#I also will probably never be able to bring myself to actually hold any fondness for her beyond that of an intellectual respect
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Alright that’s it, Gerry Keay is my favorite character in tma. Just listened to episode 111 and I am emotionally devestated. Also glad he gets to rest. Also I love him. I refuse to call him Gerard (cause apparently it’s that and not Jared Jon why have you been saying it like that) from now on I’m just calling him Gerry. That or goth king.
#I love this him so much#absolutely devestated as well atm#gerry keay#also something something never meet your heroes and how it’s kind of the same for your villains too and his encounter with Lietner#shows that#also a good way of showing how soemthing that was the bogey man of your childhood#can turn out to really just be sad and pathetic#I personally think you should get to face that#get to a point where you truly internalize it#Srry getting off track#also while I do stan Gertrude for her wits and think she would have made an amazing blue ajah aies sedai#I also will probably never be able to bring myself to actually hold any fondness for her beyond that of an intellectual respect
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i have so many kpop thoughts and no one to share them with (other than my roommate who has heard me talk about the same thing 500 times god bless)
SO LOOSSEMBLE IN MY CITY IN OCTOBER WHO SCREAMED?!?!?! (i did. i screamed)
i'm kinda bummed that ticket sales were announced so quickly without a lot of time to prepare money for it...
i haven't been able to do anything for artms bc looble is my priority but i still wanted to go see them in chicago!!! i had plans!!! i was saving money for an overnight trip!
had to throw that out the window bc again looble is my priority (3 faves vs 1 fave) and they're going to be in my home city, so i won't have to spend as much as i was going to do for artms. i'll be saving like $100+ on transportation and that means more money for merch, lol...i want to preorder the lightstick even though it's ugly </3 but the site that's offering them has conflicting pobs (site says 1 of 5 pcs, twitter pic & event banner say 1 full set) and hasn't cleared up which one it is so i'm holding out on that one. i do want to get it before preorders close!!
like i'm not super fond of the croissant moon. i GET it, i know why it's a croissant, but.... i saw the other girls' designs, gowon and vivi had better ones lmfao...but if they chose this one based on the sentiment behind it, i'll live with it. i hope i don't have to make another account just to buy it OTL i'll see if there are other sites doing preorders...
...there was a really cute llsif itabag i was going to preorder this month as well but i think i missed the window for it and it costs way too much so i am just gonna wait and see if there are any leftovers...or not. i can live without it.
thought about doing freebies for the concert since i'll have the money to do so, but i'm not sure what type to do. i've never actually been to a Real kpop concert so :thinking: briefly considered bracelets but i don't have THAT much extra time or money or energy lol. maybe vivi and hyeju stickers? candy packs? things to consider...definitely bringing the trading card pack from their last tour to see if i can get rid of them T^T still mad at myself for spending $15 on pcs i already had lmfao
and i know ppl like to dress up for these but i'm probably going to be in the balcony or something and i do not have cute clothes to begin with, SO!!! jeans and a tshirt, baby. unless there's like, a dress code or something. then jeans and on-theme tshirt lol. doing an outfit in hyeju or vivi colors would also be cute?? i have time to think!!
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// I don't really like or care for labels and don't feel comfortable advertising that about myself much, but for my OCs it can be an interesting development point, though I'm still not sure how I feel about talking about it openly, but here goes...
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Marloix has said to a few people that he "doesn't do the whole 'love' thing." And he does genuinely mean that. He's not just trying to be edgy nor inviting any challenge to make him fall for someone. Man's an Aromantic Homosexual, he's not built that way, he just wants to be fecked and then left alone. He'll help out and do work and favors for the people around him to keep his mind busy, but he's not in it to make relationships with anyone. He's not quite above making friends though. He may think he is. And truthfully he's a horrible friend who tries not to get attached to anyone too deeply though, for reasons. But it still happens on occassion. Sex is just another way to pass the time for him, and in his canon he wastes a lot of his meagre earnings on prostitutes and brothels. I'm still not sure enough of the ff lore to be able to comfortably bring this sort of thing up outside of his canon though... Surprisingly Marloix is also extremely respectful when it comes to consent and privacy, sexual jokes and teasing aside, so it probably wouldn't come up anyway. On a sidenote, since I started drafting this post up Marloix has been called a Masochist after he started to speak a little more openly on such things. And... hmm... while I suppose the sentiment isn't entirely false, its also not exactly accurate either. With his nerve damage and severe, deep depression in general, he's rather addicted to seeking out any kind of high he can get, not necesarily through pain, he doesn't even like pain, but pain is definitely an option. He didn't correct them though, he'll let anyone weave and believe whatever story in their head they hold about him.
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Nelandrie is possibly one of the Straightest characters I have, and likes men in almost every aspect. She stubbornly believes herself to be above falling for anyone though, and remains aloof and uncaring. She has the elven lifespan to justify not rushing into any sort of deeper romance and her work is far more important to her than any kind of relationship, beyond a fast means of stress relief. Sex is a huge stress reliever for her, and she is stressed a lot of the time. A lot of men who push her into a rage may unintentionally find themselves sharing a bed, or more accurately, a broom closet with her. (Though I'm not in any way going to write anything even remotely like this with people I don't know, god no!) Despite being completely straight, Nela is not against showing off a bit of skin for the ladies though, they can stare all they want for all she cares, she'll take it as a compliment. And honestly she would be as polite as her snarky, prickly nature can manage at turning them down if any woman ever came forward about it. She is particularly fond of an ugly little workaholic halfling man though. Not romantically of course! Its just nice to finally meet a man with very similar ideals and takes their job seriously. Definitely nothing romantic about it. Certainly not. No. Never... sips.
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Urzula is both Biromantic as well as some flavour of Grey Asexual. She develops crushes on anyone who is nice to her for more than a few minutes and tends to get taken advantage of because of it. She has no idea what to actually do with these feelings and has no desire to act on any on them other than staring and pining from across the other side of the room with sad puppy eyes and not saying a word. Urzula also has almost no concept of long-term commitment to a relationship and is largely oblivious and obtuse to the fact that anyone could actually want that from her, she has unintentionally broken a few hearts this way. Her self doubt is far too strong, and most people only end up with her out of a sense of pity anyway, "I can fix her," etc. It's no surprise they get heartbroken when she doesn't respond in the way they expect. She's far too set in her ways, and most people see that as a bad thing or something that needs to change, rather than simply accepting it. Urzula's a little autistic in this way, combined with a lot of past trauma. She doesn't feel safe with change, and will shy away from anyone who insists she can, or worse, should change. Losing the relationship is just the safer option. No hard feelings intended.
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I guess I'll mention Emmond since he's listed here too. He is an Aromantic Asexual who thoroughly believes himself to be a perfectly healthy and normal straight guy. His marriage didn't work out but he has a daughter, Aleks, as a result. He loves his daughter and would do anything to keep her safe.
#//ooc talk#//I guess thats it? I have a lot more characters I could add but I want to keep it limited to this blog for now#I still don't know how to feel about sharing this but... rotating this all in my head... just putting thoughts on paper so to speak#//character sexualities#//marloix#//nelandrie#//urzula#//emmond
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so today i remembered to transfer the Shadowpeach Drabbles I wrote for @winterpower98 Cursed AU onto Ao3, and in honor of that (and simply because I wanted to) I have written a bonus part-
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"Another cave? Seriously?"
The group of three stood at the entrance to the cave, looking in, trying to see as far as they could into the darkness.
"Must we explore every cave we stumble upon?" Macaque sighed.
"Well, it's not gonna explore itself." MK shrugged, turning to go in, only to be stopped as Wukong leapt in front of him.
"Oh no you don't." He said, "You're not going in there by yourselves. I'm coming with you this time."
"Wait, why would you-" Macaque started, confused.
"Because the last time you two went into a cave by yourselves, MK ended up with an injured leg." Wukong said, arms crossed. "I'm coming with you this time, and that's final."
"But what about-" MK started-
"It's fine. I'll be fine." Wukong said, walking past MK and Macaque, marching into the cave as though if he waited any longer he'd loose his nerve. "Let's hurry up and get this over with."
MK watched his mentors back with concern, before glancing to the side to see Macaque mirroring his expression. Said expression snapped back into a more neutral one once he noticed that MK was looking at him though.
"C'mon." Macaque said, nudging MK as he walked past him. "Let's make sure he doesn't freak out and fall down a hole or something."
-
Surprisingly enough, things didn't immediately go downhill.
Well, that is, up until-
A loose rock tumbled down from above, and Wukong, who was already very on edge, startled backwards, bumping into Macaque and knocking him over, sending the both of them rolling over a ledge and down a small cliff, the both of them ending up laying on top of each other.
MK, after doing a quick check and making sure they were both okay, stood on the edge of the ledge and smirked.
"I thought you said you were going to keep him from falling down a hole." He said, and Macaque groaned.
"I didn't think he'd knock me down with him." He said, slowly moving to sit up as Wukong hurriedly backed off of him, giving a murmured apology.
And then MK jumped down the ledge, landing with a thump and knocking loose a few more rocks, and suddenly Wukong was clinging to Macaque again.
(Macaque was suddenly grateful, that he was the one with the super hearing. He wasn't particularly fond of the idea of Wukong noticing how fast his heart was racing from the close contact.)
"Sorry." MK said, wincing as he realized he'd startled his mentor. Wukong gave him a nervous smile.
"It's fine bud." He said, but Macaque could feel him shaking a little. Macaque sighed, before starting to try and peel Wukong's arms off of him.
"You can let go of me now." He said, trying to ignore the knowing look MK was giving him. "C'mon, we won't be able to move if you keep clinging to me like this-"
"It...helps though. The touch, I mean." Wukong reluctantly admitted, slowly letting go. "Though you're right, I guess we wouldn't be able to move if I'm clinging to you like-"
"Why don't you just carry him then?" MK asked, and Macaque's head shot up.
"What-" He hissed, and then nearly bit his tongue to keep himself from yelping as suddenly he was being lifted up, being held tight against Wukong. The Monkey King wordlessly held him bridal style, obviously happy for a way to maintain contact while also being able to move. His arms were tight around Macaque as though he was holding onto a teddy bear for comfort. He turned around, starting to walk as Macaque remained silent in shock, trying to process what had just happened.
He looked over Wukong's shoulder, back at MK, who gave him a smirk and a thumbs up.
Oh that little sh-
The shock finally wore off, and Macaque started struggling.
"Put me down!" He hissed, fur bristling. "I can walk by myself!"
"I know." Wukong said, but didn't even loosen his grip in the slightest.
Macaque gave up on struggling suspiciously quickly.
-
Oh, how MK wished he had a camera.
Well, actually, he did, in fact, have his phone with him, but every time he started trying to pull it out, Macaque would glare at him from over Wukong's shoulder.
MK eventually resolved to committing the image to memory in order to draw it later.
As it was though, they'd found another exit out of the cave, one that lead into a wide open meadow instead of the dark forest they'd been traveling through. Wukong immediately let out a relieved sigh, slouching a little and loosening his grip on Macaque, who almost immediately jumped out of his arms, brushing invisible dirt off his clothes.
"Glad that's over." He said, before registering the muffled giggling coming from behind him.
MK kept one hand covering his mouth to keep his giggles quiet, and at Macaque's questioning look, he subtly gestured to the monkey's tail.
Which was currently wrapped around Wukong's.
Wukong seemed to notice this fact at the exact same time Macaque did, an embarrassed flush taking over both monkeys faces, their tails letting go of each other as they looked away in different directions, avoiding eye contact.
MK almost wished that Mei (or maybe even Red Son) was here so that he could have someone to lose his mind over this with.
Pretty much anyone would do, really, he just needed someone to rant to about all this-
Wait. He could have someone to rant to, now that he thinks about it.
He looked back over at Wukong and Macaque, making sure that they were suitably distracted.
And then he took one of his hairs and blew on it.
And Porty MK popped into existence.
He still looked like a monkey, exactly like how MK currently did, but the sunglasses and coat made it obvious that it was Porty. (MK never really did understand how Porty and the others had managed to maintain their clothes and personality. To be honest he....didn't really want to think too hard about it.)
Anyways, back to business.
"Are you seeing this?" MK asked, gesturing over at where Wukong and Macaque had somehow swapped from looking away from each other, flustered, to all out glaring at each other, albeit with a certain sense of playfulness in it that would be hidden to anyone who wasn't looking for it.
"Oh, I'm seeing it alright." Porty said, before smirking a little. "But don't worry OG, y'see, I've got a plan."
And really, MK should've dispelled Porty right then and there.
But on the other hand, it'd been weeks. Weeks of dealing with the mutual pining that rivaled the number of pine trees in the forest they'd been walking through.
In the end, he'd ended up accepting Porty's plan.
-
Porty shook MK awake later that night. (MK had dispelled him as they'd walked through the meadow, only bringing him back in secret before going to bed once they'd made it back to the edge of the forest.) The clone must've been hiding in the trees or in a bush, MK thought, as there were stray leaves within his hair.
"They're asleep." Porty whispered, "C'mon, OG. Let's hurry this up."
MK crawled out of his sleeping bag, shaking some of the tiredness out of his body as he stood up.
The plan was simple.
MK would push Wukong out of the tree. Porty would catch him. (MK had, recently, discovered the Monkey King was actually a heavy sleeper. His strong nighttime vigilance from legends had literally only been the result of him not sleeping at all.) Once they'd secured Wukong, they'd carry him and lay him down near where Macaque slept, and simply let things play out from there.
MK was halfway up the tree Wukong was sleeping in when he remembered something important.
"...Are you sure you'll be able to catch him?" MK asked, and both he and Porty went silent as they remembered just how easily a clone could be destroyed.
"...Good point, OG." Porty said, "Let's swap, I'll push him out of the tree, you can catch him."
With a quick change of positions, the plan was back in motion. Porty shoved Wukong out of the tree, and MK caught him, stumbling a little under the dead weight. (And oh, was he ever glad for his super strength.) The two of them paused for a moment, waiting to see if Wukong would wake up.
When the Monkey King showed no signs of stirring, Porty jumped down from the tree, landing beside MK, and the both of them turned around, slowly walking over to where Macaque lay on the other side of the camp.
"...What are you doing?"
And oh, MK had just known he had forgotten something.
Both MK and Porty startled, MK only just barely keeping himself from dropping Wukong, as they whirled around to see-
Wukong's hair clone, lounging back on his cloud, watching them with a disapproving look.
"It was his idea!" Porty quickly said, pointing at MK, who let out an offended "Hey!", before suddenly Porty dispelled himself, disappearing in a quick flash, leaving MK alone with the Wukong hair clone.
MK nervously giggled, tightening his grip on the asleep Monkey King as the hair clone's eyes narrowed.
And then suddenly the clone smirked, amusement in it's eyes, and MK relaxed, letting out a breath of relief.
"It's about time you actually tried to push things along." The hair clone said, lounging back on its cloud, looking away. "I can't say he's gonna be happy in the morning though."
MK rolled his eyes, he'd already long since accepted he'd probably have to go through some kind of stern telling off tomorrow. With the hair clone seemingly having given it's permission, MK turned, completing his mission of bringing Wukong over to Macaque, gently laying the Monkey King on the ground beside the shadow monkey.
Macaque shifted, rolling over, and MK froze, worrying that he'd accidentally made too much noise-
But then Macaque put an arm around Wukong, pulling him closer, Wukong responding by nuzzling into the other's neck as their tails curled together.
MK made no short work of pulling out his phone and snapping a picture. (And sending said picture to both Mei and his own email. One could never have too many backups after all, Macaque was sure to try and delete it once he knew it existed).
Mission accomplished, he returned to his own sleeping bag, whispering a quiet good night to the Wukong hair clone as he walked by.
(In all honesty, MK didn't think this would get Wukong or Macaque to confess. It might push them a little closer to it, yes, but it wouldn't make it actually happen, no, there was far too much going on, too much history for one night of cuddling together to lead to a full out love confession.
Until that time, he'd be fine with just watching the chaos that unfolds.
....He was fairly sure that, come morning, their expressions would be hilarious to witness though).
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Headcanons for Laszlo plz,
Doctor!Reader was going a Institute to see Laszlo, prepare tea. Talks about how Laszlo adore these children’s in Institute. But then you felt your heartbeat that Laszlo was the sweetest and he was trying to kiss you on his office. We chuckles and hopefully get to know each other more
A Study on Feelings [Dr Laszlo Kreizler x Doctor!Reader]
Word count: 1.5k
Warnings: mention of murder and abused children
Author’s note: I hope I made a good job for your request 💕 thank you for allowing me to write it.
The case they refer to is made up and not related to the series.
You stepped out of the carriage thanking the driver, he bowed his head to you touching the tip of his hat respectfully.
The day was slowly dying, the sun was disappearing among the grey clouds of New York sky, the city trembling of life was going toward a well earned rest, but the joyful sounds coming from beyond the gates of the Kreizler’s institute were the real blessing of the day.
“Doctor Y/L/N” the familiar voice of Doctor Kreizler welcomed you as he walked outside the heavy gates “I am glad you made it to visit us” he said referring to himself and the whole Institute altogether.
You couldn’t help but smile back admitting how it was unmissable for you to do such a visit.
Words aside he caught your attention as he was without his jacket, a more easy look that, in such a time where people took hours to dress and undress, it was a proper sight.
As you got inside the sound became more clear, the children rushing one after the other while getting in their beds, the smiling faces, the happy chats.
It felt such a blessing to be able to witness such a pure joy.
“Please, pardon my attire, the kids and I were playing, right?” He asked to a child that nodded he looked down shyly, not able to cross eyes with you but clearly trusting the doctor. Laszlo noticed that reaction, but he opened his left arm in front of you to invite you to go further.
Tenderness and attention gravitated around this place, it was a calming space, but also rooted into the process of healing the kids were going through.
Something hard to explain, something that could only be felt in a place like the Kreizler Institute.
You followed Laszlo inside as he gallantly showed you the way around, room after room, hall after hall to his office.
“This place is magnificent” you murmured to him
“It is, indeed, but not just architectonically, the kids make it special” he assured as he thanked the lady at service for bringing hot water to him.
“You like brewing your own tea?” You asked him once alone.
“What does that say about me?” He joked and you shrugged lightly observing him in such a mundane situation, in his little ritual.
“That you’re very fond of control, you probably spend a lot of sleepless nights here, and you take pride of your tea selection”
He chuckled at your words replying quickly
“Sounds like somebody that I know, do you have a favourite tea?”
“I will try your favourite, if you allow me” you said pacing around the study during the whole conversation, your eyes going quietly from the chalkboard to the books open on the big table, the intense scente of wood covering the room joined with the gentle notes of the vanilla coming from the books.
The place felt relaxing and professional, serious but cozy.
“I admire your work, Doctor Kreizler” you confessed honestly as he let the tea brewing “now, I believe you called me for a very specific matter” you added as he pulled out those papers and books you were meant to see together.
You stared at him as he explained the case, word after word, his hand moving along every detail, apologising for every gruesome one, showing proofs, the ideas he had, the intuitions and troubles.
“May you go back to that last victim?” You asked as you proceeded to collect the tea and to pour it yourself as he was now more challenged to go through the topics, you saw something he didn’t and that intrigued him. He wasn’t completely blind to your presence there and, probably, he also tried this hard to impress you. He felt a bit silly, showing off like a peacock all his feathers about solving murder cases.
You smiled as the time flew by, your teas followed one after the other marking the edges of the pages and turning cold as you spoke and shared ideas. At some point you took off your jacket to be more comfortable while writing on the board adding those possible explanations to the motifs of the new killer he was investigating on.
“Doctor! Doctor!” A tiny voice called and you both turned around as a little girl rushed in, blonde hair blowing in the air already wearing her night dress as she handed the big black jacket of the doctor back to him “You forgot it”.
“Oh, thank you so much Margaret, you have been most precious, now go to bed or Mrs Morenko will get worried” he smiled at her lovingly and she nodded valiantly before rushing away.
You kept quiet as you observed her and smiled how she skipped around happily.
“She is the girl you told me about?” You asked him and he nodded closing the door after her and moving back to the table, standing beside it as he gently tapped on the wood with his fingers.
“You can’t prevent polarisation, it is harder with kids” you assured him moving by his side to interject his stare still settled on the wood under him.
“I should have seen it coming, she is getting into a place I never meant her to be. I wanted her to be freed by the need to please her family and now she substituted it with the need to please me”
“You substituted her parents in her mind, an evil man and an evil woman, you’re the sweetest of the mothers and the most protective of the fathers. You can’t blame yourself on this.”
He listened to you and you could almost see the little gears in his brain elaborate your words, his right hand abandoned on his side, hair slightly falling on his temple as he pressed his lips tightly together.
“I did her wrong being so soft on her”
He concluded closing his eyes for a moment before looking up at you realising how close you actually are.
“Do you expect me to punish you now?”
You asked back at him and that surely took him by surprise as he tried to babble what he meant and he wasn’t self pitying himself and how you probably didn’t want to listen to his children’s problems too, you were already helping too much.
“Doctor Kreizler” you interrupted that river of words “as professionals we need to understand how to treat our patients in the best way to bring them further in life and not backward. You know just as I do how if you utilised a strong and threatening attitude you would have just taught her that the way to deal with life is to submit to the more aggressive ones, which is way worse than a young ten year old having a crush on the man that taught her she can be strong, isn’t it?”
He looked at you and smiled moving his head on side with a small tilt letting your words sink in and probably glad you defined him in such a way.
“I just love these kids” he breathed out as his eyes drifted somewhere in the space “they are picked up so soon in life and set for failures and successes they never meant to have, somebody else reading through them seeing fault in desire and poverty in tenderness”
You felt you chest tighten as he spoke, his eyes now shining, his voice narrating slowly those lives and achievements. His passion and hard work showing as he guided some papers closer to play out that moment the embarrassment of having opened up to you like that.
“The truth is, Doctor Y/L/N, that we can do so little, and the best thing we can do is to teach them not to accept little from life”
You smiled at him softly “You’re right”.
