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nathaslosthershit · 6 months ago

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Tensions Fall (Teen Dad!Oscar AU)

(part 2 to Tensions rise, also apart of this AU although these two fics can be read separately)

A/N: 7 weeks since the once happy couple have actually talked. 7 weeks since they shared a bed, but with their two toddlers starting camp for the first time, maybe they can try and mend their problems.

Warnings: Parental separation, a super mean mom like the ones I have to deal with at work, angst WITH A HAPPY ENDING

May 28, 2024

It had been 7 weeks since the fight in Suzuka that effectively ended Oscar and Honey’s relationship. It had been 7 weeks since Oscar had taken a leave of absence from racing in order to try and make amends with his family. He still trained everyday, he still worked with McLaren and did Sim Racing, he just never attended any of the Grand Prixs.

It had also been 7 weeks since Honey and Oscar had shared a bed.

Since that night she left their room, she had stayed in her kids’ hotel room till they got home. She then packed her things and moved into the guest bedroom. Things had been far from amicable between the two parents. In the beginning, Oscar had done all he could to try and make up with Honey but when she continued to give him the cold shoulder, he had given up and reciprocated her attitude. The children, about to turn 4 years old, didn’t know the full extent of what was happening at home. They knew that when they would go to their parents’ room in the morning, only Dad would be there, but this was easily explained away when Honey told them that Oscar snored too loudly and it kept her up at night.

They had of course also noticed how different their parents had acted towards each other, and how often their father was home now, but they just didn’t question it because at the end of the day, they were too young to begin to understand, and they still had two parents who loved them as much as they could.

Since the fight though, it was clear Oscar was making much more of an effort to take his kids out to do activities. At first it was nice, Honey got some time alone, something she rarely got anymore, but the more Oscar took over planning activities, the more she began to hate being alone. After three, almost four, years of being around her kids almost 24/7, the silence started to eat away at her. And in turn, her kids started to miss their mom more.

Finally though, Honey had put her foot down, after a long conversation, ending in a fight, Oscar had agreed to more full family activities, even if it meant having to pretend with Honey that they were still the happy and perfect family.

While their kids loved going to the park as a family, any parent around could see that the two parents watching their twins on the bench were fighting but trying so hard to conceal their whispered harsh words behind smiles.

With the twins' fourth birthday coming up on June 8th, Oscar and Honey had been stressing on how they were going to plan their birthday while they couldn’t get through a conversation without being at each other's throats. They also had the kids’ first day of camp coming up May 29, a day that may seem insignificant to most parents, but as the kids had never been to preschool, nor a daycare, camp was their first introduction into that whole system. It was a big step for everyone.

Honey had been trying to prepare the kids the best she could for their first day at camp. She knew they didn't fully grasp the concept and she was nervous about leaving them alone, scared they would feel abandoned as child-care with non-familial adults wasn’t something they had experienced with their mother being a stay at home mom, only ever enlisting help from grandparents, cousins, and even ‘honorary uncles’ such as Logan and Lando. She had to keep telling herself that in the end, they will at least have each other.

Oscar and Honey decided to make a day of it. Camp wasn’t until 9, so the pair took the very excited Hudson and Frances out to breakfast where the 3 year olds managed to cover themselves head to toe in maple syrup and chocolate from their pancakes, causing them to have to rush home to change, thus leading the family to a late arrival to the preschool building that the camp was held in.

“We are so sorry, oh my goodness!” Honey said to one of the two teachers who were clearly waiting for them outside the door to the classroom.

“We decided to take these two to breakfast and they got more food on their clothes than they did in their mouths. Which reminds me, I added two extra changes of clothes to their bag in case they need it.” Oscar added, causing Honey to shoot him a glare that was luckily not seen by the younger of the teachers, as the younger teacher was too busy ogling at Oscar to notice. It was her that added the clothes to their bag, it was also her idea, he was being petty by taking credit.

After a few moments of silence as they waited for the woman’s reply, she managed to snap herself out of whatever daydream she was concocting only minutes after meeting the young father in front of her to reply with a quick, “No problem! We know how these kids can be.”

The older woman next to her clearly could sense her coworker was a little two focused on one of the parents and pointedly urged her to take their bags to their cubbies while she sorted the family out, which Honey was grateful for. She may have not been with Oscar anymore but that lady didn’t know it and had no right to eye fuck him in front of her and her children of all people.

“Why don’t you all say goodbye out here, we are just about to start morning meeting with the other kids.” The older woman said as she stepped to the side to give the family privacy, thought she was close enough to hear all they would say.

Oscar and Honey both felt tears begin to form as they squatted down in front of their kids.

“Alright, Mommy and Daddy have to go now, but you both are going to stay here and make some new friends. I know this is new and might be a little scary but if you guys get through today, we can all go get ice cream later. How does that sound?” Honey asked, nervous one of her kids was going to break down in tears at any moment.

“Okay! Bye Mommy, bye Daddy!” Frances yelled as she ran through the open door to the classroom, clearly ready to get started.

Oscar and Honey weren’t necessarily shocked at what their very clearly extroverted daughter had just done, but they still had expected a little bit of pushback from her. They could see the older woman by the door laughing softly to herself at that interaction.

Their son, Hudson, was less enthusiastic. He didn’t cry, which they had fully expected him to, but he gave them crushingly tight hugs, or as crushing as he could manage, and a quick kiss on the cheek before following after his sister.

Wiping away tears, they both stood up and laughed once they looked at each other's faces, realizing they were both far more of a mess than their kids.

“Wow, maybe we should have been giving ourselves pep talks for weeks instead of them” Oscar joked. Honey laughed, it was the first normal interaction they had had in what felt like forever.

The older woman, still by the door, quickly joined in, “Oh don’t worry, we find parents are usually the ones with the most trouble at dropoff, but that moment they find you both after a day of camp or school, you will feel just how much they missed and love you. Plus you two are young, you’ve got plenty of more time to make more of those babies. You have grown yourself a real sweet family by the looks of it. Relax for a few hours! Enjoy the time off, maybe even add to your family.” The woman said, laughing, as she closed the door.

“Did she really just suggest we go make more babies?” Honey asked in disbelief.

“I think she did, yeah.” Oscar answered, just as confused as she was.

The air felt light as they both walked to their car, relishing in how nice it was that they weren’t arguing, realizing how miserable they had been.

But that didn’t last long.

“Come on, Oscar, you can’t be that dense! She was so clearly eye fucking you!” Honey argued. The conversation in the car had been light for a few minutes until Honey made a comment about the younger teacher and unintentionally started an argument.

“She was not! And if she was, who cares? We aren’t together anymore, you can’t get jealous over something as trivial as someone who thinks I am attractive. Sometime in the future I will get a partner so you better learn to stop being jealous.” Oscar yelled. He didn’t mean it of course, he knew even if he and Honey never got back together, he would remain single. She was the only one for him.

But what he had said, wording it in a way that made Honey fully think about their situation really tore her apart. Yes, they were separated, but she never felt like they were fully broken up. And from what he said, it sounded like he planned on moving on much faster than she ever would.

With tears rolling down her cheeks, she decided to not dignify his comments with a response. Once exiting the car, she swiftly went to the guest room she had been staying in since the separation and slammed the door.

After a few minutes in the car, Oscar had mustered up the courage to apologize, knowing what he did was uncouth. Hearing her cries as he walked up to her door made him stop just short of knocking, deciding maybe it was better to give her a bit of time for now and come up with a way to make it up later.

After two hours of contemplation, Oscar had decided to get a lunch reservation at her favorite restaurant that always had a live band playing. It was impossible to get a day of reservations but with a bit of bribing, he had managed to pull it off. What was also nice about the band was that they could sit and eat silently without any awkward silence. If they were going to fight, they didn’t need to speak.

She wasn’t crying when he knocked on her door, having managed to seemingly get all her emotions out in the two hours by herself, then clean up to look presentable for pick up. But now she felt empty, like a shell of a person in a house with a man who once loved her to pieces but now seemed to despise her, and no kids because they were away at camp.

“Come in.” Was all she said.

“I um, I got us a reservation to your favorite place. I understand if you aren’t up for going- or if you’d like to go alone, but I did kind of bribe them so one of us at least has to go, I fear.” Oscar muttered out fast, clearly sensing the awkward energy between them, not knowing whether they were going to ignore the fight or not.

But Honey’s heart burst at the idea of him trying so hard to get into her favorite place. She always urged him to use his name to get into places, like Lando loved to do, but he was always too humble to do it, so it meant even more that he had this time.

“That… sounds wonderful. Thank you, Oscar.” Was all she said as she started to tear up again but quickly turned so he wouldn’t see. “Let me get my stuff and I can meet you in the car.”

The energy in the car wasn’t light like it was before, but it also wasn’t heavy. A comfortable silence stayed between the two until it got too much for Honey and she burst out into tears, seemingly unprompted.

“Darling, what's wrong? Are you okay? Are you hurt?” Oscar asked, openly concerned for her well being for the first time in what felt like years.

“I c-can’t take it, Oscar! We used to have so much love for each other, god, you used to look at me like I hung the stars in the sky, now you can’t seem to look at me for more than a second without realizing how much you hate me now. Then after saying you are going to move on to someone else- you do this really sweet thing and I am- I am so confused and hurt and don’t know what to think or do!” Honey rambled, everything truly coming to the surface. Everything she thought, everything she felt, everything she had tried too hard to push down and pretend wasn’t there.

“Honey, I have never hated you for even a second,” was all Oscar was able to reply as he registered everything she had just said.

“What?”

“I don’t think I am capable of it. Truly. I have tried so hard to be the best I could be for you after the fight. I stopped racing, I planned more activities with the kids, but I couldn’t do anything right. I let rumors continue about you making me stop racing, which I wanted to stop but was told to leave alone. I took the kids to do activities and left you out too much. When you continued giving me the cold shoulder, I gave up when I should have kept fighting. I then tried to love you less, to make it hurt less, but I couldn’t, even if I acted like a dickhead to you. I am so sorry, Honey, and I would never in a million years be with someone else, even if you had an entire other family and were happily married. You are it for me, always have been, always will be.”

With all finally being said, the two went to lunch happier than they had been in weeks, ready to work on their relationship. It was surely not going to be easy, but how they had been these past two months had broken them enough that they were certainly willing to try.

Near the end of the meal though, things once again got tense. These two couldn’t catch a break it seemed.

Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren, called Oscsar out of the blue and as the phone rang, Honey’s heart sank, awaiting Oscar’s reaction.

“Shit, I should get thi-”

“It's okay. I promise.” Honey said, already feeling doubt beginning to creep in.

She couldn’t hear much of the conversation as Oscar quickly walked out the door to talk to Zak. He was also turned away from her so any chances of learning information by reading his facial expressions went out the window.

Finally, he returned to Honey biting her nails waiting for what he would say to her. She already started to panic thinking he could have to go to work, race again, and this vicious cycle would never end, that nothing would ever be right between them.

“What did he want?” She asked.

“Asked when I would be ready to come back to race. I said I didn’t have a date in mind. He told me to come in next week for a meeting on it, but I said I wouldn’t make a decision without talking to my family. I am not going to lose you all over this.” He reassured her.

Honey smiled, doubt leaving as quickly as it had come. Until she herself got a phone call, this time from the camp her kids were at. Stressing that they had missed pick up, she realized after checking the clock that they still had an hour and a half. Confused once more, she answered the call.

Being told on your kids' first day away from you that there was an issue you needed to go deal with immediately, that you needed to fill out both incident and accident report forms wasn’t something that the young parents had envisioned for themselves.

Rushing to the classroom, Oscar and Honey saw both of their kids crying in the hallway with the older teacher when they arrived, accompanied by another mother and her upset son. Concern laced their features as they took in both their kids, looking for any hints of injury on the two, but they seemed fine, apart from the crying.

“God, don’t tell me these two kids are the parents, no wonder this happened.” The other mother muttered under her breath. Before Oscar could question her, the older teacher spoke up.

“It seems there was a problem between the kids today.” She began, clearly trying to mediate the situation before it got ugly between the parents. “Mattias here stole a toy Hudson was playing with and pushed him over when he tried to get it back. In turn, Fraces bit the Mattias. It didn’t even leave a mark so I know it wasn’t hard, and both kids got a talking to as well as exchanged apologies, but it seems that they might need to go home early for the day to recuperate. We will certainly work on sharing and using our words tomorrow.”

Both Honey and Oscar were shocked. While Hudson was quiet and they had been worried it would make him a target in the future, and they knew their daughter was fiercely protective of her twin, they didn’t think she would result to biting.

“Wow, alright. You two, let's discuss this in the car, yeah?” Oscar said, ready to leave the place as he felt the wrath of the other parent glaring at him. “Really? You are just going to walk away without so much as an apology to me and my son? Unbelievable.” The mother scoffed. “This is why young people shouldn’t be parents. Clearly you two need to grow up just as much. I pray your already terrible daughter grows out of this and doesn't end up like you, spreading her legs too young and becoming up a teen mom because of it.”

Both Honey and Oscar were stunned. They had faced backlash before, sure, but never to their face, and never from someone so clearly in the wrong.

“Excuse me?” Honey asked.

“Oh, you heard me.” The mother replied.

“No, I don’t think I did, because what it sounded like was you were asking for an apology for something your kid started, because I am sure as hell my kids do not have sharing problems. Then when my three year old daughter retaliates to seeing her sweet and vulnerable brother being so blatantly bullied, even though she apologized, you believe you and your snot nosed brat deserve anything else. Guess what, we don’t owe you shit. And while you are so worried about how our kids will end up, why don’t you worry about your own child, who clearly takes after his bully of a mother. Grow up, asshole.” Honey retaliated. She shouldn’t have sworn in front of the kids but damn was it wonderful to see the look on that lady’s face.

Oscar had never been more turned on by Honey in his life.

After the fight, the family of four got out of there as soon as they could, stopping for ice cream on the way home. They hardly scolded Frances more than a “If someone does something mean, you can’t bite them, use your words” to which she replied “Like Momma did with that lady?”

The kids were playing quietly in their room once Oscar got alone time with Honey.

“That was the sexiest thing I have ever seen.” He said, arms circling her waist.

“When I went full bitch mode on that lady?” She asked, laughing at the desire so evident in his eyes.

“When you stood up for your family, and cursed that dickhead out.” He replied as he started kissing her neck.

“I’m glad you enjoyed it, I liked it too but in a different way than you did.” She laughed.

Laying on the bed, cuddling as they basked in the love they still had for each other. Oscar managed to ask the question that had been plaguing him for weeks.

“Honey, will you please move back in here and be with me again? I miss you too much.” Oscar pleaded.

“Fine, but you need to work on another proposal. It is only fair since this all kind of started because of you.”

“Deal, this time I will knock your socks off with my proposal, but first I intend on showing you just how much I missed you.” He said as he began to kiss her deeper and more passionately.

Life was starting to get much better.

#oscar piastri x you #oscar piastri x reader #oscar piastri imagine #formula 1 imagine #formula 1 x reader #f1 x reader #f1 imagine #f1 fanfic #lando x reader

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charnelhouse · 2 years ago

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Thinking of ghost as a dad makes me think of red taking her toddler son shopping for Halloween decorations and seeing a skeleton and the sweet boy is pointing and bouncing up and down like “it’s dada!”

A/N: Ghost x F!Reader (Red Fox). Pure fluff. This ask made me curl up with joy.

She’s a little late. Only ten minutes and it could be anything: traffic, an additional errand, a parking lot shoot-out. Simon’s fingers twitch as his cell phone sits on the coffee table.

It’s only ten minutes.

Ten. Minutes.

He’d lost her in Ecuador for four fucking days, and she’d been fine. Well, relatively fine. Alive.

She can survive anything. He knows this. He feels this. But he cannot shake the belief that one day, his past will catch up to him and take her away.

Don’t be a fuckhead, Simon. If it’s anyone’s past, it’s going to be mine.

That makes me feel better, duchess.

We’re sharing the burden, babe. Lucky for this kid, he’s got two spec ops, hot-ass parents.

Yah really love a finger gun, don’t you?

It’s called levity, dude. You’re too damn broody.

“Don’t call her.”

Simon startles before side-eyeing Johnny, who is spread out on the far end of the couch. “I wasn’t gonna,” he growls defensively.

“You’re staring at that phone like it’s a bomb.”

“She’s late.”

“She’s running errands with your enormous toddler. Yah know how hard it is to lift that kid? Try wrestling him into a car seat. Took me half an hour.”

Simon scowls. “Of course, I know. I do raise him.”

Johnny wiggles his eyebrows. “He takes after me.”

“Yeah, my enormous son is definitely your kid, tiny.”

“I’m six fuckin’ feet. Thank yah very much.”

“You’re still here?”

Simon twists around to see Red standing in the doorway. She’s got their son on her hip and an orange plastic bag in her other hand. She leaves him breathless. Her skin dewy, her hair falling in her face. Stunning in a way that burns him. He still wants to shove her over a table and wreck her, but that desire is now weighted with something far more tender. She’s carried his baby.

He knew she’d be a good mother, but he didn’t expect her to excel at it so...perfectly. She can handle a tantrum and peel a man’s skin off. She can silence him with a look.

“Simon said I could stay for dinner,” Johnny declares.

