#I’m sure she’d write the email better than I would

[evienyx]

Sometimes I’m hit by the devastating fact that my childhood is leaving. It’s slipping away but I’ve still got half a foot in it. I’ll never be twelve again. I can barely remember a moment of fourth grade, but I know what it felt like. We once spent a month making a trip poster on the hallway floor. I haven’t talked to you in four years. I tutor people in Calculus. I just learned long division. I buy plushies with money I earned at work. I still sleep with the same stuffed animal my grandma got me. Maybe when I wake up, my mom will be waiting to braid my hair, because I don’t know how to yet. My dog will be small enough to fit under the fence. We’ll play tag at recess. They’ll bring the laptop cart for English. I’ll be twelve again.

[fishnets-fingers]

blossoms, big changes & blanket forts

a/n - @harry-on-broadway's short 'n sweet fic challenge inspired me to write a burb from the six months universe. this takes place in the future and hints at storyline(s) for future parts. it's been a while since i'd written anything, so i hope this turned out okay. word count: 2.5k (not proofread) happy reading :)

…

Every Saturday Harry’s alarm blares at five in the morning and every single Saturday he swiftly silences it before it disturbs the other occupant snoozing next to him. This morning was no different. He quietly slips out the bed and heads to the bathroom to change into his running gear. 

A dopey smile blooms across his face at the sight in front of him. A foot peeking out the sheet, a hand haphazardly dangling over the side of the bed, and a shock of dark hair obstructing her face. 

He smooths the raven locks away from her face and leans down to kiss her sleep warm cheek. A quiet grunt makes him chuckle. 

“What ungodly hour is it?” Layla asks, eyes still closed. 

“It’s the AM,” he answers diplomatically. 

She mumbles something incoherently, turning over on her stomach, face burying into the pillow. He knows better than to ask her to clarify and jolt her from the pull of slumber. He kisses the crown of her head, pulling the bed sheet in place. 

And off he goes, running down the same circuit he takes every Saturday. He enjoys this time where their neighbourhood is slowly setting up for the day - the scratches of produce filled pallets being hauled into the restaurants, the beeps of trucks pulling into the warehouses of the supermarkets, the hum of baristas as they begin to ready their spaces, and the soft grunts of runners they start with their stretches. 

He relishes this routine; the calm after five days of scrambling around with this Masters thesis, hours in the lab, typing away on his computer into the night. Saturday mornings were his reset. The hour and a half he spends running with no distractions is just what he needs to set the tone for his weekend. The same sights, smells, and sounds.  This Saturday however he spots a moving truck along with a couple carrying boxes into the lobby of a highrise apartment and is immediately transported to a wintery evening five months ago. He was lugging bags of groceries from the car when his phone chimed. Once. Twice. Thrice. Followed by a call from Layla all the way from Chennai.

“Hi bab-” He starts before getting interrupted. 

“You are speaking to the new assistant professor of San Diego State! Well not really. I still haven’t signed but I just got the email.”

“No fucking way! Really?”

“Really! I read the email three times to make sure my brain wasn’t playing tricks on me. I did just wake up, so there’s a big possibility that I’m dreaming.”

“Congratulations, Layla.”

“Aww, thanks,” she blew out a breath. “You know what this means, right?”

“No more long distance,” he smiled into the microphone.

“Can’t wait. I love you.”

“I love you too, Lails.” 

“Say it again,” she said, and he can picture her lips pulling up at the corners.

“I bloody love you, sweet girl.”

“Thanks. I needed to hear that,” she added quietly.

He felt her conflicting feelings of anger and longing miles away. She did not want to go to India after what happened during their last visit. After weeks of trying, her cousins convinced her that she was long overdue for a sleepover, pointing out that a full time job would only make flying over more complicated. “Chennai will make me feel at home, my house is just a building,” she’d insisted but Harry had seen the hurt etched on her face on their video call from she hotel she checked into. She had forgone the invite from her relatives to stay at theirs, not wanting cause any conflicts between them and her parents. He’d wanted to go with her but his schedule wouldn’t allow him and which was convenient for her with wanting him far away from her mother. “Have you told your folks? Do you want to?” He’d asked after a pregnant pause.

She sighed. “Not my parents. I called my grandparents. They were overjoyed, obviously. They wanted to meet me for lunch but I told them I’m not coming home. So, I’m meeting them at the restaurant. I explicitly told them that I would leave if Amma and Appa (Mum and Dad) showed up.

“Anyway," she said after a while, "I think my grandparents are going to give me a fat stack of cash, like they did when I got into the PhD program.” She forced a chuckle, signaling that she was done talking about it.

So he changed the topic, “when do you have to get back to them?”

“They haven’t specified anything but sooner the better right. I’ll respond by tomorrow evening” she yawned. “I'm heading over to Chitti's (aunt - mother’s younger sister) for dinner. All the cousins are attending Carom night. I’ll ask her to help me go through the contract before I sign. I’ll have to tell them that I’ll only be coming to the US next week. I think I want to negotiate my salary a little or get more PTOs. I don't want to pass it up though. They are willing to sponsor my visa and I don't have any more offers to be in the same city, so…” She prattled on. 

He’s giddy at the thought of not having to resort to scheduling visits when their calendars permit them to. To not have their coursework making them unavailable during important moments. To not have to fit their belongings into a small cabin bag and rush to the gate to catch a flight to each other a few states away. To not have to tiptoe around Layla’s housemates, who barely tolerated each other. To not have to resort to FaceTimes when they wanted to see each other. To not be next to each other - when all they wanted was to wrap the their arms around the other - to help them wind down from an exhausting day. 

“Har,” her voice snapped him out of his reverie. “Are you paying attention?”

“Yeah yeah, contracts.”

“Not even close. I was talking about apartment hunting.”

“Why would you look for apartments?” His brows knitted together. 

“I’ll need a place to live in, won’t I?” 

“You already have a place to live in.”

“No, I don’t. What are you-,” her voice cuts off as she drew in a sharp breath in realisation. “Are you- Would you like for me to- Are you sure?”

“Of course I am. I’m almost twenty six. You’re twenty seven. We’ve been together for two years now. I’m so in love with you, Layla Sathish. Never stopped for a second since I first laid eyes on you in your Uncle’s house in Apex. Never stopped in the two years we were apart. And I don’t want to waste another second. I want us together. I want to go to bed with you next to me. Kiss you goodbye when we both leave for university. I want to complain about your makeup and skincare taking up all the space in the bathroom cabinet. I want to buy you flowers when I come back home after a run. I want your paints and brushes scattered on the dining table. I want to make space in my closet for your clothes. I want your fingerprints smeared on my laptop screen. Move in with me.” 

It didn’t skip past her that he wasn’t asking her but telling her. “I mean I do have the spare key to your loft. Might as well put it to good use,” she teased. 

He laughed. “Exactly! You can be the breadwinner of the house and I can rest easy as a kept man and work on my thesis.”

She giggled. “I love it!”

Three weeks later, they were moving her belongings into the loft. He had to pinch himself every few hours to remind himself that he had unfettered access to the woman he loved. But living together posed a few adjustments, like the time she used his coffee grinder to make gunpowder from scratch and he was about ready to rip all his hair off telling her about cross-contamination of the flavour. Living together spotlighted their different cleaning ethos - he lets the mess accumulate and then do a deep clean but soon found out that Layla could not function when things piled up. The different towels and rags of Layla’s system he needed to keep track of: the ‘nice one’ for drying the dishes, the ‘yucky one’ for cleaning the kitchen countertops, the ‘microfiber’ for dusting that needed to be dampened, and the ‘soft one’ for electronic screens. They’d argued about finances and after weeks - much to Layla’s chagrin -  they’d settled on a compromise: Layla would take care of the utilities and date nights and Harry would pay for rent, and groceries. She put her foot down about being able to pay for the two of them on their future trips to India and he agreed with the condition that all other trips would be taken care of by him. Their grocery trips were different now, Layla was so focused on giving herself a spending limit since she wasn’t paying for it. This meant standing in the middle of the aisle and calculating down to the gram to figure out what brand gave her the best bang for her buck - whereas Harry just pulled things off the shelf that caught his eye. But all of their spats and differences melt away when he sees her smile up at him, from whatever she was doing, as he walked through the door after the end of the day. 

In the home stretch he slows down and walks into the florist. It was early in the day to have the pick of the freshest of flowers straight from the delivery truck. Every single week he would pick out random bunches - today it was different coloured sweet peas and tulips. He’d wake her up with the flowers held behind his back where she’d blink up at him with sleep laden eyes and gasp when he’d present them to her. She gasped every Saturday morning, even if it had become a ritual by now - watching her put together an impressive floral arrangement while he’d make breakfast for them.

He’s surprised when he keys into the loft, usually he’s met with the quiet hum of appliances, today peals of laughter bounce off the walls of the entryway. He smiles toeing off his shoes as he spots two sets of feet - one tiny and one large - sticking out. Their couch pushed back towards the wall and the four dining chairs stood in its place acting as pillars on either side with a fuzzy throw draped over the backs of the chair, cocooning the two. 

He tiptoes slowly towards their makeshift fort to find the two sprawled on a quilt on their tummies. Layla in her power rangers pyjamas, hair haphazardly thrown in a bun, rubbing the sleep away from her eyes, her head propped on her elbows, and a curly headed girl in a wrinkled nightgown giggling with her as she points at the book that’s propped against the a cushion. Vasanth and Abi had dropped Laya off with them for the fourth of July weekend and had driven up to Temecula Valley for their long overdue wedding anniversary getaway. She was a deadly combination of her parents, self-willed and mischievous.

“Your Tamil teacher has her work cut out for her,” Layla howls.

“Miss. Muga,” the four year old replies. 

“Who?”

“Miss. Muga. She’s my Tamil teacher.”

“You're going to be a pain in Miss. Muga’s bum,” Layla breaks into giggles.

Her little body twists around, eyes widening in alarm, hands coming to cover her open mouth. “You said bum!” She sputters into laughter. 

“Excuse me, ladies, where was my invite?” Harry asks, crouching down and sticking his head into the opening, making sure the flowers were concealed behind his back.

“Harry!” The girl screams in delight, crawling haphazardly towards him. 

“Someone decided to wake up at the crack of dawn with a determination to build a fort and finish her Tamil homework in it,” Layla sighs.

Harry gives their guest a sympathetic smile. “You did promise her a blanket fort last night, baby. It’s a miracle that she slept this long, reckon she might be in Eastern time.”

“What do you have?” Laya asks, pointing at the tulip sprig that peeked out from the side.

“It’s a gift,” he tells her, shuffling into their cosy cocoon. “Can you cover Akka’s (older sister) eyes and close eyes?” He whispers loudly.

With a nod she clambers onto Layla’s back, using her hands to shield Layla’s view while she scrunches her eyes shut. A collective gasp echoes when he tells them to open their eyes, presenting them with his colourful selection of the day. Harry's body permeates with warmth from the radiant smiles coming from the two; the type of light that could rival the sun’s. The warmth makes him smile, feeling content at the sight in front of him, chuffed at the approval of his floral pick, and the singe of tranquillity from being inside the fort.

“Isn’t it pretty?” Layla asks, bringing the bouquet to her nose. “Mmm…Smells good too.”

“Mmmm,” Laya copies her cousin, burying her nose and nodding in agreement. “For me?” She looks up at Harry. 

“For the two of you,” he replies, inching closer to them. He twists a purple bloom and tucks it behind Laya’s ear. “A sweet pea for my sweet pea.” He declares, chuckling at the way Laya cheeks tinge with pink and the way she blinks up at him with a shy smile.

“Manners, Laya. What do you say?” Layla prompts.

“Thank you,” she says in a singsong voice, reaching over Layla's head to kiss his cheek.

“You’re welcome, love.” He dramatically clears his throat before picking up a yellow tulip and swishes it around before tapping his girlfriend's nose with the bulb. “And a tulip for my tulip.”

“Thanks. Laya, do you want to help me arrange them in the vase? We can do that while Harry makes us pancakes, okay?”

The little girl nods, clambering off her sister and barrels in the direction of the kitchen, remembering the empty vase she’d seen on the kitchen counter. “I guess homework’s not a priority anymore,” Layla mumbles.

She sits up to follow her cousin before she wreaks havoc but Harry firmly holds her in place with a pointed look. “What?”

“Manners, Layla,” he echoes her statement from earlier. 

“I thanked you.”

“Not properly.”

“Huh?”

“Guess you could learn a thing or two from Laya. No thank you is complete without a kiss.”

“Since when?” She smirks.

“Did you not get the memo from the blanket fort etiquette committee?” He teases with a toothy grin.

She rolls her eyes, rocking up on her knees to kiss his cheek. “Happy?”

“Very.” He sears his mouth on her, tongue languidly sweeping her bottom lip, teasing her with a promise of what’s to come. When they pull away, she’s breathless, looking up at him with her tired eyes. And he cannot resist pulling her back in for another, this time his fingers curl around the back of her head, pulling her closer than before. It’s hurried - teeth clanging, noses knocking, tongues caressing, breaths stuttering - never faltering in passion. 

“Layla Akka!”

“I’ve been summoned," Layla murmurs against his swollen lips. “Thank you for this,” she picks up the bouquet from her lap and brings it close to her chest. “And all the others.” She presses a quick peck on his lips and they make their out the fort and towards the kitchen.

.....

MASTERPOST (if you wanna read more of Layla and Harry)

[quietlyimplode]

Black Widow Fest - Day One

the letter be

ao3 link (pls note that the fic starts below and finishes on ao3 - i know how annoying it is to start on one platform only to have it finish on another)

Natasha and Clint are split up and communicate through letters. Fluff, missions and a little bit of saving.

Word count: 2956

Warnings: warnings for domestic violence

..

It starts with a cat.  

At least that’s what Natasha thinks. 

Clint would say it started with the mission to Antwerp, but really, Natasha thinks that it’s starts with the cat in the window. 

With Clint’s leg broken, he was so bored, she’d suggested letters; emails were easily tracked and she supposed; so could mail, but the postal service still seemed to have more protections than an email Al carrier. 

Clint had agreed and the time for a letter to get from Antwerp to New York wasn’t as long as she thought. 

It was different to a mission report. Something that that actually had to put thought into, but actually something that over the six weeks, she came to enjoy.  

Even the search in the stationary shop, for letter writing stationary and envelopes. 

She can’t remember if she’d ever sent a letter.  

Not when it hadn’t been coded, and so when she sat down to write the first one, she stared at the paper and then got up and left it there.  

She came back with a glass of water and an iced coffee  

Staring again, she hears the cat at the back window and stands again. 

Natasha looks into the darkness and whispers to the cat to come in, clinking a spoon against the saucer of milk and waiting.  

This, she thinks, this is where she started. 

. 

Clint, 

Don’t laugh. There’s a cat here. I’ve named him Liho, for obvious reasons. Remember? He sits with me at night. In fact, if you find fur attached to this letter it’s likely his. Did you know that Antwerp has a stray cat problem? I’m sure there’s more out there, but he’s been the bravest and I think, well, he might be coming back with me. 

All is boring here, there’s not much to report on just yet. I’m sure more going on than there though. 

How is the leg?  

Are you doing the exercises Richard gave you? Follow them, please, otherwise they’ll be on my back to get you to do them.  

The house here is quiet, no neighbours; like most of our houses. It makes the nights long.  

The previous owners must have been just as bored because there’s some 1000 piece puzzles - I’ve started one. I’m enjoying it. It’s of London buses - a whole scene of the square. I’ll probably have it finished in a day or two. 

Perdy and Pongo - the contrived meetings have been nice and easy. Another one tomorrow, all going well. 

It’s nearing one in the morning.  

I’ll send this off. 

Miss you terribly.  

. 

Nat. 

Liho the cat sounds like a keeper. I’ve looked into it, and your apartment has a no animal policy, but the good news is mine doesn’t.  

Draw a picture of the cat? I’ve added what I think he looks like below, but you might have better luck in the drawing department.  

Glad that all seems to be going well Pongo and Perdy, has anything changed?  

The leg. 

I’m doing the exercises. Honest. 

It’s just shit.  

I’m bored, and your not here to keep me company.  

We really gotta train others in Russian because you being the only one speaking it fluently, seems actually ridiculous. It’s like, why am I the only one to speak Persian Arabic? It pigeonholes us and sets us up for really specific… holidays. Anyway. Food for thought. 

Puzzles sounds like a good way to pass the time.  

Coulson has taught me crochet. He said it’s a good way to keep my mind busy, and do maths. 

I can crochet a straight line. I’m aiming for a blanket.  

Anyway.  

Here’s my picture of a cat. 

🐈‍⬛. 

Miss you terribly. 

. 

Continued on ao3...

[youtubeyouniversitytherapy]

:: Session o1 - New Beginnings ::

“Therapy?” Tara read, and reread the email three times just to make sure she was fully comprehending it. And oh boy was she. Okay, sure she knew that was part of the point of coming here, to try to do better and get better. That’s all her mother wanted for her, but it was SUMMER. She at least thought she’d get some leniency.  

Rolling around in her bed, she tossed her phone aside, hoping she could at least ignore it for another hour or so. “Sugar what is mommy going to doooooo?” She whined, pulling a pillow over her head and trying to shut out the light spilling in from the windows. 

Two hours later, Tara was standing outside Dean Tat’s door, anxiously pacing. She was never nervous, she could yap herself out of any situation but this time that was precisely what she feared. What if she said too much? What if they found some way to use it against her? 

Her head snapped up as she heard the creak of the door opening. “Tara- oh! There you are, come in!” Dean Tat’s voice was warm and inviting, but it didn’t do much to calm the brunette’s nerves as she took a seat on the couch. “Tara, there’s nothing to be worried about this is just a routine first session. Just to see how you’re adjusting to a new school, and any possible triggers.”

“But what if this is the trigger?” Oh, she shouldn’t have said that! Fuck, Tat was writing something down now. “KIDDING!” She quickly tried to recover, hoping not to have anything too obscene written about her. Tara couldn’t help but try to steal a peak, causing Tat to immediately pull back and hide the notepad even more. Maybe she could break in late in the night and steal it… just to take a peak… 

“Let’s just start this off nice and simple… How do you feel you’re adjusting to the Uni?”

“Oh, good! Good! Making lots of friends.” And friends who have connections at that. God it’s almost as easy as LA to score here, do these Deans even know what’s going on behind their backs? “Everyone in Alpha is great- even the quiet one seems to be nicer than he lets on… You guys should really work on getting him out of his shell you know? I think that’d be-“ 

“Tara, this therapy session is about you.” She had heard that Tat was the firm but fair Dean, it would have been so much easier if she had gotten one of the Deans that was easily distractible or that liked to yap. But she had a feeling they paired her with Tat because of her ability to keep someone on topic. Ugh, she hated that they were good at their jobs.

“How are you this week? Any big events for you?”

She thought back to the Pride event, and shook her head smiling. “Nope! I’ve been peachy keen jelly bean! Mostly just figuring out what courses I’ll be taking for the fall semester.” It looked like Tat didn’t quite believe her, but she didn’t push that question further, it was after all just their first session. 

“Do you think you’re getting better?” Tara couldn’t help but frown. She had never felt like she had anything to recover from in the first place. Okay, sure she was a party girl, and she liked her blow but so did half of LA. Yet somehow that hadn’t landed all of them here. And yes, on a few occasions she had gotten too fucked up and couldn’t entirely piece together the night before… “Yes? No? What’s the right answer here?” Fuck! Fuck, now she was bombing for real.

“Tara there are no right or wrong answers here, you’re not being graded. This is just to see how we can help you… Have you been having any extra stress lately? Anything that could maybe trigger you?”

Again, she thought back to the Pride event, and how her first instinct was to search for a little white line when anything bad happened. “Nope, honestly I just don’t get stressed! I’m fine, I think you may be wasting your time on me. I can just go, let you get to your next p-“ “Sit down Tara.” And so she sat.

“Now, I’d like to give you an assignment before you go.” “But it’s Summ-“ “Tara, please. This will be so much easier for both of us if you just listen.” It wasn’t said mean spirited, but more so like when your mom is just exasperated with you. Feeling much like a scolded child, Tara just nodded. “I’d like you to start journaling. Nothing too crazy, doesn’t even have to be about anything specific. But once a day I’d like you to write in a journal. Please bring it with you to our meeting next week.”

“Are you going to read it?” “Not if you don’t want me to. Now, our time is up. I’ll see you same time next week okay? If you need to see me sooner… I’m here.” There was something about the way she said it, like she knew Tara would be back sooner than the week? Maybe she could just see through all the bullshitting Tara had done today. Either way it didn’t sit right with her. Still, she nodded as she got up and mumbled a thanks before leaving.

[dramatic-squirrel]

Daminette December Day 8- Submission

@maribat-calendar-events

“I don’t know Alya, do you really think this is good enough?” Marinette frantically paced back and forth in the small space of her room. If she stopped moving she was afraid she’d explode. “I mean, it's super weird and the writing’s not good at all. Then there’s the fact that it’s in French because my written English isn’t that great and I’m sure they’re going to dock point for that and-”

Alya threw a pillow at Marinette before the girl could panic her way out of this contest. “I’ve gone over it a hundred times, Mari. If you don’t turn it in for yourself, you at least owe it to me. And I told you each and every time that the essay is great.”

Sitting up from where she had fallen on the floor, Marinette calmed down a bit, but her anxiety was still getting the better of her. Just as she had decided that deleting the entire document and washing this experience from memory would be a good thing, she caught Alya at her computer.

“What are y-”

“And done. You can’t back out now.” Rushing over to the computer, Marinette's eyes landed on an almost all white webpage, with the words “Submission accepted. You will be notified by email once the results are decided.”

“Alya!”

“Marinette!” Alya could tolerate a lot being the middle child, but with Marinette, she was going to take a stand. “I get that you’re nervous about this, but you don’t have to be. If you win, that’s fantastic. If you don’t win, that's fine. There is no losing here and no one even knows about it yet so no one can be disappointed.”

“I know Alya. I’ll be disappointed. In myself.” 

Alya stared into her eyes, making sure she had her full attention. “And I’ll be proud that you tried.” 

Tears welled up before she could stop them and Marinette started sobbing. “Thanks.”

“You're welcome.”

“I still hate you.”

“I know. But think about the bright side here. If we win, we get to go on a trip outside of  Europe. I know Gotham isn’t exactly the safest place, but it will definitely get our minds off of Hawk Moth.” And that’s what really mattered to Marinette, letting her classmates relax for a week. With how often the class was targeted for Akumatizations, she hoped that this trip could let them do stupid stuff without fearing every possible repercussion,

Finally pulling herself together Marinette wiped away the last of her tears. “I still hate you, but thanks again Alya. For submitting the essay, and for looking over my work.”

“What are deputies for if not helping out the class president? I just wish I could have written the essay for you but, they did say class representatives only. Anyways, I wouldn’t worry about it too much. If the people working at Wayne Enterprises know anything, they’ll pick your essay. And if they don’t… Well, I’m sure I can uncover some dirt on them. Any company worth billions has got to be hiding one secret or two.” 

“Alya!” The journalist laughed as she dodged the pillow thrown her way.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Damian couldn’t believe the circumstances that led him to be sitting in front of a computer reading essays. One small incident at school where he accidentally hit someone. It wasn’t even entirely his fault, the teacher had tried to get his attention from behind, and really, he could have sworn that father warned the staff about that. It was only natural that his years of training kicked in, and it was only due to those years of training that the teacher only suffered a light punch. 

So it wasn’t like it was his fault that the incident happened, and he shouldn’t be punished for it. He certainly shouldn’t be punished for it by being made to read essays for some insipid contest. He couldn’t even offer his opinion on these poorly written essays because he was simply supposed “to learn a bit more about how other kids act.” 

He spent the next couple of hours half-heartedly reading until he got to an essay in French. It wasn’t the first essay in a language other than English and while the computer could translate it for him, Damian already knew six languages fluently and French happened to be one of them. 

What grabbed his attention immediately, was the way the writer addressed superheroes, and villains and the emotions that came with it. How over time, she and her classmates had gone from being terrified to desensitized to the situation, and how something so awful became ordinary. It reminded him of his own life. 

He was so absorbed into reading the essay that he failed to notice his father standing next to him. “I see you like the essay that won the contest.” Luckily Bruce had more training than his son, so he was not only expecting the dagger, but was also able to stop it. “If you’d like to meet the class, they should be here in about two months.”

“That sounds like a complete waste of my time, father.”

Bruce just stared at him, his eyes disbelieving. “In any case… I just came in to tell you your punishment’s over and Jon came to visit you.”

“Then I will see you at dinner later tonight.” As Damian left the room, he failed to notice the calculating look on Bruce’s face.

[sasuhinasno1fan]

Wish come true - Adrien AUGreste Day 20, 21 & 22

Another major thank you to @etherealxgenie, who betaed while sick mind you. Please go get some rest. To be honest, this chapter was basically making the characters do some of the things I did while in London for 2 weeks. Also, I didn't actually know it took basically 2 hours to get to London from France. I just gave Felix a random number to say and the realized I should probably check that. Anyway, enjoy! London

“Here you go.” Juleka handed a box with the Fox Miraculous to Master Fu. She and Luka had been switching dropping the boxes off.

“Paris will rest easy knowing they’re safe. Was your brother busy?”

“I’m sure you’d like to know.” Juleka replied. Fu was better but still preferred speaking any Miraculous business to Luka. He shut him down, insisting she’d be involved. “I’m sure he’ll come by. He’s going to have to unify with a Miraculous if anything happens tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?”

“We have a school trip to London to go see Big Ben. It’s reopened for visits. Luka was supposed to go with us, his school works with in person schools to allow their students to join in person classes or even field trips so they can still get a semi-true experience. It was also going to fulfill a history paper for him but with Hawkmoth using every excuse to attack us, not to mention all of our rehearsals for Jagged Stone’s concert. He's not going anywhere.”

“That doesn’t seem fair.”

Unable to help herself she asked, “would you think the same if we were switched? If I was homeschooled?”

Fu stared at her, before looking away. Sure she had her answer, Juleka turned to leave when he spoke. “You both know I never wanted to be a Guardian. I’ve been trying to write many wrongs since then and I’ve had to give up even more things in the process.”

“Like Marianne.”

“You know, I am not even sure if I was really sick or if I let my fears control me to the point of punishing myself. I was free from their teachings but I still let them rule me. I still do. The Ladybug without their Cat never lasted long. Regardless of what Plagg has done in the past, he has always kept his holders alive or left when they have gone to the point of corruption. Some situations would be worse without him. The times your brother has had to fight without you have been the hardest battles. I should remember that, but it would seem the bais I was taught holds tighter than it should. It would be wrong to limit you, both of you without allowing you a chance to step back like I wanted. Here. This is the Horse Miraculous, which has the ability of teleportation. Alya has already let people know she will be out of town and the people of Paris are very good at filling in the gap. Not to mention the new measures that have been active. If anything happens here, you’ll know. But don’t unify. Both of you pushed it during the Kwamibuster akuma. You are lucky exhaustion was the only thing you had to deal with.”

Juleka took the collapsed glasses and looked at Master Fu. It was a slow progress, but he was trying his best.. And honestly, she should appreciate the attempts.

“Thank you.”

“Enjoy London. It’s been years since I have been there, but it’s a beautiful city.”

                                        _______________________

“Has he texted you?” Rose asked, also focused on her phone.

“Luka, no. Felix, yes. He’s got things booked for us to eat when we’re there.” Adrien said.

Rose pouted. “How am I supposed to enjoy London without my girlfriend?”

“I think that question also applies to me. Look, we both know if Luka’s school says no, Juleka will try and stay with him and he’ll try insisting she go. We’re basically just waiting to see who will win.”

Groaning, Rose turned to their teacher, whining for answers.

“I’m sorry Rose. The headmaster hasn’t sent me an email with any notice. I’m just as clueless as you are.”

“Rosie!”

Perking up like a dog hearing its master, Rose located her girlfriend, who was walking over with her brother. “Julie!”

Adrien himself noticed something about his boyfriend. “You have a bag with you.”

“I do.” Luka said, swinging his sling bag to the front. It was the type that looked like a standard backpack in size and looks but it was thinner and only had one strap. “Think Felix will be ok adding one more?”

“If he isn’t, I’ll just have to take you on your own tour.”

“Ah, Luka. I just got the confirmation email from the headmaster.” Mml. Bustier said, tucking her iPad into her purse and pulling out a pen. “He mentioned paperwork?”

After assuring Luka would have time for his assignment, Mml. Bustier signed off on the paperwork before calling “Alright. I know we’re missing 4 but we’re allowed to start boarding in 2 minutes. Max, Alya and Marinette are already on board. Max’s mother is a train conductor for those who remember and she’s actually going to be driving our train to London. Chloe, any word from Sabrina?”

