#Sweet Pea x OC fic

[yourjughead]

Attack Dog

Sweet Pea X Reader enemies to lovers

Synopsis: You return to Riverdale to find your best friend Jughead has joined a gang he said he never would. A certain member of said gang takes an interest in you in return

A/N: This was a draft from years ago. It's set when the Serpents join Riverdale high (a throwback) but also somehow their senior year....

This is very long, apologies.

Pt. 2 Pt. 3 Pt. 4 Pt. 5

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You piled your books into your locker, the Monday dew still cascading the halls. Groggily going about your business but happy to be finally back in Riverdale High. You had moved back on Friday night with your family and had already seen most of your friends that same night. After moving around so much with both your parents in the army it was nice to finally replant your roots.

“Ah yn, how I have missed you standing there" Archie threw himself against the locker smiling.

“I missed you too Archiedoodles, do you think we can go see Jughead today?” Archie had decided to keep you away from Jughead for as long as possible, he didn't quite think you'd want to see who had become. 

“Emm I don't know, he's kinda busy lately” 

“Too busy for me...did you hear that?” It was like a scene from a film. The banging of the hallway doors and entered the Serpents, their new school. You and Archie looked to see the swarm before Archie could see who was leading them.

“Oh hey YN look at this locker door” he turned you against the lockers by the shoulders.

“Archie what the hell” you laughed pushing against him to turn and see Jughead striding past you 

“Juggy!” 

“Yn!?” You ran over to him, interrupting his new hard core image, giving him a giant hug. 

“What the hell are you doing back?” he smiled greatly shock still colouring him.

“Mom's done with the Army so she moved us back, dad still has a few more years but that's okay, I'm back! What are you doing here Arch said you moved schools?”

“School moved us”

“Us?” It was then you noticed the sward behind him and the leather jackets they wore. You took a step back, all of them eyeing you.

“Oh….umm” Archie joined your side, the group glaring at him harshly. 

“I thought you said you'd never jo-”

“-uh yn this isn't the place for this conversation” Jughead interrupted you.

“Well then make it the place Jughead” a chorus of oohs from behind him followed.

“Come on yn let's go, you must meet Veronica” Archie wrapped an arm around you breaking the stare off you and Jughead were having.

~

The day flowed on and you avoided Jughead as much as possible, until the final bell rang and he cornered you outside your car.

“Yn we need to talk”

“I'd love to talk to Jughead, let me know when you see him will you?” you opened the car door but he closed it again, almost catching your fingers in it. You sighed loudly at his action.

“Yn it is still same the Jughead-”

“Really?! I remember a Jughead who hated the Serpents and what they did to his dad and how they're basically the reason his family is in two! I remember a Jughead who promised he'd never get caught up in that world! Because you sir, are not him!” you jabbed your finger into his chest.

“Hey Jones you coming?” A tall serpent called from across the carpark.

“Just a second! Yn this shouldn't be a big deal, so I have a family now, it doesn't matter!”

“You have a family now?! What am I then?! And Archie and Betty?! We were your family, your friends….” you looked down at the ground and he looked desperately at you, the tall Serpent called him from the background again before beginning to stride over. 

“YN, I don't want to have this conversation in front of the Serpents, I have to keep a strong front for them” you rolled your eyes at him as Sweet Pea reached his side. You couldn't help but glare at him and he gave a small laugh. 

“Jones, who's the attack dog?”

“Listen here Snake Brain-” 

“YN, leave it!” Jughead cut across you earning another laugh from Sweet Pea, you began to seethe at your old best friends defence of his new family member. 

“Just call me when you feel like being yourself again” you breathed out the words until your lungs nearly emptied, moving to open the car again to be stopped by Sweet Peas voice 

“i think the snake skin is him Princess-”

“Don't you have some drugs to deal to children or something -” you cut across him this time.

“And what is that supposed to mean?” Sweet Pea raised an eyebrow, smile now long gone. Jughead looked between the two of you

“I meant what I said, or is the leather jacket cutting off the blood flow to your ears”

“Listen I don't know you Princess but you're not exactly making a good impression-”

“I don't give a fuck what you think about me, you seem to care a lot about what I think about you though” more Serpents seemed to join around, panic began to rise in Jughead, his attempted to stop Sweet Pea but Sweet Peas voice came harsher.

“You're seriously misguided Princess” 

“And you're seriously what's wrong with Riverdale” you said through gritted teeth, receiving scoffs from the gathering Serpents but Sweet Pea stated unreadable eyes fixed on you. 

“Guys just relax, YN I'll call you later” Jughead reached for your arm but you moved took a step back.

“Don't bother”

~ 

For the remainder of the week you avoided Jughead and the rest of them, instead spending time with your friends you missed so much. Catching up with all the chaos that had gone down since you left 3 years ago, and there was a lot. It was nice to feel like a senior around your friends, how it should be. You were shocked that for the most part everyone was understanding of Jughead joining the Serpents, you couldn't really understand it. Jughead continued to try to text or call you until you had enough. You needed a break from it, leaving your phone turned off on your dresser before putting on your runners. 

You tried to process how you felt as you jogged through Riverdale, trying to remember your old route. You were zoned out of the world as your legs took you from a jog to run, the burn growing from your thighs down to your shins. You had been out for an hour or so now and by the third wrong turn you landed out of your subconsciousness and back to the world in front of you. Lost. How could you forget the town you grew up in. Suddenly you became very aware of the dark night that had closed around you. You looked around for anywhere still open, only a gruby bar was in your sights. They probably had a phone you thought, walking right past the fading sign of the Whyte Wyrm. 

Upon approach you noticed the large amount of motorbikes outside the door.  Then the amount of Serpents jackets and their owners flowing in and out of the bar. Shit you thought. You turned to leave back through the carpark you just walked through and instead crashed directly into an older Serpent and his pint of larger, sending it all over him. 

“What the fuck?!” He half yelped at the cold hitting his chest. You stuttered apologies as you moved to walk past him. Instead he caught your wrist with bone crushing force. Without realising what you were doing, you sent the heel of your hand straight up and into his nose, contorting it completely. He shouted before releasing you and you moved from his shadow, other Serpents witnessing the incident and gathering quickly. You begged your tired legs to bring you running back to the main road as some began to follow you shouting. 

Sweet Pea walked around the wall of the car park boarder and was immediately confused by the several Serpents beginning to run towards his direction. You didn't even take notice of him as you ran past, your leg then spasming, sending you my into the pavement. He didn't know where to look. You pulled yourself cursing behind the pillar of the entrance, resting your head again the cement of its support, preparing to get mangled by Serpents. 

“Sweet Pea!” An older woman shouted his name bringing his attention from you and your attention to him. 

“Ehh yes Penny?” 

“Did you see a girl, Y/C/H, this tall or so” the woman made a guestimate of your height with her hand. You held your breath as Sweet Pea fought every instinct to not look down at you. 

“Emm I did see someonel go over the hedges towards the back there, maybe thats her?” 

“Great, she just broke one of the Seniors noses, girls dead meat” shock painted Sweet Peas face and he tried not to laugh at the thought. The woman then gave a wave before running off with the others in the direction he sent them. He exhaled loudly, looking at where you once were sat, now empty. Sweet Pea looked quickly to find your shadow hobbling down the road you think you came down. He gave a small laugh, rolled his eyes and began to jog to catch up with you. 

Part 2

[cryptidghostgirl]

Hello hi- back to my shenanigans again (the one with the fake dating + lobby portal + frozen half the pentagram surely not an OC ahahah anonymous asker) - anyway- heres some MORE angst.

Reader's past lover- died waaay before reader back in their teens because readers mother found out about their not so heterosexual relationship and decided to shoot them both but only killed one- reader escaping and killing her mom in return (let’s name her Charlotte- with mane wolf features- so wolf+fox+deer features a combination! ) and barely moved on after meeting Alastor like years later, yet still haunted by Charlottes dead eyes reader saw when she woke up from some sleepy poison. Now Charlotte is in heaven and reader in hell alongside their radio-lover lover!

Yet somehow- maybe though a very uncanonical accurate meeting where angels go down to see the new hotel after hearing sinners can get redeemed Charlotte (not to be confused with Charlie) is one of said angels and suddenly all those waves of emotions come rushing back and reader can do nothing but stare.

but oh wait! Angels/Winner dont remember their past life so reader goes to her- and shes just “Oh hello! Whats your name? :3” (shes an angel and loves the stars and plants and everything nice can do no wrong) “I-… I guess you dont know me in this lifetime” (AND DOESNT TELL HER THEYVE MET BEFORE because what good would that bring?)

But alastor is also there lurking in the back. watching them- he knew someone was in readers life before him but reader never said more than that. Will readers feelings for Charlotte come back? Will reader stay to the infatuation of murderous acts that Alastor bought them? Will reader choose the pure love that might not spring again?

The infamous blizzard demon overlord! that never dropped their mask around others that always seemed to have the upper hand in any situation, the cold- charismatic- brutal and ruthless overlord- suddenly speechless at the reappearance of someone they used to know. How will everyone react?! “Sweet as a pea, but sharp as a knife- now shocked like the stars have fallen”

GAAAH MY BRAIN IS TOO BIG ANF FULL OF ANGST!!!!! Heres some kisses too: maybe next fic its me x you pookie 😘😘🥰🥰😘😘😘😘

A/N What a wild way to close off a request, I honestly got so much respect for that. I don't do OCs but for the sign off comment, I'll make an exception. Also I am assuming you want this as a part two to Frostbite because she's still a blizzard demon?? Apologies in advance if I got that wrong. Also,, not you quoting something else I've written in your request. That's crazy, thank you so much for the love.

Day Lilies (Alastor x Blizzard demon!Reader x Angel!OC)

Pairing: Alastor x Reader

Part One: Frostbite (Alastor x Reader)

Warnings: Homophobia (from other people and internalized) and murder. Smoking/cigarettes and angst. Always angst. I think that is it, please correct me if I am wrong.

Word Count: 2,969

Master Lists:

Master Lists 

Hazbin Hotel Master List 

Alastor Master List

Click here and leave a comment if you want to be added to any taglists or send me an ask about it.

The best thing about the Hazbin Hotel, according to some, was the fact that not one but two overlords who had found a home there. The Radio Demon and the Frost. Feared, revered, respected, and making an appearance for the first time in seven long years.

Without Alastor and Y/n's help, Charlie would not have been able to achieve all she had and she was eternally grateful to the pair, even if they were a tad confrontational and violent at times. Deeply in love, indebted to one another in a billion and five different ways, Alastor and Y/n had worked hard for their life in the underworld. As the angel stepped gently out of the portal, following her superior, Y/n felt the pressure of that life as it began to crash down around her.

When Charlie had struck the deal with Heaven to have an angel come down to the hotel to track its progress and assess if any of its inhabitants were worthy of redemption, Y/n had thought nothing of it. Sure, it was a bit irritating but if anything, the deal seemed ripe for entertainment and thats really all she and Alastor were after at the end of the day. She had figured the angel would be some low ranking nobody. She had thought it would be amusing, that they would torture the poor creature, that things would stay roughly the same. Never in her wildest dreams had the notion ever crossed Y/n's mind that the angel might be Charlotte.

Of course, Y/n had known Charlotte must be in Heaven. The girl had always been so kind, so good to her very core. It had just all seemed so far away and now, somehow, there she was, peeking timidly out from behind the seraphim's back.

Charlotte looked different, having taken on some animalistic, wolfish features since her death. Sharp ears sprouted from the untamed mess of her hair, fangs peeked their way out from the corners of her lips but Y/n was sure. It was Charlotte. It was all in the eyes.

"Welcome, Sera." Charlie politely began, taking a step forward.

Normally, such a show of self restraint from the young demon princess would have caused curiosity to spark a fire in Y/n's chest. Now, she just stood beside Angel as Charlie had requested, eyes wide and mind reeling.

"Is this who we will be working with?"

Sera looked at the shy wolf of a girl behind her and nodded her head, gesturing for the girl to step forward.

"Yes." she replied, her voice cold and haughty, "This is Charlotte, she has been with us for a while and we trust her judgment on matters such as this."

"Oh how funny!" Charlie brightly exclaimed, "My full name is Charlotte too but, I go by Charlie. Do you have a nickname you'd prefer?"

"Just Charlotte is fine." the angel softly replied and Y/n's breath caught in her throat.

The girls voice was honeysuckle, it was sticky sweet teen love.

"Why her?" Husk asked and Charlie shot him a glare, "She just seems a little..."

Sera laughed lightly, a caring smile sneaking on to her face.

"She's a little shy, but she is smart. Even when she was alive, she had an ability to read people, to see right through to the essence of their beings."

Charlotte blushed slightly at the compliment, turning away.

The southern sun beat down over head, long grass whipping at their legs as Charlotte, running, dragged Y/n to the center of the field.

"Lottie!" Y/n exclaimed, half laughing, "Where on earth are you taking me?"

Charlotte glanced back at her companion, a mischievous smirk painting her lips that sent bolts of red hot fire through to Y/n's fingertips.

"You'll see."

After a few more paces, they came to a panting halt. Charlotte turned to Y/n, placing a hand gently over the other girl's eyes. With a guiding hand, she lead the blinded girl to a spot a little ways off where she had snuck off to earlier and set up a picnic. There was fresh fruit, Georgia peaches from her family's own orchard, and home made lemonade. Slowly, Charlotte gifted Y/n with sight.

Y/n's mouth fell slightly open as she surveyed the scene before her. Sixteen and in love, she turned to Charlotte, taking both the girl's hands in her own.

