#also how cute is arthur with his dimples he's adorable | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

imasimpforstevengrant · 4 years ago

Text

His (Part one)

Edit by the wonderful 💕💕💕 joker_jessica295

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Special thanks to @neon-umbrella-for-stella (thank you so much for the ideas!) and @darkshadow90 for the tips on certain scenes 💕💕

• Author’s note¹: Another Arthur/Harley smut. Yes. It took me more than seven months to write it, based one a suggestion from a reader on a different take.

• A/N ²: 447 FOLLOWERS? WHEN tHE HELL DID I GET SO MANY?! THANK YOU SO MUCH OMG

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Summary: A piece more centered in Harleen and her feelings towards Arthur, Flashbacks to the first meeting and kiss. More sex comes after their first night together as they open up about each other. Meanwhile, a clown has stirred Gotham City by murdering three young Wayne employees, awakening a popular fascination which not even Harleen won’t escape from. She doesn’t know this (wrongly) crowned hero is closer than she thinks.

Warnings: insecurity, self-hatred, swearing, darker Arthur ahead (possessive, lusty, crossing boundaries), age gap, strong sexual themes, sexual humor, oral sex (male receiving), fluff, breast oral stimulation, dirty talk, mild praise kink, possessive, unprotected sex.

WC: +9.946 (IT’S LONG I KNOW… I hope you don’t get bored!)

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November would mark one year since she got to Bronx Apartment after finishing her studies in Gotham’s University, obtaining a degree as a psychologist. Harleen was blessed with an exceptional intuition and a brilliant memory, this preventing her to burn her eyes away studying day and night for exams.

Once finished, she got a job as a therapist in social services. It had been hard to get but Harleen used her charm to convince the man she was ardently committed to social causes. A few smiles to the old, drooling creep during interviews and she got what she wanted. But with the unemployment rate increasing in the city, Harleen knew crisis couldn’t be avoided with a charming smile. Resenting her situation but with no other option, Harleen obtained a job as a bartender in shifts, most of them at night.

She was a frequent target of blatant ogling and indecent comments from men of all ages to which Harleen always replied with sarcasm that either scared them off or ended up with men insulting her under their breath. The first two months in the building were boring and gloomy, until she saw him.

Harleen had seen him a few times. He always seemed so mad, so drawn within himself and yet there was something oddly attractive about him. If not beautiful, it was certainly intriguing. He was the neighbor the other residents warned her about: the laughing guy from the eighth floor. Some told her he was ugly, deranged and creepy. Harleen got her first impression of him during a day off: she went for a drink when the mail boxes, surrounded by a small cage, were checked by the mysterious man.

There he was. The guy was wearing the usual yellow hoodie, navy blue pants, brown vest and a white polka-dotted shirt. Shoes were worn as much as his outfit, hair slicked back, gaze focused on the box that seemed eternally empty. She then noticed the frown that hardened his features, reinforcing the idea that he was always angry, while asking herself some questions about him. Who was he? What did he do for a living? Was he married? Did he have children? He looked old enough to have them.

What was his name?

She would have never imagined she’d figured it out months later. It was one particular night she went out to a party just to return home a little drunk. A catchy song refused to leave her mouth, while dancing in a lively way were enough to get the attention of the loner. He returned from getting his medicines. Hunched pace tracing his way back home, Arthur saw the young recently graduated young lady dancing shamelessly in the hall. She wore a short red dress and her lips shone in crimson gloss.

The image of her hair flowing, creating a blue and pink spectrum of colors turned out to be so unusual and beautiful that immediately sent involuntary visions of her in sexual situations. He hated the idea of her being out of his reach but felt a modest share of satisfaction just by seeing her. This became a common practice on his routine, with Harleen being completely unaware of it. She only saw her mysterious neighbor a few times from then, probably because he had to work. A lot, from what she could tell.

It was Thursday in the evening when she returned from the theater. Harleen was thankful she was on the taxi when the rain started. It was a small luxury she could gift herself after working so hard. She thought her day couldn’t get better when back home when she’d finally get what she wanted for so long.

Once in the elevator bag, in hand, she saw him. The door opening revealed the crestfallen individual, always withdrawn in his thoughts. That would explain why he almost jumped out in shock when he saw her, as if she was some kind of ghost. Harleen finally found the courage to grin and speak up.

“Hi”. One kind greet was enough to freeze him. At the same time, Arthur stared at her, examining the funny hairstyle that embellished her. Simple but pretty: a white sweater and jeans with short boots and a blue bag hanging from her left arm. Buns held her hair, blue the left one, pink the other one. A few platinum locks fell over her neck.

“Hi”, he finally replied. Doubt made his vocal chords tremble. His stare betrayed everything he felt for her, showing even how surprised he was for a woman like her to talk to him. He did his best to return the grin, his lips curving into a sneaky, playful one. Something inside Harleen trembled. Of all the reactions she expected, this was certainly an unexpected surprise. It was like a powerful bolt whipping her body. The odd attractiveness of her older neighbor caught her off guard. She did not expect him to actually have… charm.

There was something that tainted his unique beauty, however. She couldn’t help but stare in silent horror at the small bruise on his eye and a dry trace of blood on the bottom lip. His deep silence and mirthless look on his eyes despite the smile carved a deep wound in Harleen’s soul. He looked so destroyed and yet he managed to be polite enough to reply. She now paid attention to the adorable dimples embellishing his smile. The only thing she could do was smile back, not imagining the magnitude of the feelings she would unleash on him.

The bell rang. Harleen suddenly felt bad to leave for her flat, desiring just a few more seconds to appreciate his features. But she wasn’t willing to lose and her generosity gifted him an awkward but cute hand gesture, which Arthur took a long time to respond to. The absolute amazement in his eyes turned out to be an unexpectedly pleasant shock. That smile… so distant from the serious expression that usually carved his features, lost inside his thoughts.

Once in her flat, Harleen was incapable to stop thinking about him. And that wasn’t the only problem. Thoughts replayed the charming smile over and over again and became particularly intrusive while undressing to take a hot shower. She wanted to know more about him by being subtle, to increase the thrill this stranger had caused to her.

Probably the premise of “opposites attract” took a special meaning for the two of them, causing an authentic interest over the loner’s magnetism, not imagining how much of a surprise he’d turn out to be. What Harleen would have never thought was that the loner was also immensely interested in her…

Through fleeting glimpses of a yellow hoodie, she learned she had a secret admirer (this being a soft epithet for what it was actually an stalker).

Harleen became aware of it after noticing there was always a tall, thin man lurking in the shadows of the buildings in front of the playground she was always in during nighttime. It also happened while she was jogging or hanging on a rope to avoid any further danger lately. The latter was more interesting for him, given she could notice him better: still, predacious, not missing any second of watching her involved in such graceful moves, like floating in the air.

Harleen was sly, of course. She knew she was gorgeous. And the notion of being unreachable was highlighted by adding more sensual moves in this effective way to attract him, assuming the unpleasant cost of being constantly catcalled by other men. But of course her efforts paid off: the long expected meeting would occur on September. She actually expected another day to play innocent and let him stare at her instead of an actual interaction. A few pedestrians passed by, following a series of unpleasant whistling and blatant sexual commentaries.

But she couldn’t care less now, noticing it took him longer for him to show himself up through the dim lights in comparison to other days.

Harleen kept doing her job, however, repeating and extending the same moves to maintain her anxiety at bay. This resulted in more pirouettes so she could catch the familiar glimpse of the yellow hoodie near the darkened corner he usually stopped by to stare. The exercise turned out to be so pleasant that almost made her forget her initial goal, her focus now being to make a risky but stylish twirl.

There were no whistles or any indecent comments this time. Just a soft chuckle that evidently showed his amazement at the pirouette broke the deaf car honks, far screams from angry people that shattered the already silent place. Her swinging form immediately got down while trying not to lose the composure, calling him.

But far from what she expected, the man reacted horrified just to run away. She wasn’t going to give up, quickly jogging towards the fence that separated them.

“Hey!” she extended one hand, clawing herself with the other one. The hooded shadow stood there, panicking. He couldn’t bring himself to disappear in the dark, which made him look like a malevolent spirit.

“Come back!” she yelled, waving her hand incessantly to convince him to return, daring him to answer for such tenebrous and creepy attraction for her. It seemed her call paid off, since the man had no intentions to keep running, choosing to walk his uncertainty away through disoriented circles. He suddenly stopped walking, standing completely still now. Harleen rose an eyebrow, honestly expecting what he would do now.

That man had issues for sure.

The idea soon morphed into a fact. Once she saw him coming closer to her to finally face her, she found herself unable to hold back a gasp to discover it was precisely her handsome but distant neighbor she had seen so many times and the reason why she had let him cross the line. She liked intense emotions, and something told her this man could give her a good thrill. The loner, for his part, turned around and almost tripped once realizing the short proximity between them.

It was certainly shocking to see an apparently cold, aloof individual who never talked with such searing lust in his eyes. Her hands now clawed at the fence, her icy blue eyes stared at him, feeling a shiver down her spine while she their glare revealed more things about him, one being his complete bewitch (or more like aroused) hearing his breath becoming more and more shortened. But there was also a glimpse of guilt, lips twitching as if he was repressing a word or even a kiss, she’d dared to say.

The darkness highlighted the odd yet irresistible attractiveness that stole her heart, tracing a smile on her lips. He set his eyes down her body, ending the visual enjoyment focusing on the striking, extravagant mane that reached the upper part of her hips.

“You’ve been enjoying my show, have you?”, she went straight to the point.

A reply came out ringing in a remorseful, broken whisper:

“Yeah”

His name was Arthur. Harleen couldn’t be happier to finally know it, repeating it while taking her time to savor it.

Arthur Fleck.

Nothing prepared her to witness the very thing he was known for, however: the pained, cursed laugh that now resounded through the air.

At first she thought it was genuine but the horrifying shameful look warned her about his desperate attempt to stop and to breathe. The cackles were frustrating and, worse yet, exhausting to the point it made him lose balance while trying his best to look for something inside his pocket. She climbed up the fence to finally make direct contact with him. That seemed to shock him enough to distract his features in a more skeptical expression at the first time someone showing him kindness rather than giving him the usual disgusted stare.

A plastic, worn out card explaining his condition came from his pocket. The fit diminished to painful hiccups to tired sobs, relieved by a few reassuring words to make the stranger stay. It followed with a small talk about Thomas Wayne, unemployment in Gotham City and revealing each other’s “do for a living” but the topic of conversation seemed off. She could tell Arthur wasn’t used to social interaction, noticing how much it took him to find a tone and words to reply coherently. He never lost a sight of her, never taking his gaze off her as she spoke. The blonde felt actual amazement on the intense lust she had awakened on him, motivating her to test him, to see what things he would do to her in a more intimate place.

They arrived to the building. Harleen led her guest to her humble flat. Arthur was fascinated by the pink neon lights that banished the darkness to plunge his senses in a pleasurable, dreamlike numbness. They continued talking. Her flirty attitude and smiles made Arthur feel he was living the best night of his life. The loner was too lost in her bicoloured mane. A small smirk traced his lips, forming those dimples she secretly admired so much.

“It looks like cotton candy”, his mutter rang through her mind, resounding like a small demeanor confessed with relief. The sweet compliment was rewarded, subsequently, with a short, noisy kiss on his forehead. The action quickly makes him recoil for a few seconds, as her memory remembered, just to feel confident enough now to unleash a furious, hungry kiss on her lips. This violent outburst of passion had her lips against his dry, cracked lips, shocking her at first to eventually surrender and responding to the kiss. His inexperience was clear from the beginning but she had more of a convincing proof that the vehemence of the touch starved was, sometimes, more arousing than the dexterity of an experienced lover.

The sound of their lips breaking the caress made the sexual tension even more unbearable. He apologized; covering his mouth like punishing himself for behaving like a deranged creep but Harleen was just too impressed and lost after the spontaneous gesture, praising him for his passion instead of screaming at him. She had already accepted she’d never yearn for another lips except his.

It wasn’t easy for him, however. His rigid posture put in evidence his shame at the (obvious) first intimate contact he held with an actual person. With her head tilting tenderly, Harleen put a rebel curl behind his ear. He shrugged, stepping back, maybe processing the word she chose to describe him. As if that wasn’t enough, Arthur was too self-absorbed in his visible fascination over her chest. There was more than mere lust in his gaze over his disturbing fixation on her bosom, a far cry for the abandonment and yearning for intimacy but being too afraid to show it. Harleen fought the persistent (and reckless, utterly reckless, she had to recognize) urge to grab his hand and let them knead her soft forms, getting him to know her more personally.

Instead, Harleen took his hands on hers, caressing them tenderly. A defeated sigh, at last, made him regain composure. His whisper sounded broken but clear, much to her joy.

“Can you please...?” Arthur wasn’t able to even to complete the plea as the blonde closed her eyes slowly as her face broke distance with his to once again experiment the clouding, soaring euphoria their careless closeness brought with it. The party clown had a hard time processing the warm and maddening sensation of her lips on his, convincing himself that this was no hallucination. They took their time, finding the perfect angle to get a better caress from each other: Harleen had the initiative throwing her arms to his neck, causing the loner to respond by locking his arms around her waist.

Intimacy became too overwhelming when her tongue tried to play with his. The lovers laughed the nervousness off as the kiss finished momentarily to recover from the numbness. But he went back to devouring her to memorize every little sensation, growing more and more confident, tilting his head now to obtain a better taste of her mouth. It proved to be too much for him, however. She sadly felt him distancing from the embrace, most probably because his old fashioned ways deemed improper to sleep with a woman he just had met.

She felt so many things that fateful night misting her senses to verbalize her thoughts. But one thing was for sure:

She would burn Gotham to see him smile.

*-*-*

It was 09:33 am according to the green bluish digits on the old clock, light drizzle falling over Gotham City. A disheveled, yawing Harleen woke up by herself. Laziness held her muscles still until her stomach made clear that breakfast was a must.

She put on black shorts and a grey, long sleeved-shirt, combing her hair to then make a couple pretty braids that fell over her torso. The combination of pink and electric blue was pleasant to the sight, as the mirror revealed. Soon after the observation, she contemplated the empty space left by her lover: Arthur Fleck. She closed her eyes.

That name sounded (or more like tasted) so different now. The memory of this lonely, sad man turned into a sex crazed lunatic still shocked her, as her facial expressions brought out. The fierce passion he had just loved her with turned out to be hard to be believed considering how deprived he was of human contact.

It wasn't just the thrill of surprise but the tenderness of his vulnerability, an aspect whose contrast between despite looking twice as older than her and being a late bloomer just highlighted their affair: Arthur was so different in intimacy, letting go of that repression that harmed his soul since he understood his needs as a man. She smiled, still thinking about what they had done. The thought led her to look for him while her vision became sharper, slowly overcoming the persistent need to go back to sleep.

When she stepped outside her room, a chuckle reverberated through the air, making her come to her senses. Eyes blinking, a pleasant feel of lightheadedness befogging her mind as the silence was broken by a familiar voice.

