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footygirl114 · 1 year ago

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Todo Sucede por una Razón (Leila Ouahabi x Reader)

Soooo I am sorry this took forever, but life has been a bit chaotic and writing has not been at the front of my mind and this has been sitting unfinished for months. I finally got some motivation to finish it, and I hope it has been worth the wait! and without further delay part #3 to my Esposa Series

Knowing you needed to get out of the changeroom as soon as you dropped the truth bomb was your first priority. Almost on auto pilot your brain remembered where you used to hide out at the training facility and when you opened the door to what you remembered as a storage closet, you let out a sigh of relief noticing it was still a storage closet. Dropping down to sit in the corner leaning against the shelf, you letting your head fall back as you think about what you just did.

You feel a bit of a weight lifted off your shoulders, knowing that you finally told the team the truth. Or at least some of the truth, you know you owe them more of an explanation but at the moment you just needed to breathe.

You don’t know how long you end up sitting there, before the door opens and before you have a chance to say anything Alexia squeezes through the opening and closes the door.

“I told the team to start warm ups” she says and sits down on the floor across from you, stretching her legs out so her feet are at your hip.

Watching her settle you ask her “how did you find me?”

She gives you a small smile and says “we used to hide out here together when the older girls would start making us chase balls.”

“you remember that?” you ask her with a small smile at the memory.

She nods and answers “of course Y/N, you were my best friend. I am so sorry I didn’t try harder to protect you.”

“It wasn’t your fault, I could have confided in you.” you tell her with a shake of your head.

She leans forward and places her hand on your shin as she says “I knew something was off with you, I should have pushed harder to get you to talk to me”

Shaking your head again as you feel the tears gather in the corner of your eyes you tell her “I wouldn’t have told you then, I was so scared of what he would do and I refused to put you in a position where you’d have to choose. Then when everyone found out and turned their back on me I just didn’t know what to do anymore.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t try to talk to you after, and I believed what they told me” Alexia says to you quietly. “I wish I could go back and do it differently and I would have made you talk to me”

“it’s not your fault Ale” you tell her quietly.

She shakes her head and says “I didn’t even try to reach out though, it’s been over 5 years Y/N, I am a terrible person for that.”

Knowing how bad she feels you decide to move on shaking your head you tell her “should we go join the team?”

“yeah probably, I’ll try to be better now to you” She says.

“I would like that Ale” You tell her with a small smile as you move to stand up. She follows your lead and follows you out of the closet. You know as you head out to the training field that things with Alexia are better but they are no where near where you once were with her. You decide that you need to take things slow and see how this plays out.

You both join training and it moves along like nothing happened, the team knows not to bring anything on the training field and you are glad for that. You get through the day with no incidents and you are glad when you are roomed with Ona again and get to fully let your guard down when its just the two of you finally in your room after team dinner.

You flop back on to your bed and before Ona can say anything there is a knock on your door and you meet her eyes knowing exactly who it is. Ona goes to open the door as she says “I am going to take a shower and let you two talk okay?”

As you nod she moves to open the door and you hear her greet Leila and then disappear into the bathroom closing the door behind her. Leila rounds the corner with a “hola hermosa” as she climbs onto your bed and settles on her side right beside you.

She wraps her arm across your hip and leans her head beside yours propped up by her arm, as you are lying on your back you lean up and press your lips to hers in greeting before falling back, she doesn’t let you get far as she follows and connects your lips again. You kiss her back for a moment before you pull back, she follows and you give her a small smile as you tell her “I can’t believe what happened today love”

She smiles at you and moves her hand up to tuck a piece of hair behind your ear as she asks “how do you feel about it?”

Shrugging your shoulders you tell her “I’m not sure, but I do know that things aren’t going back to how they used to be”

“what do you mean hermosa?” she asks you.

“Alexia found me” you start “we talked briefly but I don't think we’re okay, things are still weird.”

She smiles sadly and leans down and presses a kiss to your forehead and says “it’ll take some time Y/N”

“there’s something else I need to tell you” you tell her nervously.

She pulls back and looks down at you as she asks “you can tell me anything”

“we need to keep this hidden still” you blurt out, and at the look on her face you quickly continue “I need the team to get to know me, and decide if they like me for me. Not because I am married to you love.”

The look easies on her face as she tells you “You know I will do whatever you need me to do, but for the record I do not think they’d only like you for me”

“I know you would, which is why I need you to trust me on this one. The conversation I had with Alexia was weird and I need to dig deeper into it, before I drop this bomb too.” you tell her.

She smiles and says “I love you, and if this is what you want then I will do anything you need of me.”

You smile at her and say “Te amo” as you reach up and pull her head down to connect your lips again.

She deepens the kiss and adjusts so she has one leg between yours and her arms on either side of your head, as you wrap your arms around her head and tangle your fingers in the hair on the back of her head. You are so lost in the feeling of your wife that you forget about Ona in the bathroom, and when she walks out and lets out a “Ew! Guys come on!”

Leila pulls back and falls back on the bed beside you as you both let out a laugh at the look on Ona’s face and you tell her “sorry Ona”

“I’m not” Leila adds on and you smack her in the stomach with a laugh.

Ona groans but sits on the end of your bed and asks “everything all good?”

Leila groans as you tell Ona “we need to keep us a secret for a bit longer On.”

“what! Why?” she exclaims.

“things are still weird and I want the team to know me for me not because of Leila” you explain again.

She nods and says “I get it, but I do not think it’l be an issue, you are awesome Y/N!”

Leila chimes in at this and says “I agree you are awesome”

You let out a laugh at the two of them and tell them “thanks for having my back guys.” At this Ona smiles and jumps on the bed to settle between you and Leila and you know that no matter what happens you have these goofballs in your life and on your side.

Camp goes off without a hitch and this is the first one since you’ve been brought back in that you feel like you may just start to belong with the team. It’s a good feeling and you continue with it through the first week back in Manchester after the break. After a successful win against West ham, where you scored a screamer from 20 yards out to secure the victory, the last thing you expected was for your phone to blow up with instagram messages.

The most surprising was that it was Patri, who had reposted your goal on her instagram tagging you in it with flame emojis. All the notifications were from other teammates on the Spanish national team, they were all commenting about how amazing your goal was.

When you got home that night you checked your notifications and again and realised you had a new text message from an unknown number. Opening it you were floored at what the message said.

Unknown: Hola Y/N, Its Patri here. I got your number from Ona … don’t hate her for giving it to me… I wanted to reach out and apologise for how I have treated you, I should have gotten to know you before judging you. I hope we can start over and work on becoming friends.

Finishing reading it you cant help but have a small smile on your face. Knowing that telling the truth felt like a weight off your shoulders, but having the Spanish girls reaching out makes it even better.

Y/N: Hi Patri, thank you for the apology but its not needed. The past is the past and we can work on being friends.

Patri: That is great to hear Y/N, I am a great friend just so you know…

You cant help but chuckle at this as this seems like something Patri would say.

Y/N: I have no doubt about that!

Patri: The best way to start our friendship is you teaching me how to score goals like that banger you scored today

Y/N: haha I can’t reveal all my secrets too early Patri!

Patri: worth a shot, ha get it!

You chuckle at your phone at that one, and cant help but feel like this is the start of a great friendship. You continue texting with Patri for the rest of the night, and you fall asleep with a smile knowing this is the start of rebuilding your relationships with the Spanish girls.

The following weeks are spent much the same way, most of the Spanish girls reach out whether its on instagram or text. It helps to ease your mind as you know another international break is on the horizon. Before you can plan for that you have to worry about the next club game, a big clash vs Chelsea being played at Old Trafford.

Luckily Man city played on the Saturday and your game was on the sunday so you know Leila would be in the stands. Both teams had played mid week cup games so you haven’t seen your wife in person in over a week.

The first think you did after the walk out, standing in line facing the crowd was to scan it where she said she would be to find her. What you didn’t expect was to see her sitting with Laia, Vicky, Deyna, Patri, Ataina and Mapi. You knew Barca played friday but you never expected them to be here.

Both Patri and Atiana had been texting with you off on and for the last few weeks, but you haven’t had a conversation with Mapi since it all went down. You smile and gave them all a wave and then refocused and got back into game mode.

90 minutes of hard playing later and you came out with a 3-2 win with a last minute winner. You were on cloud nine, after celebrating with the team and singing some autographs you finally made your way over to the Spanish girls.

“Y/N holy shit that was an amazing game!” Vicky is the first to chime in.

Followed by Aitana with “You are a beast out there!”

And Patri with a “I am still waiting for my lessons.”

You smile at them all and say “thank you for coming!” before you can say anything else you feel Ona come up and the attention shifts to her. You move to the side and feel a hand on your arm and turn to see Mapi.

She tilts her head and asks “can we talk?”

You nod and move a bit further down with her and you say “thank you for coming all this way”

She smiles and says “It was worth it Y/N, I need to do this in person. I am so sorry for everything you went through Y/N and I wish I handled it so differently”

You smile and put your hand on her forearm as you tell her “Maps its okay, I know you would have done everything to protect me but I refused to get in the way of anyone else’s dreams.”

She looks at you with a confused look and asks “what do you mean?”

“if you had known about it, you would have done the unthinkable to protect me probably also ruining your chances at the team Mapi. I know my dream was over but I wasn’t going to let him ruin anyone else” you tell her with a small smile.

She smiles sadly at you and says “you are the most kind soul Y/N, the fact that you hid this to protect us is crazy. We could have helped you.”

“Mapi, its in the past now. I worked past it and I am not back on the team now, I just want to rebuild what I lost Maps” you tell her.

She smiles and pulls you in for a tight hug and she whispers in your ear “You never lost us Y/N, we all just needed to have you in our lives to see that”

You smile and pull back wiping the tear from under your eye and you say “you are a big sap now Mapi”

She chuckles and punches your arm saying “It’s cause I am old and soft”

You both turn and make your way back to the group with a smile. You meet your wife’s eye with a smile and wink letting her know everything is okay.

The next weekend you had a derby game vs City. You didn’t love playing against your wife, but at least playing on the same day meant that you would be able to spend the night together. You walked out beside her with a smile and a wink and you settled in for a tough game.

It was about 60 minutes in when city got a counter off a corner which meant your centerbacks were all up. You chased back and caught sight of a blue jersey beelining it toward the back post, you adjusted course and saw the path of the ball going towards them. You tracked it and jumped for the header knocking the ball and knocking into the city player. You both tumbled and you landed hard on them.

When you heard the pained yelp you immediately realised it was your wife who you landed on top of. You quickly rolled off of her, and got on your knees beside her as she was curled in a ball. Before you could do or say anything you were being pushed back by Hemp with a “get off of her.”

You tried to push back against her, but you felt the gloved hands of Mary pull you back hard away from the commotion. You only had eyes for Leila on the ground in pain as the chaos ensued around you. All you could think about was get up please please get up. You could feel yourself spiralling the longer she stayed down.

It took Ona getting in your line of vision for you to break the sight you had of your wife. “Y/N look at me, she’s okay. You knocked the wind out of her”

“she’s still down Ona, how could I do that to her” you tell her softly.

She puts her hands on your cheeks guiding your sight to her as she says “Y/N you were doing your job, playing defence properly. Its part of the game and she’s okay.”

As she finishes this you hear clapping and immediately look to see your wife on her feet with her hands above her head catching her breath. Her eyes lock on you and winks at you. You hear the ref blow the whistle to try to get the game moving but you move closer to Leila and place your hand on her stomach.

“I’m sorry love” you tell her.

She smiles and says “I would have scored there babe your lucky you got there first”

You chuckle and shake your head, watching as she’s forced out the sidelines. The rest of the game finishes without incident and it finishes 0-0. You couldn’t be upset about the tie when you know that you could have seriously hurt your wife.

You leave the field knowing that she will end up at your place after the game like you planned. You cant help but pace at the front door waiting for her to show, if she shows.

“Y/N, stop pacing she said she was in the training room longer than she thought but she’s on the way.” Ona says from the couch watching TV.

“She was in there longer because of me Ona, she might hate me.” you tell her.

Ona immediately laughs at out loud at that and says “she would never hate you”

Before you can respond there is a knock at the door and you rush to open it and immediately have Leila in your arms with a “I am so so sorry love”

She chuckles and says “Babe its okay, I am fine. You just knocked the wind out of me and bruised me a bit”

“Bruised?” you ask

“bet its not the first time” Ona says at the same time.

You turn and glare at Ona as Leila chuckles and says “hi Ona, good game”

Pulling Leila with you into the apartment you say “don’t be nice to her love”

“why not?”

“she was teasing me before” you whine and you hear them both laugh at your pout. “Both of you are not so nice” and you turn and move into your room jumping on your bed on your back covering your eyes.

You can hear them talking then movement towards your room. Keeping your eyes covered you listen as the door opens and closes softly, a bag drops on the floor then the bed creak as you feel your wife straddle your waist.

You keep your eyes covered waiting as she says “are you going to look at me babe?”

“maybe” you say.

“Oh, what about now?” As you hear her moving around on you “You may want to look now babe”

“Why?”

“I may have lost my shirt, and a bra presses on my ribs” she says with a chuckle.

Immediately you uncover your eyes and are met with the sight of your wife shirtless and your eyes zero in on the bruise on her ribs from you. Moving your hands to the mark you ask “does it hurt love?”

She smiles “not really babe”

You lean up and press your lips to the bruise multiple times asking “how about now?”

“it doesn’t hurt at all now” she says with a low voice.

You smile up at her and press your lips to hers slowly. You pull back after a few moments and say “we cant though, Ona is here”

She pushes you back and leans down saying “I sent her out for pizza, we have half an hour” and she closes the gap between you pressing her lips to your hard. You follow her lead and forget the day losing your self in your wife.

The following day the three of you pack up to head down to SPain for another national team camp. This time you are excited and you can’t wait to see the girls again, the only one that hasn’t reached out was Alexia and that made you nervous. As you are sat on the plane between Ona and Leila you smile and say “so I think I want to tell them about us this time.”

They both turn to you and Leila says “yeah?”

Ona says “finally.”

you chuckle and respond “yes, I am not sure how or when, but I think it’s time. But we have to do it on my terms, when I say okay?”

Leila smiles and grabs your hand with an “of course babe”

Ona nods in agreement and you smile putting your head on Leila’s shoulder for the rest of the flight. When you walk into the hotel your stomach drops when you hear that you will be sharing with Alexia this camp. You split up with Ona and Leila, as you open the door to your room with a deep breath.

Alexia is sitting up on the bed closest to the window as she sees you she sits up and says “Y/N, Hi”

“Hi Alexia” you say as you put your bag on the bed closest to the door.

“I remembered you like the bed closest to the bathroom, but if you want to switch we can?” she says a bit nervously.

You smile and say “this ones perfect thank you Ale” you see her relax at that as you say “Ale, its okay. I think we need to talk though”

She nods and sits on the bed closer to yours. You mirror her on your bed and she starts with “I missed you Y/N, You were my best friend and I needed you.”

You move to sit beside her on her bed and wrap your arm around her as you say “I missed you too Ale, and for the record I needed you too”

She smiles and says “Y/N, do you think we can ever go back?”

You nod and say “yes Ale, it’ll just take some time”

She smiles and says “I made coach room us together, cause I needed this”

“I am so glad you did” you tell her.

Before you can say anything else there is a knock on the door and you both realise you need to go for team dinner. You spend the rest of the night sitting with Alexia and Mapi and the three of you start joking around like you used to and you know that everything will be okay.

On the third day of camp Alexia had to stay back at camp to do media when the rest of the team was back at the hotel. Having the room to your self, Leila comes over and you both decide to shower together. You lost track of time and are both just drying off in the bathroom with the door closed when Alexia comes back.

A knock on the door and a yell of “hola Y/N I am back!”

You meet Leilas eyes with a smile and she smiles back whispering “guess we need to tell her?”

“One sec Ale, be right out.” You lean forward and press a hard kiss to Leilas lips whispering “Te amo.”

She smiles back and slaps your ass as you turn to open the door both of you wrapped in a towel. You walk out into your room, not realising you missed the extra voices with Ale too wrapped up in Leila. That you are shocked when you see Mapi, Patri, Aitana and Ona all sitting in your room.

Alexia says “Hola Y/N-“ then pauses as Leila walks out behind you and runs int your back. “Leila?” she says.

Ona bursts out laughing at the confused look on their faces as Leilas moves beside you grabbing your hand with a smile.

“what is going on?” Alexia asks you both.

You smile and say “So I would like to introduce everyone to my wife” and you hold your entangled hands up for them to see.

All of their mouths drop open and you Leila and Ona laugh at their reactions.

“Your reaction at your game makes so much sense now!” Mapi blurts out.

Everyone laughs at that and you feel Leila’s arm snake around your waist pulling you to her as she presses a kiss to your temple. Standing there with your wife and your friends all together again makes you feel healed and you know that you truly believe everything happens for a reason.

#woso #woso x reader #woso imagines #woso imagine #leila ouahabi imagine #leila ouahabi x reader #Leila Ouahabi #espwnt x reader

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jomiddlemarch · 3 months ago

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A letter always seemed to me like immortality

Everyone Diana wanted to write to was dead.

Walter, what seemed like a dozen lifetimes ago, at Courcelette if his last letter to Rilla was to be believed; Diana had often wondered whether he had already considered himself a dead man walking before the day of the last battle, the boy he’d been destroyed beyond repair or rebirth.

Aunt Leslie, whom she’d found it easier to talk to than her own mother, perhaps because she’d also had a brother she adored. Perhaps because she’d left Glen St. Mary and never missed it.

Perhaps because Leslie liked whiskey better than tea, newspapers better than poetry.

Una, who’d been too pale since she barely survived nursing her father and stepmother through the Spanish flu, who’d been someone everyone underestimated or decided to treat as a martyr, who would not have judged Di the way her own sisters would.

Rosalind Foyle, whom she’d had to ask about as discreetly as she could, counting on her general reception as a cheerful and polite Canadian, not much like a bossy Yank, to yield her the few details she’d squirreled away. An artist, a mother. A beauty. Better-bred than her husband, well-liked, she’d had elegant hands and never forgot to wear gloves.

Diana only wore gloves to operate and if an actual gale was blowing in a blizzard.

Who had thought all she wanted was to go to France, to make something of her life that would last her the rest of it. That might make the rest of it of a duration she could bear, an end her family could cope with or justify why she’d never return to PEI.

Dear Una, You’re the best one to write to, I think. The one who’d mind the least, like it the most. The least awkward for me to imagine reading this, the least likely to tell me something I don’t want to know. I leave for France in a few weeks and now I don’t want to go. Or rather, I do and then I don’t. There’s something holding me in England now, something to do with Walter, a mystery. Men, who’ve died. A man who’s alive, very much so.

A man I want to know. His name is Foyle. Christopher. He knew Walter, said Walter knew him as Kit. Everyone calls him Foyle or sir or Superintendent. Christopher. Oh Una, I thought this was behind me. That it was something I’d never have to deal with, some sort of consolation of being a woman in a world missing a generation of men. I thought I wouldn’t know this and that was a relief, watching you and Rilla and Nan. Faith. Mary. I thought it was fair, that I’d never know heartbreak like this. And now there’s Christopher. A half-dozen dead men. Walter’s poem. And France, waiting for me. I have to go, I know that, but how do I go wanting to stay here, a place I can’t call home. Wanting to come back.

