#also i do think having baby luci kind of makes slipping into being older luci and morgan's dad easier

[aestheticitii]

askr chrom is way more fussy and prone to panicking because he hasn't gone through like seven or so months of "character development"—which basically consists of everyone from his pregnant wife to the man who may as well be his real dad for how much unconditional affection he's given him and his sister to like gaius and even tharja giving him pep talks about how he's going to be a great dad.

and then lucina's born and he turns out to be a great dad like everyone knew he was going to be and he doesn't accidentally crush her with his monstrous strength

because for regular chrom, that sort of increases the bar of how low he can truly go because his first thought upon seeing his daughter is "she's perfect" and his second thought is "i love her" and then once that wave of affection washes away, his thought is "i want to make the future a better place for her."

so like he's already more family oriented than his dad lmao. and like his wife points out, if he ever hurts lucina's feelings, then he can just apologize and listen like he does with her. he's allowed to meet his daughter without the tragedy of the future hanging over his head

and also because his wife's not going through a crisis in askr like she is in the regular timeline so his attention is just on the kids, that's also a reason why askr chrom is so panicked

like, askr chrom is just introduced to his baby girl with no prior introduction, unlike what regular chrom goes through. he's not even married, and that in and of itself is like a shock to his system. he hasn't even lost emm yet—he's just told his future wife about how terrible his father is and that kind of frames his actions because it's so fresh in his mind

and he doesn't ever want to let his kids down, but his kids have already suffered so much. and he doesn't get his pep talks in, except maybe with frederick and robin, because the kids are already so attached to him that no one offers him unsolicited advice on how to be a good dad because they already think he's a good dad

because of this, he's slightly more sensitive to perceived rejection, as opposed to it being robin in the other two timelines, because in the bad future one, she grew up knowing she was grima's heart and in the regular one, she found out who her father was and started having an inkling of what was going on

but in askr, robin is mostly chill, because chrom's not, so she has to be, but they do take turns. because chrom doesn't want to be his father, ever. he'd rather be the really fussy dad who cares about the little details aka freddy than be like his father

he's also specifically afraid of morgan rejecting him, because the boy already doesn't remember him, and fell morgan exists and allegedly hates his guts, despite chrom doing all he can to support him. morgan, of course, adores him, and eventually, he gets over that fear, but it sticks with him for a while

(regular chrom also kind of shares that fear, up until he interacts with morgan like five times and he's like, oh, i was worried for nothing)

[nalu4emily]

The Unexpected Reward - Chapter 17

Summary:  Natsu and Lucy go on a job together, but what they bring home is something neither anticipated. Forced to make a life changing decision, they have to adapt quickly, but that's never easy, especially given the circumstances. As they work together on their toughest adventure yet, they find themselves drawn to one another, in ways they never realised. Rated Mature. 

"Hey, Flame head! Wait up!" Gray called over, catching the fire mage as he hurriedly made for the guild's exit. "Where're you going in such hurry?"

Turning to catch the ice mage walking straight for him, Natsu stopped to answer, "Home. I left Lucy and Haru asleep this morning, so I better get back to 'em."

"Oh... You've not been at the guild much lately, is everything cool with you?" The ice mage pushed further.

"Uh… Yeah! Been kinda busy and stuff, ya know." The slayer shrugged, not seeming too interested in divulging any further information.

"Well, are ya too busy to come on a mission? It's been some time since our last job together as a team." Gray asked, scratching the back of his head.

"It has been a while, now you mention it… I'd have to ask Lucy if she's feeling up to it yet, she's still not feeling too good… Anyway, catch ya later!" Natsu spoke cheerily and turned back towards the door, his hand reaching for the handle.

"Lucy's been sick for an awfully long time now, Natsu." He heard another voice say, halting him in his tracks, "Are you sure there's not something else going on?" Lisanna came up and elbowed him playfully in the arm.

"Hm?" He replied, retracting his arm back to his side.

"That's right! Lucy hasn't shown her face in months now. Has something happened? Are you guys having relationship issues?!" Levy gasped at the thought, her eyes wide with her mouth hung low.

"Relationship issues?" Natsu cocked his eyebrow in disdain; what kind of nonsense was that?

"I think you're getting a little carried away there, Shrimp. You've been reading too many books again." Gajeel teased, poking Levy's pouted cheek as he came up from behind. "And Lucy hasn't been gone that long… has she?"

"How suspicious… His beloved is sick and yet he's not with her!" Juvia murmured, appearing creepily behind Gray, making him shudder. "What is he hiding?"

"I'm not hiding anything! You guys are looking way too much into this." Natsu lied, but for good reason.

The truth was a little more complicated than that. With Lucy being so unwell, she'd not been able to leave the confines of their house, having suffered greatly in the first months of her pregnancy. It'd been hard for the both of them, but Natsu had promised to look after her—to not leave her side, and he'd kept to his word. Having skipped out on job after job, and taking longer and longer breaks between each visit to the guild, it was only natural for their friends to worry and speculate, but it did put him right in the firing line.

He was wasting time. He had to get back to his partner and son, it wasn't fair to keep them waiting. The guild would get their long awaited answers when Lucy returned, which with any luck, would be very soon.

"Can I go now? I got things to take care of." Natsu huffed, starting to get frustrated with their incessant intrusiveness.

Trying to slip out from under the guilds snooping nose, the fire mage was beginning to question whether that was even an option any more, not with the amount of people now crowding him, wanting in on the action. He just hoped the great Titania didn't decide to intervene, then he'd be doomed.

"What things would that be then, Natsu? You're not usually this secretive." Lisanna hinted again, even more curious than before. "I thought you said you had to go home?"

"Just leave the kid alone, he's got his reasons." Laxus shrugged nonchalantly, pretending not to be interested, when really he'd heard everything.

"Yes, listen to Laxus!" Freed jumped in, also creepily appearing out of no where, making the lightning mage quiver. "Natsu doesn't need you all pestering him!"

Said boy sighed, glad to have someone on side and took the opportunity to make his leave—But things were never going to be that easy. The slayer found himself almost smacking his head against the thick, wooden door frame, utterly exasperated, when yet another of his guild mates decided to pipe up and add their two pennies worth.

"Yes, you're right. However, doesn't he usually have the kid with him? Why not today? So many questions that have yet to be answered. It makes you wonder really…" Evergreen chortled to the dubious guild members, hiding her conniving smirk behind her fan.

This was getting out of hand! They were just going 'round and around in circles and at this rate he would never leave. Being backed into a corner, he had no idea what was really going on. His guild mates were chucking all sorts of nonsensical bullshit at him.

Who knew what they were accusing him of? Because he sure as hell didn't know, and was pretty convinced now that they didn't either.