“She texted when she left. I keep sending her notices.”

“Is it that stupid text alert where you demand she hurry up? It’s a little degrading Chloe.” Alix pointed out.

“I haven’t gotten it off her phone yet, relax! Besides, I bet you her dad is making her late giving everyone tickets. If she misses this train, this time I will fire him.”

“Guess we shouldn’t remind her what happened last time.” Nath whispered to those near him.

They went ahead and started to board the train while Chloe waited on the platform for Sabrina.

“I’m here! I’m here!” Sabrina called, pushing the full-sized suitcase ahead of her.

“Sabrina, hurry up! What took you so long? I swear to god if it was your dad!”

Luka came off the train and helped Sabrina lift the suitcase over the gap, surprised at its weight. Adrien, who’d come with him at Sabrina’s cries, tilted his head at the sight.

“Ok first, Chloe you do realize it’s actually pretty warm in London right now, right? Also, why did you have Sabrina bring a massive suitcase? Barring any issues, we’re going to be back in the evening.” Adrien asked.

“It’s full of everything she might need. She’s the daughter of an elected official. Who knows what’ll happen?”

“I’d like to think the minute we step foot in England, we won’t be pelted with rotten fruit.” Adrien said.

“This might be one of those ones you need to let go.” Luka whispered as he passed by.

Sabrina didn’t seem bothered and Chloe seemed more upset at the idea of Sabrina missing the train more than the suitcase, so he decided to leave the two to Mml. Bustier. His only objective was to enjoy the trip to London with his friends and boyfriend, all excited to see Big Ben without the cover and meet up with Felix again.

Marinette ended up asking for a seat to herself so she could spread out her designing things which made Adrien’s heart hurt a little. He’d be banned from working and buying cosplay supplies as punishment. He might have gotten his dad involved to get the sentence lifted, but it was basically in exchange for his presence on the trip and at the opening concert – which was in two days! – it meant no cosplay. Which sucked because he was hoping to do another couples cosplay with Luka.

Said rocker was yawning as the train departed, something he’d been doing since he arrived. Juleka didn’t seem any better, already tucking her head into Rose’s neck.

“You ok?”

“Tired. I didn’t think I’d be able to go, so I stayed up trying to look up other historical monuments that weren’t as talked about in France. Juls helped. We didn’t get confirmation until this morning and Maman had to rush to get the email forwarded to your headmaster so I could be allowed to come.” Luka explained, his whole body relaxed as his eyes started to droop.

“Here, switch with me. Come on, move.” Luka got up, letting Adrien push him to the window seat. He watched him pull something down from his bag sitting in the overhead and caught what he threw at him.

“What is it?” The item in hand was plush, a bit long and twisted in on itself, similar to an infinity symbol.

“It’s a neck pillow. Trust me, I’ve used this on every plane and train ride since I got it. You can either use it to protect your back against the wall or wrap the rings around your neck to keep your head supported.” Adrien explained, pulling Luka’s legs onto his lap, looking at him expectedly. “Sleep. When you wake up, we’ll be in London. You’ll get everything you need for your paper and then we have the rest of the day to ourselves.”

“Can we go on the London Eye? I don’t think I ever got to ride the Ferris Wheel with you, like I wanted to back then before Alya’s sister got akumatized.” Luka asked, pulling his jacket off to be his blanket.

“Yeah, I think we can do that.”

The train ride had been going smoothly, when the announcement of heading under sea level was made. Adrien had pushed his headphones to one ear and glanced at Luka, who managed to hide the bottom half of his face in the pillow, but was still asleep.

“Ow!”

“Marinette? What’s wrong?” Mml. Bustier asked.

“It’s just my back. I hadn’t realized how much I’d been hunching over.”

“Oh! I have just the thing! I’ve got hot and cold packs in my suitcase. If you put one on and rest, I’m sure you’ll feel better in no time.” Sabrina offered, heading out to the First Class cabin. A few minutes later, a few screams echoed as people came rushing into their cabin, Chloe and Sabrina following the pack.

“What is going on? Sabrina, Chloe?”

“There was an akuma in my suitcase! It must have appeared when my dad was getting angry. My suitcase popped open when we got to the station, it must have gotten in then.”

“Everyone got out and I locked the door behind us. I’ve never seen an akuma go through solid doors so we’re fine. We just need to let the train driver know so they can contact those in Paris so Scarlet Bug and Catseye can know and meet us in London. Or back in Paris if we end up reversing the whole way.” Chloe explained.

Just then the hauntingly familiar sight of bubbling purple and black substance ran over the train, turning the sleek silver into dark red and purple.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I am Startrain! I’m afraid our final destination has switched from London to the stars! Fasten your seatbelts! We have lift off!”

Everyone screamed as the train started to tilt and vibrate, scrambling to grab onto anything or anyone. Before they knew it, they’d broken through the atmosphere and started to float without the weight of gravity.

“Guys, I don’t think we’re going to be able to get in contact with France, let alone Scarlet Bug and Catseye.” Nino pointed out.

“Forget that. The only thing that’s keeping us alive is the fact that the whole train is akumatized.” Max said. “Unless they have a way of getting the train back to earth before capturing the akuma, the pressure will destroy the train at best and at worst, we’ll all die a slow death of freezing with no oxygen.”

                                   _____________________

“Hey Luka.” Adrien said, rubbing his boyfriend’s back. “Ragazzo, we’re here.”

Luka whined, rubbing his face into Adrien’s legs. Moving didn’t sound like a good option.

“Come on. Felix got us a bus so you can sleep there on the way.”

“Isn’t it like a 10-minute drive?” Luka asked sleepily, eyes still closed.

“Then you can use it to wake up. I know our first trip was a lot, but I didn’t think you’d crash that hard the second trip. Come on, we have a much shorter time now thanks to the akuma.”

Luka whined more but eventually pushed himself up, letting his jacket fall back onto the seat as he wiped his face, exhausted. He stretched his back, cracking loudly.

“Are you ok?” Adrien asked, concerned.

“My back just hurts. I guess when the train landed on Big Ben, I landed kinda oddly.”

“Guess that’s what happens when you end up locked in a bathroom while in space. Come on.”

Felix stood outside Kings Cross Station, standing in front of a double decker bus.

“You were supposed to be on the train for 2 hours. How is it you got here nearly 4 hours later? Can you even get to your tour reservation?” he asked, directing them onto the rented double decker. Mml. Bustier called for everyone to not just sit on the top level. “Better question, are they going to want you there? That was technically your train.”

“Mml. Bustier said she tried getting in contact, but the lines were busy. We’ve been checking the headlines and so far, nothing about them closing for the day.”

Adrien watched the Couffaine siblings collapse into a set together and used each other as pillows as they passed out. Clearly this essay was a definite need to pass.

“Are they ok?”

“Yeah, they just didn’t get much sleep. So should we go over places to visit and stop by?” Adrien asked.

Casting another concerned look, Felix pulled out his phone, one with an attached stylus which he immediately pulled out as he brought up a list. “I was going to suggest a museum or two, but there’s no way we could do that and get back in time.”

“What about historical monuments? If he’s this exhausted trying to work on the essay, I’d like Luka to at least see one monument he can go to.”

“Assuming Big Ben and surrounding areas are closed, there are a few. The Tower of London could be fine, if we join a tour quickly enough to go see the crown jewels. But it can get pretty crowded. So maybe Westminster Abbey? See Saint Paul’s? Maybe visit the Globe Theatre if we have time? There’s also St Bride’s Church. They have a whole exhibit downstairs.”

“What about the market? Borough Market? The glass covering they have, I heard it used to belong to the Royal Opera House.”

“To be fair, with how old the Opera House as a company is, I’d consider that a monument itself.” Felix said as they got closer to the famed clock tower. The traffic they were running into however didn’t spell good news. “Anything else you want to visit?”

“London Eye. That’s for Luka and I.”

In the end, the trip to Big Ben was canceled thanks to a train crashing into it. But Mml agreed to the visits to the other monuments instead. After going over the options, with Luka having final say for his essay, they decided to go to Saint Paul’s. While half the class took the track up to the top, the other half went downstairs to the gift shop and even walked over to the Abby. They watched Felix of all people, follow around a pigeon in circles, giggling as it flew off to get away from him.

“It’s actually a thing that the pigeons here are rather tame. If we had time to go to the Museum of London, you could actually get some like them at the gift shop.”

“Yeah, too bad someone can’t enjoy it like you do.” Alya said, looking over her shoulder to where Adrien stood close to the door of the Abbey gift shop, darting back inside when a pigeon waddled too close.

Once they all met back – and got away from the pigeons – Felix clapped his hands together once mention of food came up. “So, while Harrods is on the menu because a certain someone wouldn’t stop demanding it,” he said glancing at Chloe, who had her feet propped up on Sabrina’s suitcase, “If you want something else, we have the choice of heading to Borough Market, which has a lot more options and more of a chance for you guys to explore or, my mother and I have a permanent reservation at Sanderson Hotel for their Mad Hatter afternoon tea. There is also ‘afternoon tea’ at the crypt in Trafalgar Square, but it’s more of a food court you can happen to get an afternoon tea tower at.”

Mylene raised her hand. “What about ‘granny cafés’?”

“Those are mainly at garden centers and you won’t find many in London proper compared to a bit further out in the city. A reminder, your teacher did book a reservation at a local pub for your last meal before you get onto the train.”

“How about the afternoon tea? Then we can split up for a while?” Max suggested. “According to Maps, there are a fair few things to do around the hotel when we’re done.”

“Hello? What about Harrods?”

“If it’s ok with you guys, Luka and I are going to go to the London Eye after. It’s in the opposite direction, so maybe we can agree to meet at the pub at a certain time?” Adrien asked.

After agreeing, they split into groups ahead of time as they were dropped off at the Sanderson Hotel. Each round table held 4 people with 2 towers each. Adrien’s table felt Luka’s plight from when they’d gone to St Vincent beach as Adrien made them hold until he was done getting pictures of everything and with the book menu, the music box sugar holder and everything else, his friends were getting close to rioting. There was nothing to tide them over.

“Adrien, I am begging you! Please.” Felix said, close to banging on the table.

“Alright, alright. I’m done, go ahead.”

Even though Adrien was done taking pictures of the food, pictures were still taken of everyone, mid bite or mid sip, laughing at whatever anyone had said and questions to both Felix and Adrien about other things they wished they had a chance to visit.

“If your families are ok with it, you’ll have to come back during winter. They have this huge winter festival, not to mention the winter markets, down at Hyde Park. I never went, but always heard my classmates say it was fun.” Felix said, eating the last of his scone.

“Oh yes please! I want to bring Marc here. He’d really enjoy this.” Nath said. His tablet was full of sketches of everything they’d seen. A half-done sketch of the tower, including more whimsical elements fitting Alice in Wonderland was on the screen for anyone to see.

“Mother would love more people over. Let me know.”

Chloe already had a game plan for Harrods that she explained to her group and Felix left her to it. Meanwhile, Adrien got his group to the Ferry that would get them to the London Eye. The line for the famed Ferris wheel wasn’t too long, nothing compared to the line for the local Ferris wheel for the World Cup. The pods were bigger so the group and a few other tourists shared one pod.

“Isn’t there something called the needle?” Nath asked, sketching the scene, glancing over his shoulder. Luka had taken a seat on the bench and had his arms wrapped around Adrien’s waist, leaning against his stomach as a food coma started taking over. Adrien was trying not to disturb him too much while taking a selfie of them.

“I know there’s something like that in Brighton. It’s called the Brighton i360. It’s like the Ferris wheel but all around. I’ve heard people say it’s not worth it though.” Adrien said, giving up and tucking his phone away as he ran his fingers through Luka’s hair. “More to explore with Marc?”

“You’re going to get sick of me asking for reconditions after a while.”

Meeting back with everyone at the pub wasn’t hard and Felix, once again, worked his magic to get them a semi private table in the back. While a few were upset when Felix explained that Sunday roast was only really just for Sundays, his suggestions were taken to heart.

“If you can convince your mom to let you come to France in 2 days, you can stay with me. We’re opening for Jagged Stone. You mentioned you thought his music was ok.” Adrien said to Felix. Both ate their fish and chips in the same way, dunking their chips into their peas. Alya had pointed it out, joking that they had to be separated at birth with the many things they shared in common.

“The weak spined overweight Pomeranian actually kept his word?” Felix asked, uncaring when the Kitty Section members nearly spit their food out at the comment made about Bob Roth.

“We sent our mom over for all the parents.” Luka said. “He didn’t last two minutes with her.”

“Now I have to go, if only to meet this woman.”

Desserts were taken to go and they had just enough time to visit Platform 9 ¾ before they needed to head to their platform. Felix promised he’d try and get his mother to agree and after a few unexpected hugs given to him by members of the class – well Rose and Adrien’s were expected because that’s who they were – he sent them on their way, meeting up with Max’s mother again as their conductor for their return trip.

Insisting Adrien take the window seat this time, Luka pulled out his laptop as Adrein set their desserts onto his table to feed Luka while he worked. “So, how are you going to start this essay? ‘Since Big Ben was out thanks to an international Akuma, I turned my attention to Saint Paul’s Cathedral’?”

Laughing, Luka said, “Maybe not like that, but it couldn’t hurt to mention I witnessed Big Ben up close and personal in ways tourists could only dream of. That and it being the sight of London’s first akuma attack. If that doesn’t get me an A, I don’t know what will.”

[mccarthawrites]

First Impressions

Relationship: Matt Simmons/OC!Lucy Rivera

Rating: General Audiences:

Summary: Sportswriter, Lucy Rivera, goes into the Carson City Wolverine's locker room in hopes of interviewing their coach, Jack Garrett. She meets the Wolverine's star pitcher, Matt Simmons, who leaves her flustered.

Author’s Note: This is a COMPLETE AU! No FBI in sight! Matt is the star pitcher for the (fictional) Carson City Wolverines (no relation to the Michigan State Wolverines - it was an oversight on my part).

Words: 1,600

Strike Zone Masterlist || Criminal Minds Masterlist

Sportswriter, Lucy Rivera, walked into the locker room, getting looks from the mostly unclothed players. It wasn’t the first men’s locker room she’d been in, so she was unbothered. She was tasked with interviewing the coach of the Carson City Wolverines who had been on an eleven-game winning streak this season.

“You seem lost, baby.” Derek Morgan, one of the team’s hitters and a notorious flirt, stopped her. “Maybe I could help.” He had a killer smile, but she wasn’t going to be swayed by just any handsome athlete. She’d already made that mistake.

“I’m not lost, but I am looking for your coach.” She told him.

“Well, you’ve found him.” Jack Garrett had been coaching the Wolverines for six years now, after hanging up his pitcher’s mitt. He was well respected on and off the field. “How can I help you, Miss-”

“I’m Lu Rivera. It’s an honor to meet you, Mr. Garrett. The first game my dad took me to was the Wolverines against the Cyclones.” She explained. He chuckled. “I spoke to Mike Casteña about an interview.”

“Yes, Mike mentioned it, but I’ll be honest, Miss Rivera. I expected- someone else.” He admitted.

“I get that a lot.”

“Mike probably didn’t tell you I don’t do interviews anymore, did he?”

“No, I- I’m sorry.”

“But you’re more than welcome to interview any of these guys. I’m sure they’d be more interesting than me, anyway. Hey, Simmons.” He waved over Matt Simmons, the team’s star pitcher who had just exited the showers and only wore a towel around his waist.

“Yeah, Jack?” He approached them, a bit taken aback by the woman standing in the locker room. “Hi.” He nodded to her, not wanting to be rude.

“Hi.” She was quiet. He wasn’t just one of the best pitchers in the history of the Wolverines, he was one of the best pitchers in the league. She was well aware of him, but she’d never seen him so close in person. He was tall and handsome. Very handsome.

“Do you want to do an interview?” Jack asked.

“What? Now? I- can I put pants on first?” He asked, chuckling. Lucy couldn’t help but smile.

“This is Lu Rivera with- The World?” Jack asked Lucy.

“Yeah. The World! I used to write for The Brooklyn Baron, but then I moved to Miami and-” Realizing that they most likely didn’t want nor care to hear her ramble on about her past work experience, she stopped. She didn’t even know why she started. “Sorry.”

“She’s with The World and wants an interview and who better than you?” Jack asked.

“I mean- sure.” Matt shrugged. Lucy tried keeping her focus on his handsome face and not his chiseled abs. “But- I think it would do us both some good if I put some clothes on, right?”

“Right. Yeah. Uh- let me just-” Reaching into her over-the-shoulder bag, she pulled out a business card and handed it to him. His hand grazed hers, making her breath stagger. She’d dealt with plenty of attractive athletes before. Why was he any different? Matt looked at the card.

“So is this your direct number or-”

“Uh- yeah, and it also has my email. I know some people prefer email over calling or texting so- uh- yeah.” She’d never been so inarticulate. Why did he make her lose her cool so quickly?

“Alright. Well- tomorrow is an off day so- would that work for you?” He asked.

“Tomorrow could work!” She replied, overenthusiastically, Forever internally cringing. “Tomorrow works perfectly.”

“Great.” Matt smiled. “It was a pleasure, Miss Rivera. I’ll give you a call when I get back to the hotel and we’ll talk details.” He told her.

“Sounds like a plan. I- uh- I should get going, but thank you, Mr. Garrett, and- Mr. Simmons.” Turning on her heel, she abruptly left the locker room. Jack and Matt watched her.

“So Lu Rivera’s been a woman this whole time,” Jack commented. “Who would have known?”

“Lu Rivera,” Matt repeated, looking at her name on the card.

Lucy walked into the apartment she shared with her best friend, Andi. Andi sat on their sofa, watching CIS: Miami reruns.

“How’d your interview with Coach Garrett go?” Andi asked. Lucy plopped down on the sofa, silently before holding a pillow to her face and screaming into it. “That bad?”

“I didn’t even get to interview him because he doesn’t do interviews anymore which is fine.”

“Damn. Sorry, babes.”

“I’m still getting an interview. Did you take any photos of the hot pitcher?” Lucy asked.

“The hot pitcher?’ Andi asked, smirking. “Interesting choice of an adjective. Also very vague. Which one is the hot pitcher?”

“Fuck off. I mean- he- Simmons. Did you get any? I’ll buy it off you.”

“I think I’ve got a few. So that’s who you’re interviewing, huh? The hot pitcher.” Andi teased.

“Stop. I completely embarrassed myself. I’ve never been so-” Lucy groaned. “I was so awkward. I’m never this awkward. I haven’t been like this since- Mateo.” The mere mention of her ex made Lucy cringe at her past mistakes. “But you should have seen this guy, And. Not only is he so fucking tall. But he-” She sighed. “I don’t know what it is about him.”

“What happened to ‘athletes are overrated’?” Andi mocked Lucy.

“They are, but I still have eyes.” Lucy laughed. “It’s like I became a total idiot as soon as I saw him. My IQ dropped severely.”

“So are you going to try to bangee?” Andi asked, looking at her best friend, curiously.

“Are you kidding me? I am a professional.”

“Yeah, sure. Because you were so professional with Mateo, right?” Andi teased.

“Stop. Just because I mentioned him, doesn’t mean you get to.” Lucy whined. “And you know that was different.”

“Was it different?’ Andi questioned, teasingly. “Unlike you, I prefer to keep my work and pleasure separate.”

“Fuck off!” Lucy groaned. “I am keeping my work and pleasure separate! Just because I think he’s hot and tall and- he’s so pretty. I don’t think I’ve seen a prettier man in my life.”

“When was the last time you got laid?” Andi asked, pulling Lucy out of her thoughts.

“What?”

“When was the last time you went home with someone? Because I know you haven’t brought anyone here.”

“You don’t want the honest answer,” Lucy replied.

“That long?”

“Listen, in my line of work, most of the men I meet are athletes and I really don’t want a repeat performance of what happened with Mateo.”

“If you tell me you haven’t hooked up with anyone since you moved back to New York I will cry.”

“No! It hasn’t been that long, but- it’s been-” Lucy mumbled the rest of the sentence, making it inaudible.

“How long?” Andi asked.

“Almost a year,” Lucy said quietly.

“Babes,” Andi whined.

“I know! Leave me alone.”

“Lucy, how did you let that happen?”

“I’ve been working. And like I said, I am not going to hook up with another athlete.”

“Not even a one-night stand?” Andi asked.

“I am a professional.”

“Professionals deserve to have sex too.” Lucy’s phone rang. She let out a sigh of relief.

“Saved by the bell.” Pulling out her phone, she made a face at the unknown number. “That is not a New York number.” She showed Andi her phone.

“Obviously not it says Michigan right there, stupid. Who do you- did you give said hot pitcher your number.”

“Oh, shit! I forgot.”

“You did give him your number!”

“So we could schedule the interview for tomorrow. Leave me alone!” Lucy stood up and walked to her room to take the call. “This is Lu Rivera.”

“Hey, it’s Matt Simmons we spoke earlier.”

“Yes! Hi! I- how are you?” Why would she ask that? She just saw him two hours ago. “Sorry. It’s been a long day.”

“I get that, but I am doing alright.” He chuckled. “So I’ve got a thing in the morning, but I will be free after one. I don’t know if that works for you or not.”

“We can meet after one. That works. Do you want me to send you a list of questions tonight?”

“Is that a thing you usually do?” He asked. “I’ve only been interviewed once before so I don’t know how this works.”

“I can send them to you if you’d like. Gives you some time to think about them.”

“Then yeah, that’s okay. Do you have an office that we can meet at or-”

“I work in a cubicle so no, but- you’re staying at the Hilton on 6th Avenue, right?” She asked.

“Yeah. How’d you know?”

“It’s my job to know these things. They’ve got a conference room we can use. I’ll call in the morning and book it for us.” She told him. “But it might not be available on short notice.”

“We could do it in my room.” He suggested.

“What?”

“The interview. If the conference room isn’t available we could do the interview in my room.” He clarified.

“Oh, yes! Yeah. That’s a good backup plan.” She rubbed her face. “So if you’re free after one, what time should we meet up?”

“Let’s say 1:45? Gives me time to get back to the hotel.”

“That sounds perfect. I will see you then.”

“Great. Have a good night, Miss Rivera.”

“You too, Mr. Simmons.” She quickly hung up, throwing her phone onto the bed. She hoped her nerves would stop and the interview would go smoothly. Flopping onto her bed face first, she groaned.

[auralina33]

Or have a heart so wet and cold it starts rusting? (Villain!Vanessa one-shot)

I’ve been writing fanfic for a hot minute but this is the first one I’m posting here on Tumblr.

It’s for my FNAF SB AU, Memento Mori. Vanny and Vanessa are different people here, but they’re partners in crime. They’re not blood related also, this isn’t twin theory it’s more like the pre-release interpretations.

Also my animatronic OC is mentioned for like a few lines but he doesn’t feature majorly. Same with some staff characters.

Warning for some implied internalized ableism

They were throwing one of their stupid, stupid parties today.

Vanessa knew what the occasion was. They’d only said it over the intercom and in the emails about a dozen times; We’re approaching the 6 years anniversary of the Freddy Fazbear’s Mega PizzaPlex’s opening! To celebrate, we will be holding a party at the location after hours, there will be food and drinks, be ready to see the animatronics, make sure to dress appropriately…

Of course, there were things they’d kept as hush quiet as possible, likely to avoid someone showing it somewhere and getting them in legal trouble, such as the fact that they were charging people to attend, and yet that attendance was required if you were a fan of keeping your job.

The first several, many times they had pulled things like this, she had been enraged. By now, she no longer cared, and just scoffed to herself as she looked in at her reflection in the bathroom.

She’d decided to have fun with it, at least. The suit she was wearing– How she loved it, it was sharp and tidy and made her look far more polished than any dress ever did– had been cleaned and ironed thoroughly, and she was glad to see it still fit her perfectly, as it had since her prom. It’d made attending the event worth it back then, and she hoped would make this stupid party a little more bearable.

Her makeup seemed fine, too. There was no hiding her freckles, but she at least could appreciate how black lipsticks and eyeshadows looked against her porcelain skin, how they made her features stand out better.

It gave her an ominous, dark look that she was sure kept some people from talking to her, like those raven-women one would see in movies and series. That was good. She wasn’t interested in their shallow conversations, in their attempts to get to know her as, at best, an empty urge to be polite.

She looked just how she wanted to.

Now, she just needed to stop checking this.

There’s no point in it anyways. I don’t know why I bother.

Giving a dismissive shrug to the woman in the mirror, she turned and walked out.

Not even three steps out of the bathroom, she was met by neon lights, music blasting, and people walking to and fro as they talked, sang, and complained. She could hear soft steps, the louder tap of some formal shoes, and the quiet, annoying humming and whirring of the animatronics’ systems.

Glancing around as she dodged people and ignored whoever it was that had just said her name, she could see why.

Glamrock Freddy, Glamrock Chica, and Glamrock Bonnie were greeting the general public, talking about something that was quickly disregarded by her ears, probably the establishment’s history or simply stupid tales about their lives. They reminded her of people that way, going on and on about nothing, demanding attention and sharing far too many details that made her want them to shut up.

Melody was somewhere across the room– closer to where she was than she liked, which she quickly aimed to correct– hanging on to Roxanne’s arm, and they were with a pair of humans.

The first human with them had dust brown skin and curly hair, and was carefully watching Melody with that pitiful, pitiful look they always held on their face. It could almost make her laugh, to see someone who was always looking so tired and even sad. One could wonder why, but in her eyes? Wondering wasn’t worth the time.

The other human was a tall man, who had actually come to bother her with Luis a few times. What was his name again? Something with M, with a foreign pronunciation… right. Manuel. His laugh was deep and grating, she could hear it from here, and his makeup was much like Roxanne’s, not that it flattered either of them.

Roxanne had her scratch-on-chalkboard voice, and all those attempts to make herself look cool, straighten her back, whip her hair and pretend her confidence wouldn’t be destroyed if any of the people she was with were to criticize her.

And Melody?

Oh, how insufferable he was. Even as she stepped back, she could see every single idiotic quirk that grinded her nerves about him. His foot tapped incessantly, the volume of his voice was painfully quiet to the point she couldn’t even hear him from here, he kept shifting his weight around, side to side, he was looking elsewhere rather than at the people he was with, and- was he wearing headphones? Of course he was. Of course he damn was. No way the little princess would just sit here and handle the music like everyone else, was there? He’d probably made a sad face until one of the humans he was with surrendered their own.

She must have been staring harder than she’d thought, because after a long moment, the animatronic turned in her direction, seemingly having noticed her eyes on him. And there must have been something in her eye, because his smile quickly faded, his position changed into something nervous and off-put, and he quickly moved to hide behind Roxanne.

Deciding she was done fixating on this, she walked away right as the people with him noticed her. It wasn’t worth getting into an argument over.

So, polished black shoes clicked through checkered tile, lit by the colorful, glaring neon lights. She kicked some confetti away, and kept her attention on that, only paying enough mind to her surroundings to ensure she wouldn’t stumble into anyone. The song that played right now was pounding on her ears, but she tried to ignore that.

No one would talk to someone so clearly closed off, so clearly unpleasant. She’d stopped trying to pretend now. She was one of those stone-faced women in the movies now, except not in a glamorous, sexy way, but in a way that made people feel disgusted. That had been her for years now.

And she’d grown old enough to be fine with that.

No one would talk to her, except for maybe the marketing boy that couldn’t seem to take a hint. She needed to put a special effort into avoiding him, she remembered.

Her head lifted in alarm, and she looked around, searching for any possible threat of discomfort. Nothing, she could see nothing, they were judging her, not pitying her, it was fine-

“NESSIE!”

She paused, and looked around in disconcert, finally processing the familiar nickname said by the wrong voice.

There were two rapid taps to her shoulder, and she whipped around, damn near ready to swing a punch at whoever had the guts to touch her.

Only to then stare at a familiar animatronic, staring at her with an amused, questioning look on their face.

“...Heya.” There was a half-laugh, and that face, painted two shades of blue and framed by long white hair, craned up slightly to look at her, “Earth calling to Nessie! Everything okay over here?”

“...Ivie?”

“Well, duh,” The animatronic talked just like her dearest one, but in that low, raspy voice, and lifted a hand, tapping ‘his’ own head, “Of course. We’d have bigger problems if it weren’t me.”

“Are you unhinged?” Incredulous didn’t quite cut how Vanessa felt right now, “What in the world are you doing? Why isn’t Sunnydrop in control? Why in the world would you approach me?”

“Sunny is sleeping, because they stayed up until the crack of dawn yesterday. And what’s wrong with me being with my favorite girl? I thought you’d be happier to see me.”