He smiled back as his dark gaze dropped down on your lips and he leaned in carefully, his eyes up at you again searching for consent, you imperceptibly wet your lips as you realised he was closing the space between the two of you.
Then a familiar voice coming from outside the window calling his name.
He paused midway and you could see a soft pink take over on his cheeks and behind his ears, he murmured something moving away from you as he opened up the window letting in the cold breeze.
“Laszlo! There’s another victim! Come down! Now! She is still alive you have to speak to her!” John shouted from his carriage “Move your ass!” He added shouting again as Dr Kreizler clearly was upset by the interruption and rolled his eyes to that vulgar talk.
You chuckled slowly picking his jacket and moving behind him. He noticed you and gulped down letting you help him with it.
“I apologise, I have to go, but Dr Y/L/N, I pledge for your forgiveness”
You nodded slowly as you were thinking about it as you picked up your own jacket.
“That could be earned by giving me the permission to call you Laszlo myself”
He smiled with a light nod just admiring the way you didn’t let any embarrassment run through the two of you.
“I couldn’t in any way refuse a requests coming from you, Y/N”
You nodded to him placing your hat back on your head with a smirk
“Good, now don’t stand there, we have to go” you said as he froze halfway through the door.
“Pardon?”
“You don’t expect to introduce me to this case and make me forget about it, or about you” you said and he let out a breathy chuckle holding the door for you open before following you outside.
This was the beginning of something new.
Tags: @cazzyimagines @that-stupid-head-tilt-thing
#dr kreizler x reader#dr laszlo kreizler#dr laszlo kreizler x you#dr laszlo kreizler x reader#laszlo kreizler fanfic#laszlo kreizler fanfiction#laszlo kreizler x y/n#laszlo kreizler x you#laszlo kreizler x reader#the alienist x reader#the alienist fanfic#laszlo kreizler
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Country Lane | Divorce Harry III
Thank you all for waiting for this one. Massive middle finger to tumblr for screwing the post up! Divorce Harry III is finally here!
Shoutout to my lovely ladies who taking time to read this for me @harrytheehottie, @harryfeatgaga, @haute-romance-quotidienne and of course @waitingfortwilight. Also, thank you to all my lovely anons and those of you who come off anon to talk about this, I’ve really loved the general chit chat about the series <3
Without further ado, enjoy! Lots of love and happy Saturday! x
*~*
You had no idea where you were.
Surrounded by nothing but overgrown grass and the odd wooden fence. If you listened carefully in the distance you could hear the traffic of what you thought could be the A34 road and you were pretty sure that the last sign you had seen before your car cut out had been for Congleton.
Rubbing your hands down your fresh face, your spa retreat to Mottram Hall for the hen-do of one of the school Mum’s entering her second marriage, was nothing more than a distant memory. As you sat freezing, in your car, looking out onto the harsh autumn weather of October, you were far from relaxed and rejuvenated.
Worrying your bottom lip with your top teeth, you juggled your phone from palm to palm. You knew you had to call him, you effectively didn’t have any choice. Especially after you’d pulled your way through your glove compartment and you hadn’t come up trumps with your breakdown cover documentation.
Part of you was cursing in that moment at how you’d handed the piece of paper which held all telephone numbers and car insurance policy account numbers over to your son to scribble upon during one particularly long car session, just to keep him quiet. You were actually sure it was now stuck on your fridge with a lovely drawing of what you presumed to be Marvel characters all over it.
The worst of it all was that you knew whatever had happened to your car was bad. You knew simply from the way the car had spluttered and started to grind before almost seizing up and stalling to a halt.
Unlocking your phone, you scrolled through your contacts and landed on his contact card. Clicking on it you saw when the last time you had called him was and recalled the soft FaceTime he’d had with your eldest son, who wanted to tell his Daddy about how he’d been picked for the schools first rugby team, taking him out of reserves and off the bench.
Breathing deeply, you ignored the ache the fond memory began to cause and tapped Harry’s name. The dialling tone that greeted you filled the pit of your stomach with knots as you tried to relax in the leather seat of your Range Rover.
Again, you started to worry your lips at the fifth ring, before the line clicked and you heard his warm voice. You froze at how friendly he sounded, his voice held an edge of laughter to it and you heard shuffling faintly in the background, followed by chatter, before it was shut out.
On the other end of the line, Harry had found himself dodging his way around people in his Mother’s kitchen in Cheshire, before leaving the room and catching your call before it cut off.
“Sorry ‘bout tha’,” he spoke an unnecessary apology, probably because of how long it had taken him to answer, as you remained quiet on the other line.
You blinked harshly at the sound of your name being spoken. “Are you still there?” Harry asked, pulling the phone away from his ear to see that the call was indeed still running.
“Ye- yeah,” you stuttered, partly due to a soft tremble to your lips from being cold.
“Everythin’ alrigh’?” He asked, a concerned edge to his question, as you dropped deeper into your car seat.
Another small amount of silence.
“Not really,” you responded, honestly. “Where are you?”
With a small frown, he answered, “‘M at Mums. ‘S her birthday this weekend, remember?”
Shit. You’d forgotten.
Heavily breathing in response, you said, “It slipped my mind. Sorry.”
There was a chuckle at the end of the line.
“Not like you tha’,” he playfully jostled, causing the pit of your stomach to fall through again. You hated how he always managed to make any conversation between the two of you not seem as if you were in the middle of a prolonged divorce. “Usually got everything colour coordinated on our kitchen calendar.”
And he still did that so smoothly too, spoke about things as if you still did them together. The use of ‘our’ and ‘we’ was second nature and so naturally fell off his tongue in a velvety way that was soothing but left you shivering if caught by your touch in a different way.
As if he could read your mind, before you’d thought it, he said, “Don’t worry. I added everyone’s names to the presents so she thinks they’re from all o’ us.”
“I shouldn’t have called, you’re busy,” you responded without feeling, starting to pull the phone away from your ear and back to thinking about how you could get in touch with your breakdown cover. There had to be a way, surely.
“Hey, no,” he was urgent. “Don’t hang up, ‘s fine. I’ve pulled myself away. ‘S okay- please. Don’t hang up on me, something’s not right ‘ere. ‘S okay to still need me sometimes, y’ know?”
“It’s okay, I can sort it myself-“ you flung your car door open. “Can you just tell me know how to pop the bonnet up on this car, cause it’s been so bloody long since I last had to do it-“
“Pop the bonnet? Why’d you need to do that? Have you broken down somewhere?” His questions were clipped as he asked.
“Don’t get arsey with me-“
“‘M not,” he replied, quickly cutting. He really was. “Are the kids wi’you?”
“‘S alright for me be stranded on the side of the road on my own when it’s about to get dark-“
“Did I say that?” Again, he words were clipped. “Are you trying to wind me up?”
“Why have you not told me how to raise the bonnet?”
He sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose before walking the short distance in his Mother's hallway to lower himself, slowly, down to sit on the stairs.
“Underneath the passenger side there’s a lever,” he paused his softer tone, giving you time to find it. As he spoke you trampled against the grass closest to the passenger side and opened the door. Looking down at a red lever, which had clearly made itself known to you now that it had been brought to your attention.
“Found it?” he asked, hearing you hum.
You shut the passenger door of your car and stared at the slightly popped up bonnet, Harry’s voice filling your ears again. “If you feel underneath the bonnet, between the E and the R there is another little lever. Squeeze that and it’ll release the bonnet-“
“Where’s the little thing to keep it up?”
He breathily chuckled, “‘s on hydraulics so keeps itself up.”
Again, you didn’t respond and he was met with silence. Harry rested his chin against his palm waiting for you to speak, eyes looking towards the dimming light as night began to approach.
“Wha’ can you see?”
“Not a whole lot, it looks fine to me.“
“Darling, just let me come to you.”
“But this is why I pay for breakdown cover,” you snapped.
“Where are you?” He asked, voice deep and to your annoyance laced with concern that he should no longer hold.
You stammered trying to figure out some sort of excuse to bullshit him with, eyes taking in the country lane and the vast greeness around you.
“Last time ‘m askin’,” he harshly cut in. “‘S gonna get dark soon, so jus’ tell me where y’are.”
“Somewhere near Congleton.”
“And wha’s the matter wi’the car?”
You noted his voice on his last question was a bit pinched, probably from focusing on another task like pulling on a pair of trainers to bring him to you. He clearly wasn’t playing along anymore.
“Well, I think I’ve had an oil leak but none of the lights have come on to officially let me know whether I have or haven’t. The only thing is the nasty black marks that are on the driveway at home, but ‘s nothing that couldn't probably be jet washed off-“
As you rambled about cleaning the oil from the drive of the Hampstead home, Harry zoned out beginning to list the things he would probably require to bring with him. He was sure some of it could be found in Robin’s old garage, knowing that boxes of tools were still piled in the far corner.
“Send me your exact location via text.”
“Harry-“ you sighed.
“‘M not askin’, ‘m telling,” he abruptly responded.
***
People say that Googling symptoms is never a good thing, you suppose the same could be said for a car.
Were they symptoms though? You couldn’t quite coherently think of another descriptor for them as they brought up search after search at how you quite possibly could have ruined your car.
You tried not to dwell as the sky around you began to get darker while you sat in the safe passing place on the country lane. It wasn’t like you had much choice but to stick around.
Cold, and dithering slightly, you had taken to throwing your coat over your body like a blanket as simply wearing it wasn’t keeping your entire body warm enough.
Car doors locked and eyes closed, you tried to find some solace in your waiting. You didn’t have much avail, as you were interrupted by the harsh white lighting of LED headlights breaking through the dimming dusk sky.
You frowned, eyes squinting as the light got closer and pulled in behind you. A sense of uncertainty filled your body at the new arrival, along the otherwise desolate road.
A figure of a male jumped out of the car behind you, causing you to still all of your movement in your car seat as you tried to make out any features to you that would make you comfortable in knowing it was Harry.
The blinding lights made it far too difficult to see anything and you were beginning to think that the person behind you had left them on, on purpose. Unless they were those annoying ones that slowly turned themselves off.
Staring out you vaguely were able to make out the figure approaching you and as he got halfway you relaxed.
It was Harry.
He rapped his knuckles gently at your driver's side window and then smiled to himself as he realised how you wouldn’t be able to open it due to your inactive engine.
“Open the door for me,” he spoke, his voice slightly muffled as it came through your car window. He watched as you reached for the door handle inside and pushed the door ajar ever so slightly. “Could you have picked anywhere more hidden away?”
You didn’t respond straight-away, deciding instead to take him in as he stood with his left arm leaning up against the doorframe of your car. His right arm taut as he held the car door open and away from you both, not wanting it to cause any obstruction.
Underneath his khaki parka you could faintly make out a worn Versace tee as it hung open, unzipped. You internally rolled your eyes. What kind of person wore Versace to fix a car and possibly get covered in oil in the process?
As you rested your head back against the seat behind you, you silently enjoyed the way he looked down at you. It was always quite frustrating, even more so now you weren’t together, how magnetising he was.
“Do me a favour?” He broke the silent stare, “Lean over and pull the lever for me? Don’t quite fancy walking around the car and possibly going down a ditch.”
“My parking isn’t that bad!” You chastised, watching the way his lips twitched. “I’m being courteous of other cars on this tiny lane, given them extra room near the passing place-“
“You got miles of space this side of the dotted line,” he spoke cutting in, eyes wide and filled with humour. “Surprised you didn’t drive down the hill bank the other side to be extra courteous.”
“Can pull the lever yourself now, hope you break your ankle-“
“No you don’t-“
“I’d just leave you here, you know? Take the keys out of your pocket and go.“
“Don’t need to resort to petty crime,” his voice was a bit weaker now but still just as cheeky. “Could’ve just asked for ‘em.”
Your eyes moved towards the glinting keys that he held loosely by the key ring after quickly retrieving them from his pocket. Tauntingly wanting you to reach out from them.
“You’re just going to pull them away, if I grab for ‘em.”
“‘M not,” he stressed with a slight laughter. “You’re always so cynical and defensive. Not even thanked me for driving out to come and get you.”
You didn’t respond, instead you gently reached for the keys, feeling him slightly shift them from your grip as he enjoyed the determination on your face.
Fingers filled with want, you still grabbed for them, successfully but having to be halfway out of the seat and door of your car in order to fulfill your achievement.
When your feet met the ground beneath you, you quickly shifted around to pull your coat on properly. As you moved from the doorway, you watched as Harry dropped his chest onto the driver's seat and reached across the width of the car to pull the lever without needing to walk around the car to do so.
Putting a bit of distance between you, so you didn’t fall foul of staring too long at his bum in his blue jeans, you stalled yourself as he pushed his body up to standing and flipped through a book in his hands.
“Harry?”
“Yeah?” He said, flicking through what you now knew to be the car’s manual that he must’ve also grabbed from the glove box while inside the car. When you didn’t reply he tore his eyes away from the pages and over to you.
“You’re a good man.”
The honesty in your voice, knocked him. “‘M not, but ‘m trying t’be.”
The two of you stared at each other in the dimming darkness and you knew your gaze matched his sad one.
Clearing his throat, he threw the manual against the driver’s seat. “Anyway out m’ sight, leave the men to the work an’ all tha’. ‘S got heated seats an’ all, if you’re into tha’ sorta thing.”
***
You felt bad watching him out in the cold and dark, a light hanging from the bonnet the only source around him that you imagined was keeping him going.
Sitting in the passenger seat, you let your eyes roam around the black interior of his car that was incredibly spacious and so suitable for your barrage of children.
Your attention turned to outside again as you saw Harry move around from your car and walk up towards his own. His forearm came up to wipe across his mouth, bringing your attention to his facial hair that seemed to be getting thicker and thicker.
Without needing to be prompted, you pressed the button to lower the driver's side window and watched as he pressed his forearms into the resting place you had created for him now there was no window blocking his way.
“Can you get me one of them shammy cloths from out o’the boot please? Jus’ need to double check the dipstick.”
You nodded as he continued, “Would do it m’self but-“ he paused, opening out his hands and showing how dirty his fingers were to you.
“It’s fine,” you said, leaving the car and joining him. “I feel a bit useless anyway,” you admitted.
Both of you remained silent when he joined you at the back of his car, two sets of eyes easily spotting what you were looking for. You opened the packet of two cloths, a horrible peach colour, and passed him one before swapping places with him.
You moved to stand at the side of the car, watching him drop his head inside the boot to see if there was anything else he needed while he was at the other car.
“Since when did you become one of them?”
“One of who?” He asked, his head popping around the side of his car and out of the boot to look at you.
“Your lights on this car are far too bright.”
He rolled his eyes, remaining quiet as he turned back to the contents of his boot. He wasn’t going to respond to your unnecessary nitpicking.
“It’s really nice inside though. Single about me did well then,” you found yourself saying the comment in a biting fashion, unable to hold your tongue.
“Which one?” He bit right back, a clanging heard from the boot, “I asked you if you wanted a credit, you said no.”
You clammed up. He hadn’t taken what you said as a joke. A bit of light humour, you thought, for the road. It was your own fault. You’d become that sort of annoying person you often could get when you found yourself awkwardly doing nothing with yourself. Your delivery of your joke didn’t help either.
“Think I preferred you when you stayed sat, quiet, in the car,” Harry said, head moving out from the boot again so you could read his expressions. Raised eyebrows and twitching lips.
“Piss off,” you glared at him, slowly turning to walk away.
Now it was Harry’s turn to think you were joking, as he shouted after you. “Really gonna be like that after I turned up to save you. That’s twice now I’ve had t’remind yer.”
“You insisted-“
“I know I did,” he spoke around a chuckle. “Now where’re you off to?”
“‘M walking home-“
“Don’t be so fucking ridiculous,” he shouted after you, a frown jarring through his light features when he moved from the open boot to walk closer to you as you turned back around to face him.
***
He managed to coax you to sit back in the car not much longer after you’d stormed off in a huff. Not without a fight, but this was one he was willing to back down on just to get you to stop storming off.
Looking back on it now, the scene was probably quite funny to some passerby or outsider, or it would’ve been if you weren’t so secluded. A female dressed in the most fetching of clothes - sarcasm noted - arguing in the middle of a street. Like some five year old in need of a nap.
Speaking of naps, your eyes shot open wide at the loud bang of your car bonnet being shut. You hadn’t realised that you’d begun to doze until you were abruptly woken.
Bleary vision was quickly erased with a rub of your eyes, as you moved to face the front and pushed your hair from your face.
You were met with Harry busy fiddling with the wires of his lamp. His face dropped down and hair falling so easily into his eyes. He kept walking rather than look into the car to see if you were still with him. Instead, he dropped everything that was in his hands into the boot and proceeded to annoyingly continue to subconsciously show off by pressing a button to close his boot automatically.
Staying wrapped up in one of your kids car blankets, you curled your legs underneath your body and rested your right cheek against the headrest. You continued to be silent as you started to wake up, eyes blinking slowly as you watched Harry in the dark pull open his car door.
He swung his body into the car with an almighty groan, one that caused you in your sleepy haze to softly smile. He looked shattered as he relaxed in his seat and rested his head backwards.
With eyes closed he sighed heavily, letting you take him in without a care. You’d noticed that at some point since your nap he’d removed his coat and now he sat in just his t-shirt and jeans. Both, of which, now looked like they had seen better days.
His brow had begun to perspire as he entered the warmth of his car, the quick switch from the Baltic (slight over exaggeration) temperatures outside to those more welcoming inside the G-Wagon could do that to you.
“Don’t think it’s fucked completely,” he said to break the silence, wiping his face and sweat with the back of his hand and wrist, to try and ensure his oil covered fingers didn’t leave any other stains on his skin.
You enjoyed the way he used the back of his hand, wrist and forearm to wipe at his now slightly clammy skin. Stupidly it emphasised how defined his upper body had become. “Dipstick wasn’t as dry as I was expecting,” he continued, “Just topped her up and ‘m ‘oping she turns over and sounds as good as new.”
Again, silence. His eyes staring straight ahead of him, yours enjoying his profile. God, he had a fantastic nose. It was definitely something that your daughter had inherited and you wondered if it would be a feature that a loved one in her life would sometimes admire in the next generation.
“Got any baby wipes wi’ you?” He cut his eyes to yours from the corner of his vision, taking in the way you were curled up in the passenger seat wearing the car blanket of your eldest son.
His eyes lingered on your shape for a while, dropping down and enjoying the way you had curled yourself up and presented to him in such a cosy vision. It meant you felt relaxed around him and that was all he ever wanted.
It was a nice contrast to the emotive happenings between the two of you that had almost become commonplace of late. A foreign feeling that was so simple, but so exciting.
Without verbal response you reached from your handbag that was in the footwell to have a look inside at the contents.
“Don’t wanna leave this car, been a bit spoiled over the last hour or so. Could do with an upgrade myself as they’re all getting older and need a bit more room,” you spoke as you rummaged around, movements still slightly sluggish.
You were successful in finding what you needed, the rustling of the plastic packaging jarring to your ears. Quickly pulling at the cover overlay, you swiftly pulled out a couple of wipes with such a mom-like finesse that had you balancing them on top of the now closed packet as you turned to face Harry.
“Don’t even think about making it a clause in the divorce,” he joked, eyes looking up at you from underneath his brow. His eyebrows snapped up in shock as you snatched at his hand and abruptly pulled at the baby wipes you’d retrieved from inside your handbag.
The two of you fell silent as you wiped at his left hand first, watching the black of the oil slowly leave his fingers. Breathing was heavy in the empty space as you didn’t dare raise your gaze higher to look into his eyes, that you knew were watching you.
“It’s so attractive, how much of a Mum you are,” he dared to say what he really thought as his humoured expression fell away. “Cleaning my hands up nicely, like ‘m your child that’s made a mess of m’dinner.”
“Harry,” you sighed his name, fidgeting softly in your seat. He chuckled in such a husky way that you found yourself softening regardless of the way it riled you.
Releasing his left hand, you reached straight for his right. Seeing the way he caught himself and stopped it before it fell against his lap. He smoothly reached for you, brushing your hair behind your shoulders as it began to curtain across the right side of your face.
“Last time m’hands were this dirty, you were licking and sucking ‘em clean.”
You felt your face begin to heat up from his brazenness.
“Are you blushing for me?” He whispered, his left hand moving along your jaw, to tilt your head upwards. He had a hold of your jaw, slightly rougher than before and while your face played ball, your eyes did not. “‘S been ages since you blushed fo’me.”
Again the sound of breathing filled the car, Harry’s gaze all over your features before his other words punctuated the air, “Look a’me.”
As your eyes moved sharply to the right, you looked at the way he’d lolled his head back. His thumb slowly pulled at your bottom lip, watching the way it softly bounced from his touch, before he lifted it to trace faintly over your Cupid’s bow.
“Missed your lips,” he admitted, enjoying the light puffs of breath that bounced against the pad of his thumb. Before you could think, you’d taken his thumb inside your mouth, an appreciative groan leaving his lips.
You felt the way his fingers cupped under your chin, gently stroking at your skin, silently caressing. Teeth nipping playfully against the skin of his thumb as you pulled away.
“How much?” You asked, lips turning to ghost against the inside of his hand.
His eyes lingered as you watched him nudge his chin up slightly, silently asking for you to come to him.
You sucked in a heavy breath as you leaned into him, the dimming ceiling light of the car slowly allowing darkness to swallow you both. A faint smile nudged your lips as your nose fell against his top lip.
He scooped you under his arm - lining you up better - hands trying to hold you as near to him as he could as you leaned over the centre console of the car to be closer to him.
“Enough,” he husked, before adding, “Your nose is cold,” in a passing tone, lips against your temple now. Breathing deeply through your nose you let him pull you even closer, unable to believe that you weren’t close enough. Muffled apologies left your lips, about how your nose was cold.
The soft drag of his lips to yours pulled you under a haze that swept away your apologies and into a tender reacquaintance. His lips were slightly shaking against yours and you weren’t sure if it was to do with the cold that he had found himself in or if it were due to his nervousness.