“I did not,” Simon refutes as he stands, rolling his shoulders. Their son’s tiny lips peel apart into a toothy grin, he claps his chubby hands together.

“Dada,” he squeals as he opens his arms.

Ghost smiles back, unable to blunt the joy that unfurls in his chest. Sometimes it’s all too much.

“He got you something,” Red says as she places him on the floor. When she straightens, she presses her hand to her lower back. “Jesus - that kid is heavy. Remind me to stop having your babies.”

“Uhuh,” Ghost says dutifully. “Of course.”

She’d threatened to leave him a thousand times when she was giving birth. Their son’s head had not been easy to deliver.

Red pulls something from her bag and hands it to their son, who waddles toward him. Simon crouches and sweeps him up in his arms. The boy squeals again delighted.

“What have you got there?” he asks as he nuzzles his nose into the down of his son’s head, the soft velvet curls. He smells like Red’s perfume.

“Dada!” he giggles as he lifts a plastic skeleton. Soap barks with laughter.

“He saw it in the store and lost it,” Red says as she walks toward them, placing a hand on the boy’s back. He shakes the skeleton before hugging it close. “Kept calling it dada. Got a lot of weird looks.” She cocks her head, her tongue darting over her lower lip. “I just wanted everyone to know that I’m getting it from a really hot skeleton.”

“Yah got a filthy head, Foxy.”

“You don’t even live here, Johnny.”

“Dada,” his son murmurs as he burrows his face into Simon’s throat. The skeleton is clutched against his chest, and he feels the boy relax, his damp, milky breath puffing against him as he nods off.

Simon clears his throat, blinking a few times. There’s a raw snag of emotion in his throat that he can’t seem to swallow. Simon tries to pull the skeleton from the boy’s hands to look at it, but his son yanks it closer.

“Typical,” Red remarks, her lips quirking in amusement.

“What is?” Simon smirks because he already knows.

“Do you know how hard it is to shake you off when you’re asleep? It’s like being spooned by a bull slash octopus.”

“It’s true,” Johnny interjects in an empathetic tone. “Remember Siberia?”

“That was a life and death situation!” Simon snaps. “Sub-zero temperatures.”

Red’s eyes widen, her expression intrigued. “Give me the details, Johnny, and I’ll make you dinner.”

#simon ghost riley x reader #ghost x red fox #simon riley x reader #ghost x reader #simon ghost riley #cod #john soap mactavish #simon ghost riley x female reader #simon ghost riley fanfiction #simon riley #simon riley x you #simon ghost riley x you #cod mw fanfiction #cod mw22

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allllium · 1 month ago

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I Think This is a Red Flag

~ This is really short but I think it's adorable, especially the thoughts Simon has about reader 🤭

~ Fluff, Johnny being a meanie, WC: 656

~ readers throws things at johnny and Simon falls even more in love

"Don't make me beat your ass Mactavish!" Your voice booms though the small apartment. Simon sighs, hearing your words as he walks into your shared home.

"No! This is assault!" Johnny yells back, his voice comically high pitched. Simon doesn't even have his boots off before a semi quiet bang hits the wall.

"Do I need to intervene?" Your boyfriend asks, leaning on the door frame of your bedroom. You and Johnny are standing on opposite sides of the room but he can clearly see the plastic cup on the floor that you threw at Johnny moments before. You're standing with your hands on your hips, while Johnny has his arms up in defense.

"No we're good, baby." You smile at him, discreetly moving your hand to grab another throwable item from the dresser next to you. Johnny begins shaking his head in disagreement.

"Tell them to stop trying to kill me!" The scot demands. You give Simon a very clear look that screams "stay out of it."

"Love, why are you throwing things at Mactavish?" He asks, and quickly adds, "Not that I disagree with this course of action."

You throw something else at Johnny as Simon is talking. Not even looking to see what it is before launching it across the room. "Why don't you tell him, buddy." You offer to Johnny.

"But then he'll throw stuff at me too." Johnny practically whines. Simon happens to have a much better aim than you. Simon watches in amusement as the people closest to him act like toddlers.

"What'd you do, Mate?" He asks quietly, not really wanting to know the answer. He really doesn't want to be labeled your accomplice when you inevitably kill the man.

"I threw a bug." Johnny mutters under his breath. Quiet enough that Simon couldn't hear but loud enough to remind you to throw your next item.

"I'm sorry, what?" You ask him to clarify in an angry voice.

"I threw a bug at 'em." He says again, his head hanging down. Simon has to resist the urge to laugh. Johnny can do dumb things, yes but something as dumb as this? Not even Simon saw this coming.

"Well, why'd you do that then?" Simon bursts, still trying his absolute hardest to keep in his laughter. The last thing he wants is your current wrath focused on him.

"I don't know," he brings his voice back to a mutter, "Thought it'd be funny."

It's almost humorous how he looks like a kicked puppy.

Almost.

Certainly not enough to stop you from your present revenge.

"And was it Johnny? Was it funny?" You aggressively question. From Simon's standpoint it almost looks like tears are forming in your eyes. He must admit you look gorgeous when you're so angry.

"No it was not." He responds, it reminds Simon of a child being scolded. His eyes dart up to meet Simon's.

"Help me." His eyes beg. Simon quickly looks away.

"I don't know, this seems like a fair revenge plan." He shrugs, more than happy to keep watching you.

A disgraceful sound comes from Johnny as he realizes he has no way out. Not with Simon in the doorway or the anger radiating off you.

"Thank you, Sweetie." You gleam at him. Simon can feel his heart melt in his chest at the sight of your happy face. He'd let you throw things at him too if you got this happy about it. Obviously you've been wanting an excuse to do this for a while.

Johnny lets out an overly dramatic sigh as you and Simon stare at each other. He's awfully emotional about this considering you've missed him over the half the times you've thrown something.

Simon watches as your attention turns back on Johnny and the smile leaves your face. He can make out the faint "Traitor" you mouth at him. You really are perfect for me. Simon thinks to himself.

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cxffecoupx · 4 months ago

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omgomgomg just read your soonyoung as a girl dad and it was so cute!!!! but what if it was joshua but twin girls😭 imagine him struggling who is who because they keep on messing with him in their toddler phase, cause that would be so chaotic 😆 plus what if it was jeonghan who gave the twins that idea, i think joshua would lose his mind if he found out.

sorry for the random thought i just needed to get it out😭😭😭😭

I LOVE your random thought shut up-

but but imagine this:

your twin girls are so identical that you're basically the only one who's able to tell them apart. so to make it easier for everyone, you come up w distinguishable features like maybe one pigtail for one and two for the other, or or the colour of their clothes and stuff like that. that's literally how even joshua tells them apart (he thinks he's sneaky, but he's not).

and then one evening, shua asks jeonghan to babysit the girls so that you and him can have a date night and jeonghan accepts because he loves the girls, but only realises later about the fun he can have in pranking josh with the help of the girls. with fun uncle han's ideas and plans, the evil twins 2.0 (han and shua remain the og evil twins) return home and start with the elaborate plan.

no. 1, changing their hairstyle. let's say they exchange the way they tie their hair, so the one who used to wear one pigtail, jiwoo, now has two, and the one with two pigtails, jiwon, now has one.

no. 2, changing their clothes. they decide to exchange their reds and greens. now jiwoo who used to wear red has a green skirt on, and jiwon who loves her green top has a red one on.

no. 3, and the final one. jiwon going when jiwoo is called. they've basically exchanged their names too.

you see, jeonghan was very very elaborate while planning this. but that does not make you not notice the way jiwoo now wears her hair in two pigtails unlike her usual one, or how jiwon runs to her dada when jiwoo is called. you quickly catch onto their tricks and play along with them, because what's wrong with a lil fun?

and then chaos ensues. he's feeding carrots to who he thinks is jiwoo, but it's in fact jiwon who HATES carrots with a burning passion. joshua almost cried at his daughter's tantrum, but doesnt notice the way you and jiwoo laugh behind his back as he runs around to think of a damage control.

or, when he's putting on a frilly skirt on jiwoo who starts screaming because she likes the shorts more than those irritating frilly, weird looking skirt.

i dont think this would last long though, like joshua's bound to fall onto the bed and worry about how he still can't figure out his girls. and while you try to calm him down saying that it's okay, the girls — who he had just put to sleep — climb up the bed and on shua's back and tell him all about the plan they had made with uncle jeonghan and that they were actually just pranking him. he sits up almost instantly and calls all curses in his mind, until the girls mention your part in this lil game and you swear you hear his heart break. needless to say, you've got two mature kids and a pouty adult to take care of now.

joshua turns to seungcheol to babysit the girls after this fiasco.

#this would be so fun to watch #svt #seventeen #girl dad joshua #hong jisoo #joshua #anon talks.ris #requests.ris #articles.ris

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hellodarling1357 · 9 months ago

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Tiny Toes: Part 3.5 - Cassian x Reader

Surprise! 🥳

Here’s a mini bonus chapter that happens soon after where part 3 ended. It’s leading into a particular storyline that has been requested quite a lot 👀

So this started out as a little fluff piece but got a little angsty towards the end...

Word Count: 1.5k

“PJs on?”

“Yep.”

“Teeth cleaned?”

“Yep.”

“Really?” Cassian quirked an eyebrow at his daughter, holding back a laugh as Ottie rolled her eyes and widely opened her mouth to prove him wrong.

“Good girl.”

“Daddy, can I sleep in your bed with you tonight?”

Usually, Cassian would have encouraged her to stay in her own room, not wanting to have her fall into the habit of not being able to settle in her own bed. But after today, the thought of holding his baby girl while she slept had him agreeing.

He watched with a soft smile as she excitedly ran into his room, her favourite, slightly-worn teddy bear in hand as she waited for him to lift her up onto the bed.

“Alrighty, all comfortable?” Cassian asked, tucking her in tightly then swooping down to smother her face in kisses, letting his hair fall forward to tickle her face. Her giggles resounded through him, heart throbbing as he looked down at his little girl in awe, wondering how something so strained had resulted in something so perfect. Despite how messy the situation with Nesta had turned out, he wouldn’t change it for the world; not when it led to what he now had.

Ottie reached her hands up, pulling his face down to hers and planting a sloppy kiss to his cheek that only a toddler could get away with.

“I love you, daddy.” She whispered as he pushed her dark hair away from her face.

“I love you too, sweet girl. Want me to read to you?” Her face lit up in excitement and she nodded enthusiastically while shuffling further into the mattress. “Alright, I’ll be back in a minute, yeah? You think about what story you want tonight.”

Focusing on getting himself ready for bed, Cassian let his mind wander to you and how incredible the day he had been so nervous for had turned out. After he had told Ottie about the two of you, you had all spent the rest of the afternoon in the sun, walking along the Sidra with Ottie bounding ahead, turning back every now and then to check that he was still holding your hand, and would then proceed to growl at him if he wasn’t. After an early dinner, Cassian and Ottie had dropped you off at your apartment, you and Cassian had decided earlier that you would give Ottie some time to process everything before pushing anything else on her.

Ottie, not having seen your place before, excitedly ran around, looking into every single room and cupboard. Cassian had called her back, telling her it was rude to be nosy, but you just shushed him and used the few minutes alone to pull him into a gentle kiss.

“Thank you for today,” he murmured against your lips.

“Thank you for trusting me with her, for wanting me to be in her life.” Cassian couldn’t find the words to express what he felt in that moment so instead pulled you in for another kiss that he hoped conveyed even just a fraction of what he felt for you.

Judging be the look you were giving him when you eventually pulled away, it had said enough; and if his heart wasn’t already yours, it would be after the way you smiled at him before pressing another soft kiss to his lips.

When Nesta left, Cassian had never even considered that he would find someone else. While they hadn’t been the perfect match, they had still been mates and if that hadn’t worked out, well, what hope did he have to be able to make it work with anyone else?

Besides, he had Ottie now. She had become his entire universe, and he was content enough in the fact that he had contributed in the making of this tiny, wonderful person that he wouldn’t need anything else again. And then he had met you, and he was forever thankful to Elain for introducing you into his life. You had shifted everything on its axis simply by being this bright light and ongoing presence for both Ottie and himself. He knew without a doubt that everything in his life, every bit of joy and fear, every mistake made, was all leading him to you, to this point in time.

*****

Three stories later, Ottie was finally beginning to doze off, tightly pressing herself even closer into his chest as her little hands clasped at his t-shirt. Cassian found himself nodding off as well, his fingers twirling through her hair, so similar to his own.

“Daddy? Are we going to be like Uncle Rhys, Auntie Feyre and Nyx now?” Her sudden question tore him away from his sleep-muddled thoughts.

“What do you mean, princess?” He asks, soothing a hand over her hair.

“Well, Uncle Rhys is Nyx’s daddy, like you’re mine. And Auntie Feyre is Nyx’s mummy,” she stayed silent for a moment, Cassian held his breath while she sorted through the thoughts flying around her head.

“So,” she continued, now looking up at Cassian with a sparkle in her eyes. “So, does that mean Y/N is my mummy?”

Cassian felt his heart pang at the clear excitement written across his daughter’s face; he was in no way prepared for this. Hell, the two of you hadn’t even broached the subject of how to navigate this situation, you had only been together for a couple of months.

“Uh,” he hesitated, unsure of the right thing to say. “Well, sweetheart, Y/N loves you very, very much but, no, she’s not your mummy, love.” Again, he felt his heart clench at the devastation of her face.

“Oh, okay,”

Resting her head on his chest again, silence enveloped them. Cassian was beginning to think she had fallen asleep when she whispered in a tearful voice, “Daddy, why don’t I have a mummy?” And Gods Cassian was fighting back his own tears at the hurt in her voice.

“Ottie, come here, sweetheart” then he was sitting up, pulling Ottie into his lap and cradling her against him as he wiped away her tears.

“We’ve never really talked about this, have we?” He asked, needing a little more time to gather his thoughts as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. He knew this day would come eventually but it was still the hardest conversation he had ever had.

“Your mother, Nesta, and I were together for a few years before we had you. And when I found out she was pregnant, that you were in her belly, it was the happiest day of my life,” he pressed a kiss to her cheek as he gauged her reaction before continuing. “That is, of course, until you came into the world, and I finally got to meet you. You were the sweetest, tiniest thing I had ever seen, and I knew I loved you instantly,” Cassian smiled softly as Ottie shyly grinned and hid her face in his neck.

“But your mother realised that she wasn’t ready to be a mummy. And even though she loved you very much she had to leave so that she could deal with some things that had happened to her,” Ottie stayed silent against him, he could sense her processing his words. “Do you want to ask me any questions about her?”

Ottie stayed silent for a few more minutes, Cassian giving her time to wrap her head around everything as he soothingly rubbed a hand up and down her back whilst rocking her back and forth and pressing kisses to the top of her head.

“Will she come back?”

“I don’t know, princess,” A few more moments passed as Ottie sat in his arm.

“Do you love her?” Cassian couldn’t find it in himself to say a single bad word against Nesta. Despite her leaving him, leaving Ottie, without so much as a goodbye, he didn’t want to taint the image of her in his daughter’s mind.

“I love that she brought you to me.” That seemed to be enough of an answer as Ottie nodded her head in response and cuddled closer into him.

“You can ask me anything you want, okay? But how about we get some sleep?” Ottie stayed silent but nodded again, allowing him to shuffle back down the mattress, arms still wrapped around her as he soothed a hand over her hair.

Again, Cassian thought Ottie had fallen asleep when she asked in a voice barely above a whisper, “are you going to leave me too?”

The fear in her face had tears welling in his eyes as he adamantly said, “No, princess. Please don’t ever think that I’ll leave you. I’m not going anywhere. Even when you’re all grown up and don’t want me around anymore, you’re stuck with me. Okay, sweet girl?”

Ottie nodded with a small smile as the words sunk in, she reached up a hand and wiped away Cassian’s own tears with her chubby fingers as she sniffed back her own. “I love you, daddy.”

“I love you, Ottie. So, so much.”

Ottie finally drifted to sleep, one hand clenched around Cassian’s t-shirt, the other holding onto her teddy bear. Cassian, however, was so far from sleep now. Instead, he opted for watching his daughter sleep soundly against him, wondering, yet again, how he had gotten so lucky.

*****

Part 4

Tag List: @mis-lil-red @sarawritestories @beardburnsupersoldiers @eve175 @blushingfawnsposts @turtleshavesoulmates @slytherinindisguise @sleepylunarwolf

#cassian x reader #cassian x y/n #cassian acotar #cassian x you #cassian imagine #rhysand acotar #azriel acotar #feyre acotar #marley writes

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chronic-claire-universe · 1 year ago

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Tokyo Revengers: Daddy's Girls And Their Nicknames

Hello dust bunnies. I came up with this little headcanons, the dads are back and they're the softest ever. Here for you, dads with the prettiest nickname for their daughter

Characthers: Hajime Kokonoi, Ran Haitani, Shuji Hanma

Warnings: None, Fluff, Daddy's Girl, Pregnancy

Hajime Kokonoi calls his daughter Hiname jewel. There's nothing that values more than his little girl, something that money couldn't ever buy in a lifetime: the love and then the physical embodiment of your love for each other, crafted in a 4 years old blackhaired girl with her father'eyes shape and your e/c and your smile. Sometimes she can be the spoiled and most sassy little girl ever but to Koko, she will always be his valued jewel that he can be proud of and show her off even after saying the most degrading comment about her nanny, "Is this how you came out of your apartment to come here for me? Let me ask daddy if we can do online shopping for you Miss Nami", Koko proudly nod and gives the nanny his black card "That's my jewel, show her how to do shopping", he says before waving goodbye holding your hand, leaving a clueless nanny, confused by your daughter behaviour and her father casually giving her his black card just to do some shopping, money is not as important as his jewel's happiness.