Christopher. I like writing his name because I oughtn’t say it often. That’s what a young girl does, lovesick, dull, embarrassing herself, making everyone around her smile behind their hands unless it’s Miss Cornelia, scolding you for making a fool of yourself and for what, a man? What’s a man worth, I ask you—can’t you hear her say it, tart, ready to wash her hands of us— I don’t care what a man’s worth, Una. Just Christopher. And I can’t answer the question, not to satisfy Miss Cornelia or you or myself.

You’d write me back something comforting, if you could. If you hadn’t died before your time, twice over, after the telegram, after the epidemic. I should have insisted you leave before me or with me. I should have told your father you were worth more than all the rest of them put together or made Dad send you away to convalesce, somewhere warm, where you might have lolled about, turning brown in the sun. I’ve said I’ll go to France and sew up the men who need sewing up. Cut off the parts that need cutting off. I’ve said that’s my life, my vocation, as important as Mother’s poetry, as Walter’s, as the babies Jem delivers and the columns Ken Ford writes, and it must be but now there’s murder and Christopher to contend with, a dozen mysteries at the heart of me. For it seems I’ve a heart after all, Una. It beats and beats and leaps when it oughtn’t. It will break, I know it shall.

Christopher. I’ll take a dream in lieu of a letter. A flower, out of place, in lieu of a word. Answer me if you can, Una. You can’t and I know that, but I’ll still hope, silly Di Blythe.

She put the letter in an envelope but left it unsealed and unaddressed.

Left the envelope in an otherwise empty drawer of the desk in her flat. If she didn’t return from France, well, that didn’t bear thinking about too closely. If her papers were sent back to Canada, her father would likely burn the letter rather than let her mother see it unless if gave it to Nan, thinking her twin would derive some comfort and, happily married to Jerry, the bonny wife and mother Di had not made of herself, could weather any pang it gave her.

If somehow it ended up with Christopher, he’d know how she’d once felt.

She could make that happen, writing his name across the white field of the envelope, but that was too much like a dare, and for all she was her father’s daughter, she still had her mother’s wise fear of the fey.

She’d written his name enough. She’d hope she’d come back to say it.

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valscodblog · 21 days ago

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-ˏˋ♥̩͙♥̩̩̥͙♥̩̥̩ ⑅ 𝕯𝖎𝖆 𝖉𝖊 𝕸𝖚𝖊𝖗𝖙𝖔𝖘 ⑅ ♥̩̥̩♥̩̩̥͙♥̩͙ˊˎ

Alejandro x OC

Warnings: Vulgar language, mentions of sexual themes (no smut but like...talks of having sex-), major mentions of death bc this Holiday revolves around death, descriptions of a character's death, i headcannon that Alejandro had a little sister who died to terroriest and that's why he joined the special forces.

SOOOO IT'S NOVEMBER BITCHESSS AND I'M MEXICAN SOOO!!! I'm writing about day of the dead and what MY family usually does for it. So...welcome to my family's herritage!

also, disclaimer: I always fall asleep when the fucking holiday starts bc i stay up until 3 am backing con mis tias-so i just wrote sum random during the ending-

Tags: @needa-sum-luvn @thebunnednun @writing-with-moss @seconds-on-the-clock @staytrueblue @karlachismylife @tendermanismybaby @devil-in-hiding (if you want tagged just let me know in the comments!)

Dia de Muertos...Day of the Dead. The one and only day Maria truly looked forward to. She always went all out for it-because she has lost so many loved ones it felt wrong not to. Una fiesta, Una Ofrenda...todo. She loved it all...and her love for the holiday only got bigger when she married Alejandro. Who, of course having lost many people he loved as well, asked if they should get a bigger ofrenda-to which she said yes. In short, let's just say...it took up a whole small room in the house.

"Maria-Mi Amor...we have a lot of familia, no?" Alejandro said, his arm wrapped around Maria's back. She laughed and shrugged. "Ohh, Si...but I like a big family! As long as, you know...they like me too-" "Mi mama loves you, don't worry, she's just old and well, a little judgy." "Aww, it's okay, Alejandro. I love your mother, she's sweet, really," Maria said, loosing herself of his grip and saying, "well, if we're going to take food to your Papa y Mi hermanito, I have to get ready-you too." Always and forever the early bird, this one, Alejandro thought smiling. He nodded. "Claro que si, mi alma. Go on, get ready. I'll be in in just a second." He stood, facing the Ofrenda, and soft smile on his face. "...Mi hermanita would've loved her," he mumbled gently. They even shared a name, his sister and her. Marita and Maria...ha. Funny, He thought ad he walked out of the room.

He walked into the bathroom and saw Maria doing her makeup-Skelton style in honor of the holiday. He smiled and asked, "think you could help me do mine, Mi Vida? I'm no very good at the art stuff." Maria didn't reply, but she did tap her foot twice. An old habit she used when she couldn't talk. Meant yes. So Alejandro decied to do his hair in the mean time, throughly brushing it since they were hosting a huge ass party later that night and Maria would've given him la chancla for not brushing it. He split it on the side and smoothed it.

Maria made the last night on her face and nodded. Her hair was n't going to be up tonight. Oh no, it would be down. She took the brush from where Alejandro had laid it down and ran it through her hair. "Just let me brush my hair and I'll do your face paint, Amor." "Claro. No rush." Maria looked at her husband and blinked. "No rush? I have to get cooking soon, and you said you wanted to visit the graves before we started!" and this is what made Alejandro scared of his wife-unlike most women, Maria could argue whilst doing things and not lose track of her thoughts or actions. No, she'd be performing whatever task perfectly in even more so Spanish.

Alejandro put his hands up an surrender. "Okay okay, yo-" KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK! "...Alejandro Juan Pablo Vargas-" "No, I didn't invit anyone earlier than you said to! I don't know who's at the door." "well go answer it, you idioto!" "ayy, okay! I'm going, dios mio!" Maria sighed heavily as Alejandro walked off. He answered the door and Rudy was there, smiling as he stood in a full mariachi outfit. Alejandro blinked. and then blinked again. Y otra ves. "...Rudy? Que paso?" "Nada-just thought I'd drop by to see how you two were doing." Alejandro sighed and whispered, "She's a little...stressed, you could say-" "ALEJANDRO! WHO'S AT THE DOOR?" and both men jumped.

"Rodolfo!" he called, back, yaking Rudy inside of his house. "Save me, por favor." "...I...Don't think i can save you from tu esposa, Amigo. You married her-said your vows before God and everything." Alejandro sighed and rested his forehead against Rudy's shoulder. "Yo seeeeeee." he groaned, before getting back up. Maria came out with the face paint and said, "Just as I thought. Both of you don't have face paint. C'ere-ahora!" Rudy listened and walked over. "Pretty makeup, Mari." "Aww, grasias, Rudy." and she sat him down on the couch as she readied the paints.

Alejandro sat down next to Rudy and Maria started on his first. "Prolly would've helped if you shaved first, Amor..." Alejandro put and eyebrow up. "Ey? I thought you liked my stubble?" "I do, I do, it's just in the way of the paint. It doesn't look as smooth as mine...ay, oh well. All the ladies don't need to see you looking good anyways because your married." and Rudy laughed, so Alejandro. Maria gave the pair a smile and continued to paint her husband's face. "...hmm, do you want it plain or sugar skull?" "...whatever you think, Mi Luz."

and so Maria started painted little colorful swirls and dots on his face. Once she was done she did the same to Rudy-matching with Alejandro because he requested it. "You know every skull is different, right?" "Yo se-but Alejandro's looks good. Muy beuno."

Once they were all done, Maria quickly cleaned up and ran into the bedroom to throw on the first dress that came to mind. A simple yet elegant black dress with red, light yellow, and gold marigolds. She then added some skull earrings and elbow long black gloves. She chose a traditional hat with a black veil and, with this addition walked out of her room. Once back in the living room, Alejandro nearly choked on his own spit.

"...Maria...Maria, que-que es esto?" He asked softly, rnning his hands up and down her arms lovingly. She smiled, knowing how he meant the question, and said, "What I'm going to wear." It hugged Every. Single. Curve. The dress did, and it left Alejandro drooling like a mutt. "Mi-Mi Amor, por favor...how come you didn't wear this to our wedding!?" He blurted, and Maria laughed, "Ayy, Ale! I'm not going to wear black to a wedding! Plus-the theme was White and Blue! Our favorites." "Well, Cariño...I dunno whadda say, you look stunning."

Maria giggled, "Ay, Alejo. Such a way with words you have...no wonder why I love you, hm?" and, out of now where it seemed, Alejandro tired to kiss her. He always asked but jeez-this time he didn't. "The makeup, pendejo!" "Ayy, to hell with that! My wife looks like a fucking snack I could devour in one whole bite!" "Mi Amor-Rudy's right there!" "So? He's heard me say worse-" "Alejandro Vargas!" Maria laughed as she pushed her husband away, re relented and sighed. "Fine-I'll wait until we're alone in the shower. Then I'll fuck you-" "VARGAS!" "Hmm? Mi Amortia, Senorita Vargas?" "Cállate!"

Maria laid down three conchas and two cups of flan. Her brother's favorites. She smiled and said, "Hola, Gordito..." Alejandro snorted. "You called him that?" "Alejandro he weighed eight pounds when he was born. Everyone called him that." "...Explains." Maria smiled and whispered, "He also used to sneak food at random times over at our father's. He was the favorite there." and Alejandro laughed. "Oy-Alejandro. Donde esta su hermanita?" "Ahh...Marita is...aqui." He pointed a couple of rows up and Maria's vision landed in a small little headstone with the name "Marita "Sol" Vargas." Maria smiled gently and asked, "Older or younger?" "Younger..." "Mhh..." They stood in silence for awhile before Alejandro rubbed Maria on the back and said, "Don't we have to get cooking?" "Oh shit-your right!" and then they walked to Alejandro's little sister. Well...her grave, more like. He laid down two chicken legs and a three pieces of 'pan de muerto.'

"Hola, Mi Solita...Como estas?" he murmured gently as he did so, Maria smiled. "Cute name for her...was she bright?" "Ooh, Si. Smart too. Very smart...I miss her." "...beuno, you know she's not gone right?" "Yo se, Mi Vida. She's in our hearts...and will still be here after we're gone if we past down her story to our kids, si?" Maria nodded and rubbed Alexandro's shoulders. "That's right...yeah...You wanna stay here for a little while longer?" Alejandro nodded. "Yeah...I do...you can-" "Me too." And Alejandro relaxed and wrapped his arm around his wife's torso.

"AYYYY, MARIA!" Sandrea squeeled as she threw her arms around Maria, Maria hugged her back and grinned. "It's been so long Rea!" "Ayy no, pero Si!" and both ladies laughed. "Maria, como estas?" Alejandro's father asked, Maria nodded and let the older man take her hand and kiss it's knuckles. "Muy bien, grasias, Senor Vargas." Hector nonded and Alejandro's mother glared at her husband. It wasn't a secret she didn't really appreciate how he acted with other women. Alejandro quickly walked over and said, "Ma! Hola!" And put his arms around Maria's waist. No secret that Alejandro didn't like his father either.

"Ayy, Mijo! Bien, muy Bien! Feliz día de muertos!" She said, smiling fondly up at her son. He smiled back and let go fo his wife to hug his mother. His father sized him up and huffed. "Eres grande nino, ¿no?" Alejandro rolled his eyes. "No, Papa. Soy Chiquito." His father scoffed. "Hpph, okey!" and walked away as if he owned the place. Maria could see Alejandro fuming and quickly said, "Uhm...Senora Vargas? Quedes un poco de comida?" Alejandro's mother smiled at Maria and shook her head. "Ay. no...Uhmm...Diet!" she said, and Maria's eye twitched. Maria knew that Alejandro's mother knew she was fluent in Spanish but his mother always seemed to speak English to her because she used to live in the US-and even then they spoke Spanish to her in Texas! Maria just smiled back and nodded. "Okay!"

Alejandro had followed his father the moment Maria began to talk to his mother. "Oye-Puto." Hector turned around and quirked a brow up. "Que?" "It's not a secret that I don't like you, is it?" "...I guess not, no." His father was, by default, on hundred percent Mexican-he just grew up in Florida and therefor didn't know much Spanish. He could understand it though. "Well-I'm tolerating you for one fucking night only, Pendejo! Solo uno noche! Fuck it up and you'll never get to see the kids." "Pfft, what Kids? You'll porbaly end up getting them killed, like your sister-"

"Hector! Qué carajo?" Alejandro's mother shouted, waking her husband. He grunted and glared at Alejandro. "Just remember...your in my house, Cabron...Y mi casa no son tu casa." and Alejandro walked away, fuming. His eyebrows scrunched together-that is until he say Maria. Dancing and having fun with her (and only trusted) family members. "Mhh...Mi Vida, que pasa?" He asked, slipping behind her and taking her cervesa. She laughed gently and said, "Nada..." "Mhh, okay...I told my dad off, finally." "We heard." "...Good. Tio pedro needed to hear that." "Ha!"

Maria turned around and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Wanna dance conmigo?" "Oh, Claro." His arms went around her torso and they started to sway, pausing every now and then to sip off of Maria's beer.

As the sun went down, the party got louder and bigger and then, as soon as it was dark out, everyone flooded the streets of Las Almas and los ninos ran around with sparklers and other handheld noise makers. Maria giggled as some of her younger cousins joined in the fun with their friends. "Tia Maria...do you think I'll see Titi this year?" Maria's littlest cousin asked. Trevor. He was around four, she thought. Titi was a hairless dog as old as time that had passed the previous year. Maria hummed and shrugged. "Well if we do...we won't see him like we did in this life." "Huh?" "He'll be back...but stronger and more playful! He won't act like an old dog...oh no, he'll be acting like a little puppy!" "Really? Why?" "Por que...Será un Alebrije-a spirt guide."

and Trevor grinned and ran off. Maria giggled softly and watched the kids play and felt her heart fall, just a little. "Tres anos...y no ninos...tsk tsk, no es beuno..." she heard from behind her. She didn't turn around, knowing it was Misses Vargas talking. "Ma, por favor! Lo estamos intentando!" Maria blushed at the lie Alejandro told his mother and thanked god she had painted her face. "Alejandro-Por favor. If that were true you'd have at least two of them running in the streets by now!" his father said, and Maria groaned quietly. Why were Mexican families like this?

The yelling went on until the stroke of midnight, which was when Maria really got into festive cheer. "Alejandro-Alejandro Vamanos!" she said, grabbing her husband's arm and running out onto the streets. They ran and ran until the reached la plaza, where they saw Rudy with he new girlfriend. "Oye-Rodolfo!" Alejandro called, waving over. Maria waved too, Rudy and his girl waved back but then Alejandro and Rudy had to hold onto their hats becuase of such an intense wind gust. "Ha ha! It's my sister callin' me stupid!" Alejandro joked, but he was grinning happily. Maria was too. "No-es mi hermanito saying he likes you!" she joked back, and she and Alejandro laughed together for a whole minuet and a half.

It was these kinds of nights that made Maria realize she loved Alejandro...to an amount that words couldn't describe. She looked up at him. He wasn't looking back, he was shouting over the crowd to Rudy, who was shouting back. But Maria gazed at her husbaned and whispered the words, "You really did save me...didn't you?"

Alejandro looked down at Maria and asked if she was drunk, she shook her head and He smiled at her. "...Could i get that beso now, Mi corazon?" "...hm, i dunno, Mi Amor.." "Por favor Mi Linda?" "Mhh, claro que si."

He leaned down just as another gust of wind blew and this time...the mariachi bands started playing their music and the dancers started dancing along with the crowd. Alejandro lost his hat to the mercy of the wind, but crared about un sombero when he was kissing his ermosa esposa?

"Lo se..." "Heh heh, y yo tambien, Mi Amor...yo tambien, Mi Pistolita."

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training4theapocalypse · 1 year ago

Text

A Nest of Vipers (Cormac McLaggen x Original Female Character - Slytherin)

Rating: Explicit 18+

Word Count: 4.3K

Warnings / Tags: Smut, Secret Relationship

Summary: Una Montague wouldn't be caught dead dating a Gryffindor. Luckily for her, the feeling was mutual as far as Cormac McLaggen was concerned.

A/N: Dear god, please forgive me for what I wrote while ovulating. First time writing an OFC but I think it's still as hot as reader-insert. OFC and McLaggen are both 18. Also I just want to say that I fucking hate JK Rowling and am gleefully bastardising her work.

Masterlist

Tag list: @countlambula, @ratsys, @aweidlich, @navs-bhat, @stainedpomegranatelips, @chiaraanatra, @xxvelvetxxxx, @ohnoitsrosie, @dracosisteer, @daisydark, @intense-sneezing, (let me know if you want removed/changed at any point btw!)

Chapter 1: Smudge

The Slytherin common door shut with a thundering echo. Una Montague looked up from her Astronomy homework and locked eyes with Meredith Prewett. Uh-oh.

Professor McGonagall had asked Sabine to stay behind after Transfiguration that day and judging by the way her high heels stomped across the stone as she stormed towards the group of sixth-years sitting by the fire, it had not gone well.

“You’re in my seat,” said Sabine Zabini with a cutting glare.

Pansy Parkinson sprang up without argument. “Sorry Sabine. Let’s go,” she added to her friends who hastily packed up their things and made themselves scarce.

Una and Meredith rushed over from the little alcove at the lake window as Sabine sank into the onyx wing-backed chair with a woeful groan.

“Sab, are you okay?” fawned Meredith, perching on the arm of Sabine’s chair.

“If I ever see that old hag again, it’ll be too soon,” she hissed.

Una sat down on the hard marble table in front of them. “What did she want?” she asked. When McGonagall had asked her to stay behind, Sabine had told Una to go on without her, and so had she made her way down to the dungeons and found Meredith studying in the common room.

“She told me if I want to sit my Transfiguration N.E.W.T., I’d have to start taking remedial Transfiguration lessons with her.”

“No!” gasped Meredith. Una didn’t say anything. She knew from sitting beside Sabine all throughout the previous year that she was lucky to have even made it to seventh-year Transfiguration. But the first few weeks of term had made it apparent that she was not keeping up with the curriculum.

“Well, of course, I told her where she could stick her remedial Transfiguration.”

“You didn’t!” said Meredith. Sabine caught Una’s eyes before rolling hers.

“Of course, I didn’t, Meredith. No, I thanked her very much for the kind offer but told her I’m withdrawing from the class. Obviously.”

“Oh, Sab,” Una groaned. “You should have just done a few extra lessons with her.”

“Ugh, as if.”

“Who am I going to make fun of her hideous hat with now?” Una smirked, trying to hide her excitement and Sabine returned it. There was one person in Transfiguration who didn’t have a partner and Una was already making silent plans to sit next to him.

Cormac McLaggen. Tall, stupidly beautiful, beautifully stupid Cormac McLaggen. God, she wanted him. But Slytherins and Gryffindors barely spoke to each other here unless completely necessary in lessons. Both houses liked to think they were the others’ opposite. But Una knew that they were simply two sides of the same coin.

Cormac barely even looked at Una. And for some reason that made Una want him more.