"I've already said Haru's at home with Lucy… The only reason I'm here, is to check in with Mira to make sure everything's ready for his party later. You know, for his birthday today." He explained once again, sighing loudly and slumping forward in despair. "I wasn't gonna bring him in early and spoil the surprise, now was I?"

He wouldn't have bothered with any of it, if it hadn't been for the take over mage and her desire to throw some massive party for the little boy, such was the way of Fairy Tail. But this time, Natsu would've much preferred to celebrate at home where Lucy could be present to enjoy it, too. However, Mira had made her own plans, having suddenly sprung the idea upon the unknowing young man one day in passing, and had given him little choice in the matter—his ultimatum much scarier than Erza could ever be.

"We're well aware of the little one's birthday celebrations today, Natsu." Erza's stern voice echoed through the hall, startling everyone into silence and swiftly marched herself right up to the slayer's retreating body. His heart raced as his worst fear became reality and felt a wave of dread as she approached at speed, her hardened features coming in way too close for his comfort. "However, that doesn't mean I'm any less suspicious of you."

"But why?! There's nothing to be suspicious about, I swear!" Holding his hands up in submission, the fire mage was stunned into silence; his mouth dropping open in disbelief; why were they all so hell bent on this? What even was this? He'd told them what he could; what more did they want? "Lucy and Haru are at home where I left them… What else do you want me to tell you?"

"So secretive and elusive… like you have something to hide. Have you no shame?" Ignoring Natsu's plea, the armoured girl had already come to her own conclusions and summoned one of her treasured swords to point directly at the slayer, her icy glare not the only thing threatening to pierce through him, "Our Natsu would never act like this! He's impulsive and reckless and just downright stupid! What have you done with the real one?"

The fire mage would've taken offence, had the red head not so angrily directed her sharp sword at the bridge of his nose. Narrowing his eyes at the sharp metal so close to him, he gulped thickly, praying to whatever god there was, that today of all days, Lucy might just walk through those big doors, saving him from the hell that was Erza Scarlet.

He shook in his sandals, showered in sweat as the red heads sword tip made contact with his skin, pushing his head right up against the wall, "B-But I am the real Natsu…"

"Then prove it! Explain yourself, now!" She was taking no shit from her fiery companion, not after convincing herself that he was, indeed, an imposter.

Desperate not to be on the receiving end of Erza's wrath, Natsu opened his mouth to speak, but just as quickly shut it again when the old guild doors suddenly creaked open. The sound of an infants voice followed by bickering between two others could be heard filling the loud silence, abruptly halting the interrogation of the defeated fire breather.

"See, Happy! I told you he'd be in here!" The young woman pointed, her eyes landing right on the dragon boy she'd been arguing with flying cat about, only realising moments later the presence of Erza's sword and every eyeball in the building staring unashamedly at her, "Uh… Am I interrupting something?"

"Lucy... you're here..." Natsu croaked in relief, never more glad to see his beautiful girlfriend as he sank to the floor. His voice cracking from the genuine fear the older girl had provoked in him, her sword now fully removed from his face. "My sweet saviour…"

"Uh-oh! Is Natsu in trouble again?" Happy giggled, glancing over at his pink haired friend, taking pity on his horror-stricken features.

"Lucy… You're alive?" Erza stated more than asked, stomping over to the young blonde to inspect her further.

"U-Uh…" The girl in question looked down at herself, confirming that she was definitely alive before looking back up again, confusion etched into her expression. "D-Do you want me to answer that?"

"Maybe you should lay off her a little; I'm sure Lucy's had it rough enough." Gray proclaimed bravely, unable to make eye contact with the unsettled knight.

"Please don't scare her off, not when she's only just returned!" Levy all but pushed Erza out of the way and threw herself at the blonde, who was now trying to balance the new weight along with the baby and herself. "I'm so happy to see you! I've missed you, Lu!"

"I've missed you too, Levy, but I'm sure Natsu's kept you updated." Lucy reassured her, then looked up to all of her other friends, "Hasn't he?"

"Natsu told us you hadn't been feeling well, but that's a suspiciously long illness Lucy, one I hope has a good explanation for making us all worry so much." Erza explained, crossing her arms over her chest.

"That's one long tummy bug!" Mira giggled, walking over to the ever growing group to stand near Lucy. "Anyone would think that you were p-" She paused, eyes growing wide with realisation and darted them down to the stellar mages midriff, before promptly fainting on the spot.

"Huh? Mira! Would think, what?! What were you going to say?!" Lisanna yelled, desperately trying to wake her sister up.

"Oh! I get it!" Gray understood, thinking back to the weird conversation he'd had with Natsu in the park and how it all made perfect sense now. "It definitely explains that idiots weird behaviour." He reached out to pat Lucy on the shoulder affectionately and smiled at her, then turned to smirk at said fire mage still recoiling on the ground. "So that's the way you wanna play? Game on, Pyro!"

Turning his head, Natsu smirked back, accepting the silent challenge as he jumped back up to his feet, looking cocky as ever, "You know it, Frosty!"

"Wait, what does Gray know? Is he a part of it too?" Levy gasped, pointing her accusatory finger at the demon slayer.

"Hell no!" Natsu and Gray yelled out in defence, both offended and totally disgusted by the very thought.

"Then what? What is going on here?" Cana shouted from her bench, having heard everything. "Quit with the suspense and just be out with it already!"

"Juvia understands." Out of the shadows, said water mage appeared before her once 'love rival' and smiled happily at the girl she was about to congratulate, "Juvia is so very happy for you both!" She looked down to her own rounded tummy and placed a hand on it, a noticeable difference in size to Lucy's, "They will be the best of friends, Juvia is sure of it."

Lucy's smile reached the corners of her eyes, relieved the rain woman didn't see this as another rivalry, like their partners apparently did, "Thanks Juvia, I'm sure they will be, despite what their father's might think." They both giggled at the expense of the boys gormlessly standing there, along with the rest of the guild, who still had no idea.

"Hold up! So, what does that mean? You're having a baby too, Lucy?" Lisanna asked, cradling her sisters limp body.

The guild's eyes fell to Lucy, more specifically her stomach where if they looked closely, they would see a small, but noticeable bump stretching out her pink summer dress. She could see the expectant faces of her friends waiting for her to answer, and the warm presence of her beloved dragon slayer come to stand next to her, obviously noticing her hesitancy.

"Natsu, I think you should tell them, I know you're dying to." She murmured, her voice quiet but firm.

"Are ya sure, Luce?" He asked, assuming she'd want to do it after all this time, but seeing the certainty in her eyes and the bright smile lifting her cheeks, he took her hand and turned back to the crowd, not needing any more confirmation than that. He glanced at each person in turn, a sense of pride filling his chest as the words left his mouth, "Heck yeah, we are!"