Ren Haitani is yours and Ran's perfect miracle, highly desired by the man, your daughter had her nickname even before being born: water lily. The man secretly wanted from the start of the relationship to be father of a pretty girl that inherited his blond hair and violet eyes and this what happened after years together. The newborn is the sweetest, but just like her father she gets really cranky if she doesn't have her proper sleep when she needs it. It's still weird for you to see how she calms down only when her father's hold her and start pronouncing her nickname instantly calming the baby down "Water lily? My my you need your beauty sleep if you want to grow up as pretty and strong like your mommy and daddy" Ren blinks her eyes and seize her whimpers as soon as she hears the nickname and soon she cooes her tiny fist into her father's chest falling asleep leaving you flabbergasted on how easily it was for Ran to calm her down, he sure knows how to handle your daughter but you're not sure how this is the possible by just pronouncing his nickname for her.

Shuji Hanma plays with fire, everything was unplanned with Emiko, since her conceivement to her gender. Hanma got you pregnant accidentaly but you decided to welcome this as soon as you've seen his best effort into taking responsabilities. At one point Hanma kept bragging on how he felt you were going to have a son since your baby kicked so hard in your belly that it couldn’t be a "frail little girl". Boy was he wrong, his little pumpkin is the sweetest thing ever just like you but sometimes she can show her hidden side just like a pumpkin does with the right ingredient. The toddler is learning to walk and she's the brightest one ever, coeeing and walking everywhere, gripping into her fathers pants from the floor and let them fall, and soon pouting to be held by her tall father and lean to him as she didn't cause shenaningans just one minute before all over the living room.

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@megumischubbycheeks @ebiharachan @strawberrysanzu @10-jiku @kkkramba @nanamis-wifey-reye @my-tasteful-muses @ajaviary @arminaneka @anahryal @savantsoulfinders @tamaki-jiki @mochi-mika @ailowvyu @whosarlet @outthev01d @jotatetsuken @musings-and-moans @thisbich @chloee0x0 @jmmore @stygianoir @littleoanh @ranscutedoll @kiiwiipie @thebrownemo @suyacho @minnie-cherii @fuyuswifey

#tokyo revengers #hajime kokonoi #ran haitani #hanma shuji #tokyo revengers fluff #kokonoi x reader #ran haitani x reader #shuji hanma x reader #kokonoi fluff #shuji hanma fluff #ran haitani fluff #haitani brothers #tokyo revengers dads #tokyo revengers x reader

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cassiebones · 1 month ago

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okay but a scene of Agatha and Rio just fucking going at it, fighting-wise. Agatha screaming at her, red-faced, telling her how much she hates her for what she did, for taking her baby away from her when she could have saved him, could have brought him back. Rio staying calm and pretty rational, allowing Agatha to have the feelings out like she hadn't done centuries ago, letting her vent and scream and call her all sorts of names. She knows that she's in pain, so she lets Agatha scream.

This, of course, makes Agatha angrier. She wants Rio to scream back, not talk in calm tones. She wants to have another huge knockdown fight, but Rio is so calm and how is she so calm when Agatha is so mad?!?!

So she says something that she knows will set Rio off.

"You never loved me; you just saw me as something pretty you could control."

This is the only thing that can really make Rio angry because how dare she?!?!

Rio's hands spark with her power, she stomps toward Agatha until they're a breath apart. Agatha doesn't back down, and Rio can hear her heart racing.

"How could you ever even think that?" Rio asks, through gritted teeth. "I loved you for centuries, even when I couldn't see you. Even when you left me alone. I still loved you, even when I hated you."

"Then why did you take my son away--"

"HE WAS MY SON, TOO!"

That shuts Agatha up for once. So do the tears that immediately fall down Rio's cheeks. Because she may not have birthed him, but, dammit, Nicholas was her son. She held him the day he was born, swore to protect him. She called him "Nicky" and he called her Mama. When he first got sick, she cared for him when Agatha slept, cradled him in her arms. How she knew the moment that he wouldn't recover from his illness, how she had had to ferry dozens of other infants and toddlers in their village due to the same illness. How she had tried to gently tell Agatha that his time was coming, that she had to prepare herself to say goodbye, that they needed to spend as much time holding him as possible.

But Agatha refused. She started talking about the Darkhold. She begged Rio to go to the Witches' Road with her. She pleaded with her, to help save her son, their son. Rio already knew that it was pointless, that Nicholas was beyond saving, that not even dark magic could save his soul, but she was powerless against Agatha.

So she went. And she felt Nicholas's life slip away as they walked the Road, as they were the only two witches to emerge, victorious. Agatha got what she wanted with the Darkhold, but it was too late.

When they returned home, Nicky was gone. Their son was dead. And Rio had to do something she'd hoped she wouldn't have to do for decades, centuries even.

She reaped her own son's soul, while her wife screamed in anguish, cursing her. She didn't let Agatha see her tears as she carried his soul to the other side.

And then Agatha was gone and she was left with a gaping hole in her black heart, causing her unbelievable pain for centuries, leaving a scar there in the shape of Agatha and Nicholas.

So how dare Agatha imply that she was any less Nicky's mother?!?

Agatha does soften at Rio's words, stepping back as they kind of slap her across the face. She knows that Rio is right, that Nicholas was Rio's, whether she birthed him from her body or not. But she's too stubborn to apologize.

Instead, she says, "you never actually hated me." It's not a question, but it's still uncertain. She doesn't know if it would hurt more or less if it turned out that Rio hated her as much as she hated Rio.

"I don't think I would have hated you as much as I did," Rio said, tears still falling down her cheeks, "if I didn't love you so much."

Then she walks away, leaving Agatha gaping after her.

#Agatha Harkness #Rio Vidal #Vidarkness #I am too invested in this MINIseries #so much angst #I need another dramatic exit from Aubrey Plaza #but not casual “te veo” exit #more silent and brooding

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goldfades · 1 year ago

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✮ 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐯𝐞, jump then fall au

au masterlist! masterlist!

♡ ─ word count | 2.7k

♡ ─ summary | cece has been working for adam for a month, forming a bond with paloma. she comforts paloma during a tantrum and later helps adam when paloma won't stop crying, late into the night. they discover the meaning of paloma's name as they bond over it.

♡ ─ warnings | toddler tantrums, sleep-deprivation LMAO, um nothing else (i think)

♡ ─ taglist | @literatureluster @itsnotgray @valluvsu (fill in form in my navigation in you are interested!)

♡ ─ ev's notes | after weeks of writer's block, we GOT OVER IT. war is overrrrr, finally. we survived the great war. anyways, this chapter is so sweet and i love it so much. i also realized my love for adam is very much eternal and undying, i will love him more than anyone else 4ever and idc. should i start a go-fund-me so i could get his jersey?? help a broke college student get her fav hockey player's jersey✊��✊🏼 also happy spooky seasonnnnn!!!

also if anyone has au thoughts please send them in for my entertainment, i love love LOVE asks.

It had been a month since Cece had started working for Adam and she has loved every second of it.

Well, maybe not every second but Paloma was the sweetest girl she's ever worked for. She was funny and easy to work with, unlike some of the other kids she's worked with. Cece had quickly adapted to the rhythm of the new job, finding ways to connect with Paloma and make their time together enjoyable and overall fun. She had become an big part of Adam and Paloma's daily routine, and it was clear to everyone that Paloma adored Cece.

Cece was sitting comfortably on the floor next to Paloma, watching her favorite movie, "Beauty and the Beast" for the fifth time she couldn't help but smile at the toddler's enthusiasm. Paloma's eyes were glued to the screen, and she occasionally mimicked the characters' actions or lines with her limited vocabulary, making Cece laugh in the process. She was adorable, her heart melted with every little word she mimicked.

As Belle and the Beast danced in the iconic ballroom scene, Paloma attempted to mimic their graceful movements, stumbling slightly in her excitement. Cece chuckled and gently held Paloma's hand, helping her "dance" along with the characters.

She laughed as Paloma kept her dance up, "You're doing good, sweetheart!"

Paloma beamed happily at Cece's words of encouragement. Her tiny feet shuffled clumsily on the floor as she continued to "dance" with Belle and the Beast. It was a sweet sight, and Cece couldn't help but feel a deep affection for the little girl.

Right as the dance ended, the apartment door had opened. "I'm home!" Adam's voice rung out through the entire apartment. As he walked into the living room, he smiled at the scene in front of him.

"Hey," Cece greeted him with an equally bright smile as him, still sitting on the floor next to Paloma, who had now shifted her attention from the movie to her dad's arrival.

Adam bent down and scooped Paloma up into his arms, eliciting giggles from the toddler. "Did you have a fun day with Cece, sweetheart?"

It was sight she had grown used to now, Adam and Cece had become a staple in her life even if it only has been a month. She couldn't help but feel like she was a part of the family, somehow, even if she wasn't exactly blood-related.

Paloma nodded enthusiastically, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "Daddy, dance!" she exclaimed, her arms moving in an attempt to recreate the dance moves she had just seen on the screen.

Adam laughed, sharing an amused look with Cece. "You've been dancing, huh?"

Cece nodded, her smile warm. "She was quite the dancer, just like Belle."

Adam chuckled as he watched Paloma's attempts at dancing. "I see that. Thanks for keeping her entertained, Cece."

"No problem," Cece replied, a light tint of blush coming onto her cheeks. Adam continued to play with Paloma, making her giggle and laugh. Cece watched the father-daughter duo with a fond smile, her heart warmed by the sweet scene before her.

After a quick lunch, Adam had to go back for a team meeting so Cece had to stay with Paloma a bit more, which usually wouldn't have been a problem ─ except now, Paloma had suddenly decided to have a tantrum because of her father leaving.

Cece tried her best to soothe Paloma as Adam prepared to leave for his meeting. She understood how difficult it could be for a toddler when their parent had to leave, especially when they were as attached as Paloma wa.

As Adam headed towards the door, Paloma's cries grew louder, and she reached out for him, tears streaming down her cheeks. Cece held Paloma close, trying to comfort her. "It's okay, sweetie. Daddy will be back soon."

Adam paused at the door, his heart aching as he looked back at his daughter. He wanted to stay and comfort her, but he also knew he had responsibilities. "I'll be back soon, sweetheart," he reassured her, his voice filled with love. "Cece will take care of you."

Cece nodded at that and gave him a quick nod, gesturing for him to leave. He sighed and nodded, exiting the apartment as Paloma's cries continued for a while. Cece did her best to distract her with toys and games, hoping to ease her distress until Adam returned.

They played with her building blocks, read some of her favorite books, and even had a little tea party with her stuffed animals. Slowly but surely, Paloma's tears began to subside, replaced by the occasional hiccup.

Cece kept a watchful eye on the time, knowing that Adam would return from his meeting soon. She didn't want Paloma to be too upset when he got back. As they continued to play, she whispered comforting words to Paloma. "Daddy will be back before you know it, sweetheart. He loves you very much."

Paloma, still a bit sniffly, looked up at Cece with her big blue, teary eyes and nodded. Cece couldn't help but smile at the toddler's resilience. Paloma gave her a whine and gave reached out her arms towards her, gesturing for her to pick her up.

Cece gladly picked Paloma up and held her close, cradling her gently in her arms. Paloma's sniffles gradually turned into contented sighs as she rested against Cece's shoulder.

──

Cece awoke with a jolt as she felt Paloma being carried from her arms and Cece almost screamed until she realized it was just Adam. Relief washed over her as she blinked away the remnants of sleep, "Shit, you scared me."

"Sorry," Adam laughed softly, his voice filled with warmth as he held Paloma against his chest. "I'm back. How was my little princess while I was gone?"

"She was, um... she was good." Cece yawned, her eyes watering at that. Sudden embarrassment washed over her as she realized that she fell asleep on the job but before she had the chance to apologize, it seemed he had read her mind.

"Don't apologize, I get it." Adam offered Cece a reassuring smile as she nodded, gratefully.

"Thank you," she laughed softly as she got up from the sofa, standing in front of him. She never really realized just how tall he was but suddenly, she felt like he was towering over her. Sudden butterflies emerged in her stomach as she looked up at him and they gazed at one another.

"Well─"

"I─"

They both spoke in union before they paused, looking at one another for a second until they laughed. God, they were so in sync. "You, um, you go first," Adam smiled down at her, Paloma looking very pleased with the scene before her.

"I was just gonna say, I have a Chem test tomorrow and I haven't studied for it," she explained groggily, exhaustion clear in her face.

Adam couldn't help but feel disappointment building in his stomach as he heard those words come out of her mouth. "Oh, yeah of course. Go, don't worry, I'll take of our Paloma." It had come out so naturally he almost didn't catch it. Our Paloma. It sounded so... perfect and Adam could feel himself getting used to staying it, our Paloma, our girl.

Luca's words kept repeating in his mind as he waited for her response, "No girls." But as he stared into her eyes, her big, beautiful, deep─

"Yeah, our Paloma," she repeated softly, a warm smile spreading across her face. "Thank you, Adam."

"Of course, no problem. Um, get home safe and good luck on your test tomorrow."

As soon as she reached the door, Paloma whined. You looked back at Adam knowingly as Paloma started reaching for Cece.

"Hey, hey." Adam started trying to distract Paloma which did nothing but make it worse, somehow. "Princess, it's alright, she's coming tomorrow."

Paloma's whines grew louder as she continued to reach for Cece, her little arms outstretched. Adam didn't know what to do; she usually stopped crying after he comforted her, but this time, it seemed she only wanted Cece.

Cece hesitated at the door, torn between her responsibilities and the adorable toddler who clearly didn't want her to go. She looked at Adam with a questioning expression, silently asking for his help.

"It's fine, Cece. I can deal with her." Adam's voice was gentle, and he tried to hide any disappointment he felt about the situation. He walked closer to Cece, giving her an understanding smile. "You should get some rest and study for your test. I've got this."

Cece sighed in relief at Adam's understanding. She bent down and gently placed a kiss on Paloma's forehead. "I'll see you tomorrow, sweetheart," she whispered softly to the toddler before reluctantly stepping out of the apartment.

Adam watched her go, feeling a mixture of gratitude and disappointment. He knew that Cece needed to focus on her studies, but a part of him wished she could stay. He turned his attention back to Paloma, who was still crying in his arms.

"It's just you and me, kiddo," he said with a soft smile, carrying the crying Paloma back to the living room. He was determined to make the evening as comforting (as he could) for his daughter.

As the night wore on, Adam did his best to comfort Paloma. He played with her, read her a bedtime story, and even sang her a lullaby, but nothing seemed to calm her down completely. The toddler's cries continued, growing more tired and desperate as the hours passed.

He felt like he didn't know Paloma anymore, he spent less time with her than he had done in the past. Was he being a terrible dad by prioritizing his career over Paloma? He didn't know, he felt truly helpless as his ears began to sore from the constant crying from his daughter.

It was around 1 am when Adam realized he was at his wit's end. Paloma had been crying for hours, and he was exhausted and frustrated. He felt like he was going to go insane, especially because none of his family was here to give him a break. That was until he remembered: Cece.

He pulled out his phone and sent a text message to Cece, his fingers typing quickly.

Adam: Hey, sorry to bother you, but Paloma won't stop crying, and I don't know what to do.

He felt guilty for even asking, knowing Cece probably has her own worries and problems. But he truly had no one else to turn to, his body sore from practice and he was fatigued from all the crying, on top of everything.

His phone started buzzed almost immediately and he looked at the caller ID: Cece was calling him. He slid to answer,

"Cece, I'm sorry, did I wake you up?"

"No, I've been up." Cece laughed through the speaker. But Adam could hear the exhaustion in her laugh, as much as she tried to hide it.

The guiltiness hit him like a truck when he heard her voice. He almost wanted to cry, "I'm sorry, Cece. I just had... no one else to call who I trusted."

That statement made Cece's heart swell. He trusted her? "Oh, Adam don't apologize. That's what I'm here for. Do you want me to come?"

"No, no. It's too late and I don't want anything to happen."

Another soft laugh escaped her before she started hearing some crying from his side. She was almost concerned, thinking it was him until it registered in her sleep-deprived mind that it was just Paloma. "I'm a big girl Adam, I'll be there in 10."

Before he could protest, she hung up and Adam let out an exhausted sigh before he turned to Paloma, who was still crying. How much tears could one little girl have? Adam thought to himself.

Cece arrived at Adam's apartment right on time, her heart heavy with worry for both him and Paloma. She had come as quickly as she could, not wanting to leave Adam to handle the situation alone any longer. There wasn't any traffic because it was 1 in the morning, the only real plus of this whole thing.

When she entered the apartment, she found Adam sitting on the couch, looking utterly exhausted, with Paloma crying in his arms. She had never seen him so tired, his hair messy and his eyebags visible. Without hesitation, Cece went over and gently took Paloma into her arms.