Regardless he was steady. Knew exactly what he was doing and what he wanted. Pulling kiss after kiss from you in the slowest fashion that you felt yourself beginning to warm up.
“‘S nice to have a little kiss,” he gently spoke against the corner of your mouth. “Missed you treating me to ‘em.”
“I think you just know exactly what to say,” you murmured as you allowed him to continue ghosting his lips over yours. “Know exactly what you're doing.”
“‘F you’re suggesting that I’m trying it on,” he murmured against your lips, “I absolutely fucking am.”
“Would never have guessed,” you looked at him with heavy eyelids, head now nudged back slightly to enable you to see his entire face. He smirked at you, eyes blinking slowly as he willed you to him once more.
His hand was secure around the back of your neck, fingers messily woven through your hair. His other hand gently massaged at the top of your back, over your fetching loungewear that you had chosen to drive home in.
“‘S it working?”
“What do you think?”
Harry’s eyes dropped in a slow blink as he felt the way your hand lowered down his chest and abdomen, which was wavering slightly from his nervous anticipation.
Dropping your head down to his chest, you left a kiss to his pec as you mumbled and felt the button of his jeans giveway to your fingers and thumb. “I am grateful, you know?”
“Yeah?”
The ruffle of your hair against the cotton of his tee filled the car, him recognising it as you nodding.
“Me too,” he assured.
And he was. Grateful.
For the life he’d had with you up until this point.
The family the two of you had created. The one you were so fiercely fighting for. Messily and viciously, all from a good place. The best place.
He licked at his dry lips, leaving his mouth to hang open slightly as he watched you descend down to his semi that was hidden in the confines of his jeans.
“Both of us need warming up,” he mused, his hands sliding from your hair and down your back, slowly and gently to your slightly raised bum from how you had placed yourself over the center console. “In’t that right?”
A dull slap of his hand against your leggings-clad bum had you rocking back as you felt his hands slide under the waistband to massage at your cheek.
Swallowing heavy, Harry tilted back his head and even through his hooded eyes he caught his blissed expression in the rear view mirror, as he felt you take his balls into your mouth and gently suckle.
He rasped your name as he basked in the dirty licks, heavily laden with saliva from your watering mouth before you took him into your throat. Obscene sounds from your actions wove between his heavy breathing and quick pants.
“Fuck me, darling.”
With his hand that was still against your bum, he pulled you closer. Hands desperate to have purchase of something as you gently but messily sucked and licked, desperate to feel the tickle of his pubic hair against the tip of your nose to know you’d successfully taken him all the way down.
His breathing was shaky, a quick hiss leaving his lips as he felt the way your nails dug into his denim clad thighs from his previous movements to try and hold steady. The position wasn’t ideal, but the feeling of your shaking breath against his wet cock as you nosed against his jeans had him smiling.
As you turned your head slightly to look at him from the corner of your vision, you noticed the way he was looking down at you. How powerful he seemed in that moment as you were slightly beneath him.
The thought changed though with the way his hand came up to your face, his thumb against your wet lips for the shortest time before he cradled the back of your head to help pull you back up and avoid any mishaps.
He tugged you forward to crush his mouth to yours with pleased hums as he tasted himself on you. Lips smacking as he pulled kiss after kiss from your mouth, smiling at the eagerness of you both.
His hands joined yours as they pulled at his jeans, his hips lifting in the seat and his arms strong as he pushed the denim and underwear down to sit closer to his knees.
“Mm,” he hummed, as his bare bum cheeks met the heated seat beneath them. “Put the seats on fo’me.”
“Don’t say I don’t ever treat you nicely.”
He huskily chuckled as he brought your lips back to him again. “Nice an’ warm,” he lazily spoke, acknowledging the heated seats. “Jus’ for me.”
And he knew every bit of his words meant the double entendre that you had caught,looking on as you pulled away to sink back into your own seat
Looking over at him, you noticed the lust behind his eyes as he slowly pumped his hand up and down his wet and aching cock when you sunk back into your own seat and watched his head loll against the headrest once more. His nostrils flared as he bit down on his bottom lip and nudged his chin up, getting you silently to come to him once more when he’d seen your movements in removing your own bottoms had ended.
“Wouldn’t do this for anyone else, y’know that?” You said around your messy kiss as you raised your legs and felt his hands guide you to straddle him. Hands splayed across your lower back and the top half of your bum as he secured you to him.
“Should bloody ‘ope not.”
As you sat above him, you could feel him there. Sprung back and wet. Your mouths rested against each other, heavy and open. Eyes moving to and fro over each other’s.
“Been at this too long to start sharing now.”
Your hips moved forward at his words, with the smallest of motions but it was enough to make his cock glide between your lips. His expression was one of immeasurable pleasure regardless of how little the touch.
Deep down you knew you didn’t have time for this sort of behaviour. The kind where you revelled in the nudge of him against your clit, and the way it caused you to gasp lightly while your brow creased and forehead fell against his.
“Take it,” he encouraged as you rolled your hips on him. “Let me in.”
Heavy breathing and shaking hands, you held Harry’s eyes as you reached behind you to take him in your hand.
Wrapping your fingers around his length, you raised yourself, feeling him shuffle down slightly in his seat to help ensure you didn’t bump your head as you lifted. Fingers gave way when he lined up nicely, slipping only his tip inside of you.
This stretch was one like no other. A burn that you savoured as much as the expression that welcomed you from the desire felt by the only man who had ever made you feel this way. His one hand crawled up your back, to cup around your neck, anchoring you to him.
When you were fully seated shaky exhales bounced against each other’s lips. Every tremble of you above him felt so vividly by Harry. The way your thighs shook from the small confines you found yourself in, to the quiver of your fingers against his neck and jaw.
“You’re so big,” your moan was feeble. Embarrassing in many ways. Especially given the amount of times you’d done this with him.
“Mm,” he agreed. “‘S cause ‘m so hot for you. Got me so hard. Always have.”
“Always will-“
“Always will,” he confirmed.
Your moan was thick as it left your throat, his words enough to get you to roll against him and have you clit drag pleasing against his pelvis.
He groaned, knowing that’s what you were doing too. Having been in this position so many times before. No one had ever had you this way, and you knew no one ever would either. A pleasure this giving was one of familiarity. Aided so deeply by feeling.
When your mouth met his again the only word to describe your kiss was sinful. His tongue waiting to meet yours, flicking so easily and far too filthily for those on the cusp of middle age.
But he still had it.
The gleaming boyish gaze and curling smile. Could charm his way into any heart and into any pair of knickers. But the ones he had chosen time and time again were yours. Regardless of their sexiness at times.
“Yes,” you gasped, pulling away from his mouth and feeling his hands encourage the knocking of your hips against his.
You were close, nowhere to go and not wanting to go anywhere. How you had made it here so quickly, you weren’t sure. Maybe it was the surroundings, how you potentially could get caught. Maybe it was because your partner - husband - just knew you so well.
His eyes didn’t want to leave you as they admired the flushed skin you were beginning to show and the gleaming, plush lips that you were rolling into your mouth to hide your pleasure.
“That’s it, fuck me,” his voice was hushed, quick in its delivery. “‘S wha’ it’s all about,” he hummed, as you rocked your hips over his. Knocking his head back against the headrest once more.
As he looked down his nose at you, he watched as your eyes fell to your navel, taking in each roll of your hips. Your expression dropped with realisation, slightly pained. “What’s wrong?”
Looking up at him, you wish you hadn’t. You wished you’d kept your eyes down to see the ripple of his abdomen each time your body flexed around him. That way it wasn’t doused in emotion, it was just raw pleasure that lived in your mind.
“We shouldn’t be doing this anymore. Needs to be the last time.”
A mix of a breathy laugh and scoff left his lips as he urged you to restart your hips that were starting to stall above him, “Bit late for tha’ now, don’t yer think?”
Falling against him, you hid your face feeling his lips over the shell of your ear and against your hair. His hand gently stroked at your hair, lips moving to your temple and pressing affection kisses that did nothing but make you feel worse.
“Do you want t’stop? Mm?” He asked, feeling your hips so tight against his, but your core so open that he hoped you would say no. Widening his thighs he pressed his feet into the footwell, seeking momentum to meet your hips with his own.
“‘S okay to love me still,” he groused, feeling your chin tremble from his words. “‘S okay to let me love you still. This is okay, us just doing this is okay.”
It wasn’t okay and he knew. He also knew everything he was saying - every single word - was just a way to satiate you.
So, you let them. Swallowed the lump in your throat and inhaled deeply.
His words were cut short as he groaned, “Sit up for me, fuck me properly.”
Sitting yourself up, you felt the way Harry’s hands moved so that the backs of his fingers were smoothing against your lower stomach. Sweaty palm turned, he pressed it gently down your stomach and let his thumb finger your clit.
The softest frown hit your brow, as his thumb slowly rubbed in a downwards motion at your sensitivity. From his actions you felt a warmth pool around both him and you, Harry groaning appreciatively as he felt it too.
“Yeah,” he stressed the word as you gripped at his t-shirt which sat against his stomach. Cotton in handfuls as you scrunched the fabric. “‘S tha’ nice- good?”
You nodded.
“‘S it enough?”
You nodded with more fervour. Eyes holding his as you sucked your bottom lip into your mouth and scratched along his right forearm as he continued to gently swipe at your wet clit.
The abruptness of the rock to your hips showed itself as the warmth within your belly grew. Eyes now hooded, you were unable to stop them from closing as your mouth parted to desperately say, “Don’t stop.”
And you didn’t know who you were talking to; yourself or Harry.
Harry responded with a moan so deep that you clenched down around him, causing his free hand to reach up and squeeze harshly against your hips.
“‘M going to come so hard for you ‘f you keep doing that,” he gritted, breathing shallow as he felt his chest constrict. “Like tha’, just like that.”
His words were low, and like just moments before you weren’t sure if they were for him or you, but they had you moaning his name. Head dropping against his, his hand gripping at the back of your neck.
With one hard roll of your hips, you cried out, forehead against his chin and mouth fallen. His hand squashed between your bodies as you shook and convulsed.
Pliant for him, you were too dazed to move as you felt his arm wrap securely around your back and hold you to him, tight.
A merciless and repeated smack of his hips upwards, which you were sure would have the car rocking, made you aware of him seeking his release. He moaned your name, as he pulled you down to him, his orgasm shooting into you.
His heavy breathing was hot against your sweltering skin when you finally came to, his grunts melding into your neck as your core continued to flutter in the aftermath of your own release.
His hands somewhat selfishly and most definitely greedily moved you against him, both crooning at the sensitive rush that met you before he lifted you to aid himself with slipping out.
Cold air met his sensitivity, as he nuzzled against you. Hand crawling up your back, under your shirt and feeling your damp skin peel away from his own as he moved his hand up and down.
“Want to try out the back wi’me after this,” he hummed, brushing your hair off your face with his other hand. His words were heavy as they pressed into the skin of your cheek while he still tried to catch his breath.
As much as you knew you should, you didn’t even try to stop yourself from nodding.
***
Looking forward to hearing all of your thoughts! x
#Harry Styles#harry styles smut#harry smut#harry styles fanfiction#harry styles fanfic#harry styles fan fic#harry styles one shot#harry styles x you#harry styles x reader#harry styles x yn#harry styles x y/n#my writing#divorce!harry
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New Girl on the Block (7)
(I hope you guys enjoy this new chapter! Feel free to check out the mini series connected to this fic called Journal Entries. I will warn whoever reads it that I’m not sure how long I’m going to keep it up, though.)
Ch.1 / Ch.6 / Ch.8
Chapter 7: That Happy Glow
“This is gonna be so much fun, Tikki!” Marinette exclaimed as she slid on her light pink flats. “I can’t wait to get to the aquarium!”
“Don’t forget your purse!” Tikki reminded, zipping around her chosen’s head. “I want to see some of the fish too!”
Marinette laughed and reached for her coat. The weather had been reported to drop over the weekend, and she didn’t want to take any chances. “Of course! I’ll make sure to pack some cookies for you too.”
When Felix told her last Monday that Adrien came to Rosemary looking for her, She’d been understandably distraught. Dupont had been given strict instructions to keep her new school’s name a secret, yet her old classmates were still coming to talk to her. It left many questions that needed to be answered. For example, how did they find out? Did Bustier tell them? Felix had mentioned that a girl was the one to give Adrien the information, though that hardly narrowed down the suspect list. Was Adrien the only one who knew? If not, were her other classmates going to try to come for her too? She’d asked her mother about it as soon as she got home, and as expected, Sabine flew into a rage.
“I send my daughter to a new school to get her away from her old classmates, and what do they do? They follow her there!” She’d fumed. “Unbelievable.”
Once Marinette talked her down from calling the police to file for harassment, they called the school, and Mme Bustier insisted that they’d been tight lipped about Marinette’s new school, but Marinette didn't buy it. Who else could have told Adrien? No one knew about her attending Rosemary, not unless Nathalie managed to find the information, and that was highly unlikely.
Although the situation was a mix of frustrating and worrisome, Marinette took comfort in the fact that Adrien seemed to believe she wasn't actually attending Rosemary. At the very least, he hadn’t stopped by again- as far as she knew -and hadn’t visited the bakery again either.
A small sigh passed her lips at the thought of how close she'd come to exposing herself as a Rosemary student. Thank goodness Felix had been out there to greet Adrien instead. His quick thinking had really saved her, and he even offered to give her a ride home afterwards. (For the second time) She never intended on asking Felix for help with things like this- mostly because she didn't want to bother him -but it was good to know she could depend on him when she needed to. Not only did he help her with Adrien, she also noticed him trying to keep others around her during the day after everything blew over. Allegra would order lunch with her more. Claude would join her to go to the lockers more. Allan would walk her to classes that they didn't have together. Things like that. Felix even offered to accompany her himself on a few occasions. It was a sweet gesture, and although the extra attention wasn’t necessary, it was greatly appreciated. Maybe she should make him a little thank you gift. What sort of things does he like again? Books and chess.. and silence.. how could she make a gift out of that?
Either way, Marinette couldn't thank him enough for his kindness, and now that six days of blessed silence has passed, the nervousness from the Adrien encounter was replaced with giddy enthusiasm for the aquarium. She buzzed around her bedroom to finish getting ready, putting on her scarf and earmuffs as quickly as she could. Allegra was supposed to come pick her up, but they were all going to meet up and walk into Aquarium de Paris together. She didn’t want to hold anyone up.
Marinette wrapped her purse around her shoulder, finally finishing her outfit, and bounced over to the trapdoor to go downstairs. Allegra should be arriving in about five minutes. That gave her just enough time to snag a few cookies for Tikki, a croissant for herself (and maybe Claude), and say goodbye to her parents.
“Goodmorning, sweetheart!” Sabine greeted warmly.
“Morning, Maman!” Marinette smiled, briefly pausing to let her mother kiss her on the forehead.
“Did you have a good sleep?” Tom asked, holding out an arm to her.
Marinette let out a nervous chuckle as she gave him a side hug. “Yes and no. I was kind of too excited to sleep.”
“You and me both.”
Marinette turned to one of the small tables in the bakery to see Allegra sitting with a smile and a cup of coffee. She was bundled up too, which told Marinette that she was probably right to put on her winter clothes.
“You’re already here?” Marinette asked, panic briefly seizing her chest. She looked around for the time. “How long have you been waiting? Am I late again?”
Allegra chuckled and stood up to pull Marinette into a hug. “Not at all! I just happened to get here a few minutes early, and your parents offered me a coffee while we waited for you to come down.”
Marinette relaxed a bit and hugged Allegra back. “You could have come upstairs to get me.”
“I didn’t want to rush you.” Allegra shrugged. “Besides, your parents are fun to talk with!”
Tom and Sabine both smiled and straightened with pride, causing Marinette to giggle.
“Here,” Tom said, taking a brown, paper bag out from under the counter. “We packed some breakfast for you.”
“And made sure to put plenty of croissants in for Claude and the others.” Sabine added with a smile.
Marinette took the bag with a sincere “thanks”. That saved her time on sneaking around for snacks.
“Oh, Claude is going to love those.” Allegra smirked, touching the bag to feel how warm it was.
Marinette giggled and nodded in agreement. It’s been almost three weeks since she started at Rosemary, and Claude still asks for croissants every lunch period. “Are we ready to go?”
“Yep! My driver’s waiting out front for us.” Allegra replied, tilting her head in the direction of the door.
“Have fun, you guys!” Sabine cooed.
“Make sure to take plenty of pictures with the fish!” Tom added with a wave.
“We definitely will.” Allegra beamed, looping her arm with Marinette’s.
With a final wave, they stepped outside together, and Marinette sharply inhaled as the chill of the air immediately gnawed at her features. She knew it was going to be cold, but she didn’t think it would be this cold.
I hope Felix didn’t decide to get there early today. Marinette thought to herself as they scrambled into the backseat of the car.
“So are you excited?” She asked Allegra while buckling in. Claude had been bouncing around the school walls all week for this trip, but Allegra hadn’t said much about it. Neither had Allan. Of course, they didn’t have to be excited. Marinette was just curious as to whether they were or why they weren’t.
“Absolutely!” Allegra grinned, bringing a smile to Marinette’s lips as well. Guess people show their excitement in different ways.
“Probably not as excited as Claude, though.” The blonde continued, a humorous expression crossing her features. “How many fish did he text on the group chat again?”
Marinette squinted slightly as she thought about it. “I think.. Twenty seven? Maybe twenty eight.”
“Twenty eight sounds about right.” Allegra said with a nod. “I swear Allan was this close to blocking him.”
Marinette laughed. “That knife meme was hilarious! I still can’t believe that Felix was the one who sent it. I was starting to think he didn’t read the group chat.”
“Yeah, he surprises us every now and then.” Allegra mused, a fond smile coming to her lips. “Like this aquarium trip. I don’t think he’s ever once agreed to go somewhere with us after the first invite.”
Marinette shrugged and settled into her seat as the driver pulled out onto the road. “Well, he did say that you were going to force him either way.”
Allegra’s smile turned devilish. “And he’s absolutely right. If he had said no to coming, I would have dragged him there myself, but that’s never stopped him before.”
Marinette tilted her head in a nod. That was certainly true.
“Maybe he just likes aquariums?”
Allegra hummed, a mischievous glint in her sky blue eyes as she said, “Or maybe he likes someone who’s going to the aquarium.”
Marinette furrowed her eyebrows. Like as in like like? Like a crush? Felix didn’t seem like the type to have a crush on someone, though after hearing him talk about the lovers in his classical playlist, she supposed it was a possibility.
“Is there someone else you guys know that might be there?”
A short laugh burst from Allegra’s lips, almost like Marinette had missed the point of something, and she shook her head. “No, nevermind. Forget I said anything. Let’s just enjoy our agreeable Felix while we have him.”
Marinette nodded, though her thoughts still lingered on the comment. Felix developing romantic feelings for someone sounded like such a foreign concept to her. Not that he was unlovable, or anything. He was just.. too logical. He didn’t dote on feelings. The only circumstance where she can clearly see him acquiring a spouse would be an arranged marriage. He’d probably be the one to plan it, too, seeing it as the most beneficial choice between both families. What type of wife would he pick, anyway? She’d probably be beautiful and quiet, right? Not to mention smart. Felix wouldn’t be able to stand someone ‘incompetent’. Maybe she’d be a bit of a perfectionist like him?
A soft hum passed her lips. It was definitely a thought.
~~~~~~
Felix grit his teeth as the biting chill of the morning seeped into his clothing. It was times like this that he wished those jokes about the incredible inaccuracy of weathermen were true. He hasn’t even been outside for ten minutes, and his fingers were already numb. If Felix had known that his coat and gloves would be this ineffective, he would have taken the second coat that his mother tried to insist he wear earlier.
A shiver ran up his spine as a particularly cold burst of wind whipped past him, and he pulled his coat tighter around his waist. What time was it? Were the girls going to be arriving soon?
He flicked his wrist upwards to catch sight of his watch. Allegra said that they would be meeting at Aquarium de Paris at 10am. Being 9:58am., they should be arriving any minute, but that didn’t stop him from heaving a deep sigh towards the wait. Note to self: Don’t arrive early to activities that take place outside during the winter.
A nudge to the arm brought Felix’s attention to Claude. He’d also arrived early- probably out of sheer excitement. He’s been blabbering about this trip all week -but the cold didn’t appear to affect him nearly as much.
“Are you nervous?” The brunette asked, causing Felix to shoot him a flat look.
“Why on earth would I be nervous?”
“Oh, no reason..” Claude said, his tone light and teasing. “I just know that Marinette’s going to be here.”
Felix rose a brow. “And?”
Claude smiled knowingly, but Felix couldn’t imagine what the brunette thought he knew this time.
“You two have gotten pretty close lately.”
“In what way?” There was the physical way or the mental way. Granted, both ways were incorrect, but it was an important distinction.
“Well, you talk to each other all the time.” Claude answered, as though that should be some monumental fact.
Ah. So it’s the mental way.
“That’s usually what happens when two people are in the same friend group.” Felix responded. “They talk.”
“Yeah, but what about the library?” Claude argued. Why did he feel the need to argue? “You two were practically touching noses, and no one else was there besides me.”
Felix furrowed his eyebrows. “Yesterday? When we were sharing headphones?”
Claude nodded, a Cheshire grin crossing his features. Why did he look triumphant? No one had won anything. “Yep. That’s the one I’m talking about.”
“Do you share headphones differently?”
“Well, no..” Claude half-shrugged. “But you guys are still pretty close, don’t you think?”
Felix paused. The label of being close to Marinette wasn’t a bad one, save for the fact that it was completely untrue. In light of a physical closeness, the only moments that they were close would be times when Marinette fell on top of him or yesterday, when they shared headphones in the library, and the latter scenario is being taken entirely out of context. They don’t walk around holding hands or hugging or sitting shoulder to shoulder next to each other, and in all honesty, Felix wouldn’t want to. He doesn’t enjoy constantly touching people. And as for the mental closeness, Marinette hasn’t told him anything that she hasn’t told anyone else. Felix knows a lot about her, yes, but almost everything he knows has been found out secretly, through silent observations. He would hardly call that “close”.
