#I’m done rambling in the tags even though there’s plenty more I could talk about

[songbirdsandsugar-moved]

One of the hosts at Olive Garden was also a host at Cracker Barrel. And tonight she told me that people are only nice to me because I scare them.

I haven’t been at Olive Garden long enough yet for people to know how mean I can be.

[angstandhappiness]

Interesting

@painted-soldier I think they're keeping him enigmatic on purpose tbh. Like if we got to see his perspective more I think he'd be a more sympathetic character (although I do like him in general just as a character so I might be biased) but for suspense they make things mysterious

@sentient-toaster Wukong literally was justified in doing what he did to those demons. They killed so many people, but somehow Wukong is in the wrong? What? They should’ve stuck with the main antagonists motives having nothing to do with Wukong. Though that might be hard since it seems they’re wanting to include Wukong more :/

@qatheauthoress74 Yeah, the way SWK is being treated is giving me Rose/Pink Diamon vibes from SU and I’m not liking that at all. They’re better be a twist in the post s4 special or s5 that reveals Wukong only agreed to work for Heaven because he wanted to protect his brothers from getting executed and only fought them later on because he had no choice because of the headband. 

@njckle I hope that we get to see all the memories from SWK's POV since he's in the broken scroll to show the bias of everyone in their stories. The way SWK doesn't argue against all the accusations (except for the jokes about him borrowing things and being amazing) is sus.

@spadaaces #THIS#While I find the direction they’re taking very interesting I really wish we could y’know. Get to see some of SWK’s side of the story#I feel like a lot of not only this season but past seasons too have really focused on how Others see swk#we constantly hear from others what THEY think of him how THEY percieved events#even swk’s ink version reinforces this idea that he’s a ‘monster’ and he solely exists to destroy#it seems like he’s constantly defined by other’s opinion of him. which makes him seem a lot worse than I think he really is#so I REALLY hope they at some point let us see his side of things and resolve some of well. all this#as interesting as I find the exploration of all this I hope we can also just. properly get to see him heal and grow#and not constantly have his past shoved in his face#sorry for rambling I have so many thoughts about s4 swk

@galsjuninas #EXACTLY THIS#took the words right out of my mouth op#it's so frustrating to see swk get NO chance of explaining himself while everyone just goes piling on onto saying how bad of a person he is#i just dont get it. at all.#like how every fucking character#be it another demon or a deity just... straight up hates him or acts towards him with disdain#like... nezha and the dragon of the east specifically just made me so confused#cause like... in jttw he had to ask for help of the deities and celestials PLENTY of times. you'd think they start tolerating him more-#-after he quite literally had done a massive journey to protect the tang monk and also massively improved his own ways during said journey#and the fact that they dont even mention that just makes it worse... just...what happened?! did he not get enlightened? what's going on??#just leaving everyone in the dark most of the time#sorry for the ramble in the tags i get heated when talking about this :/#lmk s4 spoilers#monkie kid spoilers

@sketching-shark #LITERALLY#like geez at this point i'm surprised more characters aren't celebrating SWK getting trapped in ink hell world#given that there isn't a single person in this lego show who's actually benefited from being around him#& with many of them having their lives made objectively worse through his screw-ups :I

@wyverwithy #i really do hope they actually. yknow. let wukong tell his side of the story at some point#instead of just being used as a punching bag for the plot to continue forward#also does not surprise me that a studio /not/ based in china has wildly misinterpreted sun wukong's character entirely but#that's a whole other thing lol

@as-cute-a-button #god i need/want sun wukong pov so bad#genuinely they need a episode where wukong explains stuff from his perspective

@kai-keda #heck - chapter three of WMIC has been taking so long because when I would summarize my plans for that story to friend#I started to realize they were REALLY hating Wukong#so now I’m anxious about my reader’s falling into that#so I’m having to make myself put way more emphasis on Wukong’s perspective and pov in the story#cause the last thing I want people to take from WMIC is ‘Wukong Bad’#because no - the whole story is about how every person in life is full of nuanced decision making and intentions are always key and that#relationships are so much deeper than ‘I thought you were bad but I guess I was wrong’ and vice-versa#you know - the sort of thesis I wanted to come out of LMK with#the reason Sun Wukong is my favorite character

@vegalocity #Also am i the only one that feels really bitter about how often they mention spider queen in this season#since the spiders were apparently in canon straight up killed it feels...tasteless to just have her be another refereced baddie

@krispeyspams #this. all this.#dahlah ga ngerti lagi

@sun-wukongs-peaches #MAN#yeah you’ve pretty much got it

@marcy2019 #That's basically how i feel about this series too#Since coming to the fandom#I've been noticing the subconscious hate over him#I've seen stories ruined by this constant bashing of one character before and honestly ? Wukong does not deserve it#Sure he made multiple mistakes#But why leaving everything of his pov in the dark?#Either theres a huge twist coming from the special#Or the writers just doesnt know what to do with him#Sorry for the ramble yall#But this gotta be mentioned#Or else the hate might affect the plot even more

@marcy2019 Coming back for this post since I've been mentioned to ask: does any of y'all know a fic where they actually remember Wukong is a person and let him heal from all his baggage? Cause seeing people act like all the villains are in the right while making horrible mistakes that got swep under the rug by the writers (who are kinda going along with the fandom choices)but bash wukong for literally the only one deity who tries to fix things is making my braincells turn into mush Like, y'all, not even nezha let go of this grudge of him, and it almost ruined the world because he didn't listen to wukong, same with macaque, and it really feels like the fandom is turning a intentional blind eye of every character mistakes except wukong's, with the writes also making things seen to only be like some forced angst on him and it's getting tiring to see

Alright, I gotta lotta thoughts on s4, but this is the main thing I'm not particularly happy with.

It's not very organized, I'm writing as I'm thinking so I apologize beforehand.

Spoilers obvi.

I really don't appreciate how Sun Wukong's character has been treated up until this point.

Look, I don't mind the "perfect, heroic mentor is actually not always so perfect and heroic and made mistakes that are still effecting the world now" like fine. Fine. But the way the show goes about it makes SWK look like a worse and worse person. It crosses the line of him making mistakes, to just being generally careless and not learning.

I mean: leaving Xiaotian in s2 and inadvertently neglecting him in the process, keeping the 4th ring a secret in s3 until it's too late, being the reason there was a fourth ring to begin with, the whole Macaque thing that the show seems to be leaning more towards SWK being in the wrong for, and his whole deal with his sworn brothers in s4.

It was already irritating in season 3, especially when he's shown to get yelled at by Xiaotian & Zhu Dachu then continues his usual way, often being unhelpful. I get that Xiaotian is the mc, but like c'mon. SWK is depowered, there are like a million ways to sideline him without doing that.

Season 4 is especially egregious as someone who's read jttw because the Lion, Elephant, and Peng are all terrible villains who spent a good amount of their time eating innocent people. I'm not sure why the show especially seems to be insistent on making the Azure Lion sympathetic and one that feels bad for trapping SWK...then again Macaque exists. You know what no, I don't see why they are insistent on doing that when Macaque exists. He may be one too many times, but once was enough.

Jttw aside, if in Azure Lion's point of view SWK willingly betrayed them and all the "good" they stood for, then trapped his other brothers for thousands of years, and before that was happy to join heaven's courts for like 20-30 years, then I don't know why he'd ever show that level of concern for him. If that happened to me, it would be monkey season, straight up.

(also the fact that he said he'd let SWK go when they completed what they wanted to, I call absolute bullshit. Even if he did feel bad, releasing SWK at any point in time would be a god awful idea)

From what s4 has shown, I think what the show writers wanted to do was build a parallel between Xiaotian and SWK, both having made mistakes that endangered the world and their loved ones as well as Xiaotian learning that his hero is just as human (for lack of a better term) as him. But the execution is lacking as a lot of Xiaotian's mistakes are not really his fault.

DBK taking his staff? It's not like he handed it to him.

Spider Queen using his hair? Is he supposed to stop shedding?

Red Son getting the skeleton key? Again, it's not as if he handed it to him. Also, wouldn't that make it the Bull family's fault, since they opened the coffin?

It wasn't him being careless it was him losing 2 fights and a bit of his hair. Whereas with SWK, it's implied these things happened because he didn't think about the consequences of his actions. They don't really seem comparable.

Also, if you've read jttw (and even if you haven't, but I think the context makes it worse), then lmk SWK is a very miserable character right off the bat. As we can see, he never became a Buddha, his friends are heavily implied to be dead, there are no monkey yaoguai on the mountain, or even a nation anymore, implying that his subjects left, died, or both, and in the midst of all of this he has no support system. Nor does he ever seem to obtain one in the show.

And I think some of these issues could be remedied if he was given the opportunity to tell his side of the story. Everything wrong he does is seen told through the perspective of another person. Not to say they shouldn't be upset, but the fact that SWK just absorbs whatever blame is put on him, never really giving any fair defense doesn't sit right with me. It wouldn't change any of the things he's done, but it would make him a lot more understandable as a character, instead of him consistently being some form of a fuck up.

[downrightembarassing]

I….I can’t even title this one

Ok update. I thought of a terrible title to match the terrible fic.

“One Bed Blues”

This is absolutely stupid crack shit that wouldn’t leave my brain. So here you go, the “Only One Bed” trope with Cad Bane and dear reader.

Warnings/tags/rambles: Cad Bane x reader, 18++++++, sexual connotations, implied smut, no actual though…kinda, one bed trope done wrong, no pronouns used, my particular brand of self indulgent trash, no proofreading to be seen, Cad’s an ass and I’ll stand by that.

———————————————————————

The door key flashes green, the locking mechanism clicks, and a soundless puff of air escapes as the motel room door opens. It’s a decent room, spartan for sure, but there is a refresher, space for clothes, and the bed looks like the sheets had a wash this week. Not bad for a cheap motel room on the outer rim of the galaxy.

Wait…one bed.

Hurriedly you comm down to the front desk, the cool mechanical tones of the receptionist crack through the mic. In a slightly panicked tone you attempt to remedy this potentially awkward situation.

“Hi, this is room 62. When I booked this motel I specified two beds in the room and there only seems to be one.”

“Yes, room 62” comes the tinny reply “unfortunately there was an….accident on the second bed. It had to be incinerated.”

“Yeah? Ok that’s not normal.” You reply “but I booked two beds. Is there another room?”

“We are fully booked up tonight, you could try another hotel but your deposit here would not be returned.”

Pinching the bridge of your nose you take a breath. The budget you are working with is already tight, something about your boss wanting to maximize the profits from this job. Think, think.

“Ok, well do you have a rollaway bed? Folding bed? Hell, a spare sofa?”

“I’m sorry, but our establishment’s policy strictly limits the number of beds to what the room is designed for.”

“But the room is supposed to have two beds.”

“Yes.”

“And one bed was…incinerated.”

“That is correct.”

“So you can move a temporary bed here.”

“I’m sorry, that is against our establishment’s policy.”

Reaching through the phone and strangling the receptionist would be emotionally gratifying right about now. Instead you heave a sigh and disconnect the call. It’s not too bad. The bed is big, plenty of room for two. With another annoyed huff you chuck your bag in a corner, kick off your boots, and flop back onto the bed.

Staring up at the ceiling you ponder the color. It’s that inoffensive bland beige favored by hotels, motels, and landlords. Allowing your eyes to unfocus, your mind wanders.

What is the boss going to say? He hired you for this job, a simple bounty gig but he wanted an extra set of eyes on the target. It’s an easy job for you, watch the boss’ back, help transport the bounty, and continue on your merry way significantly richer. One night in this motel with your boss…with one bed.

Nothings going to happen, you tell yourself. This is a job, a way to eat for the next month. The bed is a place to sleep, marginally more comfortable than average and plenty of room for two adults. One night, that’s all it is.

One night, next to that Duros. He’s all lean muscle and right angles, a lanky body wrapped in leather and weapons. Hellfire red eyes that show no expression glared at you from under the large bolero as he laid out the terms of your employment. Handle the details, watch his back, and don’t talk to anyone.

Your mind wanders further. He’s always covered from head to toe. What could be hiding under the long trench, what’s hidden beneath the sung leather chaps? His long, dexterous fingers halfway concealed behind gloves and gauntlets, had attracted your attention at the first meeting.

What would he look like, stripped of all the tools of his trade?

Heat unexpectedly flares in your core, a slight tingle of warmth that creeps up your spine. What could those impressive hands, twice the size of your own, reach that you couldn’t? The space between your bodies, too close and too hot in the lonely bed, breached by one exploratory hand. Closing your eyes, you imagine them crawling across your body. Teasing, stroking, possessing every inch of your exposed skin.

Closing your eyes, the fantasy continues. He would use your body, folding your small mammalian form under his lean reptilian frame, taking his own pleasure as you writhe and beg for more. Strong digits gripping for that perfect angle as his impressive canines mark your soft, pliable skin. The one bed, creaking and groaning under the strain, until you’re both spent. The next morning, teasing him into the wet heat of your mouth to let him take his pleasure another way.

At this point your body is burning, your cunt is throbbing and wetness pools in your panties. A shiver wracks your body as your overactive brain short circuits on all the debauched possibilities in one bed.

Footsteps in the hallway, the heavy fall of booted feet invades your daydreams. You snap upright with a gasp, gasping for air and willing the flush from your cheeks. The sound strides closer and you’re frozen, just a scared little mouse while a predator approaches….and continues past. A squeak escapes your lungs when you realize it wasn’t the bounty hunter approaching your shared room.

You shake your head, physically attempting to remove the lewd thoughts. Standing and stretching seems to help cool the fires so you focus on keeping limber for the job tomorrow. All the while you chastise yourself, there’s no way hooking up with your boss is a good idea. He’s attractive….too attractive, but no. You can share a bed like two adults who need a full nights rest. Just stretch, relax. Breathe.

The door clicks open softly, and the bounty hunter strolls in. Like a true predator there’s no sound, not like the oaf who stumbled down the hallway moments before. It takes you a minute to realize he’s there, silently leaning against the door frame and inspecting the room.

Calm, breathe, lean into the stretch….right there. Aaaand exhale, open your eyes…. His scorching gaze stares back into yours, all the suppleness vanishes as your muscles lock up in surprise.

Cad Bane. The galaxy’s most notorious bounty hunter rolls his eyes across your body and around the room. Probing, weighing, assessing the space and any who occupy it. Your heart falls into the pit of your stomach as every depraved fantasy slams back into your consciousness. His fingers, his teeth…..what lurks behind those chaps. Your face heats and your core tingles.

“Dis the digs we’re sufferin’ tonight?” That gravely voice, modulated by the tubes bolted to his cheekbones, cracks across the space between you. Another shiver runs up your spine.

“Yeah. Yeah boss.” Your voice catches. “Sorry, they….ah….messed up. There’s only one bed.”

“Ss’all right by me, ain’t da worst I’ve seen.” He turns, and begins stripping the outer layer of his clothes. Gloves, gauntlets, and that massive trench fall to the floor. You watch transfixed as his lanky form bends, dexterous fingers unlocking jet boots, unlacing chaps. Finally he turns back to you, clothed in the simple body suit that outlines every muscle in his alien frame. The bolero stays on, shading his burning gaze as he moves towards the bed. The one bed, straight out of your fantasies.

“Ya gonna go ta bed or stand dere all night?”

Yeah…um…..yeah.” You strip your outer layers woodenly, and soon you’re standing clad in a simple tank top and skimpy thong. On shaky legs you step across the room, almost suffocating on the heat in your body as you reach for the covers.

“What cha’ think you’re doin’”

“Um…….well Bane there’s only….only one bed.”

“Yeah I noticed. Im da one payin’ for dis room and I’m da one who’s gonna use it.” He pulls the bolero down to cover his face as he relaxes against the pillows. “Just go lay on da packs or somethin’. Gotta early start tamorrow.”

You’re in shock. The sexual fantasies disappear from your consciousness, replaced with burning embarrassment and tightly wound annoyance.

“You…you want me to sleep on the FLOOR?!”

The Duros cracks an eye open at you. “Yeah, like ya said, only one bed.”

Stiff legged with anger you stalk to the packs, arranging them in some semblance of comfort. That selfish, arrogant, egotistical, self-centered, greedy….

THUMP

A pillow hits the back of your head, propelling you forward into your makeshift bed.

“Don’ say I didn’t do nothin’ for ya. Better not snore or I’m takin’ it back.”

[violetlilysunshine]

Plenty of Times

Boyfriend Chris Evans x Female Reader

Requested - Anon: Hey! Is it all right to request for Chris Evans where reader comes in after a girls night and just dotes on him and loves on him and its sickeningly fluffy and he’s like what’s gotten into you? and reader breaks down because one of her friends vented that her husband is abusive and neglectful and she sees how important it is to have a good man in her life 🤍

WC: 1,619

Warnings: Pet names [bubba, babe, honey], talk of a bad relationship [neglectful husband - but not about Chris/reader], mention of phone sex [but it doesn’t happen here]

A/N: I’m so so so so sorry this took so long, I’m working on clearing out my inbox though! 

IF YOUR NAME IS SCRATCHED OUT I CAN’T TAG YOU - I’VE STARTED REMOVING PEOPLE, SO IF IT’S NOT WORKING AND YOU WANT TO BE TAGGED SHOOT ME A MESSAGE AND WE’LL FIGURE IT OUT

MASTERLIST - Join my TAGLIST

You haven't gone out with your friends in so long. You’re all busy with your own stuff - work and relationships, some with kids to care for. So, when the opportunity arises, Chris encourages you to take advantage of it. 

The night was pretty simple, dinner, a couple of glasses of wine, and a few shared desserts before everyone was ready to head home. Most of your friends were not night owls like you by any standard, so when dinner wrapped up early, it was no surprise. At least that meant you got to go home to your man. 

“Bubba?” you called as you walked through the front door.

“In here,” he answered.

You followed his voice to the living room, finding him lounging on the chaise sofa, Dodger soundly asleep next to him. Some movie played on the screen; you hadn’t paid attention to it long enough to know what it was.

You headed to the connected kitchen, dropping your keys and purse on the island, hanging your jacket on the back of one of the barstools, and slipping out of your boots before hurrying back to Chris. 

He paused the movie when he heard you approach him from behind. You wrapped your arms around his shoulders, your hands splayed across his chest, as you pressed a long kiss to his temple. 

He hummed at the contact, placing one hand over the top of both of yours, before turning his neck to meet your lips with his. 

The kiss was sweet and simple, you could feel him smile against your lips as you lingered longer and longer into it. 

He chuckled when you finally pulled away, a big smile etched across his face and a glimmer in his eyes. 

You unraveled from his neck and stepped around the sofa. Dodger finally perked up when he heard you walking and you greeted him of course. 

“Hey, bub,” you whispered, scratching Dodger’s head for a second before turning to Chris, “can we cuddle?” you asked quietly. 

“Sure, babe, we can always cuddle,” he answered with a small smile, opening the blanket for you. 

You slipped under, resting between his legs with your back on his chest. He wrapped the blanket and his arms around you, splaying his palms over your upper chest and rubbing gently, just as you had done to him. You ran your nails over his arm as light as a feather with one hand, the other rested on top of his clasped hands, tangling your fingers with one set of his as best you could in this position. 

You tugged on his hand, pulling his arm further over your shoulder so you could place kisses on his bicep. 

“How was girl’s night?” he asked, placing a light kiss to the top of your head.

“Fine,” you whispered, squeezing his hands for a second, “was nice to see everyone. They all seemed to need a good vent,” you ended with a breathy chuckle.

You felt his laugh rumble through your body, “don’t they always?” he asked, another kiss being placed on top of your head as he looped his legs around yours.

“Seems like,” you giggled, stroking his calf with your foot. 

“Well I hope it was nice either way,” he said, “I’m glad you got to see them.” 

“Mm, yeah, me too,” you answered quietly.

He slipped one hand from your grasp to grab the remote, causing a whine to leave your lips, disappearing into his skin as you had your lips placed on his bicep again. 

He chuckled at the noise, “want me to start it over?” he nodded, making reference to the movie.

“No, it’s okay,” you whisper, pressing another lingering kiss to his arm. 

“You sure? I’m not that far into it...” 

“I’m sure, I won’t really be paying attention anyway.” 

“Why’s that?” he asked, you could hear the smirk in his voice.

“Can’t focus with you wrapped around me,” you giggled.

“Mm, yeah, sorry not sorry,” he laughed, playing the movie again.

You giggled, bringing his hand up to your lips to give it a kiss.

He gave his other hand back to you and you entwined your fingers with it as well, giving both of his hands small squeezes every once in a while. 

You placed random kisses on his arms, pulling his hands up every now and again to press kisses to them as well. You didn’t want to do it too often, so you wouldn’t annoy him, but you couldn’t help but give him a few. 

You tilted your head to look up at him, his eyes focused on the movie before he looked down at you. 

“What’s up?” he asked, his voice sounding a little tired. 

“Nothing,” you whispered, passing him a small smile. 

“You’re lying,” he said, placing a kiss on your forehead, “what’s on your mind?” 

You sighed deeply, “have I told you how much I love you?” 

He reached over and paused the movie, quickly tangling his hand with yours again: “all the time,” he smiled. 

“And how great you are?” 

“Plenty of times,” he chuckled. 

“And how thankful I am for you?” 

“More than once,” he answered, a sense of questioning coming into his voice. 

“And how kind and good you are to me?”

“Never in those words, but you deserve it more than anything,” he said, “where’s this coming from?” 

“Jenn was really upset tonight,” you started. 

“And that has to do with me, how?” 

“She was talking about how rough her marriage is. And I know everyone says the first year is the hardest, but he doesn’t prioritize her, and never really has, and if I’m being honest I always thought she could do better; and she feels so disconnected from him and he’s so distant and she’s just not happy,” you rambled, tears pricking at your eyes, “and of course the whole time she was talking I felt so bad for her, but I couldn’t help thinking that I’m so lucky to have a guy like you and that made me feel even worse. Ya know? Like guilty because I was sitting there thinking ‘well at least I’m not in her shoes,’ and, god, you’re so good to me and I appreciate and love you so much. Don’t feel like I tell you that enough, but, you’re the best,” you finished, taking a deep breath. 

“Honey,” Chris soothed, “you have absolutely nothing to feel guilty about, first off. It’s not your fault he treats her like crap, and all you can do is support her with whatever she chooses to do about it. She can leave, or they could go to therapy, or she might just ignore it all together, but the only thing you can and should do is listen to her vent and offer support, or sometimes advice if she asks for it.”

You smile, “I know, but it’s just a shitty situation. Like I wish she wasn’t going through it, because she’s great, and I wish he was as good to her as you are to me.” 

“Well no one’s as good as me,” Chris joked, trying to lift your spirits.

You laughed lightly in response, turning over a little bit and scooting up so you could lay face to face with him. 

“Second,” he continued, “I’m only giving you what you deserve. Wish I could do a lot more sometimes, if I’m honest,” he said almost under his breath as he wrapped his arms around your back.

“Chris, you do more than enough! I should be doing more for you!” 

“Babe, you give me everything I could ever want,” he smiles, “you’re amazing. Wish I could do more, like I wish I wasn’t away from you so much. Don’t like leaving you, ever.”

“You’re the best,” you lean forward, placing a kiss on the corner of his mouth, “you do plenty for me even when you’re away.”

“Not nearly enough,” he says, “gotta come up with something new for us.” 

“We’ve done plenty of new things while you’re away.” 

“Yeah? You think?” he asks, wiggling his eyebrows.

“Hey, without you, I never would’ve tried phone sex,” you giggle, “love trying new things as long as it’s with you. Especially that thing...” 

He lets out a breathy laugh at that, “I love you too,” he says, referring back to your ramble but also your willingness to try anything for and with him.

You giggle, this time pecking his lips, “I don’t deserve you,” you whisper against his mouth. 

“No, you don’t,” he says shortly. 

You pull away from him, not expecting that to come out of his mouth. 

“You deserve better,” he smiles, a glimmer in his eye again.

“You’re so corny!” you laugh loudly, causing Dodger to grumble next to Chris. 

“Sorry, bub,” you laugh at Dodge.

“Let’s go to bed, yeah?” Chris suggests.

“What about the movie?” you ask, tipping your head towards the TV.

“Eh, won’t be able to pay attention now anyway, and I’ve lost the flow,” he shrugs. 

“Sorry to interrupt,” you whisper, stroking a few fingers across his cheekbone. 

“‘S alright,” he whispers, “like you better anyway.” 

“Thank you,” you whisper, eyelids heavy as they start to flutter closed for a kiss. 

Chris closes the distance between the two of you, pressing a sweet kiss to your lips, “I love you,” he whispers into your mouth. 

“I love you too,” you whisper back.

Your lips seal in a gentle kiss, and he brings a hand up to rest on your cheek before pulling back: “you can always make it up to me anyway,” he says, a smile giving away his attempt at being serious.

You laugh at him, “alright, bubba, let’s get you to bed.”