"Hey there, princess," she cooed softly, rocking Paloma gently. "It's okay, I'm here now. Shhh, it's alright."

Paloma's cries gradually began to subside as Cece worked her magic. Adam watched in awe as the two of them seemed to have an unspoken connection. Cece had gotten Paloma to quiet down after four hours of nonstop crying but Adam was too tired to feel anything but exhaustion. He had been at his wit's end, unable to calm his daughter down, and seeing Cece work her magic with such ease was nothing short of amazing.

"Thank you, Cece," Adam whispered, relief washing over him as Paloma finally began to calm down. He felt a deep sense of gratitude for the young woman who had come to their rescue once again.

Cece smiled warmly at him, despite her feeling just as (if not more) exhausted than him. "No need to thank me, Adam. I'm always here to help." She looked down at Paloma, who was now resting peacefully in her arms. "Besides, I think I've started to become quite attached to her."

Adam couldn't help but chuckle softly at that. He appreciated Cece more than he could express in words. As he looked at her, holding the most precious thing in his world like she was also the most important thing in hers too, he felt his heart do a little loop-di-loop and he couldn't stop it even if he tried.

"Thank you, Cece," he repeated, this time with a warmth and admiration that went beyond words.

"You know, Adam," Cece began softly, her voice barely above a whisper, "I'm here not just for Paloma. I'm here for you too."

Adam's heart skipped a beat at her words. It didn't feel like some grand confession, it felt like just a simple fact. And now, as he gazed back at Cece, he no longer questioned if she was responsible or sweet enough for his daughter, he knew it for a fact.

"I know," Adam's voice sounded even more exhausted than before, smiling back at her.

As Paloma fell asleep in her arms, Cece took a seat next to Adam on the couch. They both knew she wasn't going anywhere for at least a couple hours until Paloma is fully asleep, so she got comfortable.

As Paloma fell asleep in Cece's arms, a sense of calm settled over the room. The exhaustion and tension from earlier seemed to fade away, replaced by a peaceful stillness. Adam and Cece sat side by side on the couch, watching over Paloma as she slept.

In the quiet of the room, they didn't need to say much. Their presence was enough, and it felt strangely comforting. It was as if, in that moment, they were a small, makeshift family brought together by circumstances.

Cece was the first to speak up, her voice tired. "Do you know what Paloma means?"

Adam was too tired to say anything but shake his head as she continued, "It means Dove, I looked it up earlier. Isn't that cute?"

Adam had named her after his great-aunt (per request of his mother) but had always liked the sound of it. He had never thought of looking up the meaning but now that he knows, it's perfect. Dove, Paloma, it was just perfect.

Adam smiled at that. "That's so cute. Our little dove." His head fell on Cece's shoulder as he yawned, his eyes feeling heavy. "Dove, that's a cute nickname."

"We should start calling her that." Cece's eyes suddenly felt heavy too as she yawned along with Adam, nodding.

"Dove," Adam repeated softly, a smile playing at his lips. "I like it. Our little Dove."

Cece nodded in agreement, her voice barely above a whisper. "It suits her."

The exhaustion of the long night finally caught up with them both, and they began to drift into a comfortable silence. Adam rested his head on Cece's shoulder, and she gently leaned into him, their shared warmth and the sense of family they had formed providing a profound a great sense of comfort.

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thank you for reading all the way through, as always ♡

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callmewrinkles3 · 10 months ago

Text

When Emma Falls in Love - DR3 x Fem!OC

Summary: Christmas involves the same thing every year for Em. A week in Liverpool, formal clothing, and returning to her apartment to shower and have a bottle of wine to forget how bad it was. But this year she's spending it in Australia with Dan and his family. No big deal.

Words: 11.4k

Warnings: Mentions of past bad relationships, mentions of cheating, mentions of toxic family relationships. Panic attacks, worry, mentions of sex (but nothing explicit) and mentions of sex toys.

AN: HEEEEEEEYYYYYYYY remember us? First things first - apologies for how long this took. The plan was Christmas, but life has been ridiculous and too busy and we just apologise. Thank you for still being here and enjoying reading more about Em and Dan!

December 2018

When she was growing up, Em never kept a diary. She was the odd one out for many reasons in primary school, that was just one of them. She was too afraid of her mother finding it when “cleaning”, reading what was on her mind and telling her to stop. She hadn’t started it as a kid, and it didn’t begin when she was an adult either. But if she did have one, the first words on the page for December 22, 2018, would have been "I think I'm in love with Dan." And to say "I think" would have been a blatant lie because she knew.

She knew that night in the bar for his birthday that she was going to fall for him. She knew in Philadelphia as she sang that she only bought that dress for him to take off. She knew in Austin when he kissed her in front of another woman.

That morning in July when she woke up from one of the greatest nights of sleep in her life with Dan’s arms around her and his snoring lulling her back to sleep like white noise. Every single time he let Blake out of their shared taxi first and circled the block to come into hers when he got back from travelling. The way he never arrived home without a bouquet of flowers because she’d once said she never thought she could buy herself some. But that afternoon in Perth she couldn’t hide from the realisation anymore.

She’d been working in the early afternoon after she made lunch for the two of them and Isaac, coming out to find her boys napping on the couch. The plan had been for them to watch a film while they waited for her but toddlers were not known for their patience. She couldn’t blame Isaac for sleeping, and once Dan got comfy he could nod off anywhere.

The two of them had been up early that morning picking Isaac up for a day out and a sleepover to let Michelle finish getting ready for Christmas. Once they made it back to the farm it was running around and playing at the pool with a stop for lunch. Em had prepped sandwiches for their lunch before disappearing to work for a few hours so she didn’t fall even further behind. And now they were fast asleep, blond curls against Dan’s off season stubble.

The craving to curl up on the couch and cuddle into them was overwhelming. There was nothing else she wanted at that moment, just hug them and kiss Dan and stay there forever. But she couldn’t.

Yes, she was Auntie Emmy to Isaac - a fact he’d announced to them that morning running to greet her with chubby cheeks and “ANNIE EMMYYYYYYYY” - but Auntie Emmy was Uncle Dan’s friend. And nothing else.

She was just his friend. Even though she was the only one sleeping in his bed, even when he was basically living in her crappy flat in London. Even when it was her name he groaned out when they were together as he pulled her close. And that was why she couldn’t admit it to him. Admitting it to herself felt nearly too much.

It hurt. Oh it ached. But it was better to hurt a little bit and enjoy getting to have Danny in the way that so many people didn’t know Daniel Ricciardo, than say how she felt and break the spell. She could suck it up and bury her feelings and stay by his side as his best friend. If she didn’t say it out loud then it wasn’t real and if it wasn’t real then it couldn’t hurt her badly.

And she couldn’t tell him. She couldn’t see his face fall, couldn’t hear “we said we were just friends, nothing more.”. Couldn’t bear to have to leave people who for the first time in her life seemed to actually like her because she’d ruined it. So she’d stay quiet and get to have Christmas with people who seemed to want her there. She’d enjoy summer in December and have those weeks. Especially if it meant she got time with Isaac.

Em had fallen in love with him the first time she met him in real life in Abu Dhabi, and the feeling was mutual. She could count how many times she’d seen him in person on both hands, but he was as crazy about her as she was about him. His cheeky smile warmed up her heart. The way he ran to give her a hug after the first time they met was one of her favourite things in the world. How he reached out to her so she would hold him during the insanity of that first weekend. But it was the way that he was so much like Dan that made her heart grow ten sizes.

Physically they didn’t look alike apart from those curls they’d all inherited from Grace, but their personalities were identical. Dan joked it was why Isaac liked spending so much time with her, but she smiled and brushed it off. For her own sanity she couldn’t let that get into her head. She couldn’t do it. Not when whatever they were had an expiration date and she didn’t know how long it would last.

All of that combined meant she couldn’t resist watching them for an extra couple of moments, enjoying how relaxed they were snoozing together. She took a photo of them with her phone to secure the memory forever. She wasn’t sure what caused him to stir, if it was the small noise from the camera or if it was her moving, but Dan opened his eyes slowly and focused on her. A smile began to go across his face.

“Wanna join us? We can stay like this for a while.”

She desperately wanted to say yes. She wanted to lie down next to Dan and fall asleep with his arm around her. But she shouldn’t and she couldn’t. Anything that wasn’t at least platonic seeming had to stay just them. Sure Dan had put an arm around her shoulder or waist with his parents, but not with Isaac. She didn’t want that with him. He was too small and she didn’t want to confuse him with acting like a couple when they weren’t. If she couldn’t explain what was happening to herself then she couldn’t to him.

“I’m gonna get a start on dinner,” Em whispered, blurting out the first excuse she could think of. “Is pasta ok?”

The moment the words left her lips, she made her one fatal mistake. Kissing the top of Dan's head and then Isaac's cheek. It was supposed to be the briefest moment, a peck and then go to the kitchen. But the moment she leaned down to kiss Isaac's head his litttle hand reached out for her, not letting go. He didn't say anything, just grumbled and rubbed his head against Dan's chest before settling back down.

"I think you have to stay for a while. C'mon." He shifted slightly to let her slip beside them, settling down. "I know what you're thinking. It's fine."

"Danny-"

"I promise. It's fine." She should have stood straight up and headed out. Before she could even think about moving away Isaac woke up enough to smile at her, moving across to have half his body over Em, half on Dan. Then she was definitely not going anywhere, not when his tiny hand clung to her shirt to hold her there.

"I always knew he'd be a heartbreaker and steal someone's girl at some point in his life. I just never imagined it'd be mine."

"He's got that Ricciardo grin and those curls, what can I say?" Dan chuckled lowly at her words, his chest shaking as he held it back.

"That's not fair, I saw you first."

"I'm not some toy, you don't need to fight him over me."

"I mean if I need to I will." It was Em's turn to keep her laughter down, swallowing it so she didn't wake the sleeping toddler.

"No, it's fine. You don't need to."

"Just had to be sure."

She really didn't mean to fall asleep. She shouldn't have, she wanted to just stay for five minutes before carefully moving Isaac across and standing up to do something. But having Dan's chest as a pillow and Isaac as a tiny weighted blanket didn't help her. Dan smelled like the shower gel they were using and home, Isaac's baby shampoo mixing and making her feel peaceful and dozing off easily.

When she opened her eyes she thought she'd find her fast asleep boys, but instead they were wide awake. The youngest was staring at the film he hadn't finished, the oldest looking straight down at her when Em looked up.

How was she not supposed to fall in love with him? That broad smile and big eyes and how was she supposed to keep it platonic when he looked at her like she hung the moon and stars every single day. He called her his moon once and the compliment made her blush for a week. It was impossible to not fall in love with him, and that was the moment she admitted it. The way he stole tiny kisses while Isaac was distracted. She was gone.

They stayed like that for the afternoon, what was supposed to be a homemade meal turning into driving out for pizza for the three of them. Isaac stayed on her hip until they got him into a highchair, laughing and enjoying his food. She felt at home and happy and was so glad she was there.

It was why she said yes when he asked her what she was doing for Christmas and if she wanted to come to Australia with him. She missed him when he had a double header abroad, she couldn't imagine spending six weeks apart when he went home for Christmas. They could have done it and would have been fine. They'd done it before, but that was before feelings and sex and friends with benefits was added to the mix they had going on.

Em missed him back when they just texted and had a couple of calls, so she had to say yes. But it was terrifying to get on that plane with Dan to go to Perth. It took a call from Grace insisting she wanted Em there and everyone was looking forward to seeing her to make Em feel like it was ok.

Once she made the decision to go to Australia to spend weeks there with Dan it wasn't too scary, but the fact that she was introduced to Dan's world was. Especially now that she was slowly admitting that she'd fallen in love with him. Since the start Em had tried to deny it to herself, insist that it wasn't true. That she had no feelings for him apart from friendship and being proud of him.

But that was like saying the sun wasn't going to come out the next day. On those days where Em wasn't sure about it herself, he made her sure. If she didn't know better she'd think that was his own personal mission to make her fall in love with him. There were texts, calls, facetimes when he probably didn't have time. A text telling her to open the door because she had a delivery. How could she not fall for him?

The easiest way to fall in love with him was what he did every single trip home. She'd leave a sandwich in the fridge before she went to bed, and he came back to her tiny apartment. He had his own one that he could be in, he could go back to somewhere comfy and warm rather than her tiny one bed where the heating rarely worked. But he stayed with her. He took over doing things to make her life better, buying new sheets that were more expensive than she'd ever pay because they were softer and calling the landlord to make him fix the heating after he came back from Brazil and the apartment was freezing.

She couldn't help falling deeper and deeper in love with him when he slid into bed and wrapped his arms around her, whispering how happy he was to be back home. He could have been comfortable and warm in his apartment but instead he was there with her. The chill in the air was ignored as they pulled whatever clothes were on off, Dan marking her body as his. Week after week that was exactly what happened in beds around the world as she travelled to the US and Abu Dhabi to watch him race. She was starting to believe that maybe they did belong together as night after night they got into the same bed, whispering sweet nothings and bringing each other pleasure before curling up to sleep.

It's what happened at the farm when they were alone. Officially Em had a guest room to herself, but Dan's room became theirs. She spent so much of her days stepping outside of her comfort zone, it was exhausting and made her stomach ball up, but being with him was easy. Waking up with his arms around her was perfect. Getting into bed with him every night felt normal. It was terrifying and normal and brilliant. It was easy for her once she got over her worries, especially after that day with Isaac on the couch. His tiny hand over her chest became the reminder that what she thought would be a bad day wasn't so bad. It's part of why she wished Isaac could have been there the night she met Dan's friends.

She knew what coming to Australia when Dan went home for the winter break involved. And when she was invited she didn't even think about it, just went for it. She knew she was going to be introduced to his favourite places in his hometown, spending most of their nights out on the farm, getting to be around his family, and some nights out with his home friends to meet them. She could excuse herself once or twice from nights out because she was never a big fan of it, but she could let the social butterfly she was accompanying go out to hang out with people. He didn't get to see his friends for most of the year, she was more than happy to stay home with her huge to read list on her kindle or a good movie.

But Dan wanted her there. He wanted to spend time with her and his friends and have them all together, and she couldn't say no to those big brown eyes. Spending time with his family was easy, she knew most of them and those she didn't know at least knew of him. But the bigger issue was when she met his friends.

It was supposed to be easy. A get together with his mates so they could catch up and everyone who lived in Perth could finally meet the famous Em. There was just one problem.

Em wasn't good with people.

It wasn't that people didn't like her, it wasn't even that she didn't like people, it was that whenever she was around people she got tired quickly and couldn't deal with them for too long. Dan was one of the rare people she didn't hate being around for more than a few minutes. He'd promised it wouldn't be anything fancy or crazy, that she didn't need to stress about it, but she still worried.

She liked to think that it would have been different if they met somewhere else. In a bar or club where she could have made an excuse to go outside for a few minutes, be somewhere neutral. But meeting at the farm was somehow worse. Dan had told her to stay by his side and she did, but she felt like she was being a bother. He told her that she didn't need to do anything, she was a guest too, but her mother's words kept going around in her head. She should be helpful, she should be useful, she should be this that and the other. If she didn't help at gatherings then what use was she? Sitting next to Dan cutting tomatoes and onions for the burgers wasn't enough.

She shouldn't feel like she was suffocating when she was with his friends. They all seemed lovely, the guys who'd known Dan since he was a kid and told her stories about what he got up to in school, girlfriends who were genuinely sweet asking her about England and her work. But it felt like it was too much. The flickering light from the firepit and the music playing and the voices made her brain go a million miles an hour, all she wanted was to get out of there. Curl up and bed and read a book. She stood there smiling and she couldn't even lean against Dan because they were supposed to be just friends. They were friends. It's how he introduced her. Em, his friend from England. Not Emmy, that was only for him, but Em.

Nobody there had any idea that as soon as the parties and dinners were over he snuck into her bed. That when he got back from being all around the world he came to her home. She was just Em and she had no idea what she was doing there. She didn't know what they were but just friends didn't cut it anymore, and even being outside on the farm it felt like she couldn't get a deep breath into her lungs. The air slowly left her body and she could barely get it in.

She wouldn't forgive herself if she ruined Dan's night. He was so happy there, tanned and grinning as he talked to people. Em decided another beer to replace her empty one and a deep breath in the kitchen would help. Just two minutes away from the crowd. She went in, grabbed two bottles from the fridge and took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. She could do it. She'd be fine and she'd get through the rest of this night. She could do it.

"Thought you were into blondes, mate," it was clear as a bell even through the noise, a dagger hitting into Em's chest. Did she seem like just a girl?

"Shut up, it's not like that." She knew they were just friends. But hearing it like that was different. It was the straw that broke the camel's back and she didn't remember the last time she wanted to cry that badly. She wanted the ground to open up beneath her and just swallow her whole so she can hide but she wasn’t lucky enough. She blinked back tears, ignoring the knot growing in her stomach and the anxiety seeping into every pore. Em’s heart raced and she could hear the whooshing sound in her eardrums. Why was she there? The questions bubbled through her brain but that was the loudest. Why did Dan invite her there? Why was she there? Why did he want her to be in Perth?