“No, I don’t think so,” he finally answered, “but I’m still confused as to why that would make me nervous.”
Claude pursed his lips, studying him for a moment, then sighed and crossed his arms. “Oh, nevermind. Either you’re in denial or you’ll figure it out eventually.”
A hint of frustration started to stir in Felix’s mind. Figure out what?
Before he could ask anything else, another voice cut into their conversation.
“Oh, there you guys are!”
It was Allan, and when Felix looked up, he noticed that Marinette and Allegra were accompanying him as well. Wonderful. He’d somewhat forgotten about the cold during Claude’s maniac ramblings, but now that his focus had shifted, the weather was hitting him full force again. He needed to escape inside before his feet were frozen to the sidewalk.
Claude perked up and waved to the three as he ran over to them. “Hey guys! What took you so long?”
Felix hobbled over to them as well, catching sight of Marinette’s sheepish smile as she said, “Sorry, Claude. We got here as fast as we could.”
Claude, of course, waved off the apology. “Nah, I’m just kidding. We weren’t waiting that long.”
The brunette scooped Marinette into a hug, coaxing out a laugh from her. She was so bundled up with coats and scarfs and gloves that Claude had to squish her between his arms to hold her, and it vaguely reminded Felix of a marshmallow.
In weather like this, though, being a marshmallow didn’t sound half bad.
Claude blew out a contented sigh as he nuzzled his face into Marinette’s shoulder. “Man, Mari, you’re so warm! I need to start using you as my personal heater.”
Marinette chuckled and pulled back just enough to hold up a brown, paper bag. “Thanks, but I think it’s just the food Maman sent with me.”
A gasp flew from Claude, and he immediately set her back on the ground. “Food, you say? As in, croissants food??”
“Yes, Claude.” Marinette giggled. “Croissants food. Maman packed a few extras especially for you.”
Claude literally let out a girlish squeal and made “grabby hands” for the bag. Marinette gladly obliged, letting him dig through it for his favorites.
“Your mom is the absolute best.” Claude said, his voice muffled from the chocolate croissant he bit into. “Please adopt me.”
The group shared a small laugh, but Felix rolled his eyes. Claude was always overdramatic.
“You better not let Aunt Felicity hear you say that.” Allegra spoke up. She was also bundled to the max- though her coat was light purple -and looked about ten times warmer than Felix felt. “Remember the last time you asked Allan to adopt you?”
Claude scoffed. “That was different! This time I want to be adopted because of Mme Sabine’s cooking, not because of how many games Marinette has.”
“Oh, yeah.” Allan snorted. “That’s completely different.”
“Hey, mom will understand.” Claude insisted, placing his hands on his hips. “She knows she can’t cook anything to save her life. That’s why we have a personal chef.”
“Wait, are you two cousins?” Marinette cut in, confusion flicking across her features.
A slight frown came to Allegra’s lips. “No, why do you ask?”
“You called his mom ‘Aunt Felicity’.”
“Oh!” The blonde’s face lit up with understanding. “Yeah, we do that. Claude’s parents are Aunt Felicity and Uncle Albert, and Allan’s parents are Aunt Meridith and Uncle Theodore.”
Allan nodded in agreement. “I think it started back in middle school when Claude accidentally called M. Chanson ‘Uncle Arthur’ while taking some snacks.”
Allegra snorted. “Oh, yeah, that was definitely the start of it. Dad wouldn’t stop talking about it for days. He thought it was the best.”
Claude sighed, running a hand through his hair with a bashful smile. “That was totally embarrassing, but at least he liked it.”
“Can we all go inside?” Felix interjected. Talking about how they address the adults is nice and all, but his arms and legs have been burning from the cold for the last five minutes. Can’t they continue this conversation when they’re not standing in below-thirty-degree weather?
Claude laughed, throwing Felix a teasing smirk. “Aw, poor Fe. Are you cold?”
Felix scowled at his babying tone. “Of course I’m cold! Frost is slowly growing on our hoods as we speak!”
“Well, I’m not cold.” The brunette replied, swinging his arm around Marinette’s shoulder. “Because I’ve had some of Marinette’s delicious croissants to keep me warm.”
Felix scoffed and tugged his coat tighter around himself. Eating warm croissants certainly didn’t help him.
“They are pretty warm.” Allan said next to him. “You should try one.”
“He doesn’t have to.” Marinette, being the kind person she is, hastily jumped in. “We were planning on going inside, anyway, right?”
“Yeah, but I think Felix needs to taste one.” Allegra remarked. “It’s simply shameful of him to refuse them for this long, in my opinion.”
“I don’t like sweets.” Felix pointed out in annoyance. Just start moving towards the aquarium.
“Well..” Marinette faltered. “Maman did pack a regular croissant and a cheesy croissant..”
He held back a sigh. Though her intentions surely weren’t foul, his only ally had officially condemned him. It’s not that he cared to try one of Marinette’s croissants. After eating supper with Marinette’s parents last week, he had no doubt that anything they made was delicious. No, the problem came with the fact that he was being pushed to eat them. (The group wasn’t quite pushing yet, but he’d learned to pinpoint the signs of oncoming pressure.) If Felix says no, despite how unreasonable it might be, he expects that answers to be respected. The same way he would respect anyone else who told him no about something.
“See, there you go!” Claude smiled. “A nice, warm, non-sweet croissant to make you forget about the January weather.”
“I’d forget it just as easily if we walked inside.” Felix bit back.
“Oh, come on, Felix.” Allegra scolded. “Live a little! You don’t have to eat the whole thing, just one bite!”
“Guys, he really doesn’t have to eat it.” Marinette spoke up again. Felix silently thanked her for her efforts, but her previous comment made any resistance futile now.
“Oh, he’s eating it.” Claude stated. “He needs to know the pure bliss that is Mme Sabine’s croissants.”
“Plus, we’re not going inside until he tries it.” Allegra added.
Allan snorted. “Felix.. I think they want you to try the croissant.”
Felix’s eyes narrowed to a glare. “I’ll walk inside without you.”
“No, you won’t.” Allegra shot back. “You know why you won’t? Because you actually don’t mind trying the croissants. You’re just upset that we told you to try them.”
Felix was thankful for his pockets, because it hid the way his hands clenched into his fists. He absolutely hated when Allegra saw through his intentions. It made him feel transparent, vulnerable. Not to mention embarrassed. Was he that horrible at hiding his emotions or could he simply not match her level of observation? It was probably the former and that ticked him off the most.
“Just give me the dang croissant.” He finally bit off, jutting his hand out to Marinette. If he stared solely at her, he wouldn’t have to see Claude or Allegra’s victorious, blood-boiling grins.
Marinette flinched at the sudden movement and knitted her eyebrows, concerned. “A-Are you sure-”
“Positive.” Felix ground out, hoping she didn’t take it personally. Just give me the food so we can get this over with.
Although wary, Marinette handed over one of the croissants. The specks of yellow around the edges told him it was the cheese-flavored one.
With a deep breath to regain some composure, Felix took a bite of the breaded treat, and..
And it was incredible.
The croissant was piping hot, immediately stealing away the bitter coldness of the air as Claude had claimed. The cheese inside was stringy and practically melted in his mouth, and the softness of the bread allowed you to enjoy every bit of the doughy taste.
It took everything Felix had to keep a neutral expression. If they saw how much he enjoyed the food, they would never let him live it down. He’d be trying everything else under the sun merely because the trio was right one time.
“Well?” Allegra pressed. “How does it taste?”
“.. They are delicious.” He admitted, if only for Marinette’s sake. Downplaying Mme Sabine’s baking skills would only allow him to keep a small bit of his useless pride. He might as well be honest.
A smile slipped onto Marinette’s lips, but Claude’s triumphant laugh took away any satisfaction Felix might have gotten from it.
“I knew you would like them!” The brunette cheered. “Anyway, let’s go inside. It’s freezing out here!”
Felix scoffed, throwing a sharp glare at Claude. If it weren’t for how good this croissant was, he would have thrown it at him.
“Yeah, I think they’re open now.” Allan agreed as he checked his watch.
Curious, Felix checked his watch too. 10:10am.
“Oh! Race you guys there!” Claude abruptly announced, before breaking into a sprint.
Allan chuckled and humored the brunette by going into a jog, and Allegra picked up the pace as well. Felix, however, elected to keep walking as he munched on the croissant. The heat radiating off of it was enough to stall the looming chill around him anyway.
“So..” Marinette began, drawing Felix’s gaze down to her. She’d apparently decided to walk with him instead of running after Claude.
For some reason, that gave Felix a sense of accomplishment.
“Did you really like the croissants?” She asked, her hands fidgeting with the paper bag.
Felix nodded, taking another bite of the croissant as ‘proof’. “Claude wasn’t joking when he said that she made them fluffier than the clouds. I’ll have to buy them for Mother sometime.”
A small smile graced her lips. “I’m glad you like them.”
Felix offered a small smile in return. “Yes, me too.”
After Agreste’s visit earlier in the week, Marinette had been rather stressed. He noticed her looking over her shoulder often, checking windows before exiting buildings, spacing out during classes.. It was obvious that the encounter had unnerved her.
He tried to ease her mind by rallying the trio to help. They recognized her sudden anxiety as well, and although Felix couldn’t tell them the exact reason, he hinted at it possibly being the usual nervousness of their first round of tests that was coming up. This caused them to swarm Marinette for study dates and extra lunches, asking questions about different subjects while they walked her to her locker or to her classes. When this strategy failed- which wasn’t often -Felix would also offer to accompany her.
If she suspected his involvement in the extra attention, she didn’t show it, but she did relax after a few days of the special treatment. Felix took that as a success.
Marinette and Felix caught up with the rest of the group a few seconds later, and they all entered the aquarium together. Another shiver ran over Felix as they walked inside, the warmth of the building washing over him. He would have smiled with relief had it not been for the amount of people pushing against them. Despite the aquarium opening a little less than twenty minutes ago, people of all ages were already piling inside. Adults, teenagers, kids.. Felix supposed this was the price they paid for visiting on a Sunday.
“Everyone stay together!” Allegra instructed over the noise. She grabbed onto Felix’s wrist and Allan’s hand for emphasis. “We don’t want to get separated before we even pay for our tickets.”
Although it irked him for Allegra to be latching onto his wrist, Felix didn’t argue. Past experiences with the trio have made him well aware of how easy it was to get separated in a rushing crowd like this.
They weaved through the giddy schoolgirls and the tired parents until they found a steady line for the ticket both. There, they talked about which attractions to see first and which ones to save for later.
“I think we should just walk through.” Claude said, unsurprisingly. He was never one for order. “It’ll be easier if we just go.”
“But if we don’t have a plan, we’ll never get through it all.” Allegra pointed out. “It doesn’t have to be strict. We just need a vague goal to work towards.”
“We could start with the jellyfish?” Marinette suggested. “Those are always cool.”
“Yeah, that sounds good.” Allan agreed. “Then we could start working our way around to the shark tank. I say we save it for last since it’s the main reason we came.”
Claude let out a small whine. “Aw, what? Why would we wait till the end to see it if it’s the reason we came?”
“Come on, Claude, you know how the saying goes.” Allegra commented, flicking Claude on the shoulder. “Save the best for last.”
Claude grabbed his shoulder, even though the flick hardly hurt. “I never understood that expression.”
Allegra rolled her eyes with a smile and turned back to the group. “Are we all in agreement then? Start with the jellyfish and move to the sharks?”
“Works for me.” Allan shrugged.
“I don’t have a preference.” Felix stated, not that his opinion would matter much to anyone but Marinette.
With a (somewhat) solid plan, the group purchased their tickets and merged with the flow of the people to get to the main part of the aquarium. The first item on the list, aside from seeing Jellyfish, was to find lockers or another place to put their winter coats and gloves. Felix didn’t fancy the cold, but melting in a packed building also wasn’t preferable.
Allegra still held onto his wrist as they searched, but that didn’t stop the people around them from shoving and prodding to get through first. Felix jostled about, a scowl quickly forming on his lips after getting hit for the fifth time. How can it be so rowdy during the thirty minutes? Goodness knows what’s going to happen when more people start arriving! Why did he even agree to come here?
A gasp cut through the white noise of the crowd, and Claude called out Marinette’s name as she rushed forward.
She stopped in front of the jellyfish tank they came upon and pressed her gloved hands to the glass, smile bright and eyes sparkling with awe. The jellyfish circled in the water with the current, glowing blue and purple and pink under the aquarium lights.
A laugh of pure delight escaped Marinette, and she glanced over her shoulder at them. “Do you see how many there are? This is so neat!”
The sheer giddiness of her voice caused another smile to crawl onto Felix’s lips. Ah, yes. He remembered why he quickly relented to the aquarium visit. It was the first time Marinette had personally invited him to something, and he didn’t want to upset her if he fought against the activities as he usually did. After all, what thanks would that be to someone who constantly tries to keep him comfortable and respect his boundaries?
“Yeah, they look amazing!” Allegra grinned, tugging Felix and Allan forward to follow the ravenette.
Felix followed with a slight glare. He knew that holding onto each other was for the best, but-
Another person slammed into his shoulder, and Felix full on growled at them as they walked off like nothing happened.
-but perhaps the next time he feels the need to repay Marinette’s kindness, he should simply send a ‘thank you’ letter instead.
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Philosophy 101
Philosophy 101 Fandom: My Hero Academia Pairing: FuyuPress Summary: FuyuPress Week 2021 Day 2 Prompt Fill: Soulmate - “Soulmates?” he asked with a brow raised. He reached up with his prosthetic hand to rub at his chin thoughtfully. “What a peculiar thing to ask about.” Minor Warning: Implied Hanky-Panky but nothing explicit. Standard Disclaimer: If you read and enjoy this, please give it a like/ reblog so I know if I should write more.
When she was just a child, she loved stories about soul mates. Things like true love’s kiss and handsome princes’ come to save the day on horseback became her idealistic view of the world. She clung to those fairy tales and how they could be applied to the real world, asking Mother often is that was what Father was to her. Back then she hadn’t noticed how the smile never reached the gray depths of Mother’s eyes, but she came to understand it as she got older. A prince wouldn’t belittle, berate and beat the princess he so adored. Her parents’ marriage being something born of financial comfort and narcissistic ego rather than loyalty and love had been a heavy blow.
The accompanying realization that there may never have been any love between her parents had been somehow more terrifying.
In high school, her disillusionment with the idea of love and soul mates had been given even more evidence. Between herself and her friends, so many of their “charming royal suitors” turned out to be nothing but façade and hormones. They would be cruel in so many different ways, in ways she still bore the physical and emotional remnants of, and she’d resolved herself to be content on her own. She had her family and her work and her friends – the ones that had been with her through it all – and she determined that she would commit to that being enough for now. She resigned that she would most likely settle for someone Father selected, someone who would be financially secure and – if she was lucky – gentle enough that rearing a family would be tolerable.
And then there was Sako Atsuhiro, more enigma than man.
Their first meeting had been anything but graceful. It had been on a field trip day to a local museum for a more hands-on experience involving pre-Quirk society. Her little problem child, Toshiro-Chan, had been fiddling about with his Quirk as he was prone to. His Quirk was that he could temporarily make any item - even ones that lacked any metal component - magnetic for a short period of time. Thinking that it would be a fun little prank, he’d magnetized one of the plastic line poles used to keep the children from getting too close to the exhibits…
And ended up dragging poor Sako over through the means of his prosthetic arm.
Fuyumi had been absolutely mortified, offering frantic apologies to Sako and stern words to Toshiro-Chan as she tried to help separate his arm from the pole. Sako had been a darling and taken it all in stride, though. He made a few teasing remarks to help alleviate some of her distress and the young tot’s guilt, reassuring that he was in as many pieces as he’d entered the establishment in. He had ended up trailing along with her class after that, the students all fascinated more in his prosthetic arm than the sights they were there for. Once the students were all loaded back up onto the bus and with one final plea from Fuyumi to find some way to make it all up to him, he made a suggestion.
“If you insist, young miss,” he mused, producing a small slip of paper between his fingers from thin air, “treating me to a beverage some time would be a welcome gesture of apology.”
And that first little coffee date had bloomed into something unexpected but new. Fuyumi was used to the polite and suave gentleman act that he seemed to play at, but she found the big difference to be that it wasn’t an act with him. THe more she grew to know him, the more she realized he was very much a “What You See is What You Get” kind of man. He wasn’t afraid to purr softly in her ear of the things he’d relish in doing to her once they were alone and then hold true to those words when they were. He was as polite and respectful and responsible behind closed doors as he was on the street and this concept was absolutely earth-shattering for her. For Todoroki Fuyumi, who presented herself as the sensible and mature daughter most would expect of a Pro Hero, the idea of someone who was so unabashedly themselves in every aspect of their life, it was new and enticing and hypnotic in a way.
Which was probably why her mind wandered back to childhood fantasies, blurting the question out before she could think better of it as they lounged together in his bed one night.
“Soulmates?” he asked with a brow raised. He reached up with his prosthetic hand to rub at his chin thoughtfully. “What a peculiar thing to ask about.”
She shuffled to nuzzle into his pillow a bit more, hiding the lower half of her face and muffling her words a bit. “Is it?” she asked uneasily. A flash of panic coursed through her. Had she crossed some strange line between them? Would such an immature question turn him away from her? “You don’t have to answer it if you don’t want to. It is a kinda weird question. I’m sorry for bringing it up.”
He blinked, brown eyes twinkling as he fixed his gaze back on her, before a small smile tipped up on his lips. “Nonsense, my dear. If you were thinking about it to a point you wanted to mention it, it is clearly important for you to discuss it,” he said, reaching out with his flesh hand to gently stroke along her cheek. She shifted to tilt up into the touch more, relaxing a bit at the soothing familiarity of his touch. “If you are asking as to whether I believe that soulmates are real or not… I don’t believe in something as basic as one singular soulmate for your whole life long.”
She perked up and made a small confused noise. “What do you mean?”
“Well, I feel like every partner - good or bad - has qualities indicative of what a soulmate is meant to be. For elaboration, what is a soulmate as you see it?”
She hummed thoughtfully as she pushed herself to sit up with the help of her elbows more. She steepled her and tapped them against her lips as she tried to sort her thoughts properly. Atsuhiro had moved to gently trail his hand over her shoulder to draw little shapes along the exposed skin of her back instead. “Well, they’re someone who is there for you when you need them and not always in ways you expect. They accept you as you are, and inspire you to be a better person. To work to be the best side of yourself. The side of you that they see you as,” She watched as he nodded along with her words, smile widening a little bit. She shifted to move a smidge closer to him. “And what about you?”
“I would agree with what you’ve said,” he hummed, holding up one finger on his other hand, “and would also state that there are parts or what you said that I learned from past lovers.”
“So you’ve met your soulmate before then?” she asked, cocking her head and knitting her brow.
He chuckled and shifted to lay on his side beside her. “Not quite. Perhaps they are not your soulmate for all of time, but they are in that moment. And I think that there is something to be treasured in that,” he explained, lifting his arm to invite her closer.
She frowned as she shifted to laying on her side as well, hands sliding to rest on his shoulders. “But… Doesn’t that kind of lessen the significance of having a soulmate? If every person you’re with is a soulmate?” It made little sense to her and felt a bit like a cop-out, if she were honest. After all, the idea of her past partners being considered soulmates make her stomach churn uncomfortably. Sure, there had been points where she’d thought it could be possible, but… Well, hindsight was 20-20, right?
“Perhaps, yes, but I do not feel so,” he mused. He settled his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to himself, looking down at her with a fond expression. “If not for those past experiences, I would not be the person that I am proud to be today, the man who is happy to spend his time with you and treat you as you deserve. And I needed all of those past lovers and the times with them - both the good and the bad - to be able to come to certain realizations about myself. To teach me what was important to me in the kind of partner I was as well as the kind of partner I wanted.”
Fuyumi blinked and nodded slowly, letting his words turn over in her mind. It… Did make a certain kind of sense, actually. She was only able to determine the things she wanted in a serious, committed relationship because of what she’d been through with her past partners. If she hadn’t dated them, would she still be as naive as she was at age seven? Believing that her ideal partner would be someone who was perfect and handsome and, realistically, didn’t exist? And that wasn’t even taking into account the little things she’d learned to perceive from a handful of dates. Would she still be able to spot a wolf in sheep’s clothing? Or would she just be a sheep to the slaughter, of sorts?
“Does that help at all, my dear?” he asked, pressing a small kiss to her forehead and snapping her from her internal ramblings.
She flashed a small smile before curling into his chest. “Yes, I think it does, Atsuhiro. Thank you,” she hummed, closing her eyes as he began to gently stroke her hair, fingertips grazing along the shell of her ear.
Perhaps his definition was a bit more romantic than she’d thought.
#My Hero Academia#FuyuPress#Mr. Compress#Sako Atsuhiro#Todoroki Fuyumi#FuyuPress Week 2021#my fics#I almost went the angsty route with this#But decided to do something a bit sweeter instead
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New Years Haruka Character Story
Y1 Spoilers
I did a fresh translation on this one because I know I super rushed it the first time through because I was frantically grinding diamonds. This one is simultaneously very sweet and raises several questions.
Here’s the card! It’s very pretty.
Summary: It’s 2011, and Kiryu has something he needs Haruka to pick up in Kamurocho. She goes by herself, and with the help of Date retrieves this special item. Unfortunately, it’s not what either of them are expecting, and the Tojo Clan seems desperate to get their hands on it...
2011. Haruka is in her third year of middle school.
Summer vacation is just about over, Haruka's a little sad about that. Haruka asks if Kiryu's bought everything for dinner.
He says he has, but he has something he needs Haruka to do. She asks if he needs her to buy something else. He says no. He actually... wants her to go to Kamurocho. There's a person there who's been holding onto something for him. He'd like Haruka to go pick it up. She needs to do it directly.