“Knock, knock”. Harleen was still too sleepy to catch a clear glimpse of the loner behind her who, in turn, locked her form as if she was a prey.

"Huh?" she hummed, confused. But there was no verbal response from him. Arthur reacted kissing her neck with ferocious passion, holding her figure possessively, absorbing her scent. The blonde made an instinctive futile attempt to free herself to recover from the scare the sudden grasp had caused on her. A breathy whisper in her ear dissuaded any intention to undo the embrace.

“You’re supposed to ask who's there”

Harleen turned around, her long blond hair tickling his face. He wasn't gone but by God, she was thankful for that. Arthur undid the hug, directing his hands to her face to press kisses on it repeatedly.

"Mr. Fleck--" the blonde murmured, "I thought you were back on the business making people smile". Arthur smirked. A high pitched giggle left his mouth. He now directed his fingers to feel those attention drawn to her gorgeous, full pink lips.

"I am right now" the loner leaned his forehead against hers. Now that her vision was slightly clearer, she noticed Arthur had left her flat for a moment, given he was wearing a red sweater he didn't bring before. The loner then proceeded to take a black wand off his sleeve, offering it to her. Harleen giggled and took it, deciding to play his game. The object lost its rigid shape, causing Arthur to laugh at her disappointed reaction. He demonstrated his aptitudes as a party clown taking back the wand just for it to regain rigidity once on his hand. He whistled, adding a funny sound as he shook it against his other hand, checking its stiffness.

"What are you doing?" Harleen seemed completely taken by the action, her smile encouraging him to finally offer her the aforementioned wand as a bunch of flowers while humming a song. A tender, excited scream made him chuckle as her hands stopped shaking to hold carefully the gift. It had plenty of feathers of different colors but she loved the simplicity of it.

"Thank you" she placed them in the table, along a small pot of flowers.

Harleen stared at him, tenderly. All Arthur could do was smile, holding her hands briefly on his to then slide one up her arm to reach her face. She suppressed a gasp, which seemed to change the course of the original touch in thought, as his hand recoiled for a moment to return with more intensity to her face.

"We had one hell of a good fuck, Mr. Fleck" Harleen whispered, intertwining her fingers with his. Arthur burst out laughing as her swearing manners still made a great impact against his older ways. But he liked her honesty, nonetheless.

"I think we woke up the whole building" Harleen laughed.

“I don’t see the problem with that”.

“I never said it was“, Arthur replied, cocky. A deep intake of breath then happened, “You know I—“he stammered, nervous. With a cute giggle, the blonde slid down her hands through the soft fabric of his half buttoned shirt that left a glimpse of his chest, invigorating him to keep on. Arthur stared at her, not a word from his mouth, enticingly.

“I-- was just wondering-- what else we can do", he kept on after seconds passed by, trying to catch her mouth with his, nuzzling her face, “’because-- I told my mother I had a call—“, he continued, “from work… so I'd stay away from my apartment for a while. I need some—“he took another deep breath, trying to find the courage to look at her in the eye to pronounce his intentions.

“I need some space, Harleen…” Arthur stared up and down at her figure, hands sliding up the collarbone to rub her shoulders, persuading her to be an accomplice of this reprehensible deed, "but not alone”. The words, though flawed in pronunciation, were perfect to keep her gaze lost as if Arthur had cast a spell on her.

“I plan to have you all for myself today and I'm--" he closed his eyes, hiding his face in her neck, sniffing her hair while trying to voice his intentions despite the nervousness that made him stammer, "I'm eager to know you more personally".

Harleen was actually shocked with what she just heard. A mixture of utter tenderness and searing lust made her blood boil. Did he lie to his own mom to spend more time with her?

"Well with the riots out there, bar is closed for a couple of days so consider it your lucky day” her voice chirped in joy. His eyes shone with modest but genuine happiness at the good news. Then he smiled, flaunting those crooked teeth Harleen loved so much.

The blonde felt she was about to kneel and unzip his pants to give him the reward he deserved for such gesture when her stomach claimed for some food, impeding the spontaneous sexual fantasy to become real, earning a disapproving look on his face. It took them time to regain calmness, as their laborious breaths tried to cool down the fire inside them.

“Why are you doing that?” his tone of voice revealed impatience, leading her to express the idea to have some good meal before any intimacy could take place, causing his displeased expression to turn into a wide smirk.

“Great!” Arthur chuckled, granting her some personal space.

They made their way to the kitchen. Arthur took a sit while waiting, taking a cigarette to light it. Harleen quickly prepared the table, taking the electric kettle to fill it with water to pour it on the coffee machine, putting bread on the toaster and turning the radio on in hopes to increase the domestic bliss. The smoke filled the room but she couldn't care less. The news announced a cold, rainy week while announcing a new episode of the Murray Franklin’s show presenting a famous actor as a guest next week given the release of the film he recently starred in the next week. The announcement ended with a shortened version of the groovy organ of Frank Sinatra’s anthem “That’s Life” which Arthur hummed along. But as soon as the theme song ended on a fade out, he silenced himself to hear, much to his annoyance according to the tired, throaty groan that followed the happy hum, a reporter pronouncing the news related to the continuation of the garbage strike.

Both stood completely silent as the report that exposed most of Gotham's slums to insalubrities. The fear of the possibility to catch a severe disease was reinforced by the citizens who claimed to have seen the rat population increase. The piece of news changed to the Mayoral election, which seemed difficult given the riots and general dissatisfaction of Gotham citizens with unemployment rate and apparent authority's indifference in the matter. The note ended with Thomas Wayne promising order and prosperity if elected. More announcements followed, but the lovers didn’t pay any attention to it. His great displeasure caused Harleen to turn off the device.

"I just can't understand how my mother thinks he's gonna help us" his hand took the cigarette back to his mouth, adding that just because she worked for him more than thirty years ago did not mean he had the obligation to run in aid for her. Arthur rolled his eyes, making clear his profound dislike for people like him and the insufferable infatuation Penny felt for him.

“I’ve told her so many times she doesn’t have to worry about money. Everyone is telling me my stand ups are ready to make it on the big clubs”.

Harleen nodded, enthusiastic at the possibility of Arthur getting a name for himself in the stage.

“I’m not the man of the house for nothing”.

Harleen took the toasted bread and coffee kettle to the table.

“Man of the house, huh?”

“Yes, since I can remember. But even I need a break” he took another long drag, his lost look causing a deep sorrow on Harleen.

She lamented the prolonged solitude that caused him to pronounce such wounded words, hoping (maybe in an unconscious way to cope with stress) to get out the pain it caused him. The blonde extended her hand towards his, in a sweet attempt to cure or, at least, relieve his pain.

His absent gaze combined with the smile caused Harleen to feel a shiver down her spine. She laughed nervously to later pour the coffee in his mug to fill her own later. He didn’t laugh, staring at her and rubbing his forehead with his thumb. This dark glint promised her so many things, and few of them were good. He wasn’t afraid anymore to hide his intentions from her, seeing the affection was mutual. She could also see a spark of pride, engulfing his mind in another deep state of absent thoughtfulness. He pronounced no words, looking now at the recently poured coffee, whose steam slowly diminished to long twirls to nearly invisible white lines. She slowly and carefully extended her hand to his arm to convince him to leave the cigarette aside just to grab the large plate full of breads.

“Aren’t you a cute, little pleaser?”

The tender name immediately washed the worry away from her face while a reddish hue colored her cheeks. Arthur finally gave it a bite, cigarette finally left on the ashtray. The crunchy sound gave Harleen almost a cathartic relief. Whenever the chance to nurture him showed up she didn’t think twice to do it. He left the half eaten piece of bread aside to divert his attention to her.

“You wanna hear a joke?” the playful tone of voice and mischievous smirk made his face adopt such a devilishly appeal Harleen was unable to resist.

“Yes!” she said it as if that could convince him to have one more toast.

“Why are poor people so confused?” his grin drew those adorable dimples in his face again.

“I don’t know” a frisky look gleamed in her eyes.

“Because they don’t have any cents” he answered, before his voice exploded in a loud cackle. Harleen laughed at the simplicity of it. He was actually a funny guy, if only life could have been more generous to him. Bless his soul for making people laugh in such hard times.

Harleen was too lost in his joyful expression beyond if the joke was funny or not. His green eyes shone with a special light in the rare moments he could be in tune with his surroundings. It was as magical as seeing a shooting star. How she wished to take away the pain from him just to see his beautiful smile more often.

Throwing a smoking puff to the air, Arthur leaned in as if to tell her a secret.

“This is the first time someone is so nice to me", the loner confessed, shaking his head. He looked so lost, eyes following the smoke elevating in a single line undone by the move to breathe in the last remains of the cigarette. His personal battle against his warped perception of reality still gnawed his trust on her. A tender pout formed in her lips.

“You’re the first person who doesn’t feel uncomfortable around me” he muttered.

Her thoughts drifted to a greater, sadder horror: to make a difference in such a dark, mirthless man’s life just for being kind barely managed to even imagine the inhuman hardships he had been through during all his life. She lowered her head, trying to resist the actual pain in her chest. How a sentence that was so heartbreaking could also be so beautiful?

“I’m sorry, Arthur”. Her eyebrows arch in a sad expression that seemed to make him reconnect with reality.

“For what?” he frowned, confused. She tightened her eyelids, trying not to embarrass herself in front of him with such an explosive display of emotions, silencing her sobs the best way she could allow herself.

“Everything” Harleen finished. His instinct ordered him to show distrust, unconsciously trying to find any trace of lies. Nobody ever had apologized or even shed a tear for him. As he realized her care was genuine, his mind replayed the phrase over and over again while trying to process these intense, new feelings blooming in his heart over the typical, negative thoughts ghosting around his mind.

“Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no. Don’t do that” Arthur reacted panicked, “please…” his fingers dried the watery creeks, “don’t make that face to me. I’m here to put a smile on your face”.

He inhaled deeply, before continuing:

“You know… a famous comedian used to say… uh –“ his troubled mind tried to remember the name but then opted to articulate a coherent word to elude anything that could ridicule him –‘a day without a smile is a wasted day’.

A soft hum left her mouth, though a far shadow of sadness still haunted the tender quote.

“You know what I like about you, Arthur?”

“Yeah?” he was genuinely intrigued to know.

“You could even put the fun in a funeral”

His wide and evil grin, made her put a loose lock of hair behind her ear as a result of an involuntary move to cope with the nervousness.

“Fun in a funeral?” he repeated, a loud and moved hum sounding like a purr, staring at her while a chuckle shook his shoulders, “How sweet”.

How didn’t he realize how attractive he actually was? She asked herself surprised.

“Come here” Arthur patted his thigh loud enough for her to listen to it for her to reply. After drying the creeks coming from her reddened eyes, Harleen calmly got up from the chair. Arthur took distance from the table to allow her a comfortable sit. His fingers held her cheeks to create a smile despite her watery eyes.

Harleen blinked, and a tear escaped. Arthur brushed it away once it ran over her face. He thought she looked pretty when she cried, though. She gave him a sad smile and soon found solace in his face, ruffling the fluffy hair to distract her mind from any unhappy thought. Arthur closed his eyes, slowly caressing her thighs in sensual payback for her little attentions.

Once their foreheads found each other, the blonde muttered:

“How’s that feel?”

“Feels… good” he hummed against her mouth. His lungs inhaled deep before adding:

“I thought I felt better when I was locked in the hospital”.

Harleen widened her eyes in surprise, taking a short distance from him, not knowing if it was another self deprecating joke or the truth, given the defeated tone the sentence was pronounced in.

“What?” but a castdown look was all she needed to figure out the sadness such place caused on him. It wasn’t a secret Arkham was a human dump, considering it held Gotham’s most demented and dangerous criminals and unfortunate souls who couldn’t go anywhere else. Harleen’s eyes widen in a horrified expression.

“Arthur” her hand caressed his cheek, worried about the lightness he seemed to take his life, she tenderly tilted her head, “why were you locked up in that place?”

His tone of voice revealed his annoyance mentioning that place. He shamelessly nuzzled her right breast, trying to avoid the subject:

“Who knows, maybe I lost it or tried to kill myself...I just didn't want to feel so bad”. Arthur gazed up to her. He had never been more honest in his life.

Her horrified reaction to be told being locked up, bashing his head against the wall almost everyday just reminded him how much worse was to have a significant other who made him feel alone. Months surrounded by people in white outfits, convincing him to take the pills to make him, at least, presentable to the world and also deprived of any loving contact from Penny’s part under the excuse of fright caused by doctor or anything related to hospitals. It reminded him how pathetic his life was. Sometimes he forgot how much forgiving he was with his mother’s recklessness concerning his own wellbeing.

Her kiss on his forehead, however, seemed to bring him back to reality. Arthur felt he had awakened of a bad dream, but found himself amazed as he noticed he wasn’t alone with a blanket on while an alarm buzzed, as it was his usual routine. The loner stared at her as if he was seeing her for the first time. Her blue eyes, dilated pupils, body full given in to him. The loner blinked, eyes half closed, fighting the dissociation.

“Arthur” she called him. He looked dizzy. The blonde felt a pulsing heat making a place between her legs when the loner held her waist to lift her figure in order for it to adopt a riding position. She gasped, clawing to his shoulder once her figure obtains the desired position.

“What is it?” she whispered. But there was nothing except for a dead silence. Maybe it was another relapse of a dissociative episode, which made his mind to distract so any negative thought would fade. He panted, hiding his face against the silky platinum braid falling over her breast. The blonde didn’t move an inch, anxiously expecting to know what he would do now. He was so hard to read most of the times, leaving so many doubts and thoughts capable to drift anyone off sanity. Maybe he just didn’t want to talk. Maybe he just wanted to bond through touches.

Harleen felt a shiver once his mouth kissed the covered breast, playfully nuzzling with the erect nipple highlighted by the thin fabric. Blood boiled, as if her body demanded immediately to respond to such attentions.

She could tell Arthur was immensely pleased at her receptiveness concerning sex. His breath shortened, fighting the lightheadedness their suggestive position caused on him, loving how her body rode his hips, like a thrilling prelude before any intimate encounter could take place.

An impish, seductive smile must have given him the hint to keep on but he was way too shocked at first to react immediately. Harleen tugged on the shirt for it to loosen enough in order to offer him a privileged view of her bare breast, awaiting his mouth to finish what it just started, setting aside a few obstructing locks. Arthur’s jaw dropped, a line traced by pleasure soon contorted his lips. She hummed softly, admiring the sight of the loner hungrily lapping his tongue over the pink areola.

“You’re such a surprise for a late bloomer” the blonde leaves a beautiful, mischievous expression take over her face. Arthur detached his lips from her to ask:

“You calling me ‘old’, Harleen?”