The entire guild erupted in a chorus of whistles and loud cheers, shaking the very foundations of the building in their excitement for the couple, "Oh, wow! Thanks guys! You're too kind!" Lucy's smile shone brighter than it had done in ages, overwhelmed with glee that their guild mates were so pleased for them.

"They've all been worried about ya, Luce." Natsu whispered closely so only she could hear and leaned in to kiss her cheek, knowing just how much this all meant to her. He took the excitable little guy off her hands, giving her the freedom to catch up with everybody.

"I knew it! I knew there was something fishy about you two! But congratulations guys, that's great news!" Levy cheered, ready to get down to the nitty gritty of every dirty detail.

"You had us worried there, Lucy. For a while, I thought you were never coming back!" Lisanna shared, hugging the celestial mage tightly, probably a little too tight.

"Oh… I'm sorry to have made you all worry, but I'm feeling much better now." The blonde explained, a light tint of pink dusting her cheeks from all the attention she was getting.

She could see Natsu hadn't moved too far away from her and tilted her head to look at him. Chuckling to herself, she could hear Erza try to apologise to him, suggesting the boy punch her right in the face for making such a mistake, a suggestion that was right up his alley, if it weren't for Haru in his arms.

Catching his beautiful blonde staring at him through the corner of his eye, he turned in her direction and winked, grinning as he held the little boy up on his shoulders to walk back over to her, "You feeling alright, Luce?" He asked, worried she may have forced herself into attending the celebrations before she was ready.

She nodded shyly, a little taken aback by the overwhelming attention she was receiving. Feeling his hand once again take hold of hers, she stared up into his confident eyes, then up to the child having the time of his life on his fathers shoulders, "I'm okay, but today's about Haru, not me, and I wasn't gonna miss this for the world." She grinned up at the small boy and reached up to stroke his cheek affectionately, chuckling at his enormous smile.

"You're right! Come on, Lucy! I wanna show you what we've done!" Natsu all but dragged the poor girl outside, Haru and Happy in tow, to show her the sheer amount of effort that had gone in to making Haru's first birthday, special.

The entire guilds courtyard had been lit up like a Christmas tree, with nothing left untouched. Banners and bunting of every colour hung from every post, table and tree. Tables upon tables of delicious food had been laid out with the most gargantuan home made birthday cake (courtesy of Mira) proudly sat in the middle of it all. An enormous pile of gifts had also been laid out, all individually wrapped with little cards to say whom they were from and most importantly, the pool had been filled with all kinds of fun inflatables and toys for all the children to play with.

Lucy looked around in amazement. She couldn't believe they'd gone to so much effort just for a one year old, a child that would unfortunately never remember this, but it didn't matter, she and Natsu would for him. "This is incredible, Natsu! I can't believe you did all this without me!"

"Don't sound too surprised; I can help organise things when I want to. And it wasn't all me, Mira came up with the idea." He looked up to the child above him and chuckled, "You like it, Haru?" The child had no idea what was going on, with no concept of birthdays or parties, he simply cheered anyway, responding to his Daddy's infectious grin, "Good! Well then Luce, let's get this party started!"

With his grin turning evil, he squeezed her hand tight and dived head first into the pool, with no consideration for his, Lucy's or Haru's clothing. She yelped at the top of her voice, her only reply a cackle before being submerged under water, thus setting the mood for the rest of the day.

After a full afternoon of playing with the other children, eating lots of cake and other treats, and opening presents, Haru found himself in the pool once again, this time in more appropriate attire for the water. A pair of cute little lion themed trunks (gifted by Loke), and a cute turtle inflatable ring adorning his middle (a present from Lisanna), made it much easier for him to stay above the surface while enjoying a swim in the water.

Natsu, in his usual flamed swim shorts, also found himself in the pool, diving under and popping back up in random places to surprise the little boy. Haru loved a good game of peek-a-boo, the anticipation of where his Daddy was going to pop up next was just too exhilarating. He squealed and laughed every time he resurfaced, then his eyes would grow wide in anticipation when he dived back down again.

"Gotcha!" Natsu exclaimed, appearing behind the little guy and grabbing his sides. "Does Haru want a go?" He asked, lifting him out of the rubber ring and holding him above the surface with just his hands, letting the infant tread the water to keep himself up, "Look at you! You'll be swimming in no time!"

Lucy watched on from her sun lounger, not remotely amused that the slayer had got her cute dress soaked, or that she now had to lay in just her pastel blue bikini, feeling somewhat self conscious with everyone staring at her exposed belly. She laid comfortably basking in the hot sunlight kissing her skin, trying to catch some semblance of a tan, relaxing while she could. She felt happy, content even, thankful that her symptoms had calmed down just in time for Haru's big day.

It'd been a long time since she'd been able to do this without having to run to the bathroom. With no spell or potion being strong enough to truly rid her of the awful feeling, she'd become well acquainted with the toilet in their house, having spent most of her time with her nose down it. It'd been hard over the last few months adapting to her changing body, her wild mood swings and questionable cravings, but she also knew it would be worth it in the end and it was on days like this, with her friends and loved ones surrounding her that she sincerely felt it.

Smiling to herself, Lucy placed her hand on her small, protruding stomach, feeling the tiny flutterings of the little one moving around inside, "You're an active little one today." She giggled, looking to be talking to herself by onlookers, but she didn't mind. "Then again, you're active everyday."

"Juvia's baby is quite active too, but he's closer to his due date than yours and is much bigger." Juvia said, coming to sit on the next lounger. She cradled her own, much larger bump that'd been covered by a flowy, light green summer dress, finding her regular clothes to form fitting and hot to wear now. "It's quite the feeling when he does somersaults in Juvia's belly."

"He? You're having a boy?" Lucy asked, intrigued to learn more and catch up with her friend.

"Yes, Porlyusica told us the last time we visited. Juvia always imagined she'd have a little boy, maybe watching Haru has something to do with that." She gleamed, looking over to the small fella splashing about in the pool still, having the time of his life with his father.

"I'm so pleased for you! I bet Gray was thrilled!" The blonde exclaimed, knowing he would be.

"Of course! Gray was very pleased. In fact, he made us go out and buy all the boys clothes we could find in the market afterwards. Then he took Juvia home and made-"

"No, it's okay… I don't think I need to know any more!" Lucy felt her cheeks burn red at the very thought.

"Made Juvia dinner…" The water mage finished, furrowing her brows at Lucy's assumption.

"O-Oh… Oops! Sorry Juvia, I thought you were going to say that you guys-"

"Made love? I think those hormones are getting the better of you, Lucy." Cana appeared, wagging her imaginary tail at the slightest mention of sex. "They say you get more horny when you're pregnant. I bet you and Natsu are at it all of the time? Actually, I'm kinda surprised he's not over here right now, with you looking all juicy like that!"