The affectionate words, said in that voice, made something painful and acidic rise up her throat. She swallowed it down, and decided to reprimand.

“You’re going to blow our entire cover. Everyone knows the Daycare Attendant, especially the Moon version, doesn’t like me.”

There was a small ‘pfft’, and an eye roll, “Do you really think anyone cares? C’mon, Nessie. No one’s watching. No one gives a hell about what Moony does. We’re fine.”

“I… I guess. Fine.”

“You don’t sound happy about that.”

She couldn’t help it. She just made an uncertain face, and tried to push down that strange, sickly feeling in her stomach.

The animatronic, no one else would guess otherwise, seemed to think for a moment, “...Is it the voice?”

“What?”

“Do you not like me talking in his voice? I can’t do anything about the face. But would it be better if I talked in my own voice?”

Vanessa shook her head, “It’s fine. That’d be completely ridiculous. You’re already risking it just by being with me.”

“We can go somewhere else. Bet you no one’s going to come looking.”

Whether she liked to admit it or not, this sounded very, very tempting. And clearly, Ivie knew this, with the way her- remote control toy leaned forward and gave her a little grin. She glared back, which only got her a soft head tilt in response.

“You’re ridiculous,” She sighed.

“Is that a yes or a no?”

Without another word, Vanessa took the liberty to grab the animatronic’s arm, and start leading them away from the crowd and the voices, to which Ivie soon had them follow, with a small skip to their step, swinging Vanessa’s hand slightly as they walked together.

Eventually, they came to a darker, quieter spot, where most people didn’t hang around or even glance towards, probably because there were no snacks, and the music was muffled. The latter wasn’t a downside for her, however. It was nice to get a break.

She stuck a chip she’d snatched off one of the tables into her mouth, and glanced back at the… morbid… thing.

Ivie was acting as she usually would, adding to the dissonance. She moved her puppet in front of her, hopped back a step, then held out its hands, “Okay! Watch this.”

With this, the animatronic’s hand came to knock at his own chest, and he made a noise which Vanessa could assume was Ivanna trying to have him clear his throat. It sounded the most like he was glitching, and if it weren’t because nothing else seemed wrong, she really would have wondered if Ivie just broke him.

“Hellooo!” A new voice called out of that mouth, familiar and comforting, with its light, angelically high sound.

The horrible feelings fading the slightest bit, as long as she didn’t look at the animatronic directly, Vanessa couldn’t help but find herself starting to feel curious, “...How… are you even doing that? I don’t see any reason why these machines should be able to play external audio through their voice boxes.”

They stared at her for a moment, then went limp and looked down, then simply shrugged. When she continued, it was still in that voice, like that of a joyful spirit.

“I don’t know, honestly! I just started poking around the parts of the system I have access to. I opened a thing here, I followed a little rabbit hole from there, a pop-up showed up and I accepted it, then another one and I accepted that too, and then I talked and heard my voice through the screen. Neat, right?”

Vanessa stared back.

On one side, she could certainly facepalm at how easily Ivie could have ruined everything doing whatever she did. On the other side, it was clear she’d just been finding any way to entertain herself, and that smile was almost adorable.

“I can’t believe you.” She finally responded.

“Well, you’d better believe me!” The animatronic gestured to itself.

“I can’t leave you unwatched for even 1 day. Incredible. This is going on the ‘Ivie being insane’ list. I’m going to have to reorganize it and all.”

Vanessa put in a specific effort to make her tone and expression completely deadpan, and felt the slightest bit rewarded when this earned her Ivie’s laugh. It was slightly rough and hearty, and filled her heart to the brim.

Ivie’s laughter cut into some small giggles, before the puppet shrugged, “You can always count on me to give you an interesting day!”

Then, however, it slowly dropped, and Vanessa had a softly concerned look directed at her.

“...And to get you out of places where you’re not comfortable. I want to ask, are you okay? You were covering your ears pretty hard back there.”

She very, very hurriedly shook her head, “Of course I am. It’s not that bad. I’ve had worse.”

“Alriiight… We can go farther from the speakers if you need, do remember that.”

“I don’t need that- But-” She sighed, “Thank you. I do guess I like it better here. So now, let me ask…”

“Yes?” Ivie’s voice came, slightly confused, but willing to listen and answer, paired with a head tilt.

“Why did you come approach me? You know it’s risky.”

The puppet looked away, and shifted its weight slightly, crossing its arms, “...Well, it gets lonely where I’m staying, you know? I can read, I can watch stuff, I can plan things, but I don’t really have anyone to be with.”

In hindsight, it should have been obvious. But Vanessa still found herself making to say something, before letting Ivie continue speaking instead.

“I just wanted to be with you. And I figured this would be a half-decent way to do it. I… promise I’m trying to be careful. I know it’s a bit dumb, but-”

“It’s not dumb.” Vanessa shook her head, “I don’t know how I didn’t realize. It should have been obvious.”

“It’s okay! I know there’s not a lot we can do about it.”

“Maybe. But… I’ll go see you once everyone’s gone. Would that be of help?”

“...Yes.” It gave her a gentle smile, much like Ivie’s, always like Ivie’s, “Yes, it would.”

Ivie noticed her stare, it seemed, and walked up until she was right in front of her. And so, they stared at each other for a long moment. She couldn’t quite stay in place, and her foot moved on the floor, resisting the urge to tap. Ivie probably was moving where she was, but in front of her, stayed still.

After a good several seconds, any leftover uncomfortable feelings Vanessa held started to fade to pure questioning.

Then, Ivie giggled, poked her, and backed up again, making her raise her eyebrow.

“What was that?” Vanessa didn’t get it.

“You’re cute when you’re confused.”

This got her to feel almost insulted, though she knew, deep inside, she didn’t really mind. Especially not seeing the look on Ivie’s face as she continued to examine her expression.

After a moment, she scoffed, “Dork.”

“Dorker.”

“That’s not a real word.”

“You’re no fun.” Ivie gave her an icy mock-glare, which she wasn’t impressed by, then dropped it and grinned, “Anyways, what were you doing until now? Because it seemed like you’ve been just trying to glare people to death for the past hour.”

“For how long were you following me?”

“I was trying to catch your attention!”

She rolled her eyes, “...I wasn’t doing anything interesting. I was just trying to avoid people. You know how I feel about them all.”

“I could tell. You gave Melody a good scare.”

“He deserved that much. He’s fucking annoying.”

Now Ivie’s mouth opened into a lightly confused look, “Really? I’ve always thought he was really cute.”

“I don’t know what it is about him. I just can’t stand him. I can’t wait for when we get to him, maybe then I’ll be able to tell him to bother me as little as possible.”

“Well, I-”

Ivie suddenly paused, and stared ahead. Her expression shifted slightly, but Vanessa couldn’t tell what was up. At least, not until Ivie spoke, mumbling as quietly as she could to herself, softly placing a hand on her chest.

“Oh, Moony- Shhh, shhh, no… I can’t say much, but I can say Melody’s going to be okay for a while. We’re not going after him any time soon. Don’t freak out on me, okay?”

Vanessa stared at her- No, no, at her puppet- Suddenly having those horrid feelings weigh back on her. She hated these moments. They made her want to crawl out of her skin.

“Do they- Does it… talk to you?” She tried asking, putting a mental distance.

“...I don’t think you’ll like the answer to that, Nessie.”

She looked down at the ground, and messed with the decorative buttons on her suit. Her throat felt dry, yet like something wanted to rise. Her face felt hot, in a bad way. Her expression wasn’t much different from usual, but her hands were unsteady.

Ivie noticed this, and the moon-puppet-thing looked at her in concern. It made a pose as if thinking, then Ivie had it snap its fingers, and it spoke up again, “Hey… How about you go get yourself some more snacks? Maybe a drink? And save some chips for when you come see me, pretty please?”

“Sure- Sure.” Vanessa nodded, hurriedly, as she adjusted her suit and started to walk past her and away, “I can do that.”

“Great! See you in a minute, then.”

“...Yeah. I’ll be back. See you.”

[carlf329]

Here we go

I’m sorry people but this will be all over the place.

I’ll start with this. I met our sunshine!!! She gave me this incredible hug when she finally got over her shyness. I have to say; she gets a lot from her mom but the hugs are definitely from her. We did some work and we spoke and she saw all her things in my office. My thunder got stolen a bit but it was still awesome. Then we went to target and had pizza. She’s a pepperoni fan just like me. Another thing we have in common. I pinky promised her something and I know I will keep and deliver that promise.

Next. The week started with my lobster telling me she read my previous posts. I meant everything I wrote. You know the reason I write here and email is because I can just let everything out. When she’s in front of me I just can’t express myself or my anger or frustration or any of that. When she’s in front of me I just forget everything for that moment because I just want to hold her and hug her and forget every single negative thing.

Yesterday she told me she’d be going to lunch with an enemy. She said she knew I would get upset. But the truth is I’m just numb. Today she told me she thought I would know better than to do what I did with that stupid cruise and the truth is I should’ve. I told her I thought she would’ve known better and she ignored that comment. I had to go get my son and she said something about me always doing that. She said she wouldn’t kiss my ass. I have never asked her or expected her to. I’m to fucked up to remember the rest of that conversation. She also said something essentially about us thinking differently. It’s true. The reason is she hasn’t seen what this fucked up city is fully like. She sees and thinks everyone is good and real and true like she is. I once thought that way too. Time has shown me different.

Earlier this week when we first spoke after almost a month she said something along the lines of I focus on work and what happens there not what happens with is but that has to do with us also. She said she’s not team anybody or something like that but like I’ve said I disagree. She said something about him being her boss but guess what? Just because he’s her boss doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t mean she has to acknowledge or do anything to keep him happy. Again just my opinion. Not that it matters.

You know I’m not going to keep discussing it. I’m going to vent one last time and I’m done. I was right about her old friend and she didn’t care how I felt or what I thought and I was proven right. The gringo piece of shit got me written up and talked shit about her and she forgot it and went right back to being friends with him like nothing. I will be right about that one too. Lastly she’s team canoe and I will be right about that one as well. What’s beyond coincidental is I told her how I feel about the thumbs up emoji and last week for the first time ever canoe did two things he’s NEVER done. One replied to an email only to me and that reply was just a thumbs up.

I’m done writing about most of these things for good after this post.

Today she blamed everything on “my tantrum”. I told her that wasn’t the real me and I think and hope she knows it’s not. The thing about that is that while I have fucked up BEYOND more than I should have I have admitted it. I have realized it, understood and apologized. She’s still saying I blew it out of proportion and it wasn’t that big a deal. She hasn’t realized or understood or apologized. To her she was just doing what her director and that piece of shit gringo wanted her to do. Yesterday she said something along the lines of she’ll do what she has to do to keep her #2 and keep her office how she wants. Sure sounds like she’s team canoe whether she admits it or not. However she chooses to see it to help her think she’s not. He wanted her to go to ultra so who gives a fuck it was OURS. Rant over.

Lastly. Tomorrow is the 29th. I’m truly not sure if the Ellie account is closed since I haven’t sent anything since the weekend that she destroyed and desecrated OUR event. I don’t even know if I should send something or not. The last 29 message I sent which included an I love you got a thumbs up.

Such is my life my people. Signing off and signing out.

I love you my lobster and I always will.

You are and will always be my real and true and forever zing.

[boldlyvoid]

Million Dollar Man | chapter two

18+

summary: Spencer's therapist recommended he branch out and meet new people who don't want to talk about his work... she didn't expect him to sign up for a Sugar Daddy website.

Content warnings: sugar daddy!spencer, age gaps (14 years), daddy kink, blow jobs, kissing, drinking mention, lowkey perv!Spencer, cum play, praise, oral (female receiving), grinding, love confessions, arrangements, Spencers anxiety, (more to add)

word count: 3.4K

a/n: updates on Wednesdays and saturdays at 2 pm est

Chapter Two | Masterlist

She sat on the subway with an anxious pit in her stomach and her purse held close to her chest. Her laptop in her bag, she didn’t want to lose it on her way to the most important meeting of her whole life.

Her story was becoming a book, she was almost done the final draft, they were making touch-ups to the cover and picking the type of paper today.

Her dreams were coming true within the next month, soon she’d have a physical copy of her book, her pre-sales were showing that she’d be on the bestseller list, and her name was finally going to be on the cover of this one.

She sighed and reached for her necklace, holding it between her fingers as she took a few deep breaths. She was doing so much better today than she was last year and it was all because of Spencer, he was the best thing to happen to her. To think she complimented his sweater vest and now he’s the only person in her life she can count on.

All she can think about is him for the rest of her journey, through 4 more stops she keeps her eyes closed as she thinks of all his little facts and his cute laugh. She smiles to herself and the anxiety slips away, she loves him and she knows that for sure, but she just doesn’t know how she loves him.

She’s never had a sibling, her best friends are all women, her previous boyfriends were all shit and her other sugar daddies were never this wonderful, and her parents are lesbians… she doesn’t know what her feelings really are for Spencer, mainly because she’s never known any other men to compare him to.

But she does know the exact moment she realized she fell for him.

He booked a hotel room in DC after a local case, asking her to meet him in there at 10 pm. She was waiting in the bathtub when he arrived, bubbles galore, her hair up and arms open, “welcome home, honey.”

He laughs, “you want me to get in there with you?”

She just nods, “let me take care of you, daddy?”

He takes off his blazer, pulls his tie off and starts to unbutton his shirt. She watches patiently as he gets undressed, and it’s not sexual to her. He’s her person, her best friend, the only human being she would ever share a moment like this with and that’s when it hits her.

She doesn’t accept it just yet.

It’s not until he’s lying on her chest, between her legs, cheek resting on her boobs as she runs a sponge over his back while he gives her a little run down on his terrible week. His co-worker almost died, his mom is stressing him out, the only good thing he has left is her and she knows that.

“And then I get to my moms facility and she’s had a really good day, she knows me and she knows all of my childhood again and she’s all right there in front of me and yet she’s so far away. I’m never going to get all the time I want with her and it’s really hard to accept.”

He shares things with her that he doesn’t even tell his therapist. Because his therapist doesn’t hold him like a child against her chest and tell him he’s okay when he get’s upset.

Y/N loves him, so she kisses his forehead, “I’m so sorry, I have 2 moms if you’d like to have one?”

“It’s okay, I would love to meet them sometime though,” he wraps his arms around her waist a little tighter under the water. “Thank you for tonight.”

“Did I mention my leg is 44 inches from hip to toe?” She asks in the middle of the silence, quoting pretty woman, knowing he hasn’t seen that far into the movie yet. “So basically we’re talking about 88 inches of therapy for the bargain price of $800 dollars a week.”

Her legs wrap around him and their naked bodies are closer than they’ve ever been and yet it’s completely platonic, “I’d spend a million dollars on you if it always meant feeling this good after.”

She runs her cheek along his wet hair as he snuggles into her neck, “mmm, I like the sound of that,” she teased. “My million dollar man.”

Her stop rolls around and she pulls herself out of her day dreams to get off the train and head to her meeting. She smiles as she walks through the station, up the stairs and onto the busy downtown streets when she gets a text with Spencers special chime. She opens it when she gets to where she’s going, safely inside and in the waiting room.

It makes her laugh in the waiting room. People look at her but she doesn’t care, he’s so special to her she feels butterflies in her stomach even when he’s not around.

“Y/N!” She hears her name being called by her editor, he’s over ecstatic as he comes running out to get her. “Come, come we have so many choices to make!” He jumps up and down as he holds her arm, like a child in a candy store.

“Andy, chill man,” she laughs at him and plays it cool, “It’s just the cover being finalized.”

“It’s our baby!” He teases back, pushing his glasses up and tugging her behind the glass doors of the office.

She’s surrounded by people and paper and huge versions of her book cover. She has a sharpie as she fixed mistakes and jots down final ideas. “And I wan’t Phil to look more human and less like data from Star Trek?”

“But Dorothy looks okay?” The artist asks, nervously and Y/N can tell.

“She looks beautiful! You really brought her justice,” she smiles, “really she looks the same in my head! It’s just Phil and I’m sure it’s tough getting a drawing to look like a robotic human, let alone human.”

“I have some ideas?” She opens up more, taking her iPad out and sliding it across the table, “I wanted to give him more of a Sophia feel? His face is silicone but his joints and everything are more like an Elon Musk crash dummy.”

“That’s perfect!” She’s shocked, “why didn’t that go in the first draft?”

“I was worried it was too much,” she’s a little older than Y/N, and yet her anxiety is that of a teenage girl. “I’m going to get working on the final, do you want some emailed versions tonight?”

“Yes please,” she smiles.

“So we’re done?” Andy asks, “we’ve made all our final calls?”

“I believe we have,” Y/N closes her laptop and takes her phone out, taking a photo of the final rough sketch of her book cover on the table to send to Spencer before he comes to pick her up. She can’t wait to see him now.

—

They’re sitting side by side in matching spa robes, he’s getting a pedicure while she gets her nails done. Leaning back in her chair with a face mask and cucumbers on her eyes, she’s never felt more relaxed in her life. And just in time too, her back was killing her from writing, her knuckles hurt and she just needed a break.

Spencer did too, he was genuinely not having a good time at work anymore, every case made him spiral and he always looked to Y/N on days like that. They met more than once a week now, she got $800 every Friday and she didn’t even really need it anymore. He was coving for so much of her bills and lively hood that her savings account was growing and growing because of him.

For the first time in her life she thought she would be okay if a man left her. As terrible as it was, as much as her moms tried to raise her differently, she fell down the daddy issues rabbit hole and she’s never going to find her way out— however, luckily for her, Spencer is down here too, and he brought a flashlight.

He understands her, more than anyone else on earth. He knows all her secrets, every crush and bad grade and snide remark she’s ever kept to herself. He didn’t judge her, he could actually listen to her issues and tell her why she had them. He gave better advice than a therapist and he was able to get information for her if he didn’t know the answer to what she was going through.

He’s absolutely everything to her and yet he’s 14 years older than her, he’s still traumatized beyond belief, he’s sad and ashamed and recovering… but he’s the best man in the whole world and she wishes he could see that. If he just looked at himself from her eyes, if he felt how she did in her soul when they were together, he’d love himself.

They’re too relaxed to drive home, and Spencer knew that would happen beforehand, bringing her a change of clothes (lingerie) and that robe me mentioned. He books a hotel above the spa and takes her to it. Arms linked as they enter the suite, she’s amazed to find more than one gift bag on the bed.

“How many gifts is this now?”

“We’re at 5 out of 24.”

She laughs as she wraps her arms around him in a thank you hug, “this is what you consider 4 gifts? Spencer there are like 8 things on the bed, let alone the massage and manicure?”

“If you think this is too much I guess you’re going to get really mad next week,” he teases as she looks up at him with a surprised look on her face.

“Spencer, I am so busy next week, I cannot be galavanting around with my sugar daddy,” she tries to act like she doesn’t want to go on an adventure with him again.

The last trip they took was the best week of her life. They went to all the historical sites in the UK that she and Spencer had talked about. Mainly old churches and castles, strange poets graves, random art and most importantly; stone henge. It was a trip of a lifetime and he took it with her.

“I watched the rest of Pretty Woman the other day,” he smiles, “and I thought I’d pull an Edward Lewis and really surprise you because you deserve it.”

“You know how the movie ends, right?” Her heart beats really fast in her chest and she wants him to love her so bad but it’s also terrifying now that she’s this close.

“He lets her choose,” he whispers.

“He rescues her,” she corrects him.

“And she rescues him right back,” he really did watch the end of the movie.

It makes her heart skip a beat as she swallows sharply, “what does this mean for us?”

“I have a whole plan, a whole sequence of events I want to stick to. I wanted to make you fall in love with me this week and ask you on your birthday, can we still do that?” He pleads with her, he’s so serious. He’s clearly put a lot of effort into this.

“Absolutely,” she smiles, “but if you’re going to make me wait that long for you to ask, you still can’t kiss me till then. No matter how much I already love you.”

“Really?” He’s so soft with her, she knows he’s not reacting to the teasing. He’s never had someone tell him they love him and then stay after.

“I would never lie to you about that, spence. I know what love means to you, I know how scared you are and I’m scared too. But I know there is no one else in the whole world I’d rather be scared with than you,” she holds him tighter and rubs her nose against his, “so what’s in the bags, daddy? Finish your surprise.”

She plays along perfectly, stepping back and hauling him towards the bed. “I got you some outfits and things for the next 2 weeks, we have a few things planned. We’re going on a flight soon, I have new luggage being delivered to your apartment this week and we’re going to see your moms for 3 days.”

“No,” she shakes her head, “there’s no way, Spencer, I haven’t seen them in 5 years, I’m going to cry.”

“I know,” he cups her jaw with his hand. “They’re really excited to see you.”

She hugs him tight, kissing his neck as she holds him. “Thank you, daddy, do you want me to put something on for you now?”

“I’m just going to take it off you, plus, what your wearing is sexy enough, he whispers back. “You’re always so beautiful, baby.”

“I thought you were saving the best for last?” She asks as she pulls back, overly eager and he can tell.

“I want to repay the favour from the other night.”

She doesn’t mean to gasp and yet she does, “please?”

He pulls on the tie of her robe, opening it enough to snake a hand behind her back and draw her in with a hand on her bare back. “Please what?”

“Please, daddy?” She looks up with her best begging eyes, perfect pout and all. “I want you to touch me, I promise I’ll be a good girl.”

He steps away from her to swipe all the bags off the bed before picking her up and laying her back against the pillows. He kisses down her body, hand on her lover back as she arches, he drags his bottom lip from her belly button to her cleavage. Nipping and sucking at the exposed skin on her chest, pulling her breasts out of the bra to suck on her nipples, she moans and it’s louder than she expected.

As she plays with his hair, he marks her, bruising small little love bites all the way down as he makes his way between her legs, “take me, please?”

He’s been dreaming of this for so long, he can’t even give you an accurate number of times his mind has drifted to the thought of how wonderful she would taste, how beautiful she’d sound…

“Tell me how badly you want me?” He asks as he spreads her legs and kisses her left thigh.

“I haven’t had sex in 10 months while waiting for you. Daddy, please you’ve owned me for so long, just take what’s yours already for gods sa- OH!”

With a broad lick, his tongue flattens against her core and it shuts her up. She gets what she wants, holding into his hair as she tosses her head back, taking it all in and enjoying it. He’s been on her mind for months, every time her vibrator was where he is now, she thought of him. he’s been the man of her dreams longer than she’s known him, and he was proving it.

“Right there, daddy,” she speaks through shallow breaths, “do you know how much I’ve thought of this?”

“You know I don’t,” the vibrations of his voice against her skin are glorious, he looks up at her through his lashes as his tongue flicks over her clit and she shakes a bit.

“Fuck,” she gasps, gripping his hair tighter, “better than I thought you’d be, fuck, too bad you— Jesus, don’t have the stash anymore…”

He stops and looks up at her, the smirk on his face glistening with her juices, “the stash?”

She nods, “I’ve thought about calling it the pussy tickler,” she teases, running her hand down his cheek and swiping her thumb across his bottom lip before bringing it up to her mouth to taste, “I want more of you.”

He kisses back up her body and she reaches for his robe the second he’s close enough. “Just grind against me? I know you’re waiting but we can still feel good together?”

He kisses the side of her mouth and she takes that as a yes, wrapping her legs around him so his hard cock is pressed right against her core as they move their hips in synchronicity with each other. His breathing is heavy as he kisses her cheek and jaw, her nails scratch down his back, he feels absolutely amazing against her.

She feels so empty, she wants him so bad she’s clenching around nothing as she squirms against his cock and wishes she was full.

“I wish I could move time,” she whispers. “Fuck, why can’t it be my birthday?”

He laughs against her, grazing his teeth over her neck and drawing another moan from her but then he stops moving his hips, “why are you so impatient?”

“Remember I said I stopped enjoying everything? Well, taking a 10 month break from sex and thinking about you every time I got off has made me desperate,” her hand cups his cheek, “I’d wait forever for you, but a girl needs to be fucked hard every once in a while.”

Only she could find a way to make something both profoundly beautiful and whorish at the same time, he loved her for it and she knew that now. He smiles and leaned in to rub his nose against hers and it takes everything in her not to kiss him. The same way it was taking everything in him not to slip into her as he began to grind against her once more.

She’s so close, the accidental edging has added a whole new level of desperation she’s never felt before. She wants to cum for him so bad, but more importantly she wants him to cum for her.

“Take my bra off,” she whispers, Spencer’s hands travel behind her back to unclasp it and he helps her out of it before tossing it to the floor.

“Cum for me daddy,” she whispers in his head with a hand in his hair, gripping him tightly as he bites at her neck, “cover me with your cum like you’re marking your territory.”

“Shit,” his hips sputter against hers.

“Say it, I know you want to,” she teases, so close to the edge but it’s too good of an opportunity. She loves seeing him fall apart like this and she can’t wait to see it again. “Who’s am I?”

“Daddy’s girl.”

He grinds down on her harder and faster and she’s so close, the bubble in her gut is reaching a fever pitch and with a gasp, she’s cumming and then she feels it. His load covers her stomach as he pants against her neck and grips her hips tighter as he comes down.

She wraps her arms around him and holds him as close as humanly possible, her breathing still heavy as he rises and falls on her chest. He’s heavy but she doesn’t care, she just kisses the top of his head and thanks him.

He brushes his nose against her neck, nuzzling her like a cat, “do you really mean it?”

“What, honey?” He remembers so much, this could be a question about something she said 2 months or 2 minutes ago and she has no clue.

“You’re not just playing along with my kinks right, you genuinely want to be mine?”

For being her million dollar man, his heart sure was broke. This is why he wasn’t ready, he still didn’t understand why she would want to stay without anything in return, he’s gotten so used to paying her for her time now that his anxiety has managed to convince him that she’ll leave when he stops being worth it to her.

“What does my necklace say?” She asks, knowing how close he was to it. “Read it to me, I forget.”

“Daddy’s girl,” he smiles again.

She soothes her hands over his back, “I would do anything with you because I love and trust you, but also because everything you do is sexy… you could read me the dictionary and I’d still want you to pump me full of cum after.”

“It sounds so crude after,” he laughs, “speaking of, we really need to have a shower.”

“I’ll wash your back if you wash mine?” She teases as he gets up.

“Only if you let me wash the front too?”

She smacks his bare ass and races him into the bathroom, turning on the water and getting in with him while still laughing and carrying on. He’s her best friend in the whole world, there’s no one else she would rather do this with… there was no one she has done this with. No one has made her feel this good, before during and after sex.

Spencer Reid was an anomaly, but he was hers.

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Sugar daddy fic (Some tags didn't work)

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[atlafan]

Open Door Policy - One Shot

a/n: so, I love a good professor!harry fic, but I don’t always love when he gets involved with a student, so y/n is his TA. He’s 26, and she’s 23, so not too weird, right? Anyways, this took me a few days to write, and I didn’t mean for it to be this long, but here we are. This is a slow burn fam, like...buckle up. Reblogs are always very kind and helpful! Not proofread. 

Warnings: angst, fluff, and smut! 

Words: 21.5K 

It was Y/N’s second year in grad school. She knew how to handle her workload on top of still making time for fun. She was still able to go out to the bar, and party with her friends. However, she was serious about her research. She had a “big girl” apartment that she shared with two friends, each having their own room. Grad school was expensive, and even though she had a decent job working at the local café, it wasn’t enough to cover her bills. Luckily, she got a grant to be TA this semester, which was perfect because she was interested in teaching at a collegiate level at some point. Her excitement dwindled slightly when she got the email about what professor she’d be paired up with.

“Who is it?” Nessa asks, plopping down on the couch with her.

“Dr. Styles.” Y/N groans.

“Tell me, why is that a problem?” Charlotte asks, coming over with a bowl of popcorn so they could start their movie night. “He’s so fucking hot.”

“Exactly! How am I supposed to concentrate?! I had him my senior year for an elective and it was awful. I was flustered all the time. He’s such a nice guy too, I missed a class where we had a test and he let me make it up, no questions asked.”

“Great, so he’s a good professor to learn from.” Nessa says. “Oh, maybe you’ll get a closer look at some of his tattoos.”

“There’s nothing to be nervous about, Y/N, he’s only a few years older than us, you know?” Charlotte shrugs. “Maybe you’ll fall in love.” She teases her.

“Mhm, yeah, because I’m sure a guy who has his PhD in Computer Science is just dying to go out with a girl who’s only a TA so she can afford her last year of school.”

“What class are you even helping him with? You’re not specializing in CS.” Nessa says.

“Apparently it’s for the section of Web Expressions he teaches, that was the class I took with him. It was really easy, you just learn the basics of HTML and then build your own website.”