“No!” she rushed to explain herself. The sassy tone of the question eased down any thought of annoyance, “I just—”

“I may look old, but I’m a fast learner” he cut her off, mouth back on the sensitive part. Harleen threw her head back, not showing any sign of opposition while Arthur clumsily undid the garment to leave her topless. This only ignited the fire inside of him, hanging on to her waist to sink his head between her breasts, rejoicing in the softness of her skin as his arms imprison her body. The elation wasn’t strong enough yet to stun her muscles entirely, gaining a little strength to make paused (or more like patient) undulatory moves against his body. His eyelashes flutter, causing tickles up her chest.

"I want you to put more than just a smile on my face" she caught his bottom lip to devour his mouth hungrily. He consented the kiss but didn’t respond to it, not even bothering to close his eyes.

"And what would that be, Harleen?" he looked genuinely puzzled, intense hue of green piercing her soul. She combed his hair back, sliding her hands down to hold his face in them. Arthur felt like a youngling in love for the first time. And having her covered intimacy grinding the growing bulge swept away all rational thoughts, making him listen to his needs as a man for the first time without overthinking ruining it.

Harleen supported on his shoulders, intensifying the sinful friction. Arthur groaned, relaxing when she generously offered his body another warm rub that was close to send him to heaven. On his face a deep feel of pride and complacency traces his lines given the arousing effects he had on her. Shuddered and impressed gasps left their mouths, until her voice sounds again:

“You’re so hard. That’s a very good thing” a secretive whisper kept him enchanted, her flirtatious glare invites him to get up. Arthur frowned but let himself guide by her when the steps were directed towards the wall, where Harleen didn't hesitate to corner him with famished kisses, feeling his chest underneath the red shirt.

The blonde slowly undid his shirt to obtain a proper look of his upper body to worship with her mouth, starting with the neck, nuzzling a few curls out of the way to brush her lips against the curve lining down his collarbone.

His whole form shrugged, writhing and panting. The dubious nature of this situation slowly dissipated to allow him to enjoy the treatment her mouth gifted now to the notorious prominence coming from his neck, not missing any inch of skin with her lips.

It didn’t take long for his pants to turn into needy groans as soon as his chest was blessed with kisses, then his abdomen, the blonde was careful to not overwhelm him, holding on a few seconds before continuing to reach her goal: Mouth waters at the sight of his the rigid manhood covered by his pants, giving it a tiny nibble.

The mood was immediately killed when Arthur jolted in shock when he finally realized what she was going to do.

The irruption visibly took her by surprise, facial expressions changing from excitement to disappointment.

“Did I…?” she stammered, shrugging in fear, “did I do something wrong?”

He sighed, sliding his hand on his hair in a nervous reflex. Harleen then remembered this was new for him, despite how much enthusiastic he was. How much violence had he faced during all his life, she would never know.

Arthur cleared his throat, inhaling deeply, still processing all those hands on his body with the sole purpose to pleasure him.

“No, no”, he rushed. His voice quavers, afraid a laughing fit could ruin a intimate moment he had longed for so much with a girl, trying to put his mind in order, “This is the first time someone does this to me... and that feels like a good thing to begin…”

A bright smile returned to her face when one hand held up her chin while the other one caressed her cheek in a tender approval of what she was going to perform on him.

“You want this…” she seductively stared up to him, while her hands unbuttoned his pants, obtaining what she just craved: the underwear contains the hardened member, which she frees with a quick fumble on the clothing.

Arthur stared at his private spectacle in hypnotized ecstasy, still trembling.

“Yes…” he hissed, “oh yes, I do”.

Harleen took a few seconds to admire the twitching, aching arousal held in her hand. She smiled as her eyes were up to look at him.

“Then feed me some candy, Arthur Fleck..." his jaw dropped, felt his legs tremble, lust slowly dissipating any other thought. Being addressed by his full name, certainly had an impact on him. The enticing image of a partially undressed Harleen between his legs surely made him forgot how vulnerable he was before her by exposing his almost completely bare body.

However there was not verbal response from Harleen’s part. Her firm hand caressed his erected intimacy for a delightful prolusion, keeping her lover completely in a trance, causing his nervous hands to grab in a contained, almost angry fistful of hair. Nothing prepared him for the next.

Her tongue, of course, did its wonders. First a few, paused licks to the tip while giving him sensual, playful looks to then leave wet traces down that soon derived to long, hungrier licks sent the loner in a desperate, ecstatic state.

“Godfuckingdamni--!” was all he could be capable of articulate, before any feeble attempt to form a word distorted into desirous gasps and screams, Harleen rejoices at his reactions. To be the first woman to see him free from inhibitions, given in to his instincts, shaking away his polite, silent manners felt like a privilege.

“Keep doing that” his demand was desperate, dealing with it by uncoiling a few locks. A wide smirk approved her tongue to explore and taste more of him, feasting now on the tip to absorb it, so he could become more familiar with her mouth. The explicit image gave him the confidence to stop repressing his desires for the sake of decency.

Her greed to have a different taste of him made her take turns between moistening the full erect manhood to partially engulf it later.

He now couldn’t even stand still, writhing like a dying animal, incapable now to look at her in the eye, believing the mere sight would make him unleash his climax, hands held on to his thighs, climbing up to his hips, looking to elicit more sounds out of his throat.

His chest heavily went up and down while Harleen kept on her voluptuous routine: first oiling him with her tongue to then make the tip disappear in her mouth.

His closed eyes, completely given in with an overjoyed expression on his face moved her to cause a greater gratification on him. She waited for the right moment to make Arthur look at her so he could cherish what she had in store for him. For a more dramatic reaction, she choose to disconnect her mouth from him, the sound of her lips detaching from the tip had him about to pass out.

“You’ll love this” were the only words she said. No further explanations. Her tongue gifted him another paused, devoted lick. It worked to make the full intake more enjoyable for him. Arthur’s body rears up violently. Raspy, loud groans and moans elicited by the tease tore the air.

Harleen placed her hands on his hips, helping herself to feel more of him between her lips, staring up to him as she received his swollen, overstimulated masculinity.

Arthur gathered enough oxygen to talk to her.

“Harleen—“ his eyes widened in awe, focusing on not passing out. His chest shook violently still recovering from the initial shock, “you nev-- you never cease to amaze me”.

She let a sweetly sinful smile trace around him, bobbing her head in a faster pace, muffled moans struggling to come out as she savored the stiffened sex with voracious appetite.

“That’s it… that’s better” he hissed, lip twitching, completely bewitched by the scene, “you’re such a good fucking girl for me”.

A happy hum vibrated through his skin.

“Am I, mister Fleck?” her squeaky voice in false innocence crowned an scene so obscenely explicit with a comic touch.

"Yeah… Like that... Just--" he gently slammed his back against the wall. Further vocal expressions of elation came from his mouth, trying to appease the urge to scream his lungs out for whole fucking Gotham to hear him. A shiver ran down his spine. It was so difficult to keep eyes open in that moment but the need to set his sight on her triumphed over any sense of exhaustion. His worn out hand slid down to hold her nape to obey the instinct to thrust into her mouth, just to better cope with the wet, narrow warmth Harleen welcomed his manliness with.

The blonde placed her hands over his hips, executing a very subtle move to contribute to deepen the intrusion that maddened Arthur so much. The slowness of this action made her push him away to then bring him back into her over and over again, gradually increasing the rhythm that turned the party clown into a noisy, urging mess. The rapturing and breathtaking routine of her mouth colliding with his unrelenting length sparked a merciless shiver that weakened his thighs, a stunning reminder of the glorious pinnacle he was about to reach.

“Stop”, his tortured plea was unexpected.

The mesmerizing image of a joyful Harleen with him appearing and disappearing from her lips right below him at incessant speed was more than he could take without going insane. The situation was getting out of his hands when Harleen also gave it firm caresses and long, rushed licks.

“Please”, he whined, voice too weak, covering his mouth in order to quieten the moans, “oh, God--Stop!”

His command finally made Harleen react, seeing it was actually too much. It took him a moment to catch his breath and recover his strength to pronounce about his intentions.

“Arthur? Is everything okay?” she muttered.

“Take that off” his instincts took over his mind, leaning to get her up and direct his hands towards her shorts, lowering them. She doesn’t oppose, unable to respond verbally, having the feeling the behest was actually told to himself. It didn’t matter anymore. She smiled as she saw the impatient hands lining her curves, fingers clutching at the cloth to whisper, “I like it how it looks but I want it off”.

Harleen eyes the action in fervid silence while he couldn’t stop staring down at her fascinating nudity, directing one hand in a sinuous move to part her intimacy to delicately rummage the silky smooth folds he wanted so much to be wrapped around.

Harleen jolted, lolling her head back, amazed vocal expression resounded in his ears. Her eyes gleamed with resolution about his intentions, and a shivering gasp follows the brash action. A vocal expression of mischievous complicity comes from her.

“I see… you want to fill up the tank?” she chirped with a frisky giggle.

Arthur nodded in impatient muteness, while crashing his lips on hers in such a reckless way their feet ended up nearly tripping on the way to the couch. At the same time, he got rid of his underwear, undoing her braids, bicolored mane perfectly lining her curves now.

A firm push to throw her to the couch was just the beginning. She almost landed completely on her back, if it weren’t for her arms avoiding it.

“Easy, clown man!” her expression turned out to be so funny for the loner to let a cackle loose. From her angle, Arthur looked so frighteningly dominant. It embellished his figure like a statue, his disheveled hair highlighting the hungry and desperate expression which his carnal urges claim to be sated.

The magnificent preface maintains him from a considerable distance from her, surrounding the blonde like a prey, unable to decide what to do to her first.

Harleen makes the first move. to fulfill her purpose, she held her legs with a provocative glare, limbs hardly exposed her undressed figure to him. The wavy moves made Arthur crawl his way to her like a starving beast.

Her receptive reaction to the kiss motivated his hands to roam over her thighs, directing them up to the knee to untangle her legs, eventually.

A devilish smile approves the suggestive image of her pressing now his waist, sensing they were so close yet so far of each other. He devoured her mouth avidly at the same time his sense of newfound dominance urged him to place himself above her.

Harleen slid her hands up his battered back, breaking the kiss to hold and scratch his scalp to mumble:

“I want you deep inside me”.

Arthur hid his face on her neck, wallowing in the gentleness of her touches. She clings to his arms, abandoning all defenses, letting him know she was totally his to possess.

His biceps accentuate by supporting himself. Long, brow curls fell over the curve of his neck, eyes on her when his hips moved even closer to her. Harleen diverted her attention to it, but she immediately crumpled her lungs for air as Arthur teased the burning folds with the tip, becoming familiar with the part he was going to invade soon.

“More… more, oh, please” her lewd smile, cute little hums and whines mixed with his own shortened breath and surprised but satisfied groans made them forget about the world for a short while. Arthur constantly rubbed his manhood against her moistened entrance, exulting at the furious grunts the sweet torture elicited.

In exchange, she pressed her legs as a slight punishment for such daring move. But she was loving every second of it. Her eyes appreciated the paused caress between their bodies.

Seconds passed when his prolonged absence began to cause her actual pain, wrapping her legs around his hips. He let his hands fell beside her head, to plant a last kiss before proceeding.

"Knock knock" he muttered against her lips.

"Who's there?" She replied with anxious anticipation.

"It’s the mailman, miss. I’ve got an special delivery. It can hardly wait for you to see it"

She widened her eyes in surprise before his boldness to even joke in a moment too intimate as this but ended up exploding in loud cackles that left her breathless. Her reaction caused an expression of fascinated disbelief to take over his face. Both laughed it off shortly to resume were they left off.

His stare, predacious and craving, petrified Harleen.

Once his bare sex perfectly fit her hot, silky intimacy, Harleen threw her head on the pink velvety pillow, dramatically panting as her body focuses on adhering to this desired invader. His name leaves her mouth as a desperate prayer, as if he was her only saviour, much to his delight.

"You like that, don't you?" he hissed while giving her body another brutal thrust so she could feel him inside her as intensely as possible.

“Yes!” Harleen replied, not giving a fuck if it sounded indecent, “Arthur, I want all of it, please! Please!”

“All of it?” he smirked, reinforcing his invasion, obtaining louder screams from Harleen, doing her best to deal with the urging length in, searing walls flexing around him.

“Allofit…” but it was unintelligible for him. Arthur was too busy indulging in a deeper intrusion, eyes closed for a better focus. His thrusts were taken over by an animalistic despair, not hesitating to harden the pace even more as the eventual natural need for release set aside any sense of self control.

Nothing could take the wide smile off her.

“You are so good at this, mister Fleck…” the playful praise sounded more like a helpless little whimper, arousing Arthur in ways he would have never imagined. It lead him to lean into her, but she quickly took advantage of it by captivating his form, legs pressing his hips to deepen the intrusion even more.

Arthur threw his head back, stopping for a moment to process the pleasure the abrupt move had caused on him. Harleen contemplated in silent joy how his arms had taken a more muscular shape, gifting him an evil, yet charming smile when she held his face with both hands to pepper it with kisses, holding to his back as if her life depends on it, body ready and eager to obtain more of him.

He slowly made his way out of her just to violently slam back in, causing soft sobs that ended in more desperate praises, which played an important part during the act.

“Keep fucking me like that… I beg you” he closed his eyes, ecstatic, lips parted.

“I will” he gasped.

As soon as she moans his name, Arthur sensed his last sense of self control disappear. He could feel her nails in the skin of his back, which doubled the joy of another brutal thrust into her, exhausted groans leaving his throat. Harleen squirmed while dealing with the intense pleasure his unmerciful pace caused on her.

“Arthurarthurarthurarthurarthur” the blonde called him before losing her own sense of reality, the last coherent word before a lovely, mellifluous mixture of moans, groans, grunts and sobs seized her lips.

Him.

It was all about him, she realized. She swore everything had lost into oblivion. There was nothing except the throbbing welcome her tight walls granted to his twitching gristle.

In that moment she finally comprehended his impact on her life, remembering all the good moments they had shared, everything that led them to this moment, so close to end the act with thunderous moans.

She wasn’t afraid to accept this man had become her entire life since she had lied eyes on him, the first and last person she thought about every time she woke up and certainly the reason why sudden smiles traced her lips during work.

However, her body warned them about the proximity of the peak when the pulsing grip around him intensified, interrupting the happy daydreaming about him, returning her to the raw reality she was protagonist of.

The gorgeous moaning mess he had done from her had encouraged the loner to fasten the rhythm, loving to bring her to the brink, frantic spasms whipping his nerves while her moans echoed louder and louder. Her features showed an agonizing expression, lips partly open but unable to utter anything, mind fogged by lightheadedness.

“Arthur, I can’t— I—” the violent, feverish orgasm caught her unprepared: a blaring, euphoric cry served as the glorious conclusion of their union.

Arthur found the strength to distance himself from her, far too weak to resist the temptation to earn a good vision of her naked body in that moment. Harleen was still numb, hair covering her face like a curtain, blue strands all over her chest, contrasting with her pale skin. He followed the long mane down, eyeing her quivering figure, so full of him. He stopped to stare at their sexes still caught in a sore and reddened embrace.

