#I'd set him on fire again to be frank | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

aellathedreamer · 1 year ago

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in a world of boys, he’s a gentlemen

“Got lovestruck, went straight to my head. Got lovesick, all over my bed”

A look through of Stacy and Edward’s relationship right after he proposed. The royal life, a whirlwind of emotions.

Chapter 9/40

Pairing: Stacy x Edward

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/51843736/chapters/131078110

Days rolled into nights, and time's unrelenting march continued unabated. Stacy was entangled in a delicate web of need and frustration in her Chicago apartment. Despite her best attempts, Edward's rigorous schedule and the time zone difference became daunting obstacles.

The phone became a source of excitement as well as a silent witness to the growing distance. Stacy's messages to Edward frequently went to voicemail, her words echoing in the digital blank. When Edward finally dialed, the hands of the clock conspired against them. His voice would be heard on the voicemail, a bittersweet reminder of the bond that had crossed miles and time zones.

Edward's calls would break the silence in the middle of the night, when Stacy was sleeping soundly. The phone on the bedside table was silent to Stacy's slumbering body. Edward's messages, unbeknownst to her, carried the weight of his need, a delicate appeal for connection in the great expanse of darkness.

The physical barrier, which had previously been an abstract concept, began to reveal itself in the minute nuances of their relationships. The wordless discussions that had once flowed easily were now hampered by mismatched schedules and the tiredness that came with a life entrenched in royal obligations.

Stacy, stuck between awareness and dreams, couldn't help but wonder if the love that previously seemed limitless was vulnerable to the restrictions of time and distance. The longing in her heart, echoed in unanswered calls and late messages, foreshadowed the difficulties that lay ahead.

Stacy found solace in the fact that love, strong and enduring, had the potential to overcome even the most insurmountable barriers as the moon shed its silvery illumination over the metropolis. The weight of the unspoken and the uncertainty of when their voices will harmonize again lingered in the darkness of the night, leaving Stacy to negotiate the delicate dance of love in the face of temporal restraints.

—

The luxurious halls of the Belgravian palace were abuzz with excitement as the royal family prepared to issue an official statement confirming Prince Edward's engagement to Stacy, with plans for a Christmas wedding. The grandeur of the venue, on the other hand, did little to alleviate Edward's anxiety about the impending press conference.

Edward stood by a window, his gaze set on the manicured gardens below, as the allotted hour approached. He felt the weight of the impending public declaration on his shoulders. His gut lurched at the prospect of being surrounded by prying cameras and intrusive inquiries.

Queen Caroline approached him with a soft touch on his arm, sensing her son's anxiety. "Edward, my love, this is a necessary step for the public to embrace your union with Stacy. It's an opportunity to share your happiness with them."

Edward nodded with a strained smile on his lips. "I understand, Mother. It's just... the intrusion feels overwhelming."

The grandeur of the press conference chamber awaited, draped with royal regalia. Edward took a deep breath, collecting the poise required for public scrutiny.

The conference, on the other hand, proceeded as planned. The flashing lights of cameras, the bombardment of inquiries, each one probing a little too far into Edward's secret refuge. Stacy, who lives in Chicago, was most likely affected by the media tempest.

As the conference came to a close, Edward went to his private quarters, a look of frustration on his face. The prince's sadness was seen by Frank De Luca, the prince's ever-loyal butler.

"I'd be honest with you, Your Highness," Frank said calmly. "The press conference will just add fuel to the fire. The more attention, the more scrutiny. It's the nature of their relentless pursuit."

Edward sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I just want Stacy to be spared from all this. The constant intrusion, the speculation."

—

Stacy's busy bakery in Chicago was filled with the delectable fragrance of freshly made pastries when she sat down with Kevin. Kevin, not only her valued confidante but also a fellow baker, joined her at a little table in the corner, amidst the rhythmic noises of the kitchen.

"I'm glad you're here, Kevin; I need someone to talk to," Stacy said, her voice tinged with worry.

Kevin took up a chair, wiping his flour-covered hands on his apron. "Of course, Stacy. What's on your mind? You seem a bit on edge."

Stacy sighed and leaned back, her attention locked on the flour swirls on the counter. "It's the paparazzi, Kevin. They've been relentless, especially after that press conference."

Kevin's face grew solemn, and he nodded knowingly. "Stacy, you know how paparazzi and royals don't exactly mix well. Look at Princess Diana, may she rest in peace; they couldn't get enough of her, and we all know how that ended. I'm worried about you, especially with all this attention."

Stacy nodded, acknowledging the common anxiety. "I never signed up for this, Kevin. It feels like I'm living in a different world, one where every move is under a microscope."

Kevin provided a comforting squeeze, his hand softly resting on Stacy's shoulder. "You're not alone in this, Stacy. But you've got to be careful. Paparazzi can be ruthless, and your safety is my top priority."

Stacy gazed up at Kevin, taking solace in the bakery's familiar warmth and the real worry reflected in his eyes. "I never imagined my life would take such a turn. It's like I'm navigating through uncharted territory."

Changing the subject, Kevin inquired, "Hey, have you managed to get ahold of Prince Edward lately? I'm sure he'd want to know how you're holding up through all of this."

Stacy sighed, understanding Kevin's remarks were true. "Not really. It's been a whirlwind, and I'm not sure how he'd react to all the chaos."

Kevin nodded in agreement. "Well, maybe it's time to reach out. He might provide some support or at least offer a listening ear."

Stacy pondered Kevin's offer as they resumed their chat, understanding that amid the chaotic sea of paparazzi and royal expectations, a bond with Prince Edward may be the anchor she urgently needed.

—

Stacy made a deliberate effort to reach Prince Edward in the center of the crowded bakery, holding the phone in her palm. When she dialed his phone, she waited for a response, wanting to hear his voice on the other end.

Frank, much to her chagrin, answered the phone. The ever-present butler had inadvertently become an impediment to her bond with Edward.

"Hello, Frank. It's Stacy. Can I please speak to Prince Edward?" she said, her voice urgent.

"Lady Stacy, I'm afraid Prince Edward is currently occupied with royal matters; how may I assist you?" Frank, ever calm, said.

Stacy inhaled deeply, fury bubbling beneath the surface. "Frank, please, it's important. Tell Edward to call me as soon as he's finished with his duties. It's urgent."

A brief pause lingered on the line before Frank acknowledged, "I will convey your message, Lady Stacy. Rest assured, he will be informed."

With a reluctant gratitude, Stacy hung up, realizing that the intricacies of royal life meant navigating through layers of protocol.

—

The magnificence of the Belgravian castle couldn't totally conceal the tension that lingered in the air after the meeting. Frank approached Prince Edward cautiously, his demeanor a blend of worry and subtlety.

"Your Highness," Frank started quietly, "there's something you should know. Lady Stacy called during the meeting, and she sounded rather upset."

Edward wrinkled his brows in real worry. "Upset? Why? Did something happen?"

Frank paused for a time, carefully selecting his words. "Well, it's been two weeks since the two of you spoke, and Lady Stacy seemed quite distressed. Is everything alright between you two? Perhaps lovers quarrel?"

Edward exhaled, a glint of recognition in his eyes. "Two weeks? Has it really been that long? No, Frank, we haven't had a row. It's just the demands of the royal duties, and the press attention has been overwhelming."

Frank nodded, realizing the intricacies of Edward's situation. "Your Highness, I would advise you to call Lady Stacy. It might be essential to bridge this gap and reassure her. Long-distance can be challenging, especially with the current circumstances."

Edward agreed, understanding the wisdom in Frank's statements. "You're right, Frank. I need to speak with her. It's just been a whirlwind lately."

Realizing the severity of the situation, Edward moved to a quieter place and pulled out his phone. The pressure on their communication had unintentionally created a chasm between them, and it was now more important than ever to repair that gap and reestablish the bond that had brought them together in the first place.

The massive maze of corridors of the Belgravian palace appeared to go on forever as Edward retired to a more quiet spot to make the call. With the rich tapestries and opulent furniture as his backdrop, he called Stacy's phone, an uneasy anticipation developing inside him.

The quiet ringing on the other end was received with a mixture of optimism and anxiety. As the phone call connected, he realized it had been two weeks since they had spoken. The weight of royal obligations had created an inadvertent gap, and the strain on their relationship was becoming obvious.

Stacy's voice welcomed him, yet there was a hint of surprise in the way she pronounced his name. "Edward?"

"Stacy, darling," he started, his tone tinged with relief and regret, "Frank mentioned you sounded upset. I... I didn't realize it had been so long since we spoke."

On the line, there was a brief moment of stillness, the unsaid emotions lingering in the air. "Edward, it's just been a lot. The paparazzi, the constant scrutiny, not hearing from you... It's overwhelming," Stacy said, her voice soft and vulnerable.

"I'm sorry, Stacy. The demands of the palace and the press have been relentless," Edward said, a weight lifted from his shoulders as he finally expressed the underlying tension. "But none of it compares to how much I miss you."

On the other end, Stacy exhaled, the tension slowly diminishing. "I miss you too, Edward. It's just... it's hard not having you here."

Even though she couldn't see it, Edward nodded. "I understand, Stacy. I promise I'll make more time for us, no matter what. We'll figure this out together."

Long after they hung up, Edward's mind returned to the talk with Stacy. The unmistakable strain in her voice struck a chord with him, and he couldn't get away from her. He made his decision and went to see Frank, the ever-loyal butler who had become a trusted confidant.

"Frank," Edward said, his voice steady but laced with urgency, "ready the private plane; we're going to Chicago."

The butler, observant to the unsaid feelings, agreed without hesitation. "Right away, Your Highness. I'll make the necessary arrangements."

Edward felt an exciting sensation of purpose as Frank worked diligently to coordinate the logistics. The palace's magnificence, with its marble hallways and towering arches, faded into the background as the approaching adventure took precedence.

The private jet, a vehicle of both luxury and convenience, waiting on the tarmac. With a determined attitude, Edward boarded the plane. The city of Belgravia, in all its royal beauty, slipped behind the clouds as the plane soared into the sky.

As Edward pondered the problems that faced him on the other side, the miles between Belgravia and Chicago appeared to merge. The press, the paparazzi, and the intricacies of a transatlantic connection were all secondary to the compelling desire to be with Stacy.

As the private jet flew into the sky, Edward took comfort in his determination to transcend the physical and emotional divide. His drive was inspired by the warmth of Stacy's bakery, the elegance of Chicago, and the possibility of reestablished connection.

He fumbles with the box that held their promise for a lifetime. It was time to make things right.

#prince edward of belgravia #the princess switch #stacy de novo #Frank is the wingman again #your honor they are in love

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megkana209 · 1 year ago

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Ch 2

"Cassie I have a few things I didn't get done on my shift" my coworker points to a stack of papers left on the desk by our main computer. "Just some new orders and X rays."

I nod my head in a silent confirmation that I was listening. Good the voice was going to leave me alone during the day time today as well. I used to exclusively work the night shift as the night time always scared me while sleeping but sense the voice appeared I began picking up day shifts not wanting to have a crazy conversation with myself during my work hours. I admit I'm a bit of a scary cat during the night, always feeling something was out to get me, so when the voices started I felt my fears confirmed. Most night now I anxiously cower near my husband before sleep takes me.

"Now let's go count the narcotics so I can get out of here." Connie prattle on.

"Ready to get home to jeff?" I asked genuinely curious. "Ow yes you know how he can be the big baby. He can't survive without me. I have to go home and cook him a meal before I can relax." She laughs a little at her own situation. "You got lucky with your husband being a chef I'll tell you. That lemon chicken you brought us last time was spectacular. Tell him thanks again."

I took the keys to the narcotic box and smiled at her gingerly. "If I tell him thanks one more time he'll think he has to cook you a feast to keep his biggest fans praise going lol. But seriously you should come over one night and we'll do just that."

"I'd love that" she replies simply in-between firing off narcotic numbers.

With my keys in hand I set off to begin my medication round, humming joyously to myself. Today would be a good day then. "Hello Tim, marcus." I call down those long yellow halls. They great back with a simple wave of the hand and a smile on there face. Ow yes a good day and one I will spend theorizing again on my down time.

I have a list of clues and theories for my mystery speaker. All of which seem silly and uninventful but I soldier on, determined to catch him and prove the paranormal as real, and myself not being crazy.

"Cassie we have a problem over here. Someone's complaining of pain." Rachel my cna calls out. "Coming" I reply pulling myself from my own thought as I lock my cart and begin my way to my patient. "I'm already ready to head home" I mutter to myself.