Haruka agrees, and asks if she can to go right away? She doesn't have anything prepped. Kiryu says that Morning Glory will be fine, don't worry. She leaves Kiryu in charge of the cooking, since it was her turn. Kiryu says he'll make "Man Food" (Tl note: bachelor meal?)
The next day she arrives in Kamurocho.
Haruka: Uncle Kaz said that someone from Sunflower should be meeting me here... ?: Haruka-chan! Haruka: Ah, Takako-san! It's been so long! Takako: It has! You've gotten so pretty...! I was really surprised to get a phone call from Kiryu-san. Here's what he wanted me to hand over. It's a little heavy. Haruka: I'll put it in this bag then. Thank you so much! I'm glad this was so easy to pick up. Takako: Sorry, I'd invite you over for lunch but Sunflower is in the middle of spring cleaning right now... Haruka: No don't worry, I'm sorry to have been a burden. Tatako: Well, I'm off! If you ever are in the area again, give me a call. Give Kiryu-san my regards!
Haruka thanks her and wonders if this is the thing that Kiryu needed her to pick up personally. She thinks it'd be a good idea to check it... but she's starving, and she sees a Smile Burger. A goon bumps into her, and they both drop their bags.
He cusses her out, she says that he's the one that bumped into her, he is incensed that she would dare talk back to him. Thankfully, Date arrives.
The goon asks if this asshole is her dad.
Date: Heh. That firecracker's dad is unlike anyone else in the world. I'm just his friend.
The goon throws hands, as goons are want to do. Date kicks his ass. The goon quickly snatches his bag and flees, promising that he won't forget this! Date makes sure that Haruka is alright, and says if she comes to Kamurocho she should really let him know. Where's Kiryu anyways?
Haruka answers that this time she's here all by herself. Date wants to know why the hell she'd do that. She explains that Kiryu wanted her to pick up... where'd the bag go? Date points it out, it seems it got displaced during the fight.
Haruka's worried that whatever she needed to pick up might have been broken, so they should check... Date is tired of standing around and invites her to New Serena, he'll make some food. Haruka asks if Date also makes "Man Food". He laughs and says she should look forward to eating it.
<Part 2>
Turns out Date is a good cook! He says he's pretty meticulous about it, and that Saya is also fond of it, though she wishes he had been that good at it a long time ago. They open the bag up to check what's inside. It's something small, and pretty securely wrapped. It's...
A pistol. A real one.
A yakuza bursts into New Serena with a knife. He's been looking for Haruka, and wants her to hand that bag over. Date recognizes the man's pin, he's Tojo Clan! The goon says that if they won't hand it over, he'll just have to beat it out of them. Date beats this guy too, and he runs off fast.
Haruka asks if that was a Tojo goon, Date confirms and says that if they know about that pistol, they're going to keep trying to take it... We really need to know why Kiryu wanted you to get this so badly
Haruka agrees and calls Kiryu.
Kiryu: Ah, Haruka? Did you already make the pickup? Kiryu: You shouldn't take it out of the bag very often. Haruka: Something that I shouldn't take out... so this is genuine? Kiryu: That's right, and it's high quality. I think you're grown up enough to have it now. Haruka: I'm grown up enough...! Uncle Kaz, what the heck do you mean...!? Voice over the phone: Excuse me? Kiryu: Ah, sorry. Someone's here, I'll have to cut this short. Haruka: U-Uncle Kaz! Haruka: .... Date: What'd he say? Haruka: That I'm grown up enough, so it's fine for me to have this... Date: What? What does that mean... Haruka: I don't know either... Uncle Kaz, he hung up in the middle of talking... Date: ...I don't want to believe it. I really don't want to believe it, but... Haruka: ? Date: Well, maybe Kiryu's returning to the yakuza... Haruka: Eh...? Date: I can't think of any other situation where he would need a gun. Then the Tojo Clan heard about this gun's existence, and decided to steal it. Date: There's probably going to be a lot of people who aren't happy about Kiryu returning. Haruka: B-But, they'd definitely find this at the airport...! Date: Didn't you hear that Kiryu is coming here? In that case, wouldn't he just meet up with you and pick it up then? Haruka: (That's... Uncle Kaz is going to...!) Haruka: .......... Date: ...Haruka? Haruka: I'm going to get rid of this thing! <Haruka runs out of New Serena> Date: Hey, wait!
<Part 3>
Haruka is looking for somewhere to throw away the gun where no one will find it. Unfortunately she is found by the goon from part 1. He wants her to return what she's got right now! Haruka is surprised he said "return", and asks if he means this gun? The goon says that since she went and looked inside... he'll just have to erase her!
Thankfully Date is here to rescue Haruka again. He's pretty winded, he's not as young as he used to be. The goon says that Date's been a real pain in his ass, and fights him again, and loses again.
Date: Whew... Calm down Haruka. If anything happened to you I'd never be able to show my face around Kiryu again. Haruka: Sorry... Date: Hey, why are you trying to drag Haruka into this? Is this some kind of payback? Goon: Ugh, i-it's... Haruka: Before you said to "return that"... Were you talking about this gun...? Goon: Huh...? You, you didn't notice? Haruka: Eh? Goon: We took the wrong bags. I got yours, and you got mine. Date: What? Goon: Look, this is your bag. Haruka: Ah! They're identical!! Date: Then, it was crazy to think Kiryu would send Haruka out to retrieve a gun for him. Damn, I really cried wolf on that one... Me and my big imagination. Date: I'm really sorry, Haruka. I shouldn't have worried you like that. Haruka: It's okay, I caused you a lot of trouble too... I'm sorry. Date: Well, there's one person that could have prevented this whole mess. Oi. Goon: Y-Yeah... Date: I'm a detective, so don't even think you can escape and do whatever it is you were planning with this gun. Goon: Ughhh... Date: So, what did Kiryu actually want you to pick up? Let's open it. Haruka: Yeah, let's take a look. ...This is........ Haruka: A kimono? <Haruka returns to Morning Glory> Kiryu: ...So that's what happened, huh? I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let you go by yourself. Haruka: It's okay. Date helped me. By the way, Uncle Kaz. What was the reason that you wanted me to pick up these clothes by myself? Kiryu: ...Because of this letter, you should read it.
Haruka: A letter...? Kiryu: It's from the person who got that kimono for you. Haruka: Umm...
To Haruka, If you're reading this letter, that means I wasn't able to give you this myself. That's a shame, I have always hoped to give you this kimono when you got older. I hope that wearing this kimono when you make the first shrine visit of the year brings you much happiness. Please be happy. That is my only wish. From Yumi
Haruka: .......... Uncle Kaz.....!! Kiryu: Yeah. ...Well, try it on. Let's see how it looks.
Haruka: Alright. Haruka: How is it, Uncle Kaz?
Kiryu: ...It looks great on you. Yumi would have said the same. Haruka: Thank you, Uncle Kaz. Haruka: ...Thank you. Mom.
<END>
Bonus stuff: this isn’t a bonus at all but hey Date? Hey Date??? You’re really just going to... help Kiryu rejoin the Tojo Clan via his daughter picking up a gun for him????? You are so ride or die it’s a problem. What the hell man!
This is the only time I can think of them explicitly referencing Kiryu visiting Kamurocho post Y3 that isn’t during one of the games. It wasn’t a hard assumption to make, Akiyama seems to know Haruka pretty well in Y5 despite not interacting in Y4, but it’s cool to have that confirmed directly.
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If you're still doing fic ideas, perhaps some Bobadin that happens right after Luke takes Grogu where Boba learns what Din did and sees Din struggling to process all that's happened and his grief.
I have been thinking about this one for a good moment, just haven’t been able to actually write it :0 And wow, I accidentally wrote way more than planned.
This comes off as mostly platonic and not particularly shippy. Word count: 1.5k
It really hadn’t been that long since Boba dropped everyone off, but so much had changed.
“Is the child safe?” Boba asked as Fennec dropped into the co-pilot seat. That was, afterall, the whole point of all this. The fact that she didn’t look victorious made him worried that his end of the deal wasn’t over quite yet. He had things to do after this.
“Well...” She took in a deep breath like it was going to be a long story.
In the end, it was a win for them. No one died, karma bit Bo-Katan in the ass, and the child was safe. Boba couldn’t help but wonder what trouble would come from Din having the right to claim the Mandalorian throne. From when they previously talked, it seemed that Din wasn’t quite aware about how Mandalorian culture operated away from his covert. It was probably going to send the galaxy into another annoying little civil spat.
Boba didn’t care much that the Child had ended up with a Jedi. If the child was safe, that’s all that mattered. However, he found himself surprised when his thoughts lingered on how Din was doing. Fennec said he had taken the goodbye pretty hard.
Maybe he cared about what Din was going through because it was a pain Boba could understand; a father and a son being torn apart. While Din would most likely be able to see the Child again, he knew the pain must’ve ran deep. Goodbyes were never easy.
In a weird way, Boba had grown somewhat fond of Din. He was a honorable man, and fiercely compassionate for others in a way Boba didn’t see in a lot of Mandalorians. He was also a lot more likely to learn and grow rather than be set and stubborn. It made him easy to get along with.
“I’m going to go speak with him,” Boba said, letting Fennec take control of the ship. They likely wouldn’t be under attack any time soon. The remnants of the empire would be scrambling after the large blow they’ve been dealt with.
“Let your footsteps fall loudly,” Fennec advised, which only served to baffle Boba. He didn’t question her on it, though.
He quickly realized why she said it though, frozen in spot as he stared at the man before him. It was Din, but in his hands he held his helmet.
Fennec had wanted to give Din a chance to hear Boba put it back on before the other man got to him.
For a moment, Boba took in Din’s features. His curly brown hair, his soft but sad eyes, and stubble on his face. He could only imagine how lovely Din must look when more alive.
Din glanced up at Boba, but didn’t say anything. His body seemed to deflate further, staring at the blank face of his helmet.
Boba wasn’t sure what to say either. To be polite, he slipped off his own helmet and took seat next to the other man. It was so calm and peaceful after everything that had happened, the soft rumble of the engines filling the silence, and yet there was still a tense air.
“Th-” Din’s voice slightly cracked and he cleared his throat. “Thank you for everything you’ve done.”
It was strange hearing his voice without the helmet’s filter. Somehow he sounded more hollow.
“I was just holding up my end of the deal,” Boba said honestly. “And it never hurts to strike back at people who’ve wronged me in the past.”
Din let out a soft sigh, finally looking up at Boba. “You really didn’t have to. We never agreed to anything.” His eyes seemed so tired, like he was half expecting something else to go wrong. Not exactly like he was distrustful of Boba, but still unwilling to completely believe he was safe. Maybe it was curiosity as to why Boba stuck around. “I hadn’t agreed to give you your armor back. You could’ve just left.”
“I could’ve,” Boba agreed, “and I might have actually done so in my younger years.” He couldn’t say that the thought of leaving hadn’t crossed his mind at least for a brief moment. “I’d like to be an honorable man. You never agreed to give me the armor, that is true, and I had taken it anyways. It was only right for me to stay true to the deal I had offered.”
Din dropped his gaze, staring back at his helmet. “Thank you,” he said again. “I wouldn’t have been able to save the kid without you. I thought I had lost him forever.”
They fell back into silence. Boba could practically feel Din’s racing thoughts. Poor man must have a lot on his mind after everything that happened. At his waist was the darksaber, and Boba could only imagine the troubles that it’d bring Din. While he wanted to ask if Din would claim the Mandalorian throne, he decided that he had enough on his mind. Right now, his thoughts were likely preoccupied on his son.
“I once told Cara that if I took off this helmet, I could never put it back on again and be a Mandalorian,” Din started to say, slowly as if still trying to put together his own thoughts. “I had... I had taken it off once before back on Morak.” It was said quietly, as if it were a confession. “Mayfeld had seen my face, as well as many of the imps at that base. I had to do it to get into the system. I did it for Grogu.”
Boba briefly had no idea who Grogu was before realizing it was likely the child. For whatever reason, Boba had never asked for a name, and everyone just called the child just that.
“So, what do you think,” Boba said, “are you still a Mandalorian or not?”
Din shook his head slightly. “I... I don’t know.”
“You said before that you wouldn’t put the helmet back on, but you did,” Boba reminded him. “What made you put it back on?”
“I took it off because I had to. I once made the mistake of choosing my beskar over the foundling, and I wasn’t going to make that mistake again. I felt as though I could still call myself a Mandalorian if it were for the sake of a foundling.”
“Then you can still call yourself Mandalorian if you so wish,” Boba said sternly, but not unkindly. “Mandalorian culture has so much diversity. There is no right way to be a Mandalorian. I’m sure to you it was a shock when you met Bo-Katan and her underlings. Do you think they’re Mandalorian?”
Din hesitated for a moment, but nodded. “I do.”
“If I were to say I was a Mandalorian, would you accept that?”
Din nodded again, with less hesitation. “I would.”
“Then are you going to put your helmet back on?” Boba asked.
Din didn’t answer immediately, he stared back down at helmet. After a moment, his eyes closed and he let out a heavy breath.
He nodded once more.
“I know the pain you must feel from being separated from your child, and you’re going to be dealing with a lot of struggles going forward, but your identity should not be one of them.” Boba could care less what his covert had told Din growing up, the rigid rules they must’ve imposed on him. Din was a fine man, and he didn’t want him to think otherwise.
Din let out an unamused chuckle. “I’m not looking forward to all those struggles. He leaned back in his seat, finally allowing his body to relax. “I’m going to need to find myself a ship. I can probably find a guild and get some on-planet work, should get me enough credits to buy a decent enough ship to hold me over.”
“I can get you a ship,” Boba offered. Once they got to Tatooine and dealt with some people, getting one should be no problem.
“I can’t ask you to do that,” Din shook his head. “You’ve done more than enough.”
Boba slightly huffed. “Good thing you didn’t ask then.” He rose to his feet, helmet in hand. “You’re as good as dead with no money or transportation, and my protection goes for you, not just the child. I’ll have you get up so you can go on your own way.” He didn’t leave it open for debate.
Din looked like he wanted to protests, emotions loud and clear on his face without a helmet to hide them. Instead, he relented. “I- thank you.”
“You should probably get some sleep. It’ll be a while before we get to Tatooine.” Slipping his helmet back on, Boba decided to head back up to the cockpit. After hesitating a moment, he added on, “And, Din? You did the right thing. I’m sure your foundling is proud to have you as a father. Your paths will cross again.”
For a second, it looked like Din was going to tear up. He swallowed hard and dipped his head. “Thank you,” he said again, voice slightly wavering. Boba could tell he wasn’t saying thank you to be polite, but was genuinely grateful. His voice even sounded a touch more warm as compared to the earlier hollowness.
As Boba left, part of him hoped that his path would cross with Din’s again as well.
- - -
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Soul || (Ezra x Reader) || Moonbeams
Title: Soul Rating: PG-13 Length: 4,300 Warnings: Mild angst Notes: Why am I always so nervous to post every chapter? Part nine of the Moonbeams series.
Taglist: @princessbatears @djarin-junk @absurdthirst @hdlynn @legally-a-bastard @opheliaelysia @heather-lynn @sabinemorans @crazinessgraveyardsandcartoons @pedrospunk @maybege @chews-erotically @katlikeme @lose-eels @youmeanmybrain @theindiealto @irishleesh93 @seawhisperer @hdlynn @demigod-dragonrider-schoolidol @theindiealto @grapemama @roxypeanut @kochamcie @kiwi-the-first @hellomothermoon @soft-fanfics @spacegayofficial @storiesofthefandomloversreblogs @kindablackenedsuperhero @goblinqueen95 @nominalnebula @wheresthewater @letmybabysleep @hayley-the-comet @corrupt-fvcker @i-ship-it-ironically Hopefully I got everyone! Please message me to be added, comments to be added get lost in my activity.
Ezra idly slid his fingers in between yours, his chest a firm presence at your back as he molded his body around yours. He had barely left your side since you came back from your brush with the guardians.
“What was it like?”
“Hmm?” You questioned, tilting your head to look back at him.
“Death.”
“Oh.” You frowned as you considered his question, watching your fingers as he played with them. “Cold and then warm.”
“Warm?” Ezra pressed his lips to the back of your shoulder.
You exhaled slowly, searching for the right words to explain all of it to him. “It was cold and dark and then there were… stars. Falling all around me.”
He hummed softly against your shoulder, “That’s unexpected.”
“And I don’t know if that was even what death was. I can’t remember which came first. If the nothingness was before I woke up… or after.” You stretched your legs out before rolling over to face him. “Do you believe me?”
Ezra’s dark eyes searched yours for a moment before answering, “I believe that it is possible that you died and were revived. I can’t deny the potential, given my own curse.”
You reached out to trace your thumb over the curved scar on his cheek. “I should go back to the Block for the next full moon. I know I’m safe with you, but I also know that Shiva is likely losing their mind with my absence.”
He chuckled, “Do you think Shiva will believe you?”
“Your guess is as good as mine.” You shrugged, “They’ll probably force me to see a medic. Check me for concussions.” You turned your palm over to look at the healing cut. “I’ve just got a self-inflicted stab wound and a handful of someone’s fingerprints.”
Ezra scratched at the back of his ear, “I have recently found that it is impossible to be overzealous when it comes to you-almost-died sex.”
“I think it’s more oh-shit-you-died sex.” You corrected, tapping your finger against his nose.
He caught your hand and rubbed his thumb gently over the spot just above your healing palm. “Touché.”
“Why do you do that?”
“Hmm?” Ezra’s brows knit together.
“I just remembered that when I was lost in the darkness, I recalled the way you rubbed my palm.”
“Ah.” He smiled fondly at you, “When I was wee lad, I used to be frightfully afraid when we’d leave orbit.” Ezra explained. “My mother used to take my hand like so,” He took hold of your hand. “And rub her thumb over the center of my palm to remind me that she wasn’t going anywhere.”
You smiled at him, “I like that.”
He cocked his head to the side, “I like you.”
“Read to me.” You murmured as you leaned in to kiss him.
“And force me from my comfortable position?” Ezra huffed dramatically, even as he drew back the covers and moved to get out of the bed.
You tucked your arm beneath your head and watched the muscles in his back move with him, as he went to look over your stack of books.
“I’ll bring back more honeysticks.” You told him, “And perhaps track down the nonpareils you mentioned.”
“You feed into my sweet tooth,” He taunted, looking back at you. “When the sweetest thing of all is laying tangled up in our sheets.”
“Our sheets?” You gave him a look. “I do believe I bargained these sheets out of a vendor on Phthalcol.”
Ezra smirked, looking back at the books once more. He snatched one up and flipped through the pages. “Is that so?”
“So smug.” You rolled your eyes. “I let you sleep in my bed for a handful of nights and now it’s our bed?”
“Aren’t our ships connected now?” He questioned, not looking back at you yet.
“In theory.”
“Ah-ha!” Ezra licked his thumb before turning the page, reading it as he turned back towards you. “I knew I recalled seeing Herrick in this collection. An often forgotten fellow, you know.”
“I don’t know if I’m well versed in him.”
“He was rather fond of the Greek poet Anacreon.” Ezra informed you, giving you an expectant look.
“Wine, women, and…” You racked your brain for the third attribute.
“Song.”
“Are you going to sing now?”
Ezra rolled his eyes, “Though poetry could be song, in theory.” He shrugged his shoulders, “He was a hit of a religious poet too, back when society was limited in their dieistic notions.”
“What have you picked to read?”
He stared at you for a long moment before clearing his throat and focusing on the page. “How love came in, I do not know, whether by th’ eye, or eare, or no. Or whether with the soule it came, at first, infused with the same. Whether in part ‘tis here or there, or, like the soule, whole everywhere. This troubles me, but as I well as any other, this can tell. That when from hence she does depart, the outlet then is from the heart.”
“Herrick certainly knew what he was talking about,” You said gently as you smiled back at Ezra. “I’m glad we said it, more or less, before everything happened.” You told him as you sat up, picking at the edge of your blanket. “It wasn’t said because something happened.”
Ezra nodded slowly, shutting the book closed as he moved to sit on the edge of the bed beside you. “Have you ever been in love before?”
“If you ask Shiva, I’m always falling in love.” You told him, lifting your gaze a little. “But twice. I think. It wasn’t like this.” You gestured between the two of you.
“I always avoided it,” Ezra admitted quietly, reaching out to brush his fingers down your bare arm. “Skirted close, but never too close. These past five years made me realize how much I missed out on — thinking only of myself.”
“Being open isn’t worth it,” You told him, shaking your head. “You usually get burnt. Bad.”
“I’m assuming you’re referring to Mars and Alia?”
“I don’t even want to get into Alia, but…” You pursed yourself lips. “Mars was very charming. Very charming.” You kept your eyes on the blanket beneath your fingers. “I fell headfirst into that dreamboat.” You snorted. “Lots of pretty words that amounted to — ‘you have a sweet connection with the head of Fiorta Corp. and that’s all this was about.’ Asshole.”
“I’m sorry.” Ezra kept skimming his fingers over your arm.
“Fortunately, I found out before I could’ve been foolish enough to get myself trapped into becoming his third wife. One and two actually warned me about his plans.”
He hummed curiously, “It sounds like you were leading quite the adventurous life.” He leaned in and pressed a kiss to your cheek. “Are you sure you want to tie yourself to me?”
“Too late.” You reached out and tousled your fingers through his hair. “I much prefer this arrangement. For so many reasons.”
“Inquiring minds would like to know.” Ezra drawled out lazily as he reclined back on the bed.
“Fishing for compliments?” You grinned as you settled back against him.
He rested his chin in your shoulder, winding his arms around your middle. “Always.”
You traced your fingertips over the back of his hand, sliding your fingers in between his. “I feel like it has to mean something that it didn’t work. They were able to wipe Sybil and Cora from Proctor’s mind, but.. they couldn’t pull you out of me.”
Ezra fanned his fingers out on your stomach, before skimming upwards to rest at the curve of your ribs. “It certainly begs the question of why.” He nuzzled at the crook of your neck. “Is that the only reason?”
You snorted, reaching back to tug at his hair. “There’s also the fact that you’re handsome, smart, and humorous. But if we’re being honest, it was the books.”