TAGLIST: @hogwartsmarvelmommy @tulipholland @cupids-crystals @sunwardsss @mrspeacem1nusone @elishi03 @golden-hoax  @patzammit @serrendiipty @katiew1973 @princess-evans-addict @high-on-darren-criss @gnemgn @amelia-song-pond @scorpiowidow @multixfandomwriter @wildxwidow @na-nou83 @fdl305 @gotbangtan @dumbhead1 @evansxchalamet

[goldnn-harry]

loving family [h.s]

i've recently been obsessed with dad!harry fics so here you go <3

warnings: none, just plenty of fluff😁

tags: dad!harry 

“dada?” 

harry groaned softly as his daughter lightly touched his arm. not in a bad way of course, just due to the fact of being woken up.

“yes bub?” he turned over to the side of the bed and picked lily up unto the bed. she was still too short to climb up, so she always waited patiently for her dad to help her.

she grinned, “good morning daddy.”

harry smiled and kissed her nose. “good morning princess. how’d you sleep?”

“good, pascal gave me company!” little lily smiled even wider as she showed harry her favorite stuffie, one of pascal from tangled.

“that’s amazing baby. i’m glad you like your stuffie. how about we go brush our teeth, hm?”

lily whined, but still complied and got out of bed with harry. hand in hand, they walked to the bathroom. harry picked her up and set her on the counter, brushing her teeth first and then his own.

“alright bub, clothes or food first?”

lily rested a finger on her chin and hummed, “food!”

harry chuckled, “alright pumpkin, lets go.”

harry helped lily off the counter and carried her to the kitchen. 

he peered down at his daughter as he walked and lightly pulled her thumb out of her mouth, “hey, remember what nanna told you about that? don't suck your thumb baby.” he lightly kissed her forehead to show that he wasn't mad at her, and then set her in her high chair so he could make her breakfast.

“what do you wanna have for breakfast, hm?”

“cinnamon rolls? pleaseeee daddy?” she pouted adorably, earning a chuckle from harry.

“alright bub. but remember that's not an everyday thing mkay?”

she nodded, “yes dada i know. can you eat them too?” she asked him hopefully. most of the time, when he made cinnamon rolls, he didn't eat them. he usually had eggs or toast instead, since he wasn't a big fan of the sugary treat so early in the morning.

but of course, he'd do anything to see lily happy. so, he nodded and started to cook their cinnamon rolls along with scrambled eggs and a couple of cut up strawberries as he listened to his daughter ramble to him (and to pascal of course) about the movie gemma and her had watched a couple nights ago.

a couple minutes later, he served her food in her favorite plate, which featured some of her favorite disney princesses. (***)

after giving lily her food he served his own, and stored the left overs in a tupperware container.

“is it good baby?” he asked, after giving her juice and sitting by her to eat aswell.

she nodded eagerly, “very!”

harry smiled, happy to see his daughter happy. “i'm glad you like it.”

“dada are we gonna go see y/n today?”

harry absolutely loved how much lily loved y/n. she was always so excited to see her, or even to talk about her, anything that involved y/n made her happy. and that was one of harry's biggest concerns, his daughter not liking the person he dated. so when he saw how much lily loved y/n, and not only that, but also how much y/n loved and adored lily, he was more than relieved.

with being a single parent, there's always going to be people that don't want a kid that's not theirs, or just dont want a kid in general, and even though it sucked, harry had to understand that.

but that didn't mean that he didn't worry whenever he had to break the news to someone he's talking to that he had a kid. he'd only dated four people after lily's mom left him (and lily).

the first girl was called ellie, and she was so complicated. she didn't trust harry at all, always accusing him of cheating or whatever she could come up with. she also didn't love lily, but she didn't hate her, and she told harry that she was trying and would eventually love her as her own. and although she was nice and loving at times, harry ended it after 6 months.

the second girl was noelle. she was gorgeous, such an amazing person. but that ended at 10 months, when she broke up with him and harry found out she was never over her ex.

then he dated bella, who was a not affectionate person, and didn't care for lily at all. she always pushed her away and asked harry to hang out, without her. that ended super quickly, just after a month. harry was never going to tolerate or date someone who didn't want his kid.

but then he met y/n. he met y/n at his job. y/n was a clothes designer, and she designed and made most of the outfits harry wore to his last tour.

she had walked into his trailer, hands full of folders and papers which harry immediately offered to help with. after getting situated, they went over all of her designs and harry picked the ones he liked and wanted to wear. their first interaction went smoothly and friendly, just how both of them had hoped for. after that they had to meet each other countless of times for measurements and just overall discussing how harry wanted his outfits to look, fit and even feel.

when tour ended, harry asked her out on a date, which went amazingly. and here they are, a year later, completely in love.

“yes baby, we'll go bring y/n breakfast before i take you to school.” he smiled. somedays, before taking lily to preschool harry brought y/n some breakfast if she wasn't too busy. those were lily's favorite days.

she giggled in excitement and finished her food quickly. “hurry daddy!” she pointed to his still half full plate of food.

“alright, alright pumpkin give me a second.” he grinned and ate his food a bit quicker. he washed the plates and cups and everything they used and carried lily to her bedroom.

he walked to her closet and picked out two outfits so lily could choose. he layed both of them on the floor and set her down. “go ahead baby, pick one.”

lily looked at them for a couple seconds, and then walked to the one on the left. she picked it up and held it up for harry. (***)

he smiled, that had been his favorite outfit too.

he helped lily get dressed and then moved on to her hair. he lightly brushed it, her small curls usually got tangled at night. her hair was exactly like harry's, brown with soft, light curls. he put two butterfly clips on the front and kissed her on the forehead.

“all done.”

“okay now your turn!” lily smiled and pushed harry out of her room and into his as he laughed.

“okay okay i'm coming!” he walked into his room with her, and picked out an outfit to wear. (***)

he also added his pearl necklace, knowing that basically everyone loved it.

after he finished getting ready, him and lily left the house and headed over to y/n's work place with the extra breakfast he had stored in the tupperware.

lily held his hand as they walked inside, eager to see y/n but a bit nervous to be around so many other people.

harry knocked lightly on y/n's door, gently opening it when he heard the soft “come in,” from inside.

“y/n!” lily grinned as she ran over to her, jumping in her arms.

she laughed, "hi lily." she pressed a soft kiss to her head and set her back down.

“we brought you breakfast! show her dada!"

y/n smiled as she looked at harry, who was smiling too, holding the container and waiting for y/n and lily to finish their moment so he could go say hi.

“thank you lily! i bet the yummy treat was your idea, hm?”

lily giggled, “yes! dada made cinnamon rolls.”

“just my favorite.” y/n smiled. lily sat down on the small couch in y/n's office, paying more attention to her toy now.

harry took the opportunity to walk over to y/n and give her a big kiss on the lips. “hi my love. i brought you breakfast, but you already knew that.” he grinned.

y/n kissed him one more time and set the container on her desk. “thank you. i missed you.”

“i missed you too. we've been so busy," he said as he tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.

“i know. is it okay if i stay with you for a couple days?”

harry smiled, “that's more than okay.”

she grinned, “good. i suppose you have to take lily to school now right?” the dissapointment in her voice was evident, as she didn't want to say bye to her so soon.

“yes i do, but i'll take you with me to pick her up. deal?” y/n grinned and nodded, “deal.”

harry kissed her once more. “i love you.”

“i love you too harry.”

[feyredarlinq]

elain x azriel: endgame

here’s why i think elain and azriel are endgame. i’ve been wanting to make this post for a while + what sarah said in her australian acosf tour livestream fits perfectly with what i had in mind so here we go. i think the title already says enough, and of course i’ll be using the proper pro and anti tags, but just in case i’m still warning you: this will be a pro elriel post. let’s start:

“(...) i was not done with this world and these characters and there was still so many stories i wanted to tell both about the characters themselves but also this concept of how do you rebuild a world that’s just been torn apart by war (...)” so these characters are nesta, cassian (obviously) elain, lucien, mor, azriel, vassa (jurian? eris? amren?) 

then she said that nothing about the overarching plot really changed, not even with the new characters (so gwyn, emerie, the new characters that will appear in acotar5 etc) because “(...) more characters have emerged (…) so i wouldn’t say things have changed as much as they just expanded (...) i have loved that my drunken lunch story has been remembered, my drunken meal with my editor, i think i’ve pitched the several next books to her and most of it remains the same (...) the next few books in the series i know this is gonna happen and these are the characters that are gonna be in it and it’s pretty much the same from my drunken ramblings a few years ago” 

so, to sum up, what she said confirms that: 

the next books are going to be about the og secondary/now future mains characters previously mentioned

the “new characters” are just secondary characters in each book, meant to only “expand the world”

the decisions of who the books were going to be about (and remember that it was going to be one book x one couple) was made before any of those new characters even existed

now, we all know that elain’s book is next, so let’s focus on that (elain, azriel, lucien). i won’t bore you with all the textual evidence and/or all the times that sarah herself talked about/said that elain was getting her own book and/or her book was next after nesta’s because, at this point -especially after the further confirmation in that interview that nothing has changed- it has become so painfully obvious that, if you don’t see that, you’re being intentionally obtuse. 

“i know what’s going to happen like five books down the road (...) and i wanna lay the groundwork for that” which basically means that she’s been dropping hints for a while. let’s see: (just a few examples because, if i had to include everything, this post would be way too long)

(feyre is talking about elain and azriel) “why not make them mates?” (...) “what decides it? who decides it?”

it made sense, i supposed, that azriel alone had listened to her. the male who heard things other could not.

“the mating bond. it is a bridge between souls.” ⇢ (...) light and dark, the space between their bodies a blend of the two, the only bridge of connection ... that knife.”

“don’t” elain said flatly, starting once more into a walk, veils of steam drifting past her shoulders from the roasted rosemary potatoes in her hands, as if they were azriel’s shadows.

“why did you come if it torments you so much?” (...) his secrets to tell, never hers.

“what if the cauldron was wrong?”

but what about lucien? he’s still elain’s mate after all. is he though? 

(feyre is talking about elain and azriel) “what if (...) this is what she needs? is there no free will? what if lucien wishes the union but she doesn’t?”

if anyone can sense if something is amiss. it’s a mate.” ⇢ lucien murmured to me, eye still fixed on elain, “should we- does she need...?” “she doesn’t need anything”, azriel answered (...) “the cauldron has made you a seer.”

elain only shrank further into herself, no trace of that newfound boldness to be seen” (with lucien) vs “offer and permission” (with azriel) 

lucien blushed (while talking about vassa) (...) “she’s got a foul temper and a fouler mouth”

“(...) if it wasn’t for vassa.” a twitch of the lips, a spark in that russet eye. “she’s doing well enough. savoring every second of her temporary freedom.”

“a bird of flame and a lord of fire. i wondered if they’d found each other yet.”

so from what we’ve gathered so far, sjm dropped hints that: lucien is elain’s mate but they’re one of those couple of mates that won’t work and/or that azriel is her mate and there’s also something there about lucien and vassa. i’d say at this point it’s pretty obvious how things are going to go and, if you read the books, you know that there’s even plenty more evidence of that. elain and lucien won’t end up together and they A: find a way to break/reject the bond, B: choose other people even if they’re still mates, C: they’re not mates, D: none of the above, sjm will come up with something else, but one thing is for sure: they’re not endgame, and there are already hints about who they’ll actually end up with: elain with azriel (acotar5) and lucien with vassa.

i won’t talk about azriel and his pov and gwyn because:

i actually already have (x)

there’s no point in doing it after what sarah said (to keep it short, gwyn: one of the new characters that just expanded the world etc: gw/nriel = crack ship)

there was nothing there anyway except for a couple of friendly interactions in acosf (actually, not even that, since az himself thought that he didn’t consider her a friend) and lightsinger/whatever else she is hints in the pov

imo even if, in a parallel universe, everything that happened with elain, him, lucien, vassa didn’t exist, even if sarah didn’t say all that stuff about the new characters, even with no lightsingers, even with azriel going to the library because he wanted to and not because he was lured there, there’s just no way that he’s going to end up with anyone that’s not elain after “wrong. it was so wrong. he didn’t care. he needed to know what the skin of her neck tasted like. what those perfect lips tasted like” (and so much more *coughs* four books of build up *coughs*) vs “he wouldn’t go so far as to call gwyn a friend” + regifting a necklace that symbolizes elain and was meant for her first. i’ve seen some people say he’s “in lust” with elain or whatever and he’ll be “in love” with gwyn but luckily sarah, a feminist (and the same woman that put all of that smut in acosf, oh and let’s not forget wings and embers, funny how i don’t see people talking shit about cassian’s sexual attraction to nesta though), won’t indulge in those misogynistic headcanons and she will never write a book where everything that happened betweet elain and azriel pre acosf disappears and elain/elriel is suddenly reduced to nothing but pent up sexual frustration while gwyn “is not like other girls” and azriel will end up with her after using elain just to hook up. go read a 2012 harry styles wattpad fanfic if you’re looking for that. 

last, but not least, i’m going back one more time to those hints we’ve talked about to include my personal favorite:

feysand, nessian (or viceversa?) and elriel. 

fangest beast and trembling fawn: elain

sing me: azriel

[nhlandotherimagines]

Oh Brother- Nolan Patrick (ft. Travis Konecny)

Author’s Note: I’ve been working on this for ages, and I finally just said ‘screw it!’ and am posting it! I’d love any and all feed back, and please tell me if you find any mistakes I’m the worst at editing! Thank you in advance!

Summary: Baby Konecny, that’s all you’re known as now that you’ve moved in with your older brother Travis. You love your brother, but things get a little difficult after one night at a bar with his bestfriend Nolan. Okay, and maybe one night turned to more, but Travis can’t know.

Tagging a few people, so if for any reason you would like to a) not be tagged on this particular post for any reason or b) would not liked to be tagged on any of my posts please do not hesitate to tell me ☺️ @anastasiyaigorevnadobrodevskaya @titobeauvs @bigboigritty

Word Count: 8.4 K

WARNINGS: This is definitely ✨spicy✨ at times, 18+ (sexual themes), cursing, alcohol, ANGST, anxiety, lying about/hiding a relationship, hospitals, some cute moments as well of course. (Please let me know if you find anything else in here that should be mentioned here thank you)

_______________

“Hey Y/n/n, you coming out with us after the game tonight?” Your brother Travis yelled to you from the kitchen of your shared apartment. You had just moved in with him a few months ago to start school in Philly, so you hadn’t gotten out much.

“You really think you’re okay with your baby sister going out with you tonight TK?” You added giggling to yourself as you pulled on your Flyers jersey. “Well you need to get out and see the world kid!”

“Call me kid again and I will set Nolan on you during warm ups.” You smirk joining him in the kitchen and grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge.

Travis’ face twists a little, but you choose to ignore it. “Fine! I’ll go.” You add shoving his shoulder lightly. He smiles at you, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. You don’t press him on it though as you both get ready to head to the arena.

“Trav and Nolan seem off, do you know what’s up with them?” You hadn’t really noticed, but now that Travis’ girlfriend Karly was pointing it out you could totally see it.

“I don’t know, but when I mentioned sticking Nolan on him earlier for calling me a kid, Travis did get a little weird. I hope they are okay.”

“I’m sure it’s nothing, you know how Trav can be at times!” Karly smiled reassuringly. The two of you continued to talk throughout the game, and soon enough you were waiting together outside the dressing room. Thankfully Travis and Nolan came out of the dressing room together both laughing which was a good sign.

“Hey babe!” Travis smiles wrapping his arms around Karly lifting her off the ground. You roll your eyes playfully and smile up at Nolan. He winks down at you, and your face heats up slightly.

“What’s up baby Konecny?” Nolan smirks down at you, resting his elbow on your head to emphasize the height difference. “Nolan I swear to god you’ve gotta stop calling me that! Just because I’m TK’s sister doesn’t mean I enjoy you pointing it out.” You scold, trying to ignore the butterflies erupting in your stomach.

“Oh my bad let me try that again.” He clears his throat dramatically and drops his arm so it’s around your shoulder, “What’s up baby?” His voice is deep, and you nearly choke at the pet name. You open your mouth, and close it immediately. Unable to form any coherent sentences. Thankfully Travis finally turns to you, a frown on his face as his gaze comes to Nolan’s arm still around your shoulder.

“Alright then, are we ready to go?” He asks awkwardly. You and Karly share a look, and Nolan’s arm falls from your shoulder. You try not to think about it, but you already miss the contact and feel cold as he steps away from you. “Let’s go!” Karly smiles, and starts dragging you out to the parking lot by the wrist. She is practically running, and yells to the boys that you are both going to the bathroom before you leave. This seems odd because you had gone not even a half hour ago as you both waited for the boys.

“Do you seriously have to pee again? You didn’t even drink that m-“ You started to question but Karly quickly cut you off. “NOLAN IS INTO YOU!”

“Woah! What!? Karly what are you talking about?” Your heart rate sped up and your face felt like it was on fire.

“That’s what is wrong with Travis. He is pissed off that his best friend is into his little sister! I can’t believe I didn’t see it before.” She is mostly just rambling on to herself and you feel sick. “He’s not into me Karly, he’s just nice to me because I’m TK’s baby sister.”

She stops and stares at you for a moment before her smirk grows even wider. “Oh. My. God. You’re into him too!”

“Nooo! No. No. No. Karly I am not, don’t even say that.”

“Why not?”

“Travis would kill me if he found out that I like Nolan!” After the words spilled past your lips followed by a moment of silence, your eyes nearly popped out of your head. “Karly I didn’t mean-“

“OH MY GOD! This is amazing!”

“SHHHH! What if they hear us!?”

———

After a few moments to collect yourselves, you head out to the car. As you open the passenger door of Travis’ car Karly grabs your arm. “Do you think I could sit in the front with Trav?” You know exactly what she is doing. “But I always sit shot gun...” you whine.

“Y/n, seriously just get in the back it’s a five minute drive back home.” Travis sighs out, rolling his eyes at your dramatics. You groan inwardly and climb into the back with Nolan.

“So Patty are you coming over to pregame with us?” Travis asks watching Nolan in the rear view mirror as he starts the car.

“What you meant to say I think is ‘Hey Patty will you come over and babysit y/n/n so Karly and I can fornicate before we go out?’ and the answer is yes I can, but I’m drinking your liquor and you better keep it down this time.” Nolan smirks at you once again and you quickly look down at your hands a smile tugging at your lips.“Yeah I’m with Patty here, I don’t need to hear that again!” You and Nolan laugh together in the backseat as the two in the front seat do their best to deny the accusations.

——

About an hour later, you are stepping out of your room dressed in dark jeans, a band tee, and a leather jacket. Your hair is curled a little, and your makeup all done. “You clean up nice baby Konecny” Nolan smiles at you from his spot on the couch as he tosses you a can of beer.

“Am I gonna be stuck living in your boyfriends shadow forever Patty?” You giggle cracking the beer and falling on to the couch beside him.“Jealous?” He grins, leaning back and stretching his arm across the back of the couch just behind your head.

“Not in the slightest.” As you both sit in a comfortable silence, you can hear music starting to play down the hall and you groan loudly and check the time on your phone. “They do this every time!”

“Oh don’t be such a baby y/n, they’re in love.” Nolan teases. “Yeah well they will still be in love tonight when I’m passed out drunk and can’t hear them.” You grumble playing with the hem of your shirt, and take another swig of beer.

“Sounds to me like someone needs to get laid” You immediately spit out the beer in your mouth choking on it. “Point proven.” He chuckles

“Hey! I get laid plenty thank you very much!” You shoot back at him after catching your breath. “Oh yeah? Must be when we are at the rink then, because last I checked TK hasn’t seen a single guy step foot in this apartment. And I know you don’t go out.”

“Why do you care?” You spit at him, becoming angry because you know he’s right. With that Nolan leans closer to you, and you can feel his breath on your neck. Subconsciously you tilt your head revealing more of your neck to him. You can practically hear the smirk in his voice as he whispers, “Gotta keep an eye on my competition.”

“What the-“ You don’t even have a chance to process the words when Travis’ voice makes you jump.

“Travis! Ready to go?” You practically shout, the nervousness pouring off you. Already on your feet walking towards the door.

“Wow TK that was fast. Not sure if I should be congratulating you or apologizing Karly.” Nolan chirps. You can feel the tension in the room, but no one acknowledges it. So soon enough you’re all packed in an Uber. Travis and Nolan both have their heads stuck in their phones, and Karly’s hands are all over Travis. It’s all really uncomfortable for you, so you’re the first out when the car pulls up to the bar.

Ignoring the entire group you make your way inside and to the bar, trying your best to flag down a bartender. “Want a hand short stuff?” You feel your breath catch in your throat as Nolan’s hand falls to the small of your back when he slides into the spot next to you. You just nod in response, as Nolan orders you a drink after quickly catching the attention of the bartender. He smiles down at you, and his hand slides lower so it is now resting dangerously close to the top of your ass.

“You look really good tonight Y/n.” You blush and mutter out a weak thank you, “You don’t look too bad yourself Patty.” Before either of you can say anything else your drinks are placed in front of you. Grabbing them quickly, you made your way to the booth Travis and Karly had claimed for you all.

“Wanna dance Y/n!?” Karly asked hopefully, a wide grin on her face. You chug about half your beverage, and take her hand as she drags you to the dance floor.

You and Karly dance for awhile together and you try and forget about the boys entirely. You’ve been mostly successful in that until you feel two big hands on your waist and a body dancing against you. You’re having too much fun to really care about the stranger dancing with you, until Karly speaks up about it. “Y/n, Nolan hasn’t taken his eyes off you all night! I think he’s jealous!” She smirks wiggling her eyebrows.

“You’ve been making eyes at my brother all night, how would you even know? Besides he’s not jealous.” You throw back, ignoring the pit forming in your stomach. You really wished Nolan felt that way about you, but he doesn’t. He couldn’t. You’re just baby Konecny. A frown creeps it’s way onto your face the farther in your thoughts you get. You’re so lost in thought, that you don’t even notice Karly slip away to find TK. It’s not until you feel the warm hands leave your hips, that you manage to tune back into your surroundings.

“I think you are done here man, go find someone else to bother.” Nolan is now standing between you and the guy you’d been dancing with. If you had been able to stop staring at Nolan, you might have even noticed how attractive your dance partner had truly been. “Nolan-“ You try and butt in to tell him it’s okay.

“Listen dude I didn’t know she was taken I’m sorry!” The mans hands go up in defence as he smiles apologetically at you. “Yeah well she is, so you can go now”

Your heart stops at his words. You knew it was just him playing the protective big brother roll, and hell TK probably sent him to do it. That doesn’t mean you didn’t feel things when he said it. “Okay I don’t know why TK told you to come over here, but I am quite capable of taking care of myself!” You scold him crossing your arms. You push past him bumping his arm as you head towards the table again. You don’t manage to get far though before Nolan’s hand is wrapped around your bicep. “He didn’t.”

You turn around to face him, and are taken aback by how close he is. The look in his eyes indecipherable. “What?” You manage to croak out, unable to comprehend what’s happening because you’re so nervous.

“TK didn’t send me over here. In fact Karly and TK left 5 minutes ago, but how would you know right? You were too busy basically having sex with that guy on the dance floor!” His words are sharp and his grip on your arm tightens slightly.

“I was not! And even if I was Patty, what’s it to you? Maybe I’d like to have a guy take me home for once, maybe I’m sick of having to go home and listen to my brother have sex with his girlfriend!” You’re yelling now, but as Nolan’s eyes darken you get nervous. “You’re not my babysitter...” you mumble dropping your eyes to stare at your feet. “I know I’m not your babysitter Y/n, but I can’t let you go home with strangers.”

“Why not? I’m an adult!” You’re sure you sound like a whining child at this point, which is not helping your argument. Nolan groans. He lets go of your arm and runs his hands over his face and stares up at the ceiling. “Because. Because I want to take you home. Okay?”

“N-Nolan what are you talking about?” Your heart is pounding in your ears, and your head is spinning.

“Y/n, I’m sorry if this is weird, but god I think you’re amazing and there is nothing I want to do more than be with you tonight. I want to be the one you dance with like that.” He lets out a shaky breath, before finishing, “And fuck Y/n/n, I want to take you home with me.” Before you can even comprehend what all of it means you’re stepping into him. You run your hands up his torso and down his arms slowly. He’s eyes are watching your every move, as you spin around so your back as facing him. Grabbing his wrists you set his hands on your hips, smiling over your shoulder at him. “Then shut up and dance with me Patty.” Nolan smirks, and pulls your body flush against him. You move your hips against his, biting your lip hard as you feel his bulge rub against you. His lips attach to the base of your neck, leaving sloppy kisses in a trail to your ear. “Y/n-“ he whispers in your ear, “let me take you home.” It’s a desperate plea, but the way he pulls your earlobe between his teeth as he pulls away makes you rub your thighs together.

“Nolan-“ you practically moan his name, “This is a bad idea.” With that he grips your hips, spins you around, and crashes his lips to yours. He is trying to communicate how it’s not a bad idea, or if it is, that it’s worth it. And as you melt into him, becoming more needy, you know he’s right. You barely make your way out of the bar and into the Uber before Nolan’s hands are roaming your body more freely. His lips are searching yours, as his hand creeps up under your tshirt. He moans against your lips when his fingers reach the lace of the bralette you were wearing. You arch your back in anticipation of his hands finally palming at your breasts, but you groan in frustration as he pulls away from you entirely. “Someone is needy!” He chuckles, “we are here.” He winks at you paying the driver and practically drags you out of the car into his building.