"Rachel do you ever have night terrors?" The day had slowed immensely and the two workers had taken there spots at the nurses station to begin their paper work for the day. "Not particularly" she replied bored and playing on her phone.

"I've been getting these waking dreams that have been freaking me out lately. I'm afraid my anxiety is going to go through the roof if they continue." I reply. My computer screen humming as I click away the hours charting.

"Havr you tried anything for your anxiety? You know go to the doctor or just light up a good Ole joint. Cannabis helps me with my anxiety"

"Rachel! We are in the health care field!" I laugh aloud "you'll loose your job."

"Let them fire me ill get a new job in a second and then I wouldn't have to deal with our good old friend frank anymore." She smiles.

Frank is one of our biggest trouble patients. He has a habit of not only sneaking off into the female residents rooms but harassing the staff as well.

"Cannabis is a no but maybe your right maybe I should go see a doctor, but you know me I hate doctors."

'Doctors won't help you anyways' my male voice said into my mind.

My fingers fumble on the key board, dread and shock coursing through me momentarily. I gulp but continue my conversation.

"My dude, there's nothing wrong with seeing the doctor. Don't be a chicken lol. You don't get poked with a needle everytime you go."

I scowl but continue on with my work, ruffling through a few more order papers.

"Night terrors could be a sign of some repressed shit though Cass. You may need to work something out."

"Ow I'm working something out." I mutter back.

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cherrygummycandy · 2 years ago

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Romance and Rock

Frank and Len (Ruby Gloom) x Reader

An: Requested recently, this is not a fandom I usually write for, so I couldn't resist!

👻🎸👻🎸👻🎸👻🎸👻🎸👻🎸👻🎸👻

"B-b-b-bored..." you said to yourself, laying upside down on the edge of your bed. The fact you were bored frightened you a little, when you thought about it. You couldn't remember the last time you felt this way, considering before you could even run out of things to do Iris usually burst into your room because she set something on fire, or Ruby needed to vent. Gloomsville forbid that Skeleboy test his genetic theories alone for once. That's when you realized, no one had interrupted you in several hours. Not good.

Sliding out of your bed directly onto the floor, you hop up and head out the door. Walking down the dimly lit hallway, you hear some shuffling in the library. Poking your head into the book-filled chamber of learning, you see Poe sat by the fireplace, typing quickly while simultaneously ripping paper out of his typewriter. "Poe? Wha... what are you doing?" You ask as you step towards the strange black bird. "I'M AN ARTIST, AND I DEMAND-" He squawks loudly at you, before stopping when he realizes it's you. "Oh, Y/N... sorry, I thought you were those two..." He grumbles, turning back to his typewriter. 'Those two?' You wonder. "Who are you talking about?"

Poe sighs, and waves one of his hands as he tries to recall. "Uh... the, you know, the blue and green lads... with the, the music?" His feathers seem too ruffled to even allow him to think. "Oh, Frank and Len?" You say, and he nods. "What were they bothering you about? They don't really seem like," You look around the library and think. "Literary types." You finish. Poe sighs once more. "I couldn't tell you, really. They burst into my tower half an hour ago, and they asked for writing advice. I told them I'd help later, but they INSISTED," He squawks, before trying to calm himself. "Woo, apologies. They insisted it was urgent. I tried to help them, they wanted to write some love song. But, they insisted on ignoring my classic literary suggestions!" He complains. "I mean, again, I'm not sure Len even knows how to read." You joke, standing to leave. "Thanks, Poe! I'm gonna go see if they still need any help!" As you head off, you can still hear him ranting. "WHO TURNS DOWN 'A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME IS NOT AS SWEET'? IT'S PERFECT-" You shake your head chuckling. You'll have to have them apologize to Poe later.

You head upstairs,the sound of your footsteps almost muffled by the heavy rain pattering against the windows. As you reach the door that opens onto the small outer bridge, you consider grabbing an umbrella. 'Nah,' You think. 'I like the rain.' You open the door and step across the large bridge that leads to Frank and Lens room. As you approach, their presence in the room is confirmed by the sound of guitar blasting through the door of the tower, the vibration practically knocking you off your feet. Stopping for a moment to steady yourself, you knock on their door. "Hey guys!" You knock on the door. You're prepared to wait a bit, since it's hard for them to hear over their music. Plus, they are usually pretty busy with their songs. To your surprise though, the music immediately stops, the silence replacing it almost bizarre. You hear quick footsteps, and the door flies open, nearly knocking you over for the second time since you left Poe in the library.

"What's up-" Frank starts, before Len yells over him. "Y/N!!" He exclaims happily. You smile, and Len only looks at him silently. "Oh, sorry." Len apologizes and shrugs. "Ya' done?" Frank asks, and his brother nods quickly. "What's up, Y/N?" Len finishes his earlier statement. "Nothing much, Poe said you guys needed help with a song?" You say, and try to recall the theme. "A... love song, right?" You snap your fingers as you remember. The two of them go pale, before Frank clears his throat awkwardly. "Uh, could you give us a sec', Y/N?" He asks, and before you can respond, he slams the door in your face. Your face falls in conclusion, but you decide to give them the time they need. However, since they aren't exactly quiet, you can hear bits of their conversation through the rickety wooden door.

"... Why did you tell Poe about this?! You know he's a loud mouth!" Frank whisper-yells. "We needed lyrics ideas-" Len responds, but the end of his sentence is muffled. "Well, now they're onto us! What do we, like, do?" You hear Frank sigh. "Just don't...." His voice is muffled. "Got it?" Frank finishes before he opens the door. Frank has a fake, overly happy smile on his face, while Len looks like he's about to explode. His forehead is sweaty, and he's puffed out his cheeks to keep his mouth closed. "Uh, is he okay?" You ask Frank. He looks at his green-skinned brother, and double-takes, before smacking his shoulder. Len coughs as he lets out the breath he was holding. 'Knock it off, dude!" Frank mumbles, trying to keep his smile on his face. Your eyes narrow, looking at the two suspiciously.

"So, do you guys want some help? I could think of some lines maybe." You give them a cheesy thumbs up. "Not to brag, but I did get 4th place in my third grade poetry contest." Frank smiles. "No thanks, we'll be sure to show you the song when-" Len cuts him off, unable to remain silent. "WE DON'T WANT YOUR HELP, GOODBYE!" Len yells. He slams the door in your face, panicking. You blink in surprise, frozen in place for a few moments. After a few seconds, you shake your head and head back downstairs, trying to figure out what on earth that encounter was about. 'Those two sure are strange..." You think.

Back in the tower, Frank's arm is flailing as he yells at a panicked Len. "DUDE! What the hell was that?" He asks, not being able to fathom why Len responded that way. "I gave you one job, stay cool!" Len shakes his head. "You gave me two jobs! Don't tell Y/N about the song, and stay cool!" Len complains. "I, like, can't handle that much input, man!" The two of them are silent for a minute, out of breath from all that yelling. Sitting down on their couch, Frank sighs. "This is... harder than I thought it would be." He says, and Len nods. "Yeah, it's like, harder than playing a six string F chord." "Yeah." Len and Frank look at the paper laid on the table, titled 'Love Song (Please listen this took 3 days to write)'. Frank grabs a pencil. "We can't let this set back stop us, bro." He begins to write down a few opening notes.

"Let's get back to work."

#cartoon x reader #x reader #ruby gloom #frank and len #Ruby gloom show #Ruby Gloom fanfic #Ruby Gloom x reader #Frank and Len x reader

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catholicdaredevil · 3 years ago

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How about some reassuring words of “the world could be on fire and i’d still be happy as long as i'm with you.” for my beloved frank because I think he needs it 😌

ugh paige your mind is unparalleled

"frank this is a mess, this is a big cluster fuck of a mess," you pace the room, rhythmic steps burning a hole through the floor below you. frank frowns as his eyes track your every move, brows knitting together in concern at your stressed state.

"i'm sorry. you shouldn't 've gotten caught up in all this." his voice is gruff, words short and for a second you think he's actually mad at you. then you turn to look at him and there's no question.

the guilt is etched into him, the furrow in his eyebrows, the slump of his shoulders, the way his mouth twitches down like he's fighting a frown. he feels bad. like somehow it's all his fault that this has become a mess, like he lit the match that set this whole thing ablaze.

like he's doing this to you, not with you.

"listen very closely frank castle i won't say this again. the world could be on fire and i'd still be happy as long as i'm with you. the world is not on your shoulders alone."

his mouth wins the fight, curving down into a frown and you worry you've said the wrong thing. not properly conveyed the conviction you have for him, with him. franks eyes dart to the dirty floor of the abandoned building you both stand in, feet scuffing the floor for a couple moments as he battles with himself in his head.

you don't know what about, and you don't want to push either. but it doesn't take long. he lets out a sigh, shoulders sagging further with the movement before taking in a deep breath and nodding to himself.

frank looks up to meet your eyes and nods again, "okay sweetheart, i'll try my best to remember that."

#frank castle #frank castle x reader #frank castle x you #frank castle fic #frank castle fluff #the punisher #the punisher fic #ezra answers #ezra loves their mutuals #ezra writes #confessional mondays

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yazthebookish · 3 years ago

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"Build-up or hints does not guarantee an endgame"

It's one of those posts again. So let's get started.

Sarah is known for taking an entirely different direction while writing the book if that is the new direction where she wants her story to go.

She had someone in mind for Bryce (that doesn't exist anymore) but she changed her mind when Bryce and Hunt were in the same room. Same thing with Nesta, she planned while writing for Lucien to be her mate until Cassian came into the picture. She didn't see Elain coming and made her Lucien's mate She rewrote her Throne of Glass draft because Aelin originally was supposed to end up with Dorian until Sarah wrote Heir of Fire and then she wanted Rowan to be her endgame (this was years before she got published). She even said she didn't want Rowan to be the obvious option until after Heir of Fire.

So, for people to pretend they are owed an endgame couple because they believe it had "build-up" or "hints", Sarah allows her heroines to explore and so not every love interest is endgame. Aelin was in love with Chaol and she said she would always choose him, guess who was the endgame?

To be frank, Elain and Azriel did not even have substantial build-up if compared to Nessian. Shipping them for 4 books does not mean it's build-up. Eye contact is not build-up. Blushing is not build-up. We can agree there were sweet moments between them that people either took it as platonic or romantic. He gave her truth-teller. He sat with her on Sosltice to hear about her garden plans.

But their relationship does not have a solid foundation that if Sarah wanted to discard them as a couple she could easily do so without it impacting the plot. There is barely on-page interactions between them, because why would anyone want a romance to be developed off-page? I'm rooting for Gwynriel and I'm certainly happy we did not get an off-page romance because I'd rather see it on page in the next book. But, what I'm happy about is Sarah giving Gwyn and Azriel some interactions and moments that convinced me she is laying the groundwork in the background in preparation for the next book. As if the bonus chapter is not a hint enough or how much development Gwyn got in one book.

Will we ever know if Sarah intended to develop Elr*el if she got the fandom this divided about it? Maybe we'll know someday. But it doesn't matter if Azriel gave Elain truth-teller or rescued her from Hybern because those are the arguments used as to why Elr*el should be endgame and no one else.

What matters is where things stand as of ACOSF and it's not looking good for them especially after the bonus chapter. People cling to past events as if it guarantees them an endgame but that's not the case. For example, Sarah made Aelin fall in love with Chaol and they had an actual relationship—they confessed to each other, they kissed, they slept together, and they had way more in one book than Elr*el ever did in four books. Did Sarah make them endgame? Nope. Someone could go back and cling to "but Aelin said she will always choose Chaol" but oops! things change. People could cling to "but Rowan punched Aelin and told her they will never be friends" but things change in the future don't they? who is Aelin's husband and mate now?

You see, the fact that people cling to past events in an unfinished series could be setting themselves up for disappointment. Azriel giving Elain truth-teller or her making him laugh doesn't mean they're endgame. Sarah used negative language for Azriel's scene with Elain in the bonus chapter, she is pointing out something here about this relationship—especially the fact that she created a contrast between the two scenes and highlighted on the Shadows reaction. Some say it's because Gwyn is a Lightsinger or that SJM is planting doubt there just to shock us all by how true love and choice always wins. The fact that some of them do admit Sarah planted doubt there or Gwyn is just a redherring means they are actually concerned if that's not the case and they do not want to accept other answers as to why Gwyn as in Azriel's chapter.

Maybe Sarah planned Elr*el but while writing ACOSF Gwyn came into the picture and she liked Gwyn with Azriel. Or she always planned to have a new character for Azriel. That's not a hard concept to grasp. Maybe she even never planned for Elr*el and teased with the idea of it because she had already confirmed in the past Elain and Lucien were ending up together but wants Elain to explore maybe.