"When... how..."

"I know things have been rough at home lately. I wanted to do something to make you smile."

"How did you know? I never..." Y/n cleared her throat, "I never said anything... I nev-"

"You didn't have to. I know you, love. You never have to say a word."

Alastor watched his lover silently from the other side of the group. Charlie had insisted they flank the guests, dragging Y/n away from his side just as the portal had opened. She didn't show it, not obviously, but he knew something was wrong. From the second the portal had opened and the angels had stepped through, she had gone tense, her eyes fixed on the one called Charlotte, the tips of her frostbite blackened fingers tapped against one another in wild thought.

"Well," Sera sighed, looking around at the ragtag group of sinners and demons, "I had best be on my way. I will be back in a few days to pick Charlotte up, please be kind to her over the course of her stay."

With those parting words and a reassuring pat on the angel's shoulder, Sera stepped back through the portal which closed behind her.

"Well," Charlie began brightly, clapping her hands together, "let's do introductions! I am Charlie Morningstar and I run the Hazbin Hotel with my girlfriend, Vaggie."

Vaggie sent Charlotte a wave which she timidly returned. With a deep breath, Charlotte stepped towards the line of sinners before her.

"Alastor." Alastor hummed, grabbing Charlottes hand and shaking it harshly, "A pleasure to be meeting you my dear, quite the pleasure."

It struck Charlie as a bit odd he said and did nothing else but, she made no mention of it. In her mind, Alastor was simply on his best behavior as requested. In reality, he was far too focused on the way a slight flurry of snow had begun to settle on Y/n's sharp shoulders.

"Nice to meet you too." Charlotte replied, extracting her hand from his grip and moving down the line.

Y/n's heart pounded wildly against her chest as Charlotte grew closer. Her tail twitched behind her, flicking back and forth gently, and her breaths grew slightly heavy. Although he noticed the odd behavior, it was impossible not to from his place beside her, Angel said nothing. At long last, Charlotte came to a stop before her.

"Disgusting!" Y/n's mother's voice rang out through the yard, "You are both complete and utter disgraces!"

They hadn't meant to be found out. As far as Y/n's mother had known, Y/n and Charlotte were best friends. Charlotte had come over to help Y/n with her chores, they had been doing laundry out in the yard when Charlotte had playfully flicked water towards her beloved. One thing had lead to another and before long, they had been wrapped up in one another, planting a singular, soft kiss on each other's lips. Y/n felt Charlotte's hand tighten around her own, she took a step forward.

"Don't you dare speak to her that way!" Y/n yelled back, anger burning brightly in her eyes and adrenaline shaking her limbs with wild courage, "Don't you dare!"

Her mother scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"She is a bad influence on you! The devil sent to curse me!"

Y/n's mother stepped forward, grabbing Y/n and wrenching her from Charlotte's grip. Charlotte tugged at Y/n's mother's dress as she dragged her girlfriend harshly into the small house.

"Let her go!" Charlotte cried, "Stop it! We weren't doing anything wrong!"

With a harsh slap to her face, Charlotte was sent to the ground. Her mother threw Y/n through the door, the unfinished wood of the floor sending splinters deep into Y/n's knees as she struggled to get to her feet. Her head had hit the corner of the table in her fall, the world was spinning. Y/n's mother grabbed the shot gun from where it lay beside the door. Just as Y/n managed to stumble to her feet, holding her swaying body up with a hand on the table she had hit, her mother stepped outside and slammed the door behind her, locking it.

Y/n rushed over, trying desperately to wrench it open to no avail. The anger had turned to panic as she heard her mother cock the gun.

"What are you doing!" she heard Charlotte yell and Y/n rushed to the window.

From her vantage point, Y/n watched her mother train the gun on Charlotte who had her hands raised and was stumbling backwards.

"Run!" she yelled, banging her fists on the glass, "Lottie, run!"

"Please." Charlotte was pleading, tears wetting her cheeks, "I promise I wont ever come here again, I wont ever come near her again. Please!"

"Lottie!" Y/n yelled again.

With no regard for her own safety, Y/n punched the glass of the window. The pane shattered around her hand, puncturing her soft skin. Blood, hot and wet, ran down her arm as she pulled her hand back to her side.

"Yeah, you sure as hell wont!" Y/n's mother yelled, her voice thick and low with rage, "You'll be dead!"

Y/n flung her leg over the window sill, shards of glass digging into her as she pulled herself through the hole she had created.

"Lottie!" she yelled again, "Run!"

Her screams were drowned out by the sound of a gunshot. Charlotte held her hands to her stomach, blood pouring from between her fingers. Their eyes met.

"Lottie!"

"And you are?" Charlotte asked expectently.

Y/n shook her head slightly, pulling herself from the depths of her memories. Everyone was staring at her, she had no idea how long the angel had been standing before her. She cleared her throat.

Alastor didn't know what was going on but, whatever it was, he knew he didn't like it. Using his shadows, he appeared behind Y/n and placed a protective hand on the top of her head between her horns. Her hair was damp from freshly fallen snow and Charlotte gasped slightly in surprise at his appearance.

"My dear," he grinned, leaning down to Y/n's ear, "you're snowing."

"I..."

Y/n looked up, her cheeks flushing pink and the heart on the tip of her tail puffing up as she realized what he said.

"O-oh." she stuttered, brushing his hand from her head and the snow from her shoulders as she regained control of her powers again, "I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me."

The other members of the hotel watched in a mixture of shock and confusion. They had always known Y/n to be cold, to be harsh. They had always seen her devotion to the man behind her as infallible. No one had any idea what was going on but, the presence of the angel stopped them all in their tracks.

"It's quite all right, what's your name?" Charlotte asked again, her voice honey sweet.

Y/n took a deep breath, morphing her features into the closest thing to a kind smile she could muster.

"Y/n." she firmly replied, "I'm Y/n."

Her eyes scanned Charlotte's face intently as their hands made contact. She waited for the shock of recognition, for the tears her Lottie had always been so prone to. There was nothing.

"That's a very pretty name." Charlotte replied, "It sounds like it is from the same era as mine."

That raised some small hope in Y/n's chest. She took a step forward, bringing herself closer to the angel.

"Which is?"

"Oh, I don't know." Charlotte replied, her cheeks flushing pink with embarrassment, "Angels don't get to remember their lives on earth unless they are pretty high in the ranks. I've been told I was from Georgia though, that I died in the early 1900s."

Y/n froze, her breath trapped in her chest, a knife buried deep within her heart.

"Oh." she mumbled out in a broken whisper, "I guess you... you don't know me in this lifetime."

"What was that?" Charlotte asked, leaning in a bit.

Y/n shook her head, letting go of Charlotte's hand.

"Nothing. I... I need some fresh air, I think. If you would all excuse me."

It didn't take Alastor long to find Y/n once Charlie had let him return to his duties in favor of showing Charlotte around the hotel. She stood out in back of the hotel, her back pressed firmly against the wall and a cigarette crushed between her fingers. Shakily, she took a drag.

"What was that about?" Alastor asked, leaning up against the wall beside her and folding his arms across his chest.

"What was what about." Y/n cooly replied.

"Y/n, don't play dumb."

"I knew her back when we were alive, thats all."

"Is that all?" Alastor asked after a moment, "You seemed..."

He trailed off. Alastor was angry. He had always been the jealous type, protective to a fault. He could see how shaken up Y/n was however and so, running a finger over the ring he wore, Alastor took a deep breath.

"That angel, Charlotte..." her name lingered poisonously on his tongue, "it seemed there was something a lot more than just you knowing her."

"I picked these for you." Y/n bashfully stated, shoving a bouquet tied with a rough bit of twine towards the pretty girl beside her, "Here."

Tentatively, Charlotte took the bouquet from Y/n's hand. She held it gently, watching the way the breeze played with the petals.

"Georgia asters?" Charlotte hummed thoughtfully, "And yarrow?"

"My momma didn't used to be poor. She grew up in a rich family, gave it up when she married my dad. Her momma taught her floriography." Y/n's words came out in a big rush, they chased after one another in a breathless flurry of nerves, "It was big in the victorian era for fancy people, all about talking through flowers. She taught me asters symbolized wisdom, faith, and valor and that yarrow was for healing and... and love... besides, I know you like them. You're always staring at them when were out."

Charlotte looked over at Y/n who's cheeks were bright red. She smiled, her eyes shining.

"I love you too." she said, nudging Y/n gently with her elbow.

"Yeah, but..." Y/n sighed, running a hand through her messy hair, "I... god, Lottie! I don't just love you like a sister. Its... I understand if you don't wanna talk to me anymore I just couldn't... I couldn't keep it in anymore."

Y/n looked away, tears pressing hotly at the backs of her eyes. Charlotte's eyes went wide.

"I understand... I won't be mad... I just... I'll leave."

Charlotte's hand shot out, grabbing Y/n's wrist as she pushed herself from the fence they were leaning against. Slowly, Y/n turned to face her. Charlotte was blushing now too and looked away, still holding Y/n tightly.

"I don't..." she took a deep breath, "I don't love you like a sister either."

"It's wrong... it's so wrong... what would my mother say... what would your mother say, I-"

Charlotte cut Y/n off, standing on her toes to press a soft kiss to the slightly taller girl's lips. It was clumsy and foreign. Y/n trembled, her eyes fluttered shut.

"I don't care." Charlotte said, "I don't care."

"Yeah." Y/n sighed, taking a final drag from her cigarette before stamping it out beneath her heel, "Yeah."

"Do I have anything to worry about?" Alastor asked and Y/n's eyes met his.

He had known her long enough, he could see the conflict.

"She was my first love, Al." Y/n admitted, "We were girls together."

"You're my wife."

"It's different."

"Do I have anything to worry about?" Alastor asked again and Y/n looked back out at the sky.

"She doesn't remember me."

"But you remember her."

"But I remember her." Y/n confirmed, her voice cracking, "I couldn't forget if I tried. She haunts me, Al. She has always haunted me, since long before I even met you. Lottie died in my arms, Al. My mother killed her, shot her right in the stomach. I...."

Y/n trailed off into silence. It was more about her life before she had met him than she had ever revealed before. Alastor took a deep breath, conflicting emotions battling behind his eyes.

"What are you thinking about?"

He was trying to keep his cool, to save face. He was failing, anger and a secret fear ate away at the edges of his words.

"Day lilies."

"Day lilies?" Alastor repeated and Y/n nodded, meeting his eyes once again.

"A floriography thing again?"

Alastor knew of Y/n's interest in the symbolic properties of plants. It was one of the only things she ever spoke about concerning her mother and her shadowed past before that night in Mimzy's bar.

"Yes."

"What do they mean?" Alastor sighed, resigning himself to his fate because god, if Alastor knew anything he knew his fate was Y/n. She held his heart in the palms of her hands.

"Love for lovers. Love for mothers..."

"And?"

His heart pounded against his chest.

"And loss of memory."

----

TAGS:

the ones in red are ones I am not sure worked/having trouble linking.

@willowshadenox @i-love-jafar @elfyeet @reader3 @lazygirlfanfic0-0@kahlan170@wendyphan01203-blog @fairyv-ice @clarakainda @lunaramune @mcueveryday @luxky-aish @peterpankat @corvid007

[cherrywineisawaltz]

Okay, so I’ve been wanting to write a a Logan x OC fanfic with the OC as a professor at Charles school and I wrote the first chapter (really short cause its just sort of a bit of background) and I thought I’d post it here just to see how people would receive it!

(Also this is set when she’s about fifteen, the actual first chapter is going to be a major time jump, so through the fic she’ll be about 30)

Warnings: runaway teen (?), sleeping in a diner, she thinks Charles is kinda weird, not proof read lmao, nothing else I don’t think?

———————

She woke up cold. Her lashes flutter against her cheeks, sore with sleep. It was too frigid in the small diner, the heater did little in the winter and they had put her right by the door that let in a breeze every time it swung open; biting her skin. Her own attire wasn’t much help either, she thought.

The too-big sweatshirt hanging off her shoulders wasn’t thick enough to keep her warmer than her own body heat could, and her jeans were still wet from falling into the snow outside of the empty diner. The only warmth she had was from the thick leather boots on her feet that were two sizes too big.

The heavy thrill of hail outside the small diner window was a heavy patter in her ear drums. The bright beaming twenty-four hour sign hummed against the window, the fluorescent light flickering harsh blue and red light.

She pressed her open palm to the side of her cheek, eyes looming over the other patrons. Most of the diner was vacant, the waitresses bide behind the counters and the heavy steam of coffee burned in the air. She felt hunger nestle in the pit of her empty stomach, if she had enough shoved away in her rucksack she could get pancakes, if she had enough energy she wouldn’t need to pay for them at all. But she had a feeling she would.

She pushed against the table, stretching carefully, ignoring the always present ache in her limbs. Her fingers pushed against her scalp, feeling against her boyish cut hair.

It was just getting long enough for the curls to furl beside her ear, but it still bristled against her fingers. It made people stare less the more it grew, and she was thankful. Soon enough she’d attract even less attention.

Maryn could hear the soft clicking of heels, it was the waitress, she could hear the whisper of her thoughts flutter against her skull. Her mind was always hazy after sleeping, so none of the whispers were coherent enough for her to understand. She didn’t look up until she was right beside the table.

“You want anything, sweetheart?” She had a pot of coffee in her hand, and a southern lilt in her voice. “You’ve been here a while, you must be hungry.”

If she had noticed Maryn sleeping only moments ago she didn’t mention it, but her thoughts fluttered with concern.