Em couldn’t stay there anymore. If she stayed out with everyone she’d break down and start crying and the last thing Dan needed was her dramatics. She didn’t want to ruin the reunion and the good time he was having. So she took a deep breath, had a sip of her beer, and pretended she heard nothing. She just needed to keep it together for long enough so Dan didn’t suspect anything. She could smile and nod as if she didn’t care about what his mates said.

All she needed to do was pretend that she was fine, and then she could run back inside and be alone. She felt terrible just thinking about it. She couldn't do one fucking thing right and be a normal person for one night and have a normal night. It just made her feel awful for Dan because he had done everything to make her comfortable. Not just that night, but he'd changed his home so she felt at home. He insisted he was in charge of the burgers so that he could make one that was cooked the way she enjoyed it - a squirt of ketchup, one slice of cheese, wrapped in two napkins so her fingers didn't get greasy. He got her a Coke Zero or a lemon San Pellegrino so she had options when she didn't want a beer. There were even some of her favourite songs on his playlist for that night, Paramore playing out over the group. He did every single thing right. But she was ruining it all.

Em tried hiding how she was feeling but it was useless. The second she was back at Dan's side he knew something was wrong. The question was quiet, asking if she was ok, but her nod was too fast and she could tell that he didn't quite believe her. Dan's brown eyes stayed on her as she tipped the rest of her bottle back.

"Mind if I head to bed?" She was proud of how even her voice sounded.

"You sure you're ok? What's up?"

"I'm fine, just jetlagged and tired still. I'll be fine."

"See you in a lil bit?" She didn't answer him, making excuses and quick comments so she didn't start crying around new to her people. It was saying how lovely it was to meet them and saying they'd get coffee or meet before she went back to England. She was so polite and correct she almost sounded like her mother and it made her want to vomit. A final quick squeeze on Dan's shoulder and she was gone.

As soon as she was in the house she just had to do a quick trip to the bathroom, change her clothes, and go into bed. But she couldn’t go into the room she'd been sleeping in. That was Dan's bedroom and she couldn't switch the light on or people would see. So in the fading light of dusk she grabbed her pjs, the book she'd been reading, and the bottle of water she kept on her nightstand. From there she went to the guest room that was supposed to be her room. Dan had mentioned it'd be her room in Abu Dhabi, just across from his. That first night he'd insisted she didn't have to sleep there if she didn't want to and they'd ended up in his bedroom and Em didn't want to leave. But now she had to be in her own room. It'd be fine.

The last thing she wanted anyone to see was her crying. Somehow she got the door of the guest room closed without letting out a sob, panic growing in her chest. Stupid, stupid, stupid. She shouldn't be crying. She had no reason to cry. She knew what she was doing.

Her back slid against the door as she ended up on the ground. Her sobs turned to gasps as she struggled to get a deep breath, thoughts burning her head. She wanted to be curled up in the bed that she'd spent the last week sleeping in. She wanted Dan's arm around her, wanted to sit on his lap and sip from his beer bottle. Wanted to forget that the night had even happened. That the man who'd been sharing her bed for the last six months preferred blondes. That the man who she'd been falling in love with might not feel the same way, and they'd agreed they were just friends and said that they weren't going to break the rules and love each other but she had. She wanted her brain to shut up with the "why the fuck does he sleep with me then" that was filling her mind with doubts.

But more than all of that she wished she was brave enough to leave. Pack her bag and go to the airport and fly back to London. Because Dan deserved so much better than anything she could offer. He deserved a beautiful blonde woman who didn't freak out during a party and could afford to rent an apartment with working heating and didn't run away to hide and cry because she couldn't cope. Of course he wouldn't pick her.

But she could barely move. Somehow she managed to stand up once she'd caught her breath, pulling on her tshirt and leggings to sleep in. From there she made it to the bed, lying and pulling up the blanket to try cocoon herself as her tears kept falling. All she wanted was for Dan to magically appear and hold her to stop her chest from feeling so tight. A hug from Dan was magical, it'd make the pressure go away in no time. But he was with his friends and she didn't blame him. She was his friend. They were just friends and she had absolutely no right to be upset about it, but it hurt.

She wasn't planning on getting a lot of sleep that night. The awful feeling in her chest wasn't getting any better, her heart was still racing, and her head ached thanks to crying so much. Finally the tears stopped and she turned onto her side in the too big bed.

A knock on the door made her close her eyes and force her breathing to even out. She didn't want Dan to see her like that. She couldn't explain what she was feeling, she couldn't start rambling about it because then she'd have to admit how she felt and that wasn't going to happen. She couldn't admit that she'd broken every rule they'd come up with and fallen in love with him. She couldn't lose him. She couldn't lose his friendship and what they had so she had to stay quiet.

"Emmy? You awake?" Em should have known he wouldn't leave even if she didn't answer, listening as he padded around to her side of the bed and knelt down, his thumb brushing the still damp skin on her cheek.

The second Emmy squeezed his shoulder as she said she was still jetlagged and going to bed, Dan knew something was wrong. She hadn't been ok since she got back from the kitchen with their drinks, but watching her nod and fake smile as she went back inside felt so wrong. And then he stared at their room, waiting for a light to go on and the curtains to close. But nothing happened and it felt even worse.

He knew she wasn't a fan of big parties, his friends were more like him than her and were loud but she'd been ok. He made sure she was stuck to his side for the evening, she smiled when he handed her a perfectly wrapped burger made just the way she liked them. Dan knew it wasn't easy for her, she'd told him that she found big groups hard to deal with. She was the dictionary definition of an introvert who preferred to sit with a book in silence rather than be surrounded by loud people. But she was fine.

He'd asked a couple of times, not wanting to annoy her by constantly thinking something was wrong. He'd offered if she wanted to go inside and hide out for a while he'd make excuses but she insisted she was fine. Emmy ate her burger and snacked on some chips while chatting with his mates. He heard her laugh and one of the lads made a comment about how Dan kept staring at her. He was happy.

And Em was fine until she'd leaned over to offer to get him another beer when she was getting hers. He knew she heard what Mark said, his quip about blondes. The shut up didn't go fast enough and she'd been close enough to hear. She came back looking like someone had punched her in the stomach, big eyes sad even under her fake smile. There was nothing Dan could do to make her feel better.

What he wanted to do was pull her onto his lap, arms around her waist as they shared a drink. He'd tell her that yeah he'd slept with blondes before, dated some as well, but he was hers. He was so fucking crazy about her it was insane. Dan was absolutely in love with her, and terrified to say it because she could do so much better than him. They'd promised they'd stay friends, falling in love wasn't on the list.

But he couldn't even describe how much he loved her. He loved her long brown hair, the way it fell down her shoulders and back. He loved standing behind her and brushing it out to apologise for the mess he'd made it by wrapping it around his hand and pulling her hair the way that made her groan in all the right ways, using it as an excuse to kiss along her neck. He loved the way she smiled at him. How she made jokes and laughed at them herself. How she wrapped her arms around him and welcomed him home. The carefully covered sandwich that waited for him.

He didn't want any blondes. He wanted his gorgeous, brunette Wrinkles, and just maybe in the future if he was lucky enough he'd get to have gorgeous little babies with her hair and eyes and personality. He'd never, ever wanted that until now. And then it felt like she was slipping through his fingers with one evening.

She finished her beer, excused herself saying something about jetlag, was sweet and polite and so un-Emmy it hurt, and whispered to him that she was going to bed. The going to bed wasn't a surprised, she was still jetlagged and had been tired before they even got to Australia. She was the first to head to bed every night anyway. But the way she did it worried him.

Even around his family she kissed his head before she left the room to go to bed. It was what they did when there was people around and they couldn't actually kiss because of the comments. She'd move his curls from his forehead and give him a quick kiss there or on his cheek, or if he was sitting she'd kiss the top of his head. When they were alone he'd go to bed with her, but if he was staying up she'd peck his lips and wait for him in bed.

There was none of that. Instead she gave him a tiny, sad smile and squeezed his shoulder. Like they were just friends. Like she didn't share his bed every night. It was like a knife in his back, a kick in the stomach. That was enough to tell him that something was very, very wrong. He didn't expect a kiss, but he never thought that would be it.

It was all his fault, and the second he realised their bedroom light wasn't going on he knew it. She was nothing like his friends, his life was so different to hers, but he wanted his people to love her. He needed them to. He was so used to the way their lives were intertwined that he didn't think. He was so excited to be home and happy to see his friends and introduce them to her that he made the wrong choice. He should have had it at some neutral place, brought her to a bar to meet everyone. The way he'd done it when she met his family, how it was easier because it was a new place for them all. But he took the party to her one safe place in a foreign country and that wasn't fair on her.

It wasn't how he imagined the night ending. All he wanted to do was hold her. That was his plan for the night. Get into bed, hug his girl, steal some kisses, and call it a night. He wasn't even thinking about sex that night, just curling up with Em. He knew she'd be too tired to do anything and he'd probably have too many beers to make it good for her. So he wasn't even going to try to make a move. He'd hold her, sleep drooling into his pillow, and not have the alarm on so he could have a chill morning with her. Dan was too used to going to bed holding his Emmy, falling asleep with her in his arms and her hand against his chest. And then she was gone and he had the biggest hole in his chest knowing he'd ruined it all.

Dan had no idea what to do. He couldn’t kick his friends off the farm telling them his girl wasn’t ok and needed him. Firstly Em wasn’t his girl, not to them. He’d said over and over that they were friends and she was visiting. Nobody truly believed him, but it was the official story. He couldn’t make them leave but his brain was screaming that he needed to go to Em right then. Something was wrong and he needed to fix it. He needed to make sure she was ok. But all he could do was wait and yawn.

"You alright, DR?” One of the guys asked him.

“Yeah, just exhausted. Nightmare of a season if I’m honest. Looking forward to next year! Maybe I’m getting too old now I’m turning 30?” It was a half joke that got a laugh from the assembled guests. Fortunately they took it for what it was and started making their excuses to leave. An hour later he watched the last people leave as he waved. Once those lights were gone from the driveway he ran back to the house as quickly as he could get in.

His heart broke as he opened the bedroom door to find the empty room in complete darkness. When he switched the light on it was even worse, Em’s belongings still there. Her pillow, the blanket she loved, her Snorlax plushie he’d brought her back from Japan, even her Kindle. Only her water bottle and the book she was reading were gone.

It was a punch in the gut to realise the only other room she could be in was his least used guest room. The fact that Emmy thought she needed to stay in another room felt wrong. His room was their room. He’d made sure to decorate it to be similar to their room in London, parcels arriving to the farm the week before they arrived. The fairy lights, the purple curtains, the scented candles, the extra soft sheets and bed linen to make her smile. It was all for them. It was to make Emmy happy and feel like she was at home because in the back of his head there was a hope that it could be their home in the future. Dan had thought it was working, but now it felt like it was falling apart.

It took a few seconds for Dan to get the courage together to knock on the spare room door. He was scared Emmy would tell him to leave, would tell him to go away. But instead there was silence. He knocked again but the same lack of answer was the response so he decided to go in.

The room was in absolute darkness apart from the faint moonlight coming through the window. It was enough that Dan could make out Em resting on the bed, blankets up to her chin. All Dan wanted to do was get into bed with her, to spoon against her and hold her close, but he knew she wouldn’t like that. So instead he walked around to her side and knelt in front of her, stroking a lock of hair falling over her cheek. He didn’t know if she was in the mood for hugs, didn’t know if she wanted anyone, so he didn’t want to do too much. He saw how her eyes were closed and could feel her damp skin under his thumb. Em’s breathing was too even, she wasn’t really asleep.

“Emmy? I know you’re awake Baby girl.” It took a moment for her eyes to open as she looked up at him.

“I was tryna sleep.”

“I know. But why aren’t you in bed?”

“I am.” Her words were short. “This is a bed.”

“It’s not our bed, Beautiful.” She was at least looking at him, but something still wasn’t right. “C’mon back to bed.”

“I’m fine, D. Go on, it’s fine.”

“It’s not fine. You’ve been crying.” She looked like she was about to start crying again, Dan holding her hand and running his thumb along the back of it.

“I’m fine, Dan. I’m fine. I’m just tired, it’s been a long day. Go to bed.”

“Not without you.” He watched as her gaze softened slightly and he just wanted to kiss her to make her smile. “Can I like down here with you and give you a hug?”

“You don’t have to, Dan. We can just go to sleep.”

“But I want to. If you want me to.”

“…That’d be nice.” It took a few seconds for Em to respond and Dan was terrified she’d say no. He’d accept it, but he wouldn’t like it. He got in behind her, pulling Em against his chest. Her whole body was tense as he turned her around so they were in their usual sleeping position. She began to relax as his hand rubbed her back, Em’s head finally resting against his chest.

“You know, Snorlax is all alone in the other room. And our bed is way comfier than this one.” He kept his hand moving as she tensed up again, looking into Dan’s eyes.

“I’m too tired to move.”

“Nobody said you have to move. Trust me?” There was a nod and he pulled her over to the other side of the bed before stepping out. It was easy to pick her up and carry her out to their room, carefully depositing her back in their bed before he got in beside her. “See? Back where we belong and without you needing to move a single one of your cute toes. And back with your fluffy friend.”

It was quiet between them for a few moments, something Dan mostly expected. Whenever Em got like this she always went quiet while she thought. Finally he heard her bare whisper.

“I’m sorry I ruined your night.”

“You have absolutely nothing to be sorry for. You didn’t ruin anything, you never could. I’m sorry I invited everyone around and had them all invading your space. I shouldn’t have.”

“Dan.” She leaned up and kissed his jaw to make him smile. “It’s your house and your friends, of course you should have. It’s fine.”

“No it’s not. I should have done it differently, we should have gone somewhere else. And believe me when I tell you that you can’t ruin anything. Even if you tried to ruin something you couldn’t.”

“You’re too nice to me.” The hollow way she said it broke a little part of Dan’s heart.

“Emmy I promise. Everyone should be nice to you because you deserve it. You deserve happiness and goodness. And a whole lot of cuddles.”

“Will you cuddle me?” He couldn’t help but hold her even closer at her request.

Dan had no idea which lucky star was looking out for them but it felt like there was a whole constellation instead of just one star. He knew Em wouldn’t do it but he was ready for her to kick him out of the room. Instead he was so damn lucky that he got to hold her while she dozed asleep. He didn’t have the guts to try to explain the comment she’d overheard, he wasn’t going to push his luck, but at least he got to hold her. They could keep going from there.

—

Em couldn’t remember when she actually fell asleep. She was positive that she wouldn’t sleep at all that night, but Dan’s arms around her and his heartbeat under her ear was the best sleeping pill to ever exist. She didn’t know how he did it but he always managed to make her drift off. Even on the worst nights when her brain wouldn’t shut up he did it.

She woke up too early, the sun barely rising and illuminating the room through the blinds. She shot awake at the realisation that Dan wasn’t against her back anymore. At some point in the night she moved from Dan spooning her to her turning around and cuddling into him like she always did. Her face was buried against Dan’s chest, his arms holding her tight, and their legs tangled between each other. She raised her head slightly, Dan grumbling at her moving, and kissed his chest before going back to sleep with him.

The next time she woke up it was full morning. The sun was coming in through slits in the blinds and felt completely opposite to her emotions. She was so exhausted. Em had cried herself to exhaustion, her anxiety and nerves filling her. All she wanted to do was curl up in bed with her book and preferably with Dan cuddling her. But she was so tired she barely even noticed Dan kissing her shoulder and gently leaving her in bed. He was probably just going to the bathroom before coming back to the warmth and cuddle her.

She must have dozed off, she had no idea how long he was gone for, but she woke up to kisses on her cheek and the scratch of his off season stubble against her skin. The smile on her face was automatic. Waking up that way was one of her favourite things in the world, kisses from the man she was falling for were the best feeling and she wouldn’t change it for anything in the universe.Without even thinking Em hugged him back, almost forgetting the words from the evening before. After a horrible night all she needed was Danny. Em just wanted her human weighted blanket over her.

“I made breakfast,” Dan whispered, lips still glued to her skin. “I’ve got your coffee and toast and that jam you like. Figured you wouldn’t want to get up so it’s here whenever you want it.::

“Huh? You didn’t have to do that.” She looked up at him with disbelieving wide eyes. How could he get up to make breakfast and bring it into her after everything that happened? He did it more often than not when they were in England, but she didn’t think he’d do it that morning.

“You always say that, and I always say I do it because I wanna. Are we gonna have this conversation again?”

“No, not really. Thanks for doing it anyway.” She caught him in a kiss but as she went to move he didn’t let her.

“Don’t thank me. Especially considering it’s gonna get cold cause I’m too comfy to move.”

“Dan…”

“Five minutes.”

Like every morning when Dan asked for five minutes in bed with her, those five turned into ten, then fifteen, and then she lost count. It started with kisses against Em’s neck and her hands running along his shoulders and back. But it ended with their clothes somewhere on the floor, fingers laced and moaning each other’s name. Coffee could be reheated, toast could be eaten cold or remade. But none of it mattered when Dan was inside her, whispering how good she felt and how she was the best girl, giving her another reminder that it was still them. Inside the walls of their bedroom it was always going to be them. If that was all she was going to get, it was going to have to be enough. Dan’s groans and gasps helped silence Em’s ghosts for a little while so she took advantage.