Half of the readers, if not more than the half, are not delusional for seeing the crumbs Sarah scattered for Gwynriel. It's not because everyone is Elr*el's enemy that wants to stand between their happiness. The fact that most Elr*els freaked out about the bonus chapter at the start to the point that one of their popular pages only uploaded the Elain half of the bonus chapter and told them Elr*el is confirmed, is very telling.

At the end of the day, we will eventually know who the book is about. We could be months away from ACOTAR5's title announcement. I'll know peace once this shipwar is over.

#fandom bs #gwynriel

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mackenzielovee · 3 years ago

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what does rafe do when y/n has a stressful day at work?

i actually wrote this scene for part 14 but it didnt make the cut so here's a draft of that! enjoy :)

With consideration of the million things you still have to get done, you barely flinch when you feel two arms wrap themselves around your waist.

"Oh, good, the hot waitress is working today."

You turn around and roll your eyes at your boyfriend, breath shallow as you try to keep repeating drink orders in your head.

"I don't have time to flirt right now," you say, shimmying out of his grasp.

"Too busy?" he guesses, glancing around at the packed deck.

"Take a seat, someone will get to you when they can. I have to go," you press.

"Baby," he stops you, eyes soft, "Give me a job. I'll help you."

"Stop," you say, although your heart melts and you know for a fact he would do it in a heartbeat, "You're sweet. I have to go, though."

"Baby-" he starts again, but you turn and rush away, drink orders vacating from your mind.

Rafe sighs and then leads Kelce over to a table, groaning as he takes a seat.

"This is ridiculous," Rafe mutters as he looks around, counting the few number of servers they have working.

"Relax, bro. Y/N's so experienced at this job, she's fine," Kelce encourages, glance in his phone.

Topper rushes out on the deck and serves some drinks, then rushes past Rafe and Kelce to get to the bar.

"Hey, Top," Rafe calls out, stopping him in his tracks, "Why's my girlfriend being worked so hard?"

Topper rolls his eyes, "Take it up with Marco, Rafe. I don't have time for you right now."

Kelce laughs, then stops when Rafe glares at him. Topper rushes away, Rafe's jaw clenching when he sees you running around with trays and a very exhausted expression.

Rafe moves to stand, spying your boss leaned up against the bar, waiting on a couple of drinks.

"Dude, don't," Kelce warns.

"I'm just going to have a word with him."

"You're going to get her fired," Kelce groans, "Just leave it. She'd kill you if she knew what you were about to do."

"Shut up," Rafe grunts.

He walks away from the table before Kelce can say another word, taking a deep breath as he nears the man who had made you cry not too long ago.

Rafe tries to no avail to not let that cloud his judgement.

"Marco," Rafe calls as he approaches.

"Ah, Mr. Cameron. What can I do for you, sir?"

"Well, to be frank, I was wondering why you only have four servers working."

Marco sighs, "Mr. Cameron, if you just take a seat, I assure you, I'll get someone over to you very soon-"

"Well, I appreciate that, but that's not what I'm referring to," Rafe cuts in, annoyance present in his voice, "I'm wondering more so if my girlfriend is being taken care of."

"Compensation?" Marco guesses, furrowing his eyebrows, "Of course she is."

"In terms of breaks. And extra pay for the way she's busting her ass for you, when you couldn't schedule another person on the busiest day of the week. Did too many people request time off?"

Rafe's last question is a low blow and he knows it, but he can't stand the attitude from this guy or how he doesn't really seem to care much for you or your well being.

"I assure you, Mr. Cameron, we're following all legal guidelines," Marco nods, then picks up his drinks from the bar, "Excuse me."

Rafe sets his hand on Marco's chest to stop him from walking away.

"I'm not done, actually," he says, "Now, I'd be happy to pass out some job applications if that's what's necessary here. But, we're going to get this resolved and it will never happen again, isn't that right?"

Marco swallows, clearly not enjoying being told what to do, "Yes, sir."

"Good," Rafe nods, "I'd hate to get my father involved. And the board. Managers are replaceable, too, you know."

Marco clenches his jaw, but nods once more, "Yes, sir, Mr. Cameron. It won't happen again."

"Good. Y/N will be taking her legal break, now," Rafe says, finally releasing his hand from Marco's chest and hurrying over to the last place he saw you.

When he slips inside, you're filling up cups with soda, hurrying to place them all on your tray.

"Rafe," you groan when you see him, "I told you-"

"I know, baby. Topper will take these out for you. Come on," Rafe speaks gently, nodding his head at Topper for him to come over.

"No, I can't stop right now-"

"Yes, you can. Humor me. Please."

He grabs ahold of your wrists and pulls you away, but you're reluctant.

"I got these," Topper says when he comes over, nodding at you to take your break.

"Thanks, Top," you grumble.

Rafe smiles victoriously and then leads you outside, back to his table. Kelce, who now has a drink in front of him, smiles when he sees you approach.

"There she is!" he cheers.

Rafe pulls out a chair for you, pushing it in once you sit.

"Hi, Kelce," you greet.

Rafe sits in is seat and then holds out his hand, waiting on you to take it. You do, giving him a look as if to say, 'I know what you did'. He just shrugs innocently.

"Are you hungry, sweetheart?" he asks.

"Starved," you admit.

"Good. Let's get you something to eat," he smiles, scanning the menu for something you'd like.

You ignore Kelce when he pretends to gag, then slides his mai tai across the table for you to sip out of. You don't even care if Marco sees you. These boys take better care of you than he ever had.

#ambivalence hcs #ask!#anon

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alirhi · 3 years ago

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10 Sebastian roles as boyfriends

Because... I'm bored and I feel like it. 😂 Probably some spoilers for, like... everything? So yeah... That.

Putting it under here for easy scrolling:

10: Chase Collins

Who doesn't love a goofball? In the first half of the movie, Chase is basically perfect. He's sweet, funny, not all caught up in his ego, and actually pays attention to what the girls around him are saying, not just to what he wants to hear. If not for the whole... it was all an act to get close to Caleb and try to steal his magic thing, Chase would actually be a damn good high school boyfriend. He's adorable and would be a fun date, but he's also only 18 so best not to start making long-term plans lol. Also, y'know... the whole psycho revenge/power grab thing.

9 Jack Benjamin

Y'all. Y'all. Words cannot describe how much I love Jack. Pretty sure I've made this clear. As a person/character in general, he's absolutely in my Top 3 - not just of Sebastian's characters, but any character ever. ❤ But as a boyfriend? Boy's got baggage. It's what makes me so protective of him, but seeing as how he's trapped in the closet thanks to his overbearing homophobic family and the insane expectations heaped on him, as the show left him, he can't handle an honest relationship. He's too easily influenced by all the wrong people, poor babe.

8 Chris (Destroyer)

On paper, undercover cop sounds cool and exciting, but even if you ignore the fact that he, y'know, dies... Chris got in too deep and kinda lost the mission, so to speak. Best case scenario, you're his sexy partner and in on it all with him and end up on the lam for the rest of your lives. Worst case, this man lies for a living, so can you even trust him? And... yeah. The whole dead thing. Chris is hot af but getting involved with him is a recipe for disaster.

7 Ben

Min and Hathor have mercy, I love Ben! He's smart, he's snarky, he's caring and loyal... he's an absolute disaster. He's another one who seems allergic to honesty, until his lying and avoiding nearly kill his girlfriend. Not exactly relationship goals lol. Everything before totally was, though! Ben's adorable, and I love how he stayed up all night to protect his girlfriend (from a ghost/demon thing... with a baseball bat. I said he was smart, not perfect, okay? XD points for effort lol)

6 Mickey Henry

I. LOVE. MICKEY. Oml I love Mickey. He's a spazz and - even more so than Ben - an absolute disaster of a human being, but I love him. Pros for dating Mickey Henry: he's fun, he's carefree, he'll cook for you even though he's kinda bad at it lol, he loves his son and wants to be a good dad, he wants his partner to be happy and to love life as much as he does. Cons, and the reason he's not higher on the list: He's a pushover; easily influenced by the toxic people in his life, and it gets him into a lot of trouble. Being easily influenced by toxic dumpster fire of a human being Chloe almost lost him the partial custody of his son that he barely even had. He's an absolute sweetheart, but he's a complete man-child, and dating him would often feel more like raising him.

5 Frank "Suffer Buddy"

Come on! You know he and Mickey had to be back-to-back - they're practically the same character! 😂 Frank is Mickey... slightly more grown up. He's still a disaster, but he's respectful of boundaries, he's caring, he's funny in a dry, witty way that I just adore, and hoo lordy that man is a giver! 🥴🥵 Honestly, if he didn't smoke and didn't ditch Daphne in the middle of a party hours away from everything familiar to her surrounded by strangers to go do drugs, I'd call Frank perfect. He listened, he respected her wishes, he tried to keep some distance between them when he found out she'd gone on a date with his best friend (it failed utterly and brought us to the "damn that man's good with his mouth" portion of the movie lmao but still)... I don't have a whole lot of experience with men who actually give a shit, okay? So Frank is like a goddamn unicorn to me lmao. But that drug thing... That keeps him at the bottom of the Top 5 for me. Sorry, bb

4 Bucky

I can already hear everyone on here raging at me for placing Bucky so low on this list, but hear me out: I love this man. I love all four iterations of this man. Flirty 40s Bucky was a doll (fun date, not commitment material). Post-POW camp 40s Bucky had a fire to him that set me on fire. The Winter Soldier can choke me any damn day. Unf. And TFATWS Bucky... Oh, lady above, 2023 Bucky is a gem! He's sweet, snarky, and broken. He feels utterly, wretchedly alone in the world, and everyone around him, including his only friend, is telling him to "man up" and "make amends" for shit that was never his fault to begin with, rather than helping him come to terms with all that he's suffered and all that he's survived. Bucky needs and deserves love. A relationship with him would be so solid, if he found the right person... But it would take a fuck ton of work. He needs someone strong, patient, and more stubborn than he is to prod him until he finds a better therapist and actually opens up, and to keep him on track because even good therapy comes with homework. He does have to "do the work," Sam was right about that much, but he was way off base with what that "work" is. Bucky needs help and understanding, and he would be an amazing boyfriend... if he found someone with the strength to help him weather his nightmares and flashbacks, and help pull him out of this PTSD pit he's been in since 1943.

3 Chris Beck

Big brains turn me on, okay? 😂This man is an astronaut and a surgeon! Yes, please! Come here, you sexy genius! He's smart, he's funny - pretty sure Sebastian is incapable of playing anyone who's not delightfully snarky lol. He's pragmatic when he needs to be but there's also nothing he wouldn't do or risk for the ones he loves. This man is husband material and I cannot be convinced otherwise! So why isn't he #1? Cuz of the whole... spending years in space, thing. Super cool job and I'd be his biggest fan on the ground, but god damn, I would miss him while he's away!

2 TJ Hammond

Look, I'm gender fluid and he's a little bit bi 😂😂😂 Let me have my fantasy, okay? TJ's definitely got a lot of shit to work through, but love brings out the best in him. Before that fucking closeted shitbag broke his heart and stomped on it for good measure, TJ was clean and sober for months, he was happy, he was playing piano again, he was pulling himself together. Not only would he be an amazing boyfriend, but his partner would get the extra joy of getting to watch their love and devotion to him be the thing that saves this beautiful man's life. It's not healthy overall to tie your self worth and will to live to a relationship, but if he found the right person who would be there for him through all of life's shit and stick it out, I think he'd be okay. Even after his lowest point and without the support of his family, TJ still had a dream and he still chased it. He's not just the sweetest person to ever grace our screens, but he's ambitious and business-savvy, too. Keep him off drugs and watch this man take over the world, I'm telling you!

So why is TJ only #2? Well, besides the fact that he's like 99% gay and I have no bits he'd be interested in lmao, there's also the fact that this guy owns my heart:

1 Will Franklyn

And not just because we get to see him wet and mostly naked lol. Will is fucking perfect. I would die for this man... because he's already shown that he would die for his love. He almost fucking did, and they weren't even together yet! He's smart and very aware, he's a writer so we'd get to bond/geek out over books together, he's not all full of himself (self-deprecating humor ftw!) and he's willing to help a total stranger despite actual mortal peril, just because it's the right thing to do. Fierce, intelligent, sassy, strong-willed, and a flawless moral compass? YESYESYESYESYES! Forget boyfriend - let me MARRY this man! 😍🥰

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an-aura-about-you · 3 years ago

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fuck it, I'm gonna bitch about the book.

possible spoilers for the first half of Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King and Owen King but honestly this is gonna be pretty spoiler lite. Also to clarify: a friend loaned me her physical copy of the book, but I was struggling with actually reading it, so I borrowed an audio copy from my library. I refer to both in my rant.