When she, Sabine and Meredith walked down the corridor arm-in-arm, boys - even the Gryffindors - couldn’t help but stare. Slack-jawed, awestruck, terrified by the trio’s powerful feminine energy. But not Cormac. He was head and shoulders taller than the three of them so he didn’t even need to avert his gaze - he just simply looked over them as if they weren’t there.

Sabine and Meredith (but especially Sabine) would be horrified if they knew about Una’s crush. Sure, he was good looking but it would be social suicide to date a Gryffindor. Even one as well-connected as him - apparently his Uncle was extremely high-up in the Ministry.

Una had a stupid habit of wanting what she couldn’t have. And, fuck, she was desperate to have him. Even just once. Just to find out what he’d be like. He was so big and broad and downright intimidating. But Una was sure she could have him whimpering, begging for her-

“Hello? Earth to Head Girl?” Sabine and Meredith looked at her expectantly. Una blinked a few times and shook her head.

“Sorry - I was thinking about… Transfiguration. What were you saying?”

“Who are you going to sit beside tomorrow?” asked Meredith.

“Ugh, I don’t know.” Una made a show of rolling her eyes. “I’ll probably just sit at the back by myself. I’ll get a lot more work done without you there,” she teased Sabine.

“You’re such a goody-two-shoes,” said Sabine, pulling her long, black braids over her shoulder. “Whatever are you going to do without me leading you astray?”

It wasn’t so much a question of what, thought Una, but who.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A bag landed on Cormac McLaggen’s desk with a thud and he looked up in surprise to see Una Montague perched on the edge of the desk, looking down at him. “You’re good at Transfiguration, right?” she asked abruptly.

He furrowed his eyebrows together. “Me?”

“Yeah, you. Can I sit here?”

What fresh hell was this? What was one of the Vipers doing sitting on his desk? It was rare to see any of them alone. Cormac looked behind her sceptically. “Where’s your friend?”

Sighing heavily, Una pulled her bag back onto her shoulder. “I’ll sit somewhere else.”

She turned to walk away, swishing her hair as she went. But before she took a step he said quickly, “Wait - yeah, you can sit here.” He supposed it would be poor manners to let a pretty girl, albeit a notoriously mean one, sit by herself at the back of the class when there was a perfectly good empty seat next to him.

“Only if I’m not inconveniencing you.”

Already feeling like he was about to regret it, he gestured to the seat.

Cormac continued to look unsurely at her as she slid into the seat next to him. “What happened to Sabine?”

Una rummaged in her bag. Cormac expected her to take out her textbook but instead, she withdrew a small, black compact mirror and some lipgloss. “Oh, she dropped Transfiguration...” Cormac watched quietly as the lipgloss wand drew across her lips, spreading a shimmering pink glaze over them. And for some reason, he felt like he should look away. Like he was watching something extremely private. But he didn’t. He couldn’t. “She couldn’t handle it.”

She pressed her lips together and pouted a little in the mirror, examining her neat work. The way she preened herself made Cormac want to reach out and smear the gloss over her face, just to see her reaction.

She snapped the compact shut and jolted him out of his daze with a start.

“I should give you two for flinching,” she smirked.

Professor McGonagall strode past them to the front of the class and the chattering students quietened down. She announced that they were going to be working on conjuring birds today.

“Might I remind you that your N.E.W.Ts are only a few months away and none of you are yet to successfully conjure more than a feather.”

The class groaned and got to work, trying with limited success to conjure birds using the Avis spell.

“Why is this so bloody difficult,” grumbled Cormac after some time, concentrating on his wand tip while Una lazily brushed a comb through her hair - her wand abandoned on the table. “Conjuring inanimate objects? Fine. But birds…”

“Have a lot of trouble with birds, then?”

“Oh, very funny.”

“I’m serious. I’ve never even seen you with a girl.”

Cormac lowered his wand and turned in his chair slightly. Oh, so this was why she sat here, was it? He couldn’t deny she was good-looking. But still, a Slytherin.

“Oh yeah, been watching me, have you?”

“I’m just very observant.”

“I’m single if that’s what you’re asking?”

Una rolled her eyes. “You wish, Cormac.”

Cormac leaned back in his chair and looked her over, resting his arm on the backrest as he did.

“What about you?”

“What about me?” she asked innocently, putting her brush in her bag before raising her wand and pretending to concentrate on conjuring birds.

“I’ve never seen you with anyone. Except for the Vipers. Or is that a thruple situation?”

“The Vipers?”

“You know, Slytherin’s other monsters. Sabine and Meredith.”

Una laughed. He had half-expected a shrill cackle. But her laugh was warm, even genuine. “Oh, so is that what they’re calling us in Gryffindor Tower?

He shrugs.

“It’s catchy.”

“So? Are you?”

She too lowered her wand and leaned in closer to him. “Are you asking if we fuck each other?” she murmured, staring intently into his green eyes. “Are you picturing me rolling around in the sheets with them in the Slytherin girls dorm? Making them moan my name?” she teased.

Cormac paused and swallowed. “What if I am?” he said, and was pleased when it sounded more confident than he felt. They were both playing with Fiendfyre, talking like this so brazenly in the classroom. But he wasn’t sure who was more skilled in this Dark Art.

“I should slap you,” Una said, moving closer still so he could hear her barely audible admonishment. He felt her bare leg in her stupidly short skirt pressing against his.

“Don’t. I can only get so hard.”

Her eyelashes dipped as she looked down at his lap. Una drew a sharp inhale when his fingers twitched suddenly towards his belt.

He smirked.

“I was joking. But I should give you two for flinching.”

Uno looked up again at him coolly. “You’re not gonna give anything to me.”

“Oh yeah?” He gave her an arrogant smile as if he found it hard to believe. “Why’s that?”

“First of all, I’m not that easy. And second of all, I wouldn’t be caught dead dating a Gryffindor.”

“Who said anything about dating? What if -”

“Miss Montague, Mr McLaggen. Is there something amusing you’d like to share with the rest of us?”

Silence fell over the class again and Una and Cormac turned hastily in their seats to face the front.

“I was just explaining the theory, Professor” Una said sweetly, seemingly unphased by the interruption.

“Then perhaps you could demonstrate?” Professor McGonagall challenged, calling her bluff.

Una pointed her wand and out shot six yellow twittering canaries.

McGonagall’s lips pursed together in a thin line. Cormac was sure she was about to award Una points but instead she addressed him. “And Mr McLaggen?”

Cormac extended his own wand. A stream of feathers erupted from the end and floated down onto the floor. Una bit her lips, trying to stifle a snicker at his expense.

Any further embarrassment on his part was saved when the bell rang signalling the end of class and McGonagall dismissed them.

“I suppose I’ll see you on Friday?” asked Una casually, positioning her bag on her shoulder.

“Thursday.”

“The next lesson’s not 'til Friday.”

“Slughorn’s dinner thing. You’re not ditching it again, are you?”

“I don’t know… Sabine and Meredith say it’s a waste of time, sucking up to an old has-been like Slughorn.”

“They don’t need to come.”

“Trying to get me alone, Cormac?”

Cormac laughed. “It might just be nice for you to make some new friends. You’re not that bad when you’ve slithered away from the Viper’s nest.”

Una narrowed her eyes. “I happen to like my current friends, thank you very much.”

“Sure but I only meant -”

“Believe it or not, I don’t actually care what anyone from your house thinks of me or my friends. If you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to my thruple.”

And with that, Cormac watched as Una strutted out of the classroom, leaving him to kick himself for managing to fumble the quaffle so hard - right when it was going his way too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Did you miss me terribly, Una?” cooed Sabine when Una found her and Meredith beside the common room fire that afternoon.

“It was the worst,” she said, plopping herself down on the sofa, watching the way the fire danced against the green tiles. “McGonagall picked on me and didn’t even give me a measly point for doing the Avis spell correctly. And nonverbally I might add.”

“Typical,” said Meredith. “It’s so unfair. She hates us.”

“Who did you end up sitting next to?” asked Sabine, flicking through her magazine.

“Erm, that guy… McLaggen,” said Una, as if his name was of little consequence.

“Not that oaf.”

“I know,” said Una. “And it’s not like I could even copy him - he was about as useful as a chocolate cauldron. I’m surprised he’s not in remedial Transfiguration.”

Sabine laughed but Meredith paused thoughtfully.

“He is quite handsome though, isn’t he? And rich, I think.”

“Eugh, Meredith. You have terrible taste,” said Sabine.

Una quickly copied Sabine’s look of disgust while Meredith backtracked.

“I just meant he’s alright to look at. Still a Gryffindor though, obviously.”

“And an idiot. Didn’t you hear how he ended up in the hospital wing last year? Eddie Carmichael dared him to eat Doxy Eggs for a bet. Some Head Boy he is, Una. Between him and McLaggen, you’ll have your work cut out for you this year.”

Una wrinkled her nose.

“Poor Una,” said Meredith sympathetically.

“I did find out some good gossip though,” said Una raising her eyebrows and leaning back on the sofa. “The Gryffindors call the three of us The Vipers.”

“That’s rude,” said Meredith but Sabine shrieked in a fit of giggles.

“I love it!” she laughed. “We really are just living in their heads, aren’t we?”

Una grinned. “I know.”

Sabine closed her magazine and stood up. “Let’s go down to the Great Hall. I’m starving. What do vipers eat anyway?”

“If they’re anything like Ashwinders then insects. Raw eggs,” said Meredith in an attempt to be helpful.

“That’s disgusting, Meredith,” said Sabine, linking her arm through Una’s. Meredith hurriedly latched on to her other side.

“Speaking of dinner,” Una said. “I’m thinking about going to Slughorn’s on Thursday.”

“Ugh, pass,” said Meredith.

“Why?” asked Sabine, giving Una a shrewd look. “Blaise said it was terribly boring.”

“I know but I probably ought to as Head Girl. Bit of a snub if I don’t go twice. And maybe it’ll help my marks in potions.”

“You reckon?” asked Meredith.

“Well, it can’t hurt my marks if he likes me.”

“That’s a good point,” said Sabine thoughtfully. “Alright, I’ll come too then. I need all the help I can get since I’ve got one less N.E.W.T. this year.”

“Yeah, me too.”

Shit, thought Una.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Blaise Zabini was waiting in the common on Thursday night when Sabine, Una and Meredith finally ascended from the girl’s dormitory.

“Mum was complaining you’ve not written to her yet,” he told Sabine.

“I’ve been busy.”

“All four N.E.W.Ts proving to be time consuming, then?”

“Shut up.”

The four of them made their way along to Professor Slughorn’s office. They opened the door to find several plush seats already occupied around the extravagantly decorated table. Una felt irked when she noticed McLaggen was notably absent. This whole thing really would have been a waste of time if he didn’t turn up after all.

“Welcome, welcome!” Boomed Professor Slughorn. “So nice of you to join us. Blaise, good to see you again - and you’ve brought your sister!”

“Yes, sir. Thank you for inviting me,” said Sabine graciously as they found their seats and Slughorn beamed. Sabine had such a way of making people feel flattered, even special just from her presence.

“And our Head Girl, Miss Montague. And Miss Prewett! I taught your father, you know.”

“Yes, sir. He spoke extremely highly of you,” said Meredith, sitting down.

Una sat on Sabine’s right, leaving a few seats next to her empty. Just in case, said a small voice in her head.

Slughorn began introducing everyone. Una was surprised to notice the way Blaise’s eyes lingered on a fifth-year girl, Ginny Weasley. Though she wasn’t sure if it was distaste or something entirely opposite. Interesting. Una didn’t say anything - she just made a mental note of it, the way she so often did with snippets of potentially damning information.

Slughorn’s office door opened again and Una looked to see Eddie Carmichael entering. Her heart sank as she turned back around again.

“You could have held it open,” said Cormac McLaggen’s voice. Una froze, not daring to glance at the door, incase Sabine noticed her constant fidgeting in her seat.

“Sorry, mate,” said Eddie, pulling out the free seat beside Una.

Cormac slid into the open chair before Eddie could. “That’s more like it, cheers mate.” He looked at Una. “Alright? - ouch!”

Eddie slapped the back of Cormac’s head before sitting down on his other side. Cormac ran his hand through his dark, curly blonde hair.

“Idiots,” scoffed Sabine under her breath.

And Una had to agree.

Cormac shuffled his seat in closer to the table. His shoulders were so broad that Una could feel his arm pressing up against her. Even if she folded her arms, she could still feel him, taking up far too much space.

As the evening went on, they listened to Slughorn regale stories of all the famous students he had taught, each of them members of what he called his ‘Slug Club’. Every time he said the name it made Una cringe. He fawned over Cormac, asking him about his father’s Ministry connections, praised Meredith’s dad’s apparent Potions prowess as a youth and asked Sabine and Blaise what their famous mother was up to. He asked Una about her father - a prominent benefactor of St Mungo's - but was more interested in Una's Head Girl duties. And Una was grateful for this - the less she had to talk about St Mungo's the better.

After dinner, Slughorn summoned a bottle of Elf-made wine with a flourish of his wand. “Just for those who are of age,” he chided the younger students in a sing-song voice, “And only a glass each. Or else you’ll need an Awakening Draught tomorrow!” He chuckled. “And speaking of which - “ Slughorn looked at the seventh-years mischievously, “- you’d do well to brush up on that ahead of our lesson on Monday.”

Sabine grinned at Una and Meredith. It had been worth enduring the evening after all, if they were getting tips about the following class.

As Una drank her glass of wine, she felt Cormac’s leg brush against hers. Maybe the wine had emboldened her but she didn’t shrink away. Instead, she shifted slightly, leaning her leg against his.

On Una’s left, Sabine and Blaise began sniping at each other again when Blaise suggested that their mother might send her a howler. On her right, Cormac was telling Eddie about his plans to try out for the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

Una lifted her glass to her lips but paused when she felt something. A large, warm hand grazing her bare leg. Cormac’s. She looked down but her lap was covered by the tablecloth.

She moved in closer to the table and Cormac made to withdraw his hand when he felt her shift but she placed her own hand firmly on top of his, before returning hers to the table.

Cormac continued talking to Eddie as if nothing had happened while Una felt his hand trail further up her leg and under her skirt. She took another sip of wine and pretended to listen interestedly as Slughorn started waxing lyrical about a friend he had who was writing a biography about a Vampire.

“I simply must introduce you to Eldred Woprle, Miss Carrow. He has a lot of contacts at the Daily Prophet, you know.”

Una felt blood rushing below her waist as Cormac’s fingertips traced across her inner thigh. Her own hand gripped her wine glass with more force than was necessarily required, just for something to keep herself steady.

“I was sort of hoping Potter would be here tonight. It’d be good to get him on side before tryouts.”

“I don’t know why you’re arsed, mate. I keep telling you - football. Now that’s a real game.”

The plush, cozy room now felt stiflingly hot. Adrenaline coursed through Una’s body as she shakily raised her glass to her lips to try and hide her face. Cormac’s hand skirted over the crux of her thigh. Wine met her lips as she tilted her glass, letting the fruity, slightly sour liquid infiltrate her mouth.

“Well maybe I’ll tell Mum that you’ve got detention with Flitwick already - then we’ll see who gets a howler.”

Una’s heart raced in her chest. The several conversations going on in the room turned to white noise. Slowly, carefully, so as not to brush against Sabine, Una moved her legs apart. A silent invitation. She breathed shakily as she felt Cormac’s fingertips slip under the hem of her soaking wet underwear.

“My my!” cried Slughorn suddenly, causing Una to flinch and inhale an entire mouthful of wine. “Look at the time!” Cormac quickly removed his hand as Una began choking and spluttering.

Sabine gave her a concerned look as she coughed. “Are you alright? You’re bright red.”

Una wiped her lips, trying to compose herself quickly. “I’m - I’m fine,” she gasped. “Just went down the wrong way. And wine makes my cheeks flush.” She extracted her compact mirror and lipgloss, re-applying it hastily.

“It’s gone straight to your face too, mate,” said Eddie Carmichael, looking at Cormac.

Cormac laughed and touched his hand to his warm face. He cleared his throat. “Yeah, yeah, I suppose it does a bit.”

Una looked at him and felt herself flush even deeper when she saw him press two fingers thoughtfully against his lips. They were wet.

“Oh, how time flies when you’re having fun. You’d all better be off back to your dormitories. And if Mr Filch gives you any trouble, you just send him straight to me,” said Slughorn, waving his hand in the air.

“Let’s get out of here,” said Sabine, standing up abruptly.

Una pushed her chair back and followed her, Meredith and Blaise out of the room without so much of a backwards look.

As soon as they got out into the corridor, Meredith laughed.

“What a drag that was. Honestly, it would be worth failing Potions if I never had to endure that again.”

“I know,” agreed Sabine.

“I think I preferred it to another evening with Malfoy and the rest,” scoffed Blaise. “They’re always brooding these days. And I suppose the wine wasn’t too bad. If you don’t choke on it, that is.”

“Hilarious,” said Una.

“What did you think, Una? You were unusually quiet.”

Una’s abdomen tingled. Her brain worked overtime to come up with an excuse while blood rushed in her ears.

“Well, I had you lot squabbling on my left and two idiots on my right talking non-stop about Quidditch.” Una rolled her eyes convincingly. “But it wasn’t too dreadful. At least we know what’s coming up in Potions on Monday.”

“Well, that’s it sorted then. You can go with Blaise next time and report back to Meredith and I if Slughorn gives us any more hints,” said Sabine, with finality.

Una mulled this over, pursing her lips together thoughtfully. It certainly would be easier to talk to Cormac McLaggen if she only had one person keeping an eye on her. She could hardly just be expected to talk to Blaise and only Blaise all night. She was allowed to network, right? And perhaps, she thought, Blaise would like to network with Ginny Weasley.

“Fine,” said Una. “But you owe me. Big time.”

Sabine linked her arms between Una and Meridith as they sauntered along the corridor to the dungeons. Una still felt faintly embarrassed about her unseemly choking display. With her free arm, she searched for her mirror in her tiny handbag, wondering if she had any wine down her front.

“Shit,” said Una, stopping and the four of them halted. “I think I left my compact.”

Meredith groaned. “I’m not going back in there. If I have to hear anything else about Vampires-”

“It’s fine - go ahead. I’ll see you two in the dormitory. See you later, Blaise.”

Una untangled herself, turned on her heels and passed the last few stragglers leaving Slughorn’s dinner party.

Her heels clicked as she walked back up the deserted corridor and around the corner.

“Forget something?”

Cormac McLaggen was sitting on a window ledge in the dark hallway, checking himself out in Una’s little black mirror. He snapped it shut and hoisted himself off the stone ledge, walking towards her.

Una extended her palm expectantly.

“What’s the magic word?” he asked, standing in front of her. Una looked up at him as he towered over her. He was so tall she had to strain - her face was only at eye level with his chest.

“Avada Kedavra?” suggested Una, attempting to snatch the compact from his hands but he reacted quickly, pulling it out of her reach.

“Ooh, not quite,” he grinned.

She took a step towards him, their chests almost touching as she looked up at him through her lashes. “Please, Cormac?”

He hadn’t expected her to surrender so quickly. Cormac grudgingly gave her the compact back and they stared at each other for a few moments, neither of them daring to address what had just happened in Slughorn’s office.