"Cana!" Lucy spluttered, her cheeks burning even more furiously. "You can't say things like that in public!" She didn't want to discuss her sex life in front of others, even if what they were saying was true—when she wasn't heaving of course.

"She's right though, Lucy. Juvia hasn't been unable to keep her hands off of Gray." The blue haired girl reaffirmed, her eyes like love hearts as she thought of her beloved Gray. "And Gray hasn't been able to keep his hands off Juvia, either."

"Wow, looking kinda smug there… You were like that any way…" Cana murmured, shaking her head at the love struck girl.

Well, there went Lucy's relaxing in silence, now she could barely keep from her head exploding—Good ol' Cana! "I don't wanna hear any more!" The celestial mage reiterated, covering her ears for emphasis.

"Oh, come on, Lucy! You're pregnant! That didn't happen by accident! You and Natsu knew exactly what you were doing." Cana retorted, moving herself closer to the flustered girl, her boozy breath permeating the air.

"U-Uh… Well… No, actually. It was kind of an accident…" Lucy admitted, feeling a little awkward by saying that out loud, her friends surprised faces not helping matters, "But it was a good accident!"

"Huh… And here I was thinking you were the cautious type, Lucy… Not that it matters. It's good to let the mood just take ya." Cana grinned, her shock forgotten.

"Don't look so ashamed Lucy, you'll both have another sweet baby to call your own and that's a wonderful thing. I imagine Natsu was over the moon when you both found out." Mira beamed her usual motherly smile as she came to sit near them all, having wanted to get the details on Lucy's pregnancy since earlier, "If Juvia's is a boy, then I bet yours is going to be a girl, Lucy."

"You think so?" The blonde asked back, never having actually considered what the sex would be before, but the thought of having a little girl join the family sounded rather appealing, especially in a house dominated by boys.

"Yes, with Haru as well, we need a little girl to make it more even. And she's gonna have the cutest pink hair and big brown eyes, I can just see it now!" Mira was off in a little world of her own, thinking of blue haired baby boys and pink haired baby girls—she was incorrigible.

"Boy or girl, I just hope that after living in a house full of ravenous beasts, this little one might be more like me. Haru's just a dark haired Natsu, he even laughs like him." Lucy placed her hand where she could feel the little movements of her baby and chuckled down, "But who am I kidding? You've already got your father's energy, that's for sure."

"Hey! Don't say that like it's a bad thing, Luce!" Natsu overheard as he appeared out of no where. "There's nothing wrong with having a mini-me, ain't that right, kid?" He hi-fived the now dry child in his arms, having already dried himself using his magic. "Who cares what they are or who they look like? You'll be in there somewhere, Luce; you're their mother, after all."

"Yeah, you're right." She said, always fascinated by Natsu's simplistic, yet logical way of thinking.

"Any way, it's getting kinda late, I was gonna take Haru somewhere a bit more quiet," Natsu gestured to the current brawl taking place behind him.

"Leaving so soon?" Mira asked, standing to say goodbye to the grizzly birthday boy.

"Yeah, he's all pooped out from the busy day he's had and I think he's ready to go to sleep now. Thanks for organising it, Mira!" He said, before turning swiftly to Lucy, "You coming?"

The bikini clad girl jumped to her feet and stretched her arms up, feeling the tiredness begin to set in, completely unaware of her partners roaming gaze, "Yeah, sure... Just let me put my dress-"

"Lucy! Watch out!" She heard Natsu shout suddenly as she bent to grab the item of clothing.

Feeling herself being pushed back onto the sun lounger, she flailed and reached her arms out to catch herself. Darting her eyes up to see what was going on, she was met with the exposed back of the dragon slayer that had moved to shield her from something. Smoke clouded him and the infant; an unfamiliar heat emanated off of his body. The girl hadn't seen what'd happened, or what she'd been saved from, but if the harsh, heavy breathing of the man in front of her was anything to go by, it was a close call.

"Natsu…" She started, but stalled there after, unsure of what more to say to him.

"What the heck do you think you're doing, you old geezer! Do you have any idea what could've happened just then?!" Natsu bellowed, his voice teeming with rage as his eyes narrowed at the culprit. "You're lucky I was here to catch your stupid attack, or that would've gone straight for Lucy!"

The brawl had come to a complete stand still and Macao, the one that'd thrown a fire ball initially at Wakaba, had gone ghostly pale as the dragon slayer's piercing gaze stared him down. "Hey man, I'm sorry… I didn't even know she was there, it was an accident!" He held his hands up in submission, not wanting to enter into a fight with the maddened slayer, knowing that was one he'd never win. "We got a little carried away, that's all."

"Oh yeah? Maybe I should go all out and see how you like it? Try and dodge this one!" Natsu roared, sending a blazing ball of fury of his own hurtling through the air, aiming it right at Macao's cowering body. Turning hotfooted back to Lucy, the distant cries of the offender being struck by his magic was like music to his ears, his anger satiated.

"Are you hurt, Luce? Did anything hit you?" He did a full search of her body, checking for any kind of injury. His worried eyes eventually fell upon her exposed belly and instinctually brought his hand out to caress it softly, "Is the baby okay?"

Smiling up at him, she brought her own hand to rest on his cheek and pulled him closer, loving just how protective he could be, "Of course, our baby's fine. No need to worry." She guided his palm to where the little one was doing somersaults and allowed him to feel the light pads against his skin.

Unable to keep his infectious grin down for long, he pushed his mouth hastily against Lucy's in a kiss that turned heated all too quickly. Buzzing with adrenaline from the incident, Natsu moved his hand from her belly and tangled his fingers into her hair, holding her in place as he enjoyed the taste of her warm lips.

"That's it, fire breath, you took it too far this time!" He heard Gray shout from behind him, knocking him out of his 'Lucy' trance and pull away, glancing over his shoulder, "Look at what you've done to the pool, you dumbass!" The ice mage pointed to the steaming pit that was once the guilds pool, fuming at the state of it.

"Ha! Looks like you and Juvia are gonna have a fun time filling that back up!" Natsu guffawed, passing the fidgety Haru to Lucy.

"Screw you, Pinky! You're going down!" Gray threatened, launching himself at the fire wizard and starting yet another brawl.

Rolling her eyes, Lucy looked down at the sleepy boy rubbing his tired eyes, and decided to creep away from the fight that just seemed to be attracting more and more people, "Come on then, sweetheart. It looks like Daddy's got himself distracted again." She chuckled, disappearing back inside before anyone had noticed she was gone.