So here's what we've got for the story: the action's set in a small Appalachian town during a strange global sleeping pandemic. (This came out in 2017.) But the thing about the pandemic is it only affects women. We're just gonna put a pin in that for the moment. Anyway, the people who fall asleep begin generating this webbing around them like cocoons. If someone cuts or tears the webbing away, the sleeping people wake up in a violent rage and mindlessly attacks whoever is there before going back to sleep. There are a ton of characters in this thing, but most of the action is taking place in a local women's prison and most of the characters are prisoners, police, or people related to the police or otherwise working in the women's prison.

Before I get to some of the big gripes, I'm going to actually talk about issues I have with the story itself. The first thing I noticed is that it's extremely repetitive. We've got four pages of characters when they're all listed out. (I know this because the book has four pages dedicated to listing them out.) And every single bleeding character has to have an encounter with the sickness they end up calling Aurora. Now that idea by itself is a good thing: I want to see the characters reacting to this. But I don't need the book acting like I don't know what the sleeping and the cocoons are every single time we do this. I understand that there are characters that don't know, but just because they have to go through the step by step of "What The Hell Is That?" doesn't mean I need to go through it again. Surely we can cut some of this down.

I know there was a post recently about giving critique and trying to make the story into one you would tell instead of the story the author's trying to tell. And I hope I'm not veering into that. But if I could suggest an idea here, I think this idea would have worked better as little vignettes. Hell, with the way the chapters are structured in different segments, it kind of seems like that's what Stephen and Owen were going for? But I'd probably prefer it if it were more focused like, "This chapter is all about X group of characters on Y day of the pandemic," and that's all we get of those characters until the end or unless they show up in someone else's story. Then the next chapter could do the same thing with some other characters at a later time.

But all of that feels like a moot point because I hate these characters! Seriously, the only character I liked at all is Evie, and apparently she's the villain! A lot of the characters I think we're supposed to like are cops and the story is trying to sell us on them being good people, but the story still includes the problems with the institution by making a character we're supposed to hate a cop, too. You can't tell me the cops are good if it takes them more than 10 chapters to fire a cop that's a known sex offender.

And since I'm starting to get into these issues, might as well keep going. Y'all know me, I enjoy my media, and sometimes I will engage with works that are Problematic. I'm not gonna go through my whole laundry list nor am I gonna attempt to justify anything as far as "why this and not that" arguments because really it's on a piece by piece basis. But this book infuriated me with its issues.

In addition to the stuff I've mentioned about the cops, I'm really uncomfortable with the fact that the one explicitly mentioned black character in the book, Frank, is a violent man. By that I mean he resorts to manhandling his daughter and using intimidation tactics to get her to listen to him, he trashes another person's car, the book repeatedly brings up an incident in which he punched a wall, and he once beat a man half to death. Though honestly I think that last one gets a pass because the asshole Frank beats half to death is a violent antisemite goosestepping son of a bitch. Because yeah, that's the dose of reality I needed right now! But holy shit, the book frames that whole reveal in a weird way because Frank's estranged wife brings up that incident and is like, "After you did that he beat his pregnant wife and she lost her baby. He wouldn't have done that if you hadn't kicked his ass." And I'm like, "??? Frank didn't tell that man to beat his wife! That part of the matter is in no way Frank's fault! Why are you throwing that man's responsibility dodging bullshit on Frank??"

And now it's time to get to the real sticking point: the bullshit gender essentialism. Available in misogyny, misandry, and transphobia! For how much they could have done with the premise, the people we see affected by Aurora are "everybody with a set of XX chromosomes." Every person who is depicted falling asleep and being cocooned in the story as far as I've listened is depicted as a cisgender perisex woman or girl. And nothing about the story that's been given to me indicates that it's thought any further than that. There's no talk about who might be affected among trans, nonbinary, or intersex people. The narration mentions XX chromosomes, but it's never in the context of anyone actually checking the chromosome makeup of anybody falling to Aurora. It's just given as another way to say, "women." There hasn't been any mention if it has to do with actual body parts, so I have no idea if, say, a woman who's had a hysterectomy would be affected. And I wouldn't even be thinking so much about the biology of this obviously supernatural illness IF THE BOOK HADN'T BEEN THE ONE TO BRING IT UP! And to top it all off, there's also a charming moment when the character Clint wonders if Evie might not be a woman since she is able to sleep without being cocooned, but he dismisses it since he knows she was seen naked when she was arrested and thus the cops would know if she's trans or intersex. And this isn't even going into the shit like multiple male characters thinking women are an impossible to understand hivemind, female characters that have managed to stay awake complaining about men suddenly being forced to take care of their own children and having no idea how, women lashing out at men to the tune of "YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THIS IS LIKE BECAUSE YOU HAVE A PENIS SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT IT!"

It was just so fucking exhausting, and I have no idea how I got as far as I did before I stopped.

#I will have to find a way to put this gently to my friend who loaned me the book #she seemed to think I would like it

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sometimesiwrite · 3 years ago

Text

The Way It Is

Prompt: Fake Dating

Pairing: Lambert & Essi Other Characters: Julian (Jaskier), Eskel/Geralt

Rating: Teen Content Warnings: No Archive Warnings; platonic/queerplatonic dynamics; pressure to engage sexually; coarse language; alcohol/intoxication; modern AU.

Summary: When Essi and Lambert are setup on a blind date, they don’t expect to get along as well as they do. However, when they decide to keep their relationship platonic and non-romantic, they realize they might face some uncomfortable pressure. For the sake of simplicity, they decide to tell people they’re dating, but is it sustainable?

@witcher-rarepair-summer-bingo

Essi fidgeted with the bent corner of her cafe menu, looking around at the various styles of local artworks hanging on the walls. She was early by about ten minutes, but that didn’t stop her from checking the pearlescent dial of her watch every thirty seconds. Finally, the bell above the door tinkled and a man walked in. Essi could tell from the way he was looking around that he was there to meet someone—her. The only other people sitting alone in the cafe were working on laptops and tablets; no one else waiting for a date. And this man was most certainly looking for one.

He was handsome in a ruffled sort of way, though he’d clearly put in a bit of effort. His black casual dress shirt and slim light-wash jeans fit his lean frame impeccably, and a subtle quantity of mousse was clearly doing its best to tame his short, scruffy brown hair. Even his bristly beard appeared to have been trimmed recently. Though there was nothing particularly remarkable about his clothing, there was something striking about the way he carried himself, a devil-may-care sort of presence that Essi appreciated. For a blind date, she thought, it certainly could be worse. Allegedly, they knew each other, at least based on his abruptly out-of-the-blue text, and the closer she looked, the more her memory of him crystalized.

A loud ping! emitted from Essi’s phone and the man looked up from his own cellular device, clearly having just texted.

“Uh, Essi? Essi Daven, right?” He took a step towards her and leaned in, pointing to his phone screen.

“Yes,” Essi stood to shake his hand, “hi.”

“Nice to see you again. Lambert.”

They sat down awkwardly, both struggling to find the will for smalltalk.

“So…” Lambert had become keenly interested in a black-and-white digital photograph behind Essi’s shoulder.

“Listen,” Essi could feel the words start to tumble out of her mouth, and it was too late to do anything about it. Lambert raised an eyebrow, “I don’t really know how to say this, so I’m just going to be honest and probably regret it later: I don’t really do this. Dating. I find it strange and uncomfortable and if I’m perfectly honest I think I’d rather die.” She didn’t cringe apologetically, which would have been the expected behaviour to accompany an outpouring of disinterest. Instead she stared at him, wide-eyed, lips slightly pursed as a muscle in her neck twitched, waiting for his response.

Lambert laughed. Genuinely laughed—a joyful release of tension and dread, “Oh, thank Fuck!” Essi blinked in pleasant surprise and watched as Lambert began to relax.

“Excuse me?” Her startlingly blue eyes widened in amusement.

“No, no, I just mean—I would absolutely and one-hundred percent, without a doubt, rather die in a hole than date,” Lambert slotted the edge of the menu under his fingernails and let his eyes wander a little more freely around the cafe.

“So then… why?”

Hm. Direct, frank, amusing lack of filter… the memories were starting to come back from what limited, heavily inebriated, time they’d spent together.

There was something about the straightforwardness of this endearingly odd woman that made Lambert feel infinitely more comfortable. Usually, any kind of interaction with the potential of building mutual interest made him feel like he was playing a game he didn’t know the rules to. The signals, the code words that never meant what they said: having sex on the first date means you’re a slut; not having sex on the third date means you’re a prude; grabbing coffee means this; having dinner means that; if they your arm but don’t invite you up, it means that they’re actually a KGB operative and need to give you the launch codes for a super secret missile...

Fuck that, we have words for a reason. Say what you mean and don’t waste my time. For that reason alone, Essi was already scoring quite well in Lambert’s books.

He shrugged, “You somehow remembered me from the KM Christmas party almost six months ago, and still asked for my number. I figure that at least deserves a coffee and a conversation.”

Essi was bewildered, “I didn’t ask for your number, you texted me.”

Lambert shook his head, “Impossible. No offense, but I absolutely guarantee you I did not.” He produced their short text exchange and scrolled to the top of their conversation:

Hi, is this Lambert? From the KM Christmas party?

You might not remember me, we got talking about

the political situation in Kashmir after about…

Too many drinks. Eeep!

Anyway, I’d love to get a coffee sometime, if

you’re interested.

Sorry, this is Essi Daven.

You called me Goldilocks at one point and

seemed amused XD

Hope you’re well!

Essi snatched Lambert’s phone, shocked and slightly outraged as she reached for her own device, opening her thread with Lambert. The text at the top was not from her, but from the man across from her:

Yeah, hi, this is

Lambert-from-the-KM-Christmas-party.

As it happens, I remember you and our

conversation quite well. Not many folks

happily get into drunken political discussions

You know what, I wouldn’t mind grabbing a

coffee.

Let me know if you’re free in the next couple

weeks!

Lambert gestured emphatically at Essi’s phone screen, “In what world is this an acceptable way to ask someone out?! I wouldn’t have said yes to that!”

“I don’t know,” Essi fired back, “It was straightforward! I found it charming, okay? Is that a crime?”

“No, but I have some serious concerns about your taste in men.”

“Like you’re in such a fine position to judge after the hollow, paltry invitation you accepted—which I absolutely did not write, by the way. I want to make that perfectly clear.”

“Alright, alright, cool your jets, we’ve got bigger fish to fry.” Lambert narrowed his eyes as he passed Essi’s phone back to her, “You didn't fire the first shot, so who texted me from your phone and cleared the history?”

Essi nibbled the inside of her cheek, “I can think of a few.”

“Okay, next question,” Lambert pocketed his phone, “who added you to my contacts before you texted. Because we did not exchange numbers six months ago, but your name was already there when I received it.”

Essi shrugged, “Who has access to your phone?”

“I dunno. Really just Eskel and Geralt and neither of them would—”

“Geralt.”

“Why him?”

Essi’s bright blue eyes turned steely and murderous, “Julian… They’re working together.”

“Wait, wait, wait. Are you telling me that Geralt the-last-thing-I-need Rivia and Julian Alfred these-aren't-my-pants Pankratz think we're so helplessly undateable that they decided to secretly set us up?”

“Eskel doesn’t know me that well; he wouldn’t try to set you up with someone he hadn’t vetted. Who did you talk to first when you got that text from me?”

Lambert’s eyes widened, “Holy shit, they’re working together.”

Essi nodded, a flood of embarrassment warming her cheeks. “Sorry to waste your time. You’re very nice but, um, I should just…” she got up to leave.

“Wh-hey, hold up. I mean, if you wanna go, go, that's fine, but there's something you might want to know first.”

Essi tossed her yellow bangs out of her eyes, “Oh? What's that?”

“This,” Lambert produced an Amex credit card from his breast pocket, “is Geralt's.” The cheeky glint in his eyes was a very convincing argument.

“Fine then. Coffee and a conversation.”

The coffee was hot and decent, and the conversation meandered through the usual topics of music, movies, and television, but also dipped into deeper waters as they grew more comfortable with each other’s company. Of course, it didn’t hurt that neither of them had any stakes in the outcome of this “date”. It made it easier to be frank and open, which in turn led to them quickly enjoying their time together. So much so that coffee turned into lunch, which turned into a long walk in the pleasant weather, which finally landed them outside Essi’s apartment, just around dinner time.