The rest of the day involved Dan looking after her while they had a lazy day. A few small excuses, a rescheduled afternoon with his family blamed on hangovers, and they decided to either stay in the bed or on the couch and do nothing. Dan insisted it was payback for the mess of the night before. Em didn’t particularly care about his reasons as long as she was by his side.

It was how they spent their days in Perth, mostly glued to each others sides except for if Dan was going to Michael to start working on a training plan or see his friends. She started to get used to being a part of his life in Australia. Dan made sure that none of the events were at the farm, always at a restaurant or bar unless it was just his family. Every single time they went anywhere Dan whispered in her ear before they went in that she was the one in charge. Say a word and they’d be on the way home. She was trying to fit into his life just like he was trying to keep her safe, and Em couldn’t thank him enough for it.

She was starting to get used to Perth, relaxing more as she spent more time there. But as Christmas got closer she lost her chill. Two days before Christmas she went through the clothes she’d brought with her and none of them were good enough for an event. She had no idea what a Ricciardo Christmas involved, but none of her outfits were right. She had some cute summer dresses, but they were normal everyday things. She’d wear them to the beach or to lunch or maybe even to dinner with Dan’s friends, but not for a proper day. There was nothing formal like what she’d wear to her family’s Christmas dinners that met her mother’s approval.

Em knew Dan would say she looked good in anything she wore, but she was terrified. All she wanted was for them to like her. The idea that Dan’s family might not like her was scary, and she needed to make sure that she was perfect. She couldn’t ruin it over clothing. Em had hidden most of the anxiety she had around being good enough for them but that night it was too much. Her stomach was in knots and she kept fidgeting in bed. The same page was read over and over, but she had no idea what it said. She pretended it was fine until Dan kissed her cheek, pulling her book from her hands as she jumped.

“Emmy what’s wrong?”

“Huh?” She shook her head and looked over at him.

“You haven’t turned the page in like fifteen minutes, you jumped when I kissed your cheek, and your feet keep moving. You’re overthinking. So talk to me, what’s going on?”

“What if they don’t like me? I didn’t bring anything proper to wear because you kept saying it was hot and I don’t look proper. I should have brought something proper with me.”

“If who doesn’t like you?” The concern in his voice made her want to melt.

“Your family, Dan.”

“Emmy…Baby you know they lo-like you already. Mum’s the one who invited you. Isaac absolutely loves you and is obsessed with you, ‘Chelle made a joke that you’re gonna have to have him on your lap when we’re eating. You can wear any of the dresses you’ve been wearing. You look phenomenal in them. I’m gonna wear shorts so you’ll be fine. What’s this about?” Her head spun. Shorts? At Christmas? No no no. What?

“Huh? Not a suit? Or at least trousers and a shirt? You’re wearing shorts?”

“I’m not wearing a fucking suit, it’s summer. It’s way too warm to do that.”

“Oh.”

“We can head out tomorrow, find a new dress for you if you want. But if you want my opinion you should wear that little red one you have, it’s cute. You look good in all your summer dresses, but red is kinda Christmassy, right?”

“But it’s a summer one?”

“And it’s probably gonna be like thirty. What’s wrong with that?”

Her head was filled with the reminder of the year before, of her mother’s glare at the heels Em made herself wear because if she didn’t she’d barely be allowed into the party. But they were only Primark so they weren’t good enough. And she didn’t have many presents for Dan’s family and

“Emmy. What’s up? Talk to me.”

“It’s stupid. But if I didn’t have changes for the different parts of Christmas Day and if I wasn’t wearing a formal dress and heels and men weren’t in suits then it wasn’t acceptable. Plus I only have little presents not proper gifts, I don’t know what to do.”

“Calm down. It’s ok. All you need to do is turn up as yourself, that’s it. We’re having a barbecue and hanging out by the pool cause it’s way too hot for anything else, I promise. We’ll be in swimwear most of the time.”

The next morning Em was still half convinced she should try to have something proper to wear, but Dan convinced her there was no need. If she wanted to go shopping he’d drive her in and help her choose, but she didn’t have to. She didn’t need to do it so his family would like her, they’d like her anyway. Instead it was a morning of soft kisses on the couch to convince her but Em agreed to wear the red dress Dan liked so much. It had a shallow v neck, was knee length, and the fabric had a white floral pattern. Dan insisted it looked wonderful with the soft tan she’d picked up since they got into the country. Pairing it with black slip on sandals meant she’d be ok. She’d look fine.

Which led her to the freak out of how could she appear at Joe and Grace’s home to stay a few nights without bringing anything as a thank you? She couldn’t do that. So they stood in the Cole’s checkout queue for far too long on the 23rd as Dan watched her pick out her baking ingredients. By that evening there was a berry tart and a three layer chocolate cake packaged up in the fridge awaiting delivery with them. It was entirely stress baking, even Dan knew it. But he didn’t make any comments. Instead he sat on the kitchen counter and watched, stealing strawberries and taste testing her concoctions.

Christmas Eve morning arrived and Em wasn’t as nervous as she thought she’d be. The full day of Dan talking to her about how it was going to be alright and everyone was looking forward to see her had helped. There were still nerves, but she was going to spend a couple of nights with people who wanted her there, wear cute clothes, and she had host presents to give as a thanks for being invited. Really she couldn’t wait.

Plus Dan had made it his personal job to make sure that she was completely relaxed that moaning. It started with slow morning sex, Em waking up to kisses along her shoulder and wandering hands. After that a shower for the two of them and waffles with her leftover berries for breakfast really helped, Em fully relaxed. She double checked that the presents were all perfectly wrapped and packed to go, and after lunch she decided to finally start getting ready for heading over.

Dan was sitting on the side of the bed switching between watching her put makeup on and fiddling with his phone. She knew she wanted to look mostly natural but she put a red lip on to go with her dress. She was put together and ready to go. She could do this. It was going to be good. As soon as she opened her lipstick up Dan spoke.

“You know red’s a risky colour when you consider I’m definitely stealing kisses under the mistletoe.”

“The package says it’s kiss proof. You’ll be fine stealing a peck.”

“Ah my sweet, innocent Emmy. You thinkI’m gonna steal just one little peck?” He grinned and kissed her briefly but filthily, tongue slipping between her lips as Em kissed him back.

“That’s the last one, your entire family will be around.”

“And?”

“And that means your family and kids. So no.”

“We’ll find somewhere, you’re not gonna make me go a full day without a kiss.” He pursed his lips at her but Em ignored them, focusing on making sure her liner was perfect and her lipstick matched it.

“You know you’re ridiculous, right?” It was supposed to be a joke, but he got the look on his face that she knew meant he’d done something.

“Talking about ridiculous, actually-“

“Daniel what did you do?” He went to his side of the wardrobe, pulling out a red glittery box from behind some bedsheets.

“Before you say anything, I did nothing. It was all Santa. Not me.” He handed Em the box and she looked up at him carefully. They’d agreed that he wasn’t getting her a present this year because he’d paid for her flights to Austin and Perth. She never wanted him to ever think that she was friends with him because of his money. None of it mattered to her.

“Dan we said.”

“I know. But it was Santa. And he couldn’t give this to you in front of everyone so it had to be now.”

“What have you done?”

She opened the box he’d handed her carefully, lifting the lid and pulling back two layers of tissue paper to reveal the gifts. The main one was some of the most beautiful lingerie she’d ever seen in her life. It was sage green and lacy, the fabric soft against her finger. The corset wasn’t a proper one, not boned but she knew it’d look amazing. A pair of stockings at the bottom of the box made her realise how perfect it would be.

“It’s nothing. I just wanted—“

“Oh this is pretty. This is really, really pretty.” She lifted the underwear out to let the lace catch the light, admiring the design through it.

“You like it??” Dan sounded nervous.

“I really like it. I mean, I could wear it Boxing Day when we get b…what’s this?” As she moved tissue paper a smaller box she hadn’t realised was there hit off her fingers. Em picked it up and looked at the sleek silver lettering. For her pleasure. When she opened the box there was a light lavender vibrator in the black box. A charging cable was neatly beside it along with a dust bag.

“Look if you don’t wanna use it, it’s fine. If you want to pretend that you never saw it and throw it away, that’s completely fine. But we were talking and you said you’d never tried one, so I thought why not? It could be an option for you.”

Em’s cheeks were on fire as she realised that Dan was doing it for her. She’d barely made it through the awkward conversation when he’d asked her what she liked in bed. It was impossible to explain how bad her sex life had been before him. She’d never thought it was, but the way he acted when she said it was ok for him to not worry about her orgasms had soon taught her the opposite. She still remembered the way Gregory looked at her when she said she wasn’t enjoying their sex life. Now she knew he’d been with Millie that entire time when he insisted she was enjoying herself.

She forced herself out of her thoughts, staring at Dan. He looked worried and she forced a smile. His face relaxed when he realised she was ok.

“Will you use it with me?” She felt like her body was about to rip apart from shakes and nerves as she got the words out but Dan’s grin made it worth it.

“Absolutely. We can do it right now.”

“We have to go to your parents, so when we get back. And thank you. But Dan you didn’t have to. I don’t need presents, you paid for my flights. That was enough.”

“I mean I think it’s technically more for us than just you, so it’s fine. Right?” She grinned at him and leaned against his shoulder for a moment before getting up.

“Get dressed or you’ll be late.” Em started to fix her makeup as Dan looked at her.

“Can I watch you get dressed first?”

“No touching, but you can.”

“You’re killing me here, woman!” It hurt to not just sit in his lap and kiss him but they were already starting to be late. She couldn’t be late for a visit that involved staying over.

As a little nod to his request, Em slicked on a light pink lipstick instead of the red one she planned on wearing before putting on her red dress. The no touching rule was ignored the second she moved past Dan. Instead he squeezed her butt and kissed her neck before going to get changed. As promised he was casual, one of his party shirts, a pair of shorts, and Vans. Effortlessly handsome as normal and Em was jealous of how good his slightly longer curls and stubble looked.

If she was honest to herself all she wanted to do was take her dress off, get rid of the stupidly expensive shirt he was wearing and spend the day kissing him. Ask him to use the new toy sitting in the box. But they couldn’t. They needed to get going. When they were about to head out the door Dan decided to steal a kiss. It was supposed to be just one final one, but it turned into two. Then three. Then Em was pinned against the wall, hands running through Dan’s hair as his hands gripped her hips and waist. She pushed her lips to wherever she could reach, kissing up the bridge of his nose and along his cheeks.

Em would never admit it in a month of Sundays to him, but it was the right decision to not wear the red lipstick. Her whole face would be red. They needed to go. Get in the car and leave, but he was addictive. It was one of the things she adored about him and sometimes hated, how hard he was to leave behind. Every time they said it was the last one there was just one more.

She knew they wouldn’t be able to do this for another two days. The plan was to stay with Grace and Joe for Christmas Eve and Day, so they could be around all the family for the festivities before coming back on Boxing Day. Which meant no touching or kissing, and she couldn’t say no to the last make out session for 48 whole hours. She giggled at Dan’s expression as he moved away, Em using her thumb to clean the sheen of lipstick from his lip.

The one thing she didn’t expect was Dan grabbing her hand when they walked to his truck, and holding it again in between shifting gears while he was driving. It had never been a thing for them until they arrived in Perth. They’d been grocery shopping and picking up last minute presents in a crowded supermarket, everyone out to prepare for the season. Out of the blue there were fingers linking hers, Dan holding her hand while they walked through the aisles. His fingers interlaced with hers until they got to the checkout, and then went back as they walked back to the truck.

Grabbing someone’s hand for a moment in a crowded place was fine. Friends did that in busy places so they didn’t lose each other, especially when one of them was new to a place. You don’t lace your fingers with them. And Em couldn’t bring herself to let it go while she tried to ignore the size difference or how good it felt.

She really did try not to think about it, but it was impossible while his thumb rubbed lazy circles against her skin. He was soft and warm and his long fingers were one of her favourite things in the world. Sitting in the car then she could admit it to herself, she loved him. She loved the way he made her feel about herself almost as much as she loved him. And then the playlist flipped over and a grin spread across her face while she heard the opening fiddle strains of Our Song.

Em didn’t even need to say anything. All she did was look over as Dan was intently staring at the road with a grin on his face to know he did it deliberately. He’d learned pretty early on that a surefire way to cheer her up was to put Taylor on. Em could still never thank him enough for that night in Philadelphia when they’d gotten to see Our Song live without the band. It had been magical. Dan started to sing along with his exaggerated accent to make her giggle. There was nobody else for her, all she could focus on was being happy. The nerves, the worry faded away as she sung with hi, and collapsed into giggles when they finished. Em sang it looking over at him, watching how he grinned and shimmied in his seat as they drove the road back to the city instead of staying out at the countryside. All she wanted was to kiss him silly and start her Christmas Day sharing a bed with him. It’d still be worth it, but it was weird.

She may not have gotten a Christmas Eve kiss from her favourite member of the family, but Isaac wouldn’t let her go and kept kissing her cheek. He insisted on sitting next to her at dinner, Dan on Em’s other side. Dan casually ran his hand along her thigh under the table cloth as they all ate. She joked and laughed along with everyone, getting Isaac to eat his veggies thanks to the joy of stealing from Auntie Emmy’s plate and not even realising what was happening.

The best part about the meal was nobody judged her for her plate of food. Everyone else was eating the Feast of the Seven Fishes, plates piled with seafood that she didn’t particularly enjoy. Instead Grace had handed her a plain one, with pasta and sauce and cheese. She smiled when she got it, getting a “enjoy”.

There was no pressure on Em to try new things. The serving platters were spread on the table for people to take what they liked. If she wanted something and it looked good to her she could have it. If she liked it, great. If not Dan was happy to eat off her plate. Once they started talking and sharing drinks she couldn’t remember why she was so nervous. She knew the Ricciardo’s. She’d spent days with them, relaxing and watching Dan race. This was just another dinner like the ones they’d had before, except here they had a celebration as an excuse.

When dessert came around Grace brought out Em’s cake and tart, placing them in the centre of the table.

“Em made these, so I’m saving the pav for tomorrow. I hadn’t put it together and these are fresh!” Grace announced as she handed out bowls, Joe cutting into the cake first and showing the layers. It was congratulations and compliments towards Em, Isaac grinning as he ate his tart. It felt strange to get complimented for what she’d done by people. Usually she stayed quiet and in the background because she didn’t want to speak too loudly.

Even with the worry that someone would ask questions Em could feel herself relaxing beside Dan. He had his arm resting on the back of her chair, hugging around her shoulders like it was nothing. She wanted to move away but she couldn’t, Isaac on her lap before she lifted him and carried him into the living room for Christmas Eve presents. They settled in on the sofa, Isaac waking up a bit more and looking around.

Em wasn’t expecting anything. They’d welcomed her into their home, offered her somewhere to stay and it was more than she thought. But as stockings were handed out Joe offered one over to her.

“Everyone gets a stocking. We guessed on the pjs, apologies if they’re too big.” She smiled as she opened it, Isaac handed back to Michelle so Em could open it. Inside was new shorts pjs with red and black checkers, shampoo and conditioner, and a mixture of sweets. There was also a new notebook and a smooth writing pen. She couldn’t believe it. It was presents chosen specifically for her. The tiny little gold E in the bottom right corner of the notebook cover proved that for her. It was the middle of summer, she was in Australia for Christmas, and there was a group of people together who genuinely liked each other and somehow liked her. It didn’t feel real.

As midnight hit it was hugs and congratulations, everyone heading towards their rooms as they were shooed away with the promise that Santa was on his way so everyone had to go to bed. For the first time in far too long she didn’t have to suppress a shudder as someone who wasn’t Dan hugged her, smiling at Grace and Joe and returning the hug. Michelle and her husband got a one armed one that she gave willingly. It felt magical. And it wasn’t weird that the biggest hug was from Dan. She wouldn’t kiss him in front of everyone, but once everyone was going to bed he followed her into the guest room she was staying in.

“Two hands or the hug doesn’t count, right?” Em asked as he pulled her into a hug. His head leaned against hers and Em pushed her head into the spot where his neck and shoulder met. Alone she was able to run her hands along his warm back, pulling him close as Dan nodded and squeezed her waist. “That’s my huggy boy.”

As he hugged she didn’t want to let go, holding onto him in the privacy. Dan pushed kisses to the top of her head and her shoulder as much as he could. Em was just glad to have him there. He made things easier for her. She’d come with him and been so nervous but it was easy with him. Terrifying, but easy. She looked up at him and saw the smile, reaching up on her toes to kiss him.

The smile on Dan’s face as he realised what was going on and what she was doing would sustain Em forever. He was contagiously happy as they kissed, and Em was so close to telling him everything. But for the first time in years she was going to have a good Christmas and she couldn’t say no. She couldn’t ruin that on herself. So she held onto him as he kissed the top of her head and pretended everything was fine. She could do it.

“You need to go back,” Em whispered, afraid of breaking the spell between them.

“Can I stay here?”

“You need to go. What if your parents find out?”

“It’ll be fine. I’ll go back to my room early in the morning. Please?” She couldn’t resist him and he knew that.

“Fine.” It was one more kiss before she went to get her pjs on. They were curled up in bed and Em heard him barely whisper.

“Merry Christmas, Emmy.”

“Merry Christmas, Dimples. Thanks for inviting me tonight,” she murmured before pushing a kiss to his shoulder and cuddling in to sleep.