“Pancakes?” Maryn blinked up at her.

The waitress nodded, her name tag read Hellen. She had blonde straw-like hair and yellow rimmed glasses.

“How about some chocolate chip pancakes, huh? Knock your socks right off.” She smiled, and Maryn nodded, unwilling to deny the indulgence. “I’ll get those right out, sweet pea.”

She walked away, bright red shoes clicking as she did. She was nice.

Maryn sunk back into her seat, one of the waitresses turned on a radio and through the storm the music didn’t sound like it had any words, covered by static, but its gentle tune was nice enough.

She rubs the ache over her tired eyes, she’d have to walk further when the sun finally came up. If her jeans dried before she left the diner maybe she’d make it further than she did today. Just the thought of more walking made her head throb and ache.

Hitching a ride wasn’t a far idea for her, but didn’t like all the questions that came with asking for help. They can’t help it, always the most obvious questions first, Where are your parents? Are you all alone? Shouldn’t you be in school? She was tired of it.

The soft jingle of the bell hanging over the door rang lightly as it swung open. Maryn tugged her sweater closer when the biting breeze crept through the sleeves.

Another soft flutter of whispers filled her head, she ignored them. She didn’t care to hear anyone else's thoughts. But they grew closer, until someone was coming up beside her table again, and then the whispers were gone.

“Hello.” An accented voice greeted. “Mind if I join you?”

She looked up at the man beside her table, her eyes trailing up the silvery metal of the wheelchair he was sitting in before his face.

He was older, weathered and looked at her with a familiar kind of smile while wearing the nicest suit she had ever seen. A deep blue with a matching tie and one of those pieces of fabric people shove into the chest pocket. It made him stand out, looking strange in the rickety diner.

She doesn’t say anything, but he picks up the menu at the other end of the table and she doesn’t stop him.

“I’m Charles Xavier.” He said warmly, he extended a hand, “It is a pleasure to meet you.”

She looked at his hand curiously before reaching out to shake it slowly. His hand is warm.

“Hi.” She said, wearily. He looks at their joined hands when they touch.

“Cold,” He smiles, “I’d imagine this is the warmest place around these parts.”

“For a few miles.” Maryn shrugs, he didn't seem like the worst person to have a conversation with.

“Did you walk yourself here?” She nodded. “The next town isn’t for miles. You must be exhausted.”

She shrugged, again. She felt how she always felt. Cold, tired, achy. His eyes trail over the rucksack tucked into her side.

“Is that all your things?” She nodded, tugging her bag closer.

“What I can carry.” She tells him. He hums.

“It looks heavy. Must have been difficult in this weather.”

“It’s alright.”

“If you say so.” He smiles.

She nods.

Charles, the strange British man, didn’t seem annoyed by her silence, but she was rather perturbed by his. His mind was completely silent, not a single whisper.

Usually she couldn’t keep other people’s thoughts away, only if she really concentrated she could quiet the noise down for a little bit, but it’s like his mind was completely empty.

Her dark fawn-like eyes trail up his head. She usually didn’t have to focus so much, and even now as she did, she heard nothing.

You won’t get anything up here, Maryn.

She jumped in her seat.

“Alright, baby, I got your pancakes and–oh,” Hellen came back with a hot steaming stack of chocolate chip pancakes. She looked between the two, eyeing Charles, “Is everything alright over here?”

“Yes, splendid, could I get some coffee, please? And,” He pauses to look at Maryn, “A milkshake, for my friend.”

There was only one milkshake on the menu, vanilla.

Hellen looks at her first, and then back at him.

“Of course. Coming right up, sugar.” And she clicks away again.

Charles smiled at her, kindly.

“It’s rude to snoop, you know.” He says, though there’s not much sternness in his tone.

“Most people don’t seem to mind.” She said plainly.

Charles dipped his head with a funny smile.

“I’m sure they don’t.”

“How do you know my name?” She asked, picking up her fork and butter knife as she did. She was curious but still starving. She grabbed the syrup at the end of the table, smothering her cakes.

“Because I have been keeping an eye on you for quite some time, Maryn.” He admits, watching her scarf down her pancakes like they’d run away from her. “You are very special.

“Special" isn't the word most people use.” She says out of the edge of her mouth, still chewing.

“We are not most people.” Charles hums.

“Yeah,” she muttered plainly.

“I’ll admit, your…capabilities are more advanced than I’ve seen in others your age.” He observed, “It’s quite impressive.”

Maryn doesn’t say anything to that. She didn’t have anything to say. Charles continues.

“You know, most mutant children I find are often in groups. They find one another, and protect each other.” His fingers drum on the fake carved plastic, “You remain by yourself. Have you not met others?”

She cuts jaggedly into her pancakes.

“I have.” She chews.

“And what happened?”

She thought about not telling him, then she thought he already knew and was just waiting for her to say it. Either way, he waits patiently across from her, waiting for her to say something; same gentle look in his eye.

“There's something inside me.” She admits, dubiously, “It scares people.”

“Does it scare you?” Again, she doesn’t answer.

Charles looked at her for a long time, she almost thought he was going to go away, leave her there, growing frustrated with her insolence. But he doesn’t. Instead, he looks at her with the same familiar smile.

“I have a school.” He says, “It’s not much now, barely a handful of students, even less teachers, but I created it for gifted children. Children like you.”

Maryn stared at him, her fork stabbing a piece of pancake on her plate.

“A school?”

He nods.

“I’d very much like you to attend.” He tells her, eyes looking her over, “Perhaps I can help you.

He seems to mean it. It’s the first time she can’t see into someone’s mind to know if they’re telling the truth or not, but she has a feeling, an unfamiliar feeling, that she can trust him.

She looked down at her plate, “What if you can’t?”

Charles looks at her carefully.

“Then maybe I can help you learn to control it.” Maryn looks up at him. “At the least, you’ll have a warm bed, food. Clothes that fit.”

For the first time since they started talking, she smiles. It’s small, but it’s there.

“Alright, a coffee for you,” They both looked at Hellen as she came back, “And a milkshake for you, Angel.”

“Yes, we’ll have the check please.” Charles says kindly. Then he places his forefinger and his middle finger to his temple and looks Hellen in the eyes,“You will not remember us once we leave.”

Maryn watches the waitress's eyes glaze over from behind her glasses before she smiles again.

“I’ll get that right out for you.”

Maryn looked at Charles.

“Can I do that?”

“We shall see, won’t we?” His lips spread into a thin smile. “Finish your pancakes.”

——————-

Omg I feel so anxious I literally have never done this before 😭 but please let me know what you guys think! If I do decide to post the whole fic it’ll prob be on ao3 just cause I plan to make it pretty long/slow burn

But I hope u guys like it 🙌🙌

[toxicbrothel]

taking a walk

platonic raider!Joel x bff!OC (by carter)

Carter is on his way back from a short walk to the forest when raider Joel sees him.

Joel says, "hey carter, sorry if you knocked, i couldn't hear you over sweet pea moaning my name, plus her thighs were earmuffing me."

"that's ok Joel, I didn't knock because I got the sudden urge to take a walk. Plus I understand it's important for you and sweet pea to have quality time. It's a good thing you have so much stamina."

"you're telling me," Joel chuckles. "By the way, it's ok if you think about her a little bit when you jack off as long as it's not like the main thing and I'm there too so she's still mine"

Carter blushes. "that's great to hear, Joel. But also not necessary."

"nonsense," raider Joel says. "You're my best friend, I tell you everything."

the real fic

[marimosalad]

♥️⚔️♥️⚔️♥️⚔️♥️⚔️♥️⚔️♥️⚔️♥️⚔️♥️⚔️♥️

Art I made for my darling @pursuitseternal’s fic, Our Blood is Thicker, Astarion x OC who were betrothed 200 years ago, before his death and subsequent enslavement under Cazador. Reunited after the fateful Nautiloid crash, she suffers through painful memories of her long lost love, while he remembers nothing from his previous life — but both irreversibly changed from centuries of grief and torment. The drawing takes a snapshot of their sweet love in their youth contrasted to their withered, battle-worn, traumatized aged selves, where they rediscover each other as soulmates, as they forge together a future in which they will never be separated again.

Rating: E | Chapters: 12/?

More description below because I can’t stop myself from gushing about them!

♥️♥️♥️⚔️⚔️⚔️

⚔️ Cordehlia is a Commander, a Fighter who has dealt with her grief and pain by becoming a notoriously deadly warrior. She’s hot headed and passionate, quick to unsheathe her weapon, but losing Astarion has left a permanent hole in her heart that no amount of blood can fill.

🗡️ Astarion can’t recall his life prior to Cazador due to extreme trauma. A highborn son of nobility, he’d left his betrothed behind to study to become a magistrate in Baldur’s Gate to make a name for himself among the elite, and never returned.

♥️ They’re a couple of horny horndogs who have had terrible coping mechanisms (violence & sex), but they are ultimately two peas in a pod. She gets his ambition, he gets her single mindedness. They push each other to great heights, and are not afraid to take risks. What that means for their future, we shall see told in the coming chapters 🤭

[honey-crypt]

# WELCOME TO THE CRYPT, DEAR

BEFORE YOU PROCEED, PLEASE READ MY PSA

00. ABOUT BEE

★ i go by bee or honeybee

★ i'm 22 years old so if you're a minor, please don't interact with my smut content or privately with me

★ i use he/they pronouns, i'm transmasculine non-binary

★ i'm disabled, chronically ill, and medically complex

01. REQUESTS/INBOX

★ wip count: 4 ||| inbox: open <3 (requests won’t be answered in a timely fashion due to grad school & research work)

★ will write fluff, angst, and smut

★ as of 8/11/23, i will only be writing about elliott from stardew valley; this includes x reader works and general asks/solo elliott works

★ please specify in your request if you want headcanons, drabbles, or regular length fics

★ will not write dark content (i.e. cnc, stalking, etc.) or anything i'm uncomfortable with (i.e. suicide, drug abuse, etc.)

★ will write for any gender but unless specified, most content will be gender neutral so everyone can enjoy it

★ i have a soft spot for writing about plus-sized!readers and disabled!readers

02. TAGS

★ honeybee posts = for regular, non-writing posts

★ honeybee asks = for non-writing asks

★ honeybee reblogs = for reblogging

★ honey crypt fics = for fics

★ honey crypt babbles = for headcanons and drabbles

★ farmer benny = for me to yap about my sdv farmer oc

03. MASTERLISTS

★ ELLIOTT - SDV’S BEST BOY

★ HONEY-CRYPT’S DISABILITY PRIDE MONTH WRITE-A-THON

★ KEEPER OF THE GLISTENING SEA - A ELLIOTT X PLUS-SIZED!READER LOVE STORY

04. ANONS

★ lemme know via my inbox if you want to be a specific anon of mine! any word or emoji (if appropriate) works, such as duckie anon or 🎵 anon

★ current anons aka my sweet peas: 🪩 | 🦀 |🪳 | 🫶 | 🦐

05. SUPPORT THE WRITER

★ honey-crypt’s ko-fi… if you enjoy my work, consider tipping me on my ko-fi! and if you’re interested, i do writing commissions :)

[bite-sized-devil]

For a short fic could I request a sleepy sunday morning staying in bed with Mammon, it being fluff too please

🌻 500 Followers Bite Sized Event 🌻

Short Fic Request

This is going to be easy like a Sunday morning. 😅 (I'm sorry I had to make that reference!!)

Mammon X OC! Liam. No warning necessary. It's all fluffy fluff 💕💕

Something is tickling The Great Mammon's nose. He smacks the annoyance, and immediately regrets his stupidity when his hand connects with Liam's head.

"Um ow, that's my head you're smacking." Liam's irritated sleepy voice fills Mammon's ears and he's glad Liam's head still remains on his chest. He's embarrassed at the blush that dons his cheeks. How could he forget he'd snuck into Liam's bed last night!

"M'sorry! Your hair was ticklin' my nose. I-I thought it was a bug." Mammon says, trying to explain away his blunder and hoping he hasn't ruined the mood.

"Oh so I resemble a bug now do I? That's nice, is it at least a cool bug? Like do I eat the heads off my mates like a praying mantis or am I pretty like a butterfly?" Mammon can hear the smile in Liam's response, phew! He hasn't blown it.

"Hhhmm I'd say more like a pretty butterfly I reckon, the thought of ya eatin' my head freaks me out!" He wraps his arm around Liam's side and pulls him close, his other hand rests on Liam's head pressing it into his chest as he leans down to give those brown curls a kiss.

"So you think I'm pretty? Good answer, I was worried I'd have to cut off your head." Liam laughs and slides his hands up Mammon's side.

"Shuddup, ya know I do! And as if ya could! I'm stronger than ya, silly human." He scoffs and grabs Liam's hand thats caressing his side and intertwines their fingers.

"You think so?" Liam asks he tightens his grip on Mammon's hand. Squeezing it and forcing his wrist back. Does his little human want to play a game of mercy? It's cute he thinks he could win.

Mammon squeezes Liam's smaller hand just a little bit before he easily drags Liam's hand up to his lips.

"I know so." He whispers against the back of Liam's hand before kissing it softly. A little sigh escapes Liam's lips at the contact and he snuggles further into Mammon's side. It makes a smile appear on the greedy demon's lips. He's decided he could get used to this; waking up beside his human.

"This is nice, maybe you should sneak in more often." Liam's words echo Mammon's thoughts, like usual they are on the same page.