“I have to say, this was actually a pleasant encounter,” she said, turning to face him with a characteristic toss of her bangs.

“Yeah, who’d’ve thought two people forced together by meddling friends would actually find it enjoyable?”

“In light of that,” Essi squared her shoulders and found Lambert’s hazel-brown eyes, “I think it’s fair to say I want to see you again.”

He cringed regretfully and scratched the back of his head, “Ahh, yeah, so… I don’t know if that’s really--”

“Oh, relax,” Essi smirked with a casual touch to Lambert’s forearm. “I don't mean like that. I just mean--you're interesting and fun and, well I don't have many close friends and I feel like we connected well today.”

“Well…”

“I'll make it even simpler: I absolutely, one-hundred percent, am not interested in dating you.”

“Easy there, you know I love it when people get all straightforward with me.”

“I mean it, I just want to be friends,” she toyed back, trying her best to look sultry. It kind of worked.

Lambert bit his lower lip in mock arousal, “Mmm, oh yeah...”

She swayed her shoulders forward and back, doing her best to emulate the seductive actresses and models of the 1950s, “I want to Netflix and chill with a documentary about Soviet propaganda.”

Her last comment prompted a playfully stern look from her companion, “Careful now, you’re wading into actual turn-on territory.”

“You're such a weirdo,” Essi chuckled, giving him an endeared shove. “Seriously, though, would you like to do this again? Friends?”

He nodded sincerely, “Yeah, I think I'd really like that. Just one problem, though.”

“If we claim not to be interested in each other but keep hanging out we’ll never hear the end of it?”

“Bingo.”

Essi hummed thoughtfully and nibbled the inside of her bottom lip, “Well… we could always… pretend?”

***

“Sounds like you two are hitting it off. I’m glad. I know Essi’s been feeling a little isolated between work and being new to the city.” Geralt closed the fridge with his foot and headed towards the sofa, popcorn in one hand, three beers in the other. “I’ll take my card back, by the way.”

Lambert reluctantly handed the Amex back in exchange for a beer and perched on the arm of the sofa. “She’s really something. We’re, uh—yeah, hitting it off is a good word.”

And hitting it off, they were. The last ten days since their first “date” had been more enjoyable than all the dates he’d had in the last year combined. Essi was a fantastic companion: sharp, witty, kind, took no bullshit… They had done absolutely nothing but hang out, and no one had pried them for many details about the nature of their relationship. As far as their friend group was concerned, they were simply dating in the way that most adults dated. This also meant more time to themselves without unwanted interruptions (namely Julian barging in with his spare key to gossip about whatever fires were currently alight on twitter). The first night Lambert had been over, it took Julian all of five minutes to “grab something from the fridge” before parting with a knowing wink.

To her credit and imagination, Essi had expertly fielded her cousin’s initial barrage of questions when she first announced their “involvement.” It wasn’t that she didn’t like her cousin, Essi adored Julian, but she was also the first to admit that the man had no boundaries. What he lacked in that arena, he certainly made up for with opinions, which he was always more than happy to bestow on his younger cousin—usually dating advice, almost always unsolicited. Lambert had a much easier time convincing his side that he and Essi were taking it easy to see where things went. Between Eskel being a consummate gentleman and Geralt having his own Delicate Sensibilities, neither of them had demanded any details.

“As long as you’re both happy and everything’s healthy, that’s all that matters,” Geralt’s partner reiterated, reaching into the bowl on Geralt’s lap.

“Jesus, Eskel, you sound like my Nonna.”

“That's no way to talk to your father,” Geralt smirked into his hand of popcorn

“You're no better,” Lambert took a swig from his beer, lips popping as he lowered the bottle. “I swear, you've turned into a couple of mother hens since you two got together. Quit fussing and watch the game.”

Geralt put his arm around Eskel’s shoulders, “We have gotten a little soft haven’t we?”

Eskel huffed out a laugh, “Probably. Hey, Lambert, don't fuck it up or I'll kick your ass into next week.”

“Thank you. See? Was that so hard?”

“Eh,” Eskel shrugged, helping himself to another handful of popcorn, “I stand by my original statement. Geralt agrees.”

“It's true,” he said between mouthfuls. “Essi’s a good woman. Smart, talented, kind, attractive.”

Eskel cleared his throat.

“Eskel, she is, it's just a statement of fact it doesn't mean that she doesn’t have other…”

“I know it doesn't but I still think you could bear to be a little more…”

“Funny thing,” Lambert interrupted, “I still can’t figure out how this smart, talented, kind, attractive woman’s number programmed itself into my phone. Because I may have been drunk the night we first met, but I have never in my life forgotten a successful number grab. Fess up, fellas. Who was it?”

Eskel’s eyes widened, “Geralt, you didn’t.”

“I… may have… helped Julian gain access to Lambert’s phone.”

“Unbelievable. The betrayal,” Lambert shook his head, eyes still on the game. “If only there was some way to square things up…”

“You charged everything to my company card, didn’t you?”

“First two dates and a fresh pair of pants. Thanks, bud.” Geralt accepted a pat on the back as Eskel began gently but sternly berating him.

Lambert shook his head, smirking as he took another swig of beer, leaving the two lovebirds to bicker amongst themselves. His hip pocket buzzed and he checked his phone: Essi.

Next Wednesday? Pizza and a movie? Still can't believe you haven't seen Ocean’s Eleven.

Yeah, okay, fine. Jeez :P 7:30 my place? I'll provide beverages.

If by ‘beverages’ you mean watery beer…

Fuck off, I'll get the good stuff. Unless you prefer Arbor Mist or some shit.

*gasps* I am offended! (but also it's delicious)

*sigh* do you want me to get you some?

*turtles into hoodie* ...peach or cherry pls?

Haha okay, fine, I'll get a bottle. Can't promise I won't judge you forever, though ;)

It's okay, I deserve it. g2g, see you tomorrow! xox

***

Lambert groaned contentedly, massaging his stomach as he sprawled back on his aging brown sofa, long legs resting habitually on the coffee table. The now-empty pizza box lay abandoned on the far edge, accompanied by four empty beer bottles, and a nearly-empty, unfavourably warm Peach Arbor Mist. The toilet flushed and Essi emerged. Her dark gold hair had long ago been pulled into a messy bun, but her indigo skinny jeans had been replaced by soft-looking grey leggings.

Lambert shook his head in amusement as she settled back next to him on the couch, "I still can't believe you brought your own lounge pants"

"That's because I'm a genius," she quipped, crossing her legs and adjusting the height of her waistband. "Besides, when else will I have the opportunity to actually be comfortable during a date?"

"You took your bra off, too, didn't you?" Lambert asked without missing a beat, eyes never leaving the screen.

"Yup!" Essi confirmed, her sparkling blue eyes glinting with joy as she raised her glass to her lips.

The movie continued as the new friends settled into comfortable silence, their food-drowsy, alcohol-fuzzy states lulling them into a new level of comfortability around each other. Legs fell asleep, positions were adjusted, and shoulders leaned on as the two sought maximum comfort for minimum effort. Soon, an arm was around Essi's shoulder as she settled her cheek on a comfortable spot on Lambert's chest.

"You good?" Lambert asked, only half-irritated at her seemingly endless search for the perfect angle.

"I'm sorry, I thought I'd found a good spot, but..." A few more adjustments of her head and Lambert couldn't take it anymore.

"Jesus, woman, here. Get up for a sec."

Essi sat up as Lambert rearranged himself into a sort of semi-recline with one foot on the floor so his other leg could make room for the tiny pain-in-the-ass that was taking up the rest of the couch space. At his invitation, she wriggled up to the crook of his arm and quickly settled in. Lambert hadn't really thought about what they were doing. Not when Essi had harmlessly leaned against his arm; not when their weight settled into each other; not when Lambert had put his arm around her; not even as he was rearranging to get to where they were now. It had all just... happened. Now, though, with Essi lying still, Lambert felt the weight and warmth of her body shifting gently against his, and it dawned on him that this had the potential to be, well, weird.

But the strange thing was, it didn't feel weird. He'd fucking cuddled before, but there was always a sense of holding back, a tension in his body, being on the lookout for signals from the other person to move onto the Next Step. But now, he actually felt comfortable. There wasn't anything that was supposed to happen after this. Nobody was asking anything of him, no one sending signals he could pick up on but never read properly, no sinking feelings of dread as the other person moved in for a kiss that always felt too soon. Essi was just there, breathing, content. And Lambert was relaxed.

The woman half-on top of him gave a twitch as the credits started to roll, and Lambert let out a private laugh, "Hey, Sleeping Beauty, show's over."

Essi inhaled heavily through her nose and lifted herself up, "Hmmm?"

"Movie's over."

"Did I fall asleep? I'm sorry!" she sat and rubbed her eyes, taking a sip of water to rinse the stale taste from her mouth.

"Eh, only a little." Lambert exited Netflix and tossed the remote back on to the table. "Thought you might wanna start heading home before it gets too late."

Essi nodded in response as she grabbed the pizza box and brought it to the kitchen trash, leaving Lambert to bring the empties.

"You going to finish this atrocity of a beverage?" Lambert waggled the near-empty wine bottle at Essi as he passed on his way to the sink. She merely scowled and shook her head, letting him pour it down the drain 'where it belonged anyway'.

Essi gathered her things and met Lambert by his front door, checking her pockets for her phone and keys one last time before putting her shoes on.

"You okay to walk? Want me to come with?"

It was only 10:30 on a weeknight, and she appreciated the gesture all the same, but it was fine to walk. "Thanks, though. And thank you for tonight. I really needed to get out of the house. I hope, um..."

She trailed off, not sure how to ask. She didn't have the same physical boundaries that most others seemed to have. She was affectionate—often overly so, and it had led to more than a few misunderstandings in the past. She didn't want Lambert to feel as though she had ulterior motives when the simple fact of the matter was that she hadn't really been thinking. Between the instant relief of not actually being on a date and Lambert's easy manner all evening, she'd forgotten that most friendships didn’t generally involve that much physical contact. Would Lambert be confused now? Thinking they were onto something more than friendship? Had he been wanting more? Had she pushed past a point of no return and doomed their friendship?

She inhaled, "Were you comfortable tonight?"

For a split second, Lambert flailed, wondering whether he’d made her uncomfortable. Fuck, she'd seemed comfortable, if anything it felt like he’d been following her lead but maybe...

"I—yeah. That was, I enjoyed that. Were... were you not—?"

Essi smiled and Lambert relaxed again, "No, I was. I wanted to ask in case, that's all. Boundaries and all that. I'll text you when I'm home."

Lambert opened the door and waved her off toward the elevator, "'Kay. 'Night!"

The door clicked shut.

Okay, alright. Fine. Did they cuddle? Yes. Did he enjoy it? Fuck yes. He absolutely didn’t care what anyone might think about how he chose to enjoy his time with other people. However, this didn’t stop him from acknowledging that he was in uncharted friendship territory. More than anything, he was worried about how Essi really felt. Of course, she had no reason not to be honest with him. But the last thing he wanted to do was play fast and loose with someone’s emotions, especially not a friend, and definitely not one as close as Essi. Time would tell. As Lambert’s head hit the pillow, the memory of her warmth and weight settled over him again, and he slept soundly for the first time in months.

***

“Yes Poppet, but have you slept together yet? Honestly, you’ve been dating for almost three weeks now, what could you possibly be waiting for?”

Oh, I don’t know, hell to freeze over? You to mind your own business? Whichever comes first…

“I mean, you clearly adore one another, I’ve never seen you happier. What’s there to lose?’”

Essi scoffed.

Julian placed his hands on her shoulders, “I know it’s been a while for you, but I think you can afford to let yourself go a little, have some fun, hm? Besides, it’s better to find out sooner rather than later if you’re sexually incompatible.”

She took a deep breath, “That’s a very good point, Julian, I’ll think about that.” The dating act was starting to wear a little thin, but it was worth not having to explain to anyone that they weren’t doing exactly what it looked like they were doing.

Julian took time to give his cousin a scrutinizing look, “Well, by the look of things it won’t be long anyway. If you spend all of your time together as tangled up as you were the other night when I came over, it’ll happen sooner rather than later. Just trust your gut, and when in doubt, a little hint never goes awry.”

Needless to say, Essi more or less ignored her cousin’s advice.