The loner eventually surrendered with a powerful groan, exploding inside of her. He exhaled in stunned relief and sexual bliss. His eyes behold such beauty so full of him, retaining him even when her moans indicate that it was too much for her to bear. This let an even wilder side of him to appear when pushing slightly deeper, thinking it would go unnoticed, but she was too immersed in her thoughts about the man who lied over her. The stillness helped her to put her mind in order, dimensioning this feelings blooming in her heart.

It was hard to stare at each other at this point, but she slowly turned her head to see him despite the blue mane hinders a proper sight of him. Sunlight shone brightly on his face, curls tousled, from what she could see. It was like a little light of happiness shining at last. For the others, he was a deranged creep, but in that moment, Harleen felt he was the most beautiful man she had ever met in her life.

The blurred image eventually became sharper when his face came closer to hers, oozing his seed inside Harleen through his spurred flesh. It felt like hours passed by.

Small beads of sweat formed on his forehead, his open mouthed expression was of pure astonishment and fascination. The slender fingers set aside her hair, touching her lips, probably to kiss her again.

But nothing happened. Instead, Arthur decided to break the contact, paying attention to the zone in question.

With slow vehemence, he was finally gone.

The action left a thin, niveous line dripping from the tip, leaking from her in small creeks in a beautiful way their bodies demanded to reconnect each other.

“Fuck” he muttered, grinning. Despite the exhaustion, Harleen mimicked it. They couldn’t say anything else, for words were unnecessary. He wouldn’t know it, but Harleen had already accepted a great truth about him.

She was madly in love with Arthur Fleck. _______________________________________

Weeks passed. It was raining in a cold Thursday on Gotham City when Harleen returned home from work. The garbage strike was worsening, rioters looting any store they could and the mayoral candidate being the focus of criticism and repudiation of people. The reason behind it? She would find it out soon.

A taxi honking distracted from her quest for an answer but that didn’t stop her for too long. She heard people talking about nowadays and what Thomas Wayne had said about people in Gotham after something horrible had happened in the filthy subway. The macabre part awakened her curiosity. Was there something she didn’t know about? She looked for a kiosk at the end of the every block to see if there were papers about the aforementioned topic.

It was near a telephone cabin when Harleen finally found what she was looking for… but she didn’t know where to start. Just a headline in bold was enough to freeze her:

KILLER CLOWN ON THE LOOSE

LATEST NEWS ON THE MURDERS

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achliegh · 4 years ago

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Olive and Otto

Masterlist :)

@domesticatedbeetlenamedjorge

This is an AU still set in the SW universe but a little to the right and maybe down the block. I want Leo to have a little secret!

This is the 22nd chapter of this little series I have and it's a little spicy. Enjoy!

FAMILY SKATE! Part 2 and Final Chapter!

I just wanted to say thank you all for reading this, it makes me so happy because my writing feel like garbage to me but y'all treat it like its precocious and I have cried happy tears over things y'all have said. I just can't thank y'all enough.

TW/CW: Smut, Drama, Arguing, Questioning Sexuality, Food, Panic attack

Characters belong to @lumosinlove

Family Skate was booming, everyone was a little taken back at the two hurricanes with adorable old timey names. Those kids tore up the ice, for only being three those kids could probably out skate most the team. Remus’ little brother, Julian, Loved Otto. Like he didn’t leave his side the entire time they skated. Olive would skate around with Kuny, she was so fascinated when he would speak Russian to her. She was absolutely taken by the giant Russian and she wanted to understand this new language so bad that Kuny taught her some bad words and Sergei told him off for it.

Sometimes the kids would be talking to someone and just randomly switch to either French or Spanish without even realizing it and then get upset when Leo or INK would tell them to “Speak English, Sweetheart”. Otto and Marc were skating together when Otto had a dizzy spell and fell over, everyone froze for a second remembering what Leo said about the little boy earlier.

“You okay?” Marc held his hand out and was looking at Otto worried because his new friend just fell over for no reason. Yeah he was younger than him but Marc had never seen someone just drop like that. Otto nodded and used Marc’s hand to stand up.

“I want to sit” They skated over to where INK was sitting on the bench talking with Eloise and Celeste, Otto was very good at knowing when he hit his limits for the day and today was the first time since his surgery that he had been on the ice for more than a few laps with his dad. He crawled up between Eloise and Celeste, he kicked his skates a little as he watched everyone skate. “Ma-maw, why can’t I live here? I could have friends.” He looked up at his grandma who was stunned by what he said and so was Celeste. “No one likes me at school at home.” He didn’t understand why it was a big deal that he didn’t have many friends. He did enjoy all the kids here though.

The Weasley kids were fun and had treated him like he wasn’t a downer. The Dumais' treated him like a little brother and some of the other kids whose names he didn’t remember played tag with him and didn’t go easy. He didn’t want to go home.

“Oh honey, you’ll be up here all summer. Then you can play with all the other kids then. Just enjoy your time here, you have three more days with your daddy before he has to work and your mama has to go to work back home.” Eloise was just trying to talk him into enjoying his time now but she wasn’t expecting him to talk about friends, he never did. He was like Leo in that sense, kept to himself but was very observant.

“If you want I can give your maman my phone number and you can call Marc anytime after school.” Celeste petted his hair and he leaned into her touch. He nodded, having a big ole smile on his face and his cheeks were a little red, he thought Celeste was so pretty.

Olive was racing Charlie and beat him for the third time, he looked exhausted but she was still revving to go. She was incredibly fast but she was also very small, she skated around the outside and caught up with Leo. She somehow got between Leo and Finn, she grabbed each of their hands and let them pull her.

“Daddy, did you see how fast I was! I beat Charlie!” She got listed up by them and laughed as they put her down, not noticing the absolutely lovesick expression Logan was watching them with. “I want to play hockey someday! I want to be just like you! Oh, daddy do you have a boyfriend yet? Mama wants to get married to June!” She looks up at him when he laughs at Finn's face who is firetruck red. She really doesn’t want her daddy to be lonely anymore, it makes her sad. She was really angry when he left but when he facetimes mama the first time crying, she wasn’t angry anymore, she was scared. She can’t take care of him so who will.

“Olive, what would you say if I had two boyfriends?”

“Whoa! That would be so cool! You would never be sad!” She smiles flashing those incredible dimples and hears Bill calling for her. “I gotta go race, by Daddy!” She skates off leaving a laughing Leo and a red Finn to call Logan over.

After the Pick-up game Olive was watching the entire time while Ott had fallen asleep with his head on Celeste's lap. Everyone got changed and showered, after they piled into cars and drove to Dumo's. INK can’t cook for shit so she was sitting on the couch chatting with the team while Leo and his mother cooked in the kitchen with Celeste. Wyatt was talking to Pascal and Arthur in the dad way, with a few signatures on his shoulder.

She was watching everyone when a pregnant redhead sat neck to her, she groaned a little and looks at INK.

“How far along are you”

“About 6 months” She smiles at INK and rubs her stomach. “I’m Lily by the way, Pots is my lover.” She nods towards said lover who is being cheered on as he chugs some kombucha. INK snorts at him and laughs. “How did you do it?”

“Do what?”

“Have twins, I can’t even imagine the strain it took on you.”

“I had to drop out of school and was bed ridden for the last three months of my pregnancy. It was really hard but Leo never left my side, the stupid idiot sweetheart.” She smiles and rolls her eyes. “I never wanted kids when I was younger because I was afraid I would end up like my parents, then Leo and I did some stuff and it was probably a less than 1% chance that I would get pregnant and it happened.” Olive ran past them with her Daddy's Jersey on her that was much to big, she almost trips on it and laughs as Adele chases her playfully. “I can saw that those three definitely saved my life.”

“Three?”

“Yeah, Olive, Otto, and Leo. I couldn’t have done anything without him. He is the best dad, and he supports those two with everything he has. We also don’t want to put them into the public eye until they can choose for themselves if they want to be followed like that.” She takes a sip of her wine and looks at Lily. “I don’t really have any advice to help you because the last few months I mostly slept and cried. If you need me to get anything for you I will though.”

“I just want to get to know you, you’re someone who has raised two adorable children and you’re still smoking hot!” That surprises a laugh out of her and Lily join in the laughing after a minute.

Leo walks out of the kitchen. “Let's eat y’all!” Finn and Logan kiss his cheek as they walk into the kitchen to eat, Pots and Nado also smack big wet kisses on his cheeks as they walk past. He shoves them and follows everyone else.

“No, Otto you know you know you can’t have that.” He takes a peanut butter bar away from him and shakes his head. “I don’t feel like going to the emergency room tonight.” Otto is allergic to peanuts and tree nuts, he seems to forget how serious it is to eat stuff that might kill him. Usually no one has any form of nuts in the house, but this isn’t their house.

The child he just took a treat away from starts to cry and he sighs, walking over to where the treats are he asks celeste what's in each one and grabs a double chocolate brownie for Otto and hands it to him. “Don’t eat it until your plate is empty, okay?” Otto instantly stops crying and nods running off to join his sister. Shaking his head he feels arms wrap around his shoulders.

“You’re so good with them” Leo smiles and looks over to his dad. He looks so proud of him, he kisses his son's head and pats his shoulder. “I’m gonna go eat with Pascal Dumais” Leo snorts as his dad giddily goes to sit next to his teammate.

As he looks around he has never felt more at home, INK and June were talking with Lily and Natalie. Olive and Otto are eating and talking at the kids tables, Finn and Logan are openly flirting and stealing cute glances at him. He felt so calm and like he could breathe.

Suddenly Pots jumps up.

“They are the picture in your stall!”

#leo knut #logan tremblay #finn o'hara #remus lupin #lumosinlove #sweater weather #sirius black #coast to coast #jackson nadeau #kuny #james potter

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hannahbee12719 · 3 years ago

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1997 Awareness Day

At the urging of E @btsarmy9593, I am creating a post of my ramblings concerning the sheer quantity of unnaturally beautiful and talented humans born in the year 1997. I swear the expecting mothers all received some sort of blessing from a higher deity, or there was some sort of magical fairy dust in the water. Whatever the reason is, we decided it should be commemorated.

I will put my ramblings and bigger versions of the pictures below the cut, but here is the collection of beautiful and talented humans to whom I am referring. Feel free to reblog with your own additions/information you’d like! I’m sure there are people and things I missed 😅

I am also tagging Allison @seokjinger-ale because we have discussed this before 😂

How did this all start? I slid into E’s dms asking for A.C.E song recommendations. At one point the conversation turned to A.C.E’s maknae, Chan (cutie pie pictured above), who, you guessed it, was born in 1997! This lead me to pose the question, “What did they put in the water in 1997?!?”

Without further ado…

We start off with the obvious. The one, the only Jeon Jungkook. Wrecker of everyone’s bias lines with his innocent doe eyes and markedly less innocent body proportions. Golden Maknae. Extremely talented vocalist. Dancer extraordinaire. Good at everything he puts his mind to. I know you all know what he looks like, but I feel like we all need this…for science…you know? (Cr. @/fairyprincejk on twt)

Next, we have a whole line of those born in 1997 in Seventeen. From left to right we have Mingyu, The8 (Minghao), and DK (short for Dokyeom, real name Seokmin). Mingyu is a tall, muscular puppy. He’s like the lovable nanny of the group. He has this cute little lisp that I adore. And then there’s, you know, the fact that he looks like that 😍 As for Minghao, his dancing is incredible, his visuals are stunning (see above, need I say more?), AND he can sing. DK is my Seventeen bias so I will do my best not gush on and on about him lol. His vocals are powerful and absolutely breathtaking (not only is he one of the main vocals of Svt but he’s currently reprising his role of King Arthur in the musical Arthur). DK is also the purest ray of sunshine in the whole industry…entirely sweet and funny and loving. Don’t let him fool you though, he’s got muscles underneath those big sweaters and t-shirts he mostly wears and he will catch you off guard 😳

Then we have the 97’s in NCT, Winwin (real name Sicheng) and Jaehyun. I don’t compare idols to one another as a rule, but since most of the people who follow this blog are Army’s I’m using these comparisons for the sake of familiarity. Winwin is his own wonderful, talented self. With that disclaimer out of the way *clears throat*. Like Taehyung, Winwin is stunningly beautiful and endearingly weird. And like Jimin, watching Winwin dance is like experiencing living art. Then there’s Jaehyun. Jaehyun has the dimpled face of a fairytale prince, a voice smoother than honey, and washboard abs. He’s also super sweet and adorable.

Last, but certainly not least, we have Yugyeom of GOT7, Bang Chan (Christopher Bang) of Stray Kids, and Eunwoo of Astro. I’m not as familiar with these three personality-wise, but from what I’ve seen they are well-loved. I know that Chan is a sweet baby angel from all the video clips and things I’ve seen of him. I’m already in love with him and I haven’t even delved that far into Stray Kids (they are infants, Chan is their hyung and I’m not ready to approach them until all their members are at least 21 lol). I’m also in the middle of True Beauty (a kdrama starring Eunwoo) and I’m loving his acting (his face isn’t so bad either 😍).

If you’re reading this, thank you and congratulations! You’ve made it through my crazy ramblings 🤪

Bonus!!

#1997 Awareness Day #this is by far the craziest thing I’ve put together lol #I’m not ashamed lol #sweet mutual 💛#BTS #seventeen #nct #GOT7 #stray kids #astro

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littlemisssquiggles · 5 years ago

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You remember my comparison art piece of my Ruby and V7 Ruby? How V7 Ruby seems to be trying to hold onto hope and explore herself as a young woman (as CRWBY said this volume would show a more "playful side" to Ruby). Well, I can see her trying to explore herself because she knows that they might not have a lot of time left, what with how things are. I can see her trying to become more outgoing as a means to experience as much as she can before it's too late.

Hiya Miki-chan. To add to your point, I can see Ruby becoming more relaxed and carefree while everyone is in Atlas due to the fact that, for the first time since, I guess Beacon back in Vale, Atlas will provide our heroes temporary sanctuary. It’s why I like the idea of teams RWBY, JNR and even Oscar as well continuing their huntsmen training at Atlas Academy. After all, I believe the original plan for Haven was for our heroes to travel to Haven to possibly continue their training there? Possibly? Correct me if I’m wrong. However as we saw, this was not the case at all.

I guess I can see our heroes settling down sort of nicely in Atlas and making themselves at home within the kingdom walls. After all, Atlas currently is considered the safest kingdom in Remnant for the time being since Ironwood recalled all of their kingdom’s forces to protect the outer borders which Ironwood also took care of closing off to the outside world. As far as we know, no one is expected to get in or out of Atlas. I also wouldn’t be shocked if there is an invisible force field of some kind surrounding Atlas—possibly one produced by a higher quantity of hard light dust similar to the ones used during the Vytal Festival and Caroline Cordovin of Argus for the mecha-fight.