“You know, that lipgloss is very pretty,” he said, curling two fingers under Una’s chin. Her heart pounded in her chest again as she looked up into his strikingly green eyes. His own lips were rosy, tinged slightly pink from drinking the same wine. “Too pretty.”

Cormac took his thumb and slowly dragged it across her bottom lip, smearing it down her chin. He squeezed her face roughly and Una smacked his hand away, scowling.

“There. That’s better.” He gave her an arrogant smirk. “See you tomorrow.”

Una let out a scoff of disbelief as Cormac walked away, leaving her standing alone in the corridor.

She opened her compact and examined herself in the mirror - a pink, glittering streak was smudged across her chin and there were faint red marks from where he squeezed her face.

He was right, she thought as she looked at her slightly dishevelled appearance, she did look better like this.

Chapter 2: Struggle

#freddie stroma #cormac mclaggen #slytherin #slytherin fanfiction #harry potter fanfic #harry potter fanfiction #cormac mclaggen x original female character

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choccy-zefirka · 8 months ago

Text

Six of Swords

Hello, I was possessed to write some V/Takemura this afternoon! Note that I am playing the game for the first time, mostly blind, so the fic is based on the events that have happened to my V so far (she just met Panam and is in the middle of investigating Evelyn's employers), and was an outpouring of my love for the ship that I had to get out of my system before I properly finished the game. Hence, it may not be quite accurate/in-character!

I also planned to continue the story further, to the point where V and Takemura have their adult choom-choom time, and then their pillow talk involves 1. The talents they would have pursued in another, more peaceful life (cooking for Takemura and art for V); and 2. What Anders Hellman revealed to V regarding her condition. However, given that I have immersed myself in pretty harrowing irl news tonight, that extinguished my inspiration spark for the time being, so I kindly ask you to enjoy the story for what it is!

As usual, my writing contains certain undesirable traits (repetitions, tangents, purple prose etc.) but I had fun with it, and so might you!

Also, this is the V in this story! Idc what CD Projekt says, her full name is Vita XD She belongs to the same character archetype as Una Cadash, Naali Adaar and Cinder the Tav.

"Greetings, V. I do not intend to offend, but it appears that you are forming a behavioral pattern."

The dulcet robotic voice — so familiar — sends ripples across the sea of hissing, crackling, acidic turquoise stripes and squares that have been biting at V's eyes, until she felt like her burning, veins eyeballs were dripping blood.

She blinks, once, twice. The blood turns out to have been tears. Just tears. Once a beast she thought she'd conquered triumphantly at the age of twelve; and now, a more annoying recurring guest than a celebrity on Stan's show.

She wipes them off, in a swift, almost violent motion. Gotta destroy those fuckers.

The ringing in her ears subsides, and the floating turquoise shapes shift and condense into a face. A very distinct, plasticky white face, speaking to her from an overhanging monitor. Her tear-damp fingers twitch, and she spreads them out, still half-blind, feeling the creaky leather. She is on the back seat of a taxi. The taxi, she should say.

"Hey, Del..." she croaks weakly. "How... How did you get here?"

Seriously, though. How?

Her thoughts and memories set in like a broken nose. The last thing she can recollect is the muted orange blur of the desert highway, beyond the Sunset Motel, and a biting-sharp stench as she slumped over the upper-floor railing, heaving her guts out.

"Mr. Takemura hailed me with instructions to take you home," Delamain explains, courteous as ever. "I made certain to send out a reliable cab, whose AI is completely in line with the Delamain Corporation standards."

Through the last dregs of her wooziness, V cannot help but snort (a mistake, as it makes her inhale the lingering aftertaste of her own vomit). Yeah, reliable cab. Unlike those rogue ones. Ugh, she still has to finish chasing them down.

"You were in poor condition — though thankfully, not as poor as when I previously did this for you. Still, this was already happened twice. Hence my remark about the pattern."

"Mhm. If you had an eddie for each time, you'd have two eddies, which is not much, yada yada..."

V sighs.

"Man. Sorry, Del, I... I had a shitty couple of days."

The words scarcely leave her flaky, terribly dry lips — which she just barely saved from splitting into bloody cracks by taking a huge swig from a branded water bottle, graciously provided in the cup holder by her seat — when all of these days' shittiness hits her. At once. Hard, fast. Like crashing your motorbike into a septic tank.

She's seen so much. Way too much for one lifetime,even if hers is supposed to be jam packed into a few weeks.

The dark green mire of the snuff film brain dances, contrasted against the explosion of the searing thermal orange — that fucking ripperdoc chair where some unlucky gonk was melted into a sticky, none-beef-all-soot carcass, for sickos to get off to his final agony.

Evelyn's limp body against her chest, so small, so bare, all that glitz and sass and mystique gone, like she was a little girl V was tucking lovingly into bed. And dark, dark smears everywhere: blood in the bath, smudged makeup on Judy's ashen, hardened face.

Then, the desert, just today. Blood-red through the lens of a drone, no signs of life among the dust and brittle grass. Just the scattered bodies of the nomads — Panam's people, good people, who had nothing to do with this mess, who only wanted to help, to rescue survivors from a downed AMV. The AMV *she* was hunting; the AMV *she* roped Panam into helping her with.

V presses her hand against her eyes. Johnny is quiet for now; she must have taken the Omega blockers back there, at the motel, without knowing. One small blessing, at least. His voice chiming in with her own is the last thing she needs right now.

Shit, shit, shit! She's supposed to be better than this. She was always the tough, competent one. The one to pull her chooms back from the brink, whether it's a younger street kid, years ago, wanting to swim in a canal supposedly infested with brain-eating amoeba (so this is what it feels like), or Judy staring into nothing, with a cigarette weeping ash in her shaking hand, or Panam clutching her wound, screaming the name of the man who offered her to run away together. She — V — was supposed to hold them, to tell them it's gonna be okay. We did preem, fellas, we lived to see another sunrise. Look sharp, look ahead, look at V.

...Who would look at her now and be inspired to push on?

When she lifts her hand again, her face is wet. A-fucking-gain.

And deep inside her — a quivering cable line pulled taut from her gut to the back of her throat — there is a strong, overpowering longing for... For something terribly stupid. And right now, with her legs still numb and sick still drying up on the front of her shirt, she is too weak to stop and make sense of it, much less resist. So she just goes with it, and says what it wants her to say.

"Del... Can you call Takemura for me?"

Delamain obliges, blue lips sculpted into an impeccably professional smile. The glowing white monitor turns bright orange, and another face emerges from the static. Making the sensation within V cut into her insides even deeper.

"V! I was just finished with Hellman."

V exhales a short laugh. She is still drenched in all that metaphorical shit, but there is no better distraction from it than her favorite pastime. Testing the limits of this old man's stoicism.

"Did not kill him, did you? Or is he still walking around like in those ancient samurai movies — you know, where a guy slices another guy up and he feels just fine, and then suddenly falls apart into neat chunks of meat?"

Takemura holds her gaze, very unimpressed. But she has come to recognize that little tug at the corners of his mouth. She won't go as far as to say that this is also his favorite pastime... But he is not *not* enjoying this.

"You certainly flatter my technique, but... No. Hellman is still alive. I simply obtained all the information I needed from him."

He pauses, and suddenly, his face softens even further. By about 0.01℅, but still.

"I am glad you are awake, V. I heard you screaming in pain on the balcony of that so-called... motel," his lips curl, and he spits the word out like moldy food. "But I could not attend to you for long. You understand."

"The interrogation, yeah."

The conversation lulls, and in the silence, the longing takes over once more.

"Listen, Goro..."

She catches a moment to savor the feel of his first name in her mouth. Since she's started doing stupid things, might as well go all in.

"Can we meet? I'll ask Del here to redirect the car to the marina. It should be deserted at this time of night; I wanna talk in person."

Takemura nods. Somehow, his lack of hesitation sends heat rushing up her windpipe.

"Once, I would have wondered if you were going to waste my time, but now I know better. No meeting with you is ever a waste of time, V."

"Even if we are just eating horrible street food?"

She can swear she's never seen the corners of his lips tilt up this much.

"Even then. Is that why you wish to seek me out on the marina?"

"No, not exactly..." for a fraction of a second, V feels rather sheepish, sobering up from the longing. But Takemura himself does not allow her to backpedal.

"Very well. I will see you there," he says — and disconnects.

By the time Delamain glides onto the marina — smooth as a drifting cloud compared to the mad race across unpaved rocky hillocks and through dingy Raffer tunnels with Panam — it starts to rain. Or, well, drizzle. The wet mist hangs in the air, scented with something fresh for once, and the city lights color it with a peculiar mix of emerald and purple. The palm trees sway quietly, slender silhouettes against the almost trippy watercolor swirls. Deep down, at the same hidden core of her heart that's being pierced by her stupid longing, V wishes she had her drawing tablet with her.

Useless gonk, that. Such a pointless thing to have bought with the eddies from one of her very first gigs. Only really good for designing bike decals for your chooms, and even those would probably have come off just fine if you'd asked one of Del's artist cousins to generate them for you. But sometimes, V cannot help but notice how blue the sky looks when the smog clears, or how vivid orange the rocks by the dam are when the sun hits them, or right now, how those palms look.

And hey, some drawing tutorials on the net are free, and you can't spend every single evening between heists knocking down shots or diddling joy toys. Sometimes you just wanna... meditate.

Jackie had his dumbbells, Misty has her crystals and shit, and V has her silly little tablet. Not enough to turn her into anything more than a Heywood thug, not enough to make her stand out here or in Atlanta... But just right to capture the little splashes of color she spots here and there, so that they leave her head and stop fucking bothering her.

"V. You have no umbrella."

She's been so lost in thought, staring up at the dancing palms, that Takemura's voice makes her jump. Yeah, she has no umbrella — she has no shirt underneath her trusty leather jacket either. Left it crumpled up in the back seat of the taxi, next to the empty bottle she'd gargled to clean her mouth. Kind of felt awkward wearing that vomit-soiled mess to meet Takemura. Especially with what she's about to do.

She freezes in front of him, filling her lungs with the damp seaside air, and filling her mind with the sight of him — a solid, dignified figure amid the rainy blur, worthy of an artwork of its very own... And next, without warning, she takes off: dashes forward and wraps herself around him in the tightest embrace she can muster.

This is the closest she's been to him since he hauled her unconscious mess of limbs to Vik's... Aside from a few brushes of her hand against his: over the condiment bottles on a stained diner table, arranged to represent whatever shit they were making plans about; over shared binoculars at a stakeout; or over a slice of quickly cooling pizza that she playfully shoved at him and he rejected, in utter disdain. All brief, all fleeting, all signifying nothing — as each of them insisted inside their own mind, even as she slanted her eyes covertly to watch him watching her, when they both were supposed to get the lay of the land.

Fuck, he smells so good. He has no right to smell so good for a man on the run, slumming it among cockroaches in some hidden basement. She thinks she can hear a crisp, starchy crunch when she presses against his shirt. Last time she felt something like this was when she and Jackie got dressed up in corpo fits for that fucking mess of a heist.

That reminder adds another droplet to the overpouring tank of shit, and she instinctively clings to Takemura even tighter, a noiseless sob, her third in what, an hour, racking through her.

Of course, it is at this moment that Johnny decides to blink into existence again.

"The fuck?!" he calls out, parting the streams of rain like a bead curtain as he struts up to her. "Did you shut me up so you could get high without me?"

Takemura, ironically, echoes the sentiment.

"V? What is this? Are you still delirious... or perhaps intoxicated? Once more?"

He is not aggressive when he pries her away from him; but still firm. V staggers back, wincing at this painful reminder of their very first rendezvous. She stumbled off to meet Takemura straight from Jackie's ofrenda, who knows how many shots in, head swimming with far too many feelings all at once, and straight up called him "heeey gorgeous". Which he was. Which he *is*. But like... Time and place.

"I am sorry," she blurts out. "I should have asked if you were okay with me getting into your space like that. No, I am sober, it's just... Goro. Listen."

She clenches her fists, chipped-up nails cutting deep into her callused palms. Here it comes. The talk she wanted to have with him.

"I'm no stranger to losing people. Comes with the territory. But ever since that chip mess, it's been happening at a breakneck speed. I meet someone, we choom up, I get them to see that I'm someone they can trust, depend on — that's my whole thing, always has been — and the next time they call me, someone has died. Brutally. Even by Night City standards. It just keeps piling up and up, till I can barely take it... But the one constant in all of this, has been you."

"No fucking way you are saying this to a Saka goon!" Johnny throws his arms up in anguish. "What did I tell you: he's not your friend! He can't be your friend! I don't think the word is in his fucking vocabulary!"

V knits her eyebrows as tightly as she can, as if that will keep him under lock and key, and forces her focus back onto Takemura. He, too, is frowning... But not in anger, she doesn't think. He is giving her his full attention.

"Whenever I call you, I trust that you will answer. Alive. Annoyed with me, but alive. Your texts, your weird parables, even that one time you like... confused the messenger with the search bar and sent me all that WHERE TO FIND GOOD RAMEN stuff in all caps... It's a wonderful pick-me-up when I'm wading through... whatever sludge the city dumps of me. I just wanted to.. I guess... Thank you for that. And to let you know that I'm... I'm still thinking about everything we said to each other on that roof. It meant a lot. You were right; we may butt heads, and argue our different philosophies, but... It makes each of us a bit less lonely."

"It does," Takemura says softly. His voice has dropped a few octaves, and flows more... freely, in a way? As he goes on speaking, the sentences sound less measured, less pre-calculated... It takes a couple of confused blinks for V to realize that what she still perceiving in her head as English is actually Japanese. He has switched to his native language, and her translator implant has kicked into gear.

She mentioned having that implant to him once, even back before Judy had updated it with the Haitian Creole language pack.

"You can speak to me in Japanese if you'd like," she said.

That offended him, as he assumed his English was not good enough for the ignorant American merc. And to be fair, compared to his near-fluency in a second language, and how knows, maybe a third and fourth, all she can boast parroting without a translator are a few curses in Spanish.

But what she meant — and what she hurried to explain to him — was, "You say sometimes that you are homesick. I figured... Using Japanese might ease that feeling."

At the time, he acknowledged her intentions with a polite nod, but insisted on English — perhaps as a sign of respect. And now, here he is. Stepping forward to close the gap that had formed between them. And also, stepping over the language barrier.

"At first, you were an asset to me. A thief that could be of use in avenging Arasaka-sama merely because she was at the right place and at the right time. But then you asked me, again and again, how I felt. Whether I was well. I told you before it was a question I am not accustomed to in my line of work; but it was far from unwelcome. This city is like a stone box filled from within with heavy black smoke, yet with your simple, genuine question, you gave me a lamp. And it lit up brighter and brighter with every new text message, every new call, even with every outrageous joke. You actually coaxed confessions about my childhood, my foolish visions of another life, out of me. These are secrets I grant to very few people. No-one in the past decade. Yet you..."

Slowly, rather clumsily, as if he were replicating the motion after observing other people do it — a silent guardian, a soldier of steel, not allowed such expressions of tenderness himself — he reaches forward and cups the side of V's face with his hand.

"You gave me an all new reason to be grateful that you did not die."

"Oh shit, are you gonna — " Johnny chokes somewhere out there, in the damp haze.

V is not sure if she intended to; she's been too lost in taking in Takemura's quietly sincere expression... But now, of course, she has to.

She tugs at the front of that pristine shirt to make him bend down slightly. She is pretty confident that this low cut collar is precisely where the cybernetics end and the soft, warm, human skin begins. His lips, too, are soft and warm when she meets them with her own. It almost feels too much, too far, tasting him like this — Arasaka's most fearsome enforcer, who is *supposed* to work with her on a very professional, very dangerous mission... But he is the first to slip in his tongue, and the moan that he makes sounds like a sigh of relief.

Now he is the one pulling her in, merging their personal spaces into a single whole. The hand that was resting on her cheek drops to her waist to keep her close. His fingers — a delicate masterwork, whether implants or not, so mesmerizingly beautiful compared to her clumsy, always bloody-knuckled mitts — travel over her jacket... and then pause, when he realizes that this is her only outer wear.

She breaks the kiss and opens her eyes just in time to spot the exact moment when his astonishment gives way to a wicked smirk. Much like the face of the fox from all his parables. He peels the jacket back a little, revealing the muscles and the scars on her abdomen...

"Oh, this corpo fucker thinks he can treat my host — my host! — like a fucking Jig Jig doll!"

If Johnny were corporeal, V would surely have felt angry spittle flying into her face.

"Stop it!" she hisses... Out loud.

Takemura's features instantly set into the mask he wore so beautifully when he was trying to detect the intruders inside his master's walls.

"Of course," he says, returning to English. "We should know our limits. Our partnership has already become all that more complicated."

"No!" V gasps, desperate to outrace the broken-elevator plummet of her own heart. "It's the engram acting up again! I... I can handle this kind of complicated. I *want* this kind of complicated."

The mask begins to crack.

"You are very open about what you want," Takemura muses, eyebrows half-raised. "I am not certain if I can... relate to that, as my wants are the wants of the Arasaka lineage, but it is oddly admirable. Still — "

His hand is on her waist again, but this time it's to steer her to the taxi.

"If you are unwell, it is best that you return home. I will remember this, V. Most warmly."

"Wait!"

She weaves their fingers together, the refined elegance of Tokyo and the rough edges of Heywood becoming one.

"Come with me. We still have so much time to while away before the parade. I have to meet this guy for deets on the Voodoo Boys, but that's not until the day after tomorrow. And at least I have running water at my place. And no cockroaches. That I know of."

He shakes his head, but does not let go of her hand.

"You know I am a marked man, V. Losing ourselves in crowds together is one thing, but..."

"Come on!"

She beams at him, and the wider the grin, the clearer the realization: her pain and guilt have subsided. For the time being.

"This is a Delamain cab. And I have, well, inherited the Excelsior package from Dex. Top notch security, isn't that right, Del?"

She pokes her head through the car door to ask the question, and the AI responds affirmatively.

"Indeed. Delamain guests are guaranteed full privacy aboard this premium vehicle. No security specialists, even those as formidable as the employees of Arasaka Corporation, will be able to breach inside throughout the entire route from here to your garage."

"And the building itself?" Takemura persists — even as the tip of his thumb begins to unconsciously run over V's cracked knuckles. She thinks he finds the motion soothing.

"The elevator cameras?"

She beams again.

"I have these neat little optics that turn my face into a blur in any security footage. I believe..."

She plants another kiss at the corner of his mouth, inciting a blissful little sigh.

"If our faces are pressed close enough, the effect might extend to you."

With that, she yanks at his arm, ever so slightly, teasing as always.

He follows readily, finally convinced.

They unlock their hands and duck through their respective passenger doors. V finds the back seat thoroughly cleaned of the dirty shirt and the water bottle. She would not be surprised if Delamain had a whole recycling station somewhere underneath. Great for corpse disposal too — no, better not think of it now.

Takemura leans back, rolling his tired shoulders.

"This thing is quite nice to ride in when you are not bleeding to death, isn't it?" V chuckles, and Takemura hums contentedly in agreement.

"Thank you for the feedback," says Delamain. "I shall now turn my attention strictly to traffic, to allow my guests the promised privacy."