As the weeks stretched on, it became evident that they were quickly becoming what most people would consider to be more than friends. The first time they pulled the covers back and climbed into bed, each on their half of the mattress, they were aware that yet another boundary of friendship had been pushed a little farther into the grey zone. But, they woke up the next morning feeling happy, content, and refreshed, and surely there was nothing wrong with two people sharing a comfortable bed. Essi had woken up with crust in her eyes and her nightgown bunched around her waist. Lambert had woken up with morning wood and his hair a mess. Neither of them cared. People wake up in the morning, big deal.

Still, it didn’t stop the questioning that oscillated in the background of Lambert’s mind. Was he unknowingly leading Essi on by allowing her so much closeness without a clearly defined relationship? She’d made her own disinterest clear enough on their first “date”, but feelings change over time. What she’d told him three weeks ago might not be true anymore…

And then there was that soft warm tingle in the middle of his chest every time she lay her head in his lap, every time he ran his fingers through her hair. He knew he wasn't in love. Not that he was an expert, but what was all that "when you know, you know" bullshit if he couldn’t trust his own feelings? He loved her, sure, but more like a... not a sister, that would be weird. He didn't know what like. Whatever. Fuck it. Eskel had said it best three weeks ago: “As long as you're happy and everything’s healthy, that’s all that matters.” Yeah, sure. We’ll stick with that.

As far as Lambert and Essi were concerned, it was what it was, and whatever it was was working… wasn’t it?

***

"Fuckin' finally!"

The door to Essi's apartment clicked closed as the tenant wilted against it, emitting an exhausted groan, "Two. Hours. It took me two hours to get home!" She toed off her penny loafers and abandoned her purse and jacket in a pile by the front door, ignoring the hook three inches to her left. She flopped heavily onto her living room carpet.

"I see you found my spare key," she added, not at all surprised that Lambert had managed to let himself in.

"Yeah, you should probably put that in a less obvious spot," he answered, crossing to the door to hang her things up. "So, I see it's a lying on the floor kind of evening. Can I interest you in a drink to start? Vodka pairs well with the general vibe of Done-With-This-Shit, or we also have tequila if you feel like shouting out the window after a couple shots. Alternatively, there's gin if you want to cry later."

Essi smiled with her eyes closed, feeling her body slowly relaxing into the spongy throw rug underneath her, "You know me so well."

"Vodka?"

"Vodka. Euch, I need to vacuum!," Essi peeled herself to a seated position as clinks and clatters began in the kitchen. She hopped in the shower to rinse the day off, and after a few minutes, there was a knock on the bathroom door.

"Yeeees?" she called, playfully.

"Drink delivery!" Lambert hollered back, "you want this now or later?"

"Why are you so good to me?"

There was a draught of cool air as Lambert opened the bathroom door, "Because you only marginally annoy me. Here," he passed his hand between the shower wall and the opaque fish-scale-patterned curtain. "What's on the docket for tonight?"

Essi groaned, "I don't know, I'm sorry. I used all my brain cells trying not to murder people on the streetcar."

"Okay," Lambert sat on the lidded toilet, "here's the thing. I kinda maybe figured that might be the case so I kinda maybe picked up a few things to make dinner."

A shampoo-piled head poked out from behind the curtain, "You're kidding."

"Nuh-uh."

"I love you."

Lambert chuckled, "Yeah, you're alright. Come on, hurry up, this bathroom's a fuckin’ sauna, and I don’t want the croutons to get soggy." Essi burbled an answer about conditioner and almost done, and Lambert took that as his cue to leave.

Dinner was simple: pan fried Salmon with crispy skin (delicate and buttery on the inside); wax beans in butter (tender and not overcooked); grilled brussels sprouts (just beginning to brown on the edges); and a fresh caesar salad. Everything done to perfection. Full, content, and ready to take their relaxation to the next step they settled themselves on Essi’s blue-grey sectional to begin the arduous task of deciding what to watch.

This was proving particularly difficult with the addition of Essi's caveat that whatever they chose not be "too plot-heavy" which so far had included Masterchef, an interior design show, and program about shepherding in the Orkneys.

"Sweetheart, you gotta give me some slack here. I thought I was on track with the sheep!"

"I know, I'm sorry!" Essi muffled into his shirt sleeve. "I do like animals..." She gasped loudly. "BLUE PLANET."

Lambert stopped the endless scrolling and pushed play as the soothing voice of David Attenborough filled the small living room.

"Hey! Why'd you pause it?"

Lambert was standing up, "If we're going to do this, then we're doing it right. Hang on."

Essi slumped on the sofa as the microwave kicked on. In a few minutes, there was popcorn in their laps and half a bottle of vodka on the table with an ice bucket and lemon wedges in a bowl. Lambert read off his phone screen.

"We will take a drink when:

-David says 'Extraordinary' -David uses a clear understatement such as 'But then again, living in an active volcano is not without its risks' -An animal is being eaten -An animal is mating -There is sped up footage of a plant growing."

"Oh no," Essi lamented, chewing her popcorn ungracefully, "I'm going to get so drunk."

"You got it, Goldilocks. Fill up."

And with that, they were off, taking it slow with their vodka twists, but nonetheless feeling the warm buzz start to tingle under their skin. The box of microwave popcorn was empty by halfway through, and the remains of Essi's exhaustion had almost dispersed entirely.

"Ooh! Understatement! Drink!!"

By ten o’clock, pink-cheeked and feeling boisterous, they had finished with their favourite parts of Blue Planet, or at least the ones they had patience for, and had moved on to Planet Earth II.

“Holy fuck, that’s a lot of snakes—Go, you little fucker! Go!”

The drama on the screen had caused the two to separate from one another while Lambert invested himself in the success of the small lizard. Once the baby Galapagos Iguana had made it to safety, they were once again able to recline without Essi risking an elbow to the face.

She bundled against him, scooting farther between his legs where he leaned in the corner of the sectional. He gathered her hair and draped it over her left shoulder so it wouldn't get caught in his buttons—they'd learned that the hard way. It was still damp, cool to the touch, and smelled like verbena sea salt shampoo. He felt a pulse of affection ripple through him as her weight resettled. He loved that feeling. It had taken some time to get used to it. But now it was high on his list of favourite things. He was happy. And it was healthy. And that really was all that mattered.

Right?

Eskel’s words turned themselves around again in his mind as he wrapped his arm around the front of Essi’s shoulders. He let himself indulge in the texture of her cotton knit nightshirt under his fingers. He relished in the peace of mind at being able to just be there with someone who meant something to him and made absolutely no demands. He let himself relax.

Essi felt a kiss land on the top of her head with a playful, "Muwah!"

She giggled quietly, "Thank you!" Then, upon further thought… Did he want to kiss her? Her mind did a double take as she tried to get on top of the ball.

It wasn’t impossible. They were close after all, and she wasn’t opposed to the idea. She’d recently found herself in a balancing act of realizing she could, in theory, have a deeper kind of feeling for Lambert. Only if, for whatever reason, it turned out he felt the same way. These weren’t the helpless uncontrollable feelings of ride-or-die infatuation; they were malleable, translatable, general feelings of affection and fondness that belonged in any number of different relationships and dynamics.

No sense risking it, she thought. They'd found a liminal space of comfort and safety that she'd never experienced with anyone else before, and if the options were between being a little confused and ruining everything, the choice was an easy one. Then again, if Lambert was developing feelings for her, she didn’t want to miss an opportunity. Shit. Her cheeks burned as she felt the question rise closer to her lips.

"Lambert?" she sat up abruptly and turned to her friend who was still moulded into the corner of the couch, watching the mating rituals of exotic birds with bewildered skepticism.

He jolted at Essi’s sudden movement, "Hello, yes."

Her bright blue eyes were now slightly unfocused, "Do you—? Nevermind." She lay back against him, suddenly skittish..

"Mm, nah, try again," he said, sluggishly. "What’s up, buttercup?"

She swayed a little when she sat up, "Are you happy with what we are?"

Lambert blinked, caught slightly off-guard. The question was easy enough to answer, "Yeah! I mean I don’t know what the fuck we are, but I’m feeling pretty good about it. Shit, why? Are you not? I can be less… whatever. Or… more?" It wasn’t like he was repulsed by the idea of anything else happening between them—in theory it was a possibility. In practice, however...

Essi put an emphatic hand on Lambert’s knee, her glassy eyes going wide, "Do you want more?"

"What? No! I dunno, I—maybe. I haven’t really thought about it. I mean…” Lambert searched Essi’s face for any clue that might help him know how to proceed, “I don’t not want anything else. Fuck, I don’t know! I’m used to doing things the other way around. You know the drill: uncomfortable date, smoosh faces together, have sex, hope feelings fall out. Lather-rinse-repeat. I dunno, do we have to… But what if we try something and...? I don’t wanna lose this."

Essi leaned in close and whispered, “I have an idea.”

"Why do I feel like I'm going to regret this?"

"We should kiss."

Lambert nearly swallowed an ice cube, "What?!"

"Just once. Quickly. Just... in case."

"You want me, Lambert, to kiss you, Essi Daven, on the lips."

She nodded sincerely, "For science."

There was a brief pause during which Essi felt the beginnings of panic brewing in her stomach, but by the time she'd finished grappling with potential consequences, Lambert was filling their glasses.

"Alright. Fine. My friend wants me to kiss her for science? Fuck it. I'll drink to that."

They downed their drinks and squared up, knee to knee on the edge of the sofa as they each prepared for their best form—or as good as they could offer given the circumstances. They counted down, 3-2-1...

The kiss was quick, over as soon as it had begun, and both friends pulled away with questioning looks. Inconclusive. They tried again for a little longer, still returning with the same quizzical expressions. They went in for a third time, committing more thoroughly, and for a brief moment it seemed they might have found the semblance of a spark. But it didn’t build. It felt… fine? But no different than if they were lying together on the sofa. It was just another thing they were doing. They each tried to find the right word for what they were feeling, but were soon distracted by the oddness of it all.

Essi started to giggle. Less than a second later, Lambert joined her, and they both pulled away, thoroughly satisfied that their experiment had yielded a strong No on the subject of More. There was a dull thud as Essi slid from the couch and onto the floor, still holding her drink in one hand and laughing hysterically.

Lambert sighed and shook his head, "I think it’s time we got you to bed."

Headaches and dry mouths greeted the two friends the next morning when they blinked awake. Essi’s hair was a cotton-candy mess, having still been slightly damp when Lambert put her to bed. The brunet himself didn’t look much different from his usual scruffy state as he gathered Essi up in an armful of duvet and squeezed tight.

“Gods, Lambert, I still need to breathe,” Essi chuckled, pressing her back into his chest.

“You’ll get over it,” he teased and self-indulgently nuzzled even closer. “You feeling alright? I mean, aside from the hangover. About last night?”

“Oh no,” Essi groaned, “I’m so sorry, Lambert. I shouldn’t have said anything. It’s just—you kissed my head and then that got me wondering about whether you might want something else, and then I didn’t really know what was happening and—”

“Hey, easy on the rambling, okay, I’m running on limited brain cells, here. Look,” Lambert sat up to find those big blue eyes, now shining brightly, “I have no idea what the fuck this is that we’ve got going on, but I like it fine just the way it is.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. And we can keep talking about that. Just, you know, maybe next time something’s on your mind, don’t wait ‘til we’re wasted at 2am?”

“Okay, deal. Can we go get bacon now?”

Lambert chuckled, “Yeah, alright, fine. Make me put pants on, I see how it is.”

Their conversation continued over strong coffee and eggs benedicts. Between their check-in that morning and everything that had happened the previous night, it was well-established that they were perfectly happy where they were. Rather, the main topic of conversation was their growing desire to level with their friends about the nature of their relationship. Eskel and Geralt, they both agreed, would be the easiest—Lambert could tell them that evening. Julian and Essi’s friends on the other hand would be a little more difficult.

Telling Julian together would be best, Essi thought. He was bound to have questions, and if both she and Lambert were there to answer them definitively and explain that no, they didn’t have secret feelings for one another; and yes, they really were just friends and not at all interested in exploring the relationship further thank you very much. Exactly when this discussion with Julian would occur still wasn’t clear. Realistically, they could pick any time, but they decided to wait until Lambert could tell the Old Men. At least then they were assured some less invasive support.

Their reaction was easy enough to predict: Eskel reassuringly repeated his standby “As long as you’re both happy with things…” and twirled a forkful of pasta; Geralt tilted his head thoughtfully and said, “That sounds very nice. I’m happy for you.” Lambert had expected mild disapproval, concern that they were deviating too far from the norm and into a complex dynamic that would be too messy to manage. Instead, Geralt simply said it ‘sounded very nice.’ Lambert smiled into the open refrigerator on his way to get a beer.