By the time the evening swept in, Lucy had found herself a quiet spot up on a small hill a little ways from the guild, overlooking the lake behind it. She sat cosily against one of the many old oak trees, with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders and the baby laid across her chest, begrudgingly, but slowly falling asleep. She hummed her sweet lullaby to soothe her tuckered out child, hoping to coax him into closing his eyes.

It was moments like this that she cherished the most with Haru, just her and him with no one to interrupt. The atmosphere was peaceful and calm, exactly what she was looking for compared to the ruckus that was the guild's 'after' party that continued on down the street. She could even hear the rumble of their antics from where she sat, but luckily, it was pretty muffled, unable to spoil her quietude.

After weeks of staying at home, it sure made a pleasant change to be watching the sunset instead. She'd grown tired and achy after such a busy day, her feet were sore and her head had grown weary, but still she watched contented as the beautiful evening began to fade.

The young mother could finally hear the soft, even breaths of the slumbering child and gently placed him upon her bent up legs, covering him with her blanket to keep him from feeling the chill in the air. Staring at his little angelic features, she found it hard to fathom how drastically her life had changed compared to just twelve months before. She'd grown so much as a person and gained everything she'd ever wanted and more, making new memories along the way.

She and Natsu had unknowingly plunged themselves into a completely new world, taking on the responsibility of an abandoned child and calling him their own. Haru had opened their eyes to a life they never thought they'd get to experience, especially not with each other. The little boy had brought them together in a way that would forever bind them, creating the family unit they were today. It only seemed fitting to name this day as Haru's official birthday, for it was the day his life, and theirs, had begun anew.

Leaning her head back against the tree, becoming lost in her memories, her eyelids began to close, a wave of exhaustion rushing over her while sleep tempted her in. A rustle of a nearby bush was quick to quash that feeling though, as a startled Lucy snapped her eyes wide open and darted her head over to where the sound had come from.

"Oh, Natsu… It's just you…" She breathed, laying her bleary eyes onto that familiar toothy grin and untameable pink hair, a scaly, white scarf to match. "Tell me, what were you doing hiding in the bushes?"

"Looking for you." He said simply, walking out onto the hillside to join her, having deliberately left out the part that he'd been hiding there for much longer than he'd care to admit. In fact, one might say he'd been there the entire time, watching the beauty that was Lucy quietly sing their son to sleep and hadn't wanted to disturb her until she'd finished. "You left, so I had to come find ya."

"Oh, you didn't have to. I just wanted to settle Haru before he started getting grumpy. It's nice and quiet out here." Her voice sounded airy and light, her eyes half lidded and a little bloodshot. "You can go back and join the others if you want, I'm okay." She offered, but Natsu knew better than that, he always did.

"You don't have to pretend for me, Lucy. I can see how tired you are." He'd learnt pretty quickly in the past few months that pregnancy didn't just make her exceptionally sick, but that it had an array of different symptoms, some physical and others emotional, but all unpleasant and incredibly draining for her. "Why would I leave any way, you're all out here?"

"Happy's not."

"Yeah, and Happy's capable of looking after himself. He's too interested in Carla to notice we're even gone. You know what he's like." Natsu explained, scooting closer to Lucy to take the infant from her legs.

He set the baby down in his lap to keep him warm, the fluffy blanket tightly swaddling his body. The two mages cuddled up to one another, watching the twinkling stars come out to glimmer and shine down onto the glistening water in the distance.

"It's crazy to think it's been an entire year since we brought him home. Who knows where we'd be without him here?" Lucy reminisced, her gaze drifting from the moonlit lake, to the baby snoring peacefully without a single care in the world. "Or where his life might've gone, if we hadn't taken him in."

"We'd be what we always were," Natsu stated bluntly, tearing his own gaze away to look at the girl beside him, "Best friends, going on adventures and honestly, that's kinda the sad truth of it all. As for Haru…" He glanced down at his cuddled up son, smiling sadly as he remembered the first time he ever set eyes on the tiny, lifeless baby, that fateful day, "I made a promise to keep him safe; to make sure he lived… He was always going to come with me, there was never another choice. I just didn't know it then."

"And I'll be forever grateful that he did, because..." Lucy cleared her throat, feeling a little emotional at the thought, "Now, I have you and him! And nothing has ever made me happier! Choosing to adopt a child was the most daunting thing I've ever done, but it's proven to be the best decision I've ever made, one I'll always be thankful for." She gave her own toothy smile, a slight tint of pink dusting her cheeks as she poured her heart out to him.

Natsu felt his heart squeeze tight, her words reminiscent of his own feelings and quirked his lips up at her. Reaching his hand forward, he smoothed his fingers through her golden locks, before coming to rest it under her ear, guiding her to him, "Me too, Luce. Which is why…"

Lucy's breathing deepened the closer she got and felt his other hand come up to hold hers tenderly, paying no mind to him fiddling with her fingers, "Which is why, what? Is there something else?" She asked, cocking her head cutely as their breaths began to mingle. "Natsu?" Her eyes fluttered between his dark ones, waiting expectantly for him to finish.

"I… I wanna ask you something." He murmured just before claiming her mouth, connecting their lips in a kiss so sickly sweet, it made Lucy's belly fill with butterflies.

She could have melted into a puddle right then and there, the feel of his affections always had a way of making her turn to goo in his hands. Her spine shivered and the adrenaline buzzed through her system, not having the capacity to comprehend the words that'd been spoken, for her mind had been taken over by the feel of his hot mouth. Letting go of her hand, he snaked his fingers up to the other side of her neck and pulled her closer, craving those sweet cherry lips that he liked to nip at with his teeth.

Her fingers were now free to roam and touch as they pleased, tangling them up through his hair and tugging on the pink strands at the base of his neck. Desperate for breath, she pulled herself away and gazed into his half lidded eyes for mere seconds, before he impatiently delve down to ravish her neck. The sucking and biting just under her ear caused small gasps and whimpers to escape the increasingly aroused celestial mage, her eyes fogging with lust, until something bright caught her attention.

"What was that?" She asked panting, her voice raspy as she tried to catch sight of whatever it was again. It had flickered like a light, shined like a reflection and sparkled all at once, making her wonder if she'd really seen anything at all.

"What was what, Lucy?" He asked her, not meaning to sound quite so unsurprised, when usually he was the first to go looking for trouble.

"I thought I saw…" She didn't really know what she'd seen, her mind too muddled from the heated moment they were having; maybe it was just her eyes playing tricks? Or worse… someone was spying on them.

Natsu clasped at the hand she had buried in his hair and brought it into view, "Was it this, maybe?" He asked, drawing attention to one specific digit.