“I figured.” He chuckled, his breath warm against your shoulder. “I meant what I said, moonbeam. I’m not letting you go.”
“I would be disappointed if you did.”
Ezra pressed another kiss to your skin. “I know at first I tried to convince you to leave, but I’m glad you chose to ignore me.”
“I’m stubborn by default.” You tilted your face towards him with a cheeky grin.
His lips parted to say something, but a sudden bang at your transport door made you jump.
“What the fuck?” You questioned, climbing out of his lap to find your clothes.
“Stay here.” Ezra growled, his entire body going rigid as he snatched up his shirt and pulled it on over his head.
Someone knocked — again.
“Lock the door. Don’t open it.” He told you, turning to face you as you followed him towards the threshold.
You reached out and grabbed his hand, rubbing your thumb over the center of his palm as you held his gaze. “Please be safe.”
They knocked again.
Ezra leaned in and kissed you, “I love you.”
“I love you too.” You whispered, swallowing thickly as he pulled away from you. You watched him as he walked backwards towards the knocking.
You hit the button on the wall, the door sliding closed and locking shut. Your heart was hammering in your chest as you pressed yourself against the cool durasteel and tried to listen through it. It was muffled and almost impossible to hear — but the knocking stopped.
And everything fell silent.
The hairs on the back of your neck stood on end. The faded memory of the guardians still loomed over your thoughts. The man had reminded you of a statue — chiseled features and sharp eyes. Towering over you like a deadly beast in a man’s form.
If they were the first creatures on Lykaios, there was no knowing what skill they had beyond Ezra’s abilities.
You could barely hear the muffled sound of Ezra’s voice on the other side of the door, alongside a pair of voices that didn’t bode well for either of you.
There was a shuffle of feet against durasteel, the whirr of the exterior shutting close, a slightly raised voice, and movement drawing closer to you.
You had nowhere to go.
“Moonbeam,” Ezra called out through the door. “It’s safe. Open the door. Your friends have made an appearance.”
You pressed the release button on the wall, watching as the door unlocked and slid into the threshold. On the other side stood Ezra, flanked by Shiva and Quinn.
“What are you doing here?”
“What am I doing here? What are you doing here?” Shiva shot back as they stepped forward to grab you. “I thought you were dead.”
You wrapped your arms around them, looking over their shoulder at Ezra who was sizing himself up against Quinn. Quinn had a few inches on him and it was entertaining to see him try to make himself seem more imposing.
“A lot has happened,” You told Shiva as you pulled back. “I didn’t make it back this time. Sorry for worrying you.”
“You even got me nervous,” Quinn remarked, looking between you and Ezra. “Is he always so bristly?”
Your eyes flickered towards Ezra, when you heard him growl. “Hey. No.” You glared at Quinn. “Knock it off.”
“Are you going to officially introduce us?” Shiva questioned as they took a step back, giving you a cheeky grin as they looked towards Ezra. “He just leered at us and told us we smelt like humans.”
“Jury’s out on this one.” Ezra huffed, looking at Quinn briefly before stepping through the threshold and circling towards you. You didn’t need him to say he was uncomfortable — it was perfectly clear by the way his back was rigid and his jaw was set hard.
“Ezra, this is Shiva.” You said, trailing your fingers down the back of his arm gently as you gestured towards Shiva. “You’ve already heard all of my stories about my stalwart friend.”
Shiva shook his hand with an arched brow, “I’ve heard plenty about you too.” They gave him a sweeping once over. “Trying to steal our girl.”
You rolled your eyes, “And this is Quinn.”
Quinn offered his hand, but Ezra refused to shake it in return. “I don’t like this any more than you do.”
“I find that hard to believe,” Ezra huffed, reaching down to take your hand into his, interlacing his fingers with yours.
“Why don’t we take this conversation out of our quarters.” You said, shooing them out of the room.
“Our?” Shiva arched a brow at you, before starting ahead down the corridor with Quinn.
Ezra tugged you to a stop, “Moonbeam.”
You turned back towards him, “I know this is difficult for you.” You reached out and brushed your fingers over his cheek.
He hung his head and gave a slight nod. “I’m afraid I don’t have it in me to be the most hospitable of guests. Particularly where he is involved.” Ezra sighed heavily, “Their arrival was unexpected, to say the least.”
You glanced down the corridor where you could hear the two of them laughing about something Shiva had said. “I didn’t even think that they would come here if I didn’t turn up.” You admitted, “I probably should’ve seen that coming, but it slipped my mind.”
Ezra touched your chin, brushing his thumb over your bottom lip. “I think that’s understandable. And they clearly care for you and your well-being.” He held your gaze. “I’m sorry.”
“What for?” Your brows furrowed as you searched his eyes.
“My rabid jealousy.” Ezra’s eyes darted down the corridor. “I recognize it’s foolish.”
You leaned in and kissed him, letting your lips linger there. “It’s okay, Ezra.” You brushed a lock of hair behind his ear. “Just don’t try to kill him.”
“Tempting.”
“Are you two coming to join us?” Quinn called out. “Or was that a ploy to get a little alone time?”
“We’ll be right there.” You called back, smiling at Ezra. “You’re better at being sociable than you think. You were a perfect gentleman with Sybil and Cora.”
“Entirely different scenario.” He pointed out. “Neither of them desired you.”
You felt heat rise to your cheeks. “Point taken.”
Ezra stole another kiss, before taking ahold of your hand and starting back down the corridor towards the living area.
Quinn was sprawled out on the makeshift sofa, tossing a stress ball into the air above him. “Do you think he likes fetc— Hello.” He jerked upright into a seated position.
Shiva stifled a laugh. “Good job, Quinn.” They looked back towards Ezra. “I’ve always thought he’d go down greasy. He’s not worth eating.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Ezra smirked, before gesturing for Quinn to get off the sofa who was quick to follow suit.
“I had every intention of coming back to the Block, but things got out of hand here.” You explained as you settled onto the sofa beside Ezra. “Really out of hand.”
“Well, now you’re going to have to tell us.” Shiva gave you an expectant look. “I won’t judge you if you got distracted.”
“I wish it were that simple.” You picked a bit of dirt out of your thumbnail as you kept your eyes lowered to your lap. “It’s actually rather convoluted.”
Ezra ran his hand down the length of your spine reassuringly.
You rubbed your lips together, chewing at the inside of your bottom lip as you looked up at Shiva. “You’re just going to have to trust me on this one,” You said, “Lykaios has more secrets than we were aware of. Before the full moon, I was taken by the… I guess we’ll call them the Guardians. They were the first here on Lykaios, allegedly.”
Quinn cleared his throat, “If I may interject.”
Ezra worked his jaw slowly as he glared at Quinn. “Do you know something?”
He nodded, “Shiva and I continued to do research after you left. Everything’s in my shuttle and you’re both welcome to it.” He leaned back against the wall, holding his arms across his chest. “There were three, I believe. Callisto, Dia, and Psophis. Arcadia has rivers named for each of them.”
You cocked your head to the side, “I encountered Callisto and Dio.”
“Hmm.” Quinn rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “The rivers were named for the children of an old god. Descendants of the nymphs of the sea, so they say.”
“I see you’re clever,” Ezra remarked with an edge of annoyance.
Quinn shrugged, “Yes, well… the common denominator between us happens to surround herself with clever friends.”
“I can’t deny that,” You leaned into Ezra’s side. “That’s more than we knew before, so thank you for that.” You offered Quinn a small smile. “They are apparently the originators of the curse and… they tried to get rid of me the same way they got rid of Proctor.”
“Which is?” Shiva questioned.
“They killed me and attempted to wipe my memories of Ezra. They didn’t succeed, clearly.”
“Back up, they killed you?” They leaned forward. “You should see a medic. You can’t just stay here when you could have something seriously wrong with you.”
“I told you.” You glanced sideways at Ezra. “Look, Shiva… I’m okay. I’ll see the medic when I go back to the Block in a few days.”
“How do you know you died?” Quinn asked skeptically.
“I just know.” You said sharply. “I know how I felt and what I saw.”
“She smells different, too.” Ezra offered, shifting beside you. “I can’t put my finger on what’s changed, but she smells like more.”
“You weren’t kidding about the smelling thing, were you?” Shiva laughed, shaking their head. “I definitely wasn’t expecting to find out that you died while you were away.”
Quinn snorted, “You were convinced she was dead.”
“Only because she didn’t show up.”
“It’s been a blur,” You admitted. “We only had a few days between my kidnapping and the full moon and with how my mind was at the time…”
Ezra cut in, “We thought it was best that she stay here. Just in case whatever they did wasn’t fully out of her system.”
Quinn frowned, “What do you mean how your mind was?”
“Is, really. Things are still spotty.” You gave an awkward laugh at that. “I would forget things. I’m still not entirely certain of things that happened that first month here.”
“You remember Ay-7?”
“Quinn.” Shiva snapped and Ezra’s hand tightened at your waist instinctively.
“Really?”
Quinn held up his hands in mock defense. “Just checking on where we stand.”
You glared at him. “Not good.”
He snapped his fingers and nodded, “I figured.”
Shiva rose from their seat, moving to sit on the cargo crate in front of the sofa, “I came with Quinn, so if you want a co-pilot back to the Block you’ve got me.”
“I might actually take you up on that.” You smiled, reaching out to give their shoulder a squeeze. “With everything you told me about people losing their minds when they leave Lykaois I’ve been nervous about leaving.”
“Just,” Ezra started, his voice wavering a little. “Send her back to me.”
Shiva tilted their head to the side as they looked at him then, “As long as you agree to send her back to me from time-to-time.”
“There’s enough of me to go around,” You assured both of them, before holding up a hand to keep Quinn from commenting. “Not enough for you though.”
“You wound me.” Quinn shot back with a wicked smirk. “There used to be more than enough for me.”
Ezra leaned forward on the sofa and Quinn shuffled an inch further away from the three of you. “That’s what I thought.”
“There’s too much testosterone in here.” You muttered and Shiva started laughing.
“I think there’s too much Quinn here.”
He scoffed, “You’re the one who dragged me along for the ride.”
“Because your shuttle’s fast.” Shiva rolled their eyes. “Don’t act like you weren’t worried for her.”
“I’ll own up to that.” Quinn shrugged.
“So, what other information did you find out about the moon?”
He clicked his tongue against his teeth, “I put a few feelers out. Expressed some interest in launching my own mining team into Lykaois. Got a few bites, but they didn’t fully materialize before we disembarked.”
“What exactly do you deal in?” Ezra questioned with a slight edge to his tone.
“What do you need me to deal in?” Quinn retorted. “I’m a man of many skills. Our dear friend is aware of that.”
Ezra exhaled slowly through his nose, “I’m assuming if you call Ay-7 home, you’re not dealing in legal ventures?”
Quinn gave a short laugh, “You’re forgetting that I’ve seen your files. Quite the body count.”
“Was I casting aspersions?” He countered, keeping his eyes fixed on Quinn. “Was I?” He looked towards you then.
“It was definitely implied.” You smiled a little, nudging him in the ribs. “Quinn’s a bit of a jack-of-all-trades. His latest venture was a dust enterprise he ran into the ground. Before that he used to run fake licenses business for those that washed out of the program.”
“Some company you keep.” Ezra smirked, with a teasing tone. “Useful though.”
Quint puffed himself up, “I can be very useful.”
“Quit peacocking.” Shiva warned him, before grabbing their satchel up off the floor. “I forgot to mention I brought goodies. I figured if you’d missed coming back to the Block, you’d need supplies.”
You scooted forward to the edge of the sofa to peer into their bag, “Are those honeysticks?”
Shiva grinned, “I figured you’d need your magic beast taming treats.”
“Hilarious,” Ezra remarked wryly, holding his hand out for one.
Shiva popped the box open and passed him one of the sticks. “I don’t get the appeal, but I respect it.”
He tore off the end of the stick and sucked at it as he sank back against the sofa. “I believe they call it creature comforts.” Ezra stated.
“What else did you bring?” You questioned, grabbing the satchel away from them. “You were so worried about my well-being that you stopped by the bakery for fruli pies?”
“I can be magnanimous when I feel like it.” Shiva retorted, watching as you turned towards Ezra to show him the mini pies you loved. “I figured I should satisfy both of your sweet tooth needs.”
“What are they?” Ezra questioned, examining them curiously. “Are those berries?”
You nodded, “A sweet flaky pastry with a berry concoction in the middle. They keep for weeks.”
“She’s always been fond of stocking up and hiding them around the transport before long missions.” Shiva pointed out.
“Only because I’ll eat them all day one if I don’t.” You laughed, popping the package open to grab one. You took a bite with a satisfied moan, before passing it to Ezra. “Here.”
He took the bite from your fingers, chewing it thoughtfully before smirking, “I see why they need to be hidden around the ship.”
“Right?” You grinned. “We eat a lot of berries that grow here. There’s even some decent ones that are winter berries.”
“I haven’t been venturing out,” Ezra admitted. “So we’ve leaned on her ready-to-eat meals.”
“Cardboard and iron.” You scrunched up your nose. “I was going to bring more when I come back after the next full moon.”
“Are you not leaving the ship?” Quinn questioned.
“I don’t want to risk her being found again.” Ezra stated. “We were careful about coming back from my transport. There’s a chance the guardians will try to hurt her again.”
You snapped your fingers and shot finger guns at Ezra, “Not looking to die again this soon.”
Quinn frowned, “So you really died?”
“It was a whole ordeal.” You licked some of the berry juice off your thumb. “But I’m okay now. I think.”
“Please let the medic check you over.” He said gently. “That can’t be good for you. I am worried about you… as a friend.”
You rolled your eyes, “As long as we’re clear on that.” You looked back to Shiva then. “What else did you bring?”
“Well, I was picturing you chewed up and spit out by a beast, so I brought you new clothes.”
“I’ll take those anyways.” You took the clothes from them. “I appreciate how committed you were to rescuing me.”
They shrugged, “At rare times I’ve found I can be a good friend. Just consider all of this added on to what you owe me for cheating me out of this haul.”
“Figures.” You snorted.
“Not to run you off so soon,” Ezra started with a polite tone. “But depending on where your transport is parked, you should start back before nightfall.”
You nodded, “It’s not safe to be out there right now. We still don’t know what the guardians—“
Shiva laughed, “You just want to get back to whatever we interrupted. I saw what a mess your bed was.”
“This is so much worse than I imagined.” You grumbled, covering your face. “In all sincerity, this is out of concern. After what they did to me, I don’t want either of you dealing with it.”
Quinn pushed off the wall, “I don’t want anyone rearranging my head.” He clapped his hands together, “Come on Shiva, let’s get out of the lover bird’s hair. I’m sure you’ll get all the gossip when you head back to the Block.”
“Come by in the morning.” You smiled at them.
“Not too early.” Ezra tacked on. “I like my sleep.”
Shiva winked at him, before turning towards Quinn. “Let’s get out of here.”
You lingered in the living area as Ezra saw them out of the transport. Shiva had left their bag behind, filled with a handful of other goodies they had brought for you. Everything you would’ve needed if something had gone wrong.
Despite how often the two of you were at each other’s necks, at least they were your one true friend. Through thick and thin… and falling in love with a werewolf. They stood by you.
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Sweethearted Security
(Nines x Reader)
A/N: here's sum good ol fluff for the hardass we all love. I was gunna say sorry if its ooc but then i remembered he doesn't have a canon personality lmao
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You were the adopted child of a very wealthy and highly powerful family. Normally any other family of your status would keep that little secret hidden at all costs. However your parents were quite public and open about the idea. It made the public think they were generous people. Again, unlike other families like your own, they actually were good people.
However kind they were, they still managed to acquire enemies of their own. Most of them being jealous of your families success. So naturally, you and your family were in constant danger with threats of assassinations. Your life moreso than your parents, considering you were the heir to the family wealth and also the perfect bargaining chip.
After the attempt on your life that nearly succeeded, your parents set out on a mission to find you the best body guard money could buy. And the best they got indeed. With enough promises of donating extreme amounts of money to the DPD, the captain finally gave in. Now, your family was the proud owner of your very own RK900 android.
He wasn't exactly the gift you thought you'd recieve on your 18th birthday. Quite honestly you were scared of him, despite the fact his sole purpose was to protect you. But that fear of him only lasted a couple of months before you got used to him. He wasn't given a name so you decided to call him Conan, and if you didn't know any better you'd think liked that choice.
Now you were well in your 20's and yet your parents insisted on keeping him around for your sake. Not that you were arguing to get rid of him per say. You were actually quite fond of his presence. When he was around you knew you were basically untouchable. You even swore that he seemed to form a sort of personality too, something he'd deny if you asked.
Even though he was programmed to do whatever you asked him to do, you still did most things for yourself. You didn't want to use him, no matter how many times he tells you that he's just a machine. That wasn't the case in your mind. He was more of a person than most the people you've met at all the social gatherings your family forced you to. So you made it a rule to yourself to never treat him like a maid, and if you do, pay him for it. Not that he'd ever accept the money. At least you could say you tried.
However there was one exception to that rule, and that was when you were sick. Which happened to be in the predicament you were in now. You woke up in the morning with the classic sore throat and stuffy nose that felt dry and yet was runny at the same time. In other words, you felt like absolute garbage.
The moment you left your room you greeted by Conan, as always. He took one look at you, seemingly scanning you, before narrowing his icy blue eyes.
"You're sick," he deadpanned.
"Yeah, no shit," you shot back, sarcasm evident in your nasally voice.
"Then you should be going back to bed to rest," he said, taking a step infront of you to block you from going anywhere else.
"Yeah well I need the bathroom so," you trailed off as you easily stepped around him.
You didn't have to look at him to know his eyes rolled at you. One of his signature actions you've noticed.
After tending to yourself in the bathroom you left said room and tried to head downstairs. Emphasis on tried.
"And where do you think you're going?" you heard from behind you, already all too familiar with the voice of your bodyguard.
"Going to make some coffee," you replied although it sounded more like a question.
"No you're not. You're going back to your bed to rest. I'll get you whatever you need," Conan said, more like demanded.
"Conan, we talked about this. I don't want you running around doing shit for me when I'm perfectly capable," you said with a long sigh.
"I'm aware. However you aren't 'perfectly capable' at the moment. Therefore I suggest going back to bed, otherwise I'll take you there myself," as he spoke his lip quirked up into a slight smirk, knowing he'd won.
"Conan..." you whined.
"(Y/n)," he said in a warning tone.
"I'm serious, I'm fine. I'll just get some coffee quick and then I'll-"
"As you wish," he suddenly cut you off before leaning down and carrying you over his shoulder as if you weighed nothing.
"Conan!" you squeaked, causing a small cough to escape you.
"I did warn you, you decided not to listen," you could practically hear the smug smirk he wore as he carried you into your room and plopped you down on your bed.
"You know I hate it when you do that," you huffed, your mouth forming a pout.
"And you're aware that I don't really care," he sassed.
You rolled your eyes at him and crossed your arms over your chest childishly. When you met his eyes again you swear you saw a flicker of amusement in his usually hard steely hues.
"Now, if you're done being difficult. I'll go and make you a cup of herbal tea."
"But I want coffee," you whined, dragging out the 'e' sound for far too long.
"Herbal tea is healthier than coffee. It'll also help sooth your throat. Besides, you should really avoid ingesting excessive caffeine. Like you have been doing for the past several weeks," he spoke with the matter-of-fact tone he knew you hated.
Once again beating you in one of your many squabbles.
Sighing, you finally gave in,"Fine, whatever."
With that, Conan left the room to go fetch you your tea. He'd also make sure to bring back the bottle of cough syrup as well. He also had the thought of adding honey to your tea, for some added sweetness.
No one would ever be able to figure it out on their own, but Conan actually quite enjoyed taking care of you when you're ill. Or taking care of you in general. Being your protector. Of course, if you ever confronted him about it himself, he'd simply feign ignorance or straight out deny it. The good old 'just a machine' excuse. But that's all it was at this point, an excuse, because of you. Truth was over the years he had been at your side he had grown attached to you. He loved you, not that he actually realized it yet.
It took him much longer than his predecessor, Connor, to figure it out but he was capable of feeling. Of course, he still hasn't quite accepted the fact yet. Or show any signs of him being a deviant around anyone who isn't you. But hey, you just excited you saw even the slightest of signs really.
To everyone else he was still the same stone faced, emotionless, empty monster wearing humans skin. A machine ready to strike at a moments notice with no intentions of mercy upon anyone who dares face him. In many ways he still was that.
Conan liked to think he was able to keep that facade even infront of you, but you saw when that mask slipped. Hell, you knew he was capable of it even before he did. But to see it was something you'd never forget, and something you were excited to see more of. You of course never said anything about it though, wanting him to come to you when he's ready.
When he returned back to your room he was pleasantly surprised to see you laying in bed, scrolling mindlessly through your phone. You actually listened to him. It wasn't a particularly rare thing for you to do and yet it made his biocomonants feel all fuzzy. It was a feeling he had grown to cherish only because it was caused by you.
Once you noticed the android enter your room you sat up and scooted back so your back was against the backboard. Conan held out the mug of tea and you gingerly took it. The mug was emanating a warmth that was just hot enough to not burn your hand. And you had to admit, the tea smelt pretty nice.
"There, I trust I won't have to force you to drink it?" he asked almost playfully.
"Yeah yeah I bet you'd love that wouldn't you," you smirked before blowing on the tea a couple of times.
You were just about to take a sip before Conan stops you as he pours a spoonful of the opposite of sugar, "Before you drink your tea you should take this."
Before you had the opportunity to take the spoon for yourself, Conan was already holding the spoon in front of your mouth. You felt your cheeks starting to flare up and you looked up at him with wide eyes. He only stared at you expectantly. Before he spoke up with some some snarky remark you quickly leaned closer to take the spoon in your mouth and swallow the syrup. When you leaned back you averted you eyes from him awkwardly.
"Now you can enjoy your tea," he chimed with satisfaction.