“Did you just say that was easy?” Nessa scoffs.

“My older sister ended up helping me a lot because she had a myspace back in the day, I guess you needed HTML for that.” Y/N shrugs. “It’ll be a good experience for me.”

“Okay, but you’re just specializing in Curriculum and Instruction, so-“

“Yeah, that involves Instructional Design, so I know about this stuff. I’m just not looking forward to doing it with him.” She sighs.

“Could be worse.” Charlotte smirks. “You could have gotten with some old fart who would let you flounder.”

“Very true.” She closes her laptop and sets it on the coffee table. “Alright, let’s get this HSM party started.”

//

A week later Y/N received an email from Dr. Styles to meet with her so they could discuss the class and make sure they were on the same page about the syllabus. She was a nervous wreck. Y/N used to avoid his office like the plague, too afraid to be alone with him. It’s not that Dr. Styles was a creep or ever put off any inappropriate vibes, he just had this sort of intimidating stare to him. Even when he’d laugh, seeing him soften was intimidating. The sound of his deep, raspy voice was almost a little too soothing, and she was obsessed with his sense of style. His nails were always painted different colors, and he had the cutest pair of round glasses that would sit on the tip of his nose.

Even though it was August, and still very hot out, Y/N wanted to make a good, professional impression. So, she decides on a pair of white slacks that have a tie in the front, a white tank top tucked in, and a navy blue three-quarter sleeve blazer. It was too humid to leave her hair down, so she puts it up in a cute, messy bun. She puts on a little makeup, grabs her laptop bag, and out the door she goes. She puts her sunglasses on immediately, almost getting blinded by the blazing sun.

She had never been in an academic building at this point in the summer. There were a few faculty puttering around, getting their offices situated for the semester. She smiles at a few of them as she takes her sunglasses off. She heads up to the third story where Dr. Styles’ office was. There was no a/c in this building, but luckily the room they’d be teaching in would have it due to all the computers.

His door was open, and she nearly walked right by him. She back peddles and already feels weak kneed. He had his glasses on, pushed closer to his face than usual, a small fan on his desk blowing the hair that wasn’t in the little sprout on the top of his head back, and he was wearing a white t-shirt.

“Um, Dr. Styles?” She nervously taps on the outside of the doorframe. He looks up from his computer and smiles.

“Miss Y/L/N?”

“Yes.” She smiles back at him.

“Come on in, have a seat.”

It was the accent, that fucking British accent that she remembered was the most distracting part about him. He had this drawl to his voice that was irresistible.

“Do you want me to, um…” She points to the door.

“No, no, too bloody hot to have that thing closed. The little window I get barely opens so I only have this fan to really keep me cool.” He frowns slightly at her appearance. “Why’d you get so dressed up? You must be sweltering.”  

“I’m okay!” She blushes, and takes the seat in front of his desk. “I just…you know, wanted to look nice.” His eyebrows raise slightly. “I mean, like, not nice, but professional.”

“Well, don’t feel like you need to be dressed up like this all the time. I want you to be comfortable. You don’t see me all dressed up.” He smirks.

“You’re a tenure-track faculty, you can do whatever you want.”

“Not true.” He leans forward and rests his chin on his palm. “I can’t call a student an absolute moron when they ask me a stupid question.”

“I thought there were no stupid questions.” She smiles.

“God, there’s tons.” He scoffs and sits up straighter. “But we have to encourage students to speak up when they’re confused, so.” He shrugs. “Anyways, let’s look at the course, yeah?”

“Okay.” She takes her laptop out and sets it on his desk, scooting closer.

“I added you to the moodle page, so you should have full access to everything. You’ll be grading a bit, so I wanted to make sure you knew how to get in there.”

Once Y/N logs in, and clicks into the course, she smirks.

“What?”

“Looks at the exact same.”

“What do you mean?”

“I actually, uh, took this class with you a couple of years ago.” She furrows her brows at the page. “You know, you should really update this, it’s lazy to use the same design year after year.” She sort of says it without thinking and then feels embarrassed when she looks back up to meet his intimidating gaze.

“Interesting, usually I’m good with names…yours doesn’t ring a bell at all.” He looks at his own computer and crosses his arms. “And it’s not that I’m lazy, I don’t have a lot of control over the physical design. The assignments are much different, those I keep fresh.” He turns to look at her again. “I also teach eighteen credits worth of courses, I don’t exactly have time to sit and revamp all of them.”

“Well, maybe I could do that. I’ve taken a lot of Instructional Design courses.” She says brightly. “Studies show that students do better when their course pages are more inviting.”

“Alright, since you’re the expert, I’ll let you take the lead on that. Can we get back to the material itself? I have to make sure you know what you’re doing.” He squints at her. “You really took this class?”

“Yes.”

“And I was your professor?”

“Yes, Dr. Styles.”

He plucks his fingers over his lips.

“I feel bad for not remembering you.”

“It’s okay, I sort of kept to myself. You late me retake a test that I missed once, though.”

“Oh!” He snaps his fingers. “You missed class because you had a bad stomach bug.”

“Yeah.” She blushes.

“Poor thing, those are the worst when you don’t have mum around to help take care of you.”

“It’s alright, I recovered.”

“Clearly.” He smiles.

They spend the next hour or so going over the course and the materials. He tells her what he’ll need from her specifically. He’ll do most of the teaching, and she’ll bebop around helping students with questions. Oh, and grading, she’ll be helping with a lot of grading. He notices her wipe some sweat from her brow, and he frowns.

“Do you want a water? I have some in the fridge.”

“That would be great, thank you.”

He wheels over to his mini fridge and tosses her a water bottle. As she takes a sip, she notices him still looking at her.

“You can take that off, you know?”

“What?”

“Your blazer.”

“No, I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“I’m, uh, only wearing a tank top underneath and I wouldn’t feel comfortable being so…exposed.”

“Oh!” He blushes. “I’m sorry, I hope my comment didn’t-“

“It’s fine.”

“I just hope you know I wasn’t trying to-“

“I didn’t.” She clears her throat. “So, I have full reigns to redesign some things?”

“Sure.” He shrugs. “Just as long as I can still navigate it.”

“Isn’t your PhD in Computer Science? You should be fine.” She closes her laptop and sticks it in her bag.

“Right…” He pulls his calendar up on his computer. “What’s your class schedule like?”

“With this one, I only have one other class that’s in person, the rest are online.”

“Perfect, then it should be easy to build in some office hours for you. We’ll have to share mine, I hope that’s alright. Not every TA gets their own office, but there’s plenty of room in here for two. This office actually used to have to people in it, I’m having a small desk brought in for you.”

“Oh, um, thanks. I also work a lot at the café down town, but it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“You work at Bento’s?”

“Yeah.”

“I go there all the time, how have I not seen you?”

“I work in the back as a baker.”

“Oh cool, I actually worked in a bakery when I was younger.”

“I know.” She rolls her eyes. “You used to mention it all the time in class.”

“I did?”

“Yes.” She chuckles. “You made it sound like so much fun it’s actually what made me apply to Bento’s in the first place.”

“Ah, well, glad I could help.”

They decide on the office hours that will work best, and then he dismisses her. Just as she’s about to leave, he says her name.

“Yeah?”

“When it’s just us feel free to call me Harry. You and I don’t need to be so formal, alright?”

“Okay.” She smiles. “See you next week.”

The second she gets outside the building, she rips her blazer off. She gets back to her apartment as quickly as possible, changes into a bathing suit, and gets in the pool outside. Charlotte and Nessa were already out there, sitting on chairs in the shade. Y/N gets out and towels off, sitting down with them.

“Needed to cool off after your time with Dr. Styles, huh?” Charlotte winks at her.

“Shut up.” Y/N nudges her friend. “It was so fucking hot in his office. I know it’ll cool down eventually, and I was also way overdressed. He only had a t-shirt and jeans on.”

“Did he remember you?” Nessa asks.

“Not at first, but of course he remembered the reason I missed class was because I had a stomach bug, how embarrassing.”

“Why is that embarrassing?” Charlotte asks.

“I don’t want him to think about me being all…icky.”

“Do you seriously still have a crush on him?” Nessa asks.

“It’s not a crush, he’s just insanely attractive. He looked so cute being all casual today.” She whines. “It doesn’t matter, he’s twenty-six and probably has a girlfriend or something, how could he not?”

“I don’t know, I wouldn’t wanna date a guy smarter than me. He probably man-splains all the time.” Charlotte says. “I bet he’s good for a quick fuck, and that’s about it.”

“I guess Y/N will find out.” Nessa giggles.

“You two are the worst.” She groans.

//

“Hey, Y/N!”

Y/N was in the back at Bento’s getting some bread proofed and ready for the morning crew. One of her coworkers was calling for her.

“Yeah?”

“There’s some guy out front asking for you?”

“What?” She wipes her hands on her apron and walks out front. She freezes when she sees Harry. She had a hairnet on, her face was laced with sweat, and she smelled like bread, which you would think would smell good, but it doesn’t. It had been a couple of days since their meeting.

“Sorry, had to see it for myself.” He smirks.

“See what, Dr. Styles?” She walks around the counter to speak with him.

“Harry.” He corrects her. “See you in action, of course.” He takes a sip from his drink. “I see you’ve already made some changes to the course.”

“Yeah, uh, it was pretty easy.”

“Well, it looks fantastic. I was going to email you, but I was stopping in here and I thought I’d see if you were working so I could just tell you in person.”

“Oh.” She blushes. “Thank you, that means a lot.”

“Well, I’ll let you get back to it. Don’t wanna get you in trouble.” He waves as he leaves, and she stands there stunned.

“Who the fuck was that?” Her coworker asks.

“Um, I’m his TA this semester. He wanted to tell me I did a good job on something.”

“Oh, shit.”

“What?”

“He’s gonna fuck you.”

“Stop!” She swats her hand at them. “Go take drink orders, I’m going back to the proofer.”

Harry was just being nice, and maybe he was looking for a good laugh. She shakes the thought from her head, he didn’t want to fuck her. He was way more professional than that.

//

On her first day as a TA, she decided on a pair of jean capris, and a light blouse. She left her hair down since it wasn’t humid. She felt more like herself, which was good. She goes to her now shared office with Harry first, just to drop her things off.

“Good morning.” She says shyly as she comes in. The small desk he had brought in for her was there, and there was a small plant waiting for her on it.

“Morning, Y/N, are you excited?”

“More so nervous, but yeah. What’s this?” She points to the plant.

“Got you a little something for your desk. It’s really easy to take care of, should only need water once a week.”

“Oh, thank you.” She tucks some hair behind her ear and sits down.

“Since it’s syllabus week, today will be really easy. We’ll go over a few things and then I’ll probably let them go early.”

“Alright.”

“I’ll give you a couple of minutes to introduce yourself too.”

“Okay.”

“Do you have a water bottle with you or anything?”

“Yeah, right here.” She takes it out of her bag.

“Great, a little trick I learned when I first started teaching is that sometimes you can end up answering a question you ask the students because you’re so nervous when no one answers right away. So, if you take a moment to take a sip of your water it gives them more time to speak up.”

“Thanks, that’s a really good tip.”

“You’ll do great.” He looks down at his watch. “Come on, we should head to the classroom, make sure all the computers are working.”

Y/N nods and follows him out. Her eyes drift down to how his butt looks in his khakis. He had a simple green t-shirt tucked into them. He was effortlessly handsome. The cool of the a/c in the computer lab helps snap her out of ogling. After they check the rows of computers, only one wasn’t working, so Y/N takes a DO NOT USE sign onto it.

“Brilliant.” He says to her.

Students start trickling in, and choosing their seats. The class was mostly boys, and only a couple of girls. Unfortunately, that was typical for courses like this, even if it was just a gen ed that literally anyone could take.

“Morning everyone, I’m Dr. Styles, and I’d prefer you call me that. I worked a long time to be called that, so please don’t call me by my first name. You can call me professor, though, if you feel comfortable.” He smiles at the class. “We’re very lucky this semester, I have a TA that will be able to help you with assignments.” He gestures to Y/N.”

“Hi, yeah, my name’s Y/N, you can feel free to just call me that. Um, I’m in my second year of grad school. I’m studying curriculum and instructional design. I’m excited to be with you all this semester.”

Y/N takes a seat to the side of the room while Harry pulls up the course and the syllabus on the projector.

“Now, who here is a CS major?” Most of the class raises their hand. “Right, try branching out for your gen eds, your eyes will bleed if you don’t.” He jokes. “What about those of you who aren’t CS, just shout it out.”

“Communication.”

“Undecided.”

“IT.”

“Psychology.”

“Wonderful, glad we’ll have a little bit of variety. Y/N redesigned this class, so I’m hoping you’ll appreciate what she’s done to make things easier for you.”

Y/N takes attendance, and then sits back down so Harry can go over the syllabus and explain some of the more intricate assignments. He also explains his door is always open for anyone that needs extra help. He wanted to make a good impression since he knew some of the students would end up in some of his higher level courses.

“Please take some time to go over some of the basic codes and short cuts we’ll be using quite a bit. For our next class we’re going to work on a site together, alright?” There’s a hum of agreement throughout the class. “Great, and just so you know, Y/N will be doing the majority of the grading, so it’s not my good side you’ll want to be on, it’s hers.” He grins. “Alright, you’re all dismissed, enjoy the nice weather.”

Everyone files out, and Y/N takes a deep breath. She walks with Harry down to his office and she plops down in her seat.

“Seems like it’ll be a good group.” He opens one of his drawers. “Here, forgot to give you a key. You can come here whenever you want, feel free to do your homework if there’s nothing to be graded.”

“Thanks.” She takes it from him and puts it on her key ring. “It’ll be nice to have a quiet space, actually. One of my roommates is getting her master’s in theater education, and my other roommate is getting her master’s in music education, so it gets kind loud from time to time.”

“Then definitely come here anytime you like.” He smiles and sits in his chair.

“When does your next class start?”

“I’ve got about an hour or so before I need to go back to the computer lab for my computing fundamentals class. I teach two sections of that back to back. Then that’s it for today.”

“Does it get annoying to teach the same class back to back?”

“Not really.” He shrugs. “I’m used to it by now anyways.”

“Dr. Styles?” A female student taps on the outside of the door. “How was your su…oh, you’re in here with someone.” She frowns.

“I sure am, Melanie.” Harry seems to look a little nervous. “I’ll be rather busy today, but we can catch up soon, alright?”

“Oh, okay.” She glares at Y/N before leaving. Harry sighs heavily once she’s gone.

“That’s one of my frequent flyers.” He rolls his eyes. “Her and a couple other girls try to come by and chat…” He runs a hand through his hair. “I’m actually kind of glad you’ll be around, I’ve seen her fly out of here so fast.”

“Does she…have a crush on you or something?”

“I’m afraid so.” Harry sighs. “It’s partly why I keep my door open when I meet with students. I used to keep it closed to have some privacy, cause sometimes there’s personal things students want to talk about, but she came in last year…I don’t know, I just keep my door open now.”

“That sucks.” She turns to her laptop to start getting some work done. “Such is the life of the hot, young professor, unfortunately.” Once again, Y/N said something without really thinking about it. She really needs to work on a filter. When she turns around to look at him to apologize, he was looking at her, face flushed. “I’m sorry, I just meant-“

“I have some emails to catch up on, so I’m gonna put by earbuds in and just focus on that.”

Y/N nods and turns back to her computer. She sighs heavily. The last thing she wanted to do was make the poor guy feel more tense than he already did. It must be painfully awkward to have students throwing themselves at you all the time, and what’s worse is that he feels so uncomfortable that he feels like he can’t even close his door. Y/N wanted to know what exactly Melanie did. It couldn’t have been so bad because she was still coming by to see him. Maybe Harry just picked up on a vibe, and got ahead of the problem before it got worse.

Forty or so minutes later, Harry tells Y/N he’s off to class, but she can feel free to stay if she wanted. She smiles and continues working on a paper she already had assigned for one of her courses. It was really nice to just have a space to work.

“Dr…oh…is this not Dr. Styles’ office anymore.” The girl standing in the doorway frowns.

“Oh! No, it is. He’s teaching right now. I’m his TA, Y/N, so we’re sharing. Can I help you with anything?”

“No, um, I was just coming to say hi, but I’ll catch him later.”

“What’s your name? I can tell him you stopped by, then he can email you or something.”

“It’s Bridget, and he doesn’t need to email me. I was just coming to say hi and chat about summer.” She sighs. “Sorry to bother you.”

Before Y/N can say it wasn’t a bother, the girl is gone. Harry really seemed to have a fan club so far. Y/N had professors she loved, but it was the first day of classes, she never went around trying to catch up with them. She decides to close the door a bit, maybe if people came by they would just assume he wasn’t there.

Y/N’s eyes start to feel droopy. It hits her that she’s been up since four this morning, having pulled an early shift at Bento’s. She decides to cross her arms on her desk, and rest her head on them. Her music was playing softly in the background, and her eyes eventually flutter closed.

Harry comes back from his second section of Computer Fundamentals and is confused when he sees his door only open a crack. He opens it the rest of the way and stops short when he sees Y/N resting peacefully. He wonders how long she’s been asleep for. He didn’t want her to be too groggy. He also knew some students from his previous classes may stop by for some clarification, so as he much he didn’t want to, he had to wake her up.

“Y/N?” He says softly, tapping her on the shoulder.

“Mm?” She grunts.

“Gotta wake up, love.”

Her eyes snap open. She sits up and watches him as he sits at his desk, pulling some papers out of his bag. She knew it was a pet name often used where he was from, but holy mother of God did it sound good hearing him call her that.

“Sorry, I…oh wow, I slept for way too long.”

“You didn’t seem so tired this morning, are you feeling alright?”

“Oh yeah, I’m fine. I worked an early shift at the bakery this morning, so it must just be catching up with me.” She stretches her arms out. “I think I’m gonna head out now. Oh, some student named Bridget came by earlier, but you were in class.”

“Alright.” He sighs. “Thanks, see you Wednesday.”

“See you Wednesday.” She smiles, gathers her things, and heads out.

//

At the end of the first week of classes, Harry was exhausted. It was always like this by the time that first Friday hit. The faculty meeting was the most draining part of it. He didn’t subject Y/N to it since she wasn’t helping with a major course. He had whined about it in front of her, though, so when he got back to his office he found a cupcake from Bento’s waiting for him.

It took a couple of weeks, but Y/N was able to relax around Harry. He noticed this right away. She was way less nervous, and he felt happy knowing he wasn’t making her feel intimidated. He was also happy for the help. She was able to field a lot of questions for the students, and her grading things was already saving him a ton of time.

The semester was off to a great start. Y/N would often bring Harry extra pastries from Bento’s, and he would praise her for how good they tasted.

“If those whole Instructional Design thing doesn’t work out, you should just open up your own bakery.” Is what he would often say after stuffing his face. It would make her giggle and blush. She enjoyed pleasing him.

They were having a peaceful Tuesday afternoon, holding office hours. Mostly working on their own, but occasionally chatting. Well, it was peaceful, until someone walked through the door.

“Harry.” An angry woman holding a small shih tzu and a large bag says. “I can’t take care of him Max anymore. I’m moving and my new place can’t have pets.”

“Kelly, let’s go out into the hall, yeah?”

She looks over at Y/N, who was stunned. Harry was standing up and walking around his desk to lead the woman out, but she won’t budge.

“Make whoever this is leave, you have an office for a reason.”

“I don’t have an office for personal matters, come on.” He takes the dog, Max, from her and cuddles him to his chest. Harry gets a lick to his chin. “Aw, you miss Daddy, Maxy?”

The woman rolls her eyes, and lets Harry lead her into the hallway. Y/N hears some muffled discussion, the woman raising her voice more than him.

“You could have looked for a place that allowed pets. This is so typical of you. You fought me on keeping him, and the second it got difficult you wanna just dump him with me.”

“I’m never home, Harry! It’s not fair to him.”

“And you think I’m home more?”

“More than me.” She scoffs. “You don’t have a choice, I leave at the end of the week.”

“You don’t even look like you’re going to miss him.”

“I thought I wanted him, but every time I looked at him I just thought of you, and now I can’t stand him. I’m moving to have a fresh start. Whatever happens to him is up to you now.” She drops the large bag full of Max’s things at his feet and walks away.

Harry sighs and kisses the top of Max’s head. He leans down to grab the bag and walks back into his office.

“I’m so sorry you had to see that.”

“It’s okay.” She extends her hands out. “Can I hold him? He’s so cute.” She pouts.

“Um, sure.” Harry hands Max over to Y/N.

“Oh my goodness.” She gets a lick on her cheek. “How old is he?”

“A little over a year.” Harry mumbles as he goes through the bag. “I have no idea how I’m going to make this work. I can’t bring him with me every day, it’s not allowed. Once in a while is fine, but it’s not like he’s a therapy dog.”

“I can help! My apartment is pet friendly for small dogs. I could just meet you here and you can drop him off to me.”

“I couldn’t ask you to do that. You have so much going on between this, your own school work, and Bento’s.”

“I really wouldn’t mind, I know you end up staying here late a lot of the time, I could take him for walks and stuff, tire him out so you can just have a snuggle with him when you get home.” She holds him up to her face. Lucky dog, she thinks to herself.

“You’re my TA, Y/N, not my dog sitter.” He sighs. “I’m sure I could find another student that needs some extra cash-“

“Wouldn’t need to pay me.” She smiles. “Please, he’s so cute, I really wanna help. It won’t stress me out, I promise.”

“We’ll see, it would only be on my busy days.” He takes Max back from her, and pulls his dog bed from the bag. “Go on, get comfy.” He sets him down and pats the top of his head. He takes out his water bowl and pours some into it for him.

“Feel free to not answer, but who was she?”

“My ex…” Harry sighs and runs a hand through his hair. He sits down and watches Max lap up at his water bowl. “She insisted on a small dog because they’re easier to take care of.” He rolls his eyes. “But I missed him a lot, so I’m not complaining. We were together a couple of years, lived together for a bit, thought it would be smart to get a dog like a lot of people do when they’re getting more serious. But we started fighting a lot, we both got busier, neither of us wanted to compromise, and so it goes. She took him with her. We both got new places and have barely spoken.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay, we weren’t right for each other, and he sort of made us realize that.” Max yips at Harry. “That’s right, buddy.” Harry chuckles. “We called it quits roughly six months ago, it’s all good now. I thought I’d miss her, but I missed him more.”

“I get that, I dated this guy for a bit in undergrad, but I definitely didn’t see it lasting.” She rolls her eyes.

“Guys at that age are really immature, anyways. You’ve got plenty of time to meet someone.” He turns back to his computer and gets back into his emails. He looks over his calendar and groans. “Alright, I’ll definitely need your help with him.” He turns back to her. “I give a lecture on Thursday evenings, so no one would be home with him literally day.”

“No problem at all, I can bring him home with me and I can just drop him off to you.” She smiles. “My roommates love dogs too, they’ll be excited.”

“I’ll need your phone number, just to get updates and stuff, it’ll be easier than email.”

“Sure!” She hands him her phone immediately. “Feels silly to not have exchanged numbers sooner.”

“Was sort of trying to keep a level of professionalism between us, but I suppose you’re gonna be helping me with my pup you’ll be more than just a colleague.” He puts his number in and texts himself. “You’re sure this won’t be too much for you?”

“Not at all.”

“At least let me pay you.”

“No way.”

“Y/N.” He sighs. “I’m gonna pay you, just deal with it, alright?” There was that intimidating side of him again. Y/N just swallows and nods. “Good.”

//

Nessa and Charlotte loved when Y/N would bring Max home with her. They teased her a bit at first because it was like her and Harry now owned this dog together, but she explained she was just helping him out.

“At least now you know for sure he’s single, and that he’s not afraid of commitment.” Nessa winks.

“Oh stop.” Y/N nudges her.

“He has your number now, does he ever text you about anything other than Max?”

“Not really, although he’ll send a funny gif as a response sometimes. He’s got a good sense of humor. You should see him in class.” Y/N’s phone buzzes and sees a text from Harry. “Speak of the Devil.”

Harry: I’m running late tonight, I’m so sorry. Would it be too much to ask to have you just get him settled at my place? There’s a spare key in the plant by the door.

Y/N’s eyes grow wide.

“Oh my god, he wants me to bring Max to his house tonight.”

“It’s happening!” Charlotte squeals. “Have you eaten much pineapple lately?”

“Would you shut up?! He doesn’t want to fuck me. He’s way too professional.”

Y/N: of course!

Harry: you’re a lifesaver. I’ve got some frozen pizza, feel free to make yourself at home until I get in. I won’t have you waiting too long.

“Oh wow, I’m gonna be there until he gets in…” She looks at her friends. “Maybe I’ll go shave my legs, you know, just in case.”

//

Y/N finds the key quickly, and walks into Harry’s home. He didn’t live too far from campus. He had a nice town home. Max scamps inside and immediately goes over to his toys in the living room. Y/N takes her shoes off and leaves them in the mudroom. Harry kept his home clean, and it made Y/N smile. There were some papers on his kitchen table that had grade marks on them. She wondered if he had a home office or not.

She goes into his freezer to find the pizza, and preheats the over. Once the pizza is baking, she plops onto the couch, pulling Max into her lap and turning the TV on. He has Netflix, so she click into that. She pouts when she sees he watches a lot of Rom Coms, it was too cute. She puts on The Office and has a slice of pizza. She didn’t need to work until tomorrow afternoon, so she didn’t mind that it was getting to be a little later on a Thursday, and it wasn’t like she went to raging parties anymore either.

Eventually, she dozed off. She couldn’t help it. Harry had a really comfortable couch, and plush blanket to curl up in, and Max was just as cozy to sleep with. Harry had texted Y/N, but she didn’t answer because she was asleep. The lecture he had ran late, and then he had to meet with some students to help them. Not to mention it was raining heavily, and he needed to drive a little slower than usual. So he didn’t pull into his driveway until 10PM. He sighs, feeling terrible that Y/N was still there.

He quietly enters his home, but it didn’t matter because Max hears him, wakes up, and starts barking. This startles Y/N awake.

“Shh, Max, it’s just Daddy.” He scoops him up and walks into the living room. Y/N was rubbing her eyes, trying to wake up. “I’m so sorry, I-“

“It’s okay.” She yawns. “I wrapped up the pizza and put it in the fridge for you.”

“Oh, um, thank you. Think I’m about to pass out though.”

“Don’t be silly.” She gets up and stretches. “You need to eat something.”

She brushes by him to go into his kitchen and take the pizza out. She puts a paper-towel over it and pops it in the microwave.

“I really am sorry you’re here so late.”

“It’s okay.” She leans against the counter. “What’s the lecture for, anyways?”

“It’s actually a graduate level CS systems course. I couldn’t turn the money down when they offered it to me. I figured since it’s only once a week it would be terrible, and it’s not, it’s just exhausting.”

The microwave beeps, and Y/N take the plate out for him, removing the paper towel.

“See, now it’s not all dried out.” She smiles.

“Neat trick, I’ll have to remember that.” The rain taps violently on the window in the kitchen.

“Yikes, I didn’t even know it was supposed to rain tonight. It wasn’t like this when I drove over.” She bites her bottom lip and looks outside.

Harry finishes his pizza and puts the plate in the sink. He sets Max down and he runs upstairs to his dog bed in Harry’s room.

“Listen, uh, if you want I can set up the pull out for you. Or I could sleep on it and you could take my bed…if you don’t feel safe driving home.”

“Oh, I couldn’t take your bed.” She turns to him. “But I may take your couch. I was sleeping on it fine as is, no need to set it up.”

“Well, let me at least get you a proper pillow and something to change into, yeah?”

“Okay.”

“Right, um, well you know where the bathroom down here is, feel free to use whatever to wash up. I’ll run up to grab what you need, be down in a sec.”

Harry changes into his own pj’s, and finds some spare pants and a t-shirt for Y/N. He’s even able to find a spare toothbrush. He hustles back down and see’s Y/N bending over to charge her phone using the plug behind the tide table next to the couch. Harry clears his throat to get her attention.

“Here, you can wear this, and he’s a toothbrush.”

“Thanks for letting crash here, I get nervous driving at night when it’s like that outside.”

“It’s the least I could do, you gave up your Thursday night to…” He looks at the TV screen and his cheeks grow hot. Y/N looks over at the TV as well and wonders why The Office might embarrass him.

“Is it okay that I used your Netflix?”

“Yeah, I…god, it’s just, you’ve seen what I watch.” He rubs the back of his neck.

“I didn’t snoop or anything, promise.” She smiles and takes the clothes and toothbrush from him.

He opens up the coffee table to take out a pillow and another blanket.

“Well, I’ll be right upstairs if you need anything…um, goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Harry.”