When you both finally reach his apartment he unlocks the door letting you inside. As you stand in his living room you start to feel self conscious. “Baby come here.” Nolan’s voice snaps you out of your thoughts as you follow it into the kitchen. The pet name fuelling the fire that had been growing in you all evening.

Before you turn the corner into the kitchen, you pull your shirt over your head and throwing it to the floor. There is no going back now. “Fuck.”

“Are you just going to stare at me all night Patty, or are you going to fuck me? Because if not I’m just going to do it myself.” You smirk at him, running your hands down your sides stopping at the waste of your jeans.

“Jesus Christ! I was ready to bend you over this counter, but I think watching you touch yourself sounds pretty fucking hot.” He smirks and pats the counter looking at you expectantly.

———

Your evening started in Nolan’s kitchen, and eventually you found your way to his bedroom. The chemistry between you two, was undeniable. Nothing prepared you though, for the feeling of waking up in his arms. You were facing him, his face inches from yours. His breathing was shallow, and his cheeks their usual shade of pink. He was beautiful. “Anyone ever told you it’s rude to stare?” His voice was groggy and you’d be lying if you said it wasn’t sexy as all hell.

“I wasn’t-“ you began your protest, but were cut off by your phone ringing loudly from the nightstand.As you roll over to grab it, Nolan groans in protest. Your stomach drops when you see the name flashing across the screen. “Oh fuck!” Nolan’s eyes are wide when you turn back to him, terror evident on your face. “It’s Travis.”

“Hey Trav, what’s up?” You answer, hoping he doesn’t pick up on how unsteady your voice is.

“Where are you? Are you okay? I tried getting Nolan on the phone to see what happened last night.” His voice is laced with worry, and guilt washes over you. “I’m okay, I promise.” You’re practically whispering into the phone. Nolan’s eyes burning into you with his hand covering his mouth in shock, isn’t helping your nerves.

“Holy shit, y/n, did you go home with someone!?” You can hear the smirk in his voice. “Umm- uh- yeah I guess I did?”

“Atta girl! Do you want me to come get you?” He asks, and you nearly throw up at the thought.

“NO!” You cringe outwardly at how fast and loudly you protested. “I’ve already ordered the Uber, I’ll be home soon!” With that you quickly said your goodbyes and hung up. Immediately getting out of bed, and searching around for your clothes. You can feel Nolan’s eyes on you.

“You could just stay awhile you know.” His voice is so soft it almost doesn’t sound like him. “Right!” You laugh humourlessly, “and would you like to explain to my brother that it was actually you I slept with last night?” As you look over at him for the first time since you left the bed, all the air is sucked from your lungs. The sheets draped around his waist, an arm resting behind his head, his hair a mess. He looks so perfect, but his face twists at your words and the look now present in his eyes is one you can’t place.

“The kitchen.” He responds lazily. Your brows furrow in confusion. “Your clothes. They are in the kitchen.” He adds, but his eyes don’t meet yours. Your mind wanders to last night in the kitchen, and you can’t help the smirk that comes to your face. Walking slowly back over to Nolan, your place a hand on his cheek. He leans into it, and your heart melts as his gaze finally meets yours.

“I had a good time last night. We should do it again sometime.” You wink at him and he chuckles lightly in response. “We just can’t let my brother know we are fooling around. He’d kill us!”

“Sure. Yeah.” He responds shaking his head and kissing you lightly. “Don’t tell your brother.”

———

“Took you long enough!” The words were out of his mouth before you even closed the door.

“Jesus Trav, I’m an adult I shouldn’t have to let you know exactly where I am and when I’ll be home!” You glare at him, as you kick off your shoes and basically fall onto the couch. He laughs at you as you let out a loud groan. “Long night?”

“You have no idea!”

“Okay ew gross!” He whines covering his ears.

“You asked! Besides I’m sure your night was just as eventful!” You laugh as he gives you the finger, walking down the hall.

———

Over the course of the next couple months you found yourself falling into bed with Nolan more than you’d care to admit. You also wouldn’t admit how much you enjoyed spending time with him. He was always so sweet to you, and you wanted more than the whole “friends with benefits” arrangement, but you knew you couldn’t have it, even if it was something Nolan wanted too. Which it wasn’t. The only part you really hated about this whole thing, was hiding it from Travis.

“Nolan needs a date to the Christmas charity dinner.” Travis announces as he falls down on the couch between you and Karly. He had just gotten back from practice, so when that was the first thing out of his mouth you and Karly both looked at him in confusion. “You should go with him Y/n, he says his new girlfriend is too shy to go. So you should go with him, because it wouldn’t be weird y’know?” He states matter-of-fact-ly.

“Babe, why would going with Y/n be any less weird than going with anyone else?” Karly speaks up before you can, because your mind is running a million miles a minute. Did Nolan have a girlfriend? He couldn’t. Right?

“Because, it’s not like there would be anything happening between them. It’d give his girlfriend peace of mind.” He shrugs getting up from the couch, and walking into the kitchen. Karly sends you a sad look, and you feel sick.

Travis really had no clue what was going on, and you should be trying to keep it that way. You couldn’t help the question falling past your lips though, as he came back in the living room with a glass of water. “So who is this girlfriend whose job I’m expected to take for the evening?” You groan internally at how jealous that sounded.

“Dunno,” Travis shrugs, “he gets pretty flustered any time someone asks about her. Doesn’t want us to know I guess. The only reason we even found out about her in the first place was because Patty kept showing up to the rink covered head to toe in hickies and scratch marks.”

“Sounds to me like this girl is just a hookup Trav.” Karly adds and smiles at you. She is obviously trying to make you feel better about the fact the guy you like is with another girl. She doesn’t know however how much that comment hurt. It’s you, you’re the hookup. Travis shrugs once again and takes a sip of water, turning to watch whatever bad reality show Karly had put on to watch. You tried to watch too, but the tears that stung at your eyes threatening to fall, forced you to get up quietly and slip out the front door.

Not sure what to do next, you pulled out your phone pressing Nolan’s contact. “Hey Y/n, what’s up?” He mumbled as he answered your call. “Hi- can I uh” you hesitate for a moment as the first tear slips down your face, “can I come over?”

“Uhhh I’m kind of busy at the moment.” Your stomach drops at his response, and the tears fall faster as you try and hold back a sob.

“What did you need?” He speaks again when you don’t respond.

“Oh- Travis said you needed a date to the charity dinner, a-and I was just thinking we could talk about it.” You say, voice breaking slightly. “It was stupid anyway, never mind.” You cover your mouth quickly to muffle the sob you’ve been suppressing. “Y/n, are you okay?” You can hear the concern in his voice, he knows you’re crying now. You can’t form any words, so you shake your head even though he can’t see you. You let yourself cry now, no longer fighting it as you slump against your steering wheel.

“Where are you? I’m coming to get you.” You can hear him pulling on his shoes and grabbing his keys. “I-I’m in my car.” You manage to get out in between sobs, desperately trying to stop crying. You want to object, and tell him you’re fine, but you can’t. You need to see him.

“You stay right there, you’re too upset to be driving. I’ll be there soon. Okay?” You hear him get into his car closing the door. You nod in response, and even though he can’t see you he seems to know. You expected him to hang up, but he doesn’t. Instead Nolan puts you on speaker phone, but he doesn’t say much. Instead you hear him muttering to himself about stupid drivers and occasionally telling you he’s almost there.

You must have spaced out, completely focused on the anxiety driven sobs wracking through your body, because you don’t notice when he hangs up. Moments later your car door is opened, and a hand is placed gently on your thigh. “Y/n.” His voice is so quiet you almost don’t hear it, “what’s wrong?” Embarrassment floods you immediately. You groan throwing your head back against the headrest, wiping at your face in frustration. You try once again to tell him you’re okay, but your voice is gone. You just shake your head and and try to stop the tears.

“Look at me please.” His voice is both firm and pleading. You drop your gaze to wear he is knelt down next to your car. His thumb is rubbing soothing circles on your thigh, and his eyes are full of confusion. The tears that had slowed mostly to a stop, sting your eyes again. You want to jump into his arms, and just stay there while he holds you. You know it’s not an option, so instead you let out a little whimper tears falling again. “I’m sorry.” Your voice is barely above a whisper and cracks as you say it, but you manage to muster out the apology.

“No. No, don’t be sorry. Hey it’s okay!” He wipes the tears from your cheek with his free hand, but they are immediately replaced with new ones. “I’m going to call TK, he will know what to do.”

“No!” You practically yell at him in protest. “P-please don’t.”

“Okay.” He looks at you, concern once again written all over his face. “What do you need?”

“You.” You regret the honest answer as soon as it slips past your lips, but decide to keep going anyway. “Fuck, Nolan I’m sorry I just- I’m really confused, and I just. Im sick of being Travis’ little sister. I’m sick of being baby Konecny and when I’m with you, I feel like I’m me. Like I’m just y/n. That’s all I want, but I feel guilty about it. And I know that the boys are giving you a hard time about “your girlfriend” so I’m sorry. I’m sorry I’m holding you back, and I’m sorry I’m jeopardizing your friendship with Travis. We can stop now.” Nolan says nothing. Instead, he reaches across your lap and unbuckled your seatbelt. He gently frees your arm from it and then pulls you into his chest, and rubs your back. You step out of the car and wrap your arms around his waist as tight as you can, your legs feeling like jelly beneath you. You both stay there for a moment, as you cry against his chest.

“You’re upset. Why don’t you come stay at my place for the weekend and have a little break from TK?” Nolan mumbles into your hair, placing a soft kiss to the top of your head. You push back from him, and look into his eyes. You were going to yell at him, tell him this was only going to make things worse, but maybe he was right. Some time away from TK and Karly would be good. “What do I tell him?”

Nolan shrugs, “That you’re staying at a friend’s place?”

“Okay.” You sigh, and Nolan smiles at you. The smile doesn’t quite reach his eyes, but it still makes you feel a bit better. Nolan let’s go of you and opens his passenger door motioning for you to get in. You do, and he closes it gently. He closes and locks your car as well before hopping in the driver’s seat.

You decide to text TK.

Y/N: I’m going to be staying at a friend’s place for the weekend. See you Monday?

TK: Sure! Everything okay?

Y/N: Yeah! Don’t have too much fun with the apartment all to yourself 😛

“It’s going to be alright you know? You’re not holding me back from anything.” Nolan speaks leaning over and giving your knee a reassuring squeeze. And maybe, it will be.

________________

You had spent the rest of the afternoon with Nolan between your legs. Nothing you hadn’t done before, but there was so much more emotion behind it, that it scared you.

As you laid in Nolan’s bed after your afternoon activities, his hand ran gently up and down your back. Tracing patterns across his chest, you let out a content sigh. You opened your mouth to tell Nolan how you felt, to ask him what this was to him, but before the words could even form on your tongue a knock on the front door caused both you and Nolan to jump up.

“Shit.” Nolan grumbled pulling a pair of shorts on, “I’ll be right back.” You frowned in response and got out of bed pulling on a pair of Nolan’s shorts and one of his hoodies. Little did you know, that just down the hall your worst nightmare was unfolding.

“Travis! What are you doing here?” Nolan said just loud enough for you to hear, and your body froze in fear.

“Hey Patty have you heard from Y/n at all? I’m a little worried about her. Wait a second is your girlfriend here!?” You could hear the excitement in Travis’s voice, when he realized he might finally get to meet the mystery lady.

“Um- yeah, now isn’t really the best time TK.” Nolan mumbled and you can practically hear his cheeks heating up, from your spot in the hallway just out of view. Your hands were shaking as you lean against the wall, trying to control your breathing.

“Oh shit! Did I interrupt something?! Dude you shoulda just told me! I’ll just call Y/n if you haven’t heard from her.” At that your heart stops. Where is your phone? You set it down when you got there.

“Okay, see you later TK!” Nolan basically shouts, trying to close the door you assume. Relief begins to wash over you, and you feel like you can breath again.

However, the relief leaves just as fast as it came, when you hear your phone ringing. Stomach dropping, as the memory of setting your phone on the table by the front door comes to mind.

“Nolan.. why the hell is Y/n’s phone in your apartment?” You can hear the anger in your brother’s voice. “Teeks I can explain” Nolan’s voice is weak, and your heart breaks a little despite its rapid beating in your chest.

“Great idea Patty! Please explain to me why you didn’t bother telling me my sister was your secret girlfriend!” He’s fuming and you don’t know if you should rush to Nolan’s aid or climb out the fire escape. “She’s not actually my girlfriend...”

Ouch.

“Okay so you’re telling me you’re just fucking my baby sister!? I’m going to fucking kill you”

“Travis stop!” You surprise yourself as your running to put yourself between the two best friends. “Please don’t.” You whimper the last part. Tears streaming down your cheeks, as you use your arms to push him back trying to keep the distance between him and Nolan.

“I told you she was off limits! I told the whole damn team that they weren’t allowed to mess with her. So what? You just thought you’d fuck your best friend’s sister like some cheap whore when you could have any girl in Philly!?” Your face twists at that. You know that Travis didn’t say it to hurt you, but you couldn’t help feeling sting of hurt mixed with jealousy you wish you didn’t feel.

“I-it’s not like that” Nolan mumbles out. Your heart crumbles at his limited response. “Travis, take me home.” You plead, trying not to let more tears fall.

“Y/n- don’t-“ Nolan reaches out for you, but Travis shoves him. Hard.

“Travis! Please!” With that, you lose it. Hands shaking, sobs escaping you relentlessly, and you can’t catch your breath. Both guys stop, eyes snapping to you. Travis wraps his arms around you, affectively keeping you upright.

You don’t hear anything else, or see anything else. Everything stops.

_____________

Your eyes flutter open, and you’re met with a white ceiling. Head aching nearly as much as your chest and you groan. “Y/n/n! You’re awake!” It’s Karly’s voice that startles you, “are you okay?”

You don’t know where you are, or what happened really, but you can only manage to ask two questions. “Where is Travis? Is Nolan okay?”

“Y/n-“ you can hear the pity in her voice. “Oh god!” You start crying again, “this is all my fault!”

Karly speaks softly to you, telling you everything is fine. Telling you Travis is coming, and that Nolan will be fine. You hardly listen. You just allow yourself to cry until you fall asleep.

___________

“I’m so sorry. This is all my fault. You knew it was wrong, and I told you it would be fine. I’m such an idiot.” You listened to his voice as he mumbled, hand gripping yours as tight as he could without hurting you. Keeping your eyes closed, you fight back the tears. It hurt so bad, everything hurt. You couldn’t face him, you were embarrassed, and heartbroken. “Nolan, I think you should go.” Travis’ voice makes you wince inwardly.

“Teeks, I’m so sorry. I never meant to hurt her, or you. Tell me she’s gonna be okay.” Nolan’s voice breaks and he lets go of your hand.

“The doctor said she is okay, she needs some rest. She is just stressed Nolan.” Travis sounds just as defeated as Nolan’s, “I’ll text you if anything changes I promise.” You could hear Nolan get up and leave, and honestly, your heart went with him. When the realization hit you, you’re shooting up in the bed eyes wide gasping for breath.

“Y/n/n-“ Travis starts, as he rushes to your side.

“I- I’m sorry Travis. I’m so sorry! God I’m so so stupid.” You start rambling, chest heaving, breathing shallow.

“Slow down! Just relax please, you’re okay. It’s okay.” Travis is squeezing your hand now, concern for you evident in his features.

“I ruined everything. He’s your best friend, and I ruined it...”

“Nolan and I will be fine. This is between him and I, not you. Don’t blame yourself ple-“

“I love him!” Your sudden outburst shocks you just as much as it shocks Travis. The silence that follows is deafening. You try to think of something to say, anything to make this less awkward. Before you or Travis can speak though, someone at the door clears their throat. Your eyes snap to the source, and your stomach drops to the floor.

“I- uh I left my keys” Nolan mumbles, scratching at the back of his neck. His cheeks are red, and his left eye is purple and swollen. Travis sighs and mumbles something about giving you a minute, before he gets up and leaves the room. Not without bumping a little to hard into Nolan’s shoulder. More awkward silence follows, and this time you manage to find words first. “Jesus Nols your eye, are you okay?”

“It’s nothing.” He mumbles.

“It’s not though! I’m sorry, about all of it. I shouldn’t have gone home with you, I shouldn’t have called you, I shouldn’t have kept it from TK, and I shouldn’t have said that I lo-“ you stop unable to say it again, “Well you heard. You didn’t need this drama.”

“So you regret it?” His entire body tenses.

“You don’t?” You laugh out humourlessly

“Lying to my best friend? Yes. Taking you home? Being the person you call when you’re upset? Falling in love with you? I’ll never regret any of that. I’m sorry I hurt you, I’ll leave you alone now.” He says the last line with so much hurt it kills you. He snatches his keys off the table by your bed and turns to leave, but you grab his wrist. “You don’t mean that. You don’t get to say that and leave me.”

“What do you want me to do?” He raises his voice. You’ve never seen him like this. “I can’t stay. You wanted to leave my place last night. I don’t see what the problem is.”

“I didn’t want to leave Nolan I wanted you to fight for me, for us! I wanted to hear you tell my brother that you wanted me as much as I wanted you. I know you don’t though, and that’s alright. But you do not get to say you fell in love with me, and walk out of here like nothing happened. You don’t get to fuck with me like that!” Tears fall slowly down your face, and you let them. Sure you probably looked like a hot mess, but you didn’t care anymore.

“I thought this was just sex for you. I didn’t think you wanted anything more than a distraction from your brother’s life. I tried to get you to stay with me that first morning. I tried to show you how much I wanted you in my life yesterday. Y/n I drove like a bat out of hell from the rink to pick you up because you were hurting. I was at the rink talking to Giroux, trying to figure out how the hell I was supposed to ask Travis for his permission to date you. Actually date you. I’m in love with your stubbornness. I’m in love with your aversion to being called baby Konecny. I’m in love with how you look in my jersey even though you refuse to wear it because ‘why wear mine when you could wear one with your last name’. I’m in love with your laugh and your smile. I’m head over heels for you baby, and I can’t stay here. I can’t stand seeing you in that bed knowing it’s my fault you’re even there, knowing that when you leave you’re going home with Travis and not with me. I can’t stand around and watch you hurting, only to make it last longer. I’m sorry.” His whole body seems to deflate as he adjusts the keys in his hand.

“Nolan I didnt know.”

“Yeah well...” he mumbles, and refuses to look at you. With that you let go of his hand and he’s gone.

________________

“Well Miss Konecny you should be good to go. Just take it easy for the next couple weeks alright?” You were hardly listening to the doctor, but really he was more talking to Travis than you. After signing discharge papers, Travis helped you out to his car. He stops opens your door for you, and you mumble a thank you. You’re so caught up in your own thoughts, you don’t

“Trav?” You say, after awhile of driving. “Yeah?” He asks, taking another turn you’re sure is just taking you away from your shared apartment. “Where are we going?”

Pulling over and parking the car, Travis looks over at you guilt written all over his face. You look out the window, taking in your surroundings for a moment before it clicks. You’re in front of Nolan’s building. “Travis please no...”

“Y/n/n listen. I’ve never in my life heard Nolan talk about anything too real. When he left the hospital, he stopped me in the hallway. He apologized for hurting me, and you. But you know what else he told me? He told me he wouldn’t take it back. He said that if his options were to have you for those few months again or to take it all back and have it never happen he’d hurt me again. He told me he loved you, and that he still does. He said he’s not sorry for loving you, but he’s sorry he didn’t do it right. Then I called Claude. He told me about Nolan just about in tears trying to figure out how to make it work without hurting his friendship with me, but mostly about preserving our relationship. He was worried about what would happen between me and you. He is so into you, and obviously you are into him. So into him, and so worried about it you landed yourself in the hospital. I was the issue here, so now I’m going to fix it.” He pats your knee soothingly. “Please let me.” You can only nod, and pull yourself out of Travis’ car. He drapes an arm over your shoulder and pulls you into his side.

“You hit him didn’t you?” You ask quietly in the elevator ride up to Nolan’s floor. “I did. I thought he was using you. I was so upset. He didn’t fight back, he wouldn’t even defend himself. I’m such an asshat.” He admits

You nod in response, and hug him as tight as you can. “That’s my big brother, the asshat. Thank you for always looking out for me, but you really shouldn’t have hit him.” He whispers an apology into your hair as the elevator doors open. “Now let’s go get your man! Ew no, I’m not calling him that ever again.”

You laugh at that. Travis smiles at you as he knocks on Nolan’s door. You wait patiently, but nothing happens. The door never opens. Travis knocks again. Nothing. Your heart feels like it’s breaking all over again. Travis continues knocking. He even tries calling Nolan. Nothing.

You reach out and grab his wrist to stop his assault on Nolan’s door. “Trav. It’s over, it’s okay. He doesn’t want this.” Before he can say anything, his phone rings. Both of your eyes snapping to it hopefully. You deflate as you see Karlys name flashing across his screen. You sigh and slide down the wall beside Nolan’s door, as Travis answers.

“Hey babe. Well I decided to take Y/n to Nolan’s apartment to try and fix this, but he is refusing to answer his door or his phone.” You groan a little dropping your face into your hands. You feel pathetic. “Are you kidding me right now!” Travis’ last line comes out much louder than the others, and you jump a little. Looking up at him you see an expression you can’t quite read. “Stay there! We are on our way!”

You’re pretty sure he doesn’t even wait for Karlys response before hanging up. “Trav? What’s wrong? Is Karly okay?”

“Karly is fine, but we have to go.” With that he’s grabbing your hands and pulling you off the floor and out of the building. Foregoing the elevator, and instead rushing down the stairs like a mad man.

“Travis what is going on!” You’re frustrated and he’s not responding to any of your questions, as he jumps into his car. You follow suit, grumbling under your breath. The drive isn’t that long, and you spend most of it wondering why Nolan wouldn’t answer the door. How were you supposed to go on seeing him all the time again? He wants nothing to do with you right?

Your mind is still spinning when Travis pulls into his parking spot. Karly is already waiting outside.

“Listen Y/n/n, you’re going to be okay. If things with Nolan were meant to be they will be. Karly and I have to go, but we will be back later okay? Call me if you need anything.” Travis’ voice is soft, but hurried as he leans over and opens your door for you. The confusion is clear on your face as you get out of the passenger seat. Karly sends you a quick apology before sliding into your spot.

And then they were gone. Before you could even ask where they were going, they were gone. You’d never felt more alone in your entire life. The one person you wanted to see wants nothing to do with you, and your support system just up and left you.

As you make your way slowly up the stairs to the apartment, tears fall for what feels like the millionth time in the last 48 hours. Your heart was so unbelievably broken, and you couldn’t even starts to think about how to put it back together. As you finally made it to the door, you unlock it and let yourself in. As you close it, you fall back against it small sobs escaping you into the quiet apartment.

“Y/n?” Your eyes snap up, heart beating a million miles an hour.

“Nolan? What are you doing here?” There he was standing in front of you, dressed up and holding a bouquet of your favourite flowers.

“Well- I uh came to apologize. I’ve been here since Travis text me to say you were leaving the hospital. What took you guys so long?” He chuckles nervously, but makes no effort to move closer.

“We went to your apartment. Nolan I am so sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you. God I was so stupid, I don’t know how to make this better.” You’re shaking now, overwhelmed by emotion.

Nolan sees you struggling, and quickly closes the distance between you both. Dropping the flowers along the way his hands find your hips to hold you up. “The past is in the past babe. We can’t change it.” You deflate at his words, fresh tears springing to your eyes.

“But,” he adds, placing a finger under your chin lifting it up so you’re looking at him. “We can start again, and do it the right way. I don’t wanna hide you.” His eyes slip from yours to your lips. Your heart skips a beat, as he leans into you pressing his lips to yours in a kiss like none you’ve shared before. This kiss is not driven by lust, it’s all love. It’s slow and steady, as he pulls you closer to him. You stay like that awhile, both to afraid to stop. Nolan pulls away first though, so you can both catch your breath.

You smile up at him, reaching up to gently touch the stitches above his left eye. You frown a little, as he flinches but doesn’t stop you. “It’s not as bad as it looks.” Nolan mumbles, cheeks heating slightly.

“Really? Because I was just about to say it looks kinda hot.” You smirk up at him.

His fingers flex on your hips, eyes going a little darker. “You’re gonna be the death of me Konecny.” His voice is deep and it sets your whole body on fire.

“Stop talking and kiss me already Nols” With that Nolan’s lips are on yours, and his hands are on your thighs lifting you off the ground with ease. You wrap your legs around his waist as you pins you to the wall. A moan escapes your lips as your hands find his hair, tugging it lightly. The kiss grows needier by the second, and you’re getting impatient. As you push your hips into his to get some friction, Nolan pulls away.

“We should slow down.” Nolan sighs, as he sets you back down. “Why?” You pout, gripping his shirt and trying to pull him back into you.