Feeling the contrast between his warm skin and the cold hardness of something else against her finger, Lucy peered down in curiosity, her breath stalling when her eyes laid upon the object of confusion. Gasping loudly, she clasped at her mouth, two enlarged chocolate orbs flickered between him and her hand in utter astonishment. Somehow, in the midst of their make out session, Natsu had managed to band the most simplistic, yet beautiful ring onto her finger, where it sat proudly and spoke of untold intentions.

"It's… I-It's beautiful! B-But how did you- When-" She stuttered, too lost in what this all might mean, searching deep within his dark eyes for the answers to her silent, but obvious questions.

"That's the right finger, isn't it?" He asked, looking uncharacteristically nervous, a small pink hue dabbing his cheeks. His heart was beating much quicker than he would've liked, hoping he hadn't screwed up already.

That was all she needed to hear to confirm her suspicions, her brown eyes wet with unshed tears, "N-Natsu, I… I don't know what to say-" She couldn't speak, this was too much and he'd not said anything yet.

"Lucy…" He spoke with every sincerity, taking the ringed hand and entwined their fingers. "I'm not so good with this stuff, but I know that getting married is important to you, which makes it important to me, too. I promised you forever and I guess you could say, this is me making good on that promise." He caressed her soft cheek with his thumb and smiled when he saw the glint in her eyes shine back at him. "So, what do you say? Prepared to commit yourself to this," he gestured to himself and winked playfully, "For the rest of your life?"

Finding herself unable to keep her emotions in check, the girl didn't answer, but instead, launched herself at him, giving him barely any time to move the slumbering child out of the way and brace for impact. Landing on top of the winded dragon slayer, she managed to catch herself with her hands and gleamed down at him, tears falling from her eyes and the smile on her face rivalling his. She leant down and connected their lips once again, taking the lead this time, unable to keep her happiness from pouring out.

To the side, still held in Natsu's opened out arm, was Haru, completely unaware of what was going down, his dreams taking him to far off places. His developing sibling in his Mommy's tummy, however, didn't seem quite so pleased, having been wedged between the two loved up adults as they made out under the sea of stars, had decided to take matters into their own hands. With one almighty kick, the kiss came to a quick halt when Lucy groaned and pulled back, grabbing hold of her bump to sooth the sore area.

"Jeez! Was that the baby kicking you? 'Cause even I felt that one!" Natsu looked surprised, amazed that their baby was so strong, at just five months, that he'd been able to feel the force of the kick against his own abdomen. "Is it still hurting, Luce? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, it just shocked me, that's all. They've never been quite that strong before." She chuckled, sitting herself up and straddling his hips as she looked down to her belly, gently caressing it with her thumb, "You were just trying to tell Mommy to move, weren't you?"

Balancing himself up onto his elbow, Natsu also placed his hand on top of Lucy's bump and smirked, "Or maybe, they were just tryin' to get their Mommy to say yes."

"Like you needed an answer!" Quirking her eyebrow up at his smirk, she shifted back a little as he sat himself up against the tree, laying Haru gently next to them while Lucy remained in place, "But you haven't actually asked me anything yet. Who knows what I could be agreeing to? This is you, after all."

The young man chuckled and grinned his thousand watt smile, knowing she'd catch him out eventually, "Alright, have it your way." The mischievous look on his face didn't disappear, even when he tried to take it seriously, "Will you marry me, Lucy?"

She returned his beaming smile with one of her own, glad to have heard it come from his mouth and nodded her head enthusiastically, "Of course, Natsu, the answer was always a yes."

"Good. Can I go back to kissing you now?" He asked, but didn't bother waiting for a reply and went to pull that enticing mouth back in for a third kiss, hoping this time there'd be no more interruptions in the forms of sparkling rings or unimpressed unborn babies.

But just as their lips were about to touch, Lucy paused ever so tantalisingly close to him and furrowed her brows, causing the boy to sigh impatiently, "What is it now?"

"Have you been holding on to that ring all day?" She enquired, only realising now that he must've got it from somewhere.

"Nah, not all day, just the party. I had to ask Happy to go and get it for me while you were distracted with Haru." Natsu explained, scratching the back of his head, "I was gonna do it myself, but stuff happened and then you suddenly showed up."

"Stuff… happened?" Now she was even more curious; what could've gone on in her absence?

"Yeah… them." He shivered still traumatised, pointing over to where Fairy Tail's guild hall stood, still alive and partying, and Lucy understood immediately just what he was referring to, giving her an insight into what she'd unsuspectingly walked in on earlier that day. "So, I had to change up my plans."

"Oh! Why didn't you just do it tomorrow instead? Rather than make it difficult for yourself." She asked, feeling a little smug when she saw the light go on in his brain.

She'd stumped him there. Always the brains of the operation, he couldn't believe he hadn't thought of that. He'd wanted to do it on a day that meant something to the both of them, but really, did it matter? The result would've been the same.

Noticing her cocky smirk and the playfulness in her eyes, he rose to the challenge, a fire in his belly, "Because, Miss Know-it-all, today was special, just like you said… And it wasn't difficult… I had it all under control…"

"Uh-huh…" She watched him become a little fidgety as if he weren't quite telling the truth and her smirk widened into a smug, toothy grin, "So you were just pretending to be scared when Erza was threatening you? I get it."

His eyes were sharp and intense, just like they were in battle, the one sided grin to boot as he bore into her playful expression, "Your playing with fire, Lucy…" His voice dangerous and brimming with cockiness.

"Then let it burn." She whispered close to his ear, barely able to get the words out before she found herself being forced onto her back, her hands held down above her head, with a fired up dragon slayer carefully leant over her form.

"You asked for it!" He growled, gulping down a large breath as he connected his mouth to the sensitive skin of her neck, torturing her senses with his loving but fierce embrace.

[zoya-herondale]

Hellooo, I am a very big Shadowhunters enthusiast, and after the release of the first letter of SOBH I really needed to rant somewhere. Please bear with me if you are reading this.

Tw: a lil swearing, capital letters, me being a mess

We start with Magnus and Tessa - The Immortals

Could we have asked for a better start? Its lovely to see that they are in contact and their kids play with each other (UwU). I adore their friendship and to see them settled, live domestically and content with their families tho not for long,after all they have been through gives me life.

Also Tessa comparing chickens and demons is peak chaotic energy-

"It reminds me of the way James and Lucie used to ride on Will's shoulder"

Just rip out my fucking heart why don't you? I never needed it anyway. I always am a point away from crying whenever past characters are mentioned as nostalgia, remembered because of the little, insignificant yet memorable things they used to do. Its just a different kind of dagger-in-heart-twisted, if that makes any sense.