She wanted to ask if he wanted to watch a little TV with her, but he looked so tired. She lays on the couch after getting changed. His bed clothes swam on her, and she loved it. They smelled just like him and it made her smile. She texts in the group chat so the girls know what’s up. They tell her just to go crawl into his bed, and she rolls her eyes. She falls back asleep after another couple of episodes of The Office.

The next morning, her eyes flutter open when the light from the sliding door in the living room hit her. She hears Harry shuffling around upstairs.

“Gotta be quiet, Max. Y/N is sleeping.” She hears him whisper and it makes her smile. She decides to pretend to be asleep as to not rile the dog up.

She hears the door open and close, and that’s when she knows Harry’s gone to take Max for a walk. She gets up and folds the blankets, and puts the pillow on top. She figures he’ll want to wash it. She goes into the bathroom to do her business, but doesn’t change just yet, she didn’t want to leave the comfort of his clothes. She does, however, put her bra on. She didn’t want to bounce around and make him uncomfortable.

Harry comes back in with a beanie on, cover the beautiful curls Y/N adored so much. He was wearing grey joggers, and a black t-shirt. Max runs right over to Y/N.

“Morning.” Harry says.

“Morning.” She pats Max’s head.

“Sleep alright?”

“Mhm, thank you.”

“I’m gonna make some breakfast, you hungry?”

“Sure, I could eat.” She smiles.

He smiles back and opens up the fridge. Y/N grabs the dog food and gets Max’s bowl filled. She sees Harry starting up the coffee pot, and then going back to the fridge for eggs.

“Eggs and toast alright?”

“Sounds great.”

Harry gets a pan heated up and cracks four eggs into it.

“You working at Bento’s today?”

“Yeah, not until this afternoon though, no worries.”

“Oh good, I would have felt bad if I was keeping you.”

“You’re not.” She sits up on the counter and watches him cook the eggs. He moves to the toaster and puts for pieces of bread in. “This is a nice place.”

“Thanks, sort of found it in a scramble, but it gets the job done. Would have liked more than one bedroom, but oh well.” Harry flips all of the eggs over so they’ll be sunny side down. “Want cheese?”

“Yes, please.” She hops off the counter to grab a couple of mugs for the coffee.

“I have to apologize, I don’t have any cream for that.”

“Sugar?”

He slides the sugar bowl down to her and she smiles. Once everything is done they sit down at the kitchen table.

“Mm, this is delicious, thank you.”

“S’just a fried egg.” He chuckles. “But I’m glad you like it.”

“Do you have to go to campus today?”

“Not technically, but I will just to get some work done. I’ll bring Max with me. He likes the little dog bed I’ve put under my desk.”

“He’s really such a love bug. Snuggled with me last night and everything. My roommates love him too.”

“You’ve been such a big help in so many ways. Don’t know what I’ll do without you next semester.”

“I’m applying for more TA positions, maybe they’ll stick me with you again.”

“Wouldn’t you want more experience with a different class?”

“It doesn’t really matter.” She shrugs. “It would be cool to work with you over winter break to redesign your other courses.”

“Man, if I didn’t have to do that myself…hm, maybe I could put a good word in. That is, if you don’t mind being stuck with me again.”

“Stuck with you? Hello, this is going way better than I thought. I was sort of nervous to be your TA at first.”

“You were?” He frowns.

“You’re a little intimidating.”

“I don’t mean to be.”

“I know, it’s just the way you come off sometimes. You’re hilarious when you want to be.”

“Thanks.” He smirks and continues to eat. He looks at her and furrows his brows. “Feel free to keep those.”

“What?”

“The clothes I let you borrow, feel free to just keep ‘em if you want. I don’t much wear those pants anymore, and I have a dozen t-shirts.”

“Oh, um, thank you. Might take you up on that, I’m pretty cozy.”

She helps clean up the dishes and then gathers her things. He walks her out to her car.

“Thanks again for watching him.”

“Of course, I’ll see you Monday morning.”

“See you, have a good weekend, love.”

Her heart skips a beat as he turns and walks back inside. She takes a deep breath as she gets into her car. It was cloudy on the drive home, but at least it wasn’t raining. The second she gets through the door Nessa and Charlotte grill her for details, and they were highly disappointed that the only thing they shared was breakfast.

“It was really domestic, though, it was nice.” Y/N explains. “He was so cute while he made me breakfast. He’s so kind. He even let me keep his clothes, and he wants me to be his TA again next semester. He literally said he wouldn’t know what to do without me.”

“Yeah, because you’ve volunteered to do everything for him except suck his dick.” Charlotte scoffs. “You said he’s been broken up for a little over six months right? Do you think he’s gotten his dick wet since then?”

“Charlotte!” Y/N giggles. “He’s a grown man, he can do what he wants. I bet he has, he easily could have had a rebound, although, he seems really respectful, so who knows if he’s even into hooking up.”

“Right, like when you told us he always keeps his office door open.”

“I feel bad, I’m there when some of those girls come to chat with him, and you can tell they just make him uncomfortable.” She shakes her head. “I think he and I are, like, friends now. I like what we have going, I’m not going to rock the boat. It could really complicate things.”

“So, would you say now that you’ve gotten to know him better your crush is less…apparent?” Nessa asks.

“God no! We mesh really well, we think a lot of the same things are funny…” She wines slightly. “It’s truly unfair.” She sighs. “Right person, wrong time.”

//

It was hard to stay awake during your shift at the bakery, but you made it through. You were thankful you only needed to be there until about dinner time. You had to be back in Saturday morning for open, but that didn’t stop you and your friends from going out to the bar for a couple of drinks.

It gave the three of you time to catch up and complain about coursework. Nessa was directing a production at the university, and she still had students who weren’t off-book, and Charlotte had to deal with pretentious music bros who really liked to man-splain the music industry to her. Y/N felt lucky that the majority of her classes were online.

“Okay, I have to ask, are there any students in class you think have crushes on each other?” Nessa asks her, sipping from her straw.

“Oh, for sure. There are these two boys, they don’t sit next to each other, but you can tell they’re friends. One of them always looks behind to the other so they can make a face. It’s too cute.”

They were at a more adult bar tonight. It’s not that they didn’t like the college bars they were so used to going to, but if they went there then that meant getting shitfaced and staying on the dancefloor until close. It also made things awkward when running into students. So the three of them felt safe here, they could really relax.

“Oh my fucking god.” Charlotte says. “Dr. Styles just walked in, and fuck, he’s here with a couple of really hot guys.”

“What?!” Y/N was buzzed, and she didn’t want Harry to see her like this. She wanted his image of her to remain sweet and professional. She peers over her shoulder to look at him, and her eyes widen.

He wasn’t wearing his glasses, he had a floral patterned shirt on that had the first few buttons undone, and a pair of black jeans to match. They weren’t skinny jeans or anything, but they sure as fuck were working for him. Both of his friends were a little shorter, but both equally as handsome. The three walk right by the bar and grab a booth.

“This is bad.” Y/N groans. “He looks so fucking good.”

“Who knew he was so tatted up?!” Nessa says. “I thought it was just his arms, but did you see his collar bones? We love a man who has going attire.”

The bar was starting to get more crowded, and louder as it got later. Music was blaring from the speakers, but all Y/N could think about was Harry. She wondered if he would venture to her area of the bar to order his drinks. One of his friends went up first, on Nessa’s left.

“Hey, Niall, what can I get for you?” The bartender asks him.

“Bradly, so good to see yeh, I’ll take a pint of Guinness, Lou’s gonna have a pale ale, and Harry’ll have a Corona with lime.”

“You got it.”

Niall drums his fingers on the bar. Nessa was sweating. She had a boyfriend, so she would never do anything, but fuck, that Irish accent tore right through her. Niall looks over at the three girls who had all fallen silent after he approached. He makes eye contact with Y/N, and they share a smile.

“Opening a tab tonight?”

“Yeah, one of those nights for sure. Poor Harry’s had a run in with his ex, basically dropped their dog in his lap and left. It’s been a couple of weeks since it happened, but it’s been eatin’ the lad up.”

Bradly nods and takes Niall’s credit card to keep on the back of the bar. He hands him the three beers, and Niall thanks him. The girls try not to watch as he sits down.

“Holy shit, I thought I was going to crap my pants.” Nessa breathes. “I love Andy, don’t get me wrong, but holy fuck.” She shakes her head. “I may need to have him pick me up from here tonight.” She giggles.

“Now I almost wish there was dancing here. Wouldn’t mind showing that guy how well I can pop my ass.” Charlotte laughs.

“He smiled at me, did you see it? Of course Harry surrounds himself with other beautiful people.” She pouts.

Niall slides Harry and Louis their beers and they all clink their glasses.

“I’m so glad we could all get out to do this. Sorry we didn’t rescue you the second Kelly showed up.” Louis says.

“It’s alright, I appreciate you guys coming tonight.”

“Is Max okay for a bit on his own?” Niall asks.

“Yeah, I put the gates up for him so he can’t mess much up. I wouldn’t have texted my TA to see if she could watch him again, but…”

“But you’ll most likely be fucking someone tonight.” Niall grins. “Surprised you didn’t just fuck her, she stayed at your place and everything.”

“Actually, you asshole,” Harry chuckles and takes a swig of his beer. “I was going to say that I would have felt bad taking up another one of her evenings. I don’t know if I’m in the mood to take anyone home tonight.”

“Too bad, girls love little dogs like Max.” Louis shrugs.

“There’s three really hot girls sitting by the bar.” Niall loves over at the three girls. “One for each of us if we play our cards right.”

Harry’s back was turned away from the bar, so he couldn’t see who Niall was talking about.

“They could be college students.” Louis says.

“Not at this place. The undergrads don’t come here.” Harry says. “Mostly grad students or other faculty that live close by, locals too.”

“We could order their next round of drinks, and then invite them to come sit with us. Booth has plenty of room.” Niall suggest.

Harry and Louis turn around slightly to get a look at the girls Niall was talking about. Harry nearly chokes on his Corona, and turns back around.

“Jesus, are you alright?” Louis asks, patting his back.

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine. We can’t get those girls drinks.”

“Why not?”

“The one on the right is my TA, Y/N, and her two roommates. I know one of them has a boyfriend…uh…the one on the very left. The middle one is single, but even still, I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

“Mate, you’re TA is that good looking, and you didn’t even try to fuck her when she stayed at your place?” Niall asks.

“No, I didn’t try to fuck her. I’m doing this thing where I don’t fuck people I have a position of power over.” He rolls his eyes. “That’s a no go.”

“But if she wasn’t your TA, and just a regular grad student…?” Louis raises an eyebrow at Harry. He runs a hand through his hair as thinks it over.

“I don’t know, I haven’t really thought about it. I mean, she’s obviously cute, but…I could never do something like that.”

“It’s not like she’s going to be your TA next semester, you could-“ Harry cuts Niall off.

“Actually, she might be. I have a meeting with the curriculum committee to discuss what I’ll need help with for next semester, and we both want to work with each other again. Crossing that line would complicate things, not to mention it’s highly unprofessional.”

“It’s not like she’s a student sitting in one of your classes, then I’d agree with you. You’re colleagues, technically. Nothing in the rule book saying you can’t fuck a colleague.” Niall says.

“He’s got a point, Har.” Louis says.

“Even if I agreed with the both of you, I’d still be taking advantage. I think she has a little crush on me, she’s made a couple flirty comments here and there…”

“Not to mention she jumped at the chance to help watch your dog.” Louis says.

“It’s not happening.”

“Well, you may not want to fuck a pretty girl tonight, but I do, and if the middle one is single, perhaps I’ll still order them all drinks, and just talk with her. Or, if you’re saying Y/N’s a no go for you, maybe I’ll chat her up. We smiled at each other, maybe she thinks I’m cute.” Niall grins.

“Don’t you dare.” He glares at him, finishing his beer. “I don’t care if you talk to, fuck what’s her name…Charlotte! I don’t care if you talk to Charlotte, but don’t try anything with Y/N.” He looks at Louis. “You either.”

“Not that I would, but basically you’re saying if you can’t fuck her no one else can?” Louis asks.

“I just wouldn’t feel comfortable with it.”

“Alright.” Niall shrugs. “We ready for the next round, then?” They both nod at him, and Niall brings the empties up to the bar. The girls fall silent when he approaches again. “Hi there, is there a reason you all keep doing that?”

The girls all turn to look at him. They were sweating.

“Doing what?” Charlotte asks nervously.

“Well, and maybe it’s just a coincidence, but you keep getting quiet when I come over.”

“It’s just…um…” Nessa starts. “You’re here with someone our friend knows.” She points to Y/N. “In a professional setting, and we’re just surprised to see him out, that’s all.”

“Oh, am I? Who is it?”

“Dr. Styles.” Y/N speaks up. Niall smiles as his eyes raise.

“Dr. Styles, how formal.” He looks over at Bradly who gives him the new drinks. “Bradly, do me a favor, put these ladies’ next round on my tab, will you?”

“You don’t have to do that.” Y/N says.

“Whether you know my friend or not, I’d be a real jerk to not buy three beautiful girls a drink, wouldn’t I?” He winks at Charlotte as he walks away with his new drinks.

“He winked at me, oh my god.” She squeals. “Y/N, you wouldn’t care if I tried to fuck one of Harry’s friends, right? It’s been a minute for me.” She pouts.

“No, why would I care?” She laughs. Bradly gives the girls their new drinks. “That was really nice of him.” She twists her straw and looks over at the booth. She can see Niall and the other guy laughing, while Harry just shakes his head.

“What the fuck did you say to them?” Harry asks as he takes a sip of beer.

“Would you relax? They simply mentioned that they knew you, and I bought their next round, that was it.”

“Great, so she knows I’m here.” He groans. “Move.” He says to Louis.

“Why?”

“Because now I have to go talk to her.”

“Oh, you do?” Louis smirks.

“Yes, do you know how fucking rude it would be not even say hello?”

“I don’t see her coming over here.” Niall says.

“She’s obviously nervous!” Harry takes a large gulp of his drink. “Move, Lou.”

Louis gets up so Harry can get out of the booth.

“Oh my god, Y/N, Harry’s coming over here.” Nessa says.

“Shut up,  no he’s not, oh my god, he is, holy shit. I’m…inebriated.”

The girls laugh at her as Harry comes to sit on the open stool next to Y/N. He gets comfortable before he looks at her and smiles. She slowly turns herself to look at him.

“Hi.” He says.

“Hi.”

“Did my friend bother you?”

“Not at all…he was very nice.”

Harry nods and sips from his drink.

“I didn’t know you came here…” He says.

“Could say the same to you.” She looks him up and down. “Barely recognized you when you walked in. That’s a nice shirt.”

“Thanks.” He blushes and wants to kick himself for being so exposed to her.

“You haven’t met my friends yet. Charlotte, Nessa, this is Dr…uh, this is Harry.” The girls both say hello.

“Hi, I’ve heard a lot about you both. You’re Charlotte right?”

“Yeah.”

“My friend thinks you’re cute.” He nods over to Niall. Maybe Harry wouldn’t have been so bold, but he knew they were only a few years apart in age, so it wasn’t totally weird, and he had a couple drinks in him, so there’s that.

“Really?!”

“Mhm.”

“Should I go talk to him?”

“Definitely, I think he’d really like that.”

“Good enough for me.” She hops off the stool. “Ness, come talk to his other friend with me it’s not awkward.”

“Wing-man to the rescue, I’m on it.”

“You guys!” Y/N calls after them, but they’re already sitting down. She looks back at Harry and squints at him.

“What?”

“Did you do that on purpose?”

“Do what?”

“Get them to leave so we could be alone…”

“What?! No!” Harry finishes his drink, and Bradly gets him a new one right away. “Why would I want to be alone with you?” He sees the obvious offense on her face, and shakes his head. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it that way. We’re alone together all the time, aren’t we? I just meant, in this setting.” He gestures to the bar around him. “I’ve been a bit mopey since Kelly showed up, so my friends just wanted to take me out and show me a good time.” He looks over at Niall who already has his arm around Charlotte. “Although, I think they’re bound to have a better night than me.” He sighs.

“You haven’t let on a mopey exterior, you could have told me.”

“It’s really none of your business how I’m feeling, Y/N.”

“You’re being awfully cold to someone who spent the night at your house just watch your dog.”

“You spent the night because it was raining too heavily.”

“And then you made me breakfast.”

“As an extra thank you.”

“You’re annoying.” She takes a sip of her drink and faces forward. “Now I don’t even have my friends to complain about you because you’ve sent them off to your friends.” She rolls her eyes.

“M’not annoying. I’m a fucking delight, just ask Max.”

“Where is he anyways?”

“Home.” Harry shrugs. “He can last a few hours without me. I almost texted you, but I would have felt bad asking again. I know you worked today, I honestly didn’t expect to see you out.”

“It was a long week for everyone. I’m not staying much longer, I have to be at Bento’s at four in the morning.”

“It’s…” Harry looks down at his watch. “Almost midnight, Cinderella.” He smirks at her and she can’t help but laugh. It was a stupid and cheesy joke, but she liked it. “I didn’t mean to be cold…I just didn’t want you to think I was coming over here to pull a move or something.”

“I’m going to remind you again, you sent my friends away.” She smiles and takes a sip of her drink.

“I did.” He nods. “But I’ll remind you, my friend Niall thinks Charlotte is cute. He thought you were cute too, by the way.”

“He did?!” She looks over at them and then back to Harry. “But you sent her off with him?”

“Yup.” He takes a swig of his beer.

“Why?!”

“Could be a little awkward to have my best friend canoodle with my TA.”

“Right, because it would be so easy to get into my bed.” She scoffs.

“I didn’t say that.”

“You implied it. And I’m not one to kiss and tell, so unless he wanted to dish, you wouldn’t have even heard anything from me about it.”

“Doesn’t matter, I wouldn’t have liked it. I don’t know Charlotte so I don’t really care what they do.”

“You don’t get to decide who I can and can’t sleep with just because you’re too chicken to make a move.” Before he can say anything she’s hopping off her stool and heading out of the bar.

She’s just about to order an uber when he grabs her wrist. It was chilly outside, and she could clearly see both of their breaths.

“What did you just say to me?”

“You heard me.” She yanks her wrist free. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going home to sleep for three hours so I can get up to bake some fucking bread.” She orders her uber, and Nessa comes rushing out.

“Char’s staying inside with, um, Niall? I saw you leave so I thought I’d come…with…you…” She sees Harry who was practically fuming. “Um, I can wait inside, or-“

“It’s fine, the uber will be here in a minute.” She smiles at her friend and then glares at Harry. “At least one of us is going to have a good time tonight.” She seethes.

“I had fun.” Nessa says, and then realizes what Y/N meant. “Oh.”

“Why are you still here? Go inside and find some random to fuck.”

“Don’t talk to me like that, Y/N.”

“Sorry, I’m off the clock. I can speak to you however the fuck I want.” She steps closer to him. “I don’t know where you get off being so sweet and kind one moment, and then turning into a major prick the second you feel threatened, but I don’t need this.”

The uber pulls up, and without another word Y/N and Nessa get inside, leaving Harry outside in the cold.

//

Y/N woke up at 3:30AM and groaned, cursing at herself for going out. She only had to work until 9AM and then should could sleep the day away if she wanted. She was still so mad at Harry she could scream. He hadn’t even tried to text her to apologize.

She sighs and makes her way to the kitchen once she’s dressed. She stops short when she sees a half-naked Niall standing in her kitchen, filling two glasses of water.

“Um…hi.” She says to him as she grabs her daily vitamins out of the cabinet.

“Hey.” He smiles. He looks her up and down. “Are you going to work?”

“I am.” She pops the gummy vitamins into her mouth.

“Could you do me a favor?” He steps a little closer to her. “Take it easy on Harry, alright?” Y/N scoffs at him. “I know, he was an asshole last night, but he just want to do anything that could put his job in danger, that’s all.”

“How would I do that? I’m not his student, I’m his colleague.”

“He just feels weird about it, and he’s still figuring out his feelings. I think he likes you, to be quite honest. You’ve…perked him up, well not tonight, but anytime he mentions you he smiles.”

“He…talks about me?”

“Oh sure, all the time actually.” He takes a sip of water. “I better go bring this to her. Just…consider taking it easy on him, he knows he fucked up.”

Y/N nods as Niall makes his way back to Charlotte’s room. She drags herself out to her car and heads to Bento’s. Once she’s inside, she puts some music on and fires up the ovens. She loved baking, it helped clear her head for a little while. She would prep the bacon, get fresh muffins and cookies going, and she would even make croissants. By the time the rest of the morning crew shows up, she’s just about halfway done with everything. She trays up everything to be rolled out for the people working out front. By the time 9AM rolled around she was exhausted, but had mostly forgotten how aggravated she was. She snags a coffee and a muffin on her way out, and stops short when she sees Harry sitting outside with Max.

“Oh, thank god.” He says, standing up. Max sniffs at her feet and she bends down to pet the top of his head. “They said you got off at nine, I hope it’s not weird that I’m here.”

“How long have you been waiting out here?”

“Well, I came by at 6:30 when they opened, but you were really busy, so I just came back twenty minutes ago. Can we talk?”

“Not right now. I’m covered in flour and sweat, and I’d like to take a shower and then take a nap. I got two hours of sleep last night. It was my own doing, but still.”

“When then?”

“I’ll text you.” She shrugs. “Niall spent the night, I bumped into him this morning. He said you fucked up?”

“I did.” He rubs the back of his neck. “Do what you need to do, and then, uh, come bay later, yeah? We can have a late lunch or something, and I can explain myself. Would you like that?”

“Depends, what’s on the menu?”

“S’cold out, do you like grilled cheese and tomato soup?”

“Love it.” She smiles. “I’ll let you know when I wake up.”

“Alright, thanks.”

Y/N takes a nice long shower when she gets home, her roommates still peacefully sleeping. She wondered if Niall was still there or if he slipped out a couple hours after her. She didn’t care that much, she was too tired to care. Once her hair is dry, she slips a t-shirt on and crawls into bed.

“Y/N! I’ve let you sleep long enough, please wake up!” Charlotte was absolutely giddy, and dying to fill Y/N in. It was around 2PM, she definitely caught up on sleep.

“Gimme five minutes!” Y/N yells back. She was groggy and didn’t want to be cranky.

Y/N comes out to the couch and lays down. Nessa was out with Andy, but she had heard about everything earlier. Charlotte brings Y/N a cup of tea and smiles at her.

“Thank you.” She takes a careful sip. “Alright, go ahead.”

“Best sex I’ve ever fucking had!” She squeals. “He had me all over the bed, it was wild. I’m surprised we didn’t wake you.”

“I passed out the second I got home.” She chuckles. “Best you ever had, huh? What exactly did he do?”

“What didn’t he do?! Fingers, tongue, and dick, it was incredible. I rode him, then he got on top, and then he did me from behind, bent me over the bed, I got on top again. His stamina was incredible. I made him some breakfast this morning and then he left.”

“Did he give you his number?”

“He did.” She beams. “He said he wasn’t looking for anything serious at the moment, but I was free to text him anytime I wanted him like that again.” She bites her bottom lip and sinks further into the couch. “I totally don’t mind at all. It would be nice to start up a new little fling. It won’t be weird for you, will it?”

“Not at all, it’s not like you’re…oh my god.” She pinches the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger.

“What?”

“I totally get where he was coming from now.” She groans.

“What do you mean?”

“He said he told me that, uh, his other friend thought I was cute, and I told him I was mad because he sent the two of you away, and that he couldn’t tell me who I could and couldn’t fuck, but I would have been so mad if you slept with Harry.”

“I wouldn’t have, though. I know how much you like…” She gasps. “Do you think he likes you too?!”

“I don’t know, maybe!” Y/N takes her phone out to text Harry that she’s up and that she’ll be over within the hour. “I’m going to his place for a late lunch, he wants to apologize, but I owe him one just the same. I flipped out for no reason.”

“Well, at least you’re realizing it. Very adult of you.”

“Oh, shut up.” She nudges her and gets up to change.

//

Y/N gets to Harry’s around 3PM. She paired a green cardigan and a black tank top with a pair of jeans. She gets out of the car and rings his bell. She giggles when she hears Max barking from behind the door.

“Shh, it’s just Y/N.” Harry coos to Max as he opens his door. “Hi.”

“Hi.”

“Um, come in.” He moves aside and lets her in. “Here, think he misses you.” Y/N takes Max from Harry and snuggles him close.

“It’s only been a couple days.” She pouts at the dog.

“Come, sit, the food’s ready.”

Y/N sets Max down and sits down at the table. Harry already had the grilled cheese and soup out on the table.

“This looks good, thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Harry…I know you wanted to apologize, but I realized today that you weren’t totally in the wrong.”

“Yes I was.” He sighs and blows on his soup before slurping some from his spoon. “Maybe it wasn’t what I said, but it was how I said it. I overstepped. You’re a grown woman, I had no right to tell my friend he couldn’t hit it on you.”

“Well, it all worked out because Charlotte seems to have a new fuck buddy on her hands.” She chuckles and takes a bite of her sandwich. “Look, I appreciate you saying all that, but when I was talking to her earlier, I realized I would have done the same thing. I would have told my friends not to flirt with you or try to pick you up, and I would have been pissed if one of them slept with you.”

“You would have?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“You know why.” She grumbles. “I…I mean…”

“We’re stuck between a rock and a hard place here, Y/N.” He sighs and sits back in his chair.

“We are?”

“Yes. I did a lot of thinking last night, did some talking with my friends. I had to really think about why I got so upset. The thing is, you’re my TA, and you’re going to be my TA next semester as well, most likely. I have a meeting about it Monday. Selfishly, I don’t want anyone else to have you.”

“In more ways than one, obviously.” She smirks.

“Don’t be cute.” He gives her a playful smile. “I think I’d miss you too much, to be honest. I like sharing my office with you. Your help with Max has been great, you’re, like, part of my life now.”

“Is there some rule that says that we can’t…like…go out?”

“I don’t know…I think it would look unprofessional on my part. I know you’re not one of my students, so it’s not as bad as that, but I still have a position of power over you, and if someone found out something was going, it could look really bad. I wouldn’t want something to taint your reputation either.”

“Well, I’ve been over here twice now, and no one’s said a thing.”

“You haven’t been on campus since Thursday. Someone could easily say something to us Monday.”

“A lot of people know I help with Max.”

“Some people may know you used to be a student of mine as well. They could assume something’s been going on for years.”

“Not true, wouldn’t people know about Kelly?” Harry grimaces at the name. “Sorry.”

“It’s alright.”

“So…I feel like we’re just going around in circles here, Harry. Like, what are we doing?”

“Well, if I vouch for you to be my TA again next semester, would you? The course would be for Creativity and the Visual World, and I think you could really shine there, talk about IDS. Also, I don’t know what your plans are after you graduate, or where you’ll want to go, but I’ve caught wind that one of the instructional designers on campus is going to retire at the end of the school year.”

“Wow, so you’re like really trying to keep me around.” She smirks.

“It’s not like that.” He chuckles. “I just mean, it could be a good first gig for you. You’re very good at all that, thought you might be interested to know there’s going to be an opening. You know the campus well, it would be a smooth transition for you.”

“That would be ideal, I do want to work in higher ed when I’m done.”

“I could help you with your cover letter, I’m really good at writing those. I’ve helped plenty of students.”

“I’ll definitely look into it.” She finishes what she can of the food, and sits back as well.

“I really am sorry about last night, I felt awful.”

“It’s okay, I really get it.” She sighs. “So…I still don’t know what we’re doing. Are we just choosing not to date anyone else and also not each other? Why should I wait until I graduate to be with someone?”

“M’not asking you to do that. I don’t really know what I’m asking you to do. I just don’t want to be a cliché. The young professor getting with someone that works for him. I’m attracted to you, I can admit that, but I don’t want to get fired, nor do I want your name getting dragged through the mud.”

“So, essentially, while I’m your TA we can’t do anything.”

“Correct.”

“And you’d rather suffer and have me be your TA again next semester just to have me around you, even though it would mean we still couldn’t do anything.”

“Yes.”

“Alright, after the holidays I’ll be staying at my apartment for winter break. We pay for a full year, and I like having the time alone. I also still work at Bento’s.” She stands up and puts her things in the sink.

“What are you saying exactly?”

“I’m saying, over winter break we’re in limbo. I won’t be your TA, and I’ll be all alone in my three bedroom apartment. Perhaps there’ll be a night I’m feeling especially lonely and you’ll have the marvelous idea of visiting me with Max, and whatever happens will happen.”

“And then what? Act like it didn’t when the spring semester starts?”