The following weekend was Julian’s birthday, and, as per their annual tradition, the group all gathered on Friday evening at the birthday boy’s favourite restaurant—Vegelbud’s. The two decided to tell him the week after his birthday so as not to detract from his Big 3-0. Just one more week, and it would all be in the open. Easy breasy.

The afternoon of the dinner, Eskel and Geralt received a group text: Haven’t told Julian the details yet. Keep the beans to yourselves please (I’m looking at you, @Eskel).

“Why me?” Eskel turned to Geralt over his paperwork, looking a little hurt.

Geralt chuckled, “You have a slight tendency to overshare when you want to be supportive.”

“I do?” He turned on the bar stool to follow his partner on the way upstairs.

“It’s not a bad thing, but…” Geralt sighed, “Lambert has always needed to feel in control of situations like this. He doesn’t want one of us bringing this up before he’s ready to talk about it, especially in a public place, you know how he gets when he feels cornered. And Julian is Essi’s cousin…”

Eskel raised a hand, “You’re right, you’re right. All points taken. Are you showering?”

Geralt smirked as he headed for the stairs, “Come on then.”

Four hours later and halfway through dinner, everything had gone swimmingly. The food had been expectedly delicious, the company and conversation excellent, and so far no one had felt the need to bring up Essi and Lambert’s relationship on any level. That is until Julian got a few drinks under his belt, and decided it was time to document the occasion. Geralt and Eskel were the first victims.

“Aww just look at you two! So in love, so vivacious and full of adoration,” Julian held up his phone as Geralt touched the side of his head to Eskel’s. Beep-Chk! A perfect image of a happy couple was captured and posted to Instagram (#julianturns30 #dinneratvagelbuds #dinnerout #cutiesofinstagram #favoriteotp #gaycouplesofinstagram #livelaughlove…). There were a few more photos of the three of them together, the white chocolate raspberry cheesecake with the candle in it, a group shot taken by the waiter. It was all so close to being over, Essi could practically taste the refuge of the streetcar.

"Come on, lovebirds, show us a smooch!" Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no. Essi’s stomach lurched and she felt her cheeks start to warm. Lambert’s hand landed gently on her knee under the table, his fingers pressing firmly into her leg as she desperately tried to think of something to say.

"Oh, um..."

Across the table, Geralt and Eskel shared a wordless communication: de-escalate, distract, redirect.

“You’ll want to eat that cheesecake before it gets warm” Geralt offered. “I hear it’s so light it’ll disintegrate in a heartbeat.” Eskel nodded in encouragement, taking a bite of his own.

“I know, I know,” Julian shrugged, “Just a quick one. Say Cheese!”

"Not right now, Julian," Essi tilted her head, her eyes flashing a little.

"Oh come on, Poppet! I know you don't like PDA, it's just one little picture--"

“Don’t call me Poppet.”

Eskel cleared his throat loudly, "Doesn't seem they're that keen on it. Maybe let's try for one another time."

"It's past your one-month-a-versary, let everyone see how in love you are."

"Julian," Geralt growled, "leave it."

Julian covered his mouth in alarm, "I’m so sorry, have you not used that word yet? I didn’t mean anything by it, I just want the world to see how happy my beautiful cousin is!"

“Really Julian, it’s not necessary we—” Essi’s fingernails were starting to dig into Lambert’s palm from the sheer effort of maintaining composure. She wasn’t sure whether she wanted to cry or disappear, and with neither of those being an option, it seemed the only possible escape was for them to kiss. They’d done it before. No big deal. It would feel off, but they’d just go back to her place and drink about it after.

“Essi, what’s the matter with you, it’s just one little picture, and we all know you’re not camera-shy. On three, ready? One, two…”

"For fuck's sake we're not dating!"

The table all silently turned their attention to Essi whose cheeks had been turning progressively redder.

“What?” Her cousin laughed incredulously.

“We’re not a couple, Julian. We’re friends. We have been from the beginning, but we didn’t want to tell you because we knew you wouldn’t fucking leave us alone until you could boast about having set us up.”

Lambert shared a brief look with Eskel before lowering his eyes to the tablecloth, his hand still firmly clutched in Essi’s.

Julian gaped, “So, it was all… the cuddling, the laughing, that time I came over and you were asleep on the couch, that was all… a ruse?”

“No, Julian, that was real. I told you, we’re friends.”

“That’s not friends! Since when have friends watched a movie half-on-top of each other?”

“Two people can enjoy each other's company lying flat, Julian,” Eskel’s rich voice interjected across the table and the discussion ground to a halt.

Geralt shrugged with his tea at his lips, “It is the twenty-first century after all.”

Julian’s cornflower blue eyes flitted back and forth between the two friends, utterly bewildered. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Well what with your complete and utter invasion of privacy for the sake of hooking us up, we didn’t necessarily trust you to believe us,” Essi answered curtly, her hand shaking slightly.

“Poppet, you could have just told me—”

“Stop. Calling me that. And I did tell you, Julian!” she exploded. “I told you the first day I moved here. The first. Day. I said, ‘Julian, I think I want to take a break from dating until I’ve been settled for a year.’ And what did you do? Conspired with my well-meaning former mentor to hook me up with someone I had one good conversation with at a Christmas party. And do you know what? We are happy. But we’re happy in our own way. And maybe our boundaries with each other seem a little strange to you, but we’re not fooling ourselves. We don’t want to kiss each other, we don’t want to have sex, and we don’t want a relationship. And even though it’s absolutely none of your damn business, I’ll tell you anyway: we’ve talked about it. All of it. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I don’t think I want to be here anymore.”

The chair legs scraped against the floor of the restaurant as Essi stood to leave, throwing her purse over her shoulder as she went. Lambert looked hesitantly around the table, “I should probably, you know…” He gestured after Essi with his thumb. Eskel gave Lambert the go ahead and he quickly stood to follow his friend out of the restaurant, leaving a very stunned Julian with the other two. He found her perched on the parking barrier in the small lot to the left of the front doors. He called to her and she looked up. Eyes shining, mascara running...

“Ah shit, you know I’m no good with this kind of thing.”

“I’m sorry, Lambert, I just—” she blew her nose, “—he just wouldn’t stop and I didn’t know what to do or say, and it all just came pouring out. I didn’t want it to. The whole time I was begging myself to stop, but I just couldn’t, it’s been bottled up for so long and-and—but it’s his birthday, and—oh, he must feel so awful! I didn’t want to make him feel bad, but—and with Eskel and Geralt there too! They must think I’m horrible! I’m so sorry, Lambert, I didn’t want it to be like this, I wanted to have him over and sit him down and be patient, and instead I’ve just made a complete mess of things. And on his birthday! It’s his birthday, oh God, this is the worst thing I could have done.” Essi choked back bitter tears as she tried desperately to stem the flow with her soggy tissue, “Are you upset with me, Lambert? If you are, I understand. Maybe we should take a break of some kind, you know. Not see each other for a while and—”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold it right there. Look, I’m probably not going to say any of the right stuff here, but I am absolutely not upset with you. You got that? And for what it’s worth, I don’t think us taking a break from spending time together is going to do anything. Unless you’re looking to punish yourself by taking away a nice thing which, okay. But the fact that you’re willing to ditch me instead of Arbor Mist says something about our friendship I’m not too pleased with.”

Essi turned her wide, pleading, bloodshot eyes to Lambert who cracked a smile, “Jesus, I’m kidding! You adorable fucking mess, c’mere.” He pulled his petite friend into a hug and rested his chin on the top of her head until she quieted down. Neither of them was quite sure how much time had gone by, but Essi found herself wishing it had been long enough for everyone to have gone home so she didn’t have to face whatever aftermath she’d left behind.

Meanwhile, Eskel and Geralt had settled the bill and offered to give Julian a lift back to their place for a night cap, not wanting to leave the evening on such an unsettled note. Essi needed space, and whatever company she needed, Lambert was clearly capable of providing. It was for the best, they suggested, and dissuaded Julian from trying to call her.

“Best to sleep on things,” Geralt said, tucking his card back into his wallet and giving the waiter a nod in gratitude. “We can meet for coffee this weekend and sort this out. For now, just let her cool down.”

Eskel clapped Julian encouragingly on the shoulder as they made their way into the damp summer night air. As they turned into the parking lot, they came face-to-face with Essi and Lambert who had clearly just turned to come back inside. Both cousins looked like they had seen better days: Essi’s eyes were puffy and red, her cheeks blotchy and streaked with inky makeup stains; Julian was perhaps less dishevelled, but the dark circles under his eyes were more pronounced, his boyish features now dejectedly weighted down with remorse and hurt.

“Juian, I’m so sorry, I didn’t—”

Essi’s cousin raised his hand, “Don’t. Please don’t. Essi, I am so, so sorry. I never meant to push you like that, I didn't realize... you both have been so happy this last month and—"

"It's okay, really, we can talk about this all another time. I'm just so sorry I ruined your birthday. We wanted to sit down with you and talk properly but..." Essi's tears welled up again, and Julian smiled weakly.

"But we both did what we always do?"

She sniffed, nodding emphatically with a tearful, "Yeah.” Julian pulled his cousin into a fond embrace while the other three clumped together to watch the reconciliation.

“Oh! Here,” Essi reached into her purse and pulled out a small, neatly-wrapped box. “Happy birthday!”

Julian opened his gift without a second thought, his face brightening instantly. The box contained a set of premium ultra-light guitar strings and a pair of concert tickets. The perfect gift. Overwhelmed with gratitude, and the atmosphere having been recovered, Julian suggested they all attend brunch together that Sunday morning, his treat by way of apology. Geralt offered to split the bill as a peace offering for his part in the initial setup, and the five made a date.

A fresh start, a promise of spending time together with fewer secrets and, Julian conceded, a few more boundaries.

#witcher rarepair summer bingo #wrsb #Platonic #queerplatonic #no romo #Geralt/Eskel #Essbert #Gereskel #Jaskier #Julian Alfred Pankratz #alcohol #drunkenness #Essi & Lambert #Essi Daven #Lambert

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kyber-crystal · 4 years ago

Text

An Accidental Confession

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader

Words: ~3.1k

Summary: In which you decided to a record a message explaining your feelings for Steve in case you didn't make it out of your mission alive. You don’t have any intention of it actually being heard by him, but you have no other choice to face your fear when it’s accidentally broadcasted across the entire compound.

Warnings: none, this is pure fluff haha with hints of a cocky steve hehe.

A/N: Some dialogue credits go to Descendants of the Sun! (yes, this is a oneshot of a scene from it, bc I love that drama with my whole heart)

Tags: Dedicating this to @sylvie-writes because she’s an absolute SWEETHEART. I LOVE YOU BB. go follow her!

"Hey, Y/N, check this out!"

You glanced up from where you were furiously typing away at the computer to see Peter with a wide grin on his face. "Hm?"

"Look what I found! Mr. Stark's old speaker set!" The teenager went around to behind the table and rolled out the speaker in front of you. "It was a bit souped up, but all it really needed was some TLC and here it is, good as new!"

"Found this old thing while he was cleaning up," Tony explained, "you wanna hook your phone up and give it a go?"

"Uh...sure, why not," you shrugged, standing up and pushing your seat in, making your way over to the two of them. You took your phone out of your pocket and plugged it in.

"Check, one, two," Peter spoke into the small microphone. "Check one, two, three. Hey! It's working!"

You couldn't help but grin at his enthusiasm. "How old is this thing, anyway?"

"Older than me, that's for sure. Now play something!"

"Alright, alright. Let's see..." you scrolled through your playlists until you found the one you wanted, pressing 'play' and putting it on shuffle. "There."

"Fly Me To The Moon! May played it for me all the time when I was little," Peter exclaimed. "She always insisted I educate myself on older music. Now I'm glad she did."

Bucky and Sam stopped screaming at each other as they battled it out in Mario Kart, quieting down and humming to the beat as they held their controllers tightly. Wanda smiled to herself as she stirred the pot of soup on the stove, Bruce on the verge of falling asleep as he sipped his coffee at the kitchen island and read a news article on his phone. The energy within the compound seemed to lighten significantly as Frank Sinatra's soothing voice echoed off the walls.

You went out to the patio to relax, crossing your arms and closing your eyes as the sounds of chirping crickets and music mixed together in one soothing melody, the moonlight reflecting over the water. For a brief moment in time, you were at peace - and you relished in the temporary feeling of serenity. The 'city that never slept' was sleepy, for once. It wasn't all that late, but you were already beginning to succumb to fatigue's temptations.

But then, the song came to an end and switched off to something else.