Kit and the Carstairs' relationship

They are just ✨perfection✨. Jem and Tessa doing everything they can to make Kit's life as normal as it can get? Kit being an Older Brother for Mina? Kit opening up more to Jem and Tessa, letting someone take care of him for once? Kit being on the receiving end of unconditional love and knowing that he is loved? cue me sobbing because of that scene in qoaad Can it get more wholesome than that?

"I just love him, Magnus, like he was my own"

If you weren't sobbing at this point you're straight out lying. Found family trope is something that all of us can agree, superior to anything else in the world. But when a kid who was born to a father who didn't care for him gets adopted by people who are genuinely happy to have him as their family, love them as if he was always there- it physically hurts how much this means.

Christopher Jonathan Herondale

Yes, I was saving him for the last coz this is gonna last a while. He's going to school, has friends and a girlfriend? When did that happen? But the thing which hurts the most about this is, he's probably trying to get over Ty. Sure he may have an attraction towards other people, but his heart belongs to Ty. He gave it to him and how much ever he tries I don't think he's going to get it back. Herondales love but once.

He hasn't spoken to Jem and Tessa anything about Ty yet, albeit its probably to prevent the part about Necromancy slipping out, but thinking about Ty would lead his thoughts to his *cough* unrequited love *cough* and he is doing everything to forget that. His nightmares about Livvy. He can see Livvy's ghost when she visits but I can't help but imagine that he feels partly guilty because if he had stopped Ty, if he hadn't gone along with it, Livvy would not be stuck in between life and death where she is.

If he had done that maybe he would be able to think of Ty without his heart shattering into pieces hearing the silence which followed his declaration of love.

Not if you do this. Not if you do this, Ty.

Again, I didn't need my heart anyway. How can Cassie make the first letter so fucking angsty? I think we all knew that this would end sadly but to start like this? I don't think I'll be able to cope if this is how we continue. Kitty starts off so angsty already and to have such flashback is just salt on wound.

THE PICTURE

It is too much adorable for me to handle. Kit baby sitting or maybe just joining in on Mina, Rafael and Max's play date? Oh and obviously Church too. No Shadowhunter generation is complete without Church. We can't see Max's superhero cape tho :(

Bonus ramble for those of us who are part of multiple fandoms like Marvel and Shadowhunters:

CAN WE TALK ABOUT MINA'S NICKNAME FOR MAGNUS?

Being a Shadowhunters and a Marvel fan doesn't mean too much unless you see subtle references like this. I saw the name 'Agnes' and I legit screamed. In my head obviously. But but but was this on purpose? Or was this co-incidental and I'm looking too much into it? The latter is probably more likely but hey you can't stop a girl from dreaming can you? This led me to compare them and the only parallels between Agnes(Agatha) and Magnus I see are their magic, which is, again, not too much. Afterall one of them uses it for villain-ish purposes while other runs Saint Magnus's Home for Wayward Shadowhunters™️

☆☆☆

So that was me rambling about the Letter Tessa sends to Magnus. I don't know what I'll be if this is just the first of the many to come parts of SOBH. If you want some one to ramble to or fangirl with, my asks and dms are always open for you :) <3

Also sorry for this long, random ass post shanagajhama

[draconicks]

Edgar/Alan Frog Headcannons

Alan is actually only 14 months older than Edgar, their birthdays are pretty close.

They are Louisiana Creole and they were born in New Orleans before their father made them move to Santa Carla when they were babies, much to Mama Frog's dismay.

Their parents are actually neglectful (obviously) and Edgar takes it the hardest.

Alan takes it hard too but he covers it up really well, and when Edgar asks him questions on it, Alan just dodges the question and shakes his head.

They grew up kind of rough :(

They would get into fights with kids on the Boardwalk due to kids picking on them for stinking (again, neglectful parents) and due to their mixed heritage.

But, Edgar's explosive anger also plays a role in the fighting.

They never really had many friends, if any at all. They stuck to themselves and to eachother.

The only "friend" they had was a black and white dog with a broken tail named Marble.

But, they can't keep furry pets, due to Edgar's asthma, and simply because they don't have the time for one. They're always busy with the shop :/

Edgar is a metal-head. He listens to The Cult, Twisted Sister (AJSHSHSH), and some other metal bands that aren't that well known.

Alan listens to metal too, but it isn't exactly his favorite. He tends to stick to 60s-70s rock, or more preferably, Stevie Nicks and Bad Company.

Kids are assholes to them, and they are assholes right back.

The Frog Brothers grew a pretty tough exterior, as well as a tough interior, and they became quite abrasive from childhood trauma and childhood bullying (really, it's the same thing).

And this ties into them picking on Sam when he shows up in their shop. They picked on him because, they figured that he was gonna be another rich asshole who was gonna be a dick, so why not beat him to it?

But when Sam showed up the next day, all teeth and smiles, they were 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘥.

Cue Edgar and Alan having to learn how to trust again and be more open! :))

And 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 cue Sam and Alan giving eachother heart-eyes and blushing when they see eachother, with Edgar trying to ignore it because he isn't used to seeing Alan be this head-over-hills.

When Sam joined, they were still cautious but also very willing, if that makes sense?

They were still learning how to trust new people, and still learning how to let people in, so when they finally let him in, it was like a gunshot in an empty forest.

It was extremely foreign and frightening for both of the boys, even Sam, because Sam had never really been accepted into a friendgroup, he only had one friend his entire childhood.

Afterwards, they began to go over to Sam's house frequently.

They didn't really want Sam coming over out of insecurity and out of fear of him seeing the conditions of their house.

Lucy was scared of them ngl, she knew that they were willing to kill...people.

And she wasn't very keen on the idea of letting these two stay at her house, but then she remembers that they're just kids and their parents are horrible to them, so she let's her maternal instincts win.

And when she did let them stay over, they would force painful smiles and nod curtly, trying to seem unintimidating (which is hard for them), and although Lucy can tell that they're trying their hardest, she still can't help but let out a little giggle.

Lucy still treats them like they're her own children though :))

Edgar actually slipped up and called Lucy 'mom' on one occasion right infront of Grandpa and Michael.

Michael froze and let out a booming laugh, his shoulders shaking and head tilted backwards, "Oh shit, Edgar, that's a good one."

Lucy scolds Michael and smiles at Edgar reassuringly, telling him that she's unbothered by it.

Alan nervously cracks a grin and just nods in confirmation before turning to Sam and grabbing onto his ring finger, that was dawned with Alan's plastic candy ring from the Boardwalk, and wrapped his fingers around that one.

Edgar just gives his best poker face, not willing to let Michael know what he was feeling.

Edgar has a thing for privacy, to be honest. He can't stand people barging into his room without knocking, or people snooping around the hallway that connects to his room.

It's an anxiety thing, and he just- he can 𝘯𝘰𝘵 handle it.