In the case of Ruby Rose, this squiggle meister is very much intrigued to see this more ‘playful side’ to our young rose. Makes me wonder if we’re going to see Ruby try to be all flirty, catching the attention of potential love interests while in Atlas (apart from Oscar of course). It’d be precious if Ruby is the type to try and be all sexy and flirtatious (possibly encouraged by Neon Katt) only to end up sort of failing, but in an adorable fashion befitting of her chipper personality of course. Makes me think back to my Ruby’s Big Bad Boyfriend headcanons—both one and two.

It also makes me wonder if we’re going to see the typical teenage drama story trope where Ruby is the girl naïve to love and romance who falls for like the first impressively handsome love interest to take an interest in her only to have this person be revealed to be a fake ass hat who breaks her heart.

And then this leads to our boy Oscar Pine coming in clutch to sort of white-knight for Ruby, schooling the jerk who hurt his lovely red rose while simultaneously revealing to Ruby the charming little prince behind the gentle farm boy who’s been in front of her eyes the entire time.

Yes I know this all sounds mighty cheesy right now but…aw hell, who doesn’t like some cheesy romance? The hopeless romantic side of shipping heart beats for this kind of stuff and I think it could be adorable for our titular smaller, more honest Rosebuds since their friendship and bond is so adorable and pure.

I’ve talked once or twice before of seeing a more carefree side of Ruby who spends her time worrying about normal teenage girl stuff—like her looks or romantic relationships and stuff like that as opposed to what we’re accustomed seeing from her—a young girl thrust into the leadership role and influenced to be a voice of reason,guidance and motivation to her older teammates.

Seeing this side of Ruby could be sweet. I’m all for ‘Ruby the Teenaged Girl’ moments in V7 especially when it comes to seeing this so-called ‘playful side of her’. I’m sorry, this just makes me think that Ruby is gonna try to flirt with someone only to fail hard but still looks cute nonetheless.

One moment that I’m hoping for is a possible parallel to V2. One thing that fans like myself are anticipating for V7 is a reunion with Team FNKI who eventually take our heroes partying or clubbing in Atlas, as promised by Neon back in V3.

I remember @ezroar even sharing an idea about FNKItaking our heroes to an secret underground rave and quite frankly I’m all for this idea. I’m especially for this idea if it leads into another ‘Painting the Town’-esque type of episode where we get to see everyone dress down and rock casual wear including the JNR gang plus Oscar.

Anyways why I’m hoping for another partying or dancing episode is for the sake of seeing a parallel moment where Oscar is possibly alone in the corner at the club, feeling socially awkward and out of place amongst all the dancing bodies and flashing lights and Ruby is the one to come over and kind o fcoax him into having fun.

I want this because it would be a nice call back to the scene in the Vytal Festival Ball with Ozpin where Ruby was alone and Oz came over to impart his usual wisdom on her.

I think this could be a great way to show just how much Ozpin’s wisdom has influenced Ruby in a way. With all the negativity surrounding Oz’s characterization as of late, it would be nice to have the show give a little reminder that Oz is a good man who, more or less, always looked out for the children in his care and cared for them as their mentor.

Say what you will about him. Yes he’s done some shady things in the past that could paint him as a gray character. Although more light gray than people believe him to be since I still stand by the notion that Oz’s actions were justifiable. But then again, that’s just me talking here.

Nevertheless, Ozpin was a good mentor who offered great advice whenever he could. And one of the people he imparted that wisdom to was Ruby Rose. I guess I just really would like to see the two messages that Oz left with Ruby come back to be used by Ruby to counsel Oscar in a sense.

To me that could be a good segway to frame that there is still a side of Ruby that believes in the words Ozpin told her. Not to mention that it can also open the door to show that in spite of what happened, Ruby still believes in the good of Ozpin . In the past, whenever she needed his advice, Oz willingly helped her during moments where she felt emotionally vulnerable. Ozpin showed Ruby empathy during those times. He chose to understand her. Help her even. And Ruby wasn’t the only one Oz helped before or showed empathy to. This could then potentially lead to Ruby suffering a stark revelation of what she did to Ozpin; realizing the wrong in what she put him through.

Yes, her actions with Jinn may have finally gotten the untold truth about Salem, however it revealed more than that. It also forced Oz (and possibly all the other lives that are a part of him since he is a culmination of countless of men) to relive some of the most tragic memories of his past.

Ruby exposed Oz. She unlocked all his skeletons without his consent.She laid out all of his dirty laundry to an audience of people who showed him no mercy. This is why I will always stand in the court that defends Ozpin. While I understand that he kept secrets from the group and I empathize with them feeling angry and resentful toward him for that particular reason. Ozpin did wrong but that doesn’t make what the group put him through any less right or good. It still doesn’t look any less bad when you acknowledge the other side of this coin that highlights that Oz was a person who was always kind,understanding and sympathetic to each and every face in the group that turned their backs on him.

Oz may have had secrets and told lies but he had justifiable cause. He’s also not the only one amongst the heroes sailing in the same boat. I just find it really sad that Oz never turned his back on anyone in his team. He always showed them empathy when they laid their insecurities at his feet. But the minute he needed that understanding in return, he…doesn’t get it. We don’t even get to see one person in the group consider the bigger picture or the other side of the picture. Everyone just adopts the same impression.

Salem can’t be killed. Oz lied about it to them. He doesn’t have a plan and he’s a bastard for it, according to Yang. I was expecting the truth about Oz to divide the heroes just as much as it has divided the fandom. But instead,everyone just adopts this one-sided thought that puts Oz as someone to be distrusted and he becomes a subject that no one wants to discuss—or rather the Writers don’t want them to discuss. Yet.

The only person who at the moment seems to be sympathetic with Oz is,Oscar. But that could potentially come back to bite the poor kid in the behind for the obvious issue with that. Poor Oscar. He’s probably going to have to play super glue or tin foil to a group that’s crumbling at the seams. Yes the heroes managed to get by without Ozpin’s influence for now. But how long is that luck going to last? Especially when General Dimples comes back into the picture?

Arthur Watts did point out back in V6 that Ozpin is the only one who can talk sense back into James. But how much will Oz help if he isn’t willing to show up. As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if we get a scene where Qrow takes Oscar to speak Ironwood on the hope that the kid would be able to pull the same ‘parlour trick’ he did back in V5 when he and Oz first soul swapped.

Unfortunately for Qrow, Oscar is unable to soul swap since there is no other soul to swap to. Oz still isn’t there nor is he willing to come out. He may have shown up to assist Oscar that one time since he was in immediate danger but I doubt Oz will do that again. Not even to see James. As a matter of fact,I figured Oz would feel even more ashamed to face James since he falls in the category of being another man, like Qrow, who put his fate fully in Oz under the impression that they were doing good that was actually helping humanity. Imagine how much more devastated and paranoid Ironwood might become if he learnt the truth? As a matter of fact, it might even be worse if Ironwood learnt the truth. Since V2, Ironwood had shown doubt in Oz despite their affiliation. He was also the one member of his circle to actually challenge his authority. How do you think James would react if he found out that all of the uncertainties he showed in Oz’s judgement were fact? That he’s better off trusting his old judgement than in his old friend.

Ironwood learning the truth could backfire badly on the heroes,especially if Oz isn’t there to soften the blow with his words. Just like everyone else, James could become another person to paint Oz as a liar leading people to their unavoidable deaths with all of the good he’s done being thrown out the window over one main mistake.

A mistake which, ironically, was the point he was trying to make before with Lionheart. I guess what I’m saying here is—Ozpin was wrong for keeping the truth about Salem a secret and lying about it. However, in my opinion, he had justifiable reasons for doing so which I understood.

I mean, I can go and on as to why I still defend Ozpinbut that’s not the topic on discussion right now. In a nutshell, I want V7 to show Ruby Rose recalling the advice Ozpin gave to her at Beacon and using those same words while she’s trying to motivate and/or assist Oscar through his development as a huntsman.

The impression I have is we are going to get to see Ruby truly stand up and stand by Oscar, probably a lot more than we’ve seen her in past seasons since out of everyone on the hero squad, Ruby relates to Oscar the most since she’s been in his shoes before as the underdog youngster planted with the badge of leadership with a lot of expectations to come from you (and I seriously hope the season plays off of this to help strengthen their dynamic and blossoming friendship).

Going back to the rave idea, I think it could be cute to have Oscar being at the club and feeling like he doesn’t belong there (which could potentially tie into his suppressed emotions over the Merge and feeling overwhelmed by everything that has happened to him within the past few weeks). Ruby takes notice of Oscar’s awkwardness and joins him in the corner. She tries her best to sort of emulate Ozpin in that moment, remembering the same words Oz once told her about dancing being not too similar from combat and how it’s good to take the time to enjoy yourselves when you get the chance.

In spite of Ruby’s reassuring words, Oscar admits to her that it’s not the dancing part that’s making him feel uneasy, it’s other things—basically it boils down to Oscar feeling sort of out of his element and feeling useless for not being able to keep up with everyone else when he’s expected to, given his situation.

This then inspires Ruby to help Oscar so she takes him away from all the loud music and sweaty dancing bodies toa much more quieter section of the club. Let’s say, according to Flynt who knows the place,there is an abandoned ole school dance hall with a jukebox in the back. The equipment still works but it hasn’t been used in while. Ruby accepts this place since at least it’d be quiet and secluded enough for her and Oscar to have some privacy while she helps him out.

This moment then leads to another heartfelt conversation between theRosebuds which also leads into Oscar bucking up the courage to ask Ruby to share a dance with him which she accepts. Rather than bumping and grinding to fast paced technobabble like their friends, Ruby and Oscar spend the remainder of the night slow dancing in each other’s arms in the back by themselves; just going with the flow to the tune of their own beat all the while enjoying and appreciating each other’s company.

I’m still sticking to my guns that Oscar is quite a decent dancer but is more accustomed to slow dancing, having been raised by his old fashioned farm bred family in the farm lands of Anima. And let’s say this works out great for Ruby as well since, I have a feeling that while in Atlas, Ruby might want to done away with her old ‘not a fancy-prancy-dancy girl’ act and give dancing a go. However Ruby is the opposite of Oscar. While Oscar knows how to dance but is apprehensive about the clubbing side of it, Ruby on the other hand becomes open to giving things a try but has difficulty since she doesn’t know how to dance.

And what doesn’t help is that she winds up pairing up with partners who,let’s say, aren’t willing to be patient with her slip ups. So in the end, the evening works out well enough for both Rosebuds when they fight a compatible (dance) partner in each other. Ruby helps Oscar to relax and go withthe flow while Oscar is patient with Ruby and helps her to see the joy o fdancing. Or…something along those lines.

That’s something I think would be adorable for the buds. Who knows? Maybe we might actually see Ruby make Oscar smile brighter and laugh uncontrollably for once in the show apart from his usual short chortles.

My headcanon is that Oscar is extremely self-conscious about laughing too much cause he’s a snorter—he does a cute little piggy laugh whenever you ge thim to laugh too much or even a little more than usual. The first time Ruby heard Oscar legit piggy laugh, Oscar was incredibly embarrassed about it afterwards but Ruby just found it to be the cutest thing ever. That’s it. That’s my headcanon and you can’t tell me otherwise.

Continuing on my last ask, I can see Ruby changing her outfit and style before seeing more distressing news, maybe them showcasing the news of them stealing from Argus and the grimm attack- it shows her face and her old outfit.

Her face begins to tremble from trying to suppress tears… before her expression hardens with determination. She throws on her outfit and then begins to spike up her hair. She refuses to be brought down by this. She will rise and she will live.

As you brought it up, I’m curious to know how the series is going tohandle what happened in Argus. Or rather if they would actually address it atall. From the way V6 ended, it just feels that we’re more likely to see ourheroes go to Atlas without facing any repercussions on their actions in Argus.Especially coming off of how Cordovin said she was going to cover up for them in the paperwork.

I did like your idea from Reconciliation where our heroes wounded up apprehended by the Atlesian authorithies only to receive release and a bit of parlay from Ironwood. That seemed fitting. However I think what we’re more likely to see is how the events of Argus affected the image of Atlas to therest of Remnant…again.

Afterall, what the people of Argus saw wasn’t Cordovin using the mecha to apprehend a monster (at least not at first). Nope, what they saw was Cordovin more abusing the power of the Atlas military while making boldfaced proclamations about how much the world has forgotten about the ‘awesome might of Atlas’ and to consider her actions a reminder of that.

That is what the civilians saw and I wouldn’t be surprised if that is what will be brought back to bite Atlas in the ass as another pressure Ironwood has to deal with as both the General of the Atlas Military and a member of the Atlas Council.

This actually makes me wonder something.

What if…based on how things look, all the blame for the stunt in Argus is placed on Caroline Cordovin and her forces in Argus,forcing Ironwood to recall them too back to Atlas for their immediate expulsion?

If the heroes found out that Cordovin was to be punished or worse,jailed for the stunt in Argus, do you think they would step up and take the blame in her place, revealing the truth to Ironwood? Would Ironwood even be willing to listen to them giving his mental state?

I guess I’ll conclude with this question and wait to hear your answer.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019)

#miki-13 #squiggles answers #oscar pine #ruby rose #oscar and ruby #professor ozpin #rwby theories #squiggles answers: rwby

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bluesfanfiction · 6 years ago

Text

The Best of Luck - USUK FF

This is a fic trade with @x-silkplants-x. I haven’t written in a while and boy I got a little carried away sorry! (I went over our word count but honestly don’t worry about it! It’s my apology for being late) This was a prompt they had requested so I hope I did it justice >< and I hope you like it!!!

Summary - On Arthur’s birthday, there is a competition held in which alphas will compete for Arthur’s hand in marriage. AU - Omegaverse, Wealthy AU Rating - SFW

It was that time of year again. Most people looked forward to their birthdays, and Arthur did have to say coming from a wealthy family parties did have their perks. However, his birthday also doubled as another event. It had started from his 18th birthday, from old traditions that had run in the family. On his birthday each year there was to be a competition where alphas from all around would come to compete for his hand in marriage. Since these were modern times though Arthur had been given the right to deny the winner each year since his 18th birthday if he was not satisfied with them. Which he had done. Besides, 18 seemed rather too young to get married. It was only on the condition that he would accept someone by his 25th birthday. It was his 24th birthday now, which meant he had this year or the next to decide, and honestly the thought was terrifying.

He was up late, tossing and turning. It wasn’t like he was… nervous. Probably it was the light from laptop charger, or not being able to get into a comfortable enough position, or the temperature of the room was wrong. Either way, he was unable to fall asleep. Part of him had contemplated that if it came to it, he would run away by his 25th birthday if there was no hope. However, he still was an omega so finding work and support would be more difficult for him than an alpha. And what if he were to get his heat in a place with no security or protection? Arthur had never particularly felt trapped here. He loved his family. But he hated the traditions their family had to uphold, and he hated the unfairness it brought to omegas.