“I guess we’d cross that bridge when we come to it. All I know is that for six weeks, you will in no way have a position of power over me. By the way, I’m twenty-three years old, it’s like you said, I’m a grown woman. You’re not taking advantage of me. I know how it would look to others, so I can respect where you’re coming from. However, I’d like to try things out before I tell someone I’m going to wait for them.”

With that, Y/N gives Max one last squeeze, and out the door she goes. She was proud of herself. Harry liked her, and he wanted to be with her. It was a dream come true. She also didn’t mind sort of waiting for him, it would just make things all the more hot when they’d finally be able to come together.

//

The rest of the semester went by…okay. There was a lot of tension, a lot of it. Harry was just thankful it was getting colder which meant that Y/N was bundling up more. She did, however, look insanely cute in her many layers and scarves. They were busy grading, not having much time for chat chit. She started going over his place more, though. They would have little grading parties where they could just spread out and get things done. His place was also another quiet haven for her to escape to.

Charlotte hooked with Niall almost every weekend, it was pretty cute. They were having fun, and Y/N was happy for her friend. Even though sometimes Y/N wished Harry would just fuck her on his kitchen table on top of all the graded papers and tests, and maybe sometimes he fantasized about the same thing, but it had to stay professional. She didn’t want him regretting anything. Sometimes he would come into Bento’s when she was working, she even snuck him in early one morning to show him how she made the croissants he liked so much. They were essentially dating, but without all the physical stuff.

At least Y/N could catch some relief later at night in her bed. She didn’t think of Harry at first. Her routine mostly consisted of headphones, pornhub, and a few orgasms. But there was one particular night her and Harry were sitting in front of his fireplace, and he just looked so sexy, and she wanted him to take her on his living room floor, she didn’t even care if her tailbone would be bruised the next day. She still hadn’t even seen his fucking bedroom, it was the one part of the house she wasn’t allowed in. So she start fantasizing about his bed, and then one thing led to another and she ended up moaning out his name in a shallow breath. It had caught her by surprise, and she was almost embarrassed about it.

Harry would have been lying if he said he wasn’t doing the same thing. It mostly happened early in the morning when he’d take his shower. It just sort of happened. He woke up one morning, rolled over and wished she was there next to him. He had seen her fall asleep so many times, and he thought she was incredibly cute. He liked having Max in the bed, but he wanted Y/N. So when he got into the shower he just couldn’t stop thinking about her. He didn’t feel embarrassed, he didn’t feel guilty, he mostly felt annoyed because he just wanted the real thing.

It was confirmed that Y/N would be his TA again in the spring, and they were both exited. He liked having her in his office, and he thought they worked together really well. It was worth it, it was all going to be worth it.

Harry went home to London for the holidays, and Y/N went home to her parents’ house. It was a tough goodbye. They hugged, and maybe they kissed each other on the cheek, but neither wanted to let go. Y/N loved seeing her family, but ten days was plenty. She liked having her apartment to herself. Nessa and Charlotte wouldn’t be back for a few weeks. That meant Y/N could watch whatever she wanted on TV, she didn’t have to worry about being quiet on the early mornings she had to work, and she could take a long shower.

A big snow storm was coming, which was starting to make Y/N nervous. Stores were closing in preparation, and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to weather it alone.

Y/N: are you back from London? Can’t remember when you said you’d be home…

Harry: hey! I was just going to message you, I got back yesterday, was just sleeping off the jetlag. What’s up?

Y/N: this impending storm is freaking me out…

Harry: do you wanna get snowed in at my place? Just stalked up at the grocery store…

Y/N: are you sure? I don’t wanna be a burden :(

Harry: you wouldn’t be! You know I want to see you, so does Max :)

Y/N: okay! I’ll pack a bag and head over, see you soon!

Harry had been cute while he was away, sending Y/N a few selfies of him and Max. She had been to his house so many times, this wouldn’t be weird at all to spend a couple of snowy days together. She gets all her things packed, and makes her way to Harry’s. It was just starting to flurry when she parked in his driveway. He comes outside to help her with her things.

“And this time, you’ll let me set up the pullout for you. No need to sleep on a couch for two days.”

“Okay.”

She was hoping he’d give in and let her sleep in his bed with him. Actually, she was hoping he’d pick her up, swing her around, and kiss her. He sets her things down and waits for her to take her coat off, then he hugs hers.

“Had a good holiday?” He asks as he lets her go.

“Yeah, it was good. You?”

“It was great, love getting to see my family.” Max comes trotting in and greets Y/N.

“There’s my little man.” She scoops him up and gives him kisses.

“I was just going to make some tea, would you like some?”

“Please.” She plops down with Max on the couch.

“Do you have to work at Bento’s during all this? I can drive you if you want.”

“No, they closed in preparation of the storm.”

“Oh, good!”

Y/N turns the TV on, and scrolls through Netflix for something simple to watch. Harry comes over with two mugs of tea and he sits down next to her.

“Find anything good? Feel like it’s all Christmas movies right now.”

“Nothing yet…” She squints at the TV. “How about…oh! Have you watched Love, Victor yet? It’s been on my list for ages.”

“Is it based off of Love, Simon?”

“Yeah! This kid Victor is new in town, and ends up going to the same school Simon did.”

“Sure, we could watch that.”

“Shit, it’s on Hulu, you have that right?”

“Mhm, gimme the remote, I’ll switch it over.” She hands it to him and sips on her tea while he queues it up.

“Mm, this is tasty, what is it?”

“It’s black tea with honey, love.” He looks at her wants to laugh. “I don’t usually add anything, but I thought you’d like the honey.”

“It’s perfect, thank you.”

The show starts just as the sun was setting outside. Y/N pulls the blanket Harry keeps on the back of the couch over her legs, and Max moves to Harry’s lap.

“Let me know if I’m being a blanket hog.”

“S’alright, he keeps me pretty warm.”

“Don’t be annoying.” She huffs and spreads the blanket out equally over them. “See, nice and cozy.”

“I’m not being annoying, I’m being…respectful.”

“Golly gee, thanks, mister.” She pouts at him and he rolls his eyes.

“Now who’s being annoying?”

A couple of episodes in, and Harry’s stomach starts rumbling.

“Are you hungry? I can pop a pizza in the oven, or make some pasta?”

“Pizza would be perfect, thank you.”

“Pause it, I just need a minute to get it in the oven.”

Y/N nods and scrolls through her phone while she waits for him to come back. This was nice. It was like they were hanging out as friends, which was okay, but she was hoping he’d make a move for fuck’s sake.

“Alright, should be about fifteen minutes.” He smiles and gets back under the blanket. Y/N presses and play and they get back into it.

After the pizza, they nearly almost binge the entire show. Harry was starting to doze off, so they decide to call it a night. He looks outside in the kitchen window.

“I am not looking forward to digging out our cars. Times like this I wish I had a garage.” He sighs.

“You say that like you’ll be doing it alone. I’ve got all my snow gear, I can help.”

“Right, like I’d let you break your back out there.” He scoffs, and puts his hand on her shoulder. “Let me make up the pullout for you.”

Y/N watches as Harry moves the coffee table, and hoists the pullout into place. The sheets were already on it, so he just lays the blankets and pillows out.

“Well, I’ll be upstairs with Max if you need anything. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, thanks again for letting me stay. I think I would have been scared all alone.”

“No worries, I’m glad you’re here. I, uh, missed you over the holidays.” He clears his throat and heads upstairs.

Y/N does her nightly routine and puts on a tank top and pajama pants for bed. She gets onto the pullout and tries to listen to some music to fall asleep, but the wind was whipping so harshly outside, it was making her uneasy. She hated storms more than anything. Would Harry mind if she crawled into bed with him? She could even sleep on the floor. She just didn’t want to be down here alone. She sighs and slowly gets out of the bed. She makes her way upstairs.

Harry’s bedroom was the entire upstairs, it was sort of like a loft. He had a king sized bed, a decent looking bedroom set, and an en suite. Y/N thought it was really nice, well, what she could make out of it since it was so dark.

“Harry?” She whispers. His head was in his pillow, sleeping on his tummy.

“Mm?” He grunts, clearly out of it.

“I’m a little scared downstairs, would it be alright if I slept on the floor up here?”

“Get in.” He mumbles.

“Really, are you sure? Because I-“

He flips some of the covers back, eyes still closed. Y/N takes a deep breath and gets into the bed. Max was half asleep, but he moves away from Harry to make room for her, plopping down near his feet. Y/N climbs in and faces away from him. This was such a large bed for one guy, and it made her wonder who was the last person to share it with him. She wanted to keep a respectful distance from him, but before she could start counting sheep, his arm was wrapped around her waist, pulling her close to him. Her breath hitched, but she could hear his steady breathing, he was definitely asleep. He must just sleep better when he’s holding onto something, she thinks.

//

Harry’s eyes flutter open around 5AM. He was used to getting up that early to take Max out, but for some reason he felt like he got some of the most restful sleep he’s gotten in a long time. He feels warm and cozy, and even though he knows he needs to get up and brave the cold so his dog could relieve himself, he found himself nuzzling in to whatever he was holding onto.

That’s when it hits him that he wasn’t dreaming last night, and Y/N genuinely came up into his room because she was feeling uneasy being all alone downstairs. She was still fully clothed, but he wasn’t he was only in his boxers. His leg was between hers, and she was pressed up against him. He wondered if she slept well like this. Just because he slept better holding onto something didn’t mean that she would.

He makes subtle movements, not wanting to wake her. He nearly winced leaving the warmth of the bed, but he got through it. Max pops his head up and Harry puts his finger up to his lips to signal that he needed to be quiet. Harry snatches his sweatpants and a pair of socks, and grabs Max to take him downstairs. He throws his coat and boots on, gets the leash on Max, and out the door he goes. He shoves his beanie down over his ears as he feels the wind whip around. There were snow drifts everywhere and it was still coming down. He uses the flashlight on his phone so Max could see what he was doing.

“Come on, buddy, I know it’s cold, but Daddy doesn’t wanna be out here long.” He wanted to get back to Y/N.

Once Max does his business, Harry gets him so food and fresh water. He strips himself of his jacket and socks, but leaves his sweatpants on. He was shirtless, but he was too groggy from the morning to care. Once Max is all set, Harry carries him upstairs so his collar doesn’t jingle around. He plops him on the bed, and he goes right over to Y/N to curl up with her. Harry uses the bathroom quick, brushing his teeth and all that, and then slowly slides back into bed. Y/N hadn’t moved, still laying on her side facing away from him, so he just wraps himself back around her. Well, he thought she hadn’t moved. The second she heard the door close downstairs, she sprinted down to “her” bathroom to wash up and brush her own teeth. She wasn’t sure if morning snuggles would ensue, but she wanted to be fresh if they did.

A sigh leaves Harry’s lips as he settles back in, pressing nice and close to her and keeping his arm around her waist. She gives it a few minutes, and then she adjust against him. She could tell he was wearing sweatpants now, and not just his boxers. She was subtle about it, not fully pressing her ass against him, just a simple adjustment, so he didn’t think anything of it. After another couple of moments, she presses back into him, and he involuntarily presses forward towards her. He was definitely starting to get hard. He grips her waist a little tighter as he continues to press into her.

“Mm, Harry?” She rolls onto her back to look up at him.

“Hi.” He moves his hand away from her lower stomach to move some hair away from her face. “How’d you end up here, hm?” He asks softly.

“Storms really scare me, and the wind was loud.” She starts smiling. “Feel much better now.” His hand slides down to cup her jaw. “I asked first and you told me to get in.”

“I did, didn’t I…”

“Pulled me right up close to you, it was nice.” She sighs.

“Can’t remember the last time I slept so well, to be honest.”

He lets go of her and flops onto his back, groaning. She rolls onto her side and props herself up with her elbow, resting her cheek on her palm.

“You make things so difficult for yourself. I’m not your TA right now.”

“But you will be again.”

“Because you wanted me to be.”

He looks at her and pouts.

“We’ll see each other more this way.”

“But…wouldn’t it be nice to go out on dates and touch and-“

“You’ve seen how busy I am, I rarely have time to see my friends as it is. I’d feel guilty for not being able to do those things with you.”

“You have me to yourself for the next four weeks, Harry, and the girls won’t be back until a week before school starts.”

“We’d have to stop when the semester starts back up, and wait again. I don’t know if I’ll be able to do that.”

“We could be discrete.”

“I’d have to be a little cold towards you.”

“You’re no stranger to that.” She scoffs.

“Y/N.” Harry’s hand finds her hip. “This is serious.”

“I’m about to graduate, from grad school, Harry. It’s not like I’m some eighteen year old girl sitting in one of your classes. I’m twenty-three, and you’re twenty-six, it’s really not that weird.”

“I’ll be twenty-seven next month.” He mutters.

“Great, then we can go out and celebrate when the time comes. Is there something in a handbook saying we can’t…do this?”

“It’s extremely frowned upon, I can assure you.” He groans again before speaking. “This is so frustrating, it’s not like you’re my first TA either, fuck, even I was a TA. Shit like this never happened. I’ve never been…attracted to someone I’ve worked with before.”

“You’re probably the only professor I’ve been into before.”

“See, right there, you had a thing for me when you were in my class only a couple of years ago, and-“

“And nothing happened then. You barely remembered me when I first came to your office. I was a flustered senior, that was it. Now…well, I know you now. I’m way less nervous around, I feel like I can really talk to you.”

“I feel the same way.” He sighs. “Fucking, Christ.” He yanks her down to her chest, and she yelps. His fingers scratch at her scalp and she nearly whimpers at how nice it feels to lay on his chest, having him play with her hair. “We can lay here a little longer, and then I need to go to move some of the snow.”

“I’m helping.” She puts a leg over his. “And you’re still a little…riled up, don’t you want to-“

“No.”

“But I could-“

“Y/N.” She looks up at him. “Just lay here with me.”

They both doze back off for a bit until Max starts barking. He must need to pee. Harry gets up and tells Y/N she can shower if she wants to.

“I’ll wait, I’ll get sweaty shoveling.”

“It’s my house, you don’t need to help.” He throws on a long sleeve shirt and thick socks. He looks at her crossing her arms over her chest. “Here.” He tosses her one of his sweaters. “Come on, Max.”

They all head downstairs. His sweater smelled just like him. She hoped she could keep this too just like with the pj’s he had given her a couple of months ago. He takes Max out quick, and then sets him back inside so he can get to shoveling. Y/N decides she could make him breakfast since he wouldn’t let her help outside.

She goes through his fridge and cupboards to find some different things. She wanted to make something that would take some time so it would be warm for him when he got inside.

“Muffins!” She says to herself as she rifles through his baking supplies.

She whips up a mixture of blueberry muffins and get them popped in the oven. She has the glorious idea to slice them in half and butt them up on his griddle when they’re done, just to give it a little crunch. Next, she cracks some eggs into the pan, and makes them sunny side down because she remembers him making them that way. She even finds some bacon to throw on the griddle.

When he comes inside, his nostrils are hit with everything she’s made. Everything was on plates on the kitchen table, and she was washing everything in the sink. He strips down to his boxers, having been drenched with sweat after digging out their cars. The snow was still falling, but it was good to get ahead of things before it all froze.

“Harry, I made…” She freezes when she looks at him. Seeing his full body in the light was much different than in the hazy darkness of his bedroom.

“I didn’t know I had blueberry muffins.” He says as he looks down at the plates.

“You, um, you didn’t, I made them.”

“From scratch?”

“Well, yeah.”

He picks up the muffin bottom and takes a bite. His eyes close for a second as he gets a good taste. It was buttery and a bit crisp from being on the griddle. It was perfection. He turns to her after he swallows.

“You’re…a literal angel.” He steps closer to her, and he notices her eyes drift down and back up. “I’ll go put some clothes, and then-“

She puts a hand on his chest. Her eyes plead with his. Just kiss me, she silently says to him.  His hands fly up to her jaw, and he pulls her in, lips crashing together, finally. She melts into him immediately. His tongue slides along her bottom lip, and she opens up for him. She can taste the blueberry muffin on him, and it makes her suck on his tongue. He groans against her, and his hands slide down to her ass to get a good squeeze. She wraps her arms around his neck and pulls him even closer.

“Harry.” She breathes against his lips.

He gets a good grip on her and lifts her up to sit her on the counter. He quickly draws the shades for the window above the sink so anyone out shoveling wouldn’t be able to see anything. He tugs at the sweater of his he was wearing and lifts it off her. Her legs open wide for him to stand between. His lips attach to the crook of her neck, sucking, licking, biting. Her hips buck towards his as she tugs at his hair. One of his hands lifts her shirt slightly, and she thinks he’s going to feel her breasts up, but instead his fingers find the band of her pajama pants. He stops to look at her.

“Can I?”

“Yes.”

His hand dips below, and it’s almost like he’s searching for something else.

“Are you not wearing any knickers?”

“No.” She blinks at him. “I don’t usually wear underwear to bed.”

“Jesus Christ.”

She opens her legs a little wider for him, and he groans when his fingers touch around her folds, and he feels her wetness sticking to him already. His other arm wraps around behind her to hold her close to him. He plays around with her, fingers rubbing all around until his middle finger slides in. She gasps, not having expected so much so soon, but she wasn’t complaining. She clutches at his shoulders when she feels another finger slip inside. He twists them around, just getting a feel for things, and he curls them up, knowing this was what she really wanted.

“Oh! Oh my god.” Her head rolls back. He was make that come here motion right on that sweet spot of her front wall. His lips find her neck again as he continues. His thumb starting to rub on her clit. “Oh fuck, Harry, oh my god.” She didn’t realize how whiney she could sound, but he loved. She was a mess for him.

“Been thinking about this for so long.” He says into her ear.

“Me too.” She was panting now. “It feels so good.”

“Yeah? Like having my fingers buried inside you?”

Her mouth falls open. He was into dirty talk and it made her clench around him.

“Yes, oh my fucking god, yes.” She bites down on his collar bone to try to muffle any louder noises, but he was knuckle deep, fucking her with his fingers, it was no use. “Harry, I’m so close, oh fuck!”

His hand around her waist reaches up to tug at the back of her head. He wanted to watch her go through the motions. He wanted to see just how good he was making her feel. Her eyes rolls into the back of her head as she continues to beck forward. Her release was long, and so very good. She cried out, maybe a little louder than she should have, but he wasn’t telling her to keep it down. Did he want his neighbors to hear? Did he want them to know how good he could fuck someone?

He slows down his motions inside of her, helping her through the aftershocks, and then he slowly retracts his fingers. He sucks them into his mouth and then steps away from her. She was breathless. He kisses her cheeks and then helps her hop down from the counter.

“You made such a nice breakfast, let’s not let it go to waste.”

“Harry…” She watches him sit down.

“What?”

“Don’t you want to-“

“I’m all sweaty, I’d like to take a shower before going further if that’s alright with you.”

“Okay.”

She sits down with him and eats her food that she was now ravenous for.

“You really made this from scratch?”

“Yeah, I’m glad you like it.”

“It’s delicious.”

They finish eating and decide to clean up later. She follows him upstairs to his shower. He helps her out of her clothes and lets her get in first. She throws her hair up into a bun so it doesn’t get soaked. He rids himself of his boxers and gets in behind her. She moves aside so he can wash up. She presses her front to his back, and her hands roam along his long torso.

“You made me feel so good, I think it’s your turn.”

She kisses on his back while she starts to stroke his hardening length. It felt so big in her hand. Harry’s head falls to his chest, and he presses a palm to the tile wall to keep himself grounded. She runs her thumb over his tip and he groans. He grabs her hand and turns around. He backs her up to the opposite wall, cradling the back of her head as he basically slams her against it. His lips are on hers in seconds. Everything felt hot and wet, and just otherworldly. Y/N couldn’t enough. In the back of her head she kept thinking that she couldn’t believe this was happening. It wasn’t often that she got what she wanted.

“Please, fuck me.” She says against his lips.

“I don’t have any condoms.” He kisses down her neck and kneads her breasts.

“I’m on the pill.”

“S’not what I’m worried about.” He pulls his head back to look at her. “Are you clean?”

“I am, actually. I was tested last time I went to the doctor. Are you?”

“I am.” He smiles. “So…you really wanna feel all of me? Just like that?”

“Yes.” She whines. “Please.”

He kisses her and bites on her bottom lip, sucking on it as he pleases. He lifts one of legs up over his hip, and uses his other hand to line himself up. She was still plenty wet, so he’s able to push inside.

“Fuck, Y/N.” He grunts, trying to push further inside her. “So tight.”

“I…Christ, I think you’re just really big.” She gasps once he’s all the way inside.

His head drops to watch himself slowly thrust in and out of her. He bites his bottom lip at the sight. He looks back up at her, watching her features.

“Are you comfortable?”

“Could you maybe just hold my leg up?”

Harry nods and hooks his arm under leg, driving in deeper. Her head rolls back against the tile. Once he knew she was okay, he didn’t let up. He was fucking her hard and fast, only slowing up so he could hear her whimper and beg for more. Her nails were clawing at his back, and it was just egging him on. He uses his other hand to rub at her clit. She was starting to breathe heavier, moan after moan leaving her lips. He could tell she was close.

“Gonna come again for me?”

“Yes, fuck, I’m almost there, Harry!”

He sucks the tender skin of her neck between his teeth, and that’s what pushes her over the edge. Her senses totally overwhelmed. He gasps when he feels how deeply her nails dig into him from going through the motions of her orgasm. He pulls out of her quickly and comes on her stomach. He’s out of breath, pressing kisses to her cheek and neck.

“No going back now.” He says as he caresses her cheek.

“Nope.” She smiles.

He pecks her lips and turns back around to stand in the water again. Her eyes grow wide and he winces once the water cascades over him.

“Harry, I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize I was hurting you.”

“It didn’t hurt while it was happening, is it bleeding?” He looks over his shoulder trying to see for himself.

“Um…I broke the skin, but it’s not bloody.” She blushes. “Yikes, that’s embarrassing.”

“No it’s not.” He chuckles and moves so she can rinse her stomach off in the water. She turns it off and they both step out to towel off. “I wasn’t hurting you was I?”

“No, oh my god, it felt so good. Feels like I’m still throbbing.”

He wraps his arms around her waist and pulls her close. She rests her hands on his chest.

“Do you like ice skating?”

“What?” She laughs. “Yeah, I love it, why?”

“Because once this storm is over, m’taking you on a proper date.” He kisses her forehead and lets her go. “Would you like that?”

“I’d love it.”

Harry was so peculiar, Y/N thought. One second he’s saying they can’t be together and the next he wants to take her out on a date. What she didn’t know was that he had never felt quite so good while having sex. It wasn’t because she felt incredibly tight around him, it had more to do with the trust and natural connect. He felt happy, a feeling he thought would never return.

//

To Y/N’s surprise, Harry was a really good ice skater. The two of them were like a real couple. He would visit her at work, they’d go out to the bar with his friends, and they’d have sleep overs at each other’s places. He quite liked her apartment. Not to mention, he couldn’t keep his hands off her. If they were going for a brisk walk, his hand was in hers. If they were sitting through a move, his arm was around her shoulders, and of course they were having a lot of sex. Even when she had her period, he fucked her.

“Got my red wings years ago, promise it doesn’t gross me out.” He had told her.

And god, when he ate her out. Sometimes they wouldn’t even have full on sex. Sometimes they’d be on the couch, and he’d ask if she would ride her face, and then they would just sixty-nine. Sometimes she would just blow him because she liked the way his come tasted. Harry drank a fuck ton of pineapple juice, even before they started hooking up, he always had a small can of it in his office. He just liked the taste. They were just intimate in all sorts of ways, totally comfortable.

It was when Nessa and Charlotte returned that Harry’s bubbled had to burst. School would be starting in a week, and he needed to make sure his shit was together. He had been to the office a few times, working to make sure his courses were together. He and Y/N were professional and went over the class she would be the TA for.

“This is gonna have to be what it’s like when school starts again, don’t forget.” He would say. It killed her, but she would never do anything to put his job at risk, even if she didn’t think their situation was all that serious. She had to respect his wishes.

“I’d feel more comfortable if you slept over at my place since their home.”

“Harry, they know what’s been going on…Niall and Charlotte still talk, and they-“

“I don’t care, I’d rather you be here…and only on the weekends.”

“What?”

“Saturday nights can be our night. On the weekends, you’re not my TA.”

“What will I be then?”

“My girl.”

They had put the boyfriend/girlfriend label chat on the back burner, but that was all she needed to hear to know that she was really his, and he certainly didn’t want someone else trying to steal her away. He had gotten her a necklace, it was simple, but very much her style. A way of showing her how much she truly meant to him.

“Anytime during the week you’re feeling like I don’t want you because I can’t show my affection, this will be your reminder of how much I care.”

She thought it was incredibly sweet, and it was nice to have the reassurance. When classes started, it was definitely difficult. The one thing getting her through this first week was his birthday party on Saturday. Just a small thing with friends at the bar, but still. They wouldn’t have to hide there, or so she thought. Some other professors were invited to the party, which meant Harry couldn’t touch Y/N. He frowned immediately. He wasn’t in charge of the guest list. He pulls Y/N to the side before they walk into the main area.

“I’m so sorry, I promise when we get back to my place later I’m gonna love on you all night.”

“Harry, it’s okay. It’s your birthday, I’m the one that’ll be doing the loving. Go on, enjoy.”

He gives her a discrete peck on the cheek, and then walks into the main room to say hello to everyone. Y/N invited Charlotte and Nessa, so she had other people to talk to. Niall’s arm was hooked around Charlotte’s waist the entire night. Y/N and Nessa teased her every chance they got.

“I’ve been told to check in on you. Orders from the birthday boy.” Louis says to Y/N.

“Thanks.” She chuckles. “It’s okay. Next year things will be totally different.”

“Really see things lasting then, don’t you.” It wasn’t a question.

“I think so, yeah. If the person who he said actually retires, I’m hoping to be able to work at the university to start out.”

“That would be great. He raves about you, you know? He’s a simple guy, likes being domestic. I think he said one of his favorite things to do with you is just cook a meal together.”

“Aw, he’s so sweet.” She pouts. “I like doing that too.”

Harry was mingling with everyone that came out for his birthday. Everyone sang to him, a cake was made him too. The second he tasted it he knew Y/N had baked it. He thought at the least they could have their picture taken together, that wouldn’t look weird.

“Harry!” One of the faculty members, Constance, comes over to him, a young woman by her side. “There’s someone I want you to meet, this is my daughter, Angie.”

“Oh! Hi, I’ve heard a lot about you.” He politely shakes her hand.

“It’s nice to meet you too.” She blushes.

“I’ll leave you to it.” Constance winks and walks away.

“I’m so sorry about her. She conned me into coming here, hope I’m not crashing your birthday.”

“You’re not.” He looks back at Y/N and then to Angie. “So, this is a set up then?”

“She seems to think we have a lot in common.”

“And perhaps we might, but…I’m sort of seeing someone. It’s a…long distance thing, so she’s not here tonight, unfortunately.”

“Oh! She could have sworn you were single, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s alright. I’m sure you’re lovely, I just really like this woman and I don’t want to screw it up.” He smiles and she nods.

Harry finally makes his way over to Y/N and Louis.

“Do me a favor,” He says to Louis, taking out his phone. “Take a picture of us.”

“Are you sure?” Y/N asks.

“Positive.” He smiles and puts an arm around her shoulders. Louis snaps a couple of shots and hands Harry his phone back. “Sorry you won’t be able to post these…”

“Well, I could, my insta is private, but we can talk about it later.”

“Lou, could you drop Y/N off at my place when this is over, we drove together, but I don’t wanna risk anyone seeing us leave in the same car.”

“Course, mate.”

Harry nods and walks away to continue talking to other people.

“He acts like you’re his student. I don’t see anything wrong with you two doing what you’re doing.”

“I don’t either.” She sighs. “But he worked so hard to get where he is, I have to respect doing things his way. It was a long week, but I’m happy to be going back to his place later.”

Y/N’s lips were on Harry’s the second he let her through the door. He made sure to get home before her so they didn’t even leave at the same time. She had him pushed against the wall and his hands were all over her.

“Missed you so fucking much.” He says, walking her back towards the living room. “And I loved the watch you got me, you didn’t have to do that.”

“Wanted to.” She starts unbuttoning his shirt and pushes him down on the couch, straddling him in no time.

“Gonna let me lick it, angel?”

“Is that what you want?”

“You have no idea. You’re as sweet as the cake you made me.”

“How did-“

“Y/N, I know it’s only been a month, but I’d know your baked goods anywhere.” He smirks.

She giggles and stands up to unbutton her jeans. He yanks them down her legs along with her panties and she kicks them to the side. Harry lays down on the couch and Y/N hovers over his face. He liked it better this way. One, he didn’t have to get on his knees and suffer through the pain of being on the hardwood. Two, he liked the way Y/N would just ride his tongue.