“Because, I want to do this the right way. Let me take you out first before I fuck you in your brothers apartment” he chuckles.

“We’ve had sex before Nolan. Besides,” you say, running your hands up his torso to the back of his neck. Tugging on the hair a little before you continue. “Wouldn’t fucking his baby sister all over his apartment be a great way to get pay back after he punched you in the face.”

“Y/n. I’d rather not have my best friend kill me before I even get a chance to show you off. He could walk through that door at any second.” Nolan groans glancing over your shoulder to the door.

“You’re right he could.” You smirk as you start kissing his neck.

“Babe-“ he warns, but it lacks sincerity and you take that as a win. “Can it Patrick. Let me have my fun!” You wink, sliding down to your knees.

And just like that, he was at your mercy. He was a total mess above you, hands gripping your hair tightly as you took him in your mouth.

The fact Karly and Travis could walk through the door at any moment to see the two of you. Nolan with his head thrown back, pants at his ankles, and you, hands gripping his thighs tightly and tears forming in your eyes. It had your senses heightened. On edge already, your pussy clenching on nothing.

When Nolan came, his name left your lips followed by many profanities as you swallowed his cum. You smirk up at him, and trace your finger over his tattoo lazily. “Worth it?”

“Fuck, so worth it princess.” He groans pulling you to your feet attaching his lips to your neck.

Nolan pulls away after a moment and you whimper slightly at the loss. He chuckles as he pulls his pants up and you groan in response. “Sorry baby, but standing just inside the door with my pants around my ankles is not a good look.”

“I liked it” you pout, “your legs are nice.”

“Oh yeah?” He quirks an eyebrow at you, a smug grin growing on his face. You nod, cheeks heating up slightly. “Especially your thighs.” You wink.

Nolan throws his head back and laughs pulling you into his chest. “You’re amazing you know that?”

“So I’ve been told.” You wink up at him. His grip tightens on your waist, and his smile grows impossibly wider. Your heartbeat quickens as tears spring to your eyes, and you do everything in your power to hold them back as you press your forehead against Nolan’s chest.

Everything feels so perfect in that moment. You’re not Travis’ sister. Not baby Konecny. Nolan isn’t Travis’ best friend. Not the Nolan Patrick. He is yours, and you’re his. The only think that matters now is how at home you feel standing awkwardly in the hallway embracing each other, with no intentions of letting go.

[sfb123]

Sapere Aude - Part 11

Book: The Royal Heir

Pairing: King Liam Rys x Queen Riley Brooks

All characters belong to Pixelberry.

Catch Up Here

Series Description: I developed a theory of what I think will happen in TRH Book 4, and I was encouraged by some very lovely people to turn my theory into a fic, so here it is. Basically, Riley is recruited to join the Via Imperii, this series will follow her as she joins them to try and bring them down from the inside, and all of the drama and bombshells she learns along the way. Sapere Aude is Latin for “dare to know” it seemed like an appropriate title.

Rating: PG-13 Adult language, discussions of death, conspiracy, blackmail, and other adult themes.

Warning: The Royal Heir Book 3 Spoilers all over the place.

Disclaimer: I have no current affiliation with any other Via Imperii themed stories. Any claims that I have pre-read anything are false.

Word Count: 2,909

A/N: First of all, I have a couple of new readers (hi, thank you, I love you) if this is your first Sapere Aude, stop here, go back, and start from the beginning. This series has a lot of bombs and surprises, so none of this is going to make sense, and it’s going to make it less exciting if you aren’t reading from the beginning. 

Sorry, another long wait for a chapter. I got stuck, and distracted, and like a million other things. The Choices Insider email last week kind of lit a fire under me. When I started writing this (in December) the plan was to have it finished before the last book came out, so I have like a month to get through this. I’m going full out on getting this completed now, I will be working on nothing but this until it is done, and am hoping to finish it in time for the next book to come out so that PB has plenty of time to steal my ideas. 

This chapter took a while for me to work through, but @jessiembruno was amazing and helped me every step of the way, and got like a million rambling text messages from me once the idea dam finally broke. And then pre-reading and leaving me some amazing love notes, and super helpful suggestions. She also kept encouraging me, and pushing me to work on it when my mind would wander into new ideas, or thoughts on some other random WIP that I started throwing together. I love you, and I am so grateful for this friendship that goes way beyond any of this. By the way, you are an AMAZING writer, and I will continue to shout it from the mountain tops as long as I live. 

As always with this series, I need to thank @txemrn for pre-reading. I was having SUCH a miserable day and feeling so shitty about myself (for non-fandom reasons), and your reactions to this chapter made me laugh out loud for the first time in what felt like forever. I appreciate you so much my dear friend. 

And of course, thank you @twinkleallnight for my beautiful series moodboard. 

Tags: Listed below, you know the drill. 

Liam exited the bedroom and walked toward the sitting area. He paused at the end of the hallway to observe his wife and his daughter sitting on the couch. Riley had her blouse in hand, sewing on the button Olivia sent her for her undercover mission. She was showing Eleanor how to sew, talking her through every stitch. The princess was watching and listening intently, taking in every word her mother said. 

He leaned his right shoulder against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest as he admired his family. He didn’t understand how it was possible to fall even more in love every time he looked at them. All he wanted in this world was their happiness and safety, and now here he was, sending his wife straight to the enemy. 

“Hi Daddy!” The angelic voice of his daughter pulled him from his thoughts. 

“Hi Princess. Are you being a good helper for mommy?” He lifted Eleanor off the couch and sat in her seat, placing her on his lap. 

“Best helper a girl could ask for.” Riley held her hand out, palm up, and Eleanor gave her a high five. 

Liam enjoyed the company of his family for a few more moments, before placing a kiss on his daughter’s cheek. “Alright Eleanor, why don’t you go play in your room for a little while? Mommy and daddy have to talk about grown up things.”

“Yes, daddy. Will you come play after?” 

“Of course, I believe I am owed a tea party.” He gave her a hug before setting her down and watching her run to her room. When she was gone, he turned his attention back to Riley. “How are you feeling, love?”

Riley cut the lingering thread from the button and placed her blouse on the table in front of them before responding. “I mean, obviously I’m nervous, but I’m optimistic that I’ll come back with something we can use. How are you feeling?”

He sighed and pulled her close to him, kissing the top of her head as it landed on his chest. “Riley, I love how much you worry about me, but let me worry about you right now. Let me be your support system. Tell me truly, how are you feeling?”

“I’m...I’m terrified.” She pulled back and looked him in the eyes, tears beginning to pool in her own. “I’m trying so hard to be strong, to put on a brave face, but this is fucking terrifying. We don’t know how deep it goes, we know some of the people that are involved, but how do we know that that’s everyone?”

“You’re right, there are a lot of unknowns, and that’s scary.” He cupped her face in his hands, wiping a falling tear with his thumb. “But I truly believe that we are going to end this. That you are going to end this. Don’t forget, you are the Champion of The Realm.”

“Yeah, but I’m sleeping with the guy who makes those decisions, he may have been a little biased.” She shrugged, half joking. 

Liam removed his hands, his expression becoming more serious. “Riley, that’s not funny. You have earned every single thing you have received since you arrived in this country, our country. I don’t ever want you to believe that my feelings for you overrule my judgement when it comes to your abilities. You are the strongest person I have ever met. If anyone can do this, it’s you.”

“IF anyone can do this. What if nobody can?”

“Then we will face the fallout together. Like we always do, like we always will. We are the King and Queen of Cordonia, Liam and Riley Rys. We are a force to be reckoned with.” He raised an eyebrow as he parroted back her reassuring words from a few nights before. 

She smirked at him. “Hey, no fair, you can’t use my own words to prove your point like that.” 

“Yes I can, old negotiation tactic.” He winked at her and stood from the couch reaching for her hand. “Come on, we still have the whole day ahead of us. Let’s go have a tea party with our daughter, then I’m taking my girls out for dinner.”

****

Two days later, Riley was sitting in the back of an SUV heading toward the Fierro Estate. She was doing her best to quell her nerves, but she couldn’t help her hands from fidgeting in her lap. 

“You seem on edge, ma’am. Is everything ok?” The sound of Mara’s voice cut through the silence, startling Riley. 

“Oh...yeah, I’m fine Mara. I’m just not really sure what to expect from this meeting. Last time I went to one of these events, I found out my mother in law wasn’t actually dead. I don’t know if I could handle another surprise like that.”

Mara chuckled at her concern. “Don’t worry your majesty, this is a simple strategy meeting followed by a dinner. You have met all of the members, so there will be no surprise guests this time around.”

Riley nodded and turned her head, watching the scenery pass by as they continued to their destination. Her mind was racing thinking about what this meeting would have in store. She practiced taking pictures with the pen, and activating the recorder she had sewn into her shirt. As they got closer to the estate, she felt her heart rate speed up, and the knot in her stomach tighten.

When they arrived, Riley was ushered into the grand room, which had been set up with a large table. The other members were standing around in small groups chatting until it was time for the meeting to begin. Riley fidgeted with the pen, twirling it in her fingers before lifting it to her face and tapping it against her chin and clicking it several times. She hoped it came off as a nervous habit, providing cover for the fact that she was actually taking pictures around the room. 

She gasped and nearly jumped out of her skin at the feeling of a hand gently being placed on her shoulder. She whipped around to see Eleanor smiling softly at her. “Riley dear, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“Oh, Eleanor. Hello.” Riley held her hand to her chest, trying to get her heart rate back to normal. “It’s ok, I’m just a little nervous. Not really sure what to expect from this meeting.”

“Don’t worry, I promise it’s just regular business, nothing earth shattering. Come on, it’s time to get this started, and you’re sitting next to me.” Eleanor wrapped her arm around Riley and led her to the table. The other guests took this as their cue to follow, as the meeting was about to get underway. As Riley sat, she adjusted her skirt and blouse, using the opportunity to activate the microphone embedded in her button. 

As the chapter president, Eleanor kicked off the meeting by greeting their newest member, Queen Riley, and explaining that she was there to help push their initiatives though with the King. Riley clenched her fist ever so slightly, a trick she used when she was trying to keep her expression neutral. They continued on, reviewing the minutes of the last meeting, it all seemed to be pretty mundane, things that wouldn't even necessarily cross hers or Liam’s desk. 

Then they opened up the floor to new business, and Neville stood to address the room. “I would like to revisit the Auvernal alliance.”

Riley was able to maintain her stoic expression, but her body tensed at the mention of Auvernal. She and Liam had made it perfectly clear that there would be no alliance. “I don’t believe there is anything to revisit there.” She chimed in. “King Liam and I determined that the alliance would not be beneficial for Cordonia.”

“Actually, I believe you determined the alliance would not be beneficial to you and your husband.” Neville rebutted, crossing his arms over his chest. “You didn’t want to marry off your daughter, you didn’t bother thinking of what the alliance could bring to our country.”

“Are you questioning the decisions of your monarchs? I urge you to remember your station, Lord Neville.” Riley raised an eyebrow and stood a bit taller. 

Neville scoffed at her threat. “And I urge you to remember that you may have slept your way to the top in Cordonia, but the Via Imperii is bigger than the monarchy, and in this society, I outrank you.”

“Well, if being the Queen doesn’t matter in this room, then there is nothing stopping me from coming over there and beating your a...”

“Ok ok ok, let’s all calm down here.” Eleanor grabbed Riley’s arm, stopping her from charging at Neville. “Let’s all sit down and have a rational conversation, weighing out the pros and cons of an alliance.” Riley and Neville both sat down and exchanged narrow glances. “Now Neville, since you have brought this proposal to the group, you will go first. Please explain to us your thought process on revisiting the alliance.”

Neville nodded and smirked at Riley. “It is clear that combining the financial security of Cordonia with the military strength of Auvernal would make us an unstoppable force. Besides, we need the extra protection given our country’s recent history.” He glared at Riley once again.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Riley huffed. 

“Look at the instability we have faced in recent years. Our crown prince abdicated, his successor, our current king, broke off a perfectly suitable engagement to marry a foreign commoner who was marred in scandal.”

“He released a statement that cleared that whole thing up. The scandal is irrelevant.” She could feel her cheeks heating up.

“Do you really think people stopped talking about it? You can’t really believe that it won’t be a part of your legacy as our Queen.” 

Riley slouched down in her seat. She knew she should remain composed, but bringing up the Tariq scandal hit a nerve that she didn’t know still existed. One of her biggest concerns in continuing her relationship with Liam, and accepting his proposal, was that his success as King would be overshadowed by the scandal she had faced. She had thought that after all these years, it would have been forgotten, but Neville bringing it up just brought everything back up and made her realize it would be something that was attached to her name forever. 

“Besides the personal problems our royal family has faced, there have been multiple attempts to overthrow them just within our own country. Sons of Earth, Duke Godfrey, Barthelemy Beaumont, just to name a few. Other countries are seeing this, and it won’t be long before they try to come for us as well.” Neville continued. 

“While I don’t agree with his delivery, Lord Neville does make some valid points.” Emmeline interjected, the rest of the room began murmuring in agreement. Riley couldn’t hide her shocked expression as she felt tears start to build up in her eyes. She blinked them away, she was not going to give them the satisfaction of seeing their queen cry. 

Eleanor took back control of the room before turning to Riley. “Riley, would you like to counter? You and Liam worked directly with Auvernal during the marriage alliance talks, you clearly have some insight that we may not be privy to.”

Riley took a deep breath to get her emotions under control before standing to address the room. “Aside from the fact that Bradshaw and Isabella are deplorable people with hell spawn children, the main reason that we decided an alliance was not in the best interest of Cordonia, was because it was clear that their interest was not an alliance, but a hostile takeover of our country.”

“Perhaps we would prosper under their rule. I haven’t heard of any coup attempts in Auvernal, it seems to me like they’re doing something right.” Neville spoke up. 

“So that’s it then? You all think Bradshaw and Isabella would do a better job as your king and queen, so I’m just supposed to convince Liam to relinquish the throne?” Riley threw her hands up in frustration and stepped away from the table. 

“Your majesty, we’re not making the final decision right here, right now, we just want to remain open to the idea and explore some options.” Emmeline tried to talk Riley down. “Perhaps you and King Liam could take a meeting with them, a friendly lunch maybe, just to open the lines of communication.”

“This is ridiculous. I can’t believe you all expect me to agree with this!” Riley was now pacing the room, overcome with a nervous energy.

Eleanor stood and lifted a hand to quiet the room. “Alright, that’s enough. I think we’ve gotten as far as we’re going to get with this conversation tonight. Dinner is being set out in the dining hall. I suggest we adjourn for the day. Let’s all compose ourselves and think about all sides of this conversation. We will pick up the conversation at the next meeting.”

As the members started filing out of the room, Eleanor approached Riley and gently placed her hand on her arm to keep her still. “Are you alright Riley?” 

Riley shrugged Eleanor’s hand off of her, anger clear on her face. “Of course I’m not alright. I basically just had a room full of my subjects telling me that my husband and I are doing a shitty job, and they think those monsters are better suited to look out for their best interests. Of course I’m not fucking alright!” Riley moves in closer, lowering her voice but not losing any of the anger in her tone. “I thought you were here doing this to protect Liam. Do you really think that this is protecting him? Handing his kingdom over to Auvernal?!”

“Riley, I always have Liam’s best interests at heart, I promise you that. Why don’t you head home, take a couple of days to relax and take everything in. I will set up a meeting for you and I later this week to talk about everything and work out a game plan.”

“Fine, I can’t stay here anymore anyway. And I definitely don’t have an appetite for dinner.” Riley walked out of the room, looking for Mara so that they could get back to the palace. She stepped into the dining area and saw Mara standing in the far corner talking to Neville. She clenched her jaw and took a deep breath before approaching the pair. “Mara, we will not be staying for dinner. We are returning to the palace immediately. I want to be home to put my daughter to bed.” She wasn’t going to give Neville the satisfaction of knowing she was leaving because of what he started. 

“Of course, your majesty.” Mara nodded and exited with Riley. 

The ride home was silent. In all the years that Mara had worked for Riley, she had never seen her this upset. She wasn’t entirely sure how to handle it, or what would be considered overstepping her duties, so she decided to stay quiet and let Riley speak, if she wanted to. She didn’t. 

They arrived at the palace and walked together to the royal quarters. As Riley placed her hand on the doorknob to enter, Mara cleared her throat to get her attention. “Your majesty, I know this was a difficult evening for you, but I do feel I need to remind you that discretion is key in the Via Imperii. His majesty cannot know what happened tonight. You will need to lock those feelings away for the time being.”

Riley pressed her lips into a thin line and nodded. She knew she was going to fall into Liam's arms and cry the second she saw him, and then she would tell him everything, but she couldn’t let Mara know that. “Liam and I will be staying in for the rest of the night. You are dismissed for the evening.” Riley walked into her quarters and shut the door before Mara had a chance to respond. 

As soon as she closed the door, she leaned back against it and dropped her head into her hands. Liam came walking into the room, the smile that appeared on his face when he heard the front door open quickly faded as he took in the sight of his wife sobbing at the front door. “Riley?” She looked up at him, tears streaming down her face as she tried to catch her breath. He rushed over to her and pulled her close, she buried her head in his chest as he stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head trying unsuccessfully to soothe her. “Shhhh, it’s alright love, I’m right here, I’ve got you. Tell me what happened.”

Riley could barely speak, but she slowly tried to explain everything that had happened that night. Liam walked her to the couch as she spoke, she needed to sit, anything to help her relax and calm down. He stared at her in disbelief as he listened to his wife tearfully recap her evening. 

On the other side of the door, Mara pulled her phone out of her jacket pocket, selecting one of the contacts and bringing the phone to her ear. “My lord, you were right. We will need to put your plan in motion.”

Permatag:

@anjanettexcordonia @athena-penrose @bbrandy2002 @chemist-ana​ @choicesficwriterscreations​ @choiceskatie​ @cordonia-gothqueen​ @cordoniaqueensworld​ @emkay512​ @gabesmommie1130​ @gkittylove99​ @hopelessromanticmonie​ @iaminlovewithtrr​ @jessiembruno​ @kat-tia801​ @khoicesbyk​ @kingliam2019​ @lucy-268​ @marshmallowsaremyfavorite​ @mile9213​ @mom2000aggie​ @pixie88​ @queenrileyrose​ @secretaryunpaid​ @sweatyrysconnoisseur​ @tessa-liam​ @theroyalheirshadowhunter​ @twinkleallnight​ @txemrn​

Sapere Aude:

@burnsoslow @busywoman @gardeningourmet @ofpixelsandscribbles

Liam x Riley:

@jared2612

Liam:

@amandablink @yourmajesty09

[bunnimew]

Starstruck

Fandom: Rise of the Guardians Relationship: Jack Frost/Pitch Black Also featuring: Jamie Bennett Tags: Mermaid AU, Sea Stars, MerMay, Idiots in Love, Fluff without Plot, Modern Mer AU istg, Pitch is a literal drama king, Jack likes rocks Rating: T Words: 2349 Summary: Pitch finally proposed to Jack, but it's not just his fiancé on Jack's mind.

He's absolutely smitten with his engagement gift, too.

For RotG Mermay 2021 prompt Sea Star On AO3 Here.

Jack carefully brushed away the sand and sea life that had settled over the cold, hardened lava. Small pieces of rock broke away in his calloused hands, and he tossed them into the bottom of the sled, because why waste material? But he was here for the bigger pieces. The biggest, if Jamie and he could lift them.

This flow stretched forever. There would be plenty of rock to drag back and Jamie already had, like, thirty hands cleared. Jack was totally slacking. It wasn’t his fault, though! Jamie didn’t have a little guy to look out for the way Jack did, now.

Jack admired the beautiful little sea star wrapped securely around his arm. The tight little warmth was already so comforting and familiar. Jack couldn’t imagine going back to—

“Jack!” Jamie cried from across the lava flow. Jack looked up just in time to see him roll his eyes and flick his tail irritably. “You’re not even on the rock anymore! You’re just clouding up the water, you idiot!”

Okay, yes, Jack was doing that. His brush wasn’t anywhere near the lava. His bad. Jack shook himself and swam back to where he had meant to be working. “Sorry, I just—”

Jamie snorted and didn’t let him finish. “I know! You were distracted by your brand new sea star! I get it!” Jamie laughed. “But seriously, I want to go home tonight, so if you could focus for like ten more minutes, that would be great.”

Yeah, okay, Jack could do ten minutes. He could promise no more than that. “Alright, alright. Let’s get this done,” Jack said with a grin born of Jamie’s good humor. His smile gentled into a smitten upturn of lips when he leaned down to poke and prod at his passenger. “C’mon, little guy. I’m gonna need you to move so I can go faster.” Jack slowly and carefully peeled each of his little arms away until it was easy to move him from Jack’s arm to his back, just over one shoulder where he would be safely out of the way.

“I really do get it,” Jamie said. He was looking down at his work, but obviously talking to Jack. “I want one, too. It’s really cool that you and Pitch…”

Jack bit his lip and tried not to grin too hard or let his fluttering fins give him away. He loved talking about it, but he had sort of already talked Jamie’s ear off and it was actually kind of cool that Jamie had something to say about it now. So Jack was going to try really hard not to talk over him, and let Jamie have his say. About Jack’s thing. That just happened to him.

“I mean,” Jamie laughed, “I’m not sure how I feel about you and the word, ‘Commitment,’ but try anything once, right?”

Jack laughed with him. He had a point. “Hopefully once is all I need. That’s the idea, right? Hey,” Jack asked with a gesture at the rock beneath them, “How much of this do you think we can take at once?”

Jamie shrugged. “I’m willing to go for all of it if you’re willing to go for all of it.”

“We will never lift all of it.”

Jamie put his hands on his scaled hips. “Not with that attitude we won’t.”

~o~

They did not lift all of it.

But they gave it a good try. The important part was the sled was full, their job was done for the day, and Jack’s sea star was safely and happily back on his forearm where he could admire it the whole way home.

It was the sound of Jamie’s amused snort that made Jack finally look up. Pitch was there, looking regal as ever with his huge flowy fins and a tail that went on forever, hovering by their fancy little fanbike holding a bag of takeout. Yeah, they were acting like a disgustingly smitten pair of seahorses. Jamie’s attitude was completely warranted.

Jamie nudged Jack’s shoulder. “I’ll push this the rest of the way to the shop,” he offered. “You go home with your mer.”

Jack nudged him back. “Don’t be stupid; this thing is heavy. I can make it the rest of the way. Pitch can wait five minutes.”

It was Jack who could barely wait the five minutes, and everyone knew it. As soon as the sled was settled in its cradle, Jack was off with a parting, “Have a nice night!” a return, “See you tomorrow!” and Jamie was laughing the whole time.

Pitch also definitely had laughter in his eyes, even if he was keeping it mostly inside. He handed the bag of takeout to Jack with a kiss then put both hands on the fanbike handles. “I thought we’d skip cooking tonight. Ready to go?”

Jack was ready to investigate the bag in his hands, but he’d only gotten the corner unrolled when Pitch asked. Fine, okay, he could wait until they were home. It wasn’t like he could eat it on the way, anyway. “Sure. Take me home, Riptide.” He wrapped both arms around Pitch’s waist, one hand full of delicious takeout, and rested his cheek against Pitch’s spine.

With the flip of a switch, the little bike panels opened and the fan was exposed. It always took a little fiddling to get the fan going, but then the water was passing easily through and propelling them effortlessly toward home.

Jack closed his eyes against the oncoming water and enjoyed the feeling of holding on to Pitch, of his little sea star clinging to his arm, of the warmth between them compared to the cold flow of the ocean. Jack loved the cold. But he loved Pitch more.

Their home wasn’t as big as it could be. Pitch was horribly dramatic (Which was a good thing; it’s how he got paid) and wanted some huge cavernous maze of a house, but when Jack pointed out that someone would have to keep the thing clean, he folded to Jack’s much more sensible idea of a reasonable home with plenty of room around it for a coral garden and fancy toys like the fanbike.

Pitch still got his wish of a horribly dramatic house, with different rocks used in geometric patterns all up the sides. It sure showed off how much money famous actors made compared to someone like Jack, and Jack secretly suspected that was all Pitch really wanted, anyway. The show-off.

If Jack didn’t find his posturing adorable, they would have a serious problem.

As it stood, the reminder of their stark walls and clearly custom everything (Except the one cheap dolphin Jack stuck in the coral because he thought it was cute and Pitch couldn’t stop him) just made him smile and bury his face deeper into Pitch’s back. His fiance was a ridiculous man and Jack absolutely loved him, drama and all.

Pitch spun in his arms to wrap one around Jack’s shoulders, effectively locking them in an embrace. He lifted Jack’s arm to bring the little sea star closer to his face and, hilariously, began to coo at it. “How’s the little guy been today? Behaving? Happy? Did you feed them?”

Jack wanted to laugh, only he’d been the same way all day. No wonder Jamie was fed up with him. Not wanting to get stuck outside fawning over their baby for the next four hours, Jack tugged them along toward the house. “I just fed them yesterday. But yes, they were an absolute darling. Stayed wherever I put them and didn’t bother me one bit.”