Hack my little sweet pea! I hope you like this short fluffy fic with your cute little Liam and Mammon. 💕💕 Love ya kiddo! 🌻

[bobfloydsbabe]

I, Q and R please for the fanfic asks! 💕

Fe, my love, you wish is my command 💕

I: Do you have a guilty pleasure in fic (reading or writing)?

I don't think so. I used to be so embarrassed that I read reader insert fics, but now I really don't care. I'm not going to deprive myself of good fics just because it's not canon ships or with OCs, though I'd argue that most reader characters are just OCs without a name. However, that's a discussion for another day. I'm getting off my soapbox now.

Q: How do you feel about collaborations?

How does my controlling ass feel about collaborations? Not great. That being said, two of my Top Gun OCs are in a shared universe with another fantastic writer, but she's also one of the few people I trust with my stories and characters.

R: Are there any writers (fanfic or otherwise) you consider an influence?

Okay, fuck. So many, and I will probably forget 98% of them because ✨ADHD✨ but let's go.

@joaquinwhorres (bestie and loml, TAILSPIN IS INCREDIBLE) @rae-gar-targaryen (anything with fanboy & cielo) @mothdruid (THE LIBRARIAN HAS MY HEART) @ereardon (My Girl and A Place Like This are just !!!) @jupitercomet (Bob x Sweet Pea give me all the feels) @sunlightmurdock (TiP and Apollo make me feral) @glodessa (church girl universe, that's all i'm saying) @seasonsbloom (bad habit, dime store cowboy, and the bob fic? absolute perfection) @notroosterbradshaw (the boyfriend/relationship experience is !!!) @yanna-banana (happy little accidents makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside) @lt-bradshaw (there's only one chapter of reverend bob and i'm already obsessed) @chemistryread (the rhett and hangman fics are so angsty i want to fling myself off a bridge in the best way) @demxters (literally anything Elle writes, but her bob and jake fics make me feel all the feels)

This turned into more of a writer recommendation list, but I stand by it. These are writers who inspire me to work on my craft, and I rarely feel worthy of creating in the same space as them. So, now, I'm going to crawl back into my hobbit hole, and pretend I didn't just embarrass myself in front of my favorite writers.

[under-wcrlds]

—what do you write for;

for x reader, currently genshin, honkai SR, Obey Me, & Bustafellows but i may add more in the future. You can also find my old nhl x reader blog here

I have several ongoing fics I am slowly updating on AO3 but these are all x OC

—are there things you won't write;

I don't really take requests because I get overwhelmed. I just kinda write what I want, when I want about who I want and hope thats enough to keep from burnout

⏤extra info;

I write nsfw as i'm trying to get better at it. I tag each post containing it as such so you can avoid it if that makes you uncomfy

the underwcrld rambling tag is where i talk to myself and scream into the void abt things

i'll probably block you if you have a blog that looks empty/like a bot

*works are completed

— GENSHIN IMPACT;

Childe;

—Circus* One Two Three

Cyno;

—desiderate

Ayato;

—College!au jealousy oneshot*

⏤BUSTAFELLOWS;

theres nothing here yet :)

⏤OBEY ME;

theres nothing here yet :)

⏤HONKAI STAR RAIL;

theres nothing here yet :)

Liability;

—tags; sweet pea/oc, riverdale werewolf!AU, pack hierarchal structures, fated mates/soulmates, enemies to lovers One Two

Bloodshot;

—tags; ben solo/OC, angst, childhood friends to enemies, galactic politics, kylo ren as prince of alderaan, sort of grumpy/sunshine but make it angsty, fated mates/soulmates, enemies to lovers, READ CW One

[yourjughead]

Attack Dog pt 5

Sweet Pea X Reader enemies to lovers

Warnings: Fluff and smut

A/N: Final part.

-------------------------------

3rd person

“So YN, tell us who did that to you already!”

“Not a chance Kevin” you laughed, pulling your jumper closer into your neck, trying to cover what Sweet Pea left you with three nights earlier. Archie wrapped an arm around your shoulder as he pulled you through the corridor Monday morning.

“Kiss and tell YN, we'll keep your secret safe” you could only roll your eyes at him, knowing that would never happen. You didn't want to tell them what happened between Sweet Pea and you, you didn't really even understand it enough to explain. The only thing you understood was it made Jughead insanely uncomfortable and that alone made you insanely happy.

Sweet Pea POV

Jones and I didn't really speak after he stormed out of my trailer on Saturday morning. Man I wish I got a picture of his face at the sight of YN. Priceless.

We all sauntered up the school hallway, Jughead keeping his distance from me. I met her eyes midway through laughing at whatever her friends said as I passed. I didn't look for long, afraid if I did I'd have no choice but to pin her to the locker and finish what we started. I don't like seeing Archie hang off her, that should be my arm. I shook my head. I'm being crazy, it was a moment, these things happen. Won't happen again.

-

I swear it was like she was avoiding me after that. I didn't see her in the halls, I didn't see her class or after school for the rest of the week. I sat on my sofa thinking about what happened in this trailer a week earlier. What gives? A knock to the trailer door snapped me out of it.

“YN?”

“Are you alone?”

“Yeah wh-” she then pressed her hands into my chest, pushing me deeper into the trailer, catching and closing the front door with her foot. She pulled her shirt from over her head and stood in front of me in her bra and jeans. What is happening? What is happening?

“What is happening?”

“Fancy some stress relief Sweet Pea?” Oh hell yeah.

3rd person

Sweet Peas hands went straight to your hips, the feeling of small calluses meeting your soft sides sent pulses down you both. He met your neck, the same place he had a week ago as his hands moved to cup your backside, lifting you from the floor to wrap your legs around his waist.

“Why can't I keep away from you?” You breathed, the hairs on Sweet Peas neck standing on their end.

“Why does that make me so happy?” Was all he could manage before reconnecting to your neck.

Sweet Pea carried you into his room before throwing you onto the bed. You knotted your fingers through his hair and forced down the moan trying to escape at the pleasure of having him nip you. You tugged his hair until he pulled from you to face you.

“Sweet Pea if we kiss…this might become more than what either of us want”

“I want all of you”

Sweet Pea almost cautiously lowered his mouth to yours until they met again. Much like the first time electricity coursed through both of you but unlike the last time, neither pulled away, only growing hungrier.

You could feel him hardening against your thigh, no longer able to fight the little victory you were going to give him, you moaned gently. He smirked hard into the kiss before it became more feverish. Your hand ran across him beneath the fabric of his jeans, his turn to groan.

You both began to rip the clothes from one another until you wrapped your legs around him to pulling him in closer. You both wanted every inch of skin to touch. His hand went from your chest, slowly sliding down to your inner thigh, teasingly.

Your fingers began dragging up and down his bare back before digging into his shoulders at the feeling of him entering you. You both let out a breathless moan at the sensation. You wrapped your legs around his torso at this while he placed his hands on your hips to steady himself. He slowly began dragging in and out before the sensation was too much and he increased his speed, spurred on by your hitching breath. The sensations growing and growing and growing until the band snapped sending you into overdrive as every nerve in your body stood to attention and then exploded. You practically screamed his name making him go over the edge, returning the sentiment by moaning your name. Sweet Pea collapsed on top of you before rolling over and hauling your shaking body to his.

“I had no idea how much I needed to hear you say my name like that YN” Sweet Pea finally found some composure to rasp out. You tried not to cringe in embarrassment as you buried a laugh into his chest.

“Don't get shy on me now YN” he returned the laugh and you smiled, pulling the covers up around the both of you, tangling in your legs.

“YN…I'm never gonna not be in the Serpents”

“I know”

“But I also really like kissing you”

“I know”

“Can both be true at the same time?” You reached up towards him to meet his lips again.

“Are you still a Serpent now Snake brain?”

“....yeah?”

“Well I guess both can be true at the same time”

~

Sweet Pea POV

I loved being with her, even if we were keeping it on the quiet side. I felt like she was starting to understand the Serpents and maybe even appreciate them, even if it was still from afar. She would come and go from my home without notice and I loved every moment she was with me. The only thing I found hard was not screaming to the world she was mine and I was hers even though we decided to just be casual. If spending every moment we could together be called casual that is. Continuing on like we still hated each other in public became a bit of a game and a bit of a turn on. Watching other guys fawn over her though was definitely not.

I filled my locker with books I pretended to read as Jones stood next to me watching the world go by. We had kind of decided silently to forget what he thinks he saw between me and YN three months ago. If only he knew what happened that night had far and beyond escalated passed that.

“Fuck it” was all I heard from Jones before he sprung off the locker and towards YN. In one smooth moment he caught her by the arms as she walked past with Archie and pulled her into kiss him. Kiss him. YN is kissing him. Kissing him. It really felt like every single emotion possible coursed through me. I had no idea what my body was going to do. Was I going to vomit? Was I going to faint? No. I was having an out of body experience as I stood, walked over, caught Jones by the shoulders and flung him backwards with what strength my shocked state had and flew him into the locker I had just left. It felt like slow motion and then, it felt like motion sickness.

“Sweet Pea!” Was she shouting at me? I really felt like the earth wasn't under me and then it wasn't. Jones jumped from the ground and straight into me. If I wasn't in a daze he wouldn't have taken me off the ground but it felt like I was out at sea. We rolled around the floor, I dodge his hands and tried to push him off me. I didn't fight back, not even when he clipped my jaw, I probably deserve what's happening. YN was shouting at the two of us until Archie and Fangs hauled Jones from me, cursing out loud. Fangs might kill him for me. I sat up from the ground, the whole hallway's eyes on me and my bleeding lip. I found my sea legs take me running from the scene and out into the car park, YN hot on my heels.

“What the hell Sweet Pea?! That wasn't very casual!” I heard her shout from behind me, her voice echoing off the empty car park.

“What if I don't want to be casual anymore YN?! What if I never wanted to be?!” I could see this caught her off guard. I was finally thinking out loud.

“Finally, you were getting hard to read” was all she said with laugh before rushing to me, wrapping her arms around me and kissing me. Electricity returned. The ground beneath my feet returned to a solid state. We parted smiling, over her shoulder I saw our friends at the school entrance. Not a single face without shock or surprise. I couldn't care less.

“I guess I'm not the only attack dog in the relationship” she smiled, wiping the blood from my lip. Relationship, this was a relationship

[blindmagdalena]

Would you ever ship homelander with another character? Genuinely curious about that one…

(I am down bad for your work it’s precious and perfect, smarter, better and stronger.)

💕💕💕💕💕💕

aaahhh thank you, sweet pea! do you mean in terms of canon characters? because i do! to an extent anyways. i'm happy to indulge most ships that involve homelander, honestly. madelyn, starlight, maeve, becca, victoria, etc etc.

that said i definitely have a preference for homelander x oc, both mine and my friend's (nora!!! dahlia!! alex!! so many!!!!!). my fic Eat Your Ego, Honey features my oc Layla. i just really like the creativity people bring to the table with their oc's. plus, i feel like oc's don't get nearly the attention they deserve in fandom. especially the ladies! when i first started roleplaying, i was always the one playing canon's for oc's, and to this day i really enjoy it. also, my very first fanfiction was absolutely a self-inserty yu yu hakusho canon x oc fic lmao though homelander fandom is my first foray into canon x reader. that has been fun, too! i think playing dnd has largely influenced my perspective on reader fic. i honestly still feel like i'm reading through the eyes of an oc, just with the narrative in second person, kind of like the way you would play a ttrpg.

anyways, that turned into a ramble. long story short, yes. i'm absolutely a multishipper and i'm open to talking about all kinds of ships. c:

[hiddenqveendom]

Who was your first oc? Are they still an active oc or did you leave them in the past? If they're still active, tell us five facts about them!- 🖤

oh great question anon! to be honest, i am not sure who was my first oc since i can't recall a time i wasn't making one (it was likely for an anime or something). nevertheless, my first ever public oc on this site was my riverdale oc, darcy delgado. i have not done much for her since my interest in the show slipped, but she is still around hehe.

5 facts about darcy delgado:

she was originally a jason ship and love interest for archie, with sweet pea being her end game. however, i think her true soulmate is cheryl after a fun au edit it made. x

delgado is technically not her real last name since her ancestor stole the name and identity of a friend

i had a whole fic for her planned out that i never wrote sans a prologue i posted ages ago

polly was a friend of hers before she won jason's affections in spite of knowing of her own

she was almost polly and betty's cousin...

[noratilney]

🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

This is from my upcoming Sweet Pea x OC fic, it isn’t twelve sentences but it would have cut off weird otherwise so:

Sweet Pea snatches up the card, telling himself he’s just making there’s nothing in it that will upset Fangs.

Dear Fangs, it reads.

Every day you make me laugh and it seems the height of unfairness that you are repaid like this.

If anyone is giving you a hard time, like refusing to give you green jello when we both know it tastes better than the red one or telling you there’s no more chocolate pudding (this is a lie, there’s always chocolate pudding!), let me know and I can fix it.

Please focus on getting better and I will focus on being a better friend.

Love,

Maia

[justelib]

Possible Fic?

I’m literally dying to write a Hiccup Haddock Fic, specifically a oc x hiccup, no specific Gender yet, but I got inspired on TikTok to use a disney\Pixar\dreamworks any animated 3D Face claim, the possible FCs, I’m taking votes:

Raya (from raya & the last dragon.)

Anna (frozen)

Elsa (frozen)

Moana (Moana -I LOVE HER-)

Rapunzel (tangled -my 2nd favourite princess-)

Merida (brave)

Flynn\eugene (tangled)

Jack Frost (RoTG)

Johnny (hotel Transylvania.)