Morning did eventually come. In the grand hall the competitors would gather for pre-event greetings. Arthur was expected to attend, of course. It did give him a sense of their personality before they went into the competition. Most of the time though the same competitors came back each year, persistent alphas who had nothing else to do it seemed. The maids came to help Arthur ready himself, helping him into his attire. He thanked them for their help- It was always such a troublesome task with all the different layers and pieces that went into his outfit. A tailored and fitted suit, with flares to accentuate his frame. He eyed himself in the mirror and ruffled his hair once the maids were gone, not liking when it stuck down on his head too much.

The event was an all-day one, the finale being a grand party held in the ballroom. It was at the end of the party, with a toast to all the competitors, that Arthur would make his decision.

When Arthur got to the grand hall everyone was gathered. His mother greeted him with a kiss to the cheek and a smile, his younger brother tugged at his sleeve and grinned up at him. Arthur gave him a pat to the hair and smiled.

“Martin is here again,” Peter said, looking over in the man’s direction.

Arthur caught a glimpse of the alpha and rolled his eyes. “Back for another round is he?”

“Ava is here as well.” Peter pointed her. She was near a group of Arthur’s housemaids, chatting them up. It wasn’t uncommon for female alphas to perform in these competitions either. After all, the alpha who would wed Arthur would have claim to the Kirkland fortune. That was enough to draw anyone.

“She performed well two years ago, if I recall,” Arthur said, thinking she looked more fit than before, as if she had been prepping for this year’s competition.

Arthur went around and made his introductions, or reintroductions for most, and was about halfway through when he spotted Alfred coming over to him. “Alfred?” Arthur was surprised to see the alpha. He was a bank teller full time and had a brother who was married to a cousin of Arthur’s. Arthur had met him at first at Alfred’s brother’s wedding, and then a few more times after that. He was an awkward alpha, but sweet all the same. He had a confidence in himself but no need to impress anyone. He always had some sort of awful joke he had saved to tell Arthur, and spent a lot of time telling him facts and trivia about ice cream. Arthur didn’t know if it was because the alpha loved ice cream, of if he somehow knew of Arthur’s secret love of the dessert. He was also an American but had moved to London after graduating university, so he still had that American accent Arthur secretly adored.

“H-hey Artie,” Alfred said, looking nervous for once.

“Are you dropping by Alfred? Were you interested in watching the competition?” Alfred had never come before, so Arthur didn’t know why he was suddenly interested now.

“Actually I’m going to compete,” Alfred said, standing up a bit straighter than before.

Arthur laughed. “Is this one of your new jokes you’ve saved for me?”

Alfred’s expression was stuck between a grin (he couldn’t help but smile when Arthur was laughing) and one of embarrassment. “No jokes here today. I’m really going to compete. I-I hope you’ll wish me luck.”

Arthur quieted a bit, seeing the seriousness in Alfred’s expression. He didn’t know how he felt. It was a lie to say he had never considered Alfred in that way. Alfred was handsome and kind and sweet. He could certainly picture him as a good husband. But Alfred had just never seemed interested. Not in money or being part of a wealthy family or even in Arthur at all… It wasn’t determined that Alfred would win today, but if he were to … Would Arthur turn him down?

The nervousness made Arthur’s hands sweat as he was once again reminded of how his time was running out. Alfred cleared his throat a bit, unsure, when Arthur didn’t answer.

“I wish you the best of luck, Alfred,” Arthur said, meaning it.

Alfred beamed. “I’ll do my best.”

Alfred’s best was… clumsy. It looked as if the alpha had not prepared in the slightest. The schedule for the day started with Archery. After that, Hunting, a Luncheon, followed by a Trivia of the Kirkland Household, and finally, the party. Each event would award the competitors with points. It didn’t matter if the competitor scored low in the first event, they were still allowed to continue onto the next one, and complete in all of the events of the day. At the end of the day, the final points for each competitor would be totaled, and the one with the most points would be decreed winner and be eligible to marry Arthur (if Arthur agreed). It was made this way so that those who perhaps were not as skilled in archery could make up points in later events, or vice versa.

Arthur found himself too focused on Alfred to really see how any of the other competitors were doing. He wasn’t even sure who was leading at the moment, but he knew for a fact it certainly wasn’t Alfred. The alpha was struggling to even string a bow. Arthur wouldn’t doubt it was probably the first time he had ever picked one up. He felt pity for Alfred and wished he could go down and give him some pointers. It was no matter though, there were other events Alfred could score points in to make up for it. It was just a slow start, that was all.

But it seemed it was not just a slow start. In the Hunting event, Alfred didn’t know what he was doing either, and had even struggled to get on the horse. At the Luncheon, Arthur observed his manners at the table and found his etiquette to be lacking. However, he was excelling in drawing out forced laughs with his horrid puns. Arthur was at a separate table but could still hear those punch lines and the groans from the other alphas that looked at Alfred like he was just there to make them look better. He didn’t seem to mind, or… he didn’t even seem to notice. He carried on, a big smile on his face. He kept complimenting the food and thanking the butlers and maids that brought each dish out. Arthur smiled to himself, catching his eldest brother looking over at him when he did.

The last event of the day before the party was the Trivia. It was the history of the Kirkland household, the family history, everything important that had been crammed into Arthur as a child about his relatives and all that nonsense. Arthur watched hands raise, answers come. Alfred attempted to answer as many as he could but was often wrong… by a lot. The host of the Trivia event announced the end of the round.

“We will have a set of three bonus questions. These questions are specific to Arthur Kirkland, rather than the Kirkland family. These points will have no negative effect on your score if you are to answer them wrong.”

Each year there was a bonus round, it was promoted as a way to earn bonus points to help you out, but in all the years they’d done it, no one had managed to answer all of them, or even one of them. They were more personal to things about Arthur that his competitors often didn’t take the time to look into. Most of them had never even spoken to Arthur before or outside of this event, and so how could they know anything about him? It wasn’t really fair, but Arthur placed a lot of importance on this part of the day. He didn’t want some stranger marrying him. He wanted someone who knew him or even cared to know anything about him. These competitors might be trained in Hunting, have knowledge of the household, or have table manners, but… They were marrying Arthur, not the hunting grounds or anything like that.

Arthur sighed. All hope of Alfred had gone out the window too. Arthur had thought the Archery was just a blunder, but as the day had drawn on it had become apparent to him that Alfred had not prepared and knew little to nothing about any of the events. Even if he did have his bad jokes and charming smile and cute dimples…

“First question: How does Arthur take his tea?”

One hand shot up. Alfred’s. He’d been trying to answer all of the questions anyway so Arthur thought he was just going to guess at this one too.

“As sweet as it can be,” Alfred said. “Arthur likes as much sugar as the cup will hold. He doesn’t like anyone knowing how much he loves sweets but he just can’t help himself when it comes to tea.”

Arthur’s eyes widened, his posture straightening a bit, his attention more on Alfred now.

“That’s correct. Bonus points to Mr. Jones. Second question. What’s Arthur’s favorite flower?”

Another hand shot up before Alfred’s. It was Martin’s. “Obviously it’s the same as the Kirkland household’s- the Foxglove.”

“That’s in-”

“That’s stupid,” Alfred interrupted. “It’s obviously not the Foxglove. Artie’s favorite flower is a rose. Specifically red roses,” he said confidently. “Arthur always grows them in his private garden and likes to take care of them practically every day.”

“That’s correct. Bonus points to Mr. Jones once again. Final question…” Arthur was as straight up in his seat as he could be, more attentive than he’d ever been before. Alfred had… remembered all those things… about him? They had met before but not that often and Arthur didn’t talk much about himself. Even when he did, he didn’t think anyone listened- especially alphas. He remembered giving Alfred a rose once before, telling him he could use it to brighten up his desk at the bank. Arthur felt his heart race a bit.

“What’s Arthur’s favorite dessert?”

Alfred’s hand went up again with no hesitation. “Strawberry ice cream. Artie likes a lot of different flavors of ice cream, but he likes the sweetness of fresh strawberries and he especially likes them in ice cream. He always craves it around spring and early summer.”

Arthur… had never told anyone that. How could Alfred have known?

“That’s correct,” the host announced. “This event has now concluded. Everyone may now take some time to relax and freshen up before gathering in the ballroom for the party. Thank you.”

The competitors began getting up and stretching and chatting amongst each other, talking about how they think they did, or how many points they thought they had. Arthur couldn’t move, still stuck to the spot, eyes on Alfred. The alpha met his eyes from across the room and he smiled at him. He could see Alfred get up and walk towards him and felt his hand twitch. People moved between them, cutting them off from each other’s view. Arthur got one more glimpse, then stood up and ran from the room.

He ran to his bedroom, shutting the door behind him and walking to the window. There were people out in the lawn who were looking up at his window, pointing towards it and waving when they saw him stand there. Arthur closed the curtains. His heart was racing. Alfred… Alfred had answered every question right. And yet, he had gotten everything else wrong. Oh why had he been so ill-prepared in all the events? Unable to do a single thing. Even with the bonus points he was most certainly in last place. Even if Arthur wanted to chose him, he couldn’t.

Is that what Arthur wanted? Did he want to chose Alfred?

That dolt. That simple stupid American bank teller with his stupid puns and stupid blue eyes. That charming, sweet, wonderful alpha who listened to Arthur when Arthur went on about his boring books or his garden. Arthur felt tears sting in his eyes. He heard a knock on his door.

“Arthur? Dear?” It was his mother’s voice. Arthur wiped the hot tears away.

“Yes mother?”

She entered the dark room, finding Arthur still standing near the window, the curtains drawn closed. She sat on the edge of his bed. She had gone through the same thing as him, competitors asking for her hand in marriage through competition and events. She understood what he was going through. “You don’t have to chose anyone this year, you know…” She murmured, although she too realized he only had one year left to pick.

Arthur sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed next to her.

“That’s not it mother… I have decided…”

His mother perked up a bit, interested. “Really dear? Then what’s the matter?” Arthur looked down at his hands. “The stupid alpha didn’t score enough points,” he muttered.

Realization dawned on his mother’s face as she figured out who Arthur was referring to. She had seen the alpha’s performance throughout the day, had met the lad before, and she had seen her son and him talking a few times. She smiled and ran her fingers through Arthur’s hair.

“You chose him?” she asked. “Are you sure, Arthur?”

Arthur nodded, trying to stop from crying so his eyes wouldn’t be red and puffy during the party. “Even if we gave him a year to prepare for the next competition, there’s no guarantee he would win or even get enough points. And next year is the last… But… he was the only one who knew…” His mother smiled softly and kissed Arthur on the forehead.

“Let me talk with your father,” she said.

Arthur looked up at her. “You mean… you would… let me chose him?” he asked.

“We know this tradition is hard. It’s unfair to chose. We had hoped you would find someone through these parties and events that you would want to chose. And now, it seems you have.”

Arthur felt the tears well up again and leaned over to hug his mother. “Thank you,” he murmured, burying his face into her neck, feeling comforted as if he were a small child again.

Arthur felt as if he were floating through the party, unaware of most things. He felt nervous now even more than before. What if… What if Alfred didn’t accept him? He had run away earlier. What if Alfred had taken that as a bad sign and had left? He didn’t see the alpha at the party now, although there were a lot of people. Hor d'oeuvres were being passed around, family and competitors and many others stood around with wine or champagne in hand, chatting excitedly to find out the results.

A clink to a glass caught everyone’s attention. Arthur had made his way up to the main part of the ballroom, on a raised stage where everyone could see him more clearly. His father and mother were there, smiling proudly at him. His father winked in a comforting way towards Arthur.

It was customary that Arthur was to read the results and make the announcement to everyone. He took a sheet from a maid and stepped up to a microphone. “Thank you everyone for coming and participating today,” he said, hoping his voice didn’t sound as nervous as he felt. His eyes scanned the crowd of faces, trying and failing to find Alfred’s. “Thank you to the competitors for doing their best and working hard for this day,” he added. “As you know, the points from today will be added together, and the one with the most points will be decreed the winner.” Arthur looked at the list. He was always given the score from 3rd to 1st place and started from bottom to top. “I know you all put in your best effort. All of you trained and prepared and studied for the events of today. I saw many of you doing your best and working hard to impress me or show what you can do. I really do appreciate it.”

After searching Arthur’s eyes finally found Alfred. The alpha was near the back, looking at him, that same smile on his face, like he was trying to tell Arthur it was okay. He looked as if he knew he hadn’t won, but he was still happy for Arthur anyway. It made Arthur want to run away all over again. What ifs ran through his mind, making him doubt himself. Arthur took a deep breath.

“In 3rd place, with 380 points, Ms. Ava,” Arthur announced. The audience clapped for Ava, who looked disappointed. Arthur smiled at her. “Thank you… In 2nd place, with 410 points, Mr. Choi.” More applause erupted from everyone. Everyone grew quiet, waiting intensely for the 1st place winner.

“And in 1st place… with 25 points, Mr. Alfred F. Jones.” There were gasps of surprise, even Alfred looked incredibly shocked too. Some of the other competitors began to anger but the maids calmed them down. Alfred, you’re the one I chose… You’re the one I want to marry a-and I hope you want me to,” Arthur said. “If you would please come to the stage if you accept… I-I don’t care if you can’t shoot an arrow, or that your jokes are the worst I’ve ever heard… You knew the most about me and I want to know more about you. Do you- Will you accept?”

There was a pause and then some of the crowd began pushing Alfred towards the stage until he was right at the steps and then next to Arthur. Arthur turned to look at him, swearing he wouldn’t cry again.

Alfred smiled at him. “Thank you for wishing me all that luck earlier,” he said. Arthur laughed and Alfred continued on. “I want to get to know you more too so, I guess what I’m saying is of course I accept.”

#usuk #fanfiction #omegaverse #fic trade #x-silkplants-x #lol tagged u as silkpants at first whoops #hope you liked it!#i only edited it once so sorry for any mistakes!!#><#alsdkjf;asdf #gah its been so long since ive written anything sorry if it's bad #mywriting #usuk oneshot

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gallifreyanlibertea · 6 years ago

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Phone Swap

a/n: based on the snapchat series of the same name. I didn’t know how the actual filming worked so I made it up.

Arthur hated blind dates. However, his love of free food far surpassed his hatred for most things, so despite the fact that the idea was fishy- a “company” paying for him to go on a date with some stranger - there he was.

There Arthur Kirkland was, sitting in a chair with a camera in his face. The cameraman assured him it wasn’t on. “Your date will be private, we just want to record when you two meet and… the very end of it, of course.”

Fishy. Arthur was the first to arrive at the address he’d been given. He had been told to walk into a room and introduce himself, to talk into a camera about what kind of significant other he was looking for- “My name is Arthur Kirkland, I’m twenty-six years old and I work at… well, I just have a boring desk job.”

Arthur managed a smile. The cameraman urged him to go on. “I’m just looking for someone who is nice and, well, attracted to me, hah… I’m not very particular. It’s been difficult getting a date lately, so I’ll honestly take what I can get.”