“Aww,” Pitch cooed some more. He gently ran his fingers over the little legs and Jack was one-hundred percent certain that if he was not guiding them through the door, Pitch would have swam right into the wall for all the attention he was paying. As it was, his hair brushed the top of the doorway and Jack grimaced. That was close.

When Pitch nearly smacked into a side table, Jack rolled his eyes. “Maybe you should wear them for a day. Get some quality time in so you don’t lose your mind as soon as I’m home.”

Pitch woke up enough to scoff. “That defeats the purpose, Jack. It’s your engagement gift.” Suddenly a light lit up in Pitch’s eyes. “But you could always get another one for—”

“Pitch!” Jack interrupted with a laugh. “We’ve barely had this one for, what, three days? Let’s get good at caring for it before we double our commitment.”

Pitch’s expression failed to dim. “I love that you want to care for it. I love that you want to get good at it. I would gladly double our commitment if that’s what it takes—”

Jack pressed his hand over Pitch’s mouth to stop the rambling waterfall of dramatic confessions, then pressed his lips to the back of his hand in a mockery of a kiss. “I love you, too. I’d love it if you’d wear a sea star for me. But I’m also very hungry and you promised me takeout. It’s time to show your love by feeding me.”

Pitch blinked in shock, and slowly held up the bag of takeout.

Jack smiled. “Thank you, Cuddlefish.”

Pitch had them set up on the lounge and the food dished out in record time. The mer moved fast when he was motivated, and showing Jack how much he loved him was a goal Pitch strived for like he had something to prove. He didn’t, of course, but reassurance never seemed to reassure Pitch for very long.

Maybe a sea star of his own finally would.

Jack placed his sea star on his chest while he ate, where they would be safe from Jack rolling onto his back. Pitch neglected his dinner in favor of petting the tiny legs again, and petting Jack’s skin beyond them. “It looks fantastic on you.”

Jack smiled. He felt like he was glowing. “You picked a really good one. I love it.”

Pitch leaned down to press his lips to Jack’s shoulder. “I love you.”

Jack took hold of Pitch’s chin and pulled him into a kiss. “I love you, too. Eat your dinner.”

Pitch pouted at him.

“I love you,” Jack said, petting Pitch’s hair. “Therefore I want to feed you. Eat your dinner.”

Pitch gave a dramatic sigh, but obligingly shoved some food in his mouth. Jack grinned.

Honestly, it was hard not to talk and pet and preen when they were together right now. The guppy love was unbearably strong and with Jack’s meal already eaten, he found himself doing nothing more than gazing adoringly at his fiance while petting the symbol of their engagement. They were hopeless. How had Jamie not punched him, already? Jamie was a saint.

Pitch definitely noticed Jack’s stare. Thankfully, they were long past the point in their relationship where eating was embarrassing. Nope, the only embarrassed one here was Jack, for getting caught being stupid and helplessly in love, again.

If anything, Pitch enjoyed the attention. He always enjoyed attention; how else could he be a famous actor and not go mad with it? He was licking his fingers, and Jack wasn’t even sure Pitch had gotten anything on them, when the silence between them broke.

“My agent wants you to sit for an interview.”

Jack blinked. “Say what?” He’d been watching Pitch’s fingers and not listening.

Pitch laughed and snuggled down beside him. “You’re the new fiance of Riftland’s most prominent actor. Everyone wants to hear from you.”

“Except Jamie,” Jack muttered.

“My agent thinks it would be a good idea to cash in on the interest. And they’re my agent, so you know they won’t publish anything untoward.”

Jack’s lips pulled into a smirk. “Say ‘untoward’ again, slower this time.”

Pitch swatted Jack’s shoulder, careful of his beautiful sea star. “You’re horrible. Tell me you’ll do the interview.”

“Of course I’ll do the interview.” Jack swatted Pitch back. Just to keep them even. “I love talking about you. And me. And this wonderful little sea star I now have.”

Pitch’s smile lit the room. Jack felt pride that he put it there. Neptune, they were hopeless.

“Just let me know when,” Pitch said. “They were thinking sooner rather than later, but I know you have a real job to do.”

Jack snorted a laugh. It was a running joke between them, that Jack was the only working adult between them. Some days it really seemed to be true.

“I’ll ask Jamie about starting early tomorrow. He’ll probably be glad to be rid of me!”

Pitch slid an arm over Jack’s waist. “Nonsense. Jamie adores you.”

“He adores me when I can think about something other than you.”

Pitch’s grin said everything he didn’t. Jack shoved his hand in Pitch’s face to make that stupid, silly look go away so Jack could breathe again. Fuck, they were so in love.

They were so in love.

“I know we only just got home, but,” Jack tentatively began, twirling a finger in a lock of Pitch’s soft hair, “I think it’s time for bed. How about you?”

In place of an answer, Pitch pressed his face into the crook of Jack’s neck and did something with his tongue that made Jack’s tail squirm.

He clutched at Pitch’s shoulders and tilted his head back in bliss. “I’m glad you agree, but you seem to have already forgotten the bed part.”

Pitch swept Jack off the lounge and swirled them through the water of their home. “You must forgive me, Jack,” he said with a playful leer, “I thought ‘bed’ was a metaphor for something else.”

Jack laughed and wrapped his arms tighter around Pitch. “You’re the melodramatic artist, Tigershark. I just collect rocks for a living. When I say bed, I mean bed.”

Pitch halted abruptly on the threshold to their room and raised both eyebrows in interest. “Can we have both?”

Jack made him wait a handful of seconds, just to make him want it.

Then shrugged. “Yeah, sure.”

[incorrect-julie-and-the-phantoms]

Fanfic trope! Alex/reggie, alex kiss reggie after he says something kinda dumb but very very sweet? Thks!

Thank you for the prompt! I know this isn’t exactly what you were thinking but this little idea popped up into mind and nagged me until it was written. I hope you enjoy!

Hot Dog Engine, Alex/Reggie

Tags: Fluff, College AU, blink and you miss it angst, some pining

Alex’s problem was all Luke’s fault. 

Not that he had done it intentionally. But ever since Luke and Jullie started dating he had been absent from their hangouts, leaving Alex and Reggie to hang out. Alone. 

At first it had been awkward, both of them not sure how to act with each other outside the usual dynamic of their group, but that soon passed. Overall, it wasn’t that different than when it was the three of them. 

Without Luke there to distract both of them, Alex was paying complete attention to Reggie and noticing things that he would have otherwise missed. Like how Reggie had a habit of eating his skittles in color order, and that he had a habit of bouncing a little when he was really excited about something. How his eyes scrunched and his voice got a little higher pitched when he was being defensive. 

At some point Alex realized that he noticed these because he was staring. Staring at Reggie’s fingers, at his mouth while he ate. Staring over at Reggie whenever they were practicing or looking to him first whenever anybody had good news. Staring as he started another argument with him just so he could see his eyes scrunch that way again.

Didn’t take a genius to figure out what that meant.

He wasn’t sure when it had happened, but one second he was just a guy hanging out with one of his best friends and the next he was a guy who was hopelessly crushing on a sweet, oblivious idiot. Alex tried to ignore the part of him that was completely unsurprised.

It wouldn’t have been a problem, but Reggie was everywhere. At some point, Reggie had decided that bothering Alex was his favorite pastime and since then had started seeking out Alex whenever he was bored, always having something he was excited to talk to somebody about. So Alex had to just sit there with his best friend and pretend that he didn’t want to kiss him all the time. It got really hard  That Reggie flirting with every single girl who looked at him didn’t bother him. That it didn’t especially bother him when Reggie flirted with Flynn right in front of him at a party one Friday night.

That it was definitely not the reason he was sulking in the studio, trying to finish the reading assignment that was due Monday.

“Hey Alex,” a voice called out from the other side of the room. Alex glanced up to see Reggie lounging in the doorway. His signature leather jacket must have been too hot for the weather because he was just wearing a pair of slightly baggy jeans and a slightly too small t-shirt with his usual flannel around his waist. 

Alex looked back down at his book without replying, ignoring the way his heart skipped a beat at Reggie’s lazy smile. 

“Aleeeeex,” Reggie whined when he realized Alex wasn’t gonna answer him. “Entertain me I’m bored.” 

Alex chose not to acknowledge him again, turning the page instead. He heard Reggie huff in annoyance at being ignored and Alex repressed a grin of amusement. He was sulking for a reason dammit! He was so distracted with not paying attention to Reggie that he didn’t notice the sound of him walking over until it was too late.

“Oof!” Alex let out a quiet noise of surprise at the sudden weight in his lap. He looked down to see Reggie smiling up at him with an impish grin. 

“Hey,” Reggie winked.

“Can I help you?” Alex asked in mock annoyance.

“Yeah, hang out with me. I’m bored.” 

Alex rolled his eyes and looked back down at his book. “Go bother Luke.” 

“Luke’s with Julie for their six months,” Reggie waved his hand dismissively. 

“How disappointing for you,” Alex said dryly.

“I wanna hang out with you more anyways,” Reggie’s impish smile turned bashful at that. How he managed to look bashful while draped across Alex like a cat was beyond him. 

Even though Reggie had said it many times before, a warm feeling blossomed in Alex’s chest and he couldn’t help the small smile he felt stretch across his face. He hid his face in his book as he felt the warmth spread to his cheeks. Reggie shifted so only his head was in Alex’s lap instead of his whole body. They sat in silence for a moment, Alex pretending to read and that he didn’t notice Reggie’s expectant gaze.

Alex finally broke the silence. “Even if I wanted to hang out, I gotta finish this book by tonight so I have time for practice later.” He hoped that would be enough of an excuse to get Reggie to go away. “I have an exam tomorrow, and I’m not about to give Professor Covington a reason to fail me.”

“His obsession with failing you is kinda weird, huh?” Reggie mused. “Maybe he’s trying to fail cause he wants you to stay with him another year.” Reggie nudged Alex to look at him, eyebrows waggling. “Maybe Professor Covington has a crush on you.”

Alex shuddered and the other boy started shaking with laughter at his own joke. “Please no.”

“If you don’t want to do it you could always drop out and start a company with me.”

“Don’t you think that would be impractical?” Alex replied in a teasing tone. 

Reggie scoffed.  “Course not. I got the whole thing planned out”

“Okay,” Alex laughed, lowering his book, “then what does our company do?”

“Uh…” Reggie reached a hand up to scratch his nose pensively.

“Let me get this straight,” Alex said. He restrained himself from adding ‘which I am not.’ “You want me, a broke college student, to drop out of college with you, another broke college student, to start a company which you have no plan for?”

“Hold on,” Reggie said defensively, sitting up so he and Alex were face to face. “I totally have a plan.” 

Alex’s mouth went dry as Reggie put his face so close to his own, his field of vision narrowing to dark green eyes and lips stretched into a crooked grin. All he would have to do to close the gap would be to lean forward just a couple inches—

“Prove it,” Alex teased, mentally chasing the thoughts from his head as he gently pushed Reggie further away. He had gotten good at ignoring those kinds of thoughts the past couple months.

Reggie stood with exaggerated showmanship. “Well, I am so glad that you asked.” He grabbed the flannel from his waist, tied it around his neck like a really crappy cape, and struck a dramatic pose. “Are you ready for this awesome?” He asked with mock seriousness.

Dork, Alex thought to himself. “By all means Reginald. Blow me away.” Reggie opened his mouth and Alex just knew he was going to hear the biggest load of bullshit ever.

“Well, my slightly taller friend, have you ever been walking down the street and realized that if you didn’t get a hotdog in the next ten minutes you would die?’”

“No.” 

“Have you been looking for an easy way to get meals while on a long car trip that doesn't involve stopping at a restaurant?”

“Still no.”

“Have you ever wondered if you were getting the most out of your vehicle?”

“I don’t have a car Reg,” Alex reminded him. Where was he going with this?

“Well,” Reggie drove forward undeterred, “have I got news for you. Now introducing…” Reggie paused his theatrics to look over at Alex expectantly, “little help?” Alex rolled his eyes and began to give a drumroll with his feet. “Now introducing… the hot dog engine!” 

Alex snorted. “The what?”

“The hot dog engine!” Reggie said excitedly. “On the outside, a regular car. But when you pop open the hood, BAM!” Reggie loudly clapped his hands together, “a hot dog cooker right next to your engine, powered by the same battery!”

Alex started laughing at that. “Reggie, that is so dangerous. You could get oil or battery acid on the hot dogs which would kill you.”

Reggie gasped in offense, “where is your sense of adventure?”

“Must have lost it when I lived past the ripe old age of 18,” Alex said back dryly.

Reggie huffed before readapting his dramatic businessman persona. “Well not to worry, I have plenty more where that came from.”

“Oh goodness please no,” Alex said in mock horror.

“Leashes for fish,” Reggie shot out.

“Useless”

“Crocs that smell like pumpkin spice.”

“Who’s purposely gonna smell them?”

“Pet rocks.”

“Already done.”

“Umbrellas for your shoes,”

“What’s with you and feet?”

Reggie choked on a laugh and stared at him for a moment. Alex was definitely amused by this whole conversation, but if Reggie kept staring at him and saying stupid things that made him laugh they were gonna have a problem. He needed to shut Reggie up somehow.

His friend opened his mouth to suggest his next ridiculous idea, “what about an air cannon that blows out candles for you—hmph!”

The tiny ‘hmph’ of surprise was because Alex had figured how to shut him up, by launching himself across the room and pressing their lips together.

Oh god, Alex thought to himself the moment he realized he was kissing him. He pulled away, stepping back to look at Reggie who was staring at him wide-eyed, frozen in shock. Oh crap, oh god. What did I do? He’s gonna freak out he's gonna hate me he’s gonna—

“Well that just gave me a great idea,” Reggie cut through Alex’s train of thoughts.

“R-Reggie I’m so sorry,” Alex quickly stammered out his apology. 

“Alex—” Reggie tried to speak.

“I shouldn’t have just kissed you like that. I know you and Flynn just started having a thing and that you don’t like me that way—”

“ALEX,” Reggie said more forcefully. Alex stopped his rambling and stared up at his friend anxiously. Reggie took a deep breath, “my idea was that you could just bring your boyfriend to lecture to show Professor Covington you aren’t interested in him.”

That didn’t make sense, “who’s my boyfriend?”

“Well me, if you stop freaking out long enough to kiss me again.” Reggie’s face turned bright red as he processed what he said. “I-I mean if you want to. You don’t gotta um…” 

Alex felt the wide smile on his own face as he processed what Reggie was saying. He reached out and interlocked their fingers together. “Can I kiss you again Reggie?”

“Yeah, that’d be nice.”

The second kiss was so much better than the first. The soft press of Reggie’s lips against his own made the butterflies he had been trying to digest for months fly around his chest for free. The hand that wasn’t holding Reggie’s moved up to cup the back of his head.

Eventually, Reggie pulled away, his breath was a little quicker than before and his cheeks were flushed. Alex felt like his heart was going to beat out of his chest with anxiety and excitement. 

“I should probably tell you that I’ve been wanting to do that for a while,” Reggie laughed.

“Oh,” Alex felt the tips of his ears burn. “Yeah. Uh, yeah. I mean, me too.” 

The answering smile from the boy in front of him was blinding. “Oh nice, does that mean I can be your boyfriend and make Professor Covington jealous?”

“You do know professor Covington just hates me cause he hates everyone right?”

“Alex,” Reggie huffed in annoyance, “you’re ruining the moment.”

Alex rolled his eyes. “Yes, you can be my boyfriend.”

Leaning in for their third kiss was Reggie’s response to that statement, and it was even better than the second.

Then the fourth which was better than the third. Then the fifth that was better than the sixth and so on until they both eventually lost count.

[keelywolfe]

FIC: Just Swimmingly ch.4 (BAON)

Summary:  Jeff doesn't know where they are or where they're going, but he knows one thing. It's probably not good.

Tags:  Spicyhoney, Established Relationships,  Hurt/Comfort, Additional Tags To Come

Part of the ‘by any other name’ series.

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Read it on AO3

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Read it here!

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By the time the van came to a stop, Stretch still hadn’t woken up. Not that it mattered very much, there wasn’t a thing Jeff could have done to change their situation. At the moment, they were very much outnumbered, overpowered, and even if he’d had a clue where they were, it wouldn’t have done them any good. Before they dragged him out of the van, one of the thugs yanked a bag over his head. Blinded, he struggled to stumble along as two guys pulled him out, trying not to cry out as they led him barefoot across crumbling asphalt into a building with rough carpet.

He kept as quiet as he could, trying to not only listen in case they said anything useful, but also for Stretch, praying to a God he hadn’t spoken to since he was fifteen and his father threw him out that they didn't hurt Stretch. Jeff could survive a few bumps and bruises, but he didn't know how much Stretch could withstand. Intent was key when it came to Monsters, he knew that much, and these guys seemed to have plenty.

At first, he tried to keep track of where he was being led. An impossible effort when the twists and turns of being dragged along left him too disoriented to know his way up or down. They seemed to walk forever until his captors suddenly stopped and Jeff was shoved down into a chair. Rough hands grabbed at him, rope suddenly binding his wrists and ankles. He didn’t struggle as he was tied, only tried to tense his muscles as much as possible, some shitty internet meme he vaguely remembered reading said that it could help slip free later.

Turned out memes weren’t the best source for escape plans. When they were done, Jeff subtly tried to move and the best he could manage was a painful rope burn. The ropes felt like they were wound through the slats in the chair and unless Houdini decided to make good on his possible return from the other side, Jeff was going nowhere fast.

He could hear their captors moving around, muttering too low to be understood and the other sounds might have been more rope. Tying up Stretch, maybe, he hoped that’s what it was; at least if they were together, that was something, hell, that was everything right now.

The bag suddenly getting ripped off his head made him gasp, flinching from the glaring light pointed directly into his face. Squinting, he could barely see the shadowy figures standing behind it, but he was sure he could see a cell phone pointed in his direction.

“Say your name,” a rough voice demanded.

“Andy—” he began automatically. “No, Jeff, I’m sorry, Jeff! My name is Jeff!” There was nothing else and Jeff shifted, grimacing as the ropes dug in. It was on the tip of his tongue to go on, to blurt that he worked in public relations, that he was nobody important and not worth ransoming. He bit the inside of his lip to keep those rambles from pouring out. Partly because it was probably stupid to tell kidnappers your value or lack thereof, and partly because of Edge. He’d always told them to never offer more information than was necessary and yeah, he’d been talking about board games at the time, but Jeff doubted that Clue was where Edge learned that particular rule. If these assholes wanted more info, they could damn well ask.

Either his name was all they wanted or they already had whatever other info they needed. Jeff didn’t even have a chance to try squinting through the too-bright light when one of them came towards him and yanked the bag back over his head. He sat there, sweat beading on his face and his own breath threatening to smother him as he listened to their captors moving around next to him.

“He can’t talk,” one of them said disgustedly. “He’s still wasted.”

Stretch. That meant he was right next to him, thank fucking god.

The rough sound of a slap made Jeff tense, protests bitten off when the same voice cursed and there came the sound of someone rubbing their head, “What the fuck, man!”

“That’s exactly how we want him, dumbass! He doesn’t need to talk, all they need is a good look at him. Come on, they’re waiting.”

Footsteps and then the sound of a door closing. Jeff strained to hear if anyone was still in there with them around his own breathing loud in his ears, his pulse thundering. There was nothing, no shuffle of feet against the floor or the creak of a chair. Jeff waited a little longer, curling his chilly toes against the rough carpet.

Nothing. Jeff took a long, slow breathing, trying to calm his racing pulse. He needed to be cool right now so he could try to think of something. Even if the Embassy was willing to give these assholes whatever they wanted, they sure as hell couldn’t count on that saving their lives. He was no strategist, his degree was in sociology, for fuck’s sake, but. Stretch always called him Handy Andy and it made him feel like someone different, someone braver who could stand up to a violent asshole on a bus and help Stretch with crazy experiments involving swinging bottles of Diet Coke rigged with automatic mentos dispensers. Jeff might not be the best for this situation, but Andy was sure as hell gonna try.

“Stretch,” Jeff said softly. He waited for someone to shout or a slap followed by a demand that he shut up. When none came, he went on, soft and urgent, “I know you can't hear me, but, just in case you can. It's gonna be okay. I know you're big on promises and I'm promising you right now we're getting out of this. I promise you." If he could glean anything of what Jeff was saying, he hoped he could hear that much. At least maybe he wouldn't be afraid.

"i sure hope so, i didn't get this far in life to get dusted by a low rent group of third rate scooby doo level villains. seriously, they tied us up with rope, were they out of packing tape at ‘kidnappers ‘r’ us’ or were they just eager to try the knots they learned in boy scouts before they got kicked out."

Okay, that wasn’t quite the last thing he’d expected, but it was close.

"Stretch?" Jeff gasped out. He couldn’t see a damn thing through the bag, but he could hear a muted popping sound. Suddenly, the bag was gone, far gentler than before and then he was blinking up into Stretch’s smirking face.

Jeff looked around a little wildly and next to him was another chair, the still-tied ropes hanging from the rungs in loose coils.

“yeah, sorry. i woke up back in the van, didn’t want to tip them off. wherever they buy their roofies must not have given them a dosage chart.” Stretch settled his hands on Jeff’s shoulders. “hold still, this is a lot easier than fighting with knots.”

It was the gentlest and shortest teleport he’d ever felt. Only a brief disorientation and when his vision cleared, he was sitting on top of the ropes that had just been binding him.

Jeff scrambled to his feet, swiping his sleeve across his sweaty forehead. Holy shit, maybe he should take up praying again more regularly, this was the fastest service he’d ever gotten. “Can you get us outside?”

His heart sank as Stretch shook his head. “that's gonna be a no. with the bags on our heads, i couldn't see where we are. shortcutting is tricky, it's dangerous to teleport blind. that's how you end up stuck in walls or halfway inside a table or some shit.” Stretch waved a slender hand at the chairs. “dangerous, not impossible. a few inches above where i was sitting was a pretty safe bet to get out of the ropes, but anything else is more likely to get us dead than on the street.” He frowned, glancing around the room thoughtfully. “plus, i'm not going anywhere without a little intel. they’re fucking idiots, but they knew enough to drug me and how to do it. that's not information you can just look up on a wiki-how.”

“Okay,” Jeff took a deep, steadying breath. "So, what do we do, then?” He glanced at the door. “Can you pick locks?"

"sure,” Stretch said absently. He was looking around the room. It was a storage room of some sort, there was more dusty furniture aside from the chairs, including a rickety desk, and metal cabinets lined the walls. “but i can't do much about the door being barred. i heard something get braced against it when they went out.

"Oh. Right."

“yeah,” Stretch agreed, “at least one of them has a brain cell or two rolling around up top, enough to get them this far. but the road trip is over and it’s time to pay the tolls.” Stretch shook his head disgustedly. "first rule of kidnapping is never leave the kidnappees alone. seriously, i'm getting my cues from netflix and even i know that.”

His eye lights paused in their survey of the room, brightening. Jeff followed his gaze and saw in one corner there was an honest to god old-fashioned rotary telephone pushed into the far corner of the desk, nearly buried under the clutter.

"can't be that easy, can it?” Stretch marveled. He picked it up the handset and held to his skull, then sighed unhappily. “nope. no dial tone, no surprise there, no one has a landline anymore. don’t you worry though, little phone.” Stretch gave it a soft pat. “you’re gonna be real useful in just a minute. seriously, this is just embarrassing. my first kidnapping attempt and they locked us in a room with an entire arsenal.”

“I must be missing the vendor in the corner willing to hand over gear if we do a mission for them,” Jeff joked weakly.

“everything is an arsenal if you’ve got the skills.” Stretch rummaged through the desk and came up triumphantly with…a paperclip? He set it on the desk, adding a pencil, some scotch tape, and what looked to Jeff like an old tube of superglue. “kidnapped by the ebott equivalent of the america’s dumbest criminals, fuck me. edge is going to be up my ass for a month.”

“I don’t think you’re giving him enough credit.” It was easier to be calm in the face of Stretch’s ease. “I think six months is the bare minimum.”

“i really wish you weren’t right.” Stretch glanced around the room again, this time directing his gaze upward. “hm, that’ll work.” Tall as he was, the ceiling was still out of reach even for him. Stretch pulled one of the chairs over, ropes trailing behind it like tentacles, and stood on it, reaching for the smoke detector. Jeff could only blink in confusion as he yanked it right off the ceiling.

"You're going to burn down the building?” Jeff asked. Not that he didn’t trust Stretch, but, uh, that seemed extreme for a first escape attempt. “That’d get us out, but I don't think we'll be any more alive."

"nah, just need some parts,” Stretch jerked his head towards the door. “keep an ear on the hallway, will ya, in case they remember that leaving us alone is probably stupid."

“Got it.” Jeff went to the door but before he could press his ear to it, Stretch called his name.

"hey, kiddo, i'm gonna get us out of this." Stretch offered him a familiar, lopsided smile. "i know i don't look like much, but i've been known to keep my head in a bad situation."

"You already saved me once,” Jeff said honestly, "why wouldn't I believe you now?"