"Hey, Steve. I hope this message never finds you because if it does...it means I'm most likely dead-" your all-too familiar voice came over the phone, thick with tears as you struggled to contain your sobs. "God, what am I even doing here? I have a gunshot wound that most likely pierced a vital organ so I'm just gonna bleed out here alone- why am I even doing this? I don't even know how much longer it'll be before you arrive with the evac team...so I just want to apologize in advance for not coming back to you like I promised. If I'd known I'd die in a foreign country, I would've lived a more carefree life instead of constantly worrying, like you always told me to just relax sometimes, I'm so, so sorry-"

Your eyes widened in realization and you rushed across the facility as fast as you could possibly go to the labs.

"Leaving words like this before dying is so uncultured- please, Steve...are you on your way? Please tell me you're on your way. If I'm really dying here I don't wanna die alone. Please hurry...I don't think I can last until you get here. Even so, you'll be the first to find me if I die, that is, if my corpse isn't dragged away or some shit like that - God, this hurts- I almost forgot how much it hurt to get shot...damn...I really underestimated the power of a bullet, huh?

Steve's bandaged fists fell to his sides, the punching bag swinging back and forth so wildly that it would've knocked him over if it weren't for his muscular figure. His brow furrowed in concern and he felt a small ache his chest upon hearing your voice crack - you never cried, and even if you did, which was extremely rare, you were good at hiding it from others.

But then a small smile tugged at the corners of his lips - you did ramble sometimes, and he found it rather adorable. It was, in fact, one of the main reasons why he admired you so much.

"FRIDAY? Where's the source of this audio?"

"It's playing from Mr. Stark's speaker in the lab, Captain," the AI responded.

"Thank you."

He unwrapped the tape from around his hands and exited the training facility, going into a light jog as he headed up to the lounge.

"If I knew that I'd die like this, then I would've told you my true feelings. That I'm in love with you and I really wished you'd kissed me when we were watching that movie together- it was Die Hard, wasn't it? I really wished you'd done something. We were sitting so close, and...I couldn't stop thinking about it. I was tempted to just run my hands through your hair and kiss you. And I almost did. I'm so in love with you, hopelessly in love with you...and if there's anything that scares me more than dying alone, it's probably thinking of a way to tell you, and the fear of being rejected by my best friend, my partner in crime-"

A small smile tugged at the corners of his lips. You were in love with him? He felt his heartbeat pick up speed at the thought. He always held that small bit of hope in his heart that you'd feel the same way.

Just as Steve arrived at the labs, you came bursting through the doors with a look of sheer panic in your eyes, your face drained of all color. You quickly unplugged your phone from the speaker as he watched on in amusement.

"Want some, Mr. Stark?" Peter offered through a mouthful of popcorn, holding the bag out to his mentor. "Seems like we're in for a treat here."

"Where'd you get these, kid?" Tony questioned as he reached over and popped several kernels into his mouth. "Mm. Caramel, a classic."

"I always keep some with me. Never know when drama will break out."

Steve laughed and shook his head as you quickly turned around on your heel and sprinted out of the room. It was so unlike you to act like this - normally you were rather guarded and stoic. To see you as anything but was not only amusing, but adorable in his eyes - it was one of the many things he loved about you, in fact.

"Music...really changes a lot of things," Peter cleared his throat awkwardly.

The super-soldier cracked a smile. "I seem to be in the center of that change."

He said a few quick goodbyes went to find you, as Peter and Tony continued enjoying their popcorn together.

"Oh my god, I'm so stupid, oh my god, why did I even record that damn message," you muttered, finding yourself going back outside again. You needed to clear your head and get away from Steve. The secondhand embarrassment you just knew was waiting for you was almost too much to even think about - what would he think of you now? What would everyone else think of you?

Steve had beaten you to it and was already out there, leaning against the glass railing with his arms crossed over his chest, wearing an amused expression on his face.

"Oh my god! You scared me!" your voice heightened to a shriek. "What the hell, Rogers? How are you here? Why are you here?"

"I know you like the back of my hand, sweetheart," he chuckled lightly. "You always come out here whenever you're restless or stressed out. Figured you'd try to flee as soon as you heard," he gestured back inside, "all that."

"That was none of your business!" you squeaked. "It was a private message, not meant for you to actually hear! It wasn't for you!"

"Well, you did announce it, publicly," he defended himself, pushing himself away from the railing and raising his hands in surrender. "And it sounded like it was for me. You said my name."

"It wasn't for you!"

"Then why'd you say Steve?"

"It's a different Steve?"

"A different Steve with a stealth suit, Quinjet, and evac team?"

"Y-yeah! B-but it's really funny. Why are you listening to other people's recordings?'

"Like I said, doll," your face flushed at the nickname, "it was broadcasted publicly. I didn't listen, I heard."

"Because you heard it, you carelessly hear it all the way through?"

He smirked. "You know, you're really cute when you're upset." He smirked, taking several steps towards you. You instinctively stepped back. "But why are you running away? When you were about to die you wanted to confess." With each step he took, you took another backwards. "But since you lived, you changed your mind?"

"Confess? That wasn't a confession. That wasn't me."

"This cell phone is yours," he held up your hand that tightly gripped your phone.

"This isn't a phone- Y/N, what the hell are you saying? Stop talking," you cursed yourself under your breath.

"It's an honor knowing I'm in your will," he said kindly.

"If you know then that's enough," you exhaled, stepping around him to leave. Steve stopped you by placing a hand out in front, before moving it to grip your wrist. You felt your skin heat up rapidly under his touch.

You gasped. "Look! Thor set the toaster on fire!"

"I'm not fooled, sweetheart."

You moved to try and leave again, but he only tightened his grip. "Whether or not it was a confession, I'm going to listen to it, so let's not run away, shall we?"

You were silent for several moments before responding, swallowing hard. "Okay. I got it. I'll answer you so let go of me and let's talk. Really."

"Really, right?"

He obeyed, releasing his hand from your wrist. You quickly moved around him and ran back inside. Steve just laughed to himself, shaking his head in disbelief.

"She finally did it," Sam nodded in approval as he and Bucky finished their Rainbow Road deathmatch. "Good game, man."

"Yeah, good game," they shook hands, "but if I'm being honest...I didn't expect things to go down like that. If anything, Steve seems like he'd be the first to confess. The way they're dancing around each other like oblivious monkeys...damn."

"Couldn't have described it better."

...

You flopped onto your bed, panting heavily as you stared up at the ceiling. Your heart was beating so fast that you felt like passing out. Maybe I'll just die like this and I won't ever have to confess for real, you thought. That sounds much better than death by blood loss from a gunshot wound.

"Hey, darling."

You sat up and let out a short scream as you saw Steve leaning against your doorframe, that damn smirk still on his face. "What the hell? You can't just ambush me like that! How long have you been standing there for?"

"Long enough," he chuckled, sliding his hands in his pockets and stepping inside. This time, you were too lazy to push him away, and just allowed him to sit down next to you at the edge of your bed. Steve propped his hand on his chin as he gazed at you, smiling.

You sighed and let your head fall into your hands. "This is all your fault."

"My fault?" Steve tilted his head in confusion. "How is this my fault?"

"Becau- never mind. I'm busy. I gotta go check up on the new lab I'm working on with Bruce."

You stood up abruptly, but he reached out and grabbed your wrist again. "I'm going to go to the labs, too. He asked me to help with a few things. I think you just found yourself an escort."

"I can go by myself, Rogers. I'm an adult," you gave him a pointed look.

"Ouch. That stung," he pretended to look hurt. "Last name calling? I thought we agreed on sappy pet names. And besides, you know what happened last time you went somewhere alone. You got shot."

"Whatever."

"Hold on," he tugged you back so that you had to sit down again. "Why do you keep running away from me? You confess your feelings in your will and then you run."

"It wasn't my will."

"You said you were scared to die alone."

"It wasn't me. Where is your bout of confidence even coming from?"

"I'm not asking how you feel about me at the moment. Don't feel bad that I found out how you feel about me. Because I'm in love with you too, and nothing can change the fact that I like you even more now."

You swallowed hard.

He smiled again. "And you look beautiful today, doll."

"Stop with the pet names," you mumbled. You couldn't stop the tremor in your tone as you spoke

"Hey hey hey, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Steve brought a hand up to your face, lightly skimming the tip of his thumb across your cheekbone to wipe away the tears that had fallen. "Hey. Tell me what's wrong, darling."

As soon as that last word left his lips, you lost it. A broken sob escaped from your mouth before you broke down, and he felt guilt settle in the pit of his stomach. Sure, he was lightly teasing you - but he didn't intend for his jabs to hurt you in any way. That was the last thing he wanted to do - to see you cry. He hated seeing you cry.

"Oh, God, I'm so sorry," he whispered, carefully wrapping his arms around you and pulling you to him, rubbing circles onto your back. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have taken the teasing so far. I'm so sorry, Y/N-"

It took nearly twenty minutes for your sniffles to die down and another ten for your crying to stop completely, but he patiently held you until you did. And when it finally stopped, it still took you several moments before you could bring yourself to meet his eyes.

"I look like a mess," you muttered, quickly ducking your head down to wipe at your nose. "I'm sorry you had to see me like this-"

"You look lovely, regardless," Steve murmured, kissing your forehead. "You'll always look beautiful in my eyes."

"You're such a sap," you mumbled, closing your eyes. "I hate you."

"You know you love me, Y/N."

"No I don't."

"That message told me otherwise. You sounded like you were pretty in love, judging by the desperate tone in your voice-"

"Shut up!"

"Make me," he challenged, a smirk appearing on his face.

You huffed and stood up, crossing your arms. "You're a pain in the ass, you know that, Rogers?"

"Watch your language-"

"Make me."

"Using my own words against me, are you?" Steve raised a brow as he stood up as well, walking towards you. You kept walking backwards until you felt your back hit the wall and internally panicked when you realized there was nowhere else to go.

"Shit," you whispered. "I'm not escaping this one, am I?"

"Not a chance," he chuckled wistfully. You felt your heart do somersaults and your stomach twist itself into knots as he met your eyes, a softened look to them that you'd never seen before - what was it? Just a few minutes earlier you'd find yourself squirming beneath his intense gaze but for some reason, you stayed put.

When his lips pressed against yours, you felt a crackle of electricity across your skin and the world fell away. It seemed as if time stopped and held its breath as it watched the two of you, his arm curving around your waist as his free hand rested at the back of your neck, pulling you flush against him. Though you were taken aback by the sudden gesture and terrified you wasted no time in reacting, sinking deeper into the kiss. You could feel him smile against your lips and fireworks exploded inside your chest - if there was a way to describe pure magic, this would definitely be it. And he felt it too - and he swore to himself that he'd never felt a bigger rush of adrenaline before until now.

You looked absolutely stunning to him in that moment as you pulled apart - with your half-closed eyes, reddened cheeks, and swollen lips - his doing, no doubt. Your gaze slipped down to his equally swollen lips and you felt your face flush at the sight. Steve was quick to catch what you were doing and pulled you back in for more.

This time, it wasn't as innocent and quick. It was more needy, passionate - months, no, years of pent-up frustration he didn't even know he had seeping into it. Years of not being able to tell you finally being poured out into one grand gesture - years of finally getting closure because he now knew the girl he'd loved for as long as he could remember felt the same way.

"Oh my fucking shit."

The two of you were practically gasping for air as you broke apart a second time to see a smug-looking Sam.

"You just- I didn't interrupted something between y'all, did I?" Sam cocked a brow. "Looked like you were this close to-"

"No," you exhaled, "we weren't."

"I'm a GENIUS for fixing that speaker! If I hadn't done so you guys never would've gotten together!" Peter squealed as he appeared by the Falcon's side. "I believe a thank you is in order!"

"I hope my timing isn't bad, but I have to ask," Steve cleared his throat and looked you straight in the eye. "that was a confession, right? And you didn't do it just because you felt compelled to. Be honest with me."

You let out a sigh of defeat. "Yeah...it was."

He broke into a gorgeous, million-dollar grin that made you weak at the knees. He leaned down, lips ghosting over yours as if he was going to kiss you again - but pulled back, much to your disappointment.

"I guess I'm the victor of this battle, huh," he whispered before releasing his hold on you and walking out, leaving you to stand there utterly shell-shocked and speechless as Peter and Sam began teasing you.

#avengers imagine #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers imagine #avengers x reader #captain america imagine #captain america x reader #marvel fic #avengers fanfiction #captain america one shot #steve rogers fanfiction #steve rogers one shot #captain america fanfiction #steve rogers fic #captain america fic #chris evans x reader #chris evans imagine #chris evans fic #chris evans one shot

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