It had been awkward, yes, waiting in a room until his ‘date’- who supposedly had arrived ten minutes late, not a good start, mind you- finished his recording. Yet, as soon as the tall, tanned, beefcake of a male walked in through the other door to shake Arthur’s hand, Arthur forgot about the beginning, the setting, the awkwardness. Arthur had made an incomprehensible noise at the feel of that warm hand on his. Alfred, as the man introduced himself, laughed.

The date itself had been alright. It was not as awkward as Arthur had expected. The food provided was good, the conversation was light- Alfred was a funny, loud man, and Arthur, despite hating others with the same qualities, liked him. It was going well, and Alfred was charming, and Arthur could feel himself losing the tight, icy grip around his heart with Alfred’s every carefree, dimpled smile.

The icy grip came right back after the cameraman peeked around his equipment, after Alfred and Arthur had looked at the crew expectantly after what they assumed was the end of their date.

“Okay guys, we have a surprise for you." There it was, that sinister smile Arthur had feared ever since he had a suspicion he was on some sort of prank show. "We’re going to have you two swap phones!”

Alfred choked. “Swap phones?”

“Yeah,” The cameraman emerged from behind his perch. “You two will have time to look through each others’ phones, get a feel of their personality, and see if you would want a second date.”

Arthur should’ve known his brother would be the type to sign him up for something like this, god, he could’ve at least used a warning! Sure, he’d been quick (feigning reluctance, but see, Arthur really was simultaneously cheap and desperate) to accept the idea of the paid blind date when his brother had offered it to him, but Arthur should’ve known there was a catch when he wasn’t offered any details about the date.

He thought back to embarrassing texts and badly-lit pictures of himself that he told himself he’d delete but kept anyway- dear god, he did not want Alfred in his phone.

Besides, he knew what happened to couples who snooped in phones. It never ended well.

Alfred seemed to have secrets of his own, seeing as his cheeks flushed a dark red. “Wh- wait, do we have to?”

“It’s all in the contract. Why else would we pay for your date?” The cameraman snorted.

“Well, my brother signed me up, so I had no idea!” So it seemed Alfred was on the same boat. Brothers were a universal disease.

The cameraman shrugged. “Unless you absolutely don’t want to do it… you do get some additional money in compensation at the end.”

Arthur chewed his lip, debating on whether or not to protest. He chose to stay silent. Alfred also sighed in resignation. Well, they are offering money...

“Now who wants to go first?” As soon as the question was asked, Alfred piped up with the answer, as if he had already decided to go first as soon as their unique situation had revealed itself.

Arthur didn’t know if he liked that. Now that he thought about it, it was smart to go first. It was smart to get it over with, rather than to sit in a chair stewing in worry until the other person was done.

Alfred shot Arthur a look, half pitied and half, well, there was no way to describe it but mischievous. It was a slight smirk. It sent a chill up Arthur’s spine.

Alfred was gone, and what seemed like an hour later, he was back, expression light and eyes sparkling.

Arthur was ushered into the room next, and he walked briskly enough not to focus on the feeling of his stomach plummeting under that blue-eyed gaze. Arthur couldn't help but wonder what Alfred had seen to warrant such an expression. He wondered if it was a good thing.

It was probably not a good thing.

He entered the room to be met with a crew who informed him that he would be mic’d, and that he would have to scroll through a phone and comment aloud. The phone’s screen was recorded, and his voice would be added in during the final edit, it was simple.

Arthur gripped the phone in his hand, dutifully eyeing the camera crew until they signalled for him to begin. “Erm, well, I suppose I’ll begin with the camera roll.”

He clicked the camera app and scrolled through. “A lot of sporty pictures so I’m guessing he plays sports.” Arthur said with a slight laugh.

He supposed sporty was the right way to describe them. Tight shirts exposed the benefits of a good diet and exercise routine; well-lit gym selfies sent pangs of envy in Arthur’s gut… Arthur’s, em, slightly chubby, definitely less-toned, gut.

Arthur paused on a certain picture of a group of sweaty shirtless jocks hoisting Alfred up on their shoulders. “I’m guessing these are high school pictures. He’s… um, he’s, very built.”

Built indeed. Arthur tried not to think of how those abs would feel under his fingertips. He tried not to think about the rather... racy implications of a fit body- of strength and… endurance.

“Most of these are the same so I’ll go to the-” An idea struck his head. Arthur bit back a devious smile. “I wonder what’s in his recently-deleted.”

Arthur opened the recently-deleted files with a smug smile that dropped off his face almost as abruptly as his heart ceased to beat. He was greeted with a picture of a- Arthur couldn’t remember yelping, but by the concern on the faces of the cameramen and the sound of his panicked voice reaching his own ears, he supposedly had.

Arthur’s heart picked up the pace, racing in his chest as his cheeks flushed an impossibly hot red. Dear god, that was his-! Was that his…? Arthur hit the home screen with a gasp, pressing a hand to his chest as his eyes moved up to gaze into the camera.

“These are his… his nudes, what do I-?”

“You can go through them if you want.” The cameraman said with a laugh, “There are no rules to this.”

Arthur blinked, clicking back in red-faced. “He’s very… built here too.”

He then decided against snooping, despite the encouraging laughter of the crew, and moved through the home screen instead. “I see he has some dating apps here.”

He was greeted with more nudes, some steamy pick-up lines and gorgeous profile pictures. Arthur’s heart was in his throat. “Alfred certainly has a big personality.”

He went back to the home screen and squinted his eyes at the wallpaper, “Oh, that’s just adorable, I think that’s him and his dog.”

He cleared his throat, glancing at the camera before harshly averting his eyes. “Adorable.”

After a pause, he straightened up. “I think I’m done.”

“Okay.” The cameraman said. Arthur stepped out of the room as guided by a member of the crew to find Alfred lounging on a chair.

Alfred glanced up, cheeks flushed.

Arthur met his gaze, cheeks flushed.

“Now you two get to see what the other saw.” The cameraman beamed, lips twisted into a grin that seemed almost sickening, almost ruthless, seeing as Alfred and Arthur both sported similar looks of dread.

Arthur would rather have been six feet under, right then and there. Alfred seemed to feel the same, because he tossed a wide-eyed look in Arthur’s direction, full lips mouthing the word “fuck”.

Arthur went first this time.

He was taken back into the same room as footage of Alfred scrolling through Arthur’s phone played on the television mounted on the wall. He couldn’t help but marvel at how quickly the video had been made. Perhaps the crew had been working on it while Arthur was recording his session.

“Feel free to comment on anything Alfred says.” The cameraman said.

Alfred's introduction came first. "Hi, my name is Alfred Jones and I'm twenty four years old! I work at McDonald's and Uber drive sometimes, yanno, for the college money." Alfred grinned at the camera. The footage then cut into his dating preferences, "I want a guy with an actual personality... who wouldn't mind mine." A loud laugh.

Alfred began with the text messages. An interesting choice.

“Aww, his last text to his mom was an ‘I love you’, that’s real sweet. I love a guy who has a nice relationship with his parents.”

Arthur found himself blushing as the footage cut to a pleased grin on Alfred’s face. “And he uses perfect grammar in his texts and all. With punctuation. Boy, is he out of my league.”

“I get a lot of grief about that, actually.” Arthur said with a nervous chuckle, “I can come off a bit rude over text.”

The fact that Arthur couldn’t tell if Alfred’s compliment was sarcastic or genuine clenched his stomach in worry. Alfred moved to his camera roll next, and Arthur fought to remember what sort of pictures were on his phone.

“He’s cute.” Alfred mused, scrolling through a particularly awful selfie Arthur had taken recently. “Oh, his cats are gorgeous!”

Arthur bit back a smile.

Alfred made a wide sweep up Arthur’s camera roll, “I’m hoping he has some nudes or something.”

Arthur’s smile melted into horror, “Um, what?”

“Ah, well, he doesn’t seem like the type, anyway.” Alfred concluded after a minute or so. “I wonder if he has dating apps.”

Arthur had none.

“I guess I’ll check his social media.”

Arthur had… none. He only ever used the messaging app to text close friends. He was never one for the larger social media sphere. Alfred’s disappointment- or rather, his shock- was apparent in those wide blue eyes. “Jeez, no gaming apps either? That’s kinda boring!”

“I suppose that’s an accurate description of me.” Arthur said, managing a weak smile.

Boring.

Arthur didn’t feel like smiling but he also didn't feel like giving the cameras any other expression.

He knew this was a horrible idea. He knew he was just being set up to be embarrassed, and he knew, just as soon as Alfred walked into their date, that Alfred was miles out of Arthur’s league.

He should’ve gotten out somehow and saved himself the mortification and shame.

The mortification and shame of being called boring, that is. Arthur could’ve gone without it.

The clip came to an end and Arthur was escorted into some sort of waiting room. He presumed he would have to sit there until Alfred finished watching Arthur’s clip, and they would have to meet and come to a decision of some kind.

Arthur’s cheeks burned red at the thought of Alfred smirking as Arthur commented on the size of his- er, and his muscle, and ugh, Alfred would hear all of Arthur’s vocal infatuation and know just how attractive Arthur found him, and all Alfred had to say about Arthur was that he was boring.

Well, Arthur was used to it. Alfred must’ve been used to it as well, to be on a date with someone so beneath him. He probably had more than enough dialogues on hand to let Arthur down gently.

Arthur's self-loathing session was interrupted by the sound of a door opening.

“Are you ready?” A man said.

No, Arthur was not.

Alfred seemed ready, however. Arthur found him sitting back in his chair, chin tilted up in a knowing smirk. Arthur smiled back politely and took a seat in the chair next to him.

“Alright, you two can talk.”

Silence.

“Well,” Alfred began, “Let me just say, I’m so sorry for all the nudes you found on my phone, it’s really not something I wanted your first impression of me to be.”

Arthur chewed his lip, hot faced. He only moved his mouth to formulate words when he told himself he’d never forgive himself if he’d gone bashfully quiet at the topic of Alfred’s nudes... on camera. He smiled. “It’s an art, Alfred, I wasn't against them-“

Arthur’s eyes widened, “I, I- um, I meant to say I wouldn’t hold you against them. Not that I liked-“

Alfred winked and Arthur decided he wouldn’t be opposed to feigning a medical condition to get out of the situation.

“Well, moving on," Arthur cleared his throat, "Alfred, you’ve got just the right impression of me, I can tell you that.”

“Yeah, what’s with the lack of social media?” Alfred said, to which Arthur went stiff.

“Um… I just,” I don’t have any friends.“I prefer to keep my interactions straightforward and to the people I know and like.”

“That’s admirable.” Alfred said, with a smile. “Anything you want to ask me?”

“Uh…” Arthur shifted in his seat, “I suppose I could ask the opposite- why so much social media? I saw at least a few different dating apps, and, well, I wouldn’t think a guy like you would… have trouble, uh,”

Arthur wanted to kick himself. Alfred laughed, “That’s sweet of you to say, but it’s really hard to find dates in person… guys don’t usually approach me when I go out to clubs n’ stuff, I’ve been told I’m really loud and that kinda puts people off, and, well, you can’t be loud over text, can you? I’m okay with it though, not all of us can have an attractive voice.”

Alfred stopped speaking almost abruptly, chewing his lip with a sheepish, dimpled smile, “Not all of us can have a british accent, I mean. That’s really the easiest way to get in somebody’s pants here in the good ol’ U.S.A.”

Arthur wished he hadn’t choked on air just then so he could’ve kept up with the “sexy Englishman” illusion Alfred, much to Arthur’s secret delight, seemed to have. Alfred laughed at Arthur’s discomfort, and Arthur wished he could’ve said something in reply- something witty, maybe a- well, I haven't gotten into any pants in the two years I've been here!

Yikes. He kept his mouth shut. He didn't need Alfred, the entire crew, and the future audience, knowing that despite having the advantage his accent supposedly gave him, Arthur was still repulsive enough of a person to not have gotten any action in so long.

With the lull in the conversation, the cameraman said, “Alright, now you type, into the notes app of each others’ phones, whether you'd want a second date or not. Before you give it back to the other person.”

Arthur swallowed hard. The decision didn’t seem as difficult for Alfred, who took to typing right away. Arthur’s cheeks flared in shame. Well, if it was so easy for Alfred to pick what was obviously his choice, Arthur wouldn’t embarrass himself.

They switched phones.

Alfred’s expression fell. “He said no.”

Arthur’s eyes widened. “He said… yes? Wha- you said yes?"

Alfred’s brows were furrowed. “Well, yeah, you’re cute, why wouldn’t I say yes?”

Arthur shifted in his seat.

“I mean, don’t get me wrong, you’re weird,” Alfred said with a laugh. It was a laugh that lacked humor, as strange as that seemed. “But it’s the good kind. I would’ve liked to get to know you, but-”

And before Arthur knew it- “I take it back,” he blurted.

“What?”

It was a word echoed by both an incredulous Alfred and a crew with matching expressions. Arthur chewed his lip, nervous under the attention. He was completely aware of how foolish he looked- a man who was unable of communicating his feelings if he had even the slightest bit of doubt that they wouldn’t be reciprocated. “I was sure you were going to say no, so I did it first.”

Alfred raised his brows. “So you said no but you meant yes?”

“Yes.” Arthur said.

“And I wouldn’t have known you were into me unless I had said yes-?”

“Yes.” Arthur echoed impatiently.

“-even though it was kinda obvious, you were practically drooling over my nudes. I was surprised you said no, really.”

“I was not drooling!”

“You most definitely were!” Alfred said, and it was apparent by the smirk on his lips that he was teasing, but Arthur was never one to take humiliation lightly. “You didn’t need to be on the same picture for so long, yanno.”

The crew seemed to be enjoying this, but Arthur was certainly not. He was certainly not enjoying the prospect of having this footage put on the Internet, of millions of people- including his own brother- watching as a man accused him of such lewd things! There was no doubt Arthur’s brother would never let him forget it, nor any one of Arthur’s friends, so damn it, it didn’t matter that Alfred was easily the most attractive man to ever blink in Arthur’s direction! It didn’t matter that even looking at Alfred's face made his heart leap into somersaults. He huffed, sitting straight in his chair and crossing his arms, “I take it back… again!”

Alfred raised his brows, as if expecting a reason, so Arthur gave him one.

“Well, you’re far too childish for me to stand a second date with.”

“I’m childish?” Alfred echoed.

Arthur huffed. “Yes.”

“Fine.” Alfred said with humored eyes.

“Fine.” Arthur said back, cooly.

“So is that a no, or…?” The cameraman inquired, “We need a definite answer, and you two can go your separate ways.”

Arthur glanced at Alfred almost expectantly, to which Alfred’s lips quirked up in a smile. “It’s a definite yes from me.”

Oh.

Arthur cleared his throat, cheeks welling up with the hot red feeling of shame, for the umpteenth time that day. Dear god, Arthur was an idiot. His ridiculous pride said no, yet every other inch of him, fueled by the two driest years of Arthur’s life, threatened mutiny if he said anything but yes.

Well, his pride didn’t seem to mind the images Arthur’s deprived brain had concocted, of his fingers running through Alfred's wheat blond hair, of every sound in the background going mute at the chime of that loud, boyish laugh, of the warm feeling of someone’s lips on Arthur’s own after the longest time.