You quickly brought up the mug up to your face and gingerly took a sip. You'd hope that Conan would think the heat in your face was caused by the hot beverage and not because of him. Conan might have been new to the whole understanding human emotions thing, but he was by no means clueless. (Unlike his predecessor) He knew exactly what he was doing.
After taking your first taste you hummed at the pleasant sweetness. He must have added honey, your favorite. Your lips curled up into a small smile.
"Thanks Conan," you said sincerely, smiling up to him.
"Of course, (Y/n)," he replied with a slight bow of his head.
Your smile widened and paused just before taking another sip of your tea, "you're uh excused by the way."
With another nod Conan left your room. It wasn't long before he returned with an old paper book in hand, must have gotten it from your Dad's library. He then took a seat in a chair by your side on your right, opening to the page you assumed he left off. You never got why he liked to read books when he could probably download the whole thing in a matter of seconds. But you never spoiled his hobby. It was nice to watch as his striking blue-grey eyes glided across the paper. He almost looked at peace. Almost.
His eyes flicked up to meet yours and you immediately looked down into your mug. Your cheeks were darkening in embarrassment. It wasn't the first time he had caught you staring, and it probably wouldn't be the last either.
"I recommend you try and sleep after you've finished. The more rest you get the faster you will recover," Conan said, cutting the growing awkward silence.
"Yeah, yeah," you waved him off, no longer having the energy to argue with him.
Conan's attention went back on his book, the tiniest of blink and you'll miss it smiles gracing his features. Meanwhile you tried to keep your attention on your phone as you slowly finished your tea. Emphasis on tried. But you just couldn't stop your eyes from glancing up at your favorite android. It wasn't your fault Cyberlife made him so perfect.
Eventually, you finished your tea and oddly enough you felt very tired. You placed the mug on the end table beside your bed before a yawn escaped you.
"You should rest," Conan said, not looking away from his book.
"You drugged me didn't you," you squinted at him, your lips pursing.
Conan looked over at you with a blank expression, "No, but if that's what it will require for you to rest then I will."
You couldn't stop the smile from spreading on your face and you rolled your eyes playfully. You knew he was only kidding and it wasn't an actual threat. Then again, maybe it wasn't. Either way, your soft chuckle at his maybe not joke made him feel nice.
"Sorry to spoil the fun but I think I'll pass," you said as you laid in bed and got yourself comfortable.
Conan only rolled his eyes at you before returning his attention back to his book.
Luckily the cough syrup was enough to allow you to easily fall asleep without any interruptions of coughing. You were out like a light for a good few hours. But as the medicine slowly wore off, your coughing became more frequent. You were also sniffling more often as well. It was when Conan heard soft whimpers fall past your lips when he set down his book and went to get you more cough syrup. He could have just waited until you officially woke up, but he didn't see the point in needlessly making you suffer longer than required.
Once he returned to your side, he gently shook your shoulder and softly called out your name. It didn't take more than a few moments before your (e/c) eyes fluttered open to meet his ice cold ones.
"Conan?" you mumbled sleepily.
"My apologies for waking you (Y/n), but I think it would be for the best if you took more cough medicine," he informed you slowly so your waking mind could understand.
You nodded in agreement and replied with a little, "okay."
You sat up slightly as he opened the bottle of the thick deep red liquid. Rubbing the sleep from your eyes you tried not to think too much about the strong, very unpleasant, taste. At least it worked well. Just like before, Conan guided the spoon to your mouth but this time you didn't hesitate to take it.
"Good, now you can go back to sleep," Conan said, an almost tenderness to his voice you thought you imagined.
At his okay you plopped back down. Conan took this as his cue that he was excused but just as he turned to leave your side he stopped when he felt a tug on his jacket. Looking back, he raised a brow in question.
"Is there something you need, (Y/n)?" he inquired.
"Can you lay with me?" you asked, half asleep.
Conan didn't respond right away, he just stared down at you. At the lack of an answer a small frown tugged at your lips and you let him go, assuming his answer was no. So you layed back down, mumbling a short apology.
When you closed your eyes you heard a soft sigh, that you knew was unnecessary, before the mattress next to you dipped under new weight. Your eyes fluttered back open and you were delighted to see Conan laying next to you. He was watching you from the corner of his eye as you scooted closer to his form.
All you did was lay next to him for a short while, testing the waters. You honestly never thought he'd let you get this close to him. Let alone lay with you. It was nice. But you were becoming more sleepy and wanted maximum comfort. So, in a fleeting moment of bravery you shifted to rest your head and an arm on his chest.
Immediately you felt him tense underneath you, and you half expected him to push you off. But to your surprise, he placed a hand on your back and slowly traced up and down your spine. It was a comforting action that made you subconsciously snuggle up closer to him.
Conan never ceased his fingers that traced your spine, telling himself it was for you. Even when he presses a soft kiss to the crown of your head, he told himself it was just to make you feel better. But when he ended up brining up his free hand to pet and play with your hair gently. It was hard to convince himself the action absolutely for his own enjoyment. After all, you had been asleep for at least five minutes at that point.
"Sleep well, my heart."
———————————————
A/N: short (at least by my standards) n sweet. Love to see it. But i feel like my writing is garbage. Like I feel like i keep using the same words and phrases n shit. If anyone could lemme know if im just overthinking it or not please leave a comment or dm me or something! Hope y'all enjoyed 💙
#dbh#dbh x reader#dbh fanfic#dbh rk900#detroit become human rk900#detroit rk900#rk900#rk900 x reader#nines x reader#dbh nines#detroit become human
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I hope all your Christmases were wonderful!
Have some short Christmas fluff to stay in the Christmas spirit! Again from the Wolfstar Holiday Prompt list from @remus-john-lupin
25: Christmas cookies
Snuggled up together like two birds of a feather would be
Sleigh ride - The Ronettes
Lily and James want a romantic Christmas with just the two of them, and find out they're not the only ones.
Lily drums her fingers nervously on the container holding the freshly baked Christmas cookies. “You sure he likes these, right?”
James shrugs. “They’re cookies. What’s not to like?”
Lily gives him a stern look. “The point is for him to be able to tell that we’ve put some thought into it.”
“Lils,” James sighs. “I’ve told you a hundred times, he doesn’t mind. He’s not feeling neglected.”
“But he’s your brother!” Lily says anxiously. “You’ve been celebrating Christmas together since you were eleven. I don’t want him to think that then I came along and suddenly everything’s different. Like I’m the type of girlfriend who steals his brother away.”
“It’s not like he’s just met you!” James says with a laugh. “He has known you since you were eleven as well.”
“But not as your girlfriend!” Lily counters.
James puts an arm around her shoulder. “Lily, love, he likes you. And you finally having succumbed to my charm is not going to change anything.”
Lily looks down at her hands. “It’s just… he has already been cast out of a family once. I don’t want him to feel like he’s any less than a part of ours.”
“And you think I’d ever allow Padfoot to feel like that?” James shakes his head. “He said he had already expected it when I told him we wanted to have a romantic Christmas with just the two of us for our first Christmas as a couple. I promise you, Lily, he was fine.”
“Right, but you also thought I was fine when you canceled our date to watch that Quidditch match.”
James huffs. “Well, excuse me for being the type of person who assumes, when someone tells them they’re fine, that it means they’re fine!”
“I’d just feel a lot better if we just quickly drop by and can see for myself he’s alright. And bringing cookies can never hurt!” Lily adds.
James tries to resist the urge to roll his eyes. He does anyway. He wasn’t trying very hard. But in all honesty, he thinks it’s really sweet Lily cares so much about not stealing him away from Sirius.
“But we’ll make it a quick visit! Otherwise we might as well have celebrated Christmas together after all. Wish him a merry Christmas, drop off the cookies, and maybe drink a glass of mead,” James says. “Besides, Moony will probably be there as well. Padfoot said he’ll ask him over, have some butterbeers, order takeout. It sounded pretty nice actually. I was almost bummed I couldn’t join.”
Lily glares at him.
“Almost I said!”
They enter Sirius’ flat, as James comes and goes at Sirius’ just like Sirius comes and goes at James and Lily’s, and they immediately head for the living room.
They stop in their tracks.
Sirius and Remus are lying on the couch. Well, Remus is lying on the couch. Sirius is lying on Remus. Sirius’ hands disappear under Remus’ sweater, and he’s nuzzling Remus’ neck. Remus is smiling against Sirius’ hair. A carefree, happy smile, that you rarely see on him. Remus has one hand low on Sirius’ hip, and the other is treading through his hair.
James can only stare. Well, he thinks vaguely. At least we didn’t walk in on them shagging. Oh Merlin, are they shagging?
At that moment, Remus, still oblivious to the intruders, whispers something in Sirius’ ear, after which Sirius slightly lifts up his head to look at him with a fond smile. Remus leans in to press a kiss against his lips.
Now James almost whishes they had walked in on them shagging, as this somehow seems more intimate.
Remus’ eyes suddenly flicker up and he sees Lily and James standing there, frozen in shock, Lily clenching the container with the cookies in her hands. Startled, he jumps up, sending Sirius toppling to the floor with a loud thud.
“Oef! What the-”
Then Sirius sees Lily and James as well.
“Oh. Wotcher, Prongs.”
Lily shakes herself out of her stupor first. “We should leave, we should leave,” she whispers, tugging at James’ sleeve.
“What is this?” James asks, ignoring her.
Remus has a look of panic in his eyes, and does what he does when anxious: he starts rambling.
“It’s not what you think! I mean, it’s nothing. Well, nothing definable. It only happened very recently. We haven’t been hiding it from you! Not really. It’s just that, we don’t know what it is ourselves. We just… went with it? I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!”
“Don’t apologize, it’s fine,” Lily murmurs weakly.
“No!” James says with a frown. “We’re a close-knitted group of friends! Just impulsively doing things like this,” he gestures between Remus, standing in front of the couch looking like he wants to disappear, and Sirius, still sitting on the floor, “can severely complicate or even ruin a friendship!”
“James!” Lily hisses.
“Oh, bugger off, Prongs!” Sirius says. “When you started hooking up with Lily, we never gave you any shite about it!”
“I did not start ‘hooking up’ with Lily until I was absolutely certain I was going to marry her one day and it would be forever.”
“Exactly!” Sirius replies, which is followed by a stunned silence.
Remus whirls his head around to stare at Sirius. “You mean you’d want to… You think this is…”
Sirius groans, his cheeks slightly pink. “Yelling it at Prongs in front of you was not how I wanted to go about it, but yes, I wanted to ask you tonight if you’d want to make things between us official.” Sirius runs a hand through his hair, and he suddenly looks nervous. “I know we haven’t talked about it, and there’s really no pressure. I don’t even expect you to say yes, but I thought I might as well try. I know it’s too much too soon, and I don’t deserve you anyway… Feel free to reject me. Well, maybe wait for Lily and Prongs to leave-”
Remus cuts him off by dropping to the floor in front of Sirius, taking his head in both hands, and kissing him. “Yes, Merlin, yes. You gorgeous, daft, wonderful man. Of course I want to. I’m yours, Sirius Black, yours.”
James is pretty sure that the dopey smile he sees on Lily’s face looks similar to the one on his own. He can feel all his doubt melt away upon witnessing that pure moment. The smiles on his friends’ faces are blinding, and they don’t seem to be seeing anyone else but each other, don’t seem to notice there’s anyone else in the room, or in the world for that matter.
How come they never saw how perfect they are for each other?
“Come on,” Lily whispers in his ear. “Time for that romantic first Christmas as a couple.”
James thinks she’s not talking about their Christmas anymore.
#my tumblr writing#wolfstar#wolfstar fanfiction#wolfstar fic#marauders#marauders fanfiction#marauders fic#sirius black#remus lupin#remus x sirius#james potter#lily evans#jily#wolfstar holiday prompts
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The Long Way Around ~ Chapter 17
Link to previous part: https://bonjour-rainycity.tumblr.com/post/625767180394479616/the-long-way-around-chapter-16
Pairing: Jasper x Reader
Word count: 2669
Warnings: None
Jasper’s POV
The minute the plane comes to a halt, I’m standing. I need to get off of this plane, for two reasons. One, being the burn in my throat. Carlisle was kind enough to secure us first class seats, which grants us slightly more space, but in this metal cage with recycled air, the scent of human blood is strong. I know I can resist, that I will resist, but, as always, there’s that voice in the back of my head telling me it’s not worth it. Telling me that the humans would taste so much better and outweigh any shame or guilt I would feel. I clench my teeth against the temptation and think of my other, more pressing reason to get off the plane.
Y/n is only a few hundred miles away.
After the vastness of the ocean between us, this distance seems inconsequential. I consider running. I would be faster than Carlisle’s car, anyways. The sun won’t rise for another two and a half hours and if I really push it, I could be home before then.
Esme’s hand ghosts over my shoulder and I turn to see her compassionate smile. “We’ll drive fast.”
I hold back a sigh, knowing it would be incredibly rude to ditch my parents but dissatisfied with the three hours of separation still facing me.
As the door opens to allow our exit, I press forward, projecting just a tiny amount of intimidation to keep the humans out of our way. I can feel Carlisle’s disapproval, but I ignore it. It’s all I can do not to break out at full run, so speeding up our exit just a little feels tame in comparison.
We have no bags to retrieve, thank goodness, and, ten minutes from our exit of the plane, we’re sliding into Carlisle’s sleek Mercedes. Not wanting to make a liar out of Esme, Carlisle floors it, and soon we’re speeding towards our little town. I want to call Y/n, to let her know we’re on our way, but a thought stops me. Maybe catching her by surprise would be more fun. So, I tuck my phone back in my pocket, and wait.
{***}
The wheels roll against the concrete of the driveway, and I’m sure she can hear it. I nearly tremble with excitement. Should I get out and run? Or should I wait in the car? It’s really only a few miles left, running would be faster. Ugh, but the sun is up and we’re still too close to the main road. A human could see me and that would bring the Volturi here and that would be awful. Okay, so I’ll wait until we’re under the cover of the trees and then-
With Carlisle’s crazy driving, the miles fell away as I contemplated my course of action. The car skids to a stop in front of our house, and I see Y/n’s beaming face from her spot on the front porch.
I’m out of the car in an instant, meeting her halfway and pulling her into a bone-crushing hug. Her joy surrounds me, and I lean closer, intoxicated. I don’t know where her elation ends and mine begins, and perhaps that’s because it doesn’t. Our emotions mingle perfectly, entwined and inseparable.
I begin to feel a bit lightheaded.
She laughs exuberantly, burying her face in my chest. “I missed you so much.”
I lay my head on top of hers, unable and unwilling to contain my smile. “I bet I missed you more.”
Someone makes a gagging sound, but I feel only happiness and relief from those around me. Probably Rosalie, just joking around. But then Y/n grips the back of my neck and pulls me down for a kiss, and I can only focus on her. Wanting to get closer to her, a nearly impossible goal, I push her against the nearest surface, which happens to be side of Carlisle’s car. Her hands tangle in my hair and mine roam her body. There’s a low groan, and suddenly she’s shifting backwards, falling, almost. I shoot a hand out to stop our downward momentum, pressing a fraction of my weight into the top of the Mercedes. We stumble away, wondering what could have happened.
The dent in the shape of Y/n’s back, as well as the handprint on the roof of the car paint a pretty clear picture.
Suddenly, I understand exactly how Rosalie and Emmett broke entire houses. I want nothing, especially not measly little structures of metal and leather, to stand in the way of my passion for her.
Y/n laughs, biting her lip in slight embarrassment, and I can’t help but join in. As soon as they realize what happened, my family bursts into laughter too. With a sheepish expression, I turn to Carlisle. “I’ll fix that.”
“No,” Rosalie stomps over, rolling her eyes. “I’ll fix that. Y/n, go show them what we did.”
Y/n’s excitement flares, as does my curiosity, and she grabs my hand. “Come on.”
Dutifully, Carlisle, Esme and I, trailed by everyone except for Rosalie and Emmett, follow her up to the second floor.
“Behold,” she declares theatrically, throwing the door to her room open.
Her room is completely different from how I left it and undeniably her. Hints of her favorite colors can be found all around the room, as well as things she likes, like soft lights and fluffy blankets—tastes that are likely left over from her human years.
“It’s beautiful,” Esme coos, and we file in the room to get a better look.
Emmett and Rosalie join us then, our bags in hand.
“Car’s fixed but I don’t think it could take another hit like that,” Rosalie smirks, handing me my suitcase.
Emmett chortles. “Yes, do try to control yourself better, dear brother.”
I roll my eyes but thank them nonetheless.
Alice floats around the room, explaining who made and painted and designed what, and Arthur proudly presents the window seat he crafted. I toy with the twinkly lights above Y/n’s bed, enjoying how they reflect small specks of brightness across her face. Then, something catches my attention.
“Your eyes are different,” I murmur, tracing the pads of my fingers over her cheekbone. And it’s true, they do look different. The vibrance of the crimson has faded and the first hints of shining gold peek through. Had they really changed so much in just the few days of my absence? Or had I not been able to notice before since I was with her all the time? No, I correct myself, knowing the truth. I would have noticed.
My observation sends a new burst of happiness through her, and she runs to the nearest mirror, pulling me behind her.
She exclaims in happiness when she sees that, indeed, the redness that marks her as a newborn is beginning to fade. She feels a soft, faint sense of belonging, and I kiss the top of her head.
We agree to unpack and then meet in the living room to debrief, so to speak. It’s my understanding that Carlisle didn’t explain much on the phone, and the others are curious. I tug on Y/n’s hand, pulling her towards the stairs. She follows wordlessly, but I feel her anticipation, her desire. The second I shut my bedroom door, I’m kissing her. Unlike our kiss outside, this one is soft, but no less passionate. Her scent floods my nose, and I realize that it’s not just from her physical presence in front of me, but from the room itself. She’s been in here. Perhaps she missed me and came up here to feel closer to me. That thought makes me smile.
She pulls back, her exhale warm against my neck when she speaks. “You have no idea how much I missed you, how much I worried….” On the contrary, I have an exact idea of her feelings, because I had spent the past five days feeling them for myself. If I hadn’t known it was necessary for me to go to protect my family, to protect her, there’s no way I would have gotten on that plane. I tell her so, and she nuzzles back into my chest.
“Let’s just hope that next time I’ll be controlled enough to go with you.”
I disagree, but say nothing. Even if she grows to rival Carlisle with her control, I will do everything in my power to dissuade her from visiting the Volturi. Still, their invitation looms, and I look for something to distract myself from the sudden darkness filling me.
I notice the surfaces of my room are devoid of dust. My books are straightened, and my bedding smells freshly washed, carrying a hint of Y/n’s scent towards me. A slow, wondrous smile spreads across my face.
“Did you do this?”
She nods, seeming shy. “I remembered how nice it is to come home to a fresh and clean space, and I thought you might like it too.”
I beam, gripping her tighter into a hug and kissing the top of her head. “Thank you!” Truly, I’m thankful, and quite amazed. I’ve never had someone care for me like this before, just a quiet act of thoughtfulness that reminded me that she was thinking of me, that she wanted me to be happy. She hums contentedly, and I’m sure I must be projecting some of the pleasantness I feel onto her.
She plops onto the bed while I unpack. She tells me about her training and how much better she’s gotten, and I beam. A trip might actually be a real possibility.
“Do you want to go to the edge of town tomorrow, try something harder?”
She pauses, and I feel her hesitation. But also her excitement.
“Sure.” She bites her lip. “Just don’t let me kill anybody.”
I lean over my suitcase to place a lingering kiss on her lips. “I never will.”
Esme calls to us then, and she and Carlisle appear outside my door. Y/n gets off the bed to open it and is immediately pulled into a hug.
“Thank you for freshening up our room, dear.” Esme’s voice is soft, her emotions fond. And though Carlisle’s hand is on Y/n’s shoulder, his eyes are on me, feeling certain.
I can only guess as to what that means.
After I put my last few shirts away, we head downstairs, meeting the rest of the family in the living room. Carlisle quickly informs everyone of his discussion with Aro.
“He agreed to dissuade others from attacking us, so that should buy us some time. Now that Aro knows we’re aware of his plot, he’ll have to regroup. I don’t think he’ll bother us for another half century or so.”
“How comforting,” Arthur mumbles sardonically.
I crack a smile.
Edward’s head tilts to the side, considering. “Yes, I can see that, Carlisle. It might be a good idea to get it over with.”
To get what over with?
Edward grimaces, and suddenly I know very well what he means.
“No.”
“Isn’t it better to meet them on our terms than to be caught unprepared,” he suggests, appealing to my sense of strategy.
I shake my head, adamant. “When it was Bella, you did everything you could to keep her away from them. I ask now that you extend the same courtesy to me.”
“Okay,” Y/n holds up a hand, effectively stopping our arguing. “What are we talking about?”
Carlisle sighs, turning his wary gaze to Y/n. “Aro, Caius, and Marcus were very interested in your abilities. They request that I extend an invitation to you to meet them, though with the Volturi, it’s more likely to be a demand than a request.”
I feel her spike of fear and resolve immediately to do whatever I can to keep this interaction from happening. We would go on the run, we would move to a new continent, I would fight them, anything, I-
“That won’t be necessary, Jasper, we have time,” Edward interrupts, sounding unsure. “They’re allowing space for her to become more controlled to travel, so we fudge the timeline.”
“And when they lose their patience,” I counter icily.
“I agree with Carlisle and Edward,” Y/n declares, her voice filled with false confidence. My head whips to look at her. “It will be better if we get the meeting over with rather than allowing it to be an axe hanging over our heads. As soon as I can get on a plane without going on a murder spree, I should go to Volterra.”
I take steadying breaths and squeeze my eyes shut as all the horrible ways this could go wrong flash through my brain. I feel Edward’s sympathy and fight the urge to lash out at him.
Y/n places her soft hand on mine. “For all we know, it could be years, Jasper. Let’s just take this one day at a time.”
With clenched teeth, I nod, though I’m resolved to try and talk her out of this later. She’s less likely to agree here, in front of the family, but maybe when I can get her alone…can influence her emotions to make her more agreeable….