"Much appreciated, choom."

The upholstered back of the front car seat carves itself into luridly textured blocks before V's eyes. Next thing she knows, Johnny is lounging next the non-existent driver — not buckled in, obviously.

"Don't do this," he warns her through his teeth. "You are getting your perspective skewed. And turning yourself into a loose end that this fucker and his big mommy Hanako will cut just like that..." He is crammed between seats now, right in front of her, snapping his fingers. "The moment you are no longer useful."

V remembers to keep her voice inside her skull, this time around.

"I am not taking relationship advice from a dead guy who keeps calling one of his closest associates a cold bitch every five seconds."

"You don't know fuck about my relationships!" Johnny seethes, but V is no longer humoring him. Takemura has pulled her into his lap and is kissing her again. And again. And again. On her lips, her jaw, along the side of her neck.

Now, there is a deep, ravenous force brewing behind every stroke of his tongue, every half-bite of his teeth. He locked eyes with her briefly when she straddled his leg, asking for permission ("Like the loyal dog that he is," Johnny would have sneered, but honestly, fuck Johnny). And when she granted that permission with a gleeful nod, the force was fully unleashed. How long has this been building up? How long ago did he let himself go last, if ever?

He answers at least one of her unsaid questions the next time he surfaces for air.

"I have a confession," he murmurs in Japanese, gazing at her half-lidded through a silky veil of salt and pepper.

V has, once or twice, seen his hair in a "shamefully disheveled" state (which is Takemura-speak for one strand being slightly loose because he had no time for a full morning routine in his hideout). Now, though, it is almost completely undone, a messy dark frame for his fine-cut face. V laces her fingers through it, nigh reverently, and it is with the same reverence that he kisses the inside of her wrist, before continuing.

"Do you remember how I asked you to hack a camera for me, and as you sneaked towards it, you forced a back door open with your bare hands?"

Just as it mysteriously vanished, V's shirt has been mysteriously returned by Delamain. It lies neatly folded next to her on the back seat, but she couldn't be further from trying to put it on. On the contrary, her leather jacket has now slid down her shoulders, and her torso is on full display, every marking, every groove of embedded cybernetics, every bump and curve of her musculature.

She is no Jackie, of course. She will never be Jackie, for all her attempts to clumsily rest her hand on top of Mama Welles' and do her duty of comfort and protection... No, not now, please not now!

She is no Jackie — but she could easily do pull-ups hanging off a metal beam at an abandoned construction site, twenty feet off the ground and with badges swarming underneath, sirens blaring. In fact, she just might. Especially if Takemura were watching.

"Suppose I do."

"You were in a short tank top; I could see your back move, your arms strain. Your strength was brute and raw, untrained... But so beautiful. At that moment, I wanted you so much that I almost forgot myself. A..."

His chest heaves. Through the loosened hair cascade, V watches the glaze of desire clear from his eyes. If it were not for the state of his hair, the flush on his face, the nanometers separating him from her, and the fact that she could slide her hand down his pants at any moment to check if he had an extra gun or... If it were not for all of that, he could almost have been the ruthless, efficient, unshakable Goro Takemura she first started working for.

"A lapse in sanity that I am repeating now."

Fuck. Forget the extra gun then.

She has not realized, until now, how cold it is without her jacket, despite Delamain best attempt at the most agreeable climate control. How the air prickles at her exposed skin.

"When you thought I was telling you to stop, it really was just the engram..." she says, her voice deliberately, carefully slow. "But if you are done now, then no problem."

"Thank fuck!" Johnny cheers, his voice muffled but full of what V believes is called schadenfreude.

"It would have been a good decision, but..." Takemura shakes his head. "But I still want you. I never stopped wanting you, from that moment since. Despite my obligations, despite the burdens we both carry. I just..."

"You are not used to having wants of your own. Outside of Arasaka."

V whispers her guess with a gentleness that almost makes her shudder — to herself, she sounds too much, *way* too much like that fucking doll in the Clouds.

"It's all right. I won't tell anyone. Honor among thieves, remember?"

She rests her forehead against his and smiles to mirror his own smile — which is quivering and uncertain; but still there. Still back on his lips.

"I am sure Hanako-sama will be too busy thanking you for bringing her brother's crimes to light, to notice that you've been going around getting horny for random mercs. Now come here. We're almost at my place."

Her next kiss is more of a breath, a fleeting promise than an actual touching of the lips. But Takemura's eyes darken again. Heavy. Ravenous.

She feels a bump against her thigh that is certainly not acting the way extra guns do.

"Anything for you, V."

#cyberpunk 2077 #cyberpunk fanfic #v x takemura #goro takemura #female v #original things

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starrysilvalley · 3 months ago

Text

I ended up finishing P.A.M’s illustration before the second rival’s, so I decided to share this one first 😅 So time for the mascot of not only Spectrum but the villains of this project. Of the original characters, P.A.M is my favorite. He’s also one of my favorite villains I’ve had the pleasure of writing so far, so I’m excited to share him.

✨🌟✨

P.A.M stands for Pokémon Assistant and Moderator, but such a title and appearance doesn't quite show the true power this one entity holds over New Unova. While used as the equivalent of our Siri within the Pokémon universe, this A.I controls and watches over New Unova like a more charming version of “Big Brother”. For the modern citizen, Pam answers any questions posed to it and helps organize technology interfaces. For those of higher status, Pam is the eyes and ears of the Pokémon League. He watches and listens for anything that threatens the rule of the Champion or the citizens of Unova. His ever watchful presence in Unova’s advanced cities and technology pushed many more shady characters underground and into isolation from any post-war technology. These restraints apply for characters such as Emmet and Fajra, who completely abandoned modern technology for their own illegeal gadgets and pre-war technology.

Like any good A.I assistant, P.A.M portrays himself as a friendly, happy-go-lucky Minccino who is willing to help solve any problem. At least, that's what the citizens are supposed to see. The criminals and outcasts instead whisper his name with fear. They sit the furthest from the televisions in bars and Pokémon Centers, give kiosks wide berths, and never speak their true names in a room with any sort of technology. The best case scenario is simply disappearing after being caught for treason by P.A.M, but no one knows what happens to those who disappear after speaking too truthfully about the current state of the region and League. The protagonist Una has never had to face P.A.M’s scorn, which often leads to careless mistakes. Emmet, however, has seen the true nature that lies hidden behind P.A.M’s grin, pushing him to consistently remind his charge not to speak to candidly in front of any tech. Una may not quite understand the reason for the fear, but she knows anything that can frighten her often optimistic guardian should be given some sort of respect.

Even the A.I Minccino is not exempt from having his own partner Pokémon. While P.A.M is a borderline omnipresent being, he still has his own “home base” within the Pokémon League’s headquarters in Victory Road. Upon Pam’s request, Champion Harlan allowed this Muk to remain in P.A.M’s lab where it quietly mopes. Very few people know of this Muk’s existence, and even fewer know why an A.I Minccino would be drawn to such a Pokémon. It is rumored that this particular Muk is the last in the whole region since no other wild Muks have been sighted since their native environments were wiped out after the war. This would explain why some witnesses (including Emmet) reported that the Muk appeared to be consistently depressed, although seems to find solace in P.A.M’s company. As sadistic and heartless as P.A.M appears, Muk’s presence shows that P.A.M is capable of forming some sort of emotional connection— what emotion is the basis of this connection is unclear.

P.A.M has the most concept art of all my Project Spectrum characters right now, but I'm only going to share a few. I plan to share my full pieces in separate posts.

#cyberpunk dystopia #dystopian #pokémon au #pokémon black and white #pokémon dystopian au #unova #pokemon #pokemon project spectrum #minccino #P.A.M #muk #ai oc #yes P.A.M and Muk are indeed a direct reference to my main inspiration for this project #ihnmaims #however I can only take so much sad and disturbing content #ihnmaims inspiration #pokemon oc

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fantastic-mr-corvid · 5 months ago

Note

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Spread the self-love ❤️

Thank you Dujour! alas neither of my wotr fic made the cut but one ffxiv sneaked its way among the jojos, and one non oc work snuck in among Muro n co as well as well. Oops went a bit ham on how i feel about them before realizing i should have been doing summaries, so my personal feelings for each under the cut<3

They Make Me Mad- JJBA- oc

Celia finally snaps after listening to Soverano chatting shit all night- but as she approaches to give him what the righteous anger inside of her thinks he deserves she is instead pushed to escort a drunk and high Tesoro home, distracting her and avoiding the fallout that would come from a fight between her and Soverano. But she easily sees through the ruse, angry at Soverano escaping justice, and after Tesoro is definitely made sober after being drenched with a bucket of water, they start arguing about the dangers of doing what's right in their world, which ends with Celia storming off home.

I am the softly falling snow - FFXIV- Post-Heavensward

The observations and musings of a soldier of Camp Dragonhead as he watches the warrior of light mourning, a while after the dragon song war is over, when Ishgard is rebuilding and the camps have new recruits.

old habits die hard, hope for a better future dies faster- JJBA

Conficcare is cornered, and is reminded of when he was younger. try and he might to win, he's not as strong as he thinks he is, and also distracted. ending up on his back with a boot pressing on his rib. during all hes thinking about how he and his friends have changed. His friend that's changed the most arrives and rescues him, but he spirals further into anger and grief and how much the Celia he knew has been warped into the Muro he knows today. Eventually Muro gets through to him, and carries him home, where he tries to comfort Conficcare, and Conficcare gets a glimpse of part of his old friend he though long dead.

A knife offered in friendship- JJBA

After his fight with the stand user Formaggio, and while Giorno, Abbachio and Fugo are in Pompeii, Narancia tries to help Trish feel more safe by offering her his knife in a gesture of friendship- although his way of gifting it to her was not the best in terms of stopping her panicking

Born to Run- JJBA

Chasing promises of power from a mysterious new figure in the Napoli underworld, the youths prepare to race, with Celia called as the mechanic, however carefully laid plans for victory go awry when their leader is attacked on the way to the starting line- and driven by Elena's ernest passion to win, Celia takes the wheel and leads them to victory, with Elena beside her, ensuring they get that far.

They Make Me Mad- JJBA- oc

maybe on here because of recency bias, but i do love it, being the second look at a teen Celia, and her complex relationship with Tesoro [its the foreshadowing, hypocrisy and tragedy- i am nothing if not a sucker for becoming the thing you hated<3]

I am the softly falling snow - FFXIV- Post-Heavensward an outlier in terms of fandom, and quite old actually, well in terms of my writing i still like, at about six months. games were i end up forming such strong emotional bonds with characters will always stick with me, and for the very linear story, ffxiv manages to get me every time<3 its short and bittersweet but im still very proud of it,

old habits die hard, hope for a better future dies faster- JJBA

Shaking them both. i still like You hurt them like they're nothing but Old habits really shows the complexity of their relationship, not just the effects.

A knife offered in friendship- JJBA

Not oc-centric! not even a single oc! Trish Una you will always been the main character of part five to me<3 i also think Narancia deserves better. Knife part isnpired by me thinking how tf did you make this 15 year old girl feel safe around you.

Born to Run- JJBA

again, i love everlasting kiss but born to run is very much a part two that builds on born to run, and i just love the rollercoaster of tension and action and stupid teenagers in love and grief

#thebirdwrites #<-ig?#tyyy for the ask Dujour!

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curator-on-ao3 · 7 months ago

Note

Some character asks if you want to pick a character (or mix and match):

Favorite canon thing about this character?

If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

A relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire?

If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

Ooooh, thank you, anon! ❤️ Unsurprisingly, I want to answer for Una Chin-Riley.

Favorite canon thing about this character?

In terms of TOS, people say she’s unemotional — and I get that was the intent — but I actually love her emotion. I love how Chris reacts to her disappointment at being left off the landing party. I love her light sarcasm and irritation as she does the math on Vina’s real age. I love her defiance and general “do not fuck with me” energy as she sets her laser pistol to overload. She’s emotional while also being rational and smart. Absolutely brilliant.

In terms of Disco, I love how Una knows things she shouldn’t, how people owe her favors, how Chris trusts her to use her own methods to uncover the information they want. I love how she can predict what Chris is going to say and that she’s ready and adaptable for stuff because space is weird, man.

In terms of Short Treks, I love that she programmed the food synthesizers on Enterprise. Chris feeds the crew in his way and Una feeds the crew in hers.

In terms of Strange New Worlds, I love her longstanding friendships with Chris and La’an. I also keep friends for a long time, and it’s nice to see a character with that trait. I also like that she’s gained some level of acceptance for who she is, even though she shouldn’t have had to fight that fight.

If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

Despite the listing above, plus reams of beta canon, I definitely have additions! I wish she had been in more of TOS, of course, and I also think she should have been in AOS … depending on what they would have done to her. (My trust isn’t the highest on that.)

A relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire?

I admire how Una made clear her regrets and her willingness to do what she could to mend things in terms of her relationship with Neera. It’s complicated because their culture is alien and Una both benefitted from and was hurt by the hiding her parents chose to begin … but sometimes feelings need to come out so truth can be ascertained. And I really, really admire how Neera and Una both began to unpack feelings and truth to find their way back to some form of a positive relationship with each other.

If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

Oh, man. I just checked and I have 26 fics for which Una is a tagged character. So, yeah, I love her, your honor. I suppose my favorite thing to do is to just let that love (hopefully) shine through. She’s flawed, as we all are. She’s also smart and loyal and strong and sassy … and fun to explore from a characterization standpoint. I wrote one fic in which she didn’t make a pass at Chris years before because she assumed he wouldn’t be good in bed, and he is kind of repressed so they’ll work on that. In my current WIP, Una is reasonably sure physical compatibility won’t be a problem with Chris but this time she’s the one who’s repressed — emotionally — from keeping her secrets for so long, so she and Chris need to fix that up. Flipping around inverse possibilities for different fics can be fun.

Something I don’t like? Ten episodes a season.

#i love asks #una chin riley #my beloved #thank you again for asking #anon #(asks seriously make my day y’all - feel free to send whenever)

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lokiinmediasideblog · 8 months ago

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Can you recommend me Loki books? (as in novels, not norse mythology textbooks)

I am not sure if I rated these correctly in terms of audience maturity. But I tried lol.

Comics:

Valhalla comics-Peter Madsen

Fun slap-stick re-tellings of the Norse myths. Children oriented?

Loki (2004) aka "Blood Brothers" by Robert Rodi & Esad Ribic

It's my favorite Marvel!Loki comic of all time. It altered my brain chemistry. You can read it for free on the links in my pinned post.

The graphic novel version of Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman.

There's also this webcomic I found as a teen that's ongoing to this day and I need to go back to following:

Kids:

Loki: A Bad God's Guide to Being Good by Louie Stowell

Diary of a Wimpy Kid but with Norse mythology! What's not to love about that?!

Eight Days of Luke-Dianna Wynne Jones

The book that inspired "American Gods."

Odd and the Frost Giants-Neil Gaiman

A boy named Odd encounters Odin, Thor, and Loki who have been turned into animals.

Teens:

Runemarks duology-Joanne Harris

Just keep to the first two books. You'll hate the rest. Let's just say it dealt horribly with Eating Disorders and Harris should have done research on heavy topics before writing about them. Her Loki in the first two books is very enjoyable and he rules over goblins for a while, among other things. I also thought the way rune birthmarks worked in here was fun.

Norse Mythology-Neil Gaiman

It's an entertaining overview of the myths. If you're unfamiliar with them it's a good place to start.

Adult:

Black Wolf: The Binding of Loki-Una Verdandi

I don't recommend if you want a soft!Loki or one that remains a decent person. Loki is interesting and feels like a force of nature. But let's just say he's like the Joker with all that implies. But I thought it was a worthwhile read (very long). It has probably the best Sigyn depiction I've encountered. She feels like a real person! I go more in detail here. I'd pay attention to the things I warn about in case they're deal-breakers or triggers. My review is not spoiler free but contains warnings.

American Gods-Neil Gaiman

Has very interesting premise and a multiple pantheons existing at the same time. It's fun how the deities adapt to the USA and modern times.

The Goddess of Nothing at All-Cat Rector

This book is basically a Norse myth whump fic. I would avoid if that's not your thing because I can see how someone else might hate it. I know I like it because making fictional characters suffer is my guilty pleasure. You won't be laughing at the mythology-based Loki memes. I don't think it's perfect. For example, I dislike that they have to make Loki's every action "justified", such as cutting Sif's hair because Sif called him fantasy racism slurs. Let him be a bit of an asshole just because. The disproportionate punishment makes it difficult not to sympathize with Loki either way. I don't know how I feel about her Sygin. It's the 2nd best Sygin I've seen yet in books. She has a personality, is likeable, and is not a doormat, but something about her and this Loki feels sanitized to me. Like the author was checking boxes for Sygin and Loki. I don't know how to explain it.

Father of Monsters-A. B. Frost

Short read. Loki is a loveable little shit that gets the Aesir into trouble and takes one for the team to get them out of it. I really liked this characterization and it had cute illustrations of Loki, Angrboda, and Jormungandr.

The Nine Worlds Rising Series-Lyra Wolf

They're not perfect. I think her Loki is very funny and likable but too sanitized. And Sigyn has no flaws other than caring too much for her no-good brother while the other goddesses are evil witches. But the author has a very comedic writing voice that is highly enjoyable and keeps the stakes high so that you want to keep on reading. I also like how one of the books starts with a very vengeful Loki and draws comparisons to Lucifer. Thought that was cool. Also, some reactions to some reveals didn't land the impact as well as they should. They do tease the Odin/Loki abusive relationship, but not with the toxicity I wanted, and Odin goes on a redemption path a bit too soon for my liking (while making all the goddesses evil witches...). There's also a lot of anachronistic language in here, such as Loki mentioning a Chihuahua.

Books I haven't read but I know of their existence:

Loki-Melvin Burgess (I saw a Sigyn stan complain about it, but I am not sure how seriously to take her complaints because she said shipping myth!Loki with say Balder or Thor or Odin was "incestuous" because Loki is Odin's "blood brother" despite Loki being unrelated to everyone but Narfi and Nari on Asgard). My standards for Loki don't require that Loki be a paragon of morality, unlike hers. UPDATE: A mutual told me it's horribly transphobic and has rape apologia.

Harbinger of the End-Nicki Chapelway (I've seen praise from Logyn shippers for this one)

Loki: Nine Naughty Tales of the Trickster by Mike Vasich

I saw an excerpt with a rather humorous joke, but the one other Mike Vasich Loki book I read bored the hell out of me. So I haven't given it a chance for that reason.

The Blackwell Pages by Kelley Armstrong and Melissa Marr

It's a children's book series where the descendants of Thor and Loki are the protagonists.

I might have some revies in "LokiBookClub" tag.

#anon asks #norse mythology #LokiBookClub #myth!loki

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the-cat-at-the-theatre-door · 2 years ago

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They should bring back Growltiger (minus the racist parts), if only to stop the misconception that Jellylorum is boring and hates fun.

strongly agree | agree | neutral | disagree | strongly disagree

I 100% agree with the fact that I'd love for that interprtation of Jelly ease off, if only as a display that even if she's still possibly dour (though tbh I never liked that tack on addition they added to her 3 words later on), or orderly, it'd be sort of a show that different people garner different joy and entertainment from different things, y'know? Just because they don't find what you find fun, doesn't make them boring or unable to have fun in their own way. Diversity of personality and all that.