Max was upstairs, thanks to the gate. So they didn’t have to worry about him coming down and jumping on them.

“Fuck, Harry.” She moans. “Your tongue feels so good.” She rocks her hips back and forth on him, the stubble from his chin feeling extra delicious. He moans against her, lapping up every drop. “You like that, birthday boy? Like having me on you like this?” She looks down at him and see his eyes rolling into the back of his head. He sucks on her clit harshly, and that pushes her over the edge. “Oh, fuck!”

Once she’s through, she climbs off him. Before she knows it, he’s throwing her over his shoulder to bring her upstairs. He gives her bum a smack and she squeals. Y/N left plenty of scratch marks on Harry that night.

//

Y/N was antsy for every weekend. The weeks dragged on, and the weekends went by in a flash. Then she remembered something wonderful.

“Spring break!” She says, bursting into their shared office.

“What about it?” Harry chuckles.

“Two weeks off without the students!” She leans a little closer to him. “Two weeks of me not being your TA.” She grins and then sits down in her seat.

“We’ll be grading, darling.” He says nonchalantly.

“This is a pet name free zone, remember?”

“Sorry.” He smirks. “Didn’t think ‘darling’ would get your knickers in twist.”

“Fuck off.” She rolls her eyes. “Do we seriously have to grade? Can’t we do fun things? I have time off from school, I don’t wanna do anything.”

“M’surprised you don’t want to go home or go with your friends somewhere.”

“I’ve done the whole go to Florida and get blitzed thing, I’m all set. And I may go home for a couple of days, but I don’t really like being home long. Somehow I get stuck doing chores, and I get aggravated.”

“I’ll tell you what, if we get through enough of the grading, we can do something really fun.”

“Deal.” She smiles.

Sometimes Y/N felt like this was only hard for her, but it killed Harry. He had fantasies of bending Y/N over his desk, or even just kissing her good morning. He even started letting her come over on Friday nights instead of Saturday because he just couldn’t wait any longer. He knew he was being overly careful, but he just couldn’t risk it.

//

Harry stayed true to his word. They got through a lot of the grading so drove them out to the coast for a walk on the pier at a large beach. It was still too chilly for real beach weather, but there were less people around this time of year, and some of the shops were open. Y/N clung to Harry’s arm and they both just enjoyed the fresh air and the scenery. He took her to a nice dinner, and then they walked for a bit to watch the sunset.

“This was the perfect day.” She sighs as they begin their drive back to his place.

“It really was.” His rests his hand on her thigh and gives it a squeeze. “I love you, Y/N.”

She whips her head to look at him. His eyes were focused on the road. Tears start to prick at her eyes. No one ever said that to her before. She had been in relationships, but she never really got to a point for such strong words, and she certainly never felt it back.

“I love you, too.”

“Aw, look at us.” He smiles. “Two people in love.”

“I wasn’t expecting you to say that…” She sniffles.

“Hey, no need to cry, darling.”

“I just…no one’s ever told me they loved me before.”

“What?!” He squeezes her leg tighter. “But there’s so much to love. You’re kind, caring, an incredible baker, witty, funny, brilliant-“

“Harry, please.” She chuckles. “When we get home we’re making love.”

“I’ve made love to you before, just didn’t say anything. Anytime we’re really soft and careful, I’m making love to you.”

“God.” Her face flushes, thinking of the many sensual times he’s touched her. “Well, I can’t wait to do it again.”

//

It was a Tuesday, which meant Y/N wouldn’t be in the office with Harry. She had class and then a shift at Bento’s. He wanted her to be able to nap in between. He saw that the open IDS position had been posted, and he emailed her immediately. He couldn’t wait to work on her resume and cover letter together.

“Harry?” Constance knocks on the outside of his door.

“Hey, Connie! Come on in.” He beams at her. She squints at his collar, seeing just the top of a love bite.

“Did you see that girlfriend of yours this weekend?” She asks, as she sits down.

“Sure did.” He smiles. “I saw her for a while over spring break too, told her I loved her, and she said it back. I’m on cloud nine. M’sorry things didn’t line up with your daughter, she’s a very pretty girl. My friend Lou is single, maybe-“

“Harry, Harry.” She chuckles. “No worries at all, she’s been dating around a bit. I shouldn’t have just assumed you were single, and that’s great that you two are doing so well. I think I thought you weren’t seeing anyone because with your last girlfriend…well…you had pictures of her on your desk, and you gushed about her. We don’t even know this one’s name.”

“You will soon enough.” Harry did have pictures of Y/N, they were just discrete. His lock screen was the picture of them at his birthday, and his wallpaper was just a picture of her. He could look at her whenever he wanted. “She’s, uh, finishing up grad school.”

“Oh, good for her! Anyways, I came here to chat with you about my sabbatical. Obviously it’s turned into a full year instead of just the fall semester. We’re going to have a department meeting, but I wanted to see how you’d feel about stepping in as department chair while I’m gone.”

“Are you serious?!” He perks up.

“Yes.” She chuckles.

“That would be a dream! I have so many ideas, and-“

“It would mean you wouldn’t be able to teach as many classes, and you’ll have more responsibilities over winter and summer break.”

“That’s no problem, honestly. I only go to London for a couple of weeks, I’m usually in the area for summer. I’d love to give it a go. I didn’t think I’d be next in line.”

“It’s coming from my own suggestion. I’ve been doing this a long time, and I think you’d be great at it. It would sort of be a trial, and then when I come back we could reflect on the experience.”

Harry was buzzing, absolutely buzzing. He needed to tell Y/N about his good news, so he hops in his car, and zips over to her apartment. She was vegging out in a t-shirt and panties with Nessa and Charlotte, who were both dressed in the same thing. They hear the bell on their door.

“Who the fuck is that? It’s nearly nine.” Nessa says.

“No idea.” Y/N says, getting up to check it out. She sees Harry through the peephole. Her eyebrows raise, but she opens the door. “Dr. Styles, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Y/N, I’m sorry for…” He looks her up and down. “This is how you open the door?!”

“I saw it was you.” She shrugs and steps aside to let him in.

“Hi, Harry.” Charlotte and Nessa say at the same time.

“Hi girls.” He smiles and looks at Y/N. “I got great news today and I just had to see you, can we got to your room?”

“Of course.” Once they’re both in there, they sit on her bed. “So what’s up? I got your email about the job, I’m really excited.”

“Good news for both of us today. Connie, my department chair, came by to see me today, and she wants me to be department chair while she’s on sabbatical next year while she’s gone. It would be like a trial run. Me! Department chair! I have so many ideas, this is the opportunity I’ve been hoping for.”

“Oh, Harry.” She throws her arms around him. “That’s incredible, I’m so happy for you.”

“Thanks.” He holds her in his arms for a moment and then lets her go so he can stand up. “Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Harry…” She whines.

“Don’t start, I just wanted to see your face when I told you.”

“You could have FaceTimed me.”

“Oh.” He shakes his head. “It’s been a long day.” He chuckles.

“You can stay.”

“No, I can’t.” He caresses one of her cheeks. “I want to, but I can’t. Soon, babe, so soon.”

“Um…” She stands up and looks down. “If I get this job…I mean…the lease for this place is up June first, and…well…the girls are going to be working in schools, and won’t need to live here anymore, and…I mean, I could find new roommate and sign a new lease...”

“Or, you could come move in with me.” He takes her hands in his and kisses her knuckles.

“Really?”

“Yeah, I want you to. I want you around all the time. Being apart from you during the week really fucks with how clingy I naturally am.” He smirks.

“I like it, though. We spend all weekend in your big, comfy bed.”

“Look forward to it every week.” He sighs happily. “Just gotta get through you walking across that stage, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright.” He kisses her cheek. “I love you, sweet dreams.”

“I love you too.”

//

Harry helped Y/N apply for the job, and after two nerve-wracking rounds of interviews, and two weeks of pure stress that even Harry’s cock couldn’t squash, she got the call that she got the job. Harry took Y/N out to celebrate, they both nearly cried when she got the call. She told her parents and they were ecstatic.

“In a few years, if you feel like it, you could get your PhD for free through the university.” He says to her as they’re laying in bed.

“Hm, three degrees from the same place.” She taps her chin. “Doesn’t seem like a great idea.”

“If you can do it for free, you should. It was the smartest thing I ever did. Well that, and giving into you.”

“Giving into me?!” She laughs. “You make it sound like I seduced you.”

“I fell for you so hard. You’re just so wonderful.” He pouts. “Are your parents excited to meet me in a couple of weeks? I’m excited to meet them.”

“They’re definitely curious to see who the guy I’m going to be moving in with is.”

“Are you going to miss the girls?”

“So much! They’ve been great to live with. Nessa’s moving in with Andy. She found a college in the city he works in to teach at. She’s so good at putting productions together, I’m excited for her. Charlotte may be in the area, though. Something tells me the school she’ll be teaching at is close by to Niall.”

“I’ve never seen him so smitten. He takes the more serious part of a relationship slow, but once he’s in he’s in.” He pulls her closer to him. “Everything’s falling into place. I’ve been working with Connie to get prepared for the fall, and I couldn’t be more excited.”

“I’m really proud of you.”

“I’m proud of you too, babe.”

//

The day they had both been waiting for was finally here. The graduate ceremony was in the evening, separate from the undergraduate ceremony. Y/N wouldn’t be able to see Harry until after the ceremony. She was busy with her parents and younger siblings. Harry may have clapped and cheered extra loud when she walked across the stage. Most people around him thought it was just because she had been his TA for an entire year. Literally no one suspected more was going on between them. After today it wouldn’t matter anyways.

There was a champagne reception after the ceremony. Y/N easily found her family.

“We’re so proud of you honey. Another degree, a new job, and you’re moving in with a guy!” Her mom says.

“I’m still not thrilled about the last part. We don’t even know him.” Her dad says.

“But I do, so it’s a good thing I’m the one living with him, not you.”

Harry makes his way through the crowd over to her and her family. He takes a deep breath, and when she spots him she squeals. She runs over and jumps into his arms. They kiss as he swings her around.

“You did it!”

“I did it!” They both jump up and down for a moment. “Come on.” She holds his hand to bring him over to everyone. “Harry, these are my parents, and my two younger siblings. Ellie is going to be a senior in college this fall, and Ryan is going to be a sophomore. He’s actually transferring here in the fall.”

“That’s great! Hi, it’s so nice to meet all of you.” He shakes everyone’s hands.

“Damn, a PhD.” Ellie whispers to her sister and winks. “Nice job.” The girls giggle together.

They all decide to go out to dinner together to get to know each other better. Harry and Y/N would be meeting up with Charlotte, Nessa, and the others at the bar once dinner was over. Y/N explains how they waited a while to make things official because Harry wanted to make sure things remained professional. Harry easily impressed her parents. He was incredibly smart and knew how to work people over. Even her dad was happy with him.

Y/N got pretty drunk at the bar with her friends, and Harry was able to keep his arms around her all night without a care in the world. When he got her inside his place, he couldn’t stop kissing her and telling her much he loved her over and over. She was excited to start her new job in a couple of weeks, and he was excited she genuinely wanted to stay, and wasn’t just doing this for him. They would spend the time before starting her job to get her all moved in. They even talked about getting a larger place at some point.

“I can’t wait to snuggle with Mac every night.” She giggles as she gets into bed.

“Hey, what about me?” He pouts.

“I guess you’re nice to snuggle with too.” She jokes.

“Mhm.” He kisses on her and hovers over her. “My girl’s got her master’s. You’re so fucking smart, it turns me on.”

“Really?”

“When we did those mock interviews in my office I couldn’t stop thinking about fucking you.”

“Does this mean we can get a little sneaky in your office now?” She raises an eyebrow at him. “Or are you staying firm with your open door policy?”

“Think I may have to reconsider it, but only for you.”

[gucciwins]

The First Kiss

Harry and Y/N go on their first date...will they finally become something more?

Word count: 4814

A/N: I know how much you all love breakout room and the follow up it's your birthday. I love writing them and it's been a while but do know they are doing well. this is nothing but sweet fluff. I do mention the vaccine and wearing masks which I hope you all are doing. it's important to stay safe and truly wish nothing but the best for you all. I love you xxx

please reblog and let me know your thoughts

_____

“Are you feeling good? I sent over a goodie basket.”

Harry giggled, loving how concerned you were. “I’m doing good, baby.” He sees you tuck your head into your sweater smiling, when he notices it’s the one he sent you in a goodie basket after you got your second shot of the vaccine.

It’s spring break, and Harry can finally say he is officially vaccinated after letting the mandated two weeks pass. It’s perfect timing, honestly, as he has been itching to finally see you in person again.

Your university let you know that they would begin to have vaccine dates open to students through an email that you quickly forwarded to Harry. You had to register to get a date for your first vaccine, and slots were filling up fast. You shot Harry multiple texts telling him what day you got and time, but you went without an answer for an hour which is weird, seeing as Harry never liked to leave you waiting more than five minutes.

By the time he got back to you, he had to wait two weeks, unlike you, who would be getting in only three days. You asked why he didn’t answer, and he said he was in class. You frowned because even then, he always answered. He then confessed he lost his phone in his apartment and didn’t have time to search for it.

You laughed about it, but he was disappointed because he wanted to see you. To give you a hug. To hold your hand.

After spending his birthday together, you both decided against meeting in person for safety even though you both wanted to, more than anything. You postponed your date to the future. Instead, you completed the group assignment through zoom meetings that led to facetime calls. After submitting the project and learning that you aced the assignment, well, you both caved in.

Harry gushed on how he always got B’s on the professor’s assignments, and to celebrate, he sent you a dozen cupcakes from the bakery that you never stop raving about located only three blocks from where you live. Then proceeded to call him over to celebrate and who was he to say no. Harry was shocked at how rich and full of flavor they were because he wasn’t aware it was vegan. Yet, it tasted better than anything he ever had. Harry realized why it was your favorite, promising to take you there in person to have your pick of favorites and not only red velvet and carrot cake because they were safe choices.

You couldn’t say you’ve been on a proper date with Harry, but you’d like to count all the zoom calls and facetime calls as dates not that you let Harry know it would only inflate his ego. You’d start a call to ask a question on assignments, and it would lead to sharing stories back and forth of what their favorite book was to where they would visit if they could go that very second. You loved how insightful he was, also liked how he used pastel highlighters to mark his annotations. Harry was a fan of how you always had a pencil in your hair or behind your ear. How you always had a snack on hand because you didn’t want to listen to professors without something to eat or you’d lose focus.

You were glad you’d be able to get together safely but also taking all the needed precautions. Safety is hot, as Harry liked to say all the time when you sent him photos of you wearing your masks.

“Yeah, like the basket?”

Harry grins, but it’s not as bright due to the lacking pixels of your laptop. He holds it up, having placed it in his lap. “I did love the bath bombs.”

You smile back at him, “Going to change your life. Self-care is important, bub. Even in the smallest ways as a bath.”

Harry nods, “I know, baby. The reason I remember to take deep breaths each morning, no longer eager to reach for my phone.”

“Proud of you.”

“And I of you, baby.”

Harry shines his dimples at you when you turn your head away at the sweet name he started calling you a few weeks ago. You adored it, honestly, but it always left you feeling flustered.

“H, please.”

“Baby, I like seeing you flustered.”

“You’re a menace.”

He shrugs, still giggling.

“How are Mitch and Sarah?”

“Wonderful, sickly in love as always. Spend their time at Sarah’s like composing together.”

“That’s sweet.” You lean in, smiling at him, “you know we should all hang out together. I get to meet Mitch properly and see Sarah again, and you’ll get to meet Amy.” You grow excited at the thought.

“Not before I get to see you.”

“H, we got to coordinate a day that works for all of us. No need to get jealous.”

“Not jealous.”

“Sure,” you reply sarcastically.

“Got to learn to share me with Amy. I cook her lunch and dinner; otherwise, she’d be nothing but a walking cadaver.”

“I want you to make me lunch and dinner,” he pouts.

“I can now that you’ve vaxxed.”

“That I am, so you are.”

“Yes,” you’re waiting for him to go on.

“Will you go on a date with me? Think we waited long enough, and if my feelings weren’t obvious enough, I like you and really want to take you out.” he rambles on.

You interrupt him knowing fully well he could go on for days, “I’d love to, Harry.”

“Yeah, baby?”

“Yes, Harry.”

“Great. Friday then.”

“I’m free.”

“I know, know your schedule by heart.”

“Creep,” you gasp at the news.

“Shush, like you don’t have my classes added to your planner.” Your turn to pout.

“I like knowing your schedule, and they overlap.”

“I do too. Look forward to your messages every day between classes.”

“So Friday? What are you planning?”

“A picnic.”

You jump up in excitement, causing your laptop to fall back on your bed before you dive to save it. Harry yelling dramatically in the background as if you just dropped him.

“H, be quiet. You’re fine.”

“Dropped me, darling.”

“Dork.”

He mutters something in return, but you can’t hear him.

“So I’ll prepare lunch because you’ve told me once or twice that you’re hopeless in the kitchen.” Harry doesn’t even try to fight you because it’s true. “You’ll take care of drinks and desserts.”

“Seems like you’re planning the date,” he teases.

“I like picnics.”

“Well, I like you, so I’ll let you take over.”

Your smile turns soft, reaching your hand out as if you could reach in and caress him. “I like you, too. I can’t wait to give you a hug.”

“Counting down the hours.”

“Alright, you have class in ten, and you always struggle to log in.”

“Making me hang up. Not fair.” Harry frowns, debating skipping class for you.

“Don’t think about it, Styles.”

“Fine. Take care, baby.”

“Bye, H.”

A date.

You have a date with Harry.

Finally, it happened.

_____

You were nervous.

Why were you nervous? It was just Harry.

Harry, who wanted to date you from your first meeting, who emailed you asking you out, and who has not stopped talking to you since February. Constantly reminding you of his feelings for you. You hope he knew you felt the same, in texts and sending him little gifts even as small as writing him a letter.

You got up early today to prepare lunch. You decided on sandwiches, a non-messy meal, and Harry always said he wanted to try the bakery bread you use and not the basic store-bought. It was a bit pricey but not as much anymore because you had become a regular, meaning the sweet owner began giving you a discount, especially when finding out you're a student. Still, you always remember to leave a good tip. The turkey sandwiches were finished with cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes. Looked so good that Amy had one as you were making them. You made three and packed them up in your glass reusable containers.

Staring at the sandwiches, it felt like too little food when Harry had told you many times how much he enjoys eating, so you cleaned up and got to make a second meal. You decided on vegetable rice paper rolls. A favorite and easy meal to make that you enjoyed eating. It was packed with lettuce, avocado, cabbage, bell peppers, cucumbers, noodles, and fresh herbs. This was a meal your dad made you all the time as a child with the special slightly spicy peanut sauce that you could drizzle on top.

Harry was going to enjoy this, so you hoped. He promised to make strawberry lemonade. Assured you that it would not be store-bought, and you believed him. During one of your late conversations, he shared how his sister would make him some when she returned from uni. Reminds him of home, he would say.

After packing everything away in the fridge to keep it cool it was time to get ready. You stood in front of your closet for a good five minutes before you began to swipe through the hangers. You knew you wanted to wear a dress; it was warm weather and would only get hotter as the day went on.

You searched your entire closet, there were three options once you had decided on, but you called Amy in to make the final decison for you. She decided on the one sitting in the middle of your bed, which was exactly what you were thinking.

The dress was a white button-front high slit that fit you nicely. You hadn't used it in quite some time, seeing as when you left your apartment, it would be in leggings, sweats, and the first sweater you could slip on.

You couldn't stop looking in the mirror, loving how it flowed around you when you twirled. For accessories, you slipped on a gold ring that had a little heart on it and another that was a gift shaped like a small snake as it was going to scale down your finger. A simple heart locket gifted to you by your grandparents hung right above your cleavage. You decided to leave your hair natural, liking how it air-dried after the shower you had that morning.

There was no makeup on your face, just your favorite rosebud salve lip balm that left your lips soft. Amy insisted you put some on, but you stood firm in your decision, knowing you'd be wearing a mask and didn't want anything smudging.

You looked down at the time on your phone and knew it was time to head down, Harry said twelve, and you didn't want to make him come up to your apartment only to walk down the three levels again. You grabbed the picnic basket that was sitting in the back of yours and Amy's shared doorway closet and made sure to place everything neatly, leaving room for Harry's drink and stashing a bunch of napkins in for any accidents. Basket prepared, you slipped your sunglasses in your hair, placing your lavender tote bag with tiny embroidered daisies on your shoulder that contained sunscreen, your wallet, extra face masks, and a book Harry had told he had wanted to read.

Before opening your door, you put on the white mask that you embroidered sunflowers on. It was one of your favorites, and glad it complimented your look well. You walked down the stairs slowly, not wanting to drop the basket.

You walk out the front door and find Harry getting out of the yellow mask on his face. As you get closer, you can see it's the one you made him. It has bees on it, and embroidered on the left side is 'my honey.' Harry had turned quite pink when he opened the gift he got in the mail over facetime with her. You happily screenshot his reaction, happy to have it to look back on.

As soon as you reach him, it's as if all the nerves you had disappeared. Calm washes over you as he comes to stand in front of you. You can't see the smile he has, but the crinkles by his eyes prove he's just as happy to see you.

"Hi, Harry," you say, your eyes taking him all in.

Harry doesn't hide, he's checking you out, and you're thankful for the mask at the moment, able to hide how bashful you're feeling. "Hello, baby. You look gorgeous. I'm a lucky man."

"Yeah," you swayed side to side, "gave me a reason to dress up."

"Always beautiful, but I'm so glad to see more than just your shoulders." He laughs, and you join him.

"Look pretty, H. I had not seen this cardigan." You reach out, running a finger down over the pastel yellow cardigan that looks to be well-loved. He paired it with a plain white shirt that fits him loosely with Gucci denim trousers that he told you he found a few years ago when he was thrift shopping in London with his mother.

"No, brought it out just for you. Wanted it to match my favorite mask." Although he couldn't see it, you hoped your eyes were doing their job expressing your joy. "Let's put this basket in the trunk. Got a blanket and a few pillows as well as the lemonade."

"And the dessert?"

He chuckles, "and the dessert."

You place everything in the trunk, taking a step back for Harry to close it. He walks you over to your door, opening it for you, you offer a soft thank you, but before you get in, you turn to look at him.

"What is it, baby?"

You stare down at your ribbon-tied wedges before looking up into his piercing green eyes. "Can I have a hug? I just--I'm really happy to see you."

Harry falters for a second before answering, "of course, come here." He's quick to bring you in for a hug, and it feels like home. It's comfortable, and you can't believe you haven't hugged him since February, a good two months ago, when it has honestly felt like a lifetime. "I would have earlier, but when you came out, you truly shocked me with how amazing you looked."

You just hug him tighter, enjoying feeling his strong arms around you. He looks at you smiling. "That was nice." You nod because it was, and if he'd let you, you'd stay in his arms all day.

"Well, shall we go?"

"We shall."

And with that, you were off to your first date with Harry, which would hopefully lead to more.

_____

The drive to the park was short; you unloaded everything from the car once you got there. Harry offers to carry the basket, letting you lead to picking the spot. You walked ahead, glad he brought you to a park you recognized; it's one you liked to walk around during finals week when you were drowning in essays and exams. This was a nice break. On the other side of the park is a lake where you can rent pedal boats, but you were sure they hadn't opened up for business just yet, wanting more of the population to be vaccinated.

You led him to a secluded area laughing when he joked if you were leading him to his murder. Once you reached the clearing, one large tree with lots of shade and a few rose bushes surrounded it.

"It's beautiful here." Harry awed in amazement.

"Yeah, I found it my first year when I was trying to destress; I don't think many people know about it because it's not on the maps."

"Lucky us."

Harry grabs one end of the blanket, helping you spread it on the grass. You set your tote bag on one corner as well as setting down the pillows. As you make your way to sit down, Harry gently grabs your elbow, causing you to turn and look at him; he's holding a bouquet of tulips.

You felt your eyes well up with tears, not used to such a kind gesture; it's been a long time since you've been on a date with someone you really care about, "You got me tulips, H."

You reach forward and cradle them in your arms. "Course I did; I think you deserve all the beautiful things life has to offer."

You set the flowers on top of the basket before straightening up and pulling Harry into a hug. Your arms around his neck, his resting tightly around your waist, "including you," you whisper in his ear, causing him to squeeze you a bit tighter. Harry pulls back, leaving a gentle kiss on your forehead.

"Let's eat, baby. Know you made something delicious for us to enjoy."

Harry set the food out, and you are sure to hand him the wet wipes to clean your hand before you could begin wanting to be clean and not wanting to venture out to find a restroom. He eyed the sandwiches first, then the veggie rice paper rolls.

"Couldn't decide?"

"Wasn't sure what you'd like. So I gave you two options."

"Too sweet angel." Harry leans in to kiss her cheek.

"Think we ought to take off the mask now." You giggle, sad you didn't get to feel his lips on your cheek.

"Yeah, so comfortable it doesn't really bother me wearing them. I am hungry."

You place your mask in your bag, and Harry puts his mask in his pocket. He opens up both containers and digs into the veggie rolls first. He hums after the first bite, chewing happily. "Delicious," he mutters between chews.

"Can add this peanut sauce to give it more flavor, just a tad bit spicy." He watches you as you pick up and spoon drizzle a bit on top, taking a bite. Harry follows your steps taking another bite, and his eyes go wide at the added flavor.

"Shocked, I've lived all my life without this food."

You laugh, "well, now you don't have to."

He chews happily at your response.

_____

Lunch is filled with little conversation, both praising each other for a well-planned meal. The strawberry lemonade complimenting the food perfectly. He brought a raspberry lemon loaf cake for dessert, and you happily admit you ate two pieces. It tasted so heavily, making Harry promise you to buy more in the future for you. He agreed, stating he'd do anything to make you happy.

"It's nice going out with someone, enjoying the sweet fresh air." Harry comments.

You hum in agreement, "I adore my alone time, but with the right company, it can feel just as perfect."

Harry's cheek turns rosy pink quickly, not at all trying to hide from you. You love that he loves to show how much you affect him.

"It feels normal like we've done this hundred of times already.”

You chuckle, nudging his shoulder. "It's cause we have. Just never called any of them dates."

"So you agree, we've been dating since February," he teases.

"Yeah, I think we can say that."

"When was our first zoom call?"

"Hmm...after class a week after your birthday. Think we worked for an hour and talked about nothing for another."

You look over at Harry loving how the sun reflects off his skin; it makes him look like a gift from the Gods. Harry feels your gaze on him, flashing you a big grin, his dimples on display just for you, because of you.

"We will call February eighth our anniversary," he declares.

You laugh, not a silent one but a full-out belly gripping laugh; you can feel the tears welling up in your eyes. Harry sits there confused, not sure where the joke was.

"You alright, baby?" He asks, just a bit concerned.

"That is what you were thinking so hard about; you couldn't figure out a week from your birthday quickly. Took you a good few minutes." You shake your head, trying to catch your breath, tiny giggles still escaping you.

"Oi, no need to be rude."

"Sorry, honey."

"Never claimed to be smart."

"The pretty ones never are," you tease.

"Alright, that's it. I've had enough."

Before you can stop him, he's on top of you, his fingers tickling you from your sides to your thighs. He knows your body getting all your secret spots that make you squirm away from. You almost succeeded in getting one of his hands over your head, but he surprises you by straddling you. You've stopped laughing, but Harry keeps going.

His curls are falling over his head, his eyes shining bright, a new lightness to them. At that moment, you realize how lucky you are, and before you know it, you reach your free hand up and place it on the back of his neck, bringing him down to your lips catching him by surprise.

Harry stays frozen for a second before sinking into the kiss, responding softly, wanting to explore you as he'd been thinking about this moment for months. You love the feel of his lips against yours; you'd happily give up breathing, never wanting to part. Harry tries to pull away, but you chase his mouth, not ready to stop kissing. He smiles against your lips, humming when he places a hand on your cheek, adding more pressure; you're not sure who lets out a moan letting it out into the universe wishing for more, hoping for forever.

You don't get butterflies or fireworks. Instead, you feel the ease of calmness wash over you like when you arrive home after a long day. That's what kissing Harry is like coming home.

You pull back, laying your head on the pillow Harry was wise to bring; you don't try to contain your smile as Harry stares down at you in a look of awe. You run your thumb over his bottom lip-loving how swollen they look thanks to you. His eyes never leave yours; you gasp as he places a kiss on your thumb before taking it in his mouth, sucking it gently; a moan escapes you, surprised at how hot the teasing is getting you.

