into yours.

You laced your fingers with her long ones and looked up at her once your sobs had calmed, breathing out a soft laugh. “There’s a little person in me, Pippa, a small human. And it’s all mine. My god, I’m not prepared for motherhood. I’m a single twenty-two-year-old, living off of ramen noodles in a one bedroom apartment.”

“Maybe not, but are we ever truly prepared for anything in life?” She questioned, looking into your eyes. For the first time, you noticed a bit of a twinkle in her brown eyes as she spoke and, for a reason you couldn’t quite establish, that small detail put a smile on your face.

“I guess not, huh? Some of the best things in life are unexpected.” Your thumb rubbed across the back of your best friend’s hand gently. “And I have nine months to prepare for this.”

“We have nine months to prepare for this.” She was quick to correct you which made you laugh, softly. “You will not be doing this alone, Y/N. I won’t let you. I don’t care if you pay a hitman to off me, my ghost will come back to help you in every way possible.”

“You are, without a doubt, the best human ever to grace this planet. Earth should feel honored to have your presence.”

Pippa just squeezed your hand gently and crinkled up her eyes in a smile that spread from ear to ear. “That’s what friends are for, right?”

As you leaned up to press a kiss to her cheek, you whispered, “That’s what friends are for.”

[azzandra]

Kinda out of nowhere but have u planned out ur ryder? Looks, persomality etc etc maybe who ur gonna romance?

Well, it’s not that out of nowhere, since I have been talking about ME:A lately! :D

Okay, so basically the thing is that I don’t generally don’t plan out my characters on my first playthrough of any Bioware game! I do it on the second, because by that point I have a better grasp of the world and of what kind of character I’d like to have. So on my first playthrough, I usually play a default PC, maybe with a few tweaks if I decide to poke at the character creator a bit (I’m usually also really keyed up to play on my first playthrough, so I don’t have the patience to really sculpt a face the first time, haha).

So I really won’t have decided on much of anything for my official Ryder until I’ve already played the game through at least partially.

What I have decided so far is to keep the name Sara Ryder. 

Sidebar: I have a ridiculous history with Bioware pre-empting the names I pick for my characters. First time I played DA:O, I named my Amell “Liana”, not knowing there was a Leliana in the game. Okay, a bit unfortunate, since I don’t like picking names for my PCs that are too close to canon characters’ names. For DA2, I decided to name my Hawke Evelyn, but then one of the companions was named Aveline, and again, that’s... too close, so I switched to Tess Hawke. Then for DA:I I thought, hey! I’m going to use Evelyn for my Trevelyan. Except... that was the default f!Trevelyan name already. Okay. Okay. So Pippa Trevelyan was born.

So now I’m just like, fuck it. Sara is a good name. Sara is the kind of name I probably would’ve chosen for my Ryder anyway. I’m keeping Sara unless or until I decide on a new name for my Ryder, since apparently if you keep the default name, you get to hear it said in game! That’s cool. I’m doing that.

Personality-wise, I tend to favor snarky or humorous characters, who try their best and want to help as many people as possible. So my Sara Ryder is going to fall along those lines, but I will probably really find her voice once I start writing fanfic. I think maybe she’s going to be playful and a bit earnest.

Anyway, thank you for asking!