I'd say, however, I genuinely think, even with editing, Growltiger has too much problematic history to ever be brought back in full. Even if it was heavily rewritten, the poem and performance has such a legacy of racial insensitivity and flat out slur dropping, that it would almost feel like sweeping things under the rug. Like when they just yoinked Rap Tugger after heavy criticism (and also that audiences overall just didn't like the change in the music and structure) but never actually...said anything about it. Or *really* apologized for the oversight (we got the standard ALW response to it - classic). So, I don't necessarily think Growltiger as a number should be revived.

BUT, here's what we can do because I *do* want Jelly to have more fun and also get her time to shine and show what I said before: I don't necessarily agree with the fact that either "In Una Tepida Notte" or "The Ballad of Billy McCaw" has enough real association to the Growltiger number for them to be scrapped, so I would actually be in full support of doing what the Mexico Tours did and just jumping directly into one of those. Write a different lead up interlude; have Gus and Jelly play Cat Morgan and a Pirate Queen, or completely unrelated characters; ham those up as much as possible if you'd rather not play it seriously with the aria. That'd still give Gus his flashback to performing, the other cats could interact with Billy McCaw, win win all around.

If you want to keep the revival P&P instead, how about letting Jelly begrudgingly start singing Munk's parts instead (because the lady is tired - she's like a mom who just settled her kid down for a nap but then dad riled them up again), but have her get more swept up and into it as the number goes? There is no reason a woman couldn't sing those parts, so why not?

Or if all else fails, let Jelly have her own poem as a musical interlude sung maybe by the queens in a fond, teasing tone, for the other cats to introduce her (like they kept putting in the Macavity interludes in the revival), right before she "pish-poshes" it and goes into Gus'. Something like that. Many ideas. Let Jelly be silly.

#so like disagreed to agree lol #like we can bury growltiger - we don't need to bring him back #just use the extra pieces you have i know you can do it rug #jellicles ask because jellicles dare #unpopular opinions #jellicle-chants

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countessofravenclaw · 6 months ago

Text

Puede la ondulación cambiar una marea? part nine

Have you ever imagined what would happen if instead of of making Ambar Sol, Sharon would have aproached her problem with more level-headedness? What if, instead of throwing her daughter's life into a curve she just fires the Valentes, in hopes that they go back to Mexico and never find out the truth? Well, it was never going to be that easy, "everything you want you can achieve" being the family motto and all the for the Valentes after all. Monica and Miguel, could easily find another job, and so they do, with another family. A family that ends up being a bit of a surprise for Luna and all her friends.

“Jazmin, honestly, I don’t know.” Ambar shook her head while speaking on her phone. “Pack what you need so you don’t need to waltz around naked. I honestly don’t care otherwise. You aren’t even skating.”

“Ambar!!!” She stopped on her tracks on the stairs as she heard the voice of her godmother. “Dinner is ready!”

“Sorry Jazmin, I need to go,” She said to the phone, “I don’t know, Madrina is calling me, ask Delfi. See you tomorrow.”

“Ambar, you were late.” Sharon said as Ambar took her seat at the dinner table.

“Sorry, I was on the phone.” Ambar said shortly, she didn’t want to start anything with her godmother. Things had been, say the least, tense between them ever since the fire had happened. Ambar had maybe hoped that Sharon would have actually shown at least some concern for her, but almost nothing that changed.

Ambar started to honestly get sick of it. Luna’s parents were in the literal jail and still she was getting shown care, love and concern, by people who were complete strangers to her eight months ago.

Ambar's own mother couldn’t do that to her apparently. Sharon really didn’t care, especially as she was so obsessive over the whole legal battle. Ambar hadn’t even told her about the acceptance letter to the UCA, which she had applied to after the fire.

“Talking on the phone when you know there are other things is very disrespectful.” Sharon said coldly.

“Sharon, don’t be so uptight.” Alfredo appeared at the table. “Let the girl live. Who were you talking to?”

“Just Jazmin,” Ambar answered as Amanda brough the food to the table. Their new cook was terrible, but what could you do? They couldn’t starve and the food was edible. “We were talking about tomorrow. There are a lot of things to organize so we can leave.”

“Leave where?” Sharon raised her head.

“To Cancun.” Ambar answered, “The team is competing in the Roda Fest final. We’re leaving tommorrow.”

“Why was I not informed about this?” Sharon stared. “I haven’t given permission.”

“I did tell you, Madrina.” Ambar sighed, “And I don’t need permission. I am not a minor.”

Ambar had never shown Sharon any of the forms related to the Cancun trip—because she hadn’t needed to… She was 18 now, and tomorrow they would be boarding the plane, exactly like Juliana had required. She had written down Amanda as the emergency contact, because Sharon would have had her head if Ambar had started writing down her personal information, especially without asking.

She wanted this to go as smoothly as possible, because Ambar was really looking forward to actually going to Cancun. She wanted to flatten out the Sliders as much as everyone else, especially that obnoxious goth girl, but she also was just looking forward to some time away. Away from everything back home. Cancun also was a super pretty place, Simon had told her about super beautiful sunsets.

“You still should have asked.” Sharon continued.

“No, I didn’t need to.” Ambar decided to protest. “I won’t be going alone. We’re going as a team, and our coach will be with us.”

“So, Luna is going too?” Alfredo interjected.

“Yes, the whole team will be there.”

“I am still so glad that Valentes found such a balanced place of employment.” Alfredo continued and Ambar stared at her plate. How was he still so blissfully unaware that Sharon had gotten the Valentes in JAIL, and that Luna was cosplaying as a daughter of one of Buenos Aires’s most promising upcoming dynasties. Well, Ambar wasn’t going to be one to tell him that and deal with the fallout.

“Can we not talk about that family?” Sharon sighed, “We are at the dinner table.”

“I do not understand what you have against Valentes' new employers?” Alfredo—against his better judgment, at least in Ambar’s mind—continued. “Young and attractive people like them who are hard workers will go far for a reason. They seem like very nice people, and quite a couple.”

“Por favor Papa,” Sharon scoffed, “There is nothing more unprofessional than public shows of affection. But not surprising, considering where they are from. They don’t know how to act or control—”

“Well, Sharon, you can’t blame them for being in love,” Alfredo continued. Ambar tried really hard not to sigh. She agreed with him, but this wasn’t wise to aggravate Madrina. “Only rare people possess that true spark that lasts, and absolutely should let that show. Reminds me of Lili and Bernie. Oh, they were always such a joy to watch—”

“How many times do I have to say that we don’t talk about the past in this house!”

This time Ambar sighed almost audibly. Thank god she got out of here tomorrow. She had already agreed with Delfi that she would give her a ride, given that Delfi now had a fresh driver's license. Maybe Ambar should get one for herself as well.

***

“Rey!” Sharon called as the dining room became empty.

“What can I do for you Senora?” Rey walked in. “The solicitor called. They want to meet with you tomorrow to discuss—”

“I don’t care,” Sharon waved a hand to silence him. “You tell him that he needs to do his job.”

“Okay,” Rey nodded, “But I think it would be beneficiary… The case is sitting on a standstill Senora Benson and I don’t think we can move it on our favor if we don’t—”

“Like I said, I don’t care,” Sharon shook her head, “Now do as you’re told.”

“Well, what do you wish for me to do?”

“I need you to contact the Ministro Pistarini International Airport… Anonymously.”

***

“Okay, Isla and I know that you know Cancun, but don’t go wandering off. Also have your phone on all the time, so we can reach you. Are you sure you have everything you need?”

“Yeah, I got it. Thanks Marco.” Luna nodded toward him, who had driven her and Gastón to the Roller, as she pulled the handle of her suitcase up. “I made triple sure I have everything.”

“Good. I would give this same spiel to Gastón, but apparently, he’s an adult now, so he can handle it.”

“Hey!” Gastón, who had been pulling his own bags from the car, protested. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing,” Marco laughed, “Just some friendly advice: don’t do anything stupid.”

“Why would I?”

“Hopefully neither of us has to find that out.” Marco squeezed his shoulder briefly. “Have fun, both of you. Good luck for the competition.”

“Finally!” Matteo grabbed Gastón by the shoulder as he and Luna walked into Roller. “What took you so long?”

“Dad wanted to give a lecture,” he rolled his eyes. “I should have driven us here myself.”

“Then you would have needed to leave the car here for two weeks,” Nina, who had also joined them as they reached the cafeteria, noted after kissing him on the cheek, “You’re not late anyway, Jazmin is still not here either.”

“Nor is Simon…” Luna looked around.

“Oh, you can’t count on those three to ever be on time.” Juliana shook her head, “Simon, Pedro and Nico forgot a drumstick and went to get it. I didn’t want to ask why. Now, I can mark you two: Luna and Gastón, off my list. No one is allowed to leave this building until we leave for the airport!”

“I’m here, I’m here!!!” Jazmin suddenly dashed through the door.

“Good.” Juliana gave her a tight smile. “Now… I almost wanna leave those three stranded, if they don’t—”

“Never fear, the Roller Band is here!” Simon, Nico and Pedro crashed through the door like a three-headed dog.

“I wish your brains would also be,” Juliana sighed. “Okay, now, everyone! Make a circle. We don’t have much time.”

“We’re doing this as fast as we can,” Ramiro remarked, “Are we chased by fire…?”

The room fell dead silent for a moment.

“I realize that that was extremely insensitive. Sorry about that.” Ramiro quickly looked at Luna, Ambar and Gastón. “But, Juliana, what’s the rush?”

“I was informed this morning that many airlines in Mexico, specifically the ones operating in Cancun, are on strike this week, starting today.” Juliana sighed.

“Wait…?” Luna’s face grew worried. “Are we not able to go? The competition…?”

“You didn’t let me finish,” Juliana looked at her. “Most of the flights are canceled starting tomorrow, but thankfully, ours were booked enough ahead of time that this doesn’t affect us directly. Our flight is the only one to Cancun for this week. But if we miss it, because, I don’t know, someone does something stupid and we’ll be late, then there are no guarantees.”

“Well, in that case we won’t miss it,” Ambar crossed her arms and addressed everyone. “Right guys?”

“Oh, of course not,” Jazmin started blabbing, “I can’t miss my chance to be the chicest Argentinian in Mexico.”

“Don’t worry Juliana,” Luna nodded as well, “We are not gonna miss our chance to show the Sliders. So, are we gonna win or what?”

“Jam & Roller!!”

“Okay, now, let's settle down,” Juliana started speaking, “Now, you all need to get yourselves and your things into the bus that’s waiting outside. Everyone needs to have their passports on hand when we enter the airport. I presume all of you have flown before, so you all know how you need to behave while going through security and everything. Otherwise, I will leave you in the terminal”

“Woohoo, lets go!!” Simon yelled as the team grabbed their bags and started filing out of the Roller and toward the bus.

“Simon, can you believe it!!” Luna grabbed his arm. “We are going to Mexico!! Home!!”

“I honestly can’t wait,” Simon hugged her. “I get to see my family. We’re going home!”

“I’m so happy we’re doing this.” Luna jumped on the first step while getting on the bus and dropped her backpack. “Uuups!”

“Well, your trip’s gonna end really fast if you lose your passport.” Simon handed Luna her folder of important papers. “You have a lot of papers.”

“I know,” Luna laughed as she took the folder from Simon, “All the immigration stuff, visas, passport, custody agreement what nots… I can’t believe it honestly.”

“Me either,” Simon shook his head as they climbed onto the bus. “You are terrible at paperwork.”

“Okay, is everyone here?” Juliana climbed onto the bus. “Lets do this quickly, say here when I say the letter of your first name. A!”

“Here!” Ambar spoke.

“B! C! D!”

“Here.”

“E! F! G!”

“Here!”

“H! I! J!”

“I’m here!”

“Ready!!”

“K! L!

“Ready for Mexico!!” Luna yelled.

M!”

“Here!”

“N!”

“Here.”

“Here as well!”

“O! P!”

“Here!”

“Q! R! S!”

“Here!”

“T! U! V! X! Y!”

“Here!” Yam was the last one to speak.

“Okay, and I know that no one here is named after Z so we can go.” Juliana said to the bus driver and the vehicle finally started moving.

“Simon.” Luna said as the bus was driving on a freeway.

“What?” Simon looked at her concerned.

“I just, I just realized that I have never flown alone.” Luna continued. “What do we do when we go there?”

“Well, I mean I have an idea, but I don’t know how to explain it,” Simon scratched his head. “Uh, Nina!”

“What?” Nina raised her head, from the other side of the bus’s aisle where she was sitting with Gastón, about two rows ahead of Simon and Luna.

“Everything okay?” Gastón also turned his head.

“What do you exactly do at an airport?” Luna asked.

“We’ll do the check in at a counter, and then go through security.” Nina explained, “Then we board at the gate after they call us. Pretty simple.”

“That’s if you're traveling economy, which we are.” Gastón mentioned. “The other classes are actually usually more complicated, if you…but like it’s not important because we won’t be facing any trouble.”

“Everyone keep track of your bags!!” Juliana yelled from the front. “We’ll be there shortly.”

Luna held the handle of her bag tightly as everyone filed into the parking lot and then inside of the airport. She was going to Mexico!!! She was so excited.

Right now it felt like nothing could stop her. Everything was going to be okay.

“Luna, it is your turn.” Someone tapped her on the shoulder. Luna looked up and saw Juliana gesture toward the check-in desk.

“Oh, yeah,” Luna nodded and walked up to the desk. “Hi!”

“Passport?” The agent in the window asked.

“Oh here.” Luna handed the booklet to the woman.

“Valente, Luna?” The official asked. She opened and then looked at Luna and then the passport again. This happened a few times more, which kind of weirded Luna out.

“Yeah.” Luna nodded. “Everything okay?”

“Yes,” the official tapped something on the computer, looked at Luna again, but then gave her boarding pass and her passport. “Have a pleasant journey.”

Luna just shrugged and started walking back to the others.

“What took you so long?” Jim asked as Luna caught up with everyone at the TSA queue entrance.

“I don’t know,” Luna shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. So do we go there next?”

“Yep,” Juliana nodded, “Try to make this as nicely as you are able. We are on…”

“Yeah, yeah, we know,” Ramiro remarked, “We are on a time crunch.”

The TSA checkpoint went on without a hitch… Although Luna kind of felt like the agents were again kind of looking at her, but that was probably just completely normal. Weren’t these people supposed to look for anything suspicious.

They probably weren’t even looking at her specifically,

“Okay, we have about 40 minutes until we board.” Juliana said as the team got to their gate.

“Then what was with the rush?” Nico asked, while sitting down on a chair.

“I have had to factor in a margin of error with you lot.” Juliana sighed. “Okay, now, you can go see around the airport, but be here in 30 minutes, AND no one goes anywhere alone.”

“Simon, let's go grab some juice,” Luna pulled Simon by the arm after the group scattered. “I saw one booth not far away from here.”

“Okay, let's go.” Simon nodded.

“Wow, this is super good,” Luna exclaimed as she slurped her strawberry lime juice with a straw. “Honestly, I’d drink this every daa—Oh sorry.”

Luna had twirled around and almost crashed into some sort of person who clearly was an official of some sort of the airport. At least it looked like it according to the man's uniform.

“Excuse me.” To Luna’s surprise the official addressed her. “Are you Luna Valente?”

“Uh, yes.” Luna answered confused. “Can I help you?”

The official didn’t answer anything, but instead made some sort of hand gesture. Suddenly two big security guards appeared on either side of Luna, took her by the arm, and started dragging her following the official.

“Hey!!” Luna tried to protest, panic rising in her. “What are you doing?”

The guards released Luna as they got into an emptier area from the shops, into some sort of security desk.

“We need to check that you have the correct authorization to travel internationally, as an unaccompanied minor.” The official read something off his laptop.

“Oh, well I have permission.” Luna had zero idea what all what the official had just said to her had meant, but she most certainly knew that she had permission. She quickly pulled the plastic folder from her backpack and handed the appropriate paper to the official guy. It should settle things pretty easily—

“You really think we’re gonna believe this?” Luna's face fell when the official said those words.

***

“So, I asked Simon what time the best sunsets can be seen,” Gastón squeezed Nina's hand as they were walking toward their gate. “So, I thought we’d sneak out in the evening and go get some pictures.”

“That sounds amazing,” Nina responded, “I didn’t take the better camera with me though, I should have…”

“Don't worry about it,” Gastón stopped and brushed a lock of her hair behind her ear, “I took the DSLR with us. Dad gave me permission. Apparently, with the right settings, the picture can glow almost like it’s magic. ”

Nina was about to respond something, when Simon suddenly ran past them. “Juliana!!”

“What?” Juliana looked up annoyed at Simon from her papers. “Do I want to know?”

“Luna got grabbed.”

“What are you talking about?” Juliana sighed. “What did she grab? The last thing I need is dealing with one of you getting caught for shoplifting…”

“No, she got grabbed.” Simon repeated. “Some security people just took her.”

“What?” Juliana stared and Gastón and Nina exchanged glances. “Why?”

“I don’t know, but you need to do something.”

“Okay, where did they go?”

“There are some people gathered on that security station,” Nina pointed toward left of their gate.

“I’ll go see,” Juliana got up from her chair. “This is probably a mistake.”

“What happened?” Nina asked Simon after, while tightening her grip on Gastón’s arm.

“I don’t know,” He shook his head, “We were just having juice and then just some official looking guy came to us and asked if she was Luna Valente and then they took her away.”

“What’s going on?” Jim, Yam and Matteo had appeared at the gate. “Is Luna in trouble?”

“Hopefully not,” Nina looked at Gastón, “This could be a misunderstanding, right?”

“Maybe she mismarked her luggage somehow. Hopefully anyway, we don’t have much time.”

Nothing happened for almost 15 minutes, during which everyone had arrived at the gate.

“The boarding will start soon,” Ambar noted, “What’s taking so long?”

“Maybe we should go and see,” Matteo suggested. Everyone in the group nodded and they started walking closer to the security checkpoint.

When they got there, Juliana saw them and walked to meet them. “What are you doing here?”

“We want to know what’s going on,” Simon stated.

“Still trying to figure that out,” Juliana sighed.

“What are we gonna do?” Ambar asked, “We’ll soon miss our flight if this takes any longer.”

“You won’t,” Juliana looked at everyone sternly. “Okay, here’s what we will do. I will text our schedule, the hotel information, training rink’s booking and the competition forms to…to Delfi. Ambar, Delfi, Gastón, Jazmin, Matteo, Nico, Pedro and Simon, you will board the plane no matter what. Nina, Jim and Yam, try to get your parents to write you some sort of statement that you're allowed to travel as unaccompanied minors. Do it now.”

“What will you and Luna do?” Jim asked while holding her phone on her other ear for a phone call. “You said that there were no other flights due to the strike.”

“We’ll figure it out. We can possibly go to Mexico City and come by road, but we will lose time…”

“I am not leaving without Luna.” Simon stated.

“Simon, we need as full of a team as possible.” Juliana shook her head, “We don’t have time for this.”

“But what are they holding Luna for?” Nina asked again, “This doesn’t make any sense.”