“Any time, Wrinkles. It’s gonna be the first of many.”

Taglist

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offbrandkyoya · 7 months ago

Text

95 Epilogue

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Falling in love isn’t as easy as they make it to be. Movies, books, shows, they all have a happy ending for the couple. Sometimes the happy ending isn’t cliche and unrealistic. And yet, you believed that was all true because you fell in love quite easily.

You didn’t think you’d fall hard for Scaramouche but you did. And somehow your dumb self was attractive to him. Silly but you’re happy. You both are. Ei became the manager of 5WIRL for a while and they gain more popularity. Scaramouche didn’t like the idea of his mom being the manager but it was like a bonding moment for them.

After a while, 5WIRL disbanded. DCKZ continues to thrive though. You remember hearing the news about that from your boyfriend and you couldn’t understand why. Scaramouche told you that they were all tired and the fun is over. That it was time for the boys to move on. You respected their decision but still cried over it.

Though you’re happy because Scaramouche isn’t as busy. You’re also happy because the disbandment didn’t cause Scaramouche to lose his love for music. Now, he sings for fun and denies every record label that approaches him. You laugh at him a lot for that.

Spring is here. The perfect season to paint. You sat in your chair and let your brush guide you. Years have passed and you guys live in a house instead of an apartment. About time since you guys have been together for so long. You hum while painting by the window in your bedroom. The door opens but you don’t look up, concentrated on your picture. A pair of arms wrap around your stomach. “Yn, i bought food.” “Yay!” You kiss Scaramouche on the nose before looking back.

“So that got your attention?” “Of course. Sorry but i love food more than you.” You joke and he pouts. “Maybe you should marry the food instead?” “Maybe i should!” You put your brush down on the water cup and grab his hand. You observe his finger that wore the golden ring. “Sorry Scara, this doesn’t belong to you.” You say and slide the ring off him. Scaramouche rolls his eyes. “You’re so annoying.” “You love me!” You slide the ring back on.

“If you did lose the ring then I will marry someone else.” “Damn.” Scaramouche rubs your shoulder and sits down on the bed. “Now i want the wedding to happen right now.” “Patience my dear Scara.” You say in a low voice which makes him laugh. “Anyways, I’m singing at this coffee place. Wanna come?” You hop off your stool. “Duh! I’m excited now!”

Scaramouche stands up. “Okay then let’s go.” You freeze. “Right now?” “Yeah.” You hold your face in panic. “I-I’m a mess! I’m not ready! I need to take a shower and change outfits and-“ “You look perfect.” He says and kisses your forehead. “Come one.” He grabs your hand and the both of you exit the house.

Once arriving, Scaramouche immediately sets up while you sit down at the front. You decide you might as well order something so you buy a coffee and a muffin to go along with it. You munch on your snack and the door opens. You look at who it is and immediately smile wide. “Aether! Xiao!” You get up and walk towards them. “Hi Yn.” Aether says but when you finally get close to them, you squeal. “And hi to you Xia!” Aether holds a toddler with teal hair and golden eyes, looking at you curiously with a thumb in her mouth.

“Aw she’s so cute!” You say while bringing your finger to her. “She is.” Xiao comments. “The fact you guys have a kid without being married outstands me.” Heizou enters the room with Kazuha right behind him. “You guys actually came.” Xiao says and Heizou puffs up his chest. “Why of course! I’ll never abandon my friend!” “Shut up.” Xia looks up at Aether and the blonde shakes his head. “Papa doesn’t know either.”

“Sit with me!” You say and the boys follow you to your table. “Picked out your wedding outfit yet?” Heizou asks once he sits down. You frown, “Not yet but I’ll find one! Trust!” Xia claps her hands and you point at her. “See, she trusts me!” “She’s a baby.” Heizou states. “A very cute baby.” Xiao kisses his daughter’s cheek which makes her laugh.

You frown, “I want a baby now. Xia’s so cute.” “Didn’t you almost lose her last time?” Kazuha brings up and you blush. “Look! I didn’t lose her! We were just…playing hide and seek…and she was very good at it..” Heizou crosses his arms. “You’d make a horrible parent.” “I hate you.” Xiao pokes his baby’s cheek. “When YN throws the flowers, make sure to catch them, Aether.” The blonde blushes. “W-What? That’s so soon!” Heizou looks at the couple in confusion. “You guys LITERALLY have a baby?”

The door opens once more and Venti enters with Zhongli and Childe holding hands behind him. You notice Ei is with them as well. You turn around to your fiancé and he noticed his mother but went back to do what he was doing. You frown but turn back around. “Looks like we made it in time.” Zhongli says as the four stand right in front of the table. “Yeah, Scaras pretty slow.” You comment and you can feel glare piercing behind your head.

“I’m kind of excited.” Childe says as he swings his and Zhonglis arms. “But we’ve seen him do this before?” Zhongli tilts his head and Childe giggles. “Yeah but it’s still an exciting thing to witness.” He kisses his cheek and Heizou gags. “I can’t believe this! I’m surrounded by couples!” Kazuha laughs. “Maybe you’re the problem.” Heizou pouts then laughs also. “You want me so bad.” “Mm, in your dreams.” The two stare into each others eyes with pink cheeks then laugh again.

Ei walks over to her son who was checking to see if everything is in perfect condition. She clears her throat, “Scaramouche.” His shoulders jolt but he shakes off the scare and looks at her. “What?” She smiles “Good luck.” Scaramouche’s eyes widen a little. He sensed a bit of warmth coming off her that made his heart swell. Even so, he kept his moody expression. “Okay, thank you.” She walks to sit at another table with the three boys following after.

Scaramouche glances at you and you give him a thumbs up with a cute smile. He smiles too and grabs his guitar to start. He sits on the stool and taps the mic. Your stomach bubbles as you feel the excitement jitters take over you. Xia starts to get excited too and begins to clap her hands and make incoherent noises. Aether shushes her, bouncing his leg up and down.

“You’re all probably tired of me but I’m here to sing another song.” “That’s my best friend!” Childe shouts and everyone laughs. Scaramouche rolls his eyes then looks directly at you. “I’m about to get married soon.” He says, “My fiancé has always given me to courage to continue to sing. I want to sing for you my entire life. I love you, Yn.” You blush and fidget in your seat. “I love you too, Scaramouche.” The crowd gushes with Heizou calling you guys “cringe.” Scaramouche begins to play with everyone enjoying the show.

You watch him full of love. His voice is so soothing and the way he plays the instrument makes your stomach churn. Some people entered to shop just to listen to Scaramouche sing. It makes you happy that he has so many fans. You hear the door open and you look to see it’s Kaeya with his brother and Albedo and Thoma. Diluc looks at Kaeya and put a finger on his lips which Kaeya responded by rolling his eyes.

They go and find a table to sit but you wave at Thoma and Albedo before they go ahead. They wave back and follow the brothers. You look back at Scaramouche and listen to his singing. He’s such a dream. You’re so happy to have fallen in love with him.

After a while, he finished and everyone claps with you being the loudest. He walks to you and kisses you. You smile and once you pull apart, he whispers in your ear, “I love you.” He looks at you with a smirk. You laugh and stand up to hug him. “I love you too.”

“Sorry we came in late.” Kaeya says once he, Diluc, Albedo, and Thoma made their way to your guys table. “It’s fine”. Scaramouche tells them. “We weren’t super late though.” Thoma corrects but Diluc huffs, “Well maybe if SOMEONE had the time right we’d be here right on the dot.” Kaeya groans, “I said I’m sorry! I really thought it wasn’t till like 10 in the afternoon!”

Scaramouche chuckles, “You’re crazy if you think im going to play that late. Sleep in my best friend.” Albedo chuckles, “Well we’re here now and that’s what matters.” You place a hand on your hip. “Question, if I throw the bouquet, would you catch it?” Albedo blushes. “M-Me?” “Yeah.” “Well, I don’t know, I mean I’d try but I really wouldn’t want it…” He panics a little. “N-Not that I don’t want to marry Kaeya! I just feel like…um..”

You laugh, “It’s okay! I’m just asking. What about you Thoma?” The blonde thinks for a moment. “I think I have a chance. I’m pretty athletic.” Dilucs face turns as red as his hair. “W-What? You’re serious?” Thoma looks at him with confusion at first then blushes also. “W-Well, it’s hypothetical, of course! Besides, we just started going out, it’d be too soon.” “Not to soon to have a baby though!” Heizou butts in and Xiao kicks his leg from under the table.

All of you decided to stay at the coffee shop till the night despite Scaramouche wanting to go home. You managed to convince him though. One by one they left. First were Xiao and Aether since it was Xias bedtime. You attempted to take her home with you but Aether slapped the back of your head. Venti left because he wanted to sleep and Scaramouche never felt so jealous in his entire life. Heizou and Kazuha left early too to your surprise. Turns out they were going to watch a movie and that it was a date night.

You wished them luck and you felt happy knowing those two are getting even closer. Scaramouche noticed his mother grow tired as her head would bop up and down. He told her she can go home but Ei didn’t want to since she wanted to be with him. After more pushing, Ei was going to leave. Though Scaramouche stopped her to say, “Thanks for coming.” You’ve never seen Ei smile so much before. She left and you kissed Scaramouche’s cheek as a reward.

“I have to go home. Klees waiting for me.” Albedo says, looking at his phone. “She’s grown. She’ll be fine!” Kaeya rests his chin on top of his boyfriend’s head. “You’re going to turn out to be a horrible dad in the future.” Diluc states and Kaeya glares at him. “I have to get going too.” Thoma speaks up. “I have to work tomorrow.” He pouts and you frown with him. “That sucks. I wish you luck, Thoma.” “Thanks Yn.” You both hug. “It was nice seeing you!” You let go. “It’s going to be busy thanks to the wedding.”

“Congratulations again.” Diluc smiles and you smile too. “Thank you!” Diluc flicks Kaeya’s forehead. “Let’s go.” “What?! Me too?!” “Yes, now come on.” Kaeya groans. “Ugh, fine!” You bid them all farewell. “Tell Klee I said hi!” You tell Albedo after you guys hug. He laughs, “I will.” The four of them leave and alls that’s left is you, Scaramouche, Zhongli, and Childe.

Childe rushes to Scaramouche and pulls him in a grip tight hug. “I’m so proud of you! Look at you singing in front of crowds and now you’re getting married soon! Next thing you know it, you’re having ten kids!” Scaramouche’s face turns red as he tries pushing Childe off him. “We’re not having ten kids!” “Yet.” Childe responds and lets go of the smaller.

“Can I be the godfather?” “No.” Zhongli laughs. “We should leave you both alone now. Come dear.” Childe blushes and holds his hand. “Okay okay. I really am happy for you though, Scaramouche.” Your fiancé smiles and laughs. “I should be thanking you.” “Why?” “For being my best friend.” The ginger blinks and his eyes water. “Oh my god you DO care about me!” “Go home.” You and Zhongli laugh then Zhongli and Childe finally left.

You wrap an arm around Scaramouche’s. “Let’s go for a walk.” “What about my stuff?” You shrug, “We’ll come back.” He raises a brow. “Alright.” You exit and you both walk down the sidewalk, admiring the night sky. You rest your head on his shoulder. “I’m happy.” “Me too.” He kisses your head. He looks up at the sky. “The moon’s beautiful tonight.” “It is.”

You look at each other. “I love you.” You both say at the same time, causing you guys to laugh. “All that singing made me hungry.” He says. “Same here. What do you want to eat?” “Maybe a sandwich.” You tilt your head. “Just a sandwich.” Scaramouche nods. “Yeah. What else do I need?” You giggle. “Okay. Where do you-“ “No.” Scaramouche stops walking and so do you. He looks directly in your eyes. “I want you to make it.” You blink then giggle again. “Alright. I’ll make you a sandwich.” Scaramouche smiles and you continue walking together under the night sky.

- IM FREE!!!!

- guys it’s over!! Woo!!!

- I am working on the next smau and maybe Friday? I’ll post what it is 🫡

- it’s been in the works for a while so I HOPE you guys like it!!!!!!!!

- I’ll give a heads up that it is NOT genshin impact. I’ll talk about that more later when the time comes so yeah!

- thank you guys so so SO much! I love you all :3

🏷️ @sakiimeo @coquettemaiden @rmiyuki @kur44pika @theblueblub @jxxji0309 @dreamsofminnie @ohmyfinggod @redactedhimbo @kunisbeloved @akagism2 @sketcheeee @thefandomcrow @beriiov @thenightsflower @yukiipc @scaraapologist @scarletttcroww @samyayaya @crucnhicereads @monaypo1 @feiherp @myaaones @warcelia @hangecanweholdhands @yuminako @valiryyz @screechingxiaolover @tiddieshakeshownu @ilovechuuyaa @d4y-dr3am3r-blog @dazaisfavgf @swivy123 @ganyusbrideee @sagegreenthinks @the-left-glove @wonderland-fan @kylexzz @kaoyamamegami @whycantscarabereal @rvoulte @eunchaeluvr @lxkeeeee @silvermah @baby-bread-in @yelleloww @magica-ren @itzblazekun @im-inlovewithy0u @featuredtofu @anastaxiah @ask-aph-tanzania @drmyday @what-just-happened-huh @xtobefreex @v4lerixxq @duckyyyx @hannoahs-third-eyelash @brain-r0tt @iota1111 @accio-fandom @kaitfae @tikitsune @salmonieea

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annisassintchaska · 1 year ago

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Daddy's Always Here: Lewis Hamilton X Black!Reader

NOTE: Lele is pronounced Lee-lee

The night is very cold as the time was approaching Christmas, so everyone had to be covered up to keep warm. Lewis was able to be at home during the week to spend some time with Y/n and his daughter, Leah Hamilton; however he had to leave for the last few races of the season. The little Hamilton was very sad that her daddy was leaving again, but promised to still cheer for him while he was on the track.

It was a couple of minutes after 8pm when Lewis returned back to the apartment that was given to him for his stay while in Barcelona as he had some extra things to go over. He decided that since he was lonely from leaving Roscoe at home, he would call to speak with his family. Lewis retrieved the telephone from his pocket and clicked on his Y/n's number to start the facetime; however after a the call was answered he was surprised to see his daughter instead of his wife. "Hi daddy, how are you?!" Asked the fully-energized toddler. "Hi baby, daddy's doing great. How are you and where is mommy?" Lewis asked confused to why his wife was nowhere in sight. "Mommy went to the kitchen to clean up the dishes. Should I give her the phone?" The smart baby asked as her father nodded his head yes.

Little footsteps could be heard until a voice broke out "Leah, you can't be running on the tiles with socks. You'll fall and hurt yourself" Y/n softly spoke to her daughter as she lifts her onto the counter. "Sorry mommy, daddy is on the phone and he wanted to see you" the toddler explains as she showed her mommy the phone. "Hi babe, you look tired. Why are you out in the cold?" Y/n questioned her husband. "Yeah, I'm a bit tired. Just got back from the track and thought I'd check in to see how my beautiful family is doing" Lewis answered causing Y/n to blush. "Well Sir Lewis, if I must have you know, your family is doing quite fine just sad because we miss you being here with us" She replied making a smile appear on his face.

"Daddy, when are you coming home?" Leah asked sadly as she took the phone from her mother's hand. "Why are you asking pumpkin?" Lewis asked suspiciously as she had never asked that particular question before. "I just wanna see you. You go away very quickly after coming home and we don't have enough time for bedtime stories or cuddles anymore cause you are never at home. Daddy, do you love me?" The toddler asked on the verge of tears, shocking both parents as the baby had never mentioned feeling this way before. "Of course I love you Lele, you're my daughter. As you know I have to work to be able to take care you and mommy so I'm away a lot which is why when I'm at home, I try to spend as much time with you as possible. Please don't doubt my love for you my baby. I love you with all my life" Lewis explained as his heart was breaking at the words he heard.

"Tell you what, daddy doesn't have work tomorrow so how about you both stay on the phone until you fall asleep. He can read you a bedtime story and you both can talk about your day at school and your drawings yeah?" Y/n suggested making the toddler become excited. Throughout the time, Leah showed her daddy some pictures she drew and painted in class as they spoke about the meanings behind them, then they talked about her new teddy that grandpa Anthony gave her and what she named it. Eventually things winded down as Leah was put into her crib with the phone because Lewis wanted to speak with his baby before she fell asleep. "Leah, I want to let you know that I love you very much and I know it's hard for you to understand now that I'm away most of the time but I promise you that you and your mommy are always on my mind. I wish I could take you with me everywhere I go but that is impossible due to you having school. I want you to know that no matter where in the world I am from home, my heart is always with you. Daddy will always be here ok?" He asked as he daughter nodded her head in response. They moved onto the bedtime story where Lewis read until Leah fell asleep when Y/n came to get the phone.

"She really needed that talk." Y/n said as she walked towards her bedroom. "Yeah I know. I'll be coming home on a three hours flight tomorrow for the Christmas break. So we'll be spending a lot of ime together with her alright?" Lewis responded as Y/n became excited to have her husband back home. "Yeah, I'll make sure to keep the secret. I love you Lew" Y/n said as Lewis replied "I love you too Y/n/n" before the call ended. This specific night, Lewis went to sleep feeling jittery at the mere thought of reuniting with his family.