Kristoff (frozen)

I also currently have a heartstopper polycule Fic in my drafts, along with a sweet pea x male!oc.

Sat, 14, 10, 2023

So, I was thinking that the Oc’s village along with their family, leaving the ocs and their siblings, could have been destroyed by dragons except one, who was trying to stop the chaos.

The oc and their siblings find themselves at Berk where they’re taken in by someone (undecided). A couple years later, Hiccup shoots down toothless and another dragon, who just so happens to be the same one that tried to stop the chaos in the ocs village.

(That is all I have for now)

[heythere-emberhere]

Never Been in Love - Sweet Pea  x OC

Summary: (Based of a HC of mine) Sweet Pea lost his virginity to a close friend in high school and has had feelings for her ever since but was too Sweet Pea to do anything about it, and she’s too oblivious to notice. That is until now, the night of Cheryl Blossom’s infamous 21st birthday party, of course.

A/N:  I started working on this back in March, and it’s June now. Sorry it took so long, but it’s here now! AAAAAAND it might not the only thing I’m posting today. I wrote out the smut that goes along with this one, so I might post it. (I’ve never done that on this blog before.)

WC: 10,635 (super long because I super hope you won’t hate me for being MIA)

“Tiny, calm down,” Sweet Pea said, leaning back against the bar top at La Bonne Nuit. “I think you’re making this a bigger deal than it needs to be.”

“A bigger deal than it needs to be? This is Cheryl’s 21st birthday, Sweet Pea. It has to be perfect, or she’ll kill me,” Toni said as she paced back and forth across the main floor between the tables, running her hands through her hair.

“Just relax, T.”

“Relax? This is Cheryl we’re talking about.”

“She’s got you there, man,” Fangs chimed in from his seat next to Sweets.

“And, you know Red better than anyone. You’ve got this,” Sweet Pea said.

“Just because I know her better than anyone doesn’t mean I can pull this off. Like I said, it has to be perfect. The flowers, the decorations, the food, the drinks, the gifts.”

“I just think you shouldn’t stress so much. You should-”

“I swear to god, Sweet Pea. If you tell me to relax again, I’m going to kick your ass. It’s so obvious you’ve never been in love!” Toni snarked, rolling her eyes at the boy.

Sweet Pea’s light smirk fell from his face, and Fangs’ jaw dropped.

“Damn. Don’t you think that was a little harsh, Toni?” Fangs asked.

“What?” she asked, her hands on her hips.

Sweet Pea leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, and looked up at the pink-haired girl.

“You think I want you to relax because I don’t know what it feels like to care about someone so much that you want to be able to do everything humanly possible to make them feel like the most important person in the world?” His voice was even, almost stern as he spoke. “Because you think I’ve never looked at someone and forgotten what it’s like to breathe or thought that there was no chance in hell that I was alive or awake, like I had to have been dead or dreaming, for them to be standing there in front of me?”

He looked down at his folded hands and the floor under them. Toni had never seen her tall, usually brooding friend look so fragile. The way his shoulders hung forward suggested this was something that had been weighing on him for some time now, and he’d been holding it all in expertly.

“Sweet Pea, I-”

“Because there’s never been one person in my life I think of before everyone else when something good happens or when I’ve had a shitty day and just need to let off some steam? You think I want you to relax because you’ve never seen me cuddled up with someone in the back of La Bonne Nuit or the Wyrm on a Friday night or because I’ve never ditched plans with you and Fangs to stay in and watch movies I’d never admit to liking in public while eating popcorn and drinking beer we snagged from the back room of the bar while no one was looking, which is just you assuming that’s not what I’ve wanted to be doing with my time, by the way.”

He lifted his head and rose from the stool. Toni’s shoulder’s slumped.

“You think I want you to relax because I’ve never met anyone who makes me want to fight less or be more?”

“Sweets,” Toni started, stepping toward him.

“I was just trying to be a good friend, Toni. I don’t want to see you stress yourself to death over this. It’s a party. It’s supposed to be fun. Remember that,” he said before shoving past the tables and stomping out of the bar.

As the door swung shut, Toni and Fangs exchanged a look.

“So,” she said taking the seat Sweets had been sitting in, “you have any idea who he’s in love with?”

“None,” Fangs said. “I’ve never heard him talk like that before.”

“Me either.”

“But he’s right, you know?” Fangs said, nudging her shoulder. “This is supposed to be all about having a fun time for Cheryl’s 21st.”

Toni nodded and looked toward the door, which was still swinging gently back and forth, as if to ask if she should go after Sweet Pea.

“I think, just give him some time,” Fangs almost whispered.

She nodded, getting up from her seat to get started on some of the decorations currently boxed up behind the bar.

 Sweet Pea was still kicking rocks in the Pop’s parking lot, his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket, when Ember arrived to help Toni set up for Cheryl’s party. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn’t hear the gravel crunch beneath her combat boots as she walked up behind him.

“Uh oh,” she called out to him, “Did they already piss you off?”

Sweet Pea’s head snapped up at the sound of her voice, his stride carrying him quickly to her short frame. Growing up next door to one another had meant that Sweets and Ember had little choice in becoming close. Between the morning and evening carpools to school as kids and the weekend afternoons he spent at her trailer while his mom was at work—when she was still living with them, that is—they got to know each other well. She was someone he’d always felt comfortable with.

“A little,” he said honestly shrugging his shoulders.

“Wanna tell me about it?” she asked turning around and walking toward his bike instead of further toward the diner.

He pulled his hands out of his pockets as he walked with her, the backs of his fingers grazing lightly against the cool leather of her jacket as he did so. The difference in temperature sent chills down his spine.

“Toni just kind of blew up on me for telling her that she shouldn’t be taking this whole party thing so seriously and that she needed to relax.”

“She’s just a little stressed, you know? Cheryl’s probably putting more pressure on how perfect she wants her birthday to be than any of us realize.”

“Yeah, but I don’t think that gives her a right to tell me it’s obvious I’ve never been in love,” he said with a huff as he leaned against his bike.

“Did she really?” Ember asked with her eyebrows raised, leaning next to him against his bike.

He nodded as Ember put her head on his shoulder.

“I’m sorry, Pea. Personally, I think that was uncalled for. I know it’s not ideal, but maybe give her the benefit of the doubt and try to think she just wasn’t thinking about how you might take that.”

“Thanks, Em,” he sighed, “and I know she wasn’t trying to be rude or anything, but if I’m being honest, it kinda stung.”

“Besides,” she said, “just because you’ve never had a proper girlfriend doesn’t mean you couldn’t have been in love with someone, right?”

“Right,” he replied quietly, glancing down at her next to him.

Ember nodded and lifted her head from Sweets’ shoulder leaning forward slightly, pulling a pack of cigarettes from her back pocket before tossing them lightly to her other hand and holding them out before him. Sweet Pea glanced down at the unopened pack then back at Em. He remembered the first time they’d smoked together at the end of their freshman year.

 Ember pulled the cigarette away from her lips, holding the smoke in her lungs for a few moments before breathing it out into the cool night air between them.

“Want one?” she asked, presenting the pack to Sweet Pea.

The light outside the Wyrm flickered as he took the carton from her tipping it and pulling a cigarette from the cardboard box before closing the lid and handing it back to her. He loved the way the denim of her jeans hugged her hip as he watched her slide the box back into her back pocket. His eyes flicked back up to hers as she held out her lighter to him, flicking it on. He watched the flame dance next to her long, black nails as he inhaled. The ring of light on the tip of the cigarette reflected in her pupils. She smirked as the smoke left his slightly parted lips.

“I have a question for you,” she said, turning her body to face him and taking another drag of her cigarette.

“Hmm?” He mumbled turning his head toward her, not leaving his post against the brick wall behind him.

“Do you find me attractive?” she asked plainly. “You can be honest.”

“Yes,” he said looking down and flicking cigarette ash toward the ground, hoping Ember couldn’t see the blush creeping up his neck.

“Mmm,” she hummed inhaling another long drag while she took a step closer to Sweet Pea, who was still looking toward the ground as he brought his cigarette back to his own lips.

Ember played with the collar of his leather jacket, eyeing the dog tags in the middle of his chest. She could see his breath catch in his throat as he exhaled smoke.

“I have another question,” she said looking up at him through her lashes.

He met her eyes and nodded.

“Yeah?” he gulped, the intensity of her gaze clearly making him nervous.

“Would you want to have sex with me?” She asked, trailing her finger halfway across his chest and down his abdomen.

“Right- Right now?” He asked. He was sure his cheeks had flushed a deep red.

She pulled her hand away, and he dropped his half-finished cigarette on the concrete.

“No, not right now,” Ember said with a chuckle. “I was actually thinking this weekend? My parents are going to a conference for my dad’s job, so I’ll have the place all to myself.”

Sweet Pea ran his hand through his hair and let out a sigh. He didn’t want to have to say the words that were going to come out of his mouth.

“Em,” he started kicking his boot over his fading cigarette, “you know I’ve never, um-”

“That’s why I’m asking you, Sweets.”

“Okay? That doesn’t make any sense,” he said before looking around and lowering his voice. “Why would you specifically ask a virgin to have sex with you? Wait. Is this some sort of weird kink?”

“No, Sweet Pea,” Ember said with a laugh as she hit him on the shoulder. “I’m asking you specifically because I’m a virgin, too.”

He raised his eyebrows as she took her final drag of her cigarette and tossed it into the parking lot. Whether she was holding her breath for dramatic effect or to feel the smoke in her lungs for just a little bit longer, he couldn’t be sure, but his heart was pounding.

“I’m just tired of waiting around for perfect this and special that,” Ember exhaled. “You know? I think you’re attractive, and I trust you, so let’s do this.”

“Let’s do each other, you mean?”

“Is that a yes?”

“I think I’d be crazy to say no.”

 Ember shook the pack of cigarettes in front of Sweet Pea’s face.

“Hello? Earth to Sweet Pea? You wanna smoke?” she asked.

He took the pack from her hand, his fingertips grazing over the back of her hand as he grabbed it.

“That depends,” he said with a smirk. “Are you gonna ask me to sleep with you this time, too?”

Ember smiled, shook her head, and shoved his shoulder lightly as he pulled a lighter from his pocket and lit the cigarette.

“You wish,” she joked as he handed the pack back to her.

He still loved the way the denim of her jeans hugged her hip as he watched her slide the box into her back pocket. They finished their cigarettes in silence, leaning against his motorcycle outside of Pop’s diner, and for a brief moment Sweet Pea wished Ember had been inside to hear what he had said to Toni. Maybe, he thought, that would make whatever would come of what happened next a little bit easier for him. But, she hadn’t been, and he wasn’t going to tell her, so everything was just going to have to work itself out some other way.

As they walked into La Bonne Nuit, Ember gave the back of Sweet Pea’s arm a light squeeze and smiled at him as if to say, ‘I’m always here.’ Then, she walked over to Fangs at the bar to see what she could do to help. Toni set the glasses she was arranging at the end of the bar down and walked over to Sweet Pea.

“Hey, I’m sorry,” she said. “I never should have assumed-”

“It’s fine,” Sweet Pea cut her off. “Let’s just not talk about it. What do you need me to do?”

Ember and Fangs watched from their place at the bar, both expecting there to be more of a show as Fangs filled her in on Sweet Pea’s grand speech before he stormed out into the parking lot. They exchanged glances when Toni just started nodding and led Sweets over to a box of decorations and a step ladder, explaining that she and Fangs had been too short to get the streamers up high enough. Sweets mockingly patted her on the head and got to work, pushing the ladder to the side and opting to use a bar chair to stand on instead.

“I really expected there to be more of a fight there,” Fangs said as Toni walked up to him and Ember watching Sweets hang the streamers up across the bar.

“Me too,” Toni said. “Especially with how upset he was with me when he stormed out. I don’t get why he’d want to drop it all of a sudden.”

“He’s just so tall,” Ember said staring Sweet Pea up and down as he stretched his arms above his head to reach the ceiling. She couldn’t help but let her eyes trail down to his hip where his shirt had lifted away from his jeans and exposed his bare skin. Suddenly, she found herself noticing just how much he’d filled out since they were fifteen. His shoulders were broader, arms more toned, legs built with more lean muscle, and it looked like his abs—and presumably his chest—were more defined than they had been before.  

Fangs and Toni looked at her with their heads cocked to the side.

“What does that have to do with anything?” Fangs asked.

“Sorry,” Ember said with a shrug, tearing her eyes away from Sweet Pea. “I wasn’t here for all that stuff earlier, so I didn’t have anything relevant to add.”

“Well, I wish you had been,” Toni said. “Maybe you could have provided us with some insight into where all of Sweet Pea’s hidden feelings came from.”

“You sure he wasn’t just talking about Josie?” Ember asked.

Toni and Fangs paused for a beat and looked at each other. Honestly, they hadn’t even considered Josie as an option.

“Didn’t even think of that, did ya?”

Toni and Fangs shook their heads, exchanging more glances in a sort of silent conversation with one another. They were hitting each other in the shoulder and grunting when Sweet Pea came over with his eyebrows furrowed. He stood next to Ember and stared at their other two friends questioningly.

“They’re doing some weird thing because neither of them considered that you might have been in love with Josie,” Ember said, leaning toward Sweet Pea as if she were trying to tell him something in secret but not lowering her voice at all.

“Oh,” Sweet Pea said looking between his three friends. “Well. I’m not, and I wasn’t.”

Toni and Fangs stopped fighting like children and looked back and forth between each other and Ember then to Sweets before landing back on Ember as if asking for answers.