Stretch’s pale eye lights flickered with memory, his expression briefly tightening. How did he remember that horrible night in that parking lot, Jeff wondered, what nightmares haunted Stretch’s sleep? He knew something happened after the ambulance took him away, but he’d never heard the entire story. After he’d been released from the hospital, he’d been wrapped up in healing enough to start his new job at the Embassy and as time passed, he hated to ask, didn’t want to dredge it all up again, not when everyone was slowly getting past it. Besides, the others had their own shit to deal with, what with the attack in California and everything happening in Ebott. His trauma was his to handle and that was the end of it.

At the desk, Stretch got to work, humming the ‘mission impossible’ theme under his breath as he dissected the phone and smoke detector with a makeshift screwdriver made from a bent paperclip taped to a pencil. His hands were as deft and easy as any demonstration he’d done for the local kids and Jeff could only marvel at his ease.

“How can you be so calm?” Jeff blurted, wincing even as the words escaped. He hadn’t meant to say it, didn’t want to distract him. Stretch only flicked a glance his way, both browbones raised.

“me?” Stretch snorted, “i am not calm. beneath this gorgeous cookie crust exterior is a honey pie of a person who would start shitting themselves if i could grow the prerequisite equipment. but we're gonna be okay.”

“How do you know?” Jeff hated the faint pleading in his own voice, he shouldn’t be distracting; Stretch was as stuck here as he was and with his HP, it was even worse. He was supposed to be the one helping Stretch, he’d promised, and the best he could do was lookout.

“you seriously think red isn't already on it?” Stretch asked and as terrifying as Red could be, thinking about him right now eased some of the aching fear that was settled in Jeff’s stomach. “all he needs is a clue and we’re gonna get him one. i only hope he can keep edge from razing the city and salting the earth beneath it until then. people might be a little tetchy about that and i’m not even sure you can come up with a press release that’d cover ‘sorry about starting city-wide armageddon, my bad.’”

Before Jeff could think of a reply to that, either an agreement, or a protest that a little chaos could be excused considering the circumstances, he heard footsteps coming from down the hallway. Panicked, he hissed out, “They're coming!”

“fuck, okay, okay.” Stretch scrambled over and set some kind of contraption on the floor near the door that was all waggling wires and circuit boards. He grabbed Jeff by the wrist and dragged him along. “over here, come on, this a harder trick, but you can do it. i need you to hold as still as you can. if you move, they might see you, you get me?"

Jeff managed a hasty nod as Stretch shoved him into a corner, cramming them both in tight, out of the way. "don't move, don't talk,” Stretch reminded him, a low murmur close to his ear. The slim, bony arms around him were comforting and even knowing that Stretch couldn’t physically protect him, having him towering overhead as he caged Jeff against the wall felt oddly safe.

Then something happened. He didn’t know how to describe it. It felt like a heavy curtain fell over the world, everything going distant and muffled, even his vision greying like he was about to faint, only he’d never felt so awake. There was a sudden popping explosion as the door swung open and collided with Stretch’s contraption, but it sounded miles away, the kidnappers’ curses as muffled as if they were speaking from another world.

He didn’t move, held perfectly still even as that curtain slowly grew claustrophobic, nausea starting to churn. Jeff closed his eyes, swallowing convulsively and just went he thought he couldn’t stand it a moment longer, that he either needed to move or he’d start screaming, it was suddenly gone and Stretch was stepping back.

When he opened his eyes, he saw Stretch was pale, sweat showing visibly on his skull. "are you okay?" Stretch asked.

“Me?” Jeff blurted. He caught hold of Stretch’s arms to brace him as he wobbled on his feet. “I’m fine, what about you!”

"i’ll be okay.” Stretch wiped his face on the sleeve of the crummy shirt he’d been forced into with a grimace. “i pulled us halfway into the void. it works, but it burns a lot of juice. the assholes booked it out of here, but more importantly, they left the door open."

The door was opened, they could leave, and yet, Jeff found himself blurting out, “They’ll get away!”

“no,” Stretch said grimly. “they’ll look for us first, thinking we couldn’t have gotten too far. these guys aren’t gonna ditch and run that fast, they know too much. think about it. drugs work on monsters but how do they know what kind and how much? lucky for me, skeleton monsters are different. our systems are finicky, we’re hard to drug. whoever tipped them off about how to roofie me didn’t know that.”

His sockets narrowed suddenly, Stretch turning away to look in the rusty cabinet next to them. “oh, honey,” he said gleefully, “jackpot.”

Jeff joined him, peering into the cabinet as Stretch cautiously wrenched it open. “What did you find?”

He held up a bottle of bleach and said, smugly, “just some nice, normal household chemicals. they can be lots of fun if you know how to mix 'em up and i'm a one hell of a bartender. but first.”

On the desk was another little contraption that was mostly wires and tape. Stretch picked it up and walked over to squat next to a wall outlet. Carefully, he pushed it into the socket. There was a sputtering spark and a tiny red light blinked to life.

“there we go.” Stretch stood, dusting off his hands. “i don’t even want to think about how pants-shittingly angry edge probably is right now, but we can’t let them get the ransom that asgore is probably going to pay and we sure as hell can’t let them get away.”

He grinned then, wickedly sharp for all that his teeth were blunt. “so, how’s about we have some fun, yeah?”

Jeff nodded determinedly. Fuck, yes. If he was going to add to his repertoire of nightmares, he was damn well going to make sure someone else paid for it, in spades.

tbc

[nightshine629]

Could I get an Encanto matchup, please?

so I’m Lexi and my icon is me! (You can also check my "#vintage inspired" tag for a closer look!)

I’m 21, straight, she/her, 5’4, & ISFP.

Pros? I’d say I’m playful, talkative, loyal as a dog, great listener, smiley (albeit I’ve got resting bitch face), sarcastic, and most would probably describe me as either adorable yet cursed or adorably cursed. I’m definitely not a stranger to being called a cryptid lol

Neutral? I’m very sensitive, mildly socially awkward, tend to ramble a lot, I

can be a bit of a pack rat (I tend to keep a lot of unnecessary things either out of sentimental value or just cause it think it’s neat even if other people think it’s just junk lol), mildly superstitious, and am a bit of a perfectionist

Cons? I’m shy, anxious, a little clumsy, stubborn, non-confrontational (unless truly needed), and can be petty/passive-aggressive

Likes/Hobbies: Playing bass, secondhand shopping, DIY projects, music, art, photography, and horror movies

Dislikes: Being underestimated, my passions/interests being mocked (let’s just say I’ve always been a bit of a black sheep 😬), being interrupted (I’ve had trouble in the past with coming off as quite literally invisible to peers), and...country music? 🤷🏾‍♀️

Fun facts about me:

* Sometimes I write music (mainly just basslines though)

* I once accidentally won an art show (Yes I do mean accidentally. I wasn’t even planning on entering until I was basically forced to🤡)

* Erm…I used to work at a daycare?

Hope that’s enough info. Thanks in advance!

You sound like such a lovely person! And I had to admit your app sent me thinking in circles quite a bit. But a few words of your own description made me settle and find a perfect match for you.

I pair you up with none other than our resident dreamer, Mariano!

Mariano isn’t given enough credit within the fandom or in the movie itself. He is a kind man who is family orientated and wishes to have a family of his own one day. Creative and a man with so much love to give, he wishes to find that right person to devote himself to one day. But then there was just one day, you smiled at him. And that man was gone.

-Mariano knows what it feels like to be constantly interrupted. So when you go on your rambles, he’s sure to listen and interject with a nod or a response. He’s quite the listener, making sure you know that he supports you and will only gently push you back on topic if you stray too far into areas that distress you. And in return, you listen to him when he talks and you give him the same respect he shows you of not interrupting him. He’s had it done to him so many times that he feels like no one really wants to hear what he has to say…all but you.

-His supportive nature continues to your interests as well. There’s not a person around who knows he writes poetry, he’s use to being mocked and openly shamed for loving writing literature and doesn’t take any chance sharing them. Mariano keeps his interest close to his heart until you came along. He’s always excited to show you new pieces he’s written, plenty inspired by you and his love for you. And he’s just as excited and supportive of your own music writing even if you think it’s just that. Mariano will even suggest doing a project together—with his poetry and your music? You would making something very beautiful together.

-Mariano sees your clumsiness as adorable. He doesn’t mean that in a bad way but as a clumsy man himself, he is always there to lend a hand. When you’ve worked with the children of Encanto, he’s there to lend a hand. Not only to spend more time with you but as a man proclaiming to have want a big family, he knows that there’s troubles with having so many children so he needs to learn and get use to the chaos of so many if he’s going to make die on his promise. He hopes to have that big family and he hopes to spend it with you. If you’d have him.

[theonetheycallhannah]

The Treatment of Capt. Syverson- Chapter Three: Therapeutic Activity

Pairing: Captain “Sy” Syverson x OFC (Shane Benton)

Summary: Tensions reach a boiling point during treatment one evening, Shane goes to her own veteran for advice, and takes the first step toward happiness…hoping beyond hope that everything doesn’t blow up in her face.

Masterlist with links to all parts HERE!

Word Count: 2.4k

Warnings: None, yet… ;) But maybe I should be putting language warnings in here…there are some bad words. And not to spoil but…there might be a bit of kissing in this one…

Author’s Note: Guys, I cannot stress to you enough how much I am enjoying telling this story. My goodness. To sort of combine my passions of writing and Henry with something I know so well like therapy (I’m a secretary like Heather, not a therapist), it really just makes me happy. The next chapter is already done, also, it was initially part of this chapter, but it felt too long, so I’ll be posting it separately later. I know, I’m a tease. Have Henry spank me. Lol.

Disclaimer: Unfortunately for me, Henry is not mine, le sigh, and all mention of him, his characters, any characters from his films, or his precious doggy, Kal, are strictly for transformative and recreational use. I neither ask for, nor accept payment for the work I post on Tumblr or AO3. Unbeta’d because this is for fun and escapism.

Tags:

@onlyhenrys

@cavillryarchive

@summersong69

@titty-teetee

@bloodyinspiredfuck

"This sounds…kinda dumb…" Sy expressed his thoughts on today's warm up with Shane.

"Oh, trust me, it looks even dumber than it sounds. But it works. And it's easier on your knees than doing it the right way. You ready?" he looked at the treadmill, inclined at 3% grade as if it was Everest itself, and looked back at her. "I'll start slow." she raised her eyebrows at him.

"You know just what to say to a girl." he teased as he stepped up, still gingerly, even after eight weeks of therapy. Crutches mercifully jettisoned two weeks ago. He was on his way to being his fighting fit self. With a foot on either track beside the belt, but facing away from the control panel, he waited for her to press start. He took a breath and nodded.

"Test the belt with your bad foot first, and then when you're ready, step down with it. Remember what I've told you about which foot should lead when ascending and descending stairs or hills?"

"Good go to Heaven, Bad go to Hell. So I go up with the good leg and go down with the bad leg."

"A+ student. Okay, when you're ready…any time…Sy, this is an hour session…I have to kick you out in 55 minutes…chop chop." she cajoled him, but he wasn't budging.

"It feels…weird going this way, Shane." If she had been a less kind person, she would have called it whining…she called it nothing, instead.

"I know. Do you need to walk backwards around the clinic a little more to get you used to that sensation?"

"Hell yeah. If that means you're gonna spot me like you did before…felt kinda like dancin'." it was a perfectly legitimate and above-board treatment strategy. They stood back to back, Shane guiding Sy as he practiced walking backward and pushing off with the extensor muscle group, which had been weak. Sy had suggested holding hands, but Shane had compromised with the idea to link arms. Not that she wasn't dying to hold his hand…she was. But that had not been the time. The time was still weeks away. At least.

"I was thinking I'd have you try it with Jordan. He's got a free hour right now. And I can assess your technique. How does that sound, Twinkle Toed Romeo?" Immediately he placed a tentative foot down onto the slow moving belt trying to adjust to the odd sensation of walking up a hill backward.

"Ah, so I now know that all I have to do to get you to do something silly is threaten you with Jordan. Filing that away for a rainy day."

"Come on, you're breakin' my heart, sunshine."

"Aww, don't be ridiculous. I've seen therapists do way more embarrassing things to their patients in the name of treatment."

"Tell me!"

"Sorry, but it's classified information. Protected under the Health Insurance Privacy and Portability Act. I could literally get fired for telling you, and there are way cooler things to get fired for!" She'd always said it. And she meant it. She didn't fool around when it came to HIPPA, and there was no way she was gonna lose her job over a stupid slip like that.

"Any examples of things you'd rather get fired for?"

She thought for a few minutes. She used to have a list.

"Hmm, telling off my bitch of a boss," he looked shocked at her use of a bad language word, which he'd never heard from her. She nodded. "Telling off an asshole patient," sleeping with a patient…

"What about sleeping with a patient?" It was late in the day, the only person still there was Heather in the office, and a few therapists still documenting. Nobody in the gym to hear him echo the thoughts in her head. As if he could read them as clearly as a page in a book. Large print. She looked at him in shock.

"Sorry. That was over the line."

"It was…but…"

"But?"

"But…it would not be the least cool reason to get fired."

"It wouldn't?" she shook her head, reluctantly.

"Especially if the patient was…amazing, and kind, and…fucking gorgeous…"

"Young lady, that language today, I have never!" he exclaimed clutching at his broad and beautiful chest.

"I know, but, Sy…this is all hypothetical, and theoretical, and IF I was GOING to get fired how would I CHOOSE for it to happen and WHAT policy I would go against. People don't just CHOOSE to be fired, you know?" she was nervous and rambling.

"You know what people also don't choose? Who they care about, and have feelin's for. Who they--"

"Don't finish that sentence, Sy." She couldn't hear him say the word he was going to say. She couldn't let him start that. Not when there was too much complicating their situation.

She walked off to her treatment room, needing some space.  Some time.

She didn't get that space or time. Sy hobbled in behind her, looking like a man on a mission. And she knew from his war stories that his missions tended to be successful…even the one that got him his walking papers wasn't a total loss.

"Sy, you still had like, five minutes on the tr--"

His big hands found the sweet spot where her neck met her skull. He took a big breath and closed the distance between them, his lips landing light as feathers on hers, her soft skin welcoming the roughness of his beard, though everything else about the kiss was terribly gentle. Almost chaste. Even his beard wasn't so rough that she worried about beard burn…she'd be filing that away for later, as well. Against her willpower and better judgement but in full cooperation with her desires and instincts she began kissing him back, daring to deepen it by opening their mouths a bit, and sliding her hands up the back of his red tee that sported a black skull. All of his shirts were entirely too tight, but you'd never catch her complaining. Even after several months away from active duty and really, most activity at all, his body was still so solid and powerful.

"Ain't that a daisy…Fuck, I've wanted to do that since my first appointment." he chuckled, lightly.

"Sy…"

"Don't. Don't try to argue or tell me you don't feel it. This energy between us. I've seen it in your eyes, Shane. I've felt it when you touch me. It ain't nothin, sunshine. It's a whole lotta somethin'."

"I know, but I need this job. And I WANT this job. Being a therapist is the only thing I've ever wanted to do. Helping people. People like you. Getting them better. It's what I was meant to do. And there's no place like this in the area for me to treat such a diverse clientele and build my skill set. It's not without it's problems, but it's where I'm meant to be."

"I get that. And you should do what you were called to do. You're too good at this not to do it. But Shane, isn't it worth pushing back on some policy if it could mean you get to have some personal happiness, too?"

"I'm worried they'll make me choose." Actually, it was more than that. She was worried about which choice she'd make. Giving up a ten-year career with excellent benefits despite its pitfalls, or giving up someone she could hardly stop thinking about, who made her heart pound when he smiled, and who was rapidly shaping up to be someone she could see herself sharing a life with…making either choice terrified her for very different reasons.

"You shouldn't have to choose. Any boss who'd make you deny yourself what we could have just because of some ridiculous policy…well, they ain't worth the gas that brought 'em to work today. Y'understand me?"

She nodded, smirking at his idiom, "You don't know my boss."

"Well, maybe I oughta GET to know her, if it's like that. I have a way of throwin' my weight around, case ya hadn't noticed." he shot her a smug grin.

"Ya don't say?" she retorted, brimming with sarcasm, literally still wrapped in the evidence of said weight in the form of his muscular arms, warm and thick, encircling her. Even though she felt like her life was up in the air, she had never felt more safe. "I'll try to have a chat with her about it this week. Our schedules rarely align, and usually that's how I like it, but I'll try to move some things around if nothing naturally falls into place."

"I'll be happy to lend my voice or even come talk to her, if need be." he offered, ever the gentleman.

"I appreciate that, Sy, truly. But I think it would be best not to involve you unless it becomes absolutely necessary. We have several more treatments to get through today, though. You didn't finish on the tread mill, do you think you're warmed up enough?"

"Oh, darlin', I'm plenty warm." he grinned down at her sliding a hand down her side.

"Shit, am I gonna have to start being extra careful with what I say to you until this gets sorted?"

"I really doubt it'll matter, Shane. Ain't much you can say I can't make dirty." she could tell by the satisfaction on his face that this was a point of pride for him.

"Lay down and shut up."

"Yes, MA'AM!" he complied with a little too much enthusiasm. She didn't know whether to roll her eyes with amusement or grow increasingly feral…apparently there was room for both as long as she didn't act on the latter. Yet.

~~~~~~~~

She dismissed Sy for the day, instructing him to behave himself until she gave him the all clear, and even then, if she got the green light to see him outside of therapy, sessions would still be about getting him stronger, and not flirting. Or at least mostly. They settled on a 90/10 ratio by the end. She was a weak woman.

She went into the office where one of the senior therapists, Anita, was still charting and snacking on some pretzels.

"How was your day, Nita?" she asked affectionately. Anita had been her mentor since she started with the clinic over ten years ago, and was now part time, flexing toward retirement. She'd miss her.

"Oh, long, Miss Shane. As they tend to be more and more these days. What about yours?"

"Ah…just…nothin'." she shouldn't go into it all until she talked to Susan, their boss.

"Mmm, that's no nothing nothin', that's a something nothin'. Come on, kiddo. Spill." she offered Shane one of her pretzels and kicked out the chair next to her. Again, she was a weak woman. She took a pretzel, sat, and chewed it for a moment, collecting her words.

"What do you think about…starting relationships with patients?" she searched her reaction for any snap judgement or emotion, but only a narrowing of her eyes occurred.

"Is this about that Captain Sexypants who just left?"

"I'm going to kill Heather. I'm not the one who came up with that nickname and I'm not the one who started the whole having feelings conversation. I was going to be miserable until he was discharged, at least."

"Why would you need to make yourself miserable, Shane?"

"Because the policy. About dating patients."

"Technically the policy only says you shouldn't treat family/close friends if you feel you wouldn't be able to maintain objectivity or would be uncomfortable yourself. But that you should disclose any relationship to your supervisor for review."

"See, what's Susan gonna say?"

"Who cares? The policy is the law. And the board of directors governs the policy. Not her. Tell her in an email if you can't work out a time to talk to her before you see him next. Hell, I sent my boss a memo back when I started dating Ron. And look at us now! 20 years strong."

"No way!?" Shane was flabbergasted. She had never known that Anita's husband Ron had once been her patient.

"Oh yes. I wasn't long out of PT school, my first husband had passed away and I needed an income, so I got my PT license and about a year into working here, Ron got put on my schedule. I knew from the eval, he was meant for me. So I typed up a memo, sent it to Morton, our boss at the time, and told Ron I was free on Friday after work."

"Sy just…I don't know, we have this…connection…a spark. I've never felt it with anyone else."

"Are you concerned that seeing him socially would affect how you treat him here?"

"I'm more worried keeping my feelings for him bottled up while I treat him will get so distracting I'll become less effective."

"Well, then, if you get any push back, tell Susan that." Anita said. "Just be forthright. Honest. And speak with integrity. She'll have no cause to refute it, then. And send it tonight."

"Okay. Thanks Anita. You're the best."

~~~~~~~~~

Shane spent too long, probably an hour, at least, drafting her email to Susan. It read:

To: Susan DeForrest

From: Shane Benton

Subject: Re: Treatment Policy

Susan,

I wanted to bring to your attention a situation that has presented itself with one of my patients. I have been treating him almost exclusively for several weeks now, apart from my week on PTO, and he has progressed to both of our satisfaction as well as the ordering physician. However, we have come to be quite friendly and he has expressed great interest in seeing me outside of therapy. This is something that I too would like to engage in, and I plan to accept the next time I speak with him.

From my understanding of the policy, the only thing that would prevent me from treating him as a social acquaintance would be my own comfort level and ability to remain objective. I have every confidence that my objectivity regarding his case will remain intact. I am also completely comfortable with it, and if that changes, I will transfer him to another therapist. Furthermore, I have no doubts that I will be able to maintain the highest level of professionalism throughout our treatments.

Thank you, and if you feel we need to discuss any of this further, please let me know.

~Shane Benton, DPT

And send…whew. She needed a big glass of wine tonight.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Up Next: Chapter Four- E-Stim

[izukukuzi]

(1/?) I'm back with a rant..... I am definitely with that fellow anon about their dislike for bkg. Like I didn't like him for the fact that what he did just was shoved to the side and never talked about to begin with. Then I came into the fandom and I was like "!!??!!??" like people are not only doing what canon has done and forgotten what he did, but now they are literally shipping them together? And thinking he's "soft boi" and he has drastically changed and made up for what he did? Like where

(2/?) Because while yes in some aspects he has changed. He no longer physically attacks Izuku outside of training (besides bk v dk #2 and finals), but that doesn't mean that he's learned right from wrong. He just realizes in bk v dk #1 that Izuku won't put up with his violent outbursts anymore and also sees that he is not the only one to have a powerful quirk in 1-A. Izuku also changes by being able to gain actual friends and not the toxic and abusive one he had with bkg so he breaks away from

(3/?) Bkg and thus Bakugou realizes he can't control Izuku anymore and he also would have back up and seeing as most of the class wanted to be his friend at the beginning he knew if he pulled that shit no more UA whether the class rats him out or Aizawa won't put up with his shit. But Jesus the stans..... like they don't listen to canon because they have their own views on what Bakugou is like. I have written an analysis on him in volume one and got a "cold take" response.... like I put

(4/?) actual quotes and scenes from it and somehow that's a cold take even though it literally happened??? Also I'm fine with ships like that's you not me, but I don't understand where people can ship BKDK because before they date they "talk"? Like yes they need to talk about the shit that happened in middle school, but talking doesn't erase what Bakugou did. Like at all. It would still be a pretty toxic ship because it's obvious Bakugou scarred Izuku with the use of his quirk like those don't

(5/?) Just up and leave because they talk? And basically I got a response that "no no no you don't understand they have chemistry because they are linked and they have most scenes together" like do the shippers know that like 90% of those scenes Bakugou is either beating Izuku up or yelling insults at him? Like how could any abuser/victim relationship be healthy. Then there are the stans that also blame Izuku for overexaggerating because he's the main narrator. Like ah yes because we don't have

(6/?) Scenes from Best Jeanist, Aizawa, All Might, other pro heroes, and other UA students that express their worries over Bakugou's behavior. Then there's the stans that think antis don't want to see him grow, overexaggerate him, or think we hate him because of his past actions, instead of thinking on why would someone hate this character who 1. Never faced any consequences and learned that what he did was wrong. 2. Has yet to apologize to Izuku for all the shit he did to him. 3. Everytime he

(7/?) He grows he then goes back to his old ways and sometimes contradicts what he just did. 4. Some people have been abused and so he reminds them of what their own bully/abuser did and so they cannot like a character like that. Like I have yet to meet an anti who just up and says "I hate Bakugou for no reason" and also antis get yelled at by his stans for "not understanding his character" or are even given death threats and are told that we just spread hate. Sorry for the long rant, I can't

(8/8) I can't stand his stans because they can get quite obnoxious (even putting their love in the anti tag to rile up the antis) and for reasons above and just argh never have stans made me hate a character even more. Because Bakugou isn't like Karma from Ass Class no matter how hard hori tries or how much his stans depict him that way. Because I'm pretty sure if Karma was in MHA Bakugou would have been put in his place the instant Bakugou realized he could harm Izuku and get away with it. 🎤🎤

I definitely think this can all be indications of how important it is to consider the humanity of those you interact with, and how that takes priority over the... dignity??? the perception (I dunno what I’m trying to say) of a fictional character. more often than not, I think bakugou is a shitty person; I think it’s shitty to ship him with his abuse victim (of ten-ish years); I don’t really understand where most people are coming from with their Very Positive feelings towards bakugou, and I will rant and rave about that on my blog for as long as it bother me because that’s my space to do that.

HOWEVER, what’s more important to me than my dislike of bakugou, is the well-being of the people I interact with while talking about his character. I would never send bakustans hate, regardless of how much we disagree with each other; I may get sassy with rude anons, but I never aim to harm anyone because... like, it’s bakugou lmao. he’s not real. so, in that same sense, I wish people were a bit kinder on the other side of things too. you can like bakugou/bakudeku if that’s really what you’re into, but there’s no real reason to be hateful or send death threats to someone just because they disagree with you over a ship/anime character. those things aren’t that important and, like you brought up, plenty of people see the characteristics of those who have hurt them in real life in bakugou, so it’s not always a matter of just fighting over (dis)liking a character for the fuck of it (and I understand that the same can be said for those who do like him. there are understandable qualities that people may identify with, but I think that’s all the more reason to approach and treat those who disagree with you how you want to be treated).

but anyways, ignore my rambling. thank you for sharing your thoughts!