#lewis hamilton #lewis hamilton imagine #lewis hamilton x reader #lewis hamilton x you #lewis hamilton fanfic #lewis hamilton fluff #lewis hamilton x oc

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lokisprettygirl · 2 years ago

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Under his influence (Post Avengers! Loki x female reader)

Read chapter 2 here // Series Masterlist

Chapter 3

Summary : You obsess over the cuddle you shared with loki then you both share a joint together.

Warning: Smoking, recreational drug use, heat, so much of heat, bodyshaming comments, Loki being a soft baby, reader is insecure about her body, reader's mom is critical about her whole life, CUDDLING

Note : Song I used in this chapter. Now I know it was released in 2019 buttt I am going to use it anyways and you guys are going to ignore it the way we are ignoring TVA's existence. It also poetic in a way because time may or may not be linear in this fic 👀 Listen to the song first if you haven't, it's bomb, it's my go to whenever I'm drunk.

"Sooooo what does it mean if a guy cuddles you but you're not in a relationship or ummm dating or uhhh anything really" you asked your coworker Lyla. She was one of the trainers at the gym you were working at currently.

"Why are you asking? Are you cuddling with someone?" She asked you excitedly and you gave her a smile.

"Me? Cuddling? A guy? No no..noo no. Just a friend.. asking for a friend who's doing the cuddling..the cuddler is doing her i mean..you know what I want to say" She gave you a weird look as you said that.

"Yeah I figured..I mean aren't you allergic to men?" She rolled her eyes

"I'm…not allergic to men alright" you raised your voice so a few clients looked at you, the guy who had asked you out four times already did as well so you lowered your voice down a little "I love men..love themm like my own brothers and fathers and I hate the men hating we see these days" she gave you a questioning look as you said that. "Yeahh alright alright..just tell me what it means" you crossed your arms.

"What means what?" Attention span of a frog

"Man. cuddling... Friend?"

"Ohh yeah, tell your friend that this guy might be into her. I mean men usually don't initiate that sort of intimacy unless they're really into someone especially if it comes even before the sex does" she told you.

"Oh definitely no sex" you chuckled "That's what she told me"

You woke up this morning and you were squished against his body, completely squished all into him. Somehow you managed to get out of his hold without waking him up, though you did manage to fall down on your ass. What were you thinking rolling away from the bed that's the size of a toddler's cot?

He was a deep sleeper though and you just wanted to leave the apartment before he'd wake up but of course you bumped into him as you came out of the bathroom. He just smiled his usual angelic smile and wished you a good day at work as if you two didn't spend the night all squished together.

"How's the diet going? You seem even more chubbier today" you snapped out of your thoughts as you heard Lyla. She was an YouTube fitness model so she always stayed in shape and you ? Well you had tried to become one but nobody cared about the educational content you were making. You didn't have a response for her, you had been eating a lot of junk these days so this was clearly on you.

As you reached home after a long day he was watching something on the tv so you looked at the screen. He had a dark green tunic on that was probably made from some Asgardian fabric, a black trouser underneath, hair still wet from the shower.

"Captain released a statement that he had an altercation with me after I escaped, he claimed that I had morphed into him and was trying to steal the scepter"

"Whattt?" You looked at him confused

"Exactly what I'm saying. What is he talking about? I was here, I did not pretend to be him, as if I'd ever want to morph myself into him" you shook your head in disbelief as he said that. His accent always got thicker when he was excited or agitated.

"Why not? He's hot" He gave you the typical I don't think so look as you said that. You didn't understand a thing he was saying though.

"Something is happening..I clearly smelled the cologne of two Anthony Starks and now there are two Captains" you walked towards him as he huffed in annoyance, you placed your one hand on his shoulder to comfort him then you fluffed his hair up.

"Ummm how about you stop watching news? Let's start with that alright?" You grabbed the remote from him and turned the tv off, probably shouldn't have taught him to use it in the first place. He raised his brows in response, the crinkled lines on his forehead made you smile.

"I'm going to shower then you can do my lasagna" he smiled as you said that but you just heard yourself too "I mean we can eat each other" you took a deep breath after that mortifying slip up. Again. The cuddle sesh has infected your brain with some sort of virus "We can do…dinner..for fucks say" you mumbled as you stormed towards the bathroom.

Once you came out, you put on a tshirt and a pair of trousers. You could feel his eyes on you and it made you nervous.

"Do you wanna smoke weed or something?" You questioned him so he nodded immediately "Wow didn't have to convince you at all huhhh?"

"Is it a recreational mind altering herb? We have such herbs in Asgard, but it makes one rather foolish when consumed for a prolonged period of time, very detrimental for health" he said proudly.

"Ohhh your behavior makes so much more sense now you know" you chuckled as you looked for it in your closet and he rolled his eyes in response, he enjoyed this back and forth bantering with you.

You had two joints, where did the other one go? You made a mental note to look for it later because right now you just needed a moment of relaxation and distraction from that cuddling sesh you couldn't stop thinking about.

You came back to him and he looked at you curiously as you placed the end of the joint between your lips and lighted it up. The smell of the weed reached his sense, making him squint his eyes. Gah-dorable.

"Let's do it on the bed" you were saying all the wrong things today. You got off the couch and quickly hopped towards the bed. Oh he wanted to do it on the bed too, preferably the smaller one but he knew you didn't mean doing you exactly.

"So we can finally burn it down for good?" He retorted and you turned to look at him, feigning a hurt look on your face.

"It's my baby..how dare you?" he raised both of his hands up and took a step back "Because of the window..i don't want the smell to reach Mrs Geller" you said as you opened the window behind your bed "Okay the apartment in the front is still tenant-less..yayyy" you took a few hits and finally passed it to him. You didn't think he'd be able to smoke it because he just seemed so posh and regal and princely and you didn't think he had ever smoked anything in his life but turned out he was a pro.

You were already starting to feel the effect of it and you wondered if he did too? Passing the joint back and forth only made you hyperfocus on his lips. The lips that you wanted on--

"It is strong, though I never envisioned a lady like you to be into such a poisonous thing"

"It's just..grass " you said to him so he smiled, he was lying on the bed front side down, keeping himself all propped up on his elbows while you stayed seated with your back against the headboard "A grass that makes you feel floaty and drowsy.. besides I do it occasionally" That was probably a lie.

In order to avoid his intense gaze and that stupid smile on his face you decided to play music on your phone. Ofcourse you had to choose a song that screamed sexy.

Baby you can, ride it oh yeah..bring it over to my place

He put his hand forward so you passed the weed to him, he laid down on the bed as he took a puff. Did he actually want to burn the bed? You watched the smoke going up before it disappeared into the air.

And you be like

"Baby, who cares?"

But I know you care

Bring it over to my place

"Careful with the ashes" you said to him as you could see that it was about to fall right on his face. He suddenly clicked his fingers and you watched the particles of ashes beginning to drift in the air, as if that wasn't enough he made them light up again with his sorcery, it looked beautiful, reminded you of fireflies. You couldn't help but smile as you crawled on your knees to have a closer look, he sat up and watched that look on your face that he had come to adore so much.

You don't know what you did, did to me

Your body lightweight speaks to me

"Beautiful" you giggled as you tried to touch one of them.

"Isn't it?" He said so you looked at him. Always with the intense gaze.

I can make it hurricane on it

Hunnid bands, make it rain on it

Tie it up, put a chain on it

Make you tattoo my name on it,

You looked at him and his intoxicated eyes made you want to hide, this wasn't real right? You were just too high and romanticizing things. Yup

You took the joint away from him and he sat up, you were still holding it between your fingers when he grabbed your wrist and twisted it towards him. Placing the joint around his lips he took a longer drag and when he let it out it hung in the air as if he had made the time halt somehow, he waved his fingers around and you saw the smoke turning into the foggy portrait of a woman. It was a portrait of you.

It made your eyes well up with emotions that you felt were indescribable.

Make you cry like a baby, yeah

Let's GoPro and make a video

Shut the fuck up brown.

"I'm speechless"

"At last..Thank the norns" you gasped as he said that, you picked up a pillow and hit him a bunch of times but he wasn't even defending himself. He was just giving you that killer smile with every attack.

You don't know what you did, did to me

Your body lightweight speaks to me

"This was the best thing ever or what?" you huffed in excitement as you got off the bed.

"It is" he mumbled in his mouth as he watched the distance grow between you two. You were hungry now but he couldn't stop staring at you.

I don't know what you did, did to me

Your body lightweight speaks to me

The lyrics spoke to him, he had never felt such a yearning before, what were you doing to him? Whenever he wanted a sexual release he found it with an equally willing partner, but it was never filled with such palpable tension, he knew he didn't crave just sex from you. He was enchanted by you and he didn't know why. You were just a mortal, he have had his moments where he used to look down upon your kind once.

He still wanted to look down but only when you'd be on your knees in front of him with his co—

"Come here" you yelled from the kitchen space so he pressed a stop button on the filth that were starting to corrupt his head.

"Turn up the music ..I need it in my life yeahhh" you sang along and danced on your spot as you reheated the lasagna you had made. He made his way into the kitchen and leaned himself against the refrigerator as he watched you be goofy. You did funny over the top steps to make him laugh and your eyes teared up again as he threw his head back while laughing. Why were you getting so freaking emotional over him for doing such a normal thing? He was just another run of the mill alien god.

Wait what?

You both sat down to eat finally but you couldn't stop giggling, your phone has been continuously ringing so you picked it up.

"Hey mommm…mummmyy" you mumbled, her voice sounded unclear and then you noticed how you were holding the phone upside down.

"Are you drunk?" She asked you.

"Nooooooooo..what?" You were zoning out alot so you just hummed to whatever she was saying. You did remember that she would visit the day after tomorrow and you did feel worried about it especially with a certain god slash alien in your apartment but you figured you'd think about it tomorrow. As she hung up you relaxed again.

"Remind me to diet again from tomorrow, goddd she's sooo going to comment on it" you mumbled so he looked up from the book he was reading. It definitely wasn't from this planet.

"About what?"

"Me being fat"

"You're not fat"

"And you're the king of England" he tilted his head at the comment "Oh I thought we were playing that game where we had to tell each other lies"

He sighed as you said that.

"I would never lie to you" he said sincerely. He didn't appreciate how you felt so critical about your physicality. He understood it because he wasn't any better but he still abhorred that you felt this way about yourself.

"I'm not kidding, okay? The other day we were making this video at the gym where the male trainers were supposed to lift the female employees and this guy couldn't lift me because I have gotten so heavier than before" you blabbed as you put down the plate of lasagna after eating.

"Did you perhaps ponder over the fact that this male worker of yours is too frail to carry a woman?" He asked you

"Yeah righttt" you chuckled so he put his book down and got up, in a matter of seconds you were in his arms, didn't even have a chance to react.

"See?"

"Ohh shush..I'm sure you're strong enough to carry a rhinoceros"

"So this rhinoceros must be a small and dainty little creature from your planet i assume. Much Like a Cat?" You chuckled as he said that. As he put you down finally, you both brushed your teeths, separately. And then he conjured that princely bed for you. None of you were going to mention the cuddling right? Okay.

"I'm going to sleep on my bed tonight, okay? You take this" you laid down on your bed before he could protest or get an opportunity to manipulate you with his sad scrunchy brows.

The lights turned off but you couldn't fall asleep, how could you when you were thinking about him constantly? You had your back turned against him and that's why you didn't see it when he stepped down from his bed.

"It's strenuous for me to fall asleep on that bed, my body is habituated to this one" you heard his voice so you turned slightly to look at him staring at you, he looked giant from this angle.

"I'm not moving" you huffed and turned on your side again.

Your eyes widened as you felt the mattress dipping because of his weight.

"It is definitely acceptable for me" you gasped as you heard his voice behind you, you could feel his body next to you.

"What are you doing?" you turned to look at him so he placed his large hand on your cheek and shushed you up by placing his thumb on your lips. How dare he?

"Shhhhhh..now sleep" you were going to say something but his thumb went past your lips so your pulled your head back in order to slip the digit out of your mouth. He only chuckled in response.

"You're being inappropriate"

"Am I?" He responded as he scooted even closer and just like yesterday his arm went around your waist but before that he made sure to hook your leg over his own, he pulled you closer to his body and your breath quickened again. You can't handle such close proximity, it made you want to do bad things to him and with him. The bubbling scorching heat. Noooooooo

"Sleep well" he whispered as he placed his head over your breasts again, would he be able to feel your nipples getting erect? You'd die with embarrassment if he could. The vibrations you felt from his words went straight to your nether region.

"Can I lower the temperature?" He questioned you.

"What?"

"The temperature. May I please lower it down a notch?" Oh now he wanted to be polite?

"Yeahhh?"

The heat usually bothered him but he didn't do it for the heat this time, he just wanted you to submerge into him. He wanted you to be so close to him because he really did enjoy sleeping in your arms last night. It felt safe.

As it got colder you sneaked your arm under his head just like you did yesterday and he couldn't have been happier.

"This is better" his voice came out all whispery and it made you bite on your lips, you were so close to moaning his name or something at the least "Are you uncomfortable darling?" You gulped as he questioned. You have never been more comfortable in life but you weren't going to tell him that.

"Noooo"

"I know"

The audacity

He raised his thigh up a little and now his hard muscle was snuggled perfectly between your crotch. One flex and you'd probably burst into an orgasm. God you felt nasty, maybe his thoughts were pure unlike yours and he just wanted to cuddle.

Your other arm rested on your own body in an awkward manner so he brought his hand up and interlinked his fingers with yours. In what world was this an appropriate relationship between two friends slash roommates slash alien- human buddies? Maybe in Asgard it was.

Or maybe just maybe he was as touch starved for affection and these physical touches as you were.

Once your hormones relaxed, you were able to fall asleep, it wasn't that hard actually when you were holding onto this giant soft comfy teddy bear in your arms.

However you woke up to your door buzzing incessantly.

"Y/n? Y/n??" And you heard your mom's voice. Oh god.

"Get up get up get up" you tapped your hand on his chest and he smiled as he looked at your puffy little face before you yelled at him again.

"My mom is here..get upp" you said to him as you jumped off the bed and started to grab his clothes and other things he had scattered all over the place.

"You said she'd come tomorrow..as in tomorrow?"

"I know I don't know.. go hide in the bathroom or something please" you whispered to him. You didn't want her to think you had started to talk to yourself now.

"I can just make myself invisible"

"Whattttt?" Your voice got higher but you didn't have time to dwell into it at the moment.

He clicked his fingers and then he disappeared in the shimmery waves, took you a second to process it.

"I'm still here, you just can't see me" you took a deep breath as you heard his voice.

"Oh okay okay..stay quiet" you looked at him or at the spot he was before he disappeared.

"I'm next to you" you jumped on your spot as he spoke again.

You quickly made your way to the door and you were met with your mom's angry looking face.

"Hiiii..hey what are you doing here..you're..24 hours early" you hugged her and she looked at you confused.

"No honey. I told you yesterday that I'd come tomorrow"

"No you said you'd be here the day after tomorrow"

"No I said yesterday that I called you yesterday and you didn't pick up. I wanted to tell you that day that I'd be here the day after tomorrow" you looked at her confused as her words fried whatever working brain cells you somehow still had in your skull.

"Why it's so cold in here? Are you trying to freeze yourself" she shivered and rubbed her arms with her palms.

"Sorry..ummm how did you..who buzzed you in?"

"Ohhh i met your neighbor downstairs, Mrs Geller, what a nice lady, we had a cup of coffee" she said to you so you nodded. She looked around the house in disapproval. Well you were going to clean it today. You wondered where Loki was at the moment.

"Sooo how come you are here" she took a whiff, ignoring your question altogether.

"Is a man living here?" You burst out laughing as she said that..

"You're funny..so funny ..funny funny mom" she glared at you as you cackled like a witch "Why would you say that?"

She walked towards the sofa and grabbed the book Loki had left last night and it made you grit your teeth so harshly you feared they'd break.

"Since when do you read?"

"I uhhh mom –" she looked at you with and her eyes got teary with plenty of emotions.

"Ohhhh I'm so happy for you…finally you managed to keep a man? Oh Mrs Geller was right you're seeing someone" she hugged you tightly. Mrs. Geller needed to shut up one of these days.

"Mom–"

"Ohh by the way everyone is in Minesotta and I didn't bring them here because I knew your house would…look like thissss" she made a face as she looked around before she turned to you again "So we'll be here in the evening, just prepare a simple dinner okay?" She told you excitedly.

"By everyone you mean your boyfriend and his daughters that I love so much?" You gave her a tight lipped smile and she glared at you. The sarcasm definitely didn't sit right with her. It never did.

"He's my husband now.. it's been months, don't be disrespectful..okay I have to go..I'll see you in evening" you nodded as she said that. "Oh and bring that guy over, I'd like to meet him"

"Mom I just met him like two days ago" you lied to her so she thought about it.

"Doesn't matter..Just invite him for dinner"

As she left you put your head down on the door and sighed deeply.

You looked at Loki as he reappeared, he had a sympathetic look on his face. Fake boyfriend trope? Were you about to go through another rom com cliche?

Serves you right.

Now you couldn't wait for the dinner so the only decent friend you had in life could witness your humiliation by the hands of your step father, his perfect daughters and your own mother.

🥴🥴🥴🥴🥴🥴🥴🥴🥴🥴🥴🥴🥴

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