“Well, fuck me!” Ember said putting her hands up. “Sorry, guys. I really thought I had something there. Guess I should leave the sleuthing to Betty and Jughead after all.”

Sweet Pea leaned over to grab a chair from the table they were all standing around and pulled it closer to him, loudly scraping the legs across the floor. As he did so, he spoke under his breath so that only Ember could hear him.

“Is that another offer, Em?”

Ember promptly choked on her own spit while Sweets took his seat, crossing his arms over his chest and smirking to himself.

“You okay, Em?” Fangs asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she said between coughs while walking to the bar to get some water. “Sweet Pea’s just an ass.”

“What did he say this time?” Toni asked, glaring at him.

“Nothing!” Sweets and Ember said in unison.

 After another hour of decorating and taking twenty minutes to rearrange the tables to make more room for dancing on the main floor, Veronica and Betty showed up with the food Toni had ordered from the catering service, and Jughead and Reggie arrived with the booze. Ember couldn’t decide if Veronica and Reggie not dating anymore made it harder or easier to be in the same room with them. Seeing another girl with her ex made her feel jealous even when she didn’t want to be, but now that Reggie and Veronica were also exes, Ember wasn’t sure if she was supposed to feel obligated to team up with Veronica or something. Were they supposed to spend the whole night hating on Reggie or pining over him and talking about how soft his hair is? She watched Jug and Reggie unload beers into the fridges below the bar, their heads bobbing up and down like buoys as the tide comes in. The light glistened off the bottles sitting on the bar top above them.

“What’s up?” a deep voice broke Ember out of her trance.

She looked to her right to see Sweet Pea sitting next to her wearing a bright red feather boa. She lifted the end of the party favor and tickled his cheek with it, causing him to smile.

“Not much. Why are you wearing this?” she asked, tickling his face again.

“Toni said I had to be festive,” he replied grabbing the end of the boa from her hand and waving it back in her face with a laugh.

The sound of Ember’s giggling caught Toni’s attention around the corner of the bar, and when she looked up, she smacked Fangs in the chest pointing her finger at their friends. Sweet Pea and Ember sat facing one another, their faces just inches apart, both with goofy smiles. Ember’s nose scrunched up as Sweets tickled it with the feather boa before she batted it away with her hand. She quickly grabbed the other end and attacked his cheek, causing him to pull to the side and nearly fall of his stool. They both erupted in laughter as Ember held out her arm to try and catch him. Fangs’ jaw dropped as he watched Ember and Sweet Pea while they thought no one was paying attention.

“Is there something going on between our two best friends that we’ve been completely missing?” he whispered to Toni.

As their laughter died down, Ember returned her attention to Jughead and Reggie, letting her eyes fall on Reggie’s movements behind the bar. She didn’t want to get back with him, but being in the same room with him wasn’t exactly easy. Everything he did was still too familiar. Sweet Pea followed her gaze, his smile falling when he realized she was watching Reggie with a look reminiscent of nostalgia on her face. He clenched his jaw and tapped his fingers on the bar a couple times before standing up.

“I’m gonna go see if there’s anything else Toni needs us to do,” he said.

Ember tore her eyes away from Reggie to look up at Sweet Pea and nodded.

“Okay,” she said. “Sounds good.”

“If there’s anything going on,” Toni said to Fangs, noticing that Sweet Pea was headed their way, “it’s entirely one-sided, and I don’t think it’s because of a lack of effort on Sweets’ part.”

“How did we miss-” Fangs started.

“What did we miss?” Sweet Pea asked sitting down next to Fangs.

“Nothing,” Toni said. “We didn’t miss a thing.” She placed a hand lightly on his shoulder and smiled at him. “People should be starting to arrive any minute now. Why don’t you and Fangs take the first shift of door duty, and I’ll have Jug and Reggie tag you out later?”

The boys nodded, standing up and heading toward the door. Toni grabbed Fangs by the bicep and held him back, looking him directly in the eyes.

“Do not say anything to him,” she said.

“But-”

“Fangs,” she said, her voice sharp and eyes narrow.

“Fine,” he bit back, yanking his arm out of her grasp. “I won’t say anything to him.”

Fangs tugged at his flannel sleeve as he walked away from Toni; Sweet Pea eyed the two of them cautiously.

“What was that about?” he asked.

“Nothing,” Fangs said.

 The boys had been manning the door in strained silence for fifteen minutes before Sweet Pea finally spoke.

“Alright, dude, you look like you’re in physical pain over there. What the fuck is up with you?”

Fangs let out a long sigh, his shoulders relaxed, and his jaw unclenched as he walked over to Pea’s side of the door.

“I just- why didn’t you tell me, man? I thought I was your best friend?”

“What do you mean why didn’t I tell you?” Sweet Pea asked.

“That you have, or had, feelings for someone. That’s a big deal, bro.”

“Why would I tell you when I didn’t even tell her?” Sweet Pea asked as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. The look on his face was pure defeat. His jaw was slack, eyes sullen, and lips in a thin, tight line.

“You could,” Fangs said, patting his friend on the shoulder.

“I can’t.”

“Come on,” Fangs laughed. “I’m sure Em would be more willing to talk to you about it than you think.”

Sweet Pea’s head snapped up at the mention of her name, and he slammed his forearm across Fangs’ chest, shoving him into the door and grabbing a fistful of Fangs’ shirt with his other hand. Sweet Pea’s eyes narrowed and locked onto Fangs’ dark and wide ones.

“I swear to God, Fogarty. If you say one word to Ember about this, I will beat the ever-loving shit out of you. Do you hear me? I don’t know how you fucking figured it out, and I won’t deny it now, but if she gets word of this in one night after I’ve worked for nearly four fucking years to keep my feelings a secret, you will pay for it. You got that?”

Fangs nodded, swallowing hard. He spoke quietly, only after Sweet Pea had let him go and given him a chance to straighten out his shirt.

“Four years?” he asked.

Sweet Pea nodded, looking at the ground and scuffing the tile lightly with the heel of his boot. Just as Fangs was about to ask more questions, Jughead and Reggie came up to take the next door shift, muttering something about how Toni wanted Fangs and Sweet Pea inside to help with one last thing before Cheryl arrived.

“This conversation isn’t over,” Fangs said as they went to find Toni.

“Yes. It is,” Sweet Pea replied, and before Fangs could get another word in he was asking Toni, “What do you need us to do?”

From behind the bar, Toni pulled out four shot glasses and filled them each to the brim with tequila and set one in front of herself and each of the boys. Ember came up behind Toni carrying saltshakers and a bowl of lime wedges. She set them down in between the shot glasses and looked at her friends.

“Knock ‘em back, bitches! We have no idea what Cheryl is going to make us do tonight,” Ember said with a laugh.

“Shit, maybe we should’ve made these doubles,” Sweet Pea retorted before kitten licking the back of his hand then giving Ember a swift wink before pouring salt over his skin.

“Hey!” Toni shouted, too preoccupied with salting her own hand to notice the exchange between her friends.

“We can do another,” Ember said raising her shot glass.

The others followed suit, raising their glasses and tapping them on the counter before licking the salt of their hands, downing their shot, and then sucking the lime between their teeth. Before Ember could pour out more shots, Betty and Veronica shouted from the other end of the bar that Cheryl was pulling in the parking lot. Toni grabbed Fangs to help with the sash and other cutesy accessories they had picked out and ran to the doors, leaving Sweets and Ember standing on either side of the bar in confusion. He leaned over, pushing the used shot glasses out of the way, and gave her a cheeky grin.

“I couldn’t quite hear you over Toni’s screeching. Did you say we could do each other? That’s three offers in one night, Em. A little excessive, don’t you think?”

Ember rolled her eyes and leaned closer to Sweet Pea so that their faces were mere inches apart. She let out a soft, slow breath as she reached her arm out and grabbed the bottle of tequila next to him, sliding the glass across the bar while she looked him dead in the eyes.

“Keep this up, and I’ll just have to start taking shots every time you mention having sex with me, Sweets,” she said pulling away and taking a swig straight from the bottle.

Sweet Pea laughed while he watched her put the bottle down and walk out from behind the bar to join Toni and Cheryl now that they had officially made their way into the party. Then, he grabbed the bottle and took a swig before screwing the cap back on and finding a sharpie behind the bar. He wrote Toni’s initials on the bottle and placed it with the rest of the party stuff behind the bar before finding himself a seat with his friends.

For the first hour or so of the party, everyone mingled and ate snacks and had a few drinks, but once Cheryl was done making heart eyes and Toni for setting up such a ‘lovely soiree’ for their anniversary, she decided to take a little more control. Cheryl’s personal playlist opened the floodgates to the dance floor, and the last thing Sweet Pea wanted to do was dance in front of the entire population of Riverdale High. He sat for a while off to the side drinking his beer and talking to Fangs until Kevin and Betty pulled him into the crowd. Fangs was nice enough to fake a struggle, reaching his hand out to Sweets dramatically while shouting, “I have to stay for solidarity!”

Sweet Pea laughed him off and shouted back a “be safe out there!” before his eyes scanned the room for Jughead. It wasn’t his first choice, but he was hoping if Betty were with Kevin, it might mean Jughead was off the dance floor sitting somewhere safe, too. Before Sweets could find him, his eyes locked with a pair of deep green ones in the crowd. Ember smiled at him mischievously and started dancing her way through the people twisting and grinding around her. Before he could try to get up and walk away, she was standing in front of him, chest heaving in deep breaths. Sweet Pea looked up at her from his seat, the sweat on her brow and above her light, pink lips glistened against the low lighting of the bar. Rarely was Ember in a position to look down at him, but there was something about the way her features looked from this angle that made his chest tighten. She stepped forward, leaning over him completely, and her shirt fell away from her chest as she bent down. Sweets tried not to let his eyes flicker downward, but he knew it was a battle easily lost as she placed her hand on his shoulder and brought her face next to his so he could hear her over the music.

“You look bored,” she said.

Her bra was red lace.

“Come dance with me.”

He hadn’t really heard the words she said to him until she pulled away and grabbed his hand, tugging him up out of his seat and toward the dance floor. He stopped as they approached the crowd of people. Ember looked reader to shoulder her way through.

“Em,” he said, pulling her closer and leaning down so she could hear him, “you know I don’t dance.”

She dropped his hand from hers and moved it to the underside of the bottle of beer he was holding before gently pushing it up toward his lips. Their eyes stayed locked on each other’s as she tipped the bottle back and made him drink what was left.

“Now put that bottle down and come with me!” Ember shouted over the music, dragging him through the crowd.

“Hey! It’s Sweet Pea!” Fangs shouted from his place pressed between Kevin and Betty. “Did you guys know he’s my best friend!?”

Sweet Pea shook his head and grabbed the drink from Fangs’ hand.

“I think you need to slow down there, buddy,” Sweets said, but Fangs was too far gone to notice.

He placed a hand on Ember’s shoulder while the other held the confiscated drink right in front of her face.

“On the other hand,” he whispered in her ear, “you might want this because I could have sworn you just invited me to cum with you.”

Sweet Pea smirked against her ear when he felt Ember’s hand reach for the glass and take the drink from him. She brought it to her lips and chugged what was left, her friends’ eyes widening as they watched.

“Yes, bitch!” Toni shouted as she took the empty glass and set it on a nearby table.

For the next few songs, Sweet Pea mostly just stood in the crowd shuffling and turning his body so that he wouldn’t get hit as his friends danced around him and on each other, but he tried to stay as close to Ember as he possibly could, occasionally resting his hand on her hip or back as she pressed her body against his and moved her hips. It might have been more enjoyable for him if he didn’t have Fangs on the other side also pressed up against him and occasionally grabbing and Sweet Pea’s hands, arms, or hips and trying to force him to move in ways that he was pretty sure he wasn’t supposed to move in. Every once in a while, Sweet Pea was okay with some dancing, but he wasn’t trying to do the chicken dance and the robot at the same time like Fangs seemed to think was appropriate at the moment.

“Okay, seriously!” Sweets shouted over the music while he pushed his best friend off him for the fifth time during the same song, “Who let him drink this much?”

Kevin and Toni both pointed and each other then started laughing hysterically, only stopping when Sweet Pea pushed Fangs over to the two of them. Stumbling, Fangs caught himself by wrapping an arm around each of their necks and then pulling them both in for a tight hug.

“You two are great. You know that? We’re all great,” Fangs stopped to giggle, “but none of us are straight!”

Toni and Kevin stared at one side of Fangs’ face as he stood between them cackling at himself.

“Maybe we should take him to go sit and drink some water,” Kevin said.

“Great idea! I’ll lead,” Sweet Pea shouted over the music as he clapped Kevin on the back and pushed through the crowd.

Kevin, Fangs, Betty, Jughead, Veronica, Reggie, Cheryl, Toni, and Ember formed a train following Sweet Pea away from the dance floor and to a big, circular booth away from the crowd and the speakers. Ember snuck through to get some water for Fangs, followed by Cheryl who eyed the bottle of tequila with her girlfriend’s initials on it from earlier in the night.

“What’s this?” she asked Ember swishing the liquid around.

“That would be the beginning of Fangs’ downward spiral, I think,” Ember replied with a laugh. “I’d be happy to make you a drink or do a shot with you if you want.”

“Oh, I think we should all do shots,” Cheryl said. “Everyone except Fangs, of course.”

“Hold on,” Ember said putting the water down and crouching beneath the bar.