[tweedlydumbtweedlydoo]

For her safety (Elijah Mikaelson) #2

A/N: This is my first Elijah Mikaelson fanfic, so please be patient with me. I try to stay to his character the best I can, but I’m not perfect! I’m not necessarily following the Vampire Diaries or the Originals story line at all.

I also write for Spencer Reid (Criminal Minds). Here is the fanfic I’ve just completed:  

Off Limits (Spencer Reid)

I am currently taking requests for:

The Vampire Diaries:

Elijah Mikaelson

Damon Salvatore

Criminal Minds:

Spencer Reid

Derek Morgan

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

Previous Chapters: 

Chapter 1 || 

Summary: The two of them fall for each other. He’s managed to keep his and his family secret from her. One night that changes and he knows for the safety of his family and her, he has to let her go, even if that means she has to forget him.

(Changing this up a bit!) y/n takes a trip to New Orleans. She’s not only there for pleasure but business. She’s there to meet a witch of all things. Supposedly, the witch can help her. 6 months of her life are a blur and she has no idea why.  

~ 3 Years Later ~

y/n walks down Bourbon Street. She’d just arrived in New Orleans and the street was lined with people. There were beads hanging from everything; Power lines, the signs of restaurants and bars, the patios above her. Bright and pretty colors lining the street. The sound of jazz music echoed in her ears.

She slipped between the crowd, holding her beer close to herself, careful not to spill it. She quickly dashed through a crowd and made it into an opening on the corner. She glanced around and spotted a bar down another side street. Rousseau’s.

There were a few reasons why she’d headed out to The Crescent City. First, she deserved a break from Mystic Falls. Too much drama for her liking. Second, she was supposed to meet a witch here. Third, well, I guess she would figure out later.

She couldn’t believe she was here to meet a witch. Witches, vampires, hybrids, werewolves are mythical creatures. So, she thought. 3 years ago, something weird happened to her. There was 6 months of her life where she had no idea what happened to her. She doesn’t remember anything of it. Those 6 months are an empty block in her life. She went to a doctor about it, who said she was basically crazy, and he recommended a psychiatrist. She went to visit the psychiatrist, who then recommended she go see a friend of his, Benjamin. He specialized in…. the supernatural. She wasn’t the only one who had visited the psychiatrist and had chunks of their life ripped from them where they don’t remember a thing.

When she arrived to speak with Benjamin, he told her of the supernatural (witches, werewolves, vampires) that lived among them. She was so shocked and overwhelmed with the new information and actually ran out of the room. She didn’t return to a few days later after doing a little thinking, convincing herself this could be true and calming herself down. When she returned, he told her everything there was to know about the vampires and their compulsion. How they can erase people’s minds and make them forget. He suspected she’d had the same done to her.

“There’s word of a witch in the French Quarter of New Orleans that can reverse the compulsion.”  He states, handing her a map of New Orleans. He points to a side street off Bourbon street, “There’s a bar here by the name of Rousseau’s. There you will find who you’re looking for. Her name is Jane Deveraux. She will help you.”

Three days later she packed a bag and headed to New Orleans. When she arrived, she knew she needed a drink if she was going to face a witch. She couldn’t believe this was happening. This had to be a joke. She had nothing to lose though. If it was a joke, she can enjoy the week in New Orleans and if it’s not… well, there will be a lot of alcohol involved.

She downed the rest of her beer and threw the plastic cup in the trash before stepping into the bar. She scanned the room; a few heads had turned to look at her as she walked in. She wondered if they were vampires. She’d wondered about every person who walked by her; Are they a vampire? Benjamin told her they would burn in the sun, however some had daylight rings to walk in the sun, free of harm.

Before she left, Benjamin gave her a necklace. He said it contained vervain, which protects her against vampire’s compulsion. He warned her of New Orleans and that the vampires supposedly ruled over the French Quarter. As a precautionary measure, he gave her a vile of vervain and instructed her to put it in her coffee every morning. He told her it would run through her veins and deter the vampires if they were to sink their teeth into her. So, that’s exactly what she did.

She noticed a blond woman behind the bar and headed that way. She took a seat at the bar and the blond woman walked over, setting a small cocktail napkin in front of her, “What can I get you?” She looked at her name tag, Camille.

“I’m looking for a woman. Jane Deveraux.” She nervously fumbles with the map in her hand.

The woman nodded, “One moment.” She exited from the bar and headed to the back.

When the blonde-haired woman returns, a woman with jet black hair is following her.  

“I’m Jane Deveraux. What can I help you with?” The woman asks, crossing her arms over her chest.

“I’m y/n y/l/n. A friend of mine sent me here. He said you could help me.” y/n says quietly.

Jane nods, glancing around the bar and motions, “Follow me to the back. We can speak in private.”

Y/n nods and follows her to the back room. “The room is safe from unwanted hearing.” Jane takes a seat, motioning to the seat across from her. Y/n realized she was talking about the vampires and their super hearing.

“I take it you want me to reverse the compulsion.” Jane grabs a couple herbs from the table and pours them into a bowl, “This isn’t the first woman Benjamin has sent my way.”

y/n nods, “So, how does this work?” She asks, watching her mix the herbs.

Jane mumbles something to herself, closing her eyes and motioning her hand in a circle above the bowl. The flame on the candles grow taller, then they go back to normal. Holy shit. Maybe she should have more than one beer.

Jane opens her eyes and looks at the girl across from her, “Drink this.” She hands her the bowl.

y/n looks at the bowl skeptically and then at Jane.

Jane nods at the woman, “Now, your memories won’t come back all at once. They’ll come in small flashbacks over the course of the next couple of days, depending on how much the vampire has erased.”

She glances down at the bowl and nervously bites her lip. She has to know what the vampire has took from her. He took 6 months of her life and she wants to know what happened during those months. She closes her eyes and brings the bowl to her lips, taking a deep breath. “Here goes nothing.” She mumbles, before tossing the contents of the bowl into her mouth. It was an earthy taste and it burnt as it went down her throat. She coughed as she finished the remaining contents.

“Good.” Jane nods, standing. “While you’re here in the French Quarter, you do not speak of what’s been done.” She gives her a warning look.

y/n furrows her eyebrows, “Why not?”

“The vampires… they don’t like when we perform magic. It’s a rule in the quarter to keep peace between us and the vampires.” Jane sighs, clasping her hands in front of her.

“So, there are vampires… here in the quarter?” y/n slowly stands, grabbing her bag. Definitely will need another drink after this. Stronger than beer.

“Why, yes. Plenty of them run around these parts. They own the quarter. Specifically, the family of original vampires, the Mikaelson’s. They took reign over 3 years ago.”

y/n gulps, maybe she shouldn’t have come here alone.

Jane sensing her uneasiness, “The vampires aren’t to bother with humans in the Quarter. Ruins business around here. The vampires that live in the Quarter know not break the Mikaelson’s rules or they’ll suffer the consequences.” She turns to her cabinet and opens one of the drawers. She pulls out a wooden stake and turns to y/n, holding it to her, “However, there are some rebellious vampires that don’t like the Mikaelson’s.”

“What’s this for?” y/n asks, taking the stake.

“It’s the only way to kill a vampire. If you are to run into a vampire who doesn’t know the rules around here, take a stake to their heart. That’s the only way you can kill a vampire.”

y/n grips it in her hands, a sudden power she’d never felt, rushing through her. “Thank you.”

~

Y/n heads back to the bar, grabbing a very strong drink before she walks out the door. She knew she was hungry, and Benjamin circled a few places on the map she needed to try. She was looking down at the map Benjamin back home gave her, she doesn’t even notice the man in front of her. She runs into his strong chest, spilling the drink down the front of his suit. She quickly rambles out an apology, “I am so so sorry!” She puts a hand over her mouth, looking at the man. Something in her sparks. A flashback.

She was in a hurry after getting off work to head back home. Her favorite movie would be on TV soon. “Bye Matt! I’ll see you Saturday!” She ran out of Mystic Grill in such hurry she’d ran straight into a man. The contents of her drink spilling all over his nice and expensive suit.“I am so sorry!” She quickly apologized, grabbing a pair of napkins that sat at the table near them.

The man had chuckled, and it was a beautiful sound, “It’s quite alright.” His voice was even more angelic and sexy. As soon as his eyes had met hers, she knew she was in some trouble. His hair was dark and slicked back. He’d wore a dark suit, which she could tell was very expensive. She patted at his suit, to try to erase the mistake she just spilled on him, and he gently grabbed her wrist to stop her, “Darling, it’s quite alright.”

When she looked at him, she was blushing. God he was handsome as hell. So handsome, he was intimidating. She wasn’t sure what to say to him or a way to make it up to him, so she said the first thing that came to mind, “I’m really sorry. Please let me at least pay for it to be dry cleaned or something?”

He slowly let go of her wrist and gave a small smile, “Between you and me, I hated this suit anyways. If you’d really like to make it up to me, how about I take you out for dinner?”

When she opens her eyes, it’s the same man she’d ran into 3 years ago. So, was this the vampire that took 6 months of her life?

“It’s okay, love.” He spoke, his voice was just as sexy and angelic as she’d remembered.

He couldn’t believe y/n was standing in front of him. After 3 years, they meet again. This wasn’t the first time in 3 years he’d seen her. After he compelled her to forget him, he stayed around to check up on her. He wanted to make sure she would be safe if he left. Then when his family left for New Orleans, he would come back every few months lurking in the shadows to see her once more. He finally stopped going back as his enemy list grew longer. He knew someone would put two and two together and might use her as leverage to hurt him.

He watched as a blush rose to her cheeks just as it did 3 years ago. It had been over 2 years since he stopped seeing her, yet she looked just as gorgeous as he remembered.

“I am sorry…” She bites that damned lip of hers, looking innocent as ever. The lip biting brings back memories of that night he took her to New York. She’d always loved to bite her lip because she knew the effect it had on me. I showed her a tease that night. She never teased me again after that.

He shakes his head, “Please don’t apologize. It’s my apologies for not watching where I was going. I should have seen a beautiful woman as yourself in front of me.”

Her cheeks get redder and she clutches her bag on her shoulder. She knows she should walk away but those eyes. It’s like their drawing her in.

He’s grabbed napkins at a table near him and begins patting himself, “Shall I buy the lady a drink to make up for me not paying attention?”

This could be her shot. She has to know what happened in those 6 months. And right now, this man in front of her was her only lead to finding that vampire.  

She flashes him a smile and nods, “Sounds perfect.”

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

I was actually surprised by the amount of support for this! Thank you to all who have commented, liked or followed me! You guys are what keep me wanting to write, so thank you! 

If you have sent in a request for an imagine (thank you for sending one in), I promise, I’ve seen it and I will get back to you :) 

xx 

[missnxthingg]

𝕗𝕝𝕒𝕨𝕝𝕖𝕤𝕤 • 𝕥𝕖𝕟

SUMMARY: Tom’s still debating rather he tells (Y/N) that night they got drunk at the club, and she has a very successful dinner with Harvard’s important people.

Based on my one-shot, Flawless.

PAIRING: Rich!Tom Holland x Rich!Reader (Best Friends to Lovers AU)

WORDS: 8.6K

WARNINGS: TW ABUSE AND USE OF SUBSTANCES. Swearing, alcohol, mentions of sex.

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                             𝕥𝕖𝕟 • 𝕒𝕤 𝕝𝕠𝕟𝕘 𝕒𝕤 𝕚'𝕞 𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖

"Thank you for the dinner, Josephine and Vincent.” One of Harvard’s directors said. He was friends with (Y/N)’s dad and was very close to him. “I’ll love to see you at our University next semester, (Y/N).”

“Thank you so much, sir.” (Y/N) shook his hand with a big smile on her face. “I will love to be there.”

Everyone said their goodbyes, and when the elevator finally closed and went down with their guests, (Y/N) started to jump excitedly to celebrate the huge success that dinner was. Everyone was polite - including Josephine and Vincent who didn’t have a single fight all night - and had a good time together over nice food. (Y/N) caused a good impression and they sure loved her, so everything was fantastic.

“Congratulations, sweetie.” Vincent hugged her daughter and kissed her forehead. “Harvard can’t wait for you. I’m so proud!”

“I’m proud too!” Josephine said with a big smile on her face as she lit up her first cigarette of the night. She didn’t want to cause a bad impression with their guests. “But there’s still time to go to Paris and major in fashion…”

“No, she’s gonna be an awesome lawyer.” Vincent nudged her, who giggled.

“Oh my God, stop fighting over my life.” She said mid-laugh. “I’ll become a lawyer for the fashion world.”

“My girl.” Josie winked as she kissed her cheek. “I think it’s time to go to bed, right?”

“Right. Thank you for hosting everything in here.” Vincent thanked his ex-wife with a small smile.

Even after all this time, all the fights and after both being in stable relationships, Josephine and Vincent still liked each other very much. Both cared a lot about what they had and what they constructed together, but it didn’t work out in the end. After a while, they found someone they loved, but that doesn’t mean they still don’t love each other.

“Good night to you both.” (Y/N) gave them a tight hug before running to her bedroom.

She removed everything, from clothes to makeup, before lying back in bed, listening to the soft sound coming from the TV while she texted Tom. He was probably still out partying with Harrison, so calling him was not an option; even though she was dying to do so.

“Brunch tomorrow? Same place, same hour. I have some good news! XO” She typed on her phone, and it was read immediately. Soon he was replying.

Tom: “Of course. You better tell me everything tomorrow. Have a good night, I love you.”

“I love you too. See ya’ tomorrow, good night lovey.”

(Y/N) went to sleep with a big smile on her face and woke up renewed, a little earlier than usual. The sun was shining a little brighter outside, making the usual grey New York sky look a little prettier and cheerful. Her good mood made her jump out of bed and rush to start her day.

Her life was a bit dreamy at the moment. She had a good relationship with her mother, she made up with her long-term best friend, and her dream college wanted her. It was everything she wanted for her whole life, and she wanted that to last for a very long time. It was good not to cry for bad things, and now she could finally breathe.

Taking care of yourself is good, and (Y/N) loved when she woke up in a good mood and started her beauty routine carefully. Taking a good hot bubble bath with a cup of coffee, watching the New York City skyline as the sun rose, and listening to some of her favourite fashion podcasts were some of the highest points of her day. Her skin looked flawless after her morning skincare routine, and she looked alright after not having plenty of nights of sleep.

But when she was done with everything, it was still early. Even if she wanted to meet with Tom and ramble on about everything that happened last night, he would kill her if she woke him up this early. But little did she know that while she had her best night of sleep, Tom spent the whole time awake, talking to Harry and Sam about his feelings.

He rarely talked about it, especially with his brothers. Normally, he would talk to Harrison about it. But right now, his best friend is unavailable and he needed to vent. The moment he entered the apartment in tears again, Harry - who had just gotten home from a date - knew his brother wasn’t alright. Two nights in a row coming home crying wasn’t a good sign. Sam did not know why his big brother was crying, but Tom rarely cried. He only cries for one reason, and she wore Prada shoes as if they were flip floss.

“What happened?” Harry asked and Tom shrugged.

“I just realized I can’t keep on with the meaningless hookups when I know the perfect girl is right next to me.” Tom wiped some tears before sitting down. “Fuck, I love her.”

“Yeah, you do mate.” Sam tapped his brother's knees with a chuckle.

“How do you cope with being in love?” Tom asked his brother and he shrugged.

“I guess when you meet the right girl, everything is just easy.” Sam shrugged.

“So I haven’t met the right girl yet.”

“No, there’s only one thing missing.” Tom frowned at Sam’s words. “Right timing.”

“And you should stop messing around with Harrison.” Harry commented. “There’s no way she’ll want you if you keep hooking up with everything that moves.”

“I guess you’re both right. I’m gonna become the person she’ll want in her life.”  Tom nodded with a smile.

And he spent the whole night awake thinking about her. How he was supposed to make her fall in love with him? Should he tell her about the kiss and the confession? Maybe she knows it already. Every single thing running through his mind kept him awake all night, and he only got a little sleep when he saw the sun rising in the horizon. Still, it wasn’t enough for him to rest and he knew it the moment he opened his eyes with the sound of a text coming into his phone.

(Y/N): “Already out, and doing some shopping. Text me when you leave home.”

Yeah, maybe seeing her today would make him feel a bit better. Even though she was the reason he was awake the whole night, she knew how to make him be okay just by being there and she didn’t even have to try it. But getting out of bed was hard. Taking a shower and getting dressed was even harder, but Tom still managed to do it. Soon he was walking out of his car to find (Y/N) waiting for him on the sidewalk full of shopping bags.

“Wow, you bought the whole story.”

“It’s just a couple of things I thought were pretty. And look, I got you something!” She searched for a bag between many of them. Tom opened it to find the prettiest leather jacket, one that would fit him perfectly.

“It’s perfect! Thank you so much.” He pulled her into a hug, which made her smile a little.

“Put it on so we can match.” She showed her own leather jacket and made him chuckle before putting it on.

“This is ridiculous.” He laughed harder and she tagged along.

“Come on, we look cute. Let’s take a picture of our matching outfits!”

After many pictures on the sidewalk, with lots of kisses in the face and smiles, they decided they were very hungry and food couldn’t wait for their photoshoot to be over. (Y/N) talked about her dinner night as she shared some food with Tom, not excluding any tiny detail from her words. She was so excited about it that brought the purest joy to Tom’s heart. His girl was happy and that’s all that matters. While she talked, he held her hand over the table and rubbed circles on the back. And as he paid attention to every single word she was saying, he couldn’t contain his big smile when he saw how big hers was.  

“And one of the deans said he would be happy to have me there next semester.” She finished with the biggest smile on her face. “I’m just… over the moon right now.”

“I’m happy for you. I truly am.” He smiled wider and she switched sides of the table to sit next to him and hug her best friend. His arms were always the best place to be. “You’re gonna be amazing!”

“You too.” She nudged his nose. “Thank you for supporting me.”

“I’ll always support you.” He entwined their fingers and kissed the back of her hand. 

“Now, tell me about your night. How was the party?”

“I got very drunk and it was fun at first, but I left early.”

“Why? Did you have some girl with you?” She teased him, making him chuckle a little.

“I did, but I wasn’t in the mood.” He shrugged. “Actually, I’ve been thinking a lot about those meaningless hookups. I don’t want them anymore, I wanna settle down.”

“You? Settle down?” She laughed hard and her belly almost hurt.

“Why are you laughing?” Tom asked, a little offended.

“Because you said so yourself that you’ve never liked a girl before. And now you’re talking about settling down? Did someone change your mind?”

“Maybe.” He fought the urge to smile again. “I feel like I’m getting old and even though I’m having fun, I’m wasting my time here. So I want to find someone to share my life with.”

(Y/N) wanted more than anything to ask if she could be that person. She loved him with all of her heart and the thought of him being with someone else might kill her. She wanted to be the one he always goes to; the one who’s there for him, through thick and thin; the one he loves. But isn’t she already?

She wanted all of those things, but she couldn’t get herself to say it. Instead the words that came out of her mouth were:

“If that’s what you want, I’ll always support you too. That’s what best friends are for.”

Best friends. Tom was sick of calling them best friends. After the kiss they had on Christmas, and then the other one they shared that week, he just couldn’t stand that title anymore. Of course, being her best friend wasn’t a problem, but he wanted to be more than that. Tom wanted to be her best friend and the love of her life, just like she is to him.

She was tired too. Tired of feeling like she was wasting her time here, loving someone who doesn’t love her the same way; one that she’s leaving soon to pursue her lifelong dream of being a lawyer graduated by Harvard. But neither of them did anything to change that at all. It was best to have each other as best friends rather than not having each other at all.

The week that followed that afternoon was weird. Tom and (Y/N) were avoiding each other because of what he said that morning. It wasn’t like they weren’t talking, but they were avoiding spending all of their time talking because they just couldn’t take not being together anymore. Until they met on Friday after school since he was taking her home.

“I’m so sorry, I forgot about our sleepover.”

Liar. They’ve been talking about that sleepover since the last one a month ago. Until a week before that, they were very excited about that sleepover and were already planning on what to do that time. They wanted to have fun with all of the Hollands, and some fun alone too. So it was very weird when (Y/N) forgot it.

“What? Come on, (Y/N)!” Tom whined. “We’ve been talking about this for weeks now. I thought you were looking forward to it.”

“I was, I really was. But Courtney suggested going clubbing to celebrate my successful dinner.”

That wasn’t a lie at all. Ever since (Y/N) started being friends with Courtney again, they’ve been talking about hanging out a lot more. When Court heard the good news, she just planned the whole thing herself. On Friday, they would go out clubbing and have a good time. (Y/N) thought she actually needed some distraction. If Tom could go out and hook up with many girls, so could she, even if she was in love. She used to not care about hooking up with a lot of guys, but ever since she realised her feelings for Tom were stronger than she thought, she stopped. Maybe now it was time to go back to being herself.

“I thought you wanted to hang out with me.”

“I do, Tommy. I really do! But I haven’t hung out with her since forever and I miss her.” She whined. “Can’t we have our sleepover tomorrow?”

“Yeah, whatever.” Tom shrugged, a little pissed. It wasn’t a bad thing that she was hanging with Courtney, he was just upset she forgot about their plans. But she made everything better with the comfiest hug of all time.

“Don’t be mad, please.” She pouted.

“I could never be mad at you, sunny.” He wrapped his arms around her and relaxed.

“Thank you.” She sprinkled kisses all over his face and made him smile. It’s been a week since they started avoiding each other, and they missed all that intimate contact. It was crazy how much they missed the other, and it was stupid to avoid their feelings. Eventually, they are going to pop up.

But not tonight. (Y/N) looked stunning in the mini dress she chose for the night. She wanted to impress and she wanted to feel gorgeous. No one’s opinion would matter if she was happy and she was ready to have fun with the girls, being young and stupid. That’s why when the time to meet the girls at the club went, she was very excited.

“Mom, I’m going out.” (Y/N) finished some touches on the living room mirror. 

“Going out with that idiot again?” Josie rolled her eyes and (Y/N) took a deep breath to not snap at her and ruin her night.

“No, I’m going out with Courtney and the girls. We’re going to a club and I’ll probably sleep at Court’s.”

“Oh, thank God you’re talking to Courtney again. She’s much better than Tom.”

“Mom, stop it! Let’s not make it about Tom, please.”

“Alright. I’m going out with Gary, so I’ll not be back until tomorrow. But call me when you get to Courtney’s.”

“Will do. Bye, mom!” 

The club was full that night. Courtney gathered some of her cheerleader girl friends, even if they were always kissing (Y/N)’s ass. At least they tried to be nice to her, and after a couple of drinks, they will all start to look decent. And (Y/N) took her old self out of the closet to party that night.

She kissed many guys - and two girls at some point -, danced to every song that night and got drunk by drinking everything she could that night. Courtney suggested doing some shots to start the party, and that was the first of many. (Y/N) didn’t think about Tom for a second while she was in the club.

“Oh my God, thank you so much for bringing me out tonight.” (Y/N) shouted through the loud song so Courtney could hear it.

“It’s nothing, babes. Are you having a good time?” Court asked as she danced to the pop music playing in the background.

“The best!” (Y/N)’s smile was big and she was loose because of the many drinks she had that night. 

“Cheers for Harvard’s new lawyer!” Courtney shouted a little louder and they celebrated it with a tequila shot.

(Y/N) danced some more and had a good time with the girls, until her eyes lied on a beautiful boy by the bar. He was very tall with long ginger hair and had a playful smile on his face. He was alone sipping on a drink, and making eye contact with (Y/N). If she was looking for someone to go home with, that was him, she just knew that.

He called her with a sign in his hand and she pointed to her own chest, giving into his play. He nodded with a small smirk and she approached him quickly, already playing with her flirting cards as she walked swaying her hips side to side, a move she knew anyone would go insane.

“Hello, gorgeous.” The guy said as he stood a hand in the air. “I’m Cameron.”

“I’m (Y/N).”

“Oh, I know.” He chuckled. “I worked with your mother a long time ago. You were just a little kid, I was a bit older though.”

“So you were a model?” He nodded and she nodded back. “Cool. Sorry to not recognize you.”

“It’s okay. It’s not like I’m famous or something.” He shrugged. “I’ve always thought you were beautiful, but I only knew you from afar and from your pictures. But now that I’m seeing you with my own eyes, I just… fuck.”

“Thank you so much. You’re pretty too.” She winked and quickly, he rested a hand on her hips, rubbing circles with his thumb right there.

“Can I get you anything to drink?”

“A gin tonic please.” He nodded and turned to the bartender, who went to get the drinks with a wink.