“I don’t know if I am at liberty to disclose this to you.” Juliana looked very frustrated. “With her situation—”

“You need to tell!” Simon insisted.

“Simon, insistence doesn’t get you anywhere with this.”

“Juliana, I am the closest family member she has right now here,” Gastón suddenly spoke again. “I need to know, especially given the situation.”

“Okay,” Juliana nodded, “They are claiming that Luna does not have proper permissions to travel out of the country.

“What?” Nina stared, before looking at Gastón again “That doesn’t even make sense. She shouldn’t need any and she has a written statement of consent. I was there when your mother gave it to her.”

“Yeah, I know.” He said while looking at her, “They mentioned it to me too.”

“Then why on earth are these people questioning her?” Matteo joined the conversation. “There is no way the papers don’t hold up.”

“There is no way,” Gastón stared out of the window, “Unless…”

“Unless what?” Nina asked him.

“Unless the problem is not that the papers don’t hold up, but the fact that these people think that it is forged or something…” Gastón sighed.

“What do you mean?” Simon asked, confused.

“Well, my parents seem very childfree for the outside world,” Gastón shook his head, “So, to outsiders, it might seem very strange that some random girl is claiming that they are her guardians, especially given that we are talking about legal custody agreements. They wouldn’t be questioning my birth certificate…but I don’t know why they are questioning her in the first place.”

“Can you call your parents? So, they can clear this up?” Nina suggested.

“I mean I can, but if they are questioning their signatures, it won’t be solved over the phone. They need to come here, and that will take too long, and the flight will be missed.” Gastón shook his head again, super annoyed, “Dad is gonna hate this…”

“What? What are you thinking?” Nina asked as Gastón’s voice trailed off.

“There is something I can do.” Gastón nodded and started walking toward where the people were standing. He could identify the official, who had been running the whole “arresting” show, very easily, given the uniform. So that would be the one he would need to target. “Luna’s papers are completely legitimate.”

“I’m sorry, but who are you…?” The official, whose name tag read Simsom, and he was apparently some sort of passenger affairs manager, turned toward Gastón. As soon as he saw him, his face flushed at least three shades of purple and blue.

Good. The effect had already been achieved.

“Hi.” Gastón continued. “Gastón, Perida. I think you know my dad, or actually I know that you do.”

“Uh… I’m sorry, but…” The official staggered something.

“I don’t care, honestly.” Gastón interrupted him. “I can tell you though, that my father, Marco Perida—but you know that—won’t appreciate one bit that you are over here questioning the official document that he and his wife have signed about Luna, their daughter. Nor will he like that you’re wasting our time, making us miss our flight.”

Gastón knew that everyone, from the guards and the official to Luna and the team, were staring at him, but he did not care.

“I—I am so sorry…” The official staggered again, now flushed completely pale. “We had no idea… This…this has been a huge misunderstanding and I apologize profusely.”

“You better,” Gastón nodded, “We need to get going.”

“Of course, of course,” It was a good thing that the official didn’t bow. “I am sorry. Please have a pleasant journey.”

“Come on,” Gastón grabbed Luna—who had been staring with a confused expression the whole time the exchange had gone on—by the arm and started walking away.

“What was that?” Luna stopped on her tracks.

“Honestly I don't know either.” Gastón shook his head, “Dad has always said that people working here are a bunch of idiot snobs. They still would never risk destroying their reputation to their boss—”

“What are you talking about?” Luna still seemed really confused. “How did you come up with that?”

“With what?” Now it was Gastón’s turn to be confused for a sec…before he realized. “Dad’s part of the administrator board of this airport.”

“What? You weren’t bluffing?”

“Has that seriously never come up?”

“No,” Luna shook her head, “I thought he did something with finance. ”

“Oh, he does. Mom and Dad both work like a trillion different jobs, for other people and their own companies, individually and together. I stopped keeping track a long time ago.”

“Okay…” Luna stared blankly as they kept walking.

“Luna! You okay?” Simon reached them.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Luna nodded before she hugged Gastón, “Thank you.”

“I never thought I would get to see you pull “Do you know who I am?” at someone.” Matteo laughed as he patted Gastón on the back. “But that…was worth it.”

“My intention was never to do that, but we can’t miss our flight.” He shook his head, “But I had no choice. We look out for our family.”

“That was very good thinking.” Nina also hugged him.

“Well, now I need to write a very lengthy text to Mom and Dad about this before we board,” Gastón sighed, “So they don’t think our house is bugged or something.”

“Okay, everyone!!!” Juliana demanded everyone's attention. “Now that all the excitement is over, can we form a neat line so we can start boarding.”

Everyone lined up at the gate. Gastón stayed at the end of it, because he needed time to type some sort of an explanation to his parents before taking off. If they heard about this and he was unreachable, they would get worried sick.

“I am not sure what you did, but thank you,” Juliana appeared on his side.

“They can question official papers, but they can’t question my face,” He looked at her, “I look like my dad, a lot. Our last name is not exactly common, I think we are the only ones who have it. We couldn’t possibly go and win the Roda Fest without our captain.”

***

Luna was floating in the air. It was almost like she was in the middle of space.

“Sun will always come out.” It was the same voice that had been in her dreams before. “You know the way. Follow the path…”

“But what is the path?” Luna asked, even though she didn’t know from whom.

There was no answer.

Suddenly a moon, that looked exactly like her necklace, appeared in front of her. Then something golden flew past her and settled in the middle of the moon’s crescent. It was a bright sun.

“Your answer is in front of you, you just need to find it. It is near, it is far. The sun will show you the truth”.

“Luna, Luna!!!” Luna shook awake from Simon’s voice.

“What?” She blinked a few times to get her eyes accustomed to the bright lights inside the airplane cabin.

“We are landing soon.” Simon explained from next to her. “You were pretty dead asleep.”

“Oh yeah,” Luna tugged on the end of her braid. Her hair was on two pigtails—Isla had said it was more practical for long journeys. “I guess I fell asleep.”

“You okay?” Simon asked, looking at her a little more concerned, “You were tossing and mumbling something.”

“I just had a weird dream.” Luna shook her head, “I don’t understand.”

“What was it about?” Simon asked while tapping Nina, who was sitting on front of him, on the shoulder.

“It was super weird.” Luna continued. “I was like in space, and all the sudden there was a moon in front of me and in the middle of it was a sun.”

“So, like your necklace?” Nina questioned.

“Yeah,” Luna nodded, “but like that was not the weird part. There was some voice, a woman…she sounded like familiar, but I can’t figure out from where. She said that I have to follow a path and that the sun will show me the truth. I don’t get what that means.”

“Well, maybe I do,” Nina continued, “You said that the sun appeared with the moon and there should be a sun charm in your necklace as well. It is about your biological family. You are the moon and the sun represents them.”

“Oh yeah, that makes sense…” Luna pondered, “So they have something with a sun?”

“Well, that doesn’t help us a lot,” Simon laughed, “Unless there is a family somewhere called the Sunshines. Luna, I know this is really important to you, but I don’t think there is a lot we can do about it right now.”

“I agree with Simon,” Nina nodded. “You need to focus on the competition, enjoy Cancun and have fun. Luna, you out of everyone, with everything you’ve been through. You deserve a vacation. We’ll look really into this when we get back, I promise.”

“Thank you,” Luna smiled, “You’re right. I just wish I could just record my dreams and show you, like create a video or something. So, we could rewind and everything.”

“It would be useful.”

***

“Okay. After you have checked yourself off the list, all of you can go check-in independently and you’ll be given your keys. Luna, Nina, Jim and Yam, you need to come with me.” Juliana spoke as the team had gathered in the lobby of the hotel. “Otherwise, we will go visit the rink today at 7 pm, otherwise today is free. Always tell me if you leave the hotel.”

“Okay,” Gastón said while taking the two keycards from the check-in desk. He turned toward Matteo, “Don’t lose this.”

“Hermano, since when have I been losing keys?” Matteo rolled his eyes at him.

“I don’t know, you’ve kind of been prone to making stupid decisions lately,” Gastón shook his head.

“Just give me a key.” Matteo huffed, “Matteo Balsano doesn’t lose things.”

“Oh, you wanna bet?” They heard laughter coming from behind them. Luna and Nina appeared on their side. “Chico Fresa surely has lost something.”

“I swear, never.” Matteo rolled his eyes.

“I don’t think we have time to have this argument.” Nina and Gastón shared a look. “Where is your room?”

“The hallway B,” Gastón looked at the keycard. ‘

“Ours too.” Nina responded. “I think we’re the only ones there.”

“That is convenient, in an extremely nice way…” Gastón grabbed her hand.

“And I don’t want any shenanigans!” Juliana’s voice boomed again, “Everyone needs to sleep in their own beds.”

“And that was convenient in a very awkward way,” Matteo remarked, and then looked at his best friend. “Should we go up?”

“Luna, we need to drop our stuff really quickly, because we need to get going.” Simon showed up next to Luna.

“Where are you going?” Gastón asked.

“Oh, Juliana asked us to represent the Roller Team in an interview,” Luna explained, “Which is…very soon! We really do need to get going!”

“Try to keep out of trouble,” Gastón remarked jokingly, “I can’t really pull that airport stunt here again, to get you out.”

“I’ll try, but no promises.” Luna laughed, “But you know me.”

“Yep, sometimes unavoidable. At least remember to keep your phone on.”

“Yep, I will!!” Luna waved when she disappeared with Simon.

“I’ll go drop my stuff off as well,” Nina squeezed Gastón’s hand, “See you later.”

“Yeah, let's go grab something to eat before we head to the rink.” Gastón kissed her on her forehead before Nina started following Luna toward their room.

“So, I think we are gonna need a signal,” Matteo remarked as he dropped his suitcase on the bed in their room.

“What are you talking about?” Gastón looked at him confused.

“Well, a signal for when you want me out of here,” Matteo rolled his eyes. “I am not stupid, nor do I plan on standing in the way of you and Nina. I am not a cockblock and I don’t want to walk into anything. So, text me one of those Scandinavian letters?”

“That will take way too long,” Gastón shook his head, “The # would be easier.”

“Works for me, as long as I don’t need to walk into anything.”

“You are always terrible to have this conversation—” Gastón started, but suddenly his phone rang.

“Darling,” His parents showed up on the screen in the video call. “We caught you. We tried to approximate when your flight would have landed.”

“Yeah, we landed about an hour ago,” Gastón responded, “At the hotel now… You got my text?”

“We did,” his dad sighed. “I can’t believe it.”

“Us neither, and we were there.” Matteo remarked from behind Gastón.

“What happened?” He asked. “Did you figure it out?”

“Well,” Marco continued, shaking his head. Gastón watched his mother place her hand on his father’s nape, stroking her thumb in a soothing circular motion, like she always did when he was getting overwhelmed. “Apparently, there had been an anonymous tip the day before about an unaccompanied minor trying to travel out of the country without the appropriate permissions. It is absolutely ridiculous. The anonymous complaints need to always be taken with a grain of salt—unless it is a bomb threat—because anyone can make them. The personnel should know better. I’ve had some heavy words with Simsom and the whole department, although the head of that, Servane, is the worst, so I don’t wonder one bit why the personnel don’t know the policies.”

“But why was Luna identified out of everyone?”

“The tip was apparently about a teenage girl with brown hair.”

“That must apply to like a thousand people in the airport alone.” Matteo questioned, “That makes zero sense.”

“Yep,” Gastón nodded, “By that criteria, Nina could have been tagged.”

“Or Delfi,” Matteo suggested while sitting next to Gastón, so he saw the call better, “which would have probably been the best option. She could have just proved them wrong, because she is not a minor.”

“It is extremely hard to investigate where the intelligence for that even came from,” Marco started saying, “Especially as this is personal for me, it can’t be argued that looking into it would benefit the company, even if I think that it would.”

“Well, the important thing is that you got there safely in the end.” Isla spoke.

“We did in the end, but it was close that Luna missed the flight.”

“He was a hero though.” Matteo grabbed Gastón on the shoulders.

“I don’t know about that.” Gastón shook his head, before looking at his parents again. “It was the only thing that came into my mind that would solve it. The Simsom guy knows that you have a child now… So sorry about that.”

“It’s okay.” Isla nodded, “You did the right thing, and you're not exactly a child anymore. We have to get used to the fact that you don’t need as much protection.”

“I did tell Simsom that he better not go to any tabloids if he wants to keep his job.” Marco pointed out.

“That is something I can agree with.” Gastón nodded, “Have you talked to Luna?”

“Not yet. We wanted to talk to you first. We’ll call her next.”

“You probably won’t be able to reach her for a while. Juliana asked her and Simon to do some interview.”

“We’ll ask her when she can talk. It was good to hear that you’re okay.”

“Yeah, I’m totally fine.” Gastón responded.

“So, how can I get your parents to adopt me?” Matteo asked jokingly after the call ended. “I am getting even more jealous now.”

“Get your parents arrested.” Gastón suggested, “Although, it is too late for you.”

“You think I didn’t try to invent a hundred ways to get Dad arrested when we first moved here,” Matteo answered laughing. “I never succeeded.”

“How sad,” Gastón rolled his eyes, “This honestly shouldn’t be funny.”

“I know.” Matteo nodded, “I wish I could do something for Luna.”

“But there really isn’t anything,” Gaston shook his head, “Mom and Dad don’t tell me all the details either, but the courts drag during the summer even more. I think that Alexei is maybe trying to find a way to disprove the case’s existence entirely, but I don’t know. Only thing we can do is to support her… What is going on with you and Luna anymore? You don’t talk about her that much anymore.”

“I still love her, but she’s made it extremely clear on where we stand.” Matteo sighed, “She’s right… I’ve messed up pretty badly, and this isn’t the time to be selfish. I need to support her as a friend and maybe someday she’ll give me a chance again.”

“Is this self-reflection from Matteo Balsano?” Gastón looked at his friend amused.

“I guess so,” Matteo smirked, “I guess, I need to be happy with what I got, her friendship. At least we get along well enough that we can handle the maid of honor and best man duties like the pros that we are, so you and Nina don’t need to worry about that.”

“What are you talking about?” Gastón raised an eyebrow.

“You know what,” Matteo looked at him. “I don’t have any faith that you can hold on longer than maybe a few years at this point. Don’t tell you haven’t thought about it?”

“Of course I have.” Gastón smiled, “In a couple years. Nina needs to graduate, and I need to get out of my parents’ place…”

“You know we could go scour some jewelry stores while being here.” Matteo jokingly suggested.

“You know Maria would kill me for it.” Gastón threw at Matteo with a pillow. “But back to you and Luna and the topic at hand… Maybe that’s for the best right now. I mean, If the worst happens, you wouldn’t be able to ask her hand from her dad as it is… Someone someday might need to ask my dad, but I don’t know. It’s gonna be Luna’s choice.

***

“We are so happy to be back in Cancun and we are ready for the competition.” Luna said to the microphone that the interviewer was holding for her.

“We are gonna beat the Sliders,” Simon nodded, “but don’t tell them that.”

“Well, thank you guys.” The interviewer smiled after the camera had been shut off. “We will see you at the rink.”

“That was awesome!” Luna jumped into the air. “Okay, what do we do next? Beach? Tacos?”

“Both actually,” Simon grabbed her hand. “Mom texted me after we had just landed. We are “politely” forced to come for dinner.”

“OMG!!!” Luna looked at him, “Why didn't you say sooner?”

“It was supposed to be a surprise.” Simon started pulling Luna along. “We are not in a hurry, so let's walk by the beach.”

“I have missed these views,” Luna sighed as she and Simon walked along the ocean shoreline of Cancun. “It’s beautiful.” Luna raised her phone up and snapped a few pictures, before starting to type some sort of message.

“Who are you sending those to?” Simon asked, confused, because surely Luna wasn't able to send those to her parents, but it looked like she was writing a text message to some sort of group chat.

“Oh, Isla and Marco told me that they’ve never been to Cancun.” Luna raised her head from her phone. “So, I’m sending them pictures.”

“You text?” Simon looked at Luna’s phone, as she showed him the group chat. “Waiiiitt…what has happened to your phone? This is bigger…”

“Did I not tell you?” Luna scrunched her eyebrows, “Or did I only tell Nina? Mine stopped working and Marco though it was smoke damage—”

“They bought you a new phone?” Simon questioned while looking at the phone.

“I mean yeah.” Luna shrugged, “They said that I can’t just not have one that doesn’t work. What about it?”

“Nothing honestly…notes are expensive though.” Simon sighed, “It makes sense. I just didn’t realize you were that close, with them—Gastón’s parents, I mean.”

“I don’t really get what you mean?” Luna looked at him a little confused. “I live with them… By the way, I probably never told you that they play the piano, both of them. They’re really good too.”

“Can we stop for a moment?” Simon stopped in front of a wooden dock.

“Oh, sure.” Luna nodded and sat down on the dock. “What’s up?”

“We just haven’t talked, just the two of us, in a while.” Simon sat down next to Luna, “You’ve seemed really happy lately. Obviously, since stuff has been really going down… I just don’t want you to feel like you need to pretend, when you don’t, not with me.”

“I know that I don’t and I am not pretending.” Luna looked up at him. “The thing is that… I have been happy. I mean, I miss Mom and Dad every day and I wish they’d be here cheering me on and that I could talk to them about how excited I am about this competition right now, instead of waiting on the hour on the phone or a meeting in a small room where I can’t even hug them…and I am so mad that they are being held against their will…but… I have to hope that everything will be okay, and the truth will always come out. I guess, besides that, I can’t stop living my life. I have to do that, for Mom and Dad and for myself. I guess I’m kind of in a good place. Isla and Marco, they’re really nice and they care about me. They have been really good to me, even since we got to that house.”

“I—I see that,” Simon nodded, “You know that, when you’re happy, I’m happy. It just seems such a different life, with these fancy people.”

“Fancy?” Luna started laughing. “Simon please, they aren’t fancy.”

Simon was about to say something when his phone rang.

“Simon!!” A voice came from the phone. “Where are you?”

“Oh, sorry Mom.” Simon responded to the phone. “We are on our way.”

“Hi Carla!!” Luna yelled on the phone.

“Get here! Food’s done soon.”

“We need to get going before Mom blows a casket.” Simon laughed and got up from the dock.

“Simon!” Maria and Rika, Simon’s younger twin sisters ran to hug him as soon as he and Luna walked to the yard of Simon’s family house.

“Hey!!” Simon hugged them. “I missed you.”

“Your fault because you ran off to Argentina.”

“Girls,” Simon’s sisters were shooed away by his father and mother, Diego and Carla Alvarez, “Let him breathe. Good to see you son.”

“Hi!” Simon hugged his father and his mother at the same time.

“It’s so good to see you,” Carled eyed his beanie, “Remember that no hats in the dinner table.”

“Yeah, sure.” Simon rolled his eyes affectionately.

“Luna!” Carla turned around and Luna was pulled into a crushing hug that only Simon’s mom could give. “So nice to see you as well. Now come in, you must be starving.”

“Where is everyone?” Simon asked as they walked into the house.

“Both Julio and Rico are out with friends.” Diego explained, “Apparently they forgot that you were coming today.”

“Of course they did.” Simon shook his head laughing.

“They will be coming to the competition,” Carla noted, “We’ll make sure of that. But now we can talk in peace, so there is good in everything. Surely there are a lot of things you have to tell us.”