She came back up with more unopened bottles of tequila and clean shot glasses. She put them on the counter next to the open bottle and rushed to the back room, holding up her pointer finger telling Cheryl to keep waiting as she walked away. Ember reappeared with more lime wedges and saltshakers on a tray. She placed everything together and looked over at Cheryl with a smile.

“If everyone is doing shots, then we’ll need plenty to go around.”

Ember grabbed the water and an extra pitcher while Cheryl grabbed the tray, and the two walked over to their friends. Ember set the water and pitcher down in front of Fangs before picking up his hand and placing it around the glass for him and guiding it to his lips like she’d done with Sweet Pea’s beer bottle earlier. Sweets watched the way Fangs eyed Ember as she made him drink the water, clenching his fists under the table. He relaxed only when Cheryl startled him by slamming the tray down on the table. Cheryl took her seat at the edge of the circular booth opposite him, leaving Ember to take the edge of the seat next to him. Reggie pulled up a chair and set it in the middle of the gap to complete the circle.

“In honor of my totally amazing 21st birthday,” Cheryl started, clapping her hands together, “we’re going to play a classic game of Never Have I Ever. Everyone, take a shot glass and fill it up!”

As the bottle of tequila was going around the table, Fangs grabbed for it, but Kevin swiftly took it from his hands.

“Drink some more water before you have any more of that,” he said, to which Fangs pouted.

“Would it help if you put your water in a shot glass, Fangs?” Ember asked from across the table. “Once you do six shots of water, you can have a shot of tequila.”

“Deal!” Fangs shouted pouring water into his shot glass and spilling some all over the table.

“Birthday girl, you start,” Veronica said looking at Cheryl.

“Of course. Let’s start easy. Never Have I Ever used a heinous pick up line to try to impress someone.”

Everyone at the table except Ember and Veronica took their shot.

“That’s one!” Fangs cheered. “Five more to go!”

“TT, I’m a little disappointed in you,” Cheryl said looking at her girlfriend with genuine concern.

“In my defense, it was on a dare,” Toni replied.

“Slightly less appalling. Who’s next? Cheryl asked looking to her left and right.

“I guess I’ll go,” Toni piped up. “Never Have I Ever been on a shitty blind date.”

Sweets and Kevin took a shot.

“Hey wait!” Fangs shouted. “The only blind date either of you have been on was with someone I set you up with.”

“Yeah, dude,” Sweet Pea said shaking his head, “and it was horrible. The girl couldn’t stop talking about her ex the entire time. She even showed me pictures of him while we were at dinner.”

“My turn!” Kevin interjected before Fangs had time to question him about his date, “Never Have I Ever had sex on the first date.”

Fangs, Ember, Reggie, and Veronica took a shot, and Sweet Pea lifted his glass before pausing.

“Wait, is it the same if you didn’t go on a date but just had sex with someone?” he asked.

“No, that’s different,” Kevin said.

Sweet Pea put his glass back down and tried not to glance at Ember sitting next to him.

“Fangs?” Cheryl asked after a long pause.

“Shh. I’m thinking,” He said as he stared at the water in his shot glass.

“Well, think faster or we’re skipping you.”

“Got it. Never Have I Ever had a friend with benefits,” Fangs said looking Sweet Pea directly in the eyes.

“Are you trying to target me, right now?” Sweets asked.

“What? No.”

“Then why are you staring at me like that? You didn’t even look to see if anyone else took a shot.”

“Oh, yeah. Did anyone else take a shot?” Fangs asked.

“I did,” Kevin said.

“Me too,” Toni said.

“Same,” Veronica chimed in.

“Yep,” said Reggie.

“Totally,” said Ember.

Sweet Pea looked over at Ember then at the rest of the group for good measure before looking back to Fangs.

“So, you gonna take that shot or not?”

“Point of clarification,” Sweets said, “for anyone that took a shot, does it count if the quote ‘benefits’ only happened once?”

“Um, if the person was a friend and not a random one-night stand, I think that still counts,” Reggie said.

“I think that’s up to you,” Ember said.

“Okay then,” Sweets said looking right at Fangs as he tossed the shot back. “You’re up Jughead.”

“All right. Never have I Ever had to hide a hickey from my parents.”

All the girls and Fangs took a shot.

“Really Fangs?” Jughead laughed.

“What? I date guys too!”

“My turn!” Betty said, “Never Have I Ever had sex with someone I wasn’t dating.”

Everyone drank to a chorus of “cheap shot!”

“Sorry, guys. I just wanted to get everyone,” Betty laughed.

“Yeah, that’s totally not fair,” Fangs slurred. “Especially because Sweets only sleeps with people he’s not dating.”

“You’re supposed to be taking shots of water!” Sweet Pea yelled.

“Oopsie,” Fangs said swishing the bottle of tequila in his hand and giggling.

The sight of his friend like that and the shots he’d downed since the game had started made Sweet Pea laugh back. He picked up a lime wedge from the middle of the table and sucked on it, still chuckling, as Kevin took the bottle away from Fangs once more.

“Listen, it’s not my fault, bro. Sometimes I wanna date a girl I slept with, and it just doesn’t happen, but we’re not here to talk about that, so what do ya got for us Ronnie?”

“Okay. Never Have I Ever done it in my parents’ bed.”

Reggie, Jughead, Betty, Cheryl, and Kevin took a shot.

“I must say, Veronica, after everything Hiram did, I’m a little surprised you never had that sort of subtle revenge,” Cheryl said.

Veronica shrugged.

“All right, Sweets. You’re up,” Cheryl said, “Is it time to enact your revenge plot on Fangs?”

“You know what, since he’s not actually drinking, I think I’ll just go with something that’ll get the rest of you to take a shot and generally annoy Fangs.”

“Go on,” Cheryl prodded lifting her glass.

“Never Have I Ever,” Sweet Pea started, looking around at everyone’s faces knowing what he was about to say was true only because of the way he planned on wording it, “told any of you,” he paused to look Fangs directly in the eyes, “who I lost my virginity to.”

Everyone except Ember took their shot while Fangs crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Sweets.

“Not cool, man,” he said.

Sweet Pea smirked as he leaned back in his seat.

“Wait,” Reggie spoke up slapping his hand on the table. “You’re telling me that your best friend doesn’t even know who you lost your v-card to?”

Sweet Pea shook his head.

“Why not?”

“That’s what I’m saying, Reg!”

“Personal reasons.”

“So, was it like really bad? You just don’t want to talk about it with anyone?” Reggie pressed.

“No, it was actually pretty good for it being both our first time and all.”

“And you didn’t wanna brag about that?”

“That’s what I’m saying, Reg!” Fangs said louder this time.

Sweet Pea shook his head. He could Feel Ember tensing beside him, so he brushed the back of his hand against the outside of her thigh under the table. It seemed to make her relax a little bit.

“Was she not that attractive?” Reggie asked with a look that not-so-subtly said ‘you can tell us the truth.’

Ember tensed up again.

“Smokin’ hot, dude.”

She let out a small chuckle only Sweet Pea could hear, and he rested his palm on her knee.

“What’s more important here,” Toni interjected, “is the fact that we’re not addressing that we have two people here who are cruel enough to withhold this kind of information from their best friend. Ember didn’t take her shot either and even if I hadn’t watched her, I would know because I’m her best friend.”

“Shit, you’re in trouble. She just busted out your full first name, Em,” Betty said.

Ember rolled her eyes and shifted in her seat.

“You and I weren’t best friends at the time, T. We’ve been over this. Like you said, I didn’t take my shot because no one at this table knows. That’s what Sweet’s said, ‘Never Have I Ever told any of you who I lost my virginity to.’ isn’t it?”

“Wait,” Sweet Pea said turning to Ember, “You didn’t take a shot?”

“We just went over this, Sweets.”

“I know. It’s just that technically you should have because of what you said earlier, you know?”

Ember looked up at him as a sly grin spread across his lips. With all the alcohol coursing through her body, she had to really try to think about what Sweets was hinting at. She stared at him with a blank look.

“Remember?” He said with a laugh as he slowly trailed his fingertips along her thigh under the table. “We were at the bar at the start of the party?”

Ember remembered him leaned over, his arms across his chest, and their faces inches apart as she reached for the tequila bottle that was no empty on the table in front of them. She also remembered the way his biceps strained against the rolled-up sleeves of his flannel shirt as he pressed his forearms into the wooden bar top. Hoping that her hand wasn’t shaky she reached for her shot glass and tried to blink away the image of Sweet Pea’s arms in her mind.

“You’re right,” she said, bringing the glass to her lips and tipping it back with her head.

Sweet Pea watched intently as her lips parted, the liquid sliding along her pouty lower lip as her tongue darted out to act as a guide. He wanted to wrap his hand around the back of her neck and keep her like that, remove the glass and replace it with his lips.

“What was that about?” Veronica asked, placing both her elbows on the table and leaning around Sweet Pea.

He smoothly removed his hand from Ember’s leg, silently cursing himself and hoping Veronica hadn’t seen.

“Nothing,” Ember and Sweet Pea said in unison.

“We’ve just had another game going all night, and I forgot the rules,” she smiled. “My turn, right?”

Ember looked around the table while she thought. Each person was staring right back at her. Scanning her friend’s eyes, she giggled and shook her head at herself.

“Some of you are going to hate me for this,” she started, “but Never Have I Ever had sex in a bunker.”

The group collectively groaned, and some took their shots.

“I thought we agreed never to bring that up again,” Jughead said pointing his finger at Ember.

She shrugged and turned her attention to Reggie.

“Your turn.”

“Easy,” he said. “Since we’re bringing up old dirt, Never Have I Ever hooked up with the same girl,” he paused to look at Cheryl and Jughead, “as someone else at this table.”

After rolling her eyes, Cheryl went to take her shot, but stopped when Sweet Pea spoke up.

“Wait, I thought it had to be something you haven’t done,” he said.

“It is,” Reggie said.

“No, you said no one at this table has hooked up with the same girl as you.”

Ember punched Sweet Pea’s leg under the table, but he didn’t seem to feel it.

“Yeah, Sweets. To my knowledge, the only girls Reggie’s been with at this table are Em and Ronnie.”

“Right,” Sweets slurred, holding his head up by placing his hand on his chin, “so he can’t say that no one else at this table has- oh, fuck!”

Everyone stared at Sweet Pea wide-eyed as he shot upright, going completely tense as he realized what he was saying.

“Whoa, Pea,” Reggie said, “are you saying you and Ronnie hooked up?”

Sweet Pea covered his face with his hands while everyone waited for him to respond.

“Fuck!” Fangs shouted.

Everyone’s heads snapped toward him, and Sweets peered at his best friend through his fingers.

“You fucking fucked Ember, didn’t you?” he turned to Ember, “Didn’t he?”

Ember’s eyes looked like they were about to pop out of her head.

“I- we- um,” she stammered.

Sweet Pea dragged his hands down his face.

“Chill, Fangs,” he said, “It’s not that big of a deal. It was-”

“Oh! My! God!” Fangs shouted, slapping his hands don on the table and leaning forward, “It was her.”

He snapped his head toward Toni, and she finally caught on.

“You wouldn’t tell me because it was Sweets!” she shouted.

“Wait,” Betty chimed in, “is what you’re getting at in all this shouting that Em and Sweet Pea not only hooked up but also that they lost their virginity to one another?”

“Yes!” Fangs and Toni shouted at the same time.

A chorus of gasps and shouts went around the table, and when everyone settled down Ember’s cheeks were bright pink. Sweet Pea sat beside her with his head back, staring at the ceiling.

“And this is exactly why we never told any of you about it,” he huffed upward.

“Guys, it’s not that big of a deal,” Ember said looking down at the table.

“Oh?” Sweet Pea snapped, bringing his gaze down, “It wasn’t a big deal?”

When Ember looked up to meet his eyes, Sweet Pea looked genuinely hurt, like she had really offended him.

“Didn’t know that’s why we weren’t telling anyone,” he barked, pushing himself up off the seat and using his long legs to climb over the back of the booth instead of waiting for Ember to get up and let him out.

For the second time, Sweet Pea stormed out of the bar, though this time it was far less graceful as he drunkenly tripped over some stray chairs. During their game, he hadn’t noticed that nearly everyone else at the party had cleared out. There were only a handful of people left hanging in the actual diner, likely waiting to sober up enough to get home or wisely grabbing their hangover meal now instead of venturing out for it tomorrow.

Ember, especially when drunk, was nowhere near tall enough to keep up with Sweet Pea’s strides when he was angry walking. Despite the fact that she hadn’t stopped calling after him since he jumped the booth, he didn’t seem to hear her, or if he did, he didn’t care. She knew there was no way she was going to get faster, and now that he had made it fully outside the diner, it was likely that she would lose sight of him in the dark soon. So, the only think Ember knew to do was get louder.

“FUCK’S SAKE!” She screamed, “SWEET PEA, SLOW DOWN. JESUS CHRIST.”

Hearing her scream at him broke him out of his cloud of anger, and he stopped in the middle of the parking lot. Sweet Pea turned around to see Ember out-of-breath and forcefully stomping towards him.

“I don’t care if you’re mad at me. You’re not storming off into the night drunk,” she said stopping in front of him and crossing her arms over her chest.

Sweet Pea noticed the strap of her red, lace bra peaking out on her left shoulder, and he took a long, deep breath. He tried to focus on her words. Mad. Storming. Drunk. Drunk.

“I’m too drunk for this,” Sweet Pea said shaking his head, but shaking his head started to throw him off balance and caused him to sway backward.

“Good God, Sweets,” Ember said rushing forward to steady him. “You’re twice my size, and you’re drunk of your ass right now.”