Cameron seemed nice and he was very handsome. He started the conversation easily and they downed a few drinks as they talked. The party was still going on in the background, and they didn’t care about it. (Y/N) was tired of dancing and Cameron seemed like a good distraction; maybe he was everything she needed tonight. Soon Courtney approached saying she was too tired to stay any longer. 

“You can go home, babes. I have somewhere to stay tonight.” (Y/N) winked and Courtney frowned, pulling her to the side.

“What about Tom?”

“What about him?” (Y/N) sipped her drink and Court frowned even more.

“I thought you were a thing.”

“You thought wrong. And don’t worry, Cameron is a good guy.” (Y/N) glanced back to him, who was too distracted by ordering them new drinks.

“Are you sure about going home with him?”

“I am. He’s cute and he’s very polite. I think that’s exactly what I need tonight. Plus, I think we’re gonna get one more drink and bail.”

“Okay. Call me if you change your mind.”

“Thank you, Court. I loved hanging out with you tonight.” (Y/N) wrapped her arms around her friend and they shared a long hug.

“Me too.” Courtney finished the hug with a playful smack on her friend's ass and a wink. “Go get ‘em, tiger!”

When (Y/N) went back to Cameron, he already had two cups waiting over the counter, but she was too drunk to even think twice before taking her last drink. He was now strangely quiet, and to be honest, she was having a hard time to listen to what anyone was saying. She was completely fine two minutes ago, but now she feels like she lost control of her own body.

“Do you wanna go back to mine, babe?” Cameron asked in her ear and she had almost no control over her actions anymore. But Cameron took the slow blink as a yes, and helped her get on her feet.

“I-I… I just have to use the restroom, real quick.”

She stood one finger in the air and tried to steady her feet on the floor to start walking. Her vision was starting to get blurry and the world around her seemed to be going in slow motion. She knew something was off, and thank God she got to arrive in the restroom. Even though it was all a mess, she managed to get into a cabin and find her phone inside her purse. She just knew who she needed to call.

(...)

Meanwhile, Tom was having an awful night with Harrison and the twins. They were home, playing board games and talking about random stuff all night. He wanted to go out with Haz and get wasted again, because he knew that was what (Y/N) was doing. But he promised himself that he wouldn’t do that anymore, so he prefered to stay home.

But the thought that she was out there with someone else was killing him. He wasn’t the jealous type at all, and he hoped she wasn’t either, because both of them were players and could make the other jealous easily. But tonight, he felt something was off. He wouldn’t ease for even a second, even declined a beer Harrison offered on buying.

“You’re acting weird tonight.” Harrison said when the twins left to get their pizza downstairs. “Is everything okay?”

“I don’t know. I feel like something is wrong with (Y/N) and I’m not feeling okay.”

“Don’t worry, mate. She’s completely fine. You’re just feeling like this because she’s out there with other guys.”

“Wow, you helped me a lot.” Harrison laughed and shook his head.

“You should tell her about the kiss.” He suggested, taking another gulp of his soda. Tom chuckled and shook his head.

“She’s going to murder me if she finds out I’ve kept it from her.”

“But this might actually be the way you get together.” Harrison said. Tom shrugged and went to find his phone, which was now ringing somewhere. He frowned when he saw the name on the screen.

“(Y/N), is everything okay?” He asked when he picked up the phone.

“Tom, something’s wrong with me. I’m in the club close to your apartment, you know which one. I think someone drugged me.” Her voice was weak and slow, almost like she was thinking too hard to put those words out. “In the girls’ restroom. P-please…” Her voice faded and Tom’s eyes went wide.

“(Y/N)? Please sunny, say something.” Tom pleaded, already getting his jacket and his car keys. “(Y/N), please!”

“What’s wrong, Tom?” Harrison asked, now aware that something was very wrong.

“Someone drugged her. She needs my help.”

“Come on, I’ll drive.”

Harrison never drove so fast in his life, which was a very difficult task to do in New York City with all of those cars. Tom instructed where to take them, while still in line with her, who was not responding to anything. Only the noises of a full girl’s restroom could be heard. At least no one found her yet, no one evil.

He was wearing sweatpants and an old denim jacket, but he got inside quickly and rushed to the said restroom. He heard some complaints from girls, but it was actually easy to find where (Y/N) was hidden. She wasn’t replying to him anymore, but she still had some flashes of sanity, although she had no control of her body anymore. Tom didn’t know how he managed to get inside that cabin, but he soon wrapped his arms around (Y/N). She only had the strength to use her fingers to press his body under her touch. She moaned in pain and groaned in annoyance. 

“It’s okay. I’m here and I’m going to take care of you.” Tom kissed the top of her head and pulled her closer. “I’m gonna get you out of here, okay?”

She only nodded and felt her best friend picking her up to carry her through the club. Tom didn’t care if he was not dressed properly or if everyone’s eyes were on him carrying the girl, he only cared about (Y/N). She had a few flashes of sobriety and at some point, she pointed to a ginger guy by the bar, texting on his phone.

“He did this to me.” She whispered in Tom’s ear, and he just knew what to do. Harrison was confused and looking for any sight of his best friends, but he relaxed a little when he saw Tom carrying (Y/N) in his arms. She was half passed out when Tom carefully placed her in Harrison’s arms.

“Take her to the car, I have to take care of some things.” Tom said, his jaw clenched in anger. Harrison only nodded and did as his friend told so.

Tom was pissed and angry. He probably could kill this guy in a second for what he did to her girl. That’s why he didn’t think twice before hitting several punches in his face. If Cameron was a model, he wouldn’t be anymore after all of this. Tom only stopped when security separated them once the guy was on the ground, blood spilling from his nose.

“You don’t need to drag me. I’m not staying here any longer. But he drugged my friend! And he probably already has drugged other girls.” Tom said to the security, who nodded and signed someone else to carry the other guy out.

Tom found Harrison with (Y/N) in the car, close to a pool of vomit on the sidewalk. She looked better, but now she was crying while holding onto Harrison with all of her strength. Tom’s heart crushed when he saw her like that, so he quickly rushed to her, who let go of Harrison and wrapped her arms around Tom.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered in his ears. He shook his head and held her tighter.

“It’s not your fault.” Tom looked at Harrison to ask how she got better by using only his eyes.

“I helped her throw up.” Tom nodded and fully focused on the girl now.

“I’m scared, Tommy.”

“As long as I’m here, no one can hurt you.” He whispered in her ear. “I’m gonna take you back to my place.”

Tom sat in the backseat and placed her over his lap. He held onto her as if when he did let her go, she would disappear. He couldn’t help but let some tears fall on their way home when Harrison was driving to get there as fast as he could, but slow enough to not make her sick. It all came down to him and crushed his heart into smithereens. The avoiding, the unspoken truth… Tom couldn’t help but think this was all his fault. Nothing would've happened if he just went with her to that club and took care of her all night.

When he arrived, the twins were confused but understood when they saw (Y/N) in Tom’s arms. The older brother didn’t even talk to anyone else, going straight up to his bedroom with her place on his arms to take care of her. Harrison stood behind to fill the twins with everything that happened. Tom decided that she needed a shower and she needed to sober up.

“Love, can I give you a shower? I promise I won’t be too invasive.” He asked and she groaned.

“I think I can take a shower alone.” She said. “But stay close so I can call you if I don’t feel so good.”

“Okay.” He helped her get everything to shower, such as towels, her so loved products and anything else she asked, like a toothbrush.

He closed the door but still left it a little opened, in case she called him. Meanwhile he made his bed so they could lie down and sleep after such a stressful night. Tom was now feeling everything ten times worse at the silence of his bedroom and couldn’t help but let the tears fall from his eyes. It was all too much for him. Just the thought of having something happening to the girl he loves makes him feel weak and small.

He got one of his sweatpants, a t-shirt, clean boxers and socks, thinking that she would be comfortable in those. (Y/N) would hate him forever to make her wear those, but he didn’t have anything else to offer her. She didn’t take long in there, coming out wrapped around a towel and her eyes red from crying. Tom looked the same, but he tried to hide it, not successfully. 

“I got you some clothes so you can sleep in.” 

“Tommy, you know I don’t wear sweats.” She whined and he chuckled low.

“Come on, sunny. Just today.”

“Okay.” She was almost sleepwalking, but she noticed the drying tears falling from his face. “Why were you crying?”

“It’s just too much for me, baby. I think I need some sleep.” She nodded and gathered the clothes to put it on.

Tom turned around to give her some privacy while changing, but she soon was fully dressed and lying on his bed. His heart was completely broken to see her so weak and vulnerable. Usually (Y/N) was so full of life and always taking control of her decisions. But right now, she wasn’t herself and he felt lost whenever she was too. All he could do is hold her and pray that everything would be alright.

And Tom prayed. He stood awake all night holding her tightly and praying to anyone who could help him that she would be alright, and trying to give his heart some comfort. (Y/N) didn’t even say good night, or said anything at all. She just fell asleep holding onto the fabric of his pajama and soon was snoring on his chest. Praying was helping, but knowing she was safe and the soft sound of her snoring lulled him to sleep.

(Y/N) woke up the next morning with the worst headache in her life. At first, she was a little confused and it took a while to recognize where she was. But she relaxed when she turned around and found Tom deep in his sleep, with his arm thrown over her body and keeping her close. She couldn’t help but think that was the prettiest she’d ever seen him and it made her smile. His curls messily fell on the pillow and his expression was so serene. She would love to wake up to that everyday. But as much as she was enjoying the view, she really needed to use the bathroom.

She easily got out of his grip and ran to the bathroom to do her necessities. After she was done, she took the time to wash her teeth, clean her face and take a good look in the mirror. Her face was horrible, like she hadn’t slept in years. And she groaned a little when she saw what she was wearing, but it kind of smelled like Tom and she felt really comfortable in those. Maybe wearing sweats wasn’t so bad.

But what she needed the most was something to eat and painkillers to relieve the pain from her head. So she slowly and quietly made her way to the kitchen, thinking that everyone was still asleep, but she was terribly mistaken. Harrison was stirring a cup of tea when she arrived rubbing her eyes.

“Morning, Haz.”

“Morning, (Y/N). You feeling better?” He frowned and she shrugged.

“I don’t even know how to answer this question.” She groaned. “I want to pretend last night never happened because my head’s spinning and aching.”

“Here, take this.” He passed her the cup of tea, which she gladly accepted.

“Thank you.” She took a great gulp of the tea and it helped almost instantly.

“You know… If you wanna talk about what’s on your mind, I’m here to listen.”

“It’s just… last week I avoided Tom because I realised that I liked him a little more than I thought I did and I’m scared of how much I might love him.”

“Wow.” Harrison was speechless. She literally just confessed her feelings towards his best friend.

“But you know, it was killing me. And last night I was so stupid because I just wanted to forget everything that actually led me to the worst situation possible just because I’m scared of a feeling.” She tried to keep the tears from falling and it worked. 

“(Y/N), I’m gonna tell you something that Tom will kill me for doing that.” They both chuckled, but (Y/N) nodded for him to continue. “I don’t know why you are afraid of your own feelings, but I think you shouldn’t be. People might think you’re just a spoiled rich girl, that has life figured out and everyone on their feet. But you’re so much more than that; you’re kind and such a good person. Tom saw that on you and he fell for it. He’s so in love with you it’s pitiful.”

“He really is?” Her eyes were shining, wishing every single word he was saying was true.

“Of course he is. You seriously never noticed that? Tom’s been in love with you since the first time he laid his eyes on you in the middle of the street.” He chuckled. “But he never will admit this to anyone, not even to me, or to himself. So I guess that’s the reason he never told you. He’s also afraid of his feelings.” He sat next to her before continuing. “And I know for a fact that you’re in love with him too, even though you’re confused. So please just talk about it and be together! Because I’m tired of seeing you two not together.”

“Yeah, maybe it’s time for us to have a talk.” She nodded. “I don’t know if I’m ready though.”

“You’ll never be ready if you keep postponing it.” 

And Harrison left the room with that thought. He was right, at least that was what (Y/N) thought. She’s been postponing these feelings ever since Christmas, and time was passing by and she was wasting time without speaking up about those feelings. Everything was making her head hurt even more and she needed some time to vent and think about what to say.

But Tom was faster. He woke up when he didn’t feel her next to him anymore, but her clothes were still lying over the chair, so she didn’t leave yet. He took his time to do his morning routine and rushed downstairs to find her sitting on the couch all alone with a cup of tea on her hands and some tears streaming down her face. He silently sat next to her and almost instantly, she rested her head over his shoulder.

“What’s wrong, sunny?” Tom asked as he started to caress her hair and she sobbed on his shoulder.

“I can’t believe what happened last night.” She admitted. “If it weren’t for you, I might’ve been killed.”

“Shhh, it’s okay. You’re okay now.” He pulled her into a bone crushing hug that immediately made her feel better.

“I feel stupid.”

“You’re not stupid, (Y/N). That guy was horrible and he was going to hurt you. But you have nothing to do with that, it’s not your fault.” He kissed the top of her head. “You’re here now. You’re safe and I’ll keep it that way until my last breath.”

(Y/N) looked up and noticed some tears pooling in his eyes, which made her crumble completely. He was just as messed up as she was. So she wiped them away and rubbed his cheek in order to give him and herself some comfort. She might be feeling horrible, but she was the reason he was crying.

“Don’t cry because of me.”

“I can’t help but think this is my fault too.” Tom said, keeping his voice low. “I should’ve been there to take care 

of you. No one should’ve touched a finger on you.”

“Tom, it’s okay. It’s not your fault too. Please, don’t cry.” She cried harder as she glued their foreheads.

“(Y/N), I love you. If anything serious happens to you, I will never forgive myself.”

And that was everything she needed to hear to make Harrison’s words come back to her. If what he said was true, Tom is in love with her. And so, she got the smallest courage to speak up about her feelings. It was small, but it was enough to make her confess.

“Tom, do you know why I don’t mind wearing these sweats?” He shook his head no and didn’t break eye contact with her. “Because it makes me feel like home.”

“You know you can be yourself right here and no one will ever judge you. This is your home too.”

“No, Tom. It feels like home because it smells like you, and you are my home.”

“You’re mine too.” He kissed the tip of her nose and made her smile. “I can do anything to protect you. And I wish I broke more of his face last night.”

She glanced down to his hands and noticed the bruises on his knuckles. She traced her fingers along with the bruises and brought his hand up to kiss it better. Both of their hearts were racing at that moment. That was probably their most intimate moment and it was the very first time they weren’t confused about their feelings. For the first time, it felt real and reciprocated.

“Tommy, I love you.” 

“I love you too, sunny.”

And with that, she glued their lips and made Tom surprised. She wasn’t under any influence at all; not underneath a mistletoe; not with three gin-tonics up her head. She was doing that because she wanted to. Tom took a couple of seconds to realise what was happening, but soon melted into the kiss and moved his lips so gently against hers. It wasn’t simple like the one they shared on Christmas and it wasn’t as hot as the one they shared on that drunk night. No, this one was like a confession to each other.

They confessed every single one of their feelings in the slowest kiss in the world. Every movement, every touch, it meant so much more. And they were actually enjoying it, more than any other moment together. But it didn’t last much longer, because they were dying to blurt out what they were feeling.

“I have something to confess to you.” Tom said against her lips, and she nodded. “That night you threw up and I got you home, we kissed and I confessed my feelings to you, but you didn’t remember. I thought that was the universe giving me a second chance to not screw things up and didn’t tell you.”

“You should have. Because I would’ve confessed my feelings for you too.”

“I was scared of losing you.” He admitted.

“Tom, you would never lose me. I’m forever, bitch. You’re stuck with me.” They laughed together.

“Thank God.” Tom pulled her for another quick kiss. “I love you so much, you have no idea.”

“Oh, I have. Because I love you so so so so much.” She pecked his lips again and pulled him to lie down. Both had the biggest smiles on their faces and were beyond happy for what was happening. “I can’t imagine my life without you Tom.”

“I can’t imagine mine without you, either.” 

“But soon we might have to.” She instantly felt down, but Tom made everything better by pressing soft kisses all over her face. “If we’re doing this, we have to start knowing we’ll have to do long distance in the near future.”

“I would do anything for you, even wait if you want to.” He assured. “(Y/N), you know I’ve never fallen in love with a girl and that’s why these feelings are strange to me. But when I met you, everything felt so right that I couldn’t help but fall a little deeper for you every second. I love everything about you; your dramas; your family issues; your good sense of humour. Everything that makes you be yourself is the reason why I’m in love with you.”

“Tom, I don’t even have words for what you just said to me.” She was crying again, this time out of pure joy. “You are just… you. That’s the reason why I love you. And I’m so grateful to have you in my life. Someone to make me feel loved and needed, in a moment when I felt like no one cared about me. You changed my life and I’ll owe you forever.”

“I don’t care if we’re gonna part ways when high school is done. I just wanna be with you.”

“Me too.” 

She glued their lips together again, but what started as an innocent kiss ended up in a heated makeout on the couch. Tom used his hands to keep himself steady over her, while she used her to pull him down and deepen the kiss. They didn’t hold anything back and explored each other’s bodies until they were sure they knew every single curve. They could stay like that forever, but Nikki woke up and when she went down to prepare her breakfast, she met the most awkward scene in the world.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” She blurted out and rushed to the kitchen. Tom jumped out of (Y/N) and his eyes widened.

“Mom, I’m so sorry.” He started in the living room. (Y/N) followed him with the heaviest blush on her face.

“It’s okay. I’m just glad you finally kissed.” Nikki smirked and it made the blush even more. Tom searched for (Y/N)’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “So, this means you’re finally together?”

“I think so.” Tom looked at her for reassurance and she nodded with a smile.

“I want to if you want to.”

“That’s how you’re gonna ask me to be your boyfriend? How romantic!” Tom rolled his eyes and (Y/N) nudged him before pulling him back for a hug.

“You love me.” She whispered in his ear.

“I really do.” He kissed her neck and composed himself back to finish his conversation with his mother.

“I’m just glad you finally sorted everything out. I was getting tired of seeing you two being just best friends. But please, don’t make out on our couch at eight in the morning. By the way, why are you here at eight, (Y/N)?”

“Well, Nikki. Something happened last night…”

They told her the whole story because Tom never kept anything from her. But even though it was a bad night, it turned out to be just fine. Tom and (Y/N) were over the moon and it couldn’t get any better than this. They loved each other, just like that, and nothing would change it. Nikki was horrified with the story and asked (Y/N) to take more care of herself.

“I will, and now I have extra help.” (Y/N) looked at Tom with the biggest smile on her face and smiled back.

“I’m gonna take care of her, mom.” 

She nodded and started to make them all some breakfast. They never would’ve thought that after such a disturbed night, it would all end up just fine in the morning. Soon the whole family started to come down for breakfast, but they didn’t know anything about it. Harrison was the only one who got the clue when he saw Tom and (Y/N)’s wide smiles.

“You two are together, right?” Harrison smirked and (Y/N) nodded.

“We are.” She nodded and the twins’ mouth dropped.

“You are?” They said in unison.

“Thank God. I was getting tired of you two not being together.” Dom teased.

“Yeah, we talked it through this morning and it just happened.” Tom continued. “Took too long, uhm?”

“Way too long.” She pecked his lips so gently and quickly, but they already heard sick noises.

“You are gross.” Paddy groaned and the whole family laughed. “But I’m happy that (Y/N) is part of the family now.”

“Aren’t you jealous, Paddy?” Sam asked and his little brother shrugged.

“Yeah, I guess there’s no reason to be. She likes Tom anyway.” They all laughed again, but this time (Y/N) pressed a kiss on Paddy’s cheek, making him blush.

“Now you’re my brother too. Isn’t that cool?”

“Yeah, it is.” He smiled. “Welcome to the Hollands, (Y/N).”

“Thank you, Padster.”

Being part of the Hollands was special. They were the kind of family that cared about each other and that was exactly what (Y/N) needed in her life, a family that cared. Nikki was worried about her when she told what happened the previous night; Dom was glad she was okay; the twins took care of her just like she was their own sister, and Paddy just wanted to see her happy. That was the concept of a family she always wanted for herself, and even that Tom gave to her.

After the longest day with her new family and cuddling with her new boyfriend and best friend, (Y/N) decided it was time to go home. As much as she was enjoying being surrounded by comfort and happiness, she knew she had to go back to her mother. So many happened from the previous night to this very moment that (Y/N) didn’t even remember that anything else existed but Tom, and that’s the reason when she got home she was greeted with a furious Josephine.

“(Y/N) (Y/L/N), where were you last night?”

“Fuck, I forgot about texting you.”

“Yeah, you did!” Josephine gritted. “You said you were gonna crash at Courtney’s, but I ran into her mother on breakfast and she said not even Courtney came home last night. You lied to me and you spent the evening with this fucking idiot.” She pointed to Tom and it made (Y/N) angry.

“First of all, leave Tom out of this. He wasn’t even there last night and he’s the reason why I’m safe.” (Y/N) told her mother the full story from the previous night, which Josephine listened to carefully. “And I didn’t answer my phone today because I left it uncharged on my purse since last night.”

“That’s not an excuse.”

“I know, and I’m truly sorry.” (Y/N) said and Josie rolled her eyes.

“That’s the kind of influence that boy gives to you. Out partying, getting drunk, hooking up with random people. Nothing would’ve happened if you hadn't met him in the first place.”

“Mother, Tom has nothing to do with what happened last night. He saved me and you should be thanking him.”

Tom remained silent, not wanting to get into their fight. He didn’t have a place to speak up, even though it involved his now girlfriend. Family issues must be solved between the family, even though he was dying to stand up for his girl. 

“I will never thank him. You know I don’t like him.” “So you better start liking him, because he’s my boyfriend now.” A shot on Josie’s stomach would’ve been less harmful than this.

“He’s your what now?”

“My boyfriend.” Josie rolled her eyes and pointed to the door.

“I will never accept this. Get out of my house and I don’t want you to see my daughter ever again.” Tom was being dragged to the door, but (Y/N) got on the way.

“You don’t get to choose this.”

“Well, I don’t approve your relationship with him.”

“I don’t approve yours with that dirty boyfriend either. But you still haven’t expelled him.”

“I don’t care. You’re leaving.” Josephine called the elevator and (Y/N) gathered all of her stuff.

“I’m leaving too. I’m sick of you doing this to me. I’m moving with dad.” Josephine stopped what she was doing and noticed the tears in her daughter's eyes. “I can’t stand to see my mother against my happiness.”

“(Y/N)...” Josie spoke softly.

“No! Shut up!” She pulled Tom into the elevator and didn’t even wave goodbye before leaving.

When the elevator door closed, (Y/N) wrapped her arms around Tom and cried as her whole life depended on it. She was tired of leaving her apartment crying, and she was tired of its reason being her mother getting between her relationship with Tom. But she swore that was the last time she was going to leave like this.

“I’m sorry I didn’t stand up for you. I didn’t want to get between you and your mother.”

“Don’t worry about it.” She had her face buried on the crook of his neck so he wouldn’t see her face.

“Are you okay?”

“No, but I’m gonna be. I have you.” She leaned back and he rubbed her cheek with his thumb.

“What do you wanna do now?” He looked right into her eyes, wanting more than anything to know what she was thinking about for real. She knew she couldn’t hide much from Tom and that’s why she shrugged, because she didn’t know what to do.

“Can you take me to my father’s and stay with me there tonight? I wanna be surrounded by people I love.”

“Of course.” He kissed the top of her head and held her tightly. “We’re gonna get through this.”

“I know we will.”

To say the day started perfectly and ended up badly was an understatement. In less than 24 hours they were introduced to what they were gonna have to get through together if they wanted to be together. But as they already knew, their love was stronger than anything.

That’s why Tom took her to her father’s place and helped her tell him everything. They ruined Vincent’s and his girlfriend’s dinner night, but they didn’t seem to mind. Instead, they decided to stay home and take care of (Y/N), who had decided about moving in with her father, who gladly accepted her.

“I’m sorry for being a burden to you, dad.”

“(Y/N), you’re my daughter. You’ll never be a burden. And if you want to live with me until you go to college, or for the rest of your life, the doors will always be opened for you.”

“Thank you so much.” She hugged him very tightly and Vincent watched Tom let out a relief sigh when they did it. 

“And just so you two know, I’m glad you finally got together. I really like and trust you, Tom.” Vincent said and Tom nodded.

“Thank you, Mr (Y/L/N). I promise to not let you down and that I’ll take care of her.”

“I know you will, kid.” Vincent nodded. “Why don’t you go take a good shower and we’ll order some food to have dinner together.”

“Okay. I’ll be right back.” She pecked Tom’s lips quickly and left for the bathroom. When she left, her father spoke up.

“I always knew you were perfect for my girl, from the very first moment I met you. And I know she ain’t the easiest person to deal with, but I know that she loves you will all of her heart.”

“I love her too. Like I’ve never loved anybody else.”

“I know.” Vincent smiled. “Don’t let her go so easily, boy. She’s special and you know it.”

“I won’t, I promise.” Tom smiled back.

And with the ultimate blessing for their relationship, Tom knew that even though they might face some problems, they would be alright because that’s how love works. As long as they had each other, no one can hurt them.

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