His pride didn’t mind at all.

“I… it’s… I suppose it’s… it’s a yes from me, then.” Arthur replied.

Alfred smiled. “I get the feeling I'm in for a ride with the likes of you, Arthur.”

And any retort Arthur had in mind to make melted away as Alfred gestured for a hug that Arthur reluctantly accepted.

“But it was nice to meet you.” Alfred said, practically into Arthur’s hair.

Arthur sunk into that warm embrace, tugging away just as he realized he’d been holding the hug far too long to be socially acceptable.

“I already put my number into your phone, so text me when you want to head out.” Alfred said, “I was thinking next weekend, we could grab dinner?”

“Yes, that would- it would be lovely, yes.” Arthur replied, watching as Alfred left to politely shake the hands of the crew, who informed them that the money transaction would take place online within a week. He headed to the exit, turning to toss a wink in Arthur’s direction.

“I can’t wait to receive those exclusively-inner circle texts of yours.”

And Alfred was gone, leaving Arthur to gather his things, politely wishing the crew a good day and leaving with a giddy smile on his lips.

There were some things he couldn’t wait to receive either.

#usuk #aph america #aph england #phone swap au #my fanfiction

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mermaidsirennikita · 7 years ago

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June 2017 Book Roundup

This month, I read thirteen books, some of which were total disappointments, one of which really surprised me, and one of which was easily among the best followups I’ve read in a while. That was my favorite book of the month, Kiersten White’s Now I Rise, the second in her Conqueror’s Saga. As that is a sequel and definitely requires reading of the first book, And I Darken, I also want to recommend The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. A sweeping historical fiction novel, it tells the tale of a glamorous Hollywood icon with plenty of secrets, and showcases a unique romance that surprised me--but also made me very happy. Hopefully, I’ll find something just as good next month!

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. 4/5. When Starr and her childhood friend Khalil are pulled over by a cop, the worst happens: the unarmed--innocent--Khalil is killed. Starr is the only witness, and she’s torn in several different directions. Her parents are worried about her safety, and her father’s gangster past makes things a bit more complicated; protesters want Starr to come forward and defend Khalil, who is being labeled a drug dealer and a “thug” by the media; and Starr herself goes to a predominantly white private school, and isn’t sure what her friends would think. Obviously, “The Hate U Give” deals with a lot of content that I as a white girl really can’t properly comment on, and that’s one of the reasons why I gave it four out of five stars--I can’t speak to its accuracy. But from what I’ve heard from friends who can, it’s viewed very positively, and it seems to reflect much of what we see in cases involved unarmed black men being shot by cops--with a personal spin. Starr is a deeply relatable, human character. I felt empathy for her, while at the same time not feeling like she was too perfect. The story is written so lovingly, and Starr’s entire family felt like people I would actually meet. The conflict of the book isn’t just surrounding the main plot, but Starr’s parents’ differing views on what their children need, and Starr’s father’s past. Starr’s dad, Mav, was a GREAT character. He’s exactly the kind of person that people uneducated about these issues need to see: an innately good person with a rough past, trying to do right by his family while at the same time dealing with some understandable demons. The only thing I can complain about is Starr’s boyfriend, who struck me as the most annoying type of white boy. And she deserved better, no questions asked.

A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux. 4/5. This romance novels sees schoolteacher Dougless crying in an English church right after being dumped and abandoned by her boyfriend. Her tears seem to bring Lord Nicholas Stafford from the sixteenth century--though he’s not quite the knight in shining armor she expected. Nicholas is remembered not for his accomplishments, but his many affairs and his eventual execution; and he wants to go back to his time, but not before figuring out how to prevent all of that. Dougless agrees to help him, but like... you can guess about what ensues. This book is considered a classic in the romance genre. It was written in the late 80s, and that does show; while Dougless isn’t anti-feminist, she’s definitely a product of an adjustment to feminism. She wants her boyfriend to take care of her WITHIN REASON, and he’s such a tool that you can understand why. The thing is that the book has a fluffy, wish fulfillment quality that is impossible to resist. Deveraux makes Nicholas sexy, but isn’t above making fun of him, and critiquing him for that matter. Dougless experiences noticeable character development, and while the book is imperfect, it’s highly enjoyable.

When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon. 4/5. Teenage coder Dimple isn’t planning on following her mother’s plans and settling down anytime soon. So she’s thrilled when her parents pay for her to go to Insomnia Con, a coding contest with a prize that involves her idol. Little does she know that Rishi is also going to Insomnia Con--and though she has no idea who he is, their parents have been planning on the two of them getting married for years. Traditional, dreamy, artistic Rishi knows that he’s supposed to get to know Dimple and someday marry her; and he thinks she knows that too. (She does not.) So when the two meet, there isn’t exactly the instant connection he expected. But after they become partners for the contest, they get to know each other--and understand each other. This YA romance was adorable, and probably one of the best I’ve read in a long time. Sandhya Menon is writing about what she knows, and it shows. Rishi and Dimple are able to bond over their shared cultural backgrounds, but that doesn’t mean they’re the same person--the expectations Rishi’s parents have for him are different because he’s a boy, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there. He reacts to his parents by embracing his culture and putting aside his dreams, while Dimple becomes aggressively rebellious. Their chemistry is perfect, and I became invested in their relationship very quickly. This is a great approach to the “arranged marriage” genre, and is a bit more lighthearted than other recent versions I’ve seen.

The Breakdown by B.A. Paris. 2/5. While driving late one night, Rachel sees a young woman pulled over on the side of the road. Soon after, she hears about a murder--and realizes that not only did she see the woman just before she was killed, but that she knew her. Then Rachel begins forgetting small things on a daily basis, apparently having a breakdown; but the specter of her mother’s demise from early-onset dementia hangs over her as she grows increasingly paranoid and sure that the killer is after her. This book was profoundly disappointing. It had the makings of a good domestic thriller, but I called almost every single thing that happened, and the pathos of it all weren’t that deep. Even when it seemed as if it was going to get interesting for a minute, it didn’t.

Once and for All by Sarah Dessen. 3/5. Louna (omg Sarah Dessen protagonist names) is the daughter of a famous wedding planner, jaded about love both due to her cynical mother’s outlook and the tragic ending of her first real relationship. Then she meets Ambrose, the outgoing son of one of her mother’s clients. In order to keep him out of his bride-to-be sister’s hair, Louna’s mother gives him a job for the summer, and as Louna and Ambrose bond, they begin to challenge each other in unexpected ways. Honestly, this was a feel-good book and it was cute in the way that Sarah Dessen books always are, and cheesy in the way they always are (lol her protagonist names I mean...). But while I remember “Saint Anything” being good, I honestly disliked “The Moon and More” and I feel as if nothing of hers has really hit me since books like “Just Listen”, “The Truth About Forever”, and of course “This Lullaby”, which is one of my all-time favorites. Ambrose was really cute, but his conflicts with Louna seemed super contrived--and for that matter, at times he seemed like a Dexter (”This Lullaby”) rip-off. Louna had a sad backstory, but it never connected with me partially because she never connected. Again, it’s cute but I wasn’t super invested, and the investment in the main relationship--or at least the main characters--are key to really loving a Dessen book. I also feel like Dessen usually benefits from building a romantic relationship between the characters ahead of the last 25% of the book (see: “This Lullaby” and “Just Listen”). Otherwise, she needs to amp up the sexual tension in a palpable way to get people invested faster (see: “The Truth About Forever”). The tension between Ambrose and Louna just wasn’t there. Hope this author gets her mojo back soon.

The Forger’s Spell by Edward Dolnick. 4/5. This non-fiction book takes on the story of Han Van Meegeren--a failed artist who managed to dupe the world with his forged “Vemeer” paintings. Most notably, Hermann Goering, Hitler’s right-hand man, was a buyer of one the fakes. Really, Van Meegeren’s story is the backdrop for a deeper investigation about how forgeries happen in the art world. Dolnick does a good job, though I didn’t agree with all of his assertions--he describes the famed art critic’s “eye” as something that does exist, albeit after a lot of training. Really, the “eye” seems to be dismissed by many today, whether or not you’ve been trained. He also seems to go along with a lot of ideas that are those of a connoisseur, and applies them to art critics and art historians in general. While some art historians specialize in connoisseurship, not all connoisseurs are art historians; in fact, connoisseurship seems to be falling out of style, and my school didn’t bother much with it. I also feel that he could have done a better job of differentiating between the historian and the critic. Overall, the book is a good examination of the psychological aspects that go into forgery, but this is very much a book about history. Today, Van Meegeren probably couldn’t have pulled this off--not simply because the art market has more resources now in terms of scientific testing, but because it seems to me that art historians are now being trained in a very different way in a post-Panofsky, post-Schapiro world. We’re told to be highly skeptical at all times, and while it’s possible that the old guard would have still fallen for a fake Vermeer, I think that many younger art historians would have been more inherently skeptical. Anyway, I clearly geeked out over this book and found it highly interesting.

The Warrior Queen by Lavinia Collins. 2/5. An Arthurian retelling and the first of a trilogy, this book focuses on Guinevere’s early marriage to King Arthur following his defeat of her father’s forces. Pretty sure this was self-published or published by a small indie publisher, and it showed. This book is quite short (it’s bound in an omnibus as part I with the rest of the trilogy, but it seems that it’s listed on Goodreads as an individual novel too) and while it’s not terribly written, there is some repetition that an editor would have (or should have) caught. It’s not a bad book and I think that if you’re looking for more of a simple romance, it’s okay. But as it is, it runs extremely quickly and the character development suffers. For that matter, while the Lancelot romance is very present, Kay takes Lancelot’s role in places where he shouldn’t, and Morgan le Fay seems to be a typical schemer. Not for me.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. 5/5. Aging Hollywood legend Evelyn Hugo calls upon Monique Grant, a no-name journalist, to write her biography out of nowhere. Monique understandably wants to focus on Evelyn’s seven marriages--which one was the love of her life, anyway? Evelyn reveals herself to be much tougher--and much more scheming--than she initially might have seemed. And there are plenty of secrets to be revealed, including her connection to Monique. I really, really liked this book. It had elements of grand romance and tragedy, while at the same time retaining the feel of a tell-all. The reveal of Evelyn’s greatest love was well-done, and I believed in the ups and downs of the relationship. You can definitely choose the starlets from whose lives Reid drew. It’s well worth the read, and I plan on trying Reid’s other books soon.

Marriage of a Thousand Lies by S.J. Sindu. 2/5. Lucky (short for Lakshmi) is a part of a traditional Tamil family, and as such has married Krishna to please her mother. The thing is that both Lucky and Krishni are gay, and simply protecting each other’s (and their families’) reputations through their sham marriage. Then Lucky learns that Nisha, her childhood friend and first love, is getting married. As Nisha and Lucky reenter each other’s lives, they find themselves unable to resist each other, while Lucky’s life implodes around her. This is a short read and the prose is very pretty, but I found Lucky to be pretty dull. Krishna was the character I wanted to know more about, to be honest; or even Nisha. It felt pretty paint by numbers, but perhaps that’s because I’m not from the same cultural background as Lucky. Not a bad book, but I just didn’t connect to it.

Song of the Current by Sarah Tolcser. 1/5. Caro is descended from generations of river sailors, all of whom worship the river god. After her father refuses to transport a crate--who knows what’s in it?--Caro agrees to do the task in order to gain his freedom. Aaaand so on. I think I hated this book so much in part because it could have been a lot more. But it was so slow. And there was cliche after cliche. And there were frog people; listen, I know that some of y’all are probably down for actual green frog people who catch flies with their tongues, but I don’t play D&D and I’m not there yet in terms of geekdom. Also, the romance was insufferable, and tongues actually tangled. This book was published by Bloomsbury, I assume there an editor involved, and THEIR TONGUES STILL TANGLED. That was when I knew this was a one star book.

Four Queens: The Provencal Sisters Who Ruled Europe by Nancy Goldstone. 3/5. This non-fiction book tells the story of four sisters of Provence--Marguerite, Eleanor, Sanchia, and Beatrice. Marguerite was married off to Louis IX of France, which in turn led to Eleanor becoming Henry III of England’s bride--Sanchia and Beatrice’s queenships would come later down the road. So to call them the sisters who ruled Europe is a bit misleading, but it makes for a great title; and it truly is remarkable that a fairly unassuming noble family would produce four girls who would all become queens. As you might imagine, the fact that this all took place during the thirteenth century means that Goldstone has to make some leaps in logic based on her research, especially in regards to the comparatively minor Sanchia and Beatrice. I know little about the subject so I can’t speak to Goldstone’s accuracy, but all in all it was a nice pop history read.

The Alice Network by Kate Quinn. 2/5. Shortly after the end of World War II, American Charlie St. Clair travels to Europe with her mother to take care of a “little problem”--her out of wedlock pregnancy. At the same time, however, she wants to figure out what happened to her beloved cousin Rose, who went missing during the war. During her search, she meets Eve--a woman who served as a spy during World War I. The story takes on their alternating perspectives, as Charlie struggles to find Rose and Eve grapples with her past. This kind of crushed me, as I am such a big fan of Kate Quinn’s Mistress of Rome series. I never really bothered with her Giulia Farnese books, because I knew that through no fault of Quinn’s they wouldn’t work for me; but this disappointed me. I’m not the hugest fan of World War I and II as historical eras, and I certainly love Ancient Rome a lot more. But this could have been so compelling. It takes so long to start, however, and Eve’s perspective was less interesting than Charlie’s, to the point that I kept wishing that I could skip Eve’s chapters entirely. By the time the action and romance really began, I was so zoned out that it didn’t matter anymore.

Now I Rise by Kiersten White. 5/5. The followup to the already-great start that was “And I Darken”, “Now I Rise” continues the dual stories of Lada (the fictionalized female equivalent of Vlad Tepes/Vlad the Impaler) and her brother Radu. While Lada is struggling to reclaim her throne in Wallachia, Radu remains a servant of the Ottoman Empire and its sultan, Mehmed--the man he secretly loves. Of course, Mehmed is obsessed with Lada--almost as much as he’s obsessed with Constantinople--and Lada is sort of obsessed with him back, but not as much as she’s obsessed with her birthright. This book sees the incredibly twisted trio get even darker. I really appreciate that Lada, Radu, and Mehmed aren’t super great people; Radu is less blood/power-thirsty than his sister and friend, but he is very manipulative and at times places his desire for Mehmed above loyalty to his sister. (Which is fucked up, as Mehmed would probably sell Radu to Satan for one corn chip if that corn chip was Lada, who in turn never knows how to feel about Mehmed because boy is hot but boy is also about as twisted as she is.) I love this series so much because of the moral grayness and dualities of all of these characters. Even when they did things that I really didn’t agree with, I still understood why they did them. For that matter, the supporting characters (especially Nazira, Radu’s equally gay wife) really upped the game of this book. This series is an absolute must-read.

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