“You’re fucking drunk too.”

“Well, I know that,” Ember said placing her hands on her hips.

“I’m gonna sit down,” Sweet Pea slurred before plopping himself down right in the middle of the parking lot.

He looked up at Ember, his head lulling back as his drunk body wasn’t steady. She stepped closer to him, looking down at him with a soft smile. It reminded him of the way she looked at him that night after it had really hit him what they were doing together, and he started to feel nervous and insecure. She had such a pretty smile, so sweet and warm. Like her lips. He could just reach out and pull her down to him like she’d done that night, just pull her to him and kiss her. He wondered if that would explain everything.

“I can’t kiss you,” Sweet Pea said.

“What?” Ember asked as she stepped closer, thinking she might have heard him wrong.

“I can’t kiss you,” he said louder and more clearly this time.

“What are you talking about, Sweets?”

“I was thinking about it. I could, you know?” he looked up at her with the same sort of amusement as a kid in a candy store when he spoke. “I could just pull you down to me right now and kiss you, but I can’t because we’re drunk.”

“Because we’re drunk?”

“Yep. Because we’re drunk. Like, we’re really fucking drunk, my dude.”

They both started to laugh uncontrollably. Ember clutched her stomach and plopped down right next to Sweet Pea, still laughing.

“We are really fucking drunk, aren’t we?” she asked him.

He nodded.

“I’m drunk because Fangs was trying to find a way to use that game to make me tell you that I’m in love with you, but he failed so hard. You want to know why he failed? Because he’s really fucking drunk, too. Why are you so drunk?”

“Wait,” Ember stopped and looked at Sweet Pea, searching for some sort of presence behind his eyes, “Did you just say that Fangs was trying to get you to tell me that you’re in love with me?”

“Did I?”

“That’s what I heard.”

“Well, pretend you didn’t. You weren’t supposed to. I’ve been keeping that one a secret for like four years,” Sweet Pea said before lying back on the pavement and staring up at the night sky.

“No. Fuck that,” Ember said, pulling at Sweet Pea’s shoulders and trying to get him to sit back up.

When he stayed put, she pulled out her phone and started recording a video. She set her phone down on the pavement next to her and tried again to get Sweet Pea to sit up.

“You don’t get to tell me to pretend I didn’t hear you say that you’re in love with me and that you have been for four years and then proceed to pass out on the fucking pavement in the fucking Pop’s parking lot, Sweet Pea. Get the fuck up.”

“What the hell is going on out here?” Fangs called from across the parking lot.

Ember stood up and turned to face him before throwing her hands in the air.

“This dumbass won’t get off the fucking ground,” she called to Fangs.

As he walked over, Ember noticed that Fangs looked significantly more sober than he had been when she and Sweet Pea left the bar. Fangs stopped next to Ember and looked down at Sweet Pea, who just waved up at him. Fangs chuckled before sticking his hand out to Sweets.

“Come on, buddy,” he said. “I think it’s time we get everyone home. Toni ordered us all Ubers on Cheryl’s account.

Sweets stuck his hand up from the ground and let Fangs help him up. When his head stopped spinning, he realized Ember was gone, and he could barely remember what they’d been talking about. He just had a feeling that he was mad at her for some reason.

 The next morning, Sweet Pea woke to banging on his front door that rang through his head and all the way down his back. When he moved from his bed, his whole body hurt. Stepping over his shoes and clothes from last night that we haphazardly thrown on his bedroom floor, he made his way to his dresser and pulled out a pair of gym shorts to put on. He shielded his eyes from the sun coming from his living room window when he came to the door, the banging still constant and seemingly growing louder the longer it took him to reach the front of the house. When he opened the door, Ember stood there still in here oversized t-shirt and sleep shorts, and she looked pissed. Sweet Pea started running through anything he could remember from last night, and everything after his stupid joke at the bar came up blank. He knew she wasn’t mad about that, but he was more than a little scared to find out what he’d done. Ember pushed past him and stomped her way into his living room, the sound of her feet—even on the carpeted floor—felt like nerve endings being pulled right out of Sweet Pea’s head.

“Explain this,” Ember said sharply, thrusting her phone in Sweet Pea’s face.

It was a shaky video of the Pop’s parking lot.

“What the fuck, Em? Did you take a shitty video of the parking lot?” he asked.

“Listen,” she bit back.

He held he phone closer to his ear, and he could hear a very drunk-sounding Em through the speaker: “You don’t get to tell me to pretend I didn’t hear you say that you’re in love with me and that you have been for four years and then proceed to pass out on the fucking pavement in the fucking Pop’s parking lot, Sweet Pea. Get the fuck up.”

Sweet Pea’s eyes closed tightly as he took in a sharp breath. He remembered shoving Fangs against the door at the start of the party and threatening him. He remembered making more suggestive comments to Em throughout the night. And, he vaguely remembered the game of Never Have I Ever, which resulted in his storming out of the bar. When he opened his eyes, Ember was still glaring at him with her shoulders tense and jaw clenched. He looked down her body and saw he fist balled tightly by her side and couldn’t help but laugh.

“Why are you laughing?” she seethed.

Sweet Pea looked her in the eyes, and his whole body relaxed. She knew now. There was no getting around that, and no matter how terrified he was to have this conversation with her, he had to admit one thing.

“You’re fucking brilliant, you know that?” he asked with a genuine smile spreading across his lips.

Ember softened and cocked her head to the side.

“What?”

“You’re brilliant. Even when you’re drunk off your ass, you’re thinking of ways to hold me accountable. I mean, taking a video so you have some sort of proof to call me out on is just beyond me, Em.”

“Not the point, Sweet Pea.”

“Sorry,” he said, putting his hands up in surrender before bringing her over to the couch to sit.

“Is this true?” She asked, shaking the phone in his face.

He cupped his hands around her hand and the phone and gently brought in down to her lap. For a moment, he saw something flash in her eyes, something soft and maybe vulnerable, but her expression hardened again quickly.

“Are you asking me if I’m in love with you?” Sweets asked softly.

“Yes,” Ember said matching his tone.

“Then yes,” he said as he let go of her hand and brought his own to rest in his lap.

He didn’t want to look up at here; he was afraid her expression hadn’t softened to match her tone. He was afraid in general. That’s why he’d never said anything about it in the first place. He and Ember had been neighbors and friends since before they even got to decide who their friends were, before Toni and Fangs and the Serpents. She was one constant he couldn’t justify the risk of losing. When they’d managed to keep their friendship in the same condition after their agreement, Sweet Pea decided it was best not to test their luck.

“And you just didn’t say anything for four years?” she asked, her voice shaky.

Sweet Pea knew the sound of Ember’s voice strained in that way all to well, and sure enough, when he looked up to meet her eyes, she was holding back tears and her bottom lip was quivering.

“Is it because of what I said?” she squeaked, tears spilling down her cheeks as she sucked in a shaky breath.

“What? Em, what are you talking about?”

She looked down and played with the hem of her t-shirt, sniffling. Sweet Pea watched as she quickly wiped her tears and looked up at the light, holding more back. She spoke so softly this time that Sweet Pea had to lean in to hear her.

“When I said, ‘As long as you can promise not to go falling in love with me’ afterward,” she said as more tears fell. “Is that why you never said anything? Because I didn’t mean it like that. I never wanted you to feel like- I was just kidding because we were best friends, and we’d just had sex, and I was trying to be funny because I was afraid things were going to be weird, and-”

Realization hit Sweet Pea in the gut as he listened to Ember stammer through her tears. She thought that it was her fault he’d never told her, like she did something wrong. His throat tightened up as he watched her sniffle and cry in front of him, and all he could think to do was pull her right onto his lap and hold her. He pressed her head to his chest, wrapped his arms around her, and set his chin on top of her head. He completely enveloped her, and he could feel her let go, fully sobbing onto his bare skin and shaking in his grasp.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to,” she kept saying over and over, only making him want to squeeze her tighter and tighter.

“Shh, Emmy,” he cooed, using a nickname she rarely let anyone else use, “it’s okay. It’s not like that at all. It’s okay. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

After five minutes of Sweet Pea whispering in her ear, Ember had calmed down enough to actually comprehend what he was saying instead of just hearing the melodic cadence of his words. When Sweet Pea pulled away, he used the pads of his thumbs to wipe the tears from her cheeks and gave her a small smile.

“See? Okay. We’re good now, right?” he said.

“No!” she shouted, causing Sweet Pea to jump back at her sudden outburst. “If I didn’t make you think I wasn’t interested by saying that, then why didn’t you just fucking tell me you had feelings for me? For God’s sake, we had sex, and you couldn’t just talk to me?”

Sweet Pea looked at her all puffy-eyed and red-nosed and yelling at him, and all he could do was laugh. When she put it like that, he saw exactly what she meant. They crossed the boundaries of their friendship in a way that so many people would never even dare to do, and he couldn’t even sit down and have a conversation with her.

“Why are you laughing now?” she asked.

“Because you’re right. When you say it like that, it sounds really dumb that I didn’t say anything to you. I was just scared. I figured we were lucky enough for things to not be super weird after we had sex, and I didn’t want to risk that not being the case if we dated and broke up.”

“You never considered what would happen if I didn’t have feelings for you?” Ember asked.

Sweet Pea’s eyes grew wide, and his jaw dropped.

“Oh, shit,” he said putting a little more distance between the two of them. “I didn’t mean to assume-”

This time, it was Ember’s turn to start laughing. She held her hand up to her mouth to cover her smile.

“I’m sorry. I just couldn’t resist,” she said between giggles as she reached out for Sweet Pea’s arm to pull him back. “I didn’t mean to freak you out like that.”

“So, you do have feelings for me, too?” Sweet Pea asked.

“Mmhm,” Ember hummed as she brought her hand from covering her mouth to covering her face while she blushed.

Sweet Pea reached out and grabbed her wrist. He pulled it away from her face and ducked down to look her in the eyes.

“Stop,” he whispered. “You’re so cute when you blush.”

He moved his hand from her wrist to her chin as she dropped her hand to her lap. Tilting her chin up, he leaned in a placed a soft kiss on her lips. She ran her fingertips up his arms and linked them together behind his neck pulling him toward her as she fell backward on his couch. Sweet Pea followed, shifting so that he was hovering over Ember on the couch when they parted. Ember pulled him down one more time, pecking his lips. Sweet Pea smiled and buckled his arms, causing Ember to squeal as he gently fell on top of her and buried his head in her neck. Sweets spoke into her shoulder, muffled partly by her hair and the couch cushion beneath them.

“Does your head hurt as bad as mine does?” he asked.

“It hurts pretty bad.”

“You wanna go cuddle in bed until it goes away?”

Ember simply nodded in response and gave Sweet Pea a gentle kiss on the shoulder.

“Good,” he said, wrapping his arms around her waist and pushing them both up of the couch.

Ember tightened her grip around his neck as he picked her up, and she peppered his cheek and jaw with kisses as he carried her to the bed. Sweet Pea carefully crawled into the spot where he’d thrown the covers to the side when Ember was banging at his door and gently dropped her on the bed next to him. Ember pulled the covers from behind her over both their bodies and snuggled into his chest while he wrapped his arms around her and kissed to top of her head.

Sweet Pea pulled her in tighter and tangled his legs with hers, closing his eyes and sighing softly.

“Sweets?” Em whispered looking up at him.

“Hm?” he hummed.

“I don’t think I really said it, but I love you.”

“I love you, too,” he whispered back.

[joaquinwhorres]

find the word tag.

tagged by @veetlegeuse who always has the best games

words: crash, tremble, blush, learn, strange, fly

crash

Your eyes shot up from where you had been wrapped up in your current project of queuing up the perfect mixture of classic and new Panic! At the Disco songs—your best guess on what they’d play tonight to give Toni a much needed crash course on their discography.

Fresh Air (Sweet Pea x Reader, abandoned WIP)

tremble

He was not a virgin by any means, but hovering on top of her, his hands trembled, and he felt nervous for the first time in years.

Her eyes fluttered open, and she looked at him with a keen warmth, as if seeing his hesitancy for exactly what it was.

The Lucky Ones (Post-War!George Weasley x f!OC, WIP)

blush

"I think we met briefly at the World Cup," Bill commented shaking Wren's hand. Her breath caught slightly as she looked up at him, taking in his dragon fang earring and dark, Weird Sisters-esq clothes.

"Yeah, right," Wren nodded hoping she was successful in fighting back a blush.

The Fool (Fred Weasley x f!OC, future chapter of published work)

learn

For instance, tonight some frat guy decided to wear salmon shorts to a dive bar. If I had to guess, he’s the rare tourist/bro crossbreed; a brother from a southern chapter of a fraternity or a recent transplant who has yet to learn that people up north don’t wear colors.

Phantasmagoria (original work)

strange

"Oh yeah," Joaquin said, darting forward to shut the door before coming back to lead you deeper into his apartment. The TV was on and a strange piece of machinery sat next to a bottle of beer on the coffee table. Your eyes lingered on both as Joaquin cleaned papers off the other half of his couch to make room for you. "Do you want a beer?"

Mr. Fix-It (neighbor!Joaquin Torres x reader, WIP)

fly

"I'll have you know I'm more than just a pretty face," he remarked, taking a sip from his beer. "I also happen to fly planes."

hey baby (Rooster Bradshaw x reader, WIP)

-

new words: whisper, shout, brush, air, rough, quickly

tagging @itsjustgracy @akabluekat @hairringtonsteve @paperpocalypse @roosterbradshaws @bubblegum-barbie