I quickly shake the plan from my head, feeling ashamed at the thoughts. No, her choices are her own and, as much as I might disagree and be terrified of the outcome, I have to respect that. Whatever she chooses though, I’ll be at her side. That much is certain.
“What matters now is that we are all safe,” Carlisle reminds us, doing his best to offer a calming presence. Somewhat reluctantly, I give him a hand. The tension leaves everyone’s shoulders.
Esme smiles, evidently ready to change the subject. “I am in desperate need of a hunt. Would anyone like to join me?”
Venom pricks at my mouth and I remember the fiery burn from the plane, from the castle, from the streets. Yes, I need to hunt as well.
Quite quickly, everyone is running out the back door and into the forest, excited to hunt together. Most vampires prefer to hunt alone, feeling threatened by the presence of another of our kind, but my family is different. I agree with Carlisle’s theory, that giving up human blood and fighting our natural instincts makes us much better at bonding with our kind.
We have to go quite far due to our large hunting party, but Y/n and I stay relatively close to the house, only thirty or so miles away. The game is smaller and less satisfying but I don’t think it would be good for either of us to come across a stray human right now, and it’s less likely that they would be found in the thick forest surrounding our property.
After draining an entire herd of elk, Y/n and I lean against a tree, her head on my chest. I smile, remembering the gift in my pocket.
“As you requested, ma’am.” With a flourish, I pull the stiff rectangle from my pocket and present it to Y/n.
She grins, realizing what it is. “You got me a postcard!”
Before we’d left Volterra, I’d covered myself extensively and ventured out into the last moments of darkness blanketing the city. It had been difficult finding somewhere that was open at five in the morning, but, eventually, I managed, and made it back just in time to slip into the tinted car as the sun peeked over the horizon.
“Thank you,” she hugs the card to her chest then folds it carefully into her own pocket. “I’m going to put it on my wall when we get back.”
I chortle, unable to hide my amusement. “Your one postcard?”
She gives me a look. “I’m going to add to the collection eventually.”
I just smile and rub her arm, pulling her back against my chest.
What I feel is certain. I’m home.
A/n Y’all, I really probably should have waited longer to post this so I could be a chapter ahead but I was just so dang excited for them to reunite! So, here we are. Let me know what you thought of this chapter and if you would like to be added to the tag list!
xx,
Bjr
Link to next part: https://bonjour-rainycity.tumblr.com/post/626747740297314304/the-long-way-around-chapter-18
Tag list: @meri-soni-meri-tamanna @one-thread-can-save-a-life @salsameter @enchantedcruelsummer @meashy-moo @sana-li @femflorals @80strashbag @tomisbaeholland @heyimval13 @triscuitcracker @deviantly-gayy @sleepywinnie847 @vexingcosmos @avalongrey @artms-blnd @blackloveangel13
#jasper cullen#jasper hale#jasper cullen x y/n#jasper whitlock#jasper whitlock hale#jasper twilight fanfiction#jasper hale imagine#jasper whitlock fanficiton#jasper cullen fanfiction#jasper x reader#jasper x y/n#jasper hale x reader#jasper hale x y/n#jasper cullen x reader#jasper cullen x you#jasper hale x you#jasper whitlock x you#twilight fanfiction#twilight reader-insert#twilight renaissance
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☆Some Smile For Me Headcanons Pt. 8☆
Part. 1 Part. 2 Part. 3 Part. 4 Part. 5 Part. 6 Part. 7
Another random headcanon post! Hopefully one day I will once again be able to write something of substance, but until then:
• Canonically, Boris was able to make the Carlas and that alone was enough to get people into the idea that his puppet was alive as well. (A headcanon that I've become more and more found of myself.)
•But besides the shadow form and animating thing, I like to think he's also capable of a lot of little nonchalant Mary Poppin esque abilities.
• Like being able to pull unreasonably large objects out of small bags, understanding animals to a certain degree, being able to put people to sleep with his singing, things like that.
• He's also totally oblivious to the fact that none of that is normal or that he's even capable of doing some of those things.
• Not that I've thought about the theory enough to elaborate but all the special things he's able to do, he inherited from his dad. The shadow thing more specifically, the other little quirks he just sort of developed on his own but he did inherit the overall cryptid energy from his father.
• That's also one of the reasons he used to dislike seeing himself in his shadow form so much, he felt like he was looking at his father. A big difference between the two of them being that his dad turned involuntarily when he was mad whereas Boris changes when he is scared or extremely stressed out.
• It's also one of the reasons he's fond of just being able to play around in that form. His friends are running from him but they're smiling and laughing as they try to avoid his huggle attacks. They're not scared of him because they know he's not going to hurt them. He's not his father and he's never going to hurt anyone again.
• Neither of his parents were very tall, so there's no telling where he got his height.
• On the subject of family, Kamal actually has very large one and a pretty healthy family life.
• His father's side are Americans and his mother's side are third generation Indian immigrants. Though he couldn't speak Hindi to save his life, much to his grandparent's disappointment.
• He grew up in a big city and still lived with his parents before becoming a registered dental assistant and moving into town. He originally moved to take up a position in the local dentist's office, but instead ended up applying to the Habitat shortly after settling in thanks to the promise of a higher pay.
• Even if it did seem shady as hell he was desperate for money at the time in hopes of not having to move back in with his parents. He loves his family to death but he has it pretty similar to Parsley in terms of them being overbearing. Maybe not quite as bad though as they don't really care about his love life.
• Boris has always been pretty well off when it came to money. He's canonically "loaded" according to Jimothan and that would explain how he could afford to open a fake self help resort.
• It's most likely inheritance or he was actually able to make a decent living as a dentist before quitting.
• Despite being as well off as he is, Boris is the only person that doesn't understand that he's literally rich, or at least he doesn't seem to care. Growing up, money was the only thing he didn't have to worry about so he doesn't really understand what's so special about it.
• That's honestly a good thing because back when he wasn't in a healthy state of mind, he would have very well thrown his wealth around in unhealthy ways if he had understood how desperate other people were for money.
• He probably would have up ended up with a bunch of toxic "friends" who were just hanging around him for his money, and being as desperate as he was for any type of human connection he wouldn't have questioned it at all; inevitably becoming extremely angry and confused when he finally found someone that he couldn't sway into friendship with his wealth.
• Also probably would have tried to buy people’s teeth.
• Thankfully he never got to that point but he does have a certain frivolousness that gets the best of Kamal sometimes as Boris is a big fan of shopping just for fun. Kamal can't complain too much though, the big guy is basically paying off his mortgage with the "rent" he insists on paying every month, despite Kamal never asking him too.
• Boris has an almost inhuman tolerance for the cold. That or he just....never thought to dress up for cold weather and always just put up with it.
• Kamal on the other hand can't stand being cold and as obvious as it might have seemed, is the one that showed Boris he can actually do something to make it more bearable. (i.e literally just putting on a few more layers.)
• Boris is a big fan of being cozy so he kind of takes it to the next level and most of the time looks like a walking bundle of fluffy scarfs when he's out in the winter time.
• Since Kamal brought to his attention how bothersome the cold actually is to other people, Boris is also the first person to offer is coat to someone else if he sees them shivering.
• Most anything he wears is huge so whoever he's currently fussing over ends up with their head just barely visible peaking up from the fluff of his coat collar.
• Being the worried, albeit touchy, sweetheart that he is he's also the type of person to grab someone's hands after commenting how cold they are and trying to warm them up in his.
• It's such a genuinely sweet gesture the way he gently holds someone's hands, not acknowledging the way his massive ones absolutely dwarf theirs and rubbing his thumb over them ever now and then to see if he's made any progress, and looking slightly frustrated when he's not happy with the result.
• Even if the person insists that they're alright he won't respond and slowly brings your hands up to his face. Keeping his hands cupped around yours, he softly blows into them until he can no longer feel any cold coming off your skin. If this level of nonchalant coddling isn't enough to warm your hands then maybe the flusteredness will.
• Just when you think it can't get any worse the back of his large hand is pressed to the side of your face.
"Your cheeks are cold too... :-("
#smile for me#boris habit#dr. habit#kamal bora#sfm headcanons#Had me thinking about the gold scene from spirited away#A lot about family in this one#I just have a lot of fun with these!
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the storm & the wind
Brooke is running and Alex happens to meet her along her journey. Their brief encounter might just change everything for her.
hey hi hello I am DOUBLE POSTING for some god damn reason. (i updated treacherous on AO3 for the the first time in 20 years) this was in my drafts and I felt the sudden overwhelming need to finish it today. I love this piece more than I can say and it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy so I hope y’all enjoy it.
also the title comes from this quote from Little Women: You are the gull, Jo, strong and wild, fond of the storm and the wind, flying far out to sea, and happy all alone.
+
The snow crunching beneath her feet soaks into her worn Converse, a chilling reminder that she should’ve thought to grab something warmer. She makes a mental note to throw her now soaked socks over the heating vent later as she walks into the diner. It’s an old rundown place, but the gust of warm air that brushes over her face as she enters is a more than welcome feeling. Sitting at the counter she knows she should order something to eat but she can’t bring herself to ask for more than a cup of coffee when an aging waitress comes by and asks, her fingers greedily clutching the mug as she takes a sip.
“You’re not really dressed for the weather.”
The voice startles her, her grip around the cup tightening as she turns to her left. The owner of the voice can’t be much older than her, his chiseled jawline dotted with stubble and his dark hair cropped close to his head. He looks grumpy, an expression more at home on someone twice his age but the glint in his eyes keeps his youthful appearance.
“Your shoes are practically soaked through and you have a sweater on in 13-degree weather,” the stranger continues to share his thoughts, his comment prompting her to pull her cardigan tighter around herself. “I’m guessing you’re not from around here Blondie.”
The observation reminds her that the thick braid hanging over her shoulder is a bright bleach blonde instead of her natural brunette coloring. She’d hastily dyed it in a rest stop somewhere in Ohio, desperate to wash away any traces of him that she could.
“I’m from New Jersey. Well… Kind of. I’m originally from Pennsylvania.”
The words slip from her mouth before she can second-guess them. Normally she would worry about giving any identifying information out, the fear of him being able to find her consuming her mind. But she knows now that she’s far from New Jersey and the life she left behind.
“You’re from the East Coast and you didn’t pack a winter coat?”
“I forgot… I was in a rush.”
That part isn’t a total lie, she had been in a rush when she left. She had shoved as much as she could into her suitcase while he had been working, not wanting to face his anger at her sudden departure. Now though she wishes she had put more thought into what she grabbed, she’d been freezing since she left.
“Here, you look like a wet dog shivering like that,” the man slips his thick red flannel off, holding the garment out to her with an expectant look. “Cmon, I don't have fleas or anything.”
She takes the proffered jacket, only because she’s shaking just as much as he says she is. The heavy material settles on her shoulders instantly warming her. The man looks at her for a moment before turning back to his coffee, speaking as he stares at the dark liquid, “If you're from Jersey what the hell are you doing out here? Middle of nowhere Iowa isn’t exactly a tourist destination.”
“I’m starting over, running away from… something. At least I think I am. I’m not quite sure,” she toys with the sleeves of his jacket, finally looking back up at him after a moment with an accusing tone. “Why do you care anyways? Are you just trying to make sure I don’t have any concerned family members that will come looking for me after you kidnap and murder me?”
There’s a momentary pause before a peel of laughter erupts from the man, a glint taking over his dark eyes as he speaks, “Jesus, you’re really paranoid or something, huh?”
“Or something,” the words are barely a whisper, but they’re loud enough for him to hear and stop his laughter. She looks up and meets his eyes, noticing how he looks her over as if trying to figure out exactly what she’s thinking.
“I’m not trying to kill you, just trying to make conversation,” as if to prove his point he holds his hand out towards her. “I’m Alex.”
She hesitates only for a moment before settling her hand into his much larger one.
“I’m Brooke.”
+
The conversation seems easier after that, Alex talking about bringing his younger brother home after he had visited him in Seattle and Brooke talking about how she just finished her pre med degree at Princeton. They actually had a lot in common, an almost comforting feeling for her since Paul had isolated her from all her friends.
Paul.
She didn’t dare bring up her abusive husband or the horrors he had dragged her through. No, today she’s not poor defenseless Brooke Stadler whose husband can’t control his temper. Today she’s just Brooke, recent college grad who’s eating breakfast with Alex, the cute doctor with a charming smile.
“So why’d you say you’re starting over,” Alex finally broaches the subject as they both finish their meals. “I mean you just finished pre-med, that means you’re starting med school in the fall right? What are you running from? ”
Brooke shrugs, eyes falling to her now empty plate and she avoids Alex's piercing stare, “I’m supposed to start at Princeton med but now I’m not so sure. A lot has happened lately… It's complicated.”
Alex‘s hand reaches out for her arm, the move causing her to jump slightly. An embarrassed blush paints itself on her cheeks as Alex searches her eyes, almost as if he knows what she’s thinking about. He seems to brush the thought off quickly though as he continues to prod at her.
“Well… Did you get in anywhere else? It’s not too late to change your mind,” Alex shrugged as if sensing Brooke’s discomfort with the situation. “I was supposed to do my residency at the hospital down the street before I switched to Seattle at the last minute. Best thing I probably could’ve done for myself.”
“Well… I got into Harvard too. But I’m not sure,” there’s hesitation lacing her voice when she knows there shouldn’t be. Her mind is swirling, thinking about the fact that she could always go back to him. “I don’t know, I was thinking about going back home.”
Alex scoffs, the small noise causing Brooke to stare at him intensely, “You're not going back home, that’s a load of crap.”
“What makes you so sure about that? You don’t know anything about me.”
There’s a pause as Alex takes a sip of his coffee, a deliberate distraction as he attempts to string together the right words, “Well that black eye isn’t hidden as well as you think it is. And you jumped about a mile in the air when I first started talking to you. So I’m assuming you’re not running from something but someone. Did I get it right?”
Brooke’s fingers froze around her mug, eyes watering as she stared blankly at the dark liquid swirling inside. She pushes down the uncomfortable lump forming in her throat, trying to convince her nerves that Alex was just observant and not a threat.
“My husband… he has a temper,” eyes still focused on the coffee instead of Alex, Brooke found it marginally easier to talk about the real reason she was sitting in a diner in Iowa. “I just knew, the last time he… I just knew if he did it again he would kill me. So when he went to work I grabbed as much as I could and I got in my car and I drove. I don’t think I stopped for almost five hours, not really knowing where I was going. I just knew I had to keep going, that I couldn’t live like that any longer.”
The sounds of the diner around them are all Brooke can hear as her truth settles in the air, Alex taking in everything she’d ungraciously word vomited out. When he finally does speak again, there’s no tell tale tone of pity in his voice that she’d been anticipating.
“My dad was the same way, but my mom never had it in her to run. She was pretty messed up herself,” Brooke looks up at the stranger next to her as a small chuckle breaks through his serious tone. “She wouldn’t run so I had to raise my siblings, I had to make sure we all stayed alive. So I get it, why you’re running. And for what it’s worth, I think you should keep running.”
Swiping at the tears that had collected under her eyelashes Brooke thought about Alex’s words, “He's gonna find me, I know he will.”
“Screw him,” Alex scoffs, taking a swig of his coffee before continuing. “Go to Harvard, change your name, live your life. I promise you, you’ll regret it if you turn around and go back. You have a chance, a real chance, to change your life. Don’t let that slip away.”
There’s a beat of silence as Alex’s encouragement settles deep within Brooke’s chest. The man was a stranger in every sense of the word but somehow his whole hearted belief in her encouraged her to keep moving forward.
“Think of it this way, you get to start a brand new life, no strings attached,” Alex continues. “You can pick something cool! Something that means something. Like… One of those sisters from the book where their dad is away at war?”
“Little Women?”
“Yeah that one,” Brooke laughs at Alex’s statement, causing him to roll his eyes. “Oh shut up, my sister was obsessed with it and made me read it like a hundred times. But all those sisters were badasses, you could use one of those names. Like Amy or Beth. Well no she dies… How about Jo! You definitely look like a Jo to me.”
Brooke’s nose scrunches up at the names, causing both of them to laugh as Alex comes up with ridiculous suggestions. A flood of relief washes over Brooke as the two continue to talk. It had been a long time since she’d let her guard down around someone and just been herself.
A while later she excuses herself to the bathroom, a flash of disappointment striking her when she comes back to an empty seat. Her bill that had been sitting on the counter was paid, the receipt turned over and messy scrawl covering the back.
‘Keep running.’
-
So she does, Brooke keeps running and running and running and she doesn’t stop. In fact, when the running doesn’t feel like enough anymore she takes up actual running to calm her mind.
She runs every morning, at least two miles to clear her head and to keep herself sane. The days she misses her run are filled with overwhelming thoughts and anxiety that courses through her veins so quickly that it feels like a river crashing over her nervous system. She changes her name, cuts her hair, goes to Harvard and graduates top of her class. Every movement, every breath feels like she’s just moving towards the end of a never ending trail. But she keeps going, she keeps running because it’s all she can do.
When she gets accepted into Seattle Grace, one of the best hospitals in the country that puts thousands of miles between her and her past, it finally feels like a breath of fresh air, like relief is on the horizon. So she leaves Boston, leaves the east coast and everything familiar and finally feels like she might be able to stop running.
Seattle is different, it’s new and unexpected and perfect. It’s the first place where her name feels like it’s truly hers even though she’d lived with it now for almost seven years. Her first morning in her new apartment she goes for a run and finds herself looking over the Seattle harbor with a wide smile on her face. She’s a doctor now, something she’s worked towards her whole life it seems, but now it seems so real.
And then she gets put onto a Peds rotation and her heart seems to stop beating in her chest. Because her attending, Doctor Karev, is someone who’s appeared in her mind almost everyday since the first time she met him. His face, albeit a bit younger, is the one that appears when she thinks she can’t go on any longer.
“You mind?”
Alex’s voice brings her back from her daze, the same one that echoes her footfalls as she chases an adrenaline high every morning. She shakes her head in a futile attempt to clear it, “Sorry.”
“Why are you following me,” there’s an annoyed tone to his voice as she mimics his brisk pace down the hallway. She’d heard horror stories about him, about how rude and mean he was but she never would've guessed it was him.
“I'm your intern for the day.”
“Oh. Well, hello, intern,” Alex side eyes her, not really taking her in. “You have a name?”
“Jo. Jo Wilson,” it’s probably the fiftieth time she's said her name out loud since coming to Seattle but this time it feels different.
There’s a pause and Alex turns to take her in once more, as if he had missed something the first time he’d looked. She almost thinks he’ll say something, but he just shrugs and returns to tying his trauma gown, “Oh, nice. I like chicks with boys' names.”
The moment that she thought was there was gone and she stared at her shoelaces as Alex and Doctor Torres prattled on about something. She figures she should be grateful that he didn’t recognize her, that the seven years and the constant self improvement she’d put into herself had paid off. Still, her heart sunk as she realized that the man that had pushed her to keep running, to change her life, didn’t remember her.
-
Their story isn’t easy, in fact it’s one of the hardest things she’s ever been through. But there’s not a single ounce of hesitation or regret in her body when she wakes up every morning next to him. She’s always up before him, solely so she can get her run in before he wakes. By the time she comes back and showers, his eyes are sleepily staring up at her and his arms are reaching out for her like she’d been gone longer than a quick jog.
Alex is the person she’d needed, the one who pushed her to be better and made her feel like she didn’t need to change anything about herself. But the need to run, to keep running still hammered in her chest right under her heartbeat. She figured it would always sit there, the constant anxiety that her past might catch up with her if she stopped running.
When Paul shows up, all she wants is Alex. Before Seattle she would've run, would’ve been gone before anyone could blink to miss her. But now she wants nothing more than to curl up in Alex’s arms and never leave. She knows there’s more that needs to be done though, knows there’s more to the fight and that she needs to keep running this last little bit.
It’s not until she sees her ex husband laying in a hospital bed brain dead that Jo finally feels like she can breathe again, like she can stop fighting and just be. The breath of relief that washes over her as Alex runs his hand down her back feels like a thousand pound weight being lifted off her shoulders.
“I was pregnant.”
There’s a pause and she can feel Alex tense next to her, his hand on her back slowing as his eyes bore into her. She wishes she could stop but the words have been dying to slip out for the past six years that she’s been with him.
“The day we met, I was pregnant,” she turns to look at him, tears shining in her eyes. He doesn’t look shocked, not as shocked as he would’ve been if he didn’t know too. “I almost turned around and went back to him and raised a baby with him but I didn’t. The only reason I didn’t was because of this cocky asshole I met in a shitty diner who convinced me to start over. You’re the reason I kept running, the reason I didn’t go back. Whenever I doubted myself I heard your voice, the voice of a complete stranger mind you, in the back of my head telling me to keep running. You... you’re the reason I’m alive.”
Alex keeps his gaze on her for a minute, not daring to look away as they both realize that the other has known. Through the years of their relationship, since their second meeting in the very halls of this hospital they’ve both known exactly who the other is.
“You did all of that by yourself, you just needed a little push,” Alex brings her close again, his lips brushing against her forehead as she folds herself into his side. She’s crying full on now, her chest shaking as she finally lets herself stop running and lets the pent up emotions of the past few days wash over her. “I knew you could do it, I’m glad you did.”
Her tears don’t stop for a few days as she comes to terms with the fact that there’s no longer a need for her to run. In fact a few days later as she’s on her morning jog she stops and takes the deepest breath she feels she’s ever taken. As she leans on her knees she takes in the feeling of air freely flowing through her lungs, the exhilaration coursing through her body akin to what she thinks completing a marathon must feel like. Her eyes scan the Seattle harbor, taking in the sunrise as she breathes heavily and lets the day settle in around her. She'd run her race, she’d run it longer and faster and better than she’d thought she was capable of and finally, finally, she had finished.
#jolex fanfic#jolex#Alex Karev#Jo wilson#Jo Karev#grey’s anatomy#grey’s anatomy fanfic#Jo x Alex#jolex fic#nina writes
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