"You're filthy, honey."

Harry smirks, "just for you, baby."

"Only our first date, H. We aren't going to move fast."

"A makeout isn't too fast for you," he teases.

"Felt just right." You smile, loving the feeling of his weight on top of you as he has not moved from his position, still straddling you.

"I agree."

"Sorry, I didn't ask if I could kiss you. Consent is sexy."

Harry's smile is soft, his eyes flicker to your lips, then back to your eyes, "You hereby have permission to kiss me whenever you please, my love."

"You know all the right things to say to make me puny for you."

"Good to know. Got to keep a mental list."

"What's on there so far?"

Harry smirks, leaning down his mouth right over your mouth; you remember the taste of lemon you felt when you kissed him, and well, you don't try to stop yourself when you attach your lips against his. There's no sweeter feeling, you've decided.

He pulls back, keeping the kiss short, "Know you can't be close to me without giving me a kiss. Know your heart is racing like it might beat out of your chest, and I know you're dying to ask me to be your boyfriend."

"Guess you are smart," you whisper.

He chuckles, nudging his nose against yours, humming as he places a kiss on the top of your nose.

"You know, I was right."

"Yeah, about what, H?" You reach your hand up to run your hand through his curls, brushing them back, giggling as they fall forward again.

"That your laugh sounds better in person. Know it's cheesy but truly music to my ears."

"You nutter!"

"Oi, picking up my slang, are you?"

"Got to, especially when you called that Evan kid a wanker for dismissing my response." You snicker, remembering the moment a few classes ago when you spoke up to give your opinion only for Evan trying to mansplain how women in politics were growing already especially having a female-run as a candidate a few years back. You would have cussed him out, but Harry did it for you. He packed up all your points with his own references. Safe to say, Evan has not spoken up since then.

"Cause he is one. You're the smartest person in the class, and that tosser should not even be in this class. Clearly, hasn't learned one bit since January."

"Settle down, honey. All in the past." You pat his chest a few times, getting his focus back on you. "Got that book you've wanted to read, want to give it a read now?"

"Course, baby. Happy you had it in your collection." He's gotten back into reading now that he seemed to have more time on his hands, and they had been bouncing recommendations off of each other. You had told him to stay off Book Tok because it was the same ten books being promoted by every page. His sister told him to read The Silent Patient, but he couldn't rationalize spending fifteen dollars, and he couldn't find the free pdf. He asked you and told him Amy bought it for you as a gift for feeding her.

"Let me get it out of my bag; you can lay in my lap easier to listen to."

Harry's eyes go wide; you're going to read him. He did not expect that, but he had to make sure. "Going to read to me, darling?"

"If you don't mind." you tuck your hand into your tote bag again, "brought my kindle in case you didn't want to. Won't be sad if you don't want to."

"No, I want you to. Yeah, more than anything. Got the prettiest voice." Harry pecks your lips, pulling back giddy because that's the first time he's kissed you, and well, he has to do it again. Your lips move in sync, the kisses feeling smoother but just as passionate. You break the kiss, playfully push him away, hands-off, letting you adjust yourself before he sets one of the smaller pillows in your lap and lays his head. Your hand is quick to find a place in his hair, thankful you've mastered the one hand reading and page-flipping due to always having a book in your hand growing up.

_____

After reading for a bit, Harry lifts his head from your lap, taking the time to admire you. You kept reading, letting him take you in from this new angle. You stopped brushing his hair instead, allowing yourself to get immersed in the book once again. You giggled, thinking back at Harry's reaction to the opening line of chapter one.

You had just flipped to a new page, ready to start chapter seven, when you saw how fidgety Harry had gotten. He clearly had something on his mind, so you wanted to give him his space; you had only read five words when he spoke, interrupting you.

"Will you be my girlfriend?" Harry blurts, shifting to sit in front of you.

You don't smile, but you know he can see the gleam in your eyes at his words, "Hmmm...will you give me a cute nickname?"

Harry doesn't know what you're doing but goes along with it. "Already do, so yes."

"Will you let me make you more masks?"

"Yes."

"Will you knit me a sweater?"

"I'll knit you hundreds."

You nod, "then yes, I'll be your girlfriend."

"Yeah, you want me to be your boyfriend," Harry teases.

"Dork," you shove his shoulder, causing him to fall back. He gasps in shock.

You laugh, and it's music to his ears; his dramatic response is swallowed as he takes you in. Harry isn't sure where he'd be without you. He takes in the happiness displayed on your face and knows if you could look in a mirror, he'd look just as happy if not more. You are a light in his life.

These last few months have changed everything about him. Harry hadn't really understood what it meant when people said that your partner should also be your best friend. He thought it was cheesy and something to give false hope to others, but with you, he knew it was true.

Starting off as friends built a strong foundation for you both to grow together, and he is forever thankful you took a chance on him.

Harry called it fate, but you well, you think it was all thanks to the zoom gods who set you up in a random break out room not once but twice.

_____

thank you for reading :) I adore you xx

[goddessofthundathighs]

*Taps mic* Is this thing on? Okay, I know it's been AGES since I blessed your dashboards with new content, but listen... Shit happens, okay? This is my submission to @nahimjustfeelingit-writes Smut Challenge. And in the words of the great Erykah Badu, keep in mind that I'm an artist, & I'm sensitive about my shit. Enjoy!

**

“The story you 'bout to hear is complete fiction

It is however made up of a group of stories

True stories about real people

Thus creating real characters going through real things

Thus making the story itself real, true, and a real story, a true story

Is non-fiction…”

Non-Fiction x Ne-Yo

**

“Wait a damn minute! He did what?!” Alexandria screeched, nearly choking on the smoke of the freshly pearled blunt she’d rolled. Her eyes were wide with excitement and mild disbelief at what I had just told her.

“You heard me, bitch,” I replied, sipping my glass of wine. This was girl’s weekend and what better way to kick it off than spilling the details of the day’s freaky deeky adventure.

“How the fuck did that even happen?” Kenya inquired, crossing the threshold to the kitchen. I smirked, biting my lip at the memory of what had happened only a few hours prior.

“Chill out,” I giggled. “I’ll start from the beginning…”

**

The day started like any other. After my morning meditation and journal session, I grabbed my phone, smiling wide at a particularly generous tip on my latest CamSoda release. Public masturbation was the theme this week and everyone seemed to love the clip of me in the back of the music hall, including my music professor.

“Thank you, Dr. Turner,” I said aloud as I ventured to my bathroom to begin my skincare routine. Once my face and body were squeaky clean, I slid over to my perfume wall to pick the day’s scent.

“Champagne Toast or Sunrise Woods?” I mused before settling on the Sunrise Woods. I’d picked it up during my latest mall adventure. Upon smelling it, I fell in love with the way the sandalwood and cashmere notes complimented my mocha skin as well as the way it layered with my cocoa vanilla shea butter. For it to be a Bath & Body Work scent, the combination was very grown and sexy. I then slid over to my closet to pick the day’s outfit. I was working from the office today so I needed something that was sexy, but still professional. I decided on a white mid-length blouse with a black pencil skirt and sheer black thigh highs with my favorite pair of So Kates.

The commute to work was surprisingly short, given the amount of traffic on the freeway. I parked in my usual spot and made my way to our shared office suite.

“Good morning, Ms. Baptiste. You look stunning as usual.”

“Thank you, Mr. Stevens,” I replied in the sweetest voice. “Give me a few minutes and I’ll have your schedule ready.”

“Take your time,” he replied, his voice laced with mild seduction. “I have something to handle before I get my morning started.”

“That sounds nasty, but I’m gonna let you have it,” I said with a chuckle. “Did you still want me to organize your email inbox?”

“Would you please? Every time I try, I get overwhelmed and frustrated and shut down the whole damn system,” he admits.

“No problem, I can get started on that right now. Would you mind bringing me a coffee since it looks like you were headed down to Starbucks?”

“Sure, caramel macchiato, right?”

“Look at my boss, remembering what I like! You get brownie points for that, Mr. Stevens.”

He huffed a laugh before turning on his heels to leave the suite. After compiling his schedule and sitting it on his desk, I began the gruesome task of organizing his emails. I compiled everything into folders based on importance and was about to click off before another tab caught my attention.

“What is this?” I ask aloud, clicking the folder. My eyes grew to the size of saucers when I saw the contents.

**

“So you are a freak.”

I lift my eyes slowly to meet his gaze. How he managed to get to Starbucks and back so fast is beyond me, but here he was standing in front of my desk.

“Did you like what you saw in the video, Ms. Baptiste?” he asked, seeming to stare directly into my soul.

I nodded as he began stripping out of his suit jacket and tie.

“Good, because I wanna see if you can do better.”

He casually strolls to my side of the desk, unbuttoning his shirt to reveal the most beautiful body I had ever seen. Each ab was perfectly sculpted and riddled with intricately placed crocodile scars. When he was within arm's length, I reached out to touch, rubbing my hands along each scar. The sensation was electrifying. He grabbed my hand, sliding it down to the growing bulge in his pants, licking his lips when he noticed my mouth watering.

“Wanna taste?”

“Yes Daddy,” I moan.

“Good girl. Pull him out.”

I wasted no time undoing his belt, taking his dick as far back as my throat would allow. The moan I got in return sent the blood rushing to the apex of my thighs. He was bigger than I was used to, but that didn’t faze me as I continued to lick and slurp.

“So how do you wanna do this, baby girl? You wanna be cute and suck this dick like a lady, or can I fuck that face like the slut I know you are.”

I pulled off with a pop, lifting my head to meet his gaze.

“First of all, I’m a Princess and you will address me as such. Second of all, I’ll take the face fucking for $500 Alex.”

He grins slyly before his hand fisted my hair, using that as leverage to fuck my face at a ferocious pace. Spit dripped down my chin and onto my shirt as he pushed past my gag reflex. I groan, sliding my hand between my legs to ease the pressure building at my core.

“Who told you to touch my pussy?” he growls softly.

“N-Nobody, Daddy,” I whine, stroking his balls with my free hand.

“But you're doing it anyway. Disobedient little girl,” he chuckled darkly. “So how are you gonna make it up to me?”

Before I could answer, a shrill voice caught my attention.

“Lyric!”

My head whipped around at the sound of my name. I didn’t even realize that I had disassociated until I saw Ariana standing in front of me with her hands on her exceptionally wide hips.

“Huh?” I answered after realizing where I was.

“I asked of Mr. Stevens was back in his office. He and I have some things to discuss regarding my internship.”

“Oh yeah, he’s in there. Give me a second and I’ll let him know you’re here.”

She nodded as I walked to the adjacent door.

“Mr. Stevens, Ariana is here to see you. Umm, quick question.. Did you ever bring me my coffee?”

He blinked, before flashing an innocent smile. “You got your coffee three hours ago, Ms. Baptiste. It’s about time for your lunch break isn’t it?”

I checked the time and sure enough, it was 12:30 in the afternoon. Had I really been watching his homemade porn for 3 hours?

What the hell? I thought to myself, trying to wrap my mind around what the fuck was happening and whether or not I was losing my damn mind. He seemed to notice my struggle as he leaned forward on his elbows.

“You aight?” he asks with a raised eyebrow.

I nodded quickly, smoothing my hands down my skirt. “Yes I’m fine, I opened the window to let in a little fresh air and it must've gotten too hot in my office. I’ll see you in an hour.”

“See you then, Lyric. You can send Ms. Banks in.”

**

There’s something so hot about doing something spicy where you really shouldn’t be doing it. After finishing my lunch, I made my way down to the employee parking lot. I pulled up the CamSoda app, opting to go live instead of filming a regular video.

“Who wants to see their goddess masturbating on her lunch break?” I asked seductively, pulling my rose toy from my bag. Once the video had a substantial amount of views, I began the show.

“Oooh fuck,” I moaned as the vibrator sucked my clit with precision. With one leg propped on my console and the other on my dashboard, I went to town on myself, occasionally looking around to make sure no one important could see. I imagined that the toy was Erik’s tongue, licking and sucking until there was nothing left. My eyes rolled to the back of my head as I remembered one of the videos in the hidden folder. He had one of the other interns bent over his desk while he stroked her pussy with a vengeance.

“Oh shit, I’m about to cum,” I moaned, burying my face in my hair as my orgasm began to build. I squirmed and bucked against the seat and was just about to squirt when I heard a knock on my window. I opened my eyes to see Mr. Stevens staring back at me with a stern look on his face.

“Aww fuck,” I said readjusting my clothes. “Gotta cut this one short, babies. Love you guys!” I blew a kiss at the screen before ending the steam. I tucked the toy back into my bag and stepped out of the car, looking down at the pavement sheepishly.

“My office, 5 minutes,” was all he said before walking away.

“Mr. Stevens!” I called after him but he just kept walking. “Man damn!” I cursed loudly as I followed him. When I made it to our shared suite, I noticed that his office door was closed. I sat my purse on my desk before knocking softly.

“Mr. Stevens?”

“Come in, Lyric.”

I stepped into his office and before I could think, the words began flowing like diarrhea.

“Mr. Stevens, I’m so sorry. Please don’t fire me. It was a stupid mistake and I promise it’ll never happen again.”

He looks up from the legal pad that he had been writing on, twirling a pen between his hands.

“Ms. Baptiste I’ve only said two words to you. Calm down.”

I nodded, sitting down in the chair across from his desk to collect myself. I stared at the floor awaiting my punishment.

“Look at me.” His tone was soft, but his voice was stern. I bit my lip before lifting my head to meet his gaze.

“We’re both grown, Ms. Baptiste. So be honest with me, that’s not the first time you’ve done something like that, is it?”

I sighed softly. “No.”

“How many times have you done it before?”

“Four.”

“So you’ve recorded yourself masturbating on my time in my parking lot four times, correct?” he repeats, almost tauntingly.

“Yes, Mr. Stevens. But--” he puts a hand up to stop me from continuing.

“Do you think of me when you touch yourself, Ms. Baptiste?”

My mind went blank as I stared back at him. He simply chuckled before continuing.

“You know,” he said, scooting back from the desk. “If you’re gonna show the internet how wet your pussy gets from thinking about me, at least invite me so I can show them how messy she can really get.”

I’m sorry, what?

“O-Oh... I .. Umm,” I stuttered, watching him.

“C’mere,” he instructs. I comply, moving to sit on top of his desk.

“Thinking about me fucking you the way I fuck the girls in those videos gets you wet, huh?” He asked, sliding his hands up my thighs as he placed his body between my legs. My words were dead in my throat so I could only nod, but he understood.

“Tell me how bad you want it,” he said, stroking my still throbbing pussy through my panties.

“I want it bad,” I replied in a needy tone. In a flash, my panties were pulled to the side and he was stroking me like a prisoner fresh out of a 20-year stint. My moans were loud and uncontrollable, but that didn’t stop him.

“You never answered my question, Lyric,” he teased, licking the shell of my ear. “Do you think about me when you touch yourself?”

“Yeeesss,” I moaned, digging my nails in his thigh as he plunged deeper.

“You've been dreaming of the day I fucked you, huh? You've been wanting this dick bad, haven’t you?”

Why do men feel the need to ask questions when they’re tap-dancing on your g-spot? As if the answers they’re going to receive will be coherent or make sense. My pussy answered for me, sending a wave of juices down both of our thighs.

“Gushy ass, fat ass pussy,” he growled, sliding his hand up my body to grip my throat.

“Oh shit!” I screamed as I squirted, successfully wetting his entire lower half.

“Oh she’s a Super Soaker,” he laughed. “Do it again.”

He pulls out, slapping his dick on my clit, before diving back in.

“Eriiiiik!”

“Yeah, gimme that shit, Princess,” he encouraged, sending over the edge once more. Once his thrusts became erratic, I knew he was close.

“Where you want it, ma?”

I slid down off the desk and onto my knees, opening my mouth wide. He granted my wishes, releasing his thick load down my throat.

“Good fucking girl,” he moaned, smoothing his hand down the back of my head. I drank his unborns happily, before standing up to fix my skirt. He grabbed my chin, kissing me sloppily before pulling away.

“See you Monday, Ms. Baptiste.”

[panlight]

In what ways do you think that Meyer writes Bella well as an "old soul"? In what ways is Bella actually out-of-step with her peers? What are just clichés? How would you tweak her characterization to make her more organically "different" from other kids?

Confession time: Part of the reason I'm 'meh' on Bella (beyond the fact that I'm just more interested in the supernatural stuff so the human characters are less interesting to me by default) is that I was her in high school. I was the 'old soul.' I was the one who thought herself too mature for the petty gossip and on-off relationships of my peers. The one who scorned parties and school dances. And I don't really enjoy having to look in that mirror. Looking back, it's all cringe, but I really did think I was above it all and it was because adults constantly told me how mature I was, what an old soul I was, what a good influence I was on other kids.

Thanks! But it was anxiety, actually, not moral purity or maturity!

So, I mean, I think SM did a good job with that, because oh boy, that was me. I never had to move and start over in a new school, but otherwise I found Bella almost uncomfortably relatable in that first book (she lost me as the books went on). And that's fine. I'm sure lots of anxious, introverted, goody-two-shoes kids could relate to Bella. The issue is more than she never had to face her sort of dismissive attitude toward her peers, that the narrative insisted "no she really IS more mature and better than them!" that she kind of had to be in order to be a believable partner to someone who has been seventeen for "awhile." But she didn't really have to grow or learn, she didn't have a wake-up call like "oh actually, Jessica has an inner life as full and rich as my own, wow!" And now that she's frozen forever at 19 the irony is these kids that she looked down on, that she felt she couldn't relate to, WILL mature past her. Jessica's going to be a Real Adult worrying about rent or a mortgage. She might have a partner or children to provide for, while Bella's in an artificial fairytale where she never really has to grow up or mature, where she actually can't.

Bella may have been more mature in some ways, having had to grow up quickly because of her living situation with Renee (although I still feel like SM made Renee progressively more terrible in every iteration of this story, and in my first read of Twilight I didn't take the "I had to do the taxes since I was 10!" stuff literally), and in that way she might be different from some of her peers but it never occurs to her that some of them probably have challenging home lives, too. Also, there's no way you're literally the only kid in that school who likes to read, Bella. This isn't the poor provincial town from Beauty and the Beast.

One thing I would change is I would have developed the Bella/Angela friendship more. She was a fellow quiet goody-goody and I think they realistically would have bonded more, Bella would have seen her as a kindred spirit, and it would have been good for the narrative if losing Angela was actually hard, was actually heartbreaking. That Bella's on the other end of the sad email story where Angela keeps reaching out and Bella has to keep ignoring her. Of course, if SM wrote it she'd have Bella be able to keep Angela too, but I'm putting my foot down, if Bella gets to keep Charlie and Jacob, then Angela's gotta go. Bella NEEDED some consequences.

[live-the-fangirl-life]

Misplaced Mail - Part 1

Aelin Galathynius x Rowan Whitethorn - Mini-Series

Aelin accidently opens a package addressed for Rowan. Not a big issue. Except that he opened a package addressed to her. Issue.

Fic Masterlist | Read on Ao3 | Part 2

Warnings: Language

1131 words

*******

One of the simple joys in life, Aelin decided, was getting an alert that a package you ordered finally arrived.

She’d just sat back down at her desk, after having taken a very short lunch because ‘that article better be in my inbox by the end of the day, Ms. Galathynius’ and she had a decent amount of editing that still needed to be done.

When her phone buzzed with a new email notification, she was sure it was another spam email but was pleasantly surprised to see it was the delivery alert for one of the orders she’d made earlier that week.

If hard-pressed, she wouldn’t be able to say what exactly she’d ordered—according to Elide, Aelin had a teensy, tiny, online shopping addiction—but whatever it was would surely be a bright spot in the stressful day she was having.

Deciding to act on the small burst of energy the alert had given her, Aelin opened the article she was writing and powered through for the rest of the afternoon.

***

Stepping into the lobby of her apartment building, Aelin quickly picked up her mail—ad, ad, bill, ad, and her package!

She took the elevator up to the fourth floor and walked down the hall towards her door. She wasn’t familiar with a lot of her neighbors, people mostly kept to themselves, but she did know the resident of the apartment directly across from hers.

Rowan Whitethorn. They’d had more than a few conversations. It was mostly bickering, but she could always sense that he enjoyed their banter almost as much as she did. He was also insanely attractive, and she couldn’t help but occasionally watch from her peephole when he went for runs in his very tight workout gear, or when he returned in his very tight, very sweaty, workout gear.

Aelin collapsed on her couch before pulling her box closer. Forgoing a knife, she managed to lift the tape and rip off the adhesive sealing the cardboard together. She didn’t recognize the logo on the box inside, but it wasn’t like she knew the manufacturers of all the products she orders.

With a small smile on her face, Aelin tossed the cardboard aside and opened the actual box.

Her excitement immediately morphed into confusion as she looked at what was sitting in her lap. A thousand questions raced through her mind.

“What the fuck is this?”

“Why would I order this?”

“Did I drunk-buy again?”

“Seriously, what is this?”

Aelin stared at the strange object for another long moment before her brain clicked. It was a piece of some kind of weird exercise equipment.

Her eyes flew wide as she scrambled for the cardboard box it came in. She flipped it over, eyes scanning the label, and then she cringed.

It wasn’t addressed to her.

It was addressed to a Mr. Rowan Whitethorn.

Shit. Oops.

Brows furrowing, Aelin reached for her phone and found the email confirming the delivery of her package. Right there, the confirmation.

She winced. If she had Rowan’s package, that meant that he most likely had hers.

A knock on her door interrupted her thoughts and she rose from her perch on the couch to open the door.

Standing in her doorway was Rowan.

“Uh, I think I—I mean, I accidently—Uh, this is yours.” He thrust a box into her arms so quickly it was as if it burned him to hold it.

Aelin didn’t think she’d ever seen him look so flustered. His face was a bright red, he was stuttering over his words, and he wouldn’t meet her eye as she adjusted the box to get a better grip.

She just raised an eyebrow at him and slowly said, “Thank you. Yeah, there must have been a mix-up because I grabbed one of yours.”

Aelin placed the box in her hands on the counter as she walked to the couch to get Rowan’s package. When she turned back to him, she caught his eyes quickly dart away from her face. Weird. Normally he was cool and composed, but right now he looked like he wanted to bolt.

“I don’t even know what this is.” She gave him his rightful box and he mumbled a thanks before turning to leave.

She leaned against the doorframe, crossing her arms, and watching perplexed as Rowan fumbled for his key to unlock his door.

“Okay, Whitethorn, what’s got you so jumpy?” Maybe she was a little too amused by his obvious discomfort at whatever she’d ordered.

He whipped around, dropping his key to the floor, and cursed before reaching to pick it back up.

“Nothing. Hm? I’m good. Its nothing.”

She snorted. “It’s obviously something. Gods, I can’t even remember what I bought,” she turned to grab the box on her counter, Rowan still trying to unlock his door, and lifted the lid to see inside.

She choked on air.

Now she remembered what she ordered.

It was three nights ago when Lysandra and Elide came over for girl’s night. They all had a little too much wine and binged watched rom-coms all night. Aelin remembered pieces of a conversation about her so-called dry spell, honestly, Lysandra, three months isn’t that long.

At some point, the three of them found a particular website that specialized in devices to aid in those dry spells. And apparently Aelin had placed an order.

Gods, she needed to get better at hiding her credit card from herself when she knew she’d be drinking. Not like it would do much good, she thought, she’d had those numbers memorized for years.

The sound of Rowan door finally opening made her look up, and it was then she had the full realization:

Rowan, her neighbor, her extremely hot neighbor that she had a not-so-secret crush on, opened her very realistically-shaped, bright pink, vibrator.

If only the universe could open a hole at her feet so she could disappear.

The only reason she could keep her voice steady was because Rowan seemed far more embarrassed than she was. Besides, she was an adult woman, why shouldn’t she own a vibrator…or four.

“Ah, thanks, I uh, wouldn’t want to lose this.” She cringed, why did she have to make this so awkward. More awkward.

Rowan didn’t say anything, but she saw his face get even redder. The tops of his ear were now a bright pink.

In a split-second decision, Aelin decided to throw caution to the wind and say, ‘Fuck it’. She drew up all her bravado and smirked at him as he turned and caught her eye.

“You know,” she winked, “maybe you could help me out sometime and I wouldn’t need this.”

Grinning at his slack-jawed, wide-eyed, stunned face, she turned on her heel and shut her door.

****

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[horsesarecreatures]

 I’m glad this week is almost over. I think I’ve resolved things with the barn owner and we’ve come to an understanding, but things got worse before they got better. 

I went back to NJ for Easter and stayed there to let the situation cool down a bit. I hadn’t texted or called Deborah since the farrier came, but on Easter she started texting me and said that I could no longer have cannoli off the lead rope in the indoor arena because she had found another piece of wood chipped off just after she’d had it replaced. But it wasn’t from Cannoli and I told her that. She started grilling me about the days I’d taken him in the indoor and what I did with him. I started ignoring her texts and eventually she left me alone. I was reading them out loud to my family at dinner, and my grandma made the point that I should not talk to her again because she clearly wasn't listening to me.

I agreed with my grandma and decided to send her an email instead. That way there could be no misinterpretation of tone, accidental voice raising, etc. Plus, considering that she’d gone back on what she previously said twice regarding the pricing of services, I wanted to get everything in writing. This is what I sent her: 

Dear Deborah,

I know we both want what is in the best interest of Cannoli, and would like to avoid misunderstandings in the future.

One of the reasons I chose your boarding facility is because I was under the impression that you or your staff would be willing and able to carry out tasks associated with the daily care of my horses (and sometimes treatment involving abscesses) without me having to come up there every day.  I would like to clarify that this is, in fact, a service you can provide, as I cannot come up every day since I am finding law school extremely demanding.

If, in fact, it is possible for you to provide care for my horses without me being there, I would also like to clarify the costs various services would be so I can plan my finances appropriately.  In this way, I can make sure I can pay you on time. Please let me know the price you would charge for the following:

1. Soaking

2. Wrapping

2. Handgrazing for a half an hour if he gets bone chip removal surgery

3.  Anything that goes beyond the average care of a horse, for example screwing on plates.  Perhaps this can be charged in half hour increments once the time the task takes is established.  If you think this is feasible, how much would the extra care be per half hour?

It is my hope that we can come up with solutions that will be satisfactory to both of us.  

Sincerely,

Noelle

I sent this on Tuesday. It was ignored until today. To me, her unwillingness to answer this or put it in writing seemed like a sign of bad faith, so I started checking out new barns. I wound up visiting three, and found one I really liked, with pasture board, an outdoor arena with jumps, a cross country field, and access to the North Salem Bridle Trails (those are really nice - well maintained and over a 100 miles through private NY & Connecticut properties). The price was also slightly cheaper because it’s in a different county, though it was also a bit further than ideal and had no indoor arena. I didn’t want to move the horses since I know it’s stressful for them, but these people put it in writing that they’d be able to do basic medical care, which I needed.

But then Deborah finally got back to me asking when I would have time to go over what was in the email. I replied saying, “Hi Deborah, It is my wish to move forward with you in the most amicable way possible and to avoid misunderstandings/misinterpretations in the future. To put the odds in our favor of achieving this, it would be helpful to me to have something written from you regarding the charges listed 1-3 in email below.” She then texted me, “Noelle, I am trying to work a few things out with you before we put this in writing. I can't move forward without having a conversation.” Which struck me as her being a royal pain in the ass but whatever. I called her, and I  just let her rant without bothering to explain my side this time. Then she asked me if I understood where she was coming from, and I just said yes, but that I still needed to know if she could provide the services I asked about in the email, and if so, what the price was, because I needed to know what my bill at the end of the month was going to be. I also mentioned as politely as I possibly could that if not, I would have to move the horses, not because I’m mad at her but because I simply just need those services at a reasonable price. 

She then started crying, apologizing, and saying that she, “didn't mean to say one thing then do another, times are just hard right now, and $20 per wrap just isn’t enough.” I’m not so sure since I’m providing all the materials, not her, and $20 for a half an hour is still more than the minimum wage per hour in this area. But instead of saying that, I just told her, “Well please send me the prices in an email. If he has another bad abscess and needs daily care, more than $20 per half hour is likely more than I can afford right now, but maybe I can mitigate the costs if you let me lease Amba out.” Miraculously, she agreed to this, and finally sent me the prices. I now have it in writing that she will charge $30, and not “quite possibly more,” in addition to letting me lease Amba out, so progress. I also appreciate the fact that this time she said she was charging me more out of necessity, and not because it was all in my head that she originally said everything was included in the board this summer, and that basic medical care was a service she could provide. And also that she didn’t try to claim again that wrapping his hoof takes an hour.