“Yeeeepp…” Simon said while glancing at Luna.

“...and that’s how we convinced Juliana to take us back as the team.” Luna finished telling the story and dunked the glass of orange juice down her throat.

“Then she made us work like slaves, but here we are.” Simon added. “Still working our butts off.”

“You don’t gain victory with no sweat,” Diego pointed out. “How’s the job?”

“I haven't gotten fired if that’s what you're asking, so I have improved from my last job.” Simon remarked, “We’re doing fine.”

“That is good to hear,” Carla nodded, “We never know if what you tell over the phone is actually what is happening, knowing you.”

“Simon has been doing extremely well,” Luna nodded, “The Roller Band will be the hottest thing on this side of the Ocean.”

“It was great that you could come here too Luna—” Carla and Diego exchanged some sort of a look with each other “—because there has been something we’ve been wondering about.”

“Oh,” Luna looked at them, “What is it?”

“Honestly, it could be nothing,” Carla continued, “but it has kind of been strange how we’ve been absolutely unable to reach your parents lately. I’ve been trying to call Monica multiple times, but everything goes unanswered. Trying not to get too worried here, so has their contact information changed?”

“Uh…” Luna opened her mouth, but no words came out.

“You don’t have to tell them.” Simon placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Tell us what?” Carla and Diego looked really worried now.

“It’s okay,” Luna shook her head and looked at Simon’s parents again. “It’s really complicated and really hard to explain.”

“Start from the beginning.”

“Okay, well…” Luna started. “Uh, Mom and Dad got fired during the fall.”

“Fired?” Diego questioned, “You mean by the lady who owns the mansion here?”

“Yes, Senora Sharon” Luna nodded, “It was super unfair…”

“But they found new employment?” Carla asked on her turn.

“Yeah, they did.” Luna continued. “It was actually quite funny—”

“Funny?”

“The funny part is that Monica and Miguels new employers’ son had been our friend for the past year and is in the team and everything,” Simon explained, “but no one had any idea about it.”

“Oh okay.” Simon’s parents nodded. “So are your parents under some sort of NDA, or their job is so confidential that they aren’t allowed to talk to people in different countries?”

“Oh no, they’re in jail.”

“WHAT?!?!”

“I don’t think this was the best way to relay the news.” Simon whispered to Luna as they watched his parents' flabbergasted faces.

“You!” Carla turned toward Simon, “Simon, you should have told us!”

“This hasn’t been my thing to share, Mom.”

“Okay, we understand that, but this is serious. What is going on? Why have Monica and Miguel been arrested?”

“Well, you see,” Luna started, “Senora Sharon—”

“Their former employer?”

“Yes, her. She’s accusing them of something they haven’t done, but I guess it is not that easily disproved so… They’re in jail.”

“But…but…” Diego and Carla still looked confused. “This is serious. Luna, are you okay? What are you…? Are you safe and being fed? Who is looking after you? Don’t say you’ve been staying with Simon.”

“Hey!” Simon protested.

“We really need to have a conversation about your living situation,” Carla looked at her son sharply. “Other time. Luna, this is serious. We need to contact the authorities if there isn’t someone taking care of you.”

“Oh, no no no,” Luna shook her head, “I am being taken care of.”

“By whom?”

“After Mom and Dad got arrested, their employers defended them and they signed some paper or something so I could stay with them. There was no one else who could have really done that.”

“The new employers of Monica and Miguel are your legal guardians?” Diego asked, “That is…little unusual. Have you been treated well?”

“Yeah, absolutely.” Luna nodded. “They’re really nice and like we said, their son is literally in our team and my best friend's boyfriend. I had just never met his parents before the fall.”

Carla sighed in some sort of relief. “What are their names?”

“Isla and Marco Perida.”

When Luna had said that, Simon’s dad seemed to almost choke on his coffee.

“Diego, what is it?” Carla turned to him confused.

“Nothing, I’m okay. I think I just heard wrong.” Diego shook his head. “You didn’t say Perida, did you?”

“I did…” Luna repeated the names.

“What are you talking about?” Carla looked at her husband confused. “Do you know them?”

“Of them.” Diego nodded. “Whenever me and my partners have talked about that Argentina expansion pipe dream for the restaurant, the advice we have gotten is that if you get in the favor of Marco Perida, you are gonna be set investment wise, but that’s impossible because he is busy and hard to reach. He and his wife are regarded as quite of icons in the business and real estate world of Argentina. Simon, what sort of circles have you ended up in?”

“I ask that of myself every day.” Simon shook his head laughing, “Trust me, Dad.”

“Well, Monica and Miguel are more than reputable as workers to attract millionaires like that to require their services.” Carla noted. “I would love to say that we are “happy for you”, but this still isn’t a great situation, but it is good to hear that you are safe. This is very gracious of them. Could you give us their phone numbers, so we could maybe talk to them. They could tell us more about the situation.”

“Uhm.” Luna hesitated for a moment. “I mean, I think it is a good idea, but I’m not sure…”

***

“Has anyone seen my lip gloss?” Jim dashed around the dressing room.

There was approximately 30 minutes till the competition was to begin, so there was complete chaos in the midst of the Team of Jam & Roller.

“It always surprises me that we actually always make it on the rink on time,” Gastón laughed.

“We just have the talent.” Matteo shrugged as he slung his skates on his shoulder. “That’s if Juliana actually lets us get on the rink…there is still time.”

“She’s warmed up to us.” Gastón patted him on the back.

“Hey!” Nina walked into the dressing room and straight to Gastón. “I was just heading to the audience but wanted to talk to you first.”

“Okay, sure.” He nodded. Nina grabbed his hand and pulled him away from the others, close to the door.

And without saying anything, she kissed him. “For luck.”

“That was for luck?” Gastón smiled at her and pulled her closer and kissed her again, this time longer. “I think I need some more of that.”

“You’re gonna do just fine.” Nina continued, “You have all worked so hard for this. You especially—” She ran her fingers over his right forearm. The only sign of the burn was some discoloration and wrinkles on the skin. “—given what sort of condition you were two months ago.”

“Thank you. You have no idea how much that means to me to hear you say that.”

“Gastón!!!” Suddenly Jazmin appeared next to them. “Come on. We need to get that horror thing on your forehead covered up.”

“Do your worst.” Gastón grimaced slightly and let Jazmin drag him away while Nina laughed.

“Nina! Good thing you’re here.” Luna suddenly appeared next to her. “I need your help!!”

“Okay, with what?” She looked at her. “I’m not gonna be any help with makeup, but if you need me to hold bobby pins or something, I can do that.”

“No, this has nothing to do with the competition.” Luna said, and started whispering to Nina’s ear.

“Oh, okay.” Nina nodded, “But, Luna, you could have asked that of him yourself days ago.”

“But they want to meet him.” Luna responded.

“But you still could have given him a heads up—” Nina countered, “—and get the answer beforehand.”

“Now that you’re saying it like that it makes sense,” Luna rolled her eyes, “But you know me. I can barely keep my head together as it is.”

“Okay, of course I’ll help, if that’s what you want.” Nina continued, “But seriously Luna, you can just talk to him, instead of making things this complicated. He’s basically your brother…something I never thought I’d say, but it sounds pretty nice.”

“I know.” Luna laughed again, “but I am Luna Valente and I complicate things.”

***

“Uuuff!” Ambar let the laces of her skates fall on the floor. What did her skates have against her today, because tying them had proved to be extremely difficult all the sudden. Reason for which she had no idea, because she knew how to tie the freaking skates.

“Ambar? Everything okay?” Simon suddenly sat next to her at the couch.

“Yes.” Ambar sighed again, “These stupid laces are refusing to cooperate.”

“Your left one is stuck on the wheel.”

“How did I not notice that?” Ambar shook her head about, “No wonder it was too short.”

“Here.” Simon pulled the lace from behind Ambar’s skate’s wheel and handed it to her.

“Thanks.” Ambar smiled at him.

“How have you liked Cancun?” Simon continued asking. “Did you ever go see that place you asked about?”

“Not yet.” She shook her head. “I will, after we win. Can you draw me a map or something so I can find it? Or come and show me?”

“Maybe…” Simon pondered.

“You know Simon, has something been bothering you lately?” Ambar decided to ask him… Not for any particular reason, but because he was her skating partner and if he was performing poorly, she would perform poorly. “You’ve been a little unfocused lately, and in 15 minutes, I need you sharp.”

“I’m good.” Simon nodded, “Just been worried about Luna.”

“She has plenty of people to worry about her,” Ambar responded, “Let Nina and Gastón…and I guess Matteo as well—I have zero idea what is going on with that honestly—do that for a while. You live for yourself for a while, like celebrating our victory in the evening.”

***

The Roller Team lost the RodaFest, because of course they did. There is no reason why this author would go and change that.

***

“Seriously, it had to be rigged or something.” Matteo complained as he and Gastón were taking their skates off.

They had lost the Roda Fest, so everyone was feeling really down at the moment.

“This sucks.” Gastón shook his head as well, “We worked so hard.”

“Hey! I need you for a sec.” Nina suddenly walked into the dressing room again and addressed Gastón.

“Okay…” Matteo made a few faces. “I know that we are all devastated, but like I have zero intentions to keep out of our room tonight so…”

“No, nothing…like that—” Nina looked at him with some sort of flush of disbelief and embarrassment.”—I just need to talk to him.”

“Sure.” Matteo rolled his eyes a little bit.

“Ignore him.” Gastón got up. “What is it?”

“Come on.” Nina grabbed his hand and started pulling him along, down the hallway of the competition venue.

“Hey! Wait!” Gastón tried to protest. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m doing a favor here. There are people who you should meet.”

“To who? And who?” Gastón was getting very confused. The confusion was not cleared up when Nina ended up pulling him into the lobby where Luna was apparently waiting for them with two people who Gastón had never seen in his life. A man and a woman probably in their 50s—they looked about 10 to 15 years older than his own parents. Simon was also there, looking kind of awkward. “Uh, hi?”

“Thanks Nina.” Luna was the first one to speak.

“Let me guess, Luna was the one that the “favor” was for.” Gastón looked at Nina again, before looking at Luna. “What’s going on and why did my girlfriend have to drag me here?”

“We asked if we could meet you.” The woman started speaking.

“Me?” Gastón was still confused. “Okay, first of all, who are you?”

“Oh, right,” Luna seemed to pipe up, “These are Carla and Diego Alvarez.”

“Okay…” Gastón looked at them again before looking at Simon. He should have realized it sooner. “Your parents right? We should really be aware of the names of each other's parents at this point, it would really save us a lot of confusion.”

Simon just nodded.

“Luna has told us about the situation with her parents.” The man, whose name apparently was Diego, said. “Monica and Miguel have been close friends of ours for years. Apparently, it is your parents who are looking after Luna now.”

“Yeah, that’s the case.” Gastón nodded, “They were their employers. It is a terrible situation. Uh, but like, I don’t know that much more about it than anyone else. I’m only 18, so Mom and Dad don’t exactly tell me everything or treat me as an adult yet.”

“We were wondering if they’d be willing to speak with us, but Isla and Marco Perida are probably pretty hard to reach.”

“Let me guess, you know who they are.” Gastón sighed slightly. “Of course you do. Who doesn’t? But yeah, they are hard to reach—”

“I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to give their personal phone numbers.” Luna mentioned, “Because like, aren’t those secret or something?”

“Yeah, they’re like operator protected.” Gastón clarified. “If they were public, they’d never get any peace. Mom and Dad can barely part with their handsfrees as it is. But for this sort of situation, I don’t see an issue. I know that they’d be more than happy to speak with anyone from Luna’s life… Nina, do you have paper?”

“Yeah, I do.” Nina pulled a page out of her notebook.

“Thanks,” Gastón took it and started writing on it. “I can give you the phone numbers, but there is no guarantee that they will ever respond… So, here’s also their private emails that’s actually their preferred way of communication with people they don’t know.”

***

Luna followed Gastón as he opened the door to the house. No one had been able to pick them up, Luna was not sure how this exactly had worked, but Marco had arranged a car for them at the airport which Gastón had driven back.

“You’re back?” Isla came to meet them as soon as they walked into the living room.

“Were you in a meeting?” Gastón asked and Luna noticed too that Isla was wearing her earpiece.

“In between two calls, so your timing was perfect.” She quickly hugged her son. “Don’t have that much time to talk though, so you can tell me everything in the evening.”

“Okay.” Gastón just nodded and started dragging his suitcase upstairs.

“Wait a moment,” Luna was about to do the same when Isla stopped her.

“What?”

“Gastón told us, when we spoke on the phone a few days ago, about… They were parents of that friends of yours right?”

“Carla and Diego, yeah.” Luna nodded, “I told them about what has happened.”

“Thats what he said.”

“I hope it was okay that we gav—”

“Of course it was.” Isla smiled. “You could have just asked about that directly too.”

“Yeah, I know, but it just didn’t come to my mind then.” Luna laughed, “Oh, I almost forgot!” She pulled a letter from her bag that Carla had given her the day before they had left Cancun. “They wanted me to give you this.”

“Okay,” Isla looked at the letter before glancing at her phone quickly, “You know what, is it okay if I won’t look at it now? Marco is in a seminar the whole evening, giving it to be precise, and I have at least two more calls I need to make today and one launch plan to review. How about you go and leave it in our room, we’ll look at it together later?”

“Yeah, that works.” Luna nodded, “In your room?”

“Not saying not would get lost, but there are a million papers all over the office right now, so let's not take our chances.” Isla responded. “Leave it on a nightstand for example.”

“Sure,” Luna nodded again before looking up toward the stairs, “You room was…?”

“You don’t know where it is?”

“This house is a maze.”

“It kind of is. Upstairs, the double doors. You’ll know it when you see it.”

“There are two upstairs in this house,” Luna kept pondering.

“That is true too,” Isla laughed, “the second floor, not the highest. You got it?”

“Yeah. I think so.” Luna nodded and started climbing the stairs.

She looked around on the middle floor. Honestly, she hadn’t spent much time on the upstairs of this house, even though she had lived here for almost a year. Nina had said that the highest floor had like three bedrooms, but there probably were rooms on other floors as well.

Isla had been right, Luna spotted the double doors on the other side of the hall, really quickly. The doors opened up to a giant room, with more of those big windows. The view opened up to the small forest behind the house.

Luna walked in headed toward the bed to leave the letter on the nightstand when some picture frames on a chest of drawers drew her attention. Concrete pictures shouldn’t be that surprising anymore, it was clearly this family’s thing.

Luna walked closer and looked at the pictures. Two of them were of Gastón in various ages, Matteo featured in one of them…again. The third picture was a one that clearly was from Isla and Marco’s wedding.

The fourth picture was the one that had drawn Luna’s attention. It had golden frames and in that one Isla and Marco looked really young, so it was probably from the time they had started dating. The picture was really cute…

Luna wasn’t the most detail-oriented person in the world, but this detail in the photo really drew her eye. There was an image of a sun drawn by black ink on Isla’s left wrist. Luna had never realized that she had a tattoo, but maybe it had just been covered by a watch or a bracelet since she wore a lot of those.

“The sun will show you the truth.” The voice from Luna’s dream echoed in her mind suddenly, while she kept staring at the picture.

Luna shook her head and placed the envelope that held Carla’s letter next to the picture frames.

As she closed the door and walked back into the hall, she looked out of the window. The actual sun had come out from behind the clouds.

If she wasn’t kind of feeling weird enough as it was, suddenly she noticed a golden glimmer shining from the middle of the carpet. Luna walked closer, and noticed that what was reflecting the light was a ring.

Luna held the golden ring, that got thicker in the middle, in her hand. She had seen ones like it in history class; they were called “signet” rings that were used to stamp wax seals in old times.

There was only one person who this could belong to, and… What was even stranger was the fact that the design on top of the ring was another sun.

Could this truly be a coincidence anymore?

{}

Well, well, well... It though it would be a time for some good fashion cliffhanger again, because who doesn't love those. Coincedence? I think—yeah, yes, it actually is. This is not a spoiler, because we know what all the sun imagenery actually is standing for (that Luna is Sol), but Luna doesn't know that. So she comes to her own conclusions, which are... You really though I'd tell you? Nooo, way too early for that. That's what the cliffhanger is for. Leave your interpretations on what Luna is thinking right now in the comments. Also, if you are thinking right now how convinient the ring thing is and how I just came up with it in the fly, I did not. The golden signet ring that has a sun on it and it's accopanying lore has existed since December 2022 (You can go read Christmas is the time for joy and unexpected events for the extended lore). Same thing applies to the whole airport thing, because how has that not come up? Gastón's dad being an Airport Administrator was first brough up in 2021 (Chapter 13: Back Together of Memories of Time) in the same time as when Marco Perida was first brough up by name, so I didn't just make it up for the bit. All paths are coming together now. Okay, what else? Simon's parent finally got to be involved with plot, because I genuingly feel so bad for them on canon, because Simon probably doesn't tell them anything. Actually, Nina was originally supposed to be part of that scene where they go visit and she was supposed to be the one to point out for Luna that she might not be able to give out the phone number. I cut her out of the scene, because I just couldn't get it to flow right with her there. And I thought, I should give Luna some credit and have her herself realize that she wasn't sure if she was allowed to give out private information of two millionaires very much in public eye. It goes to show that Isla and Marco have become important to Luna, and she cares about them and values thier privacy enough to stop and think before acting, even if SHE trusts Simon's parents. I think I promised in the last A/N that we'd talk about Simon later, so lets talk about Simon shall we, because you probably have noticed that he hasn't seemed all that jazzed about the situation with Luna and Gastón's parents. Well, the thing is that Simon is a honest to good working class boy who has never been in a personal level with any millionares and I guess has some hard time seeing them as people he can trust, because he doesn't know them and is maybe having little hard time getting past of this preconcieved notion over what kind of people whealty white collar people are. He hasn't been excatly sitting down to eat dinner with them. So it is kind of odd from him that Luna is basically part of their family now, or is as far as the Peridas are concerned, because to him is such a different world that Luna kind if now belongs to. And maybe it also is a little bit of a harder pill to swallow, because after their failed pseudo romance Simon has been this borther figure for Luna, but she basically now has a legally appointed older brother in Gastón now and he is able to look out for her in ways Simon can't do. This is not to say that there is something wrong with Simon for feeling like this, this is just an unothodox situation.m In end he just loves Luna and wants the best for her. He just is unable to see that this is the best for her, because it is such a different world. Obviously, the best for Luna would be her own parents (nothing about this fic is supposed to be slander Monica and Miguel or thgem as Luna's parents), we can't have that at the moment. Obviously, Simon is the most untoxic person ever, and this won't change that, but I sometimes feel like Simon isn't that nuanced. He's just a good boy, which we love to see, but when it comes to conflicts, they're always about someone else: Daniela, Matteo, Ambar. It is never about just him, so here is some internal cionflict for our boy. Also, I feel like this is pretty good base for some Simbar, in a way that maybe they can help each other.

#Soy Luna #soy luna fanfiction #Gastina #Lutteo #Soy Luna Season 2 #Gastteo #Au #Twist #This was just a stupid idea #But I am rolling with it #And having fun #and it's getting unhinged #because it has a plot now

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