Alan isn't so big on the privacy rule, if anything you could scream his name and slam into his door, and the poor kid wouldn't even notice.

So, when Sam snuck into the house one day and walked right into Alan's room, he didn't even notice him being there.

But Edgar did, and he started yelling at Alan because he thought Alan was the one who let him in.

He just stared at Edgar, and just blinked. He was extremely confused, and now Sam was too, but they didn't say anything.

The Frog Brothers also have a weird connection when it comes to clothes?

For example, they can already tell where the other has been just by looking at the way thier clothes are disheveled.

"Why were you down at the supermarket? We have food still-" ... "How do you know I was down there?"

Sam was creeped out by it, but he was also in utter awe. He thinks that they have a 6th sense when it comes to eachother.

[groovybaybee]

Greener - I

cw: mentions of abuse (not this chapter and nothing too intense but better safe than sorry) also alcohol consumption

(6k)

Spago, 7pm, reservation under my name, have fun saucy xxx 

Oh, Lucy. Lovely, wonderful, maddening Lucy. Not only would she select my date for the evening, she, of course, would make a decision about when and where.

 In all honesty, I do not mind. I would gladly allow that girl to run my life, she pretty much has made all the big decisions for me anyway. Lucy had been the one who forced me to enter our school’s talent show and sing in public for the first time. I lost hard, unable to compete with Anthony Piaz’s flaming diabolo tricks, but I was grateful to her, nonetheless. Lucy was also the one who made me move out to Los Angeles with her, telling me we needed to be with the stars if we wanted to be like them. It might sound cheesy, but that girl can be very persuasive when she wants to be. Since we were teenagers, she told me all about how we were going to make it big, I would be a singer and she would produce all my music.

 Lucy has always been a dreamer, but she is the most dedicated and ambitious person I know, plotting out every detail of every day to make sure she could get to where she wanted to be. Her and I had understood that we could not just rock up in America and instantly start working for record labels. We would spend hours in her room, writing and producing songs every weekend, sending them to local and national radio stations, record labels, anyone we could think of.

 Then one day, the universe fell into place. Our song, Penny, started to gain some traction. I will never forget the day we heard our song played on the radio for the first time. I never could forget it with the video of the two of us screaming and crying and laughing and hugging being sent to my phone every time I get frustrated.

 ‘They never gave up, and neither will we’

 Luce has always been good like that, putting things in perspective when I start spiralling out.

 Truthfully, Lucy has always been a bit of a hero to me. The voice of reason, even when I did not want to hear it. I trust her with my life. So, when I was offered a contract with a record label, I had insisted that she aid in the production, knowing that once the world could see her talent there would be no stopping her. And there never has been. Though we still work together on projects and tracks wherever we can, both of us have been blessed with opportunities to work with some of our idols in the music industry. However, it still feels the most special when it is just her and me working together.

 Knowing that she always has my best interests at heart, agreeing to be set up on a blind date by her was easy. It was only afterwards that the doubts had started to creep in. Of course, Lucy knows me well, probably better than anyone, and so her choice of date for me would undoubtedly be my type. I know that they will be charming and funny and most likely have a smile that makes me want to swat them directly in the face for being so cute. However, it would be impossible for her to know the other person so well, so me showing up may not be what they had hoped for.

 They could want to meet someone girly, polished, calm. While I can be those things sometimes, pretending to be anyone but myself would only lead down an unfortunate and embarrassing path in the long run. This self-assuredness, in theory, is lovely, but does not stop the nagging feeling in my stomach that whoever I am meeting at the restaurant will not be pleased to see me.

 Trying my best to shake this thought, I get ready for my date. Landing on a simple black dress (knowing my tendencies to spill anything in my grasp), partnering it with a silver chain necklace, a few matching rings, and some thickly heeled silver boots. I put on a touch of makeup, style my hair, and spritz myself with perfume before grabbing a coat, stuffing the pockets with my necessities, and getting in the Uber I had pre-emptively ordered. I am going to be early but that suits me just fine.

 Arriving at the restaurant, nestled beside Rodeo Drive, I thank the driver and exit the car. Spago is far too fancy for me to feel fully comfortable, a small part of myself always believing that my life is some sort of coma dream and one day I would wake up back home, older and having done nothing with my life. Despite my instinct to run and feign illness, I enter the restaurant and tell the matre d’ Lucy’s name. He gives me a pleasant smile and leads me through the bustling restaurant to an empty table on the patio outside. Thanking him, I seat myself at the table beside a sheltered, freestanding fireplace, taking a second to appreciate the warmth of the toasting embers against the slight breeze of the evening under the dwindling sun.

 Looking out to the chair across from me, panic and excitement swirl around in my stomach. Wondering what they will be like and whether we will get on has me desperately searching around the quiet outside space for anyone who works here to urge them for a glass of wine. I manage to locate someone, but the thought instantly leaves my mind when I notice a person trailing behind them. They head straight in my direction and my head snaps back to the table, trying not to have their first impression of me be my crazy wine-hungry eyes. I take a deep breath, and a second to remember Lucy’s message: ‘have fun’.

 Turning to meet my date as they stop at our table, a smile slips across my lips without my telling it to. Yep, Lucy definitely knows me. The man in front of me is the epitome of tall, dark, and handsome, but with an added dash of unreservedness, dressed in a black dress shirt, the collar of which pokes out over a baby blue suit jacket, trousers matching. My eyes land on his hand, ringed fingers clutching a bouquet of yellow roses. I cannot deny it, the sight sends a little zip of happiness through my body. Travelling upwards, I land on his face. And pause.

 If this is a very elaborate prank, I have to give it up to Lucy. This is incredible. I remember her telling me that she was working with him on a track for his second album, but I would not have thought they were close enough to discuss love lives. If so, surely she would have snapped him up for herself. The amount of conversations we had spent discussing our celebrity crushes and he always popped up on both of our lists. There is no way this is happening. This just proves that I am, in fact, comatose.

 “Hi,” he speaks with a tentative smile.

 On the off chance that I am not in a simulation, I stand up and greet him, still unable to form words as he presses a kiss to each of my cheeks.

 “Lucy said you liked yellow,” he says almost sounding nervous, looking down at the bunch of flowers in his hand.

 “I do,” I say softly, shaking my head to bring me back to reality while he is looking away from me. “They’re, uh, they’re beautiful.”

 He hands me the flowers and my brain almost completely malfunctions, unable to comprehend that I am sat, on a date, with a man I have been fawning over from afar for over a year. Sure, I have always known of him, but something about him kicking off his solo career and dressing differently, acting differently, it was all just incredibly attractive. Something so sexy about his confidence. An opinion I had expressed to Lucy many times in varying degrees of enthusiasm, her use of the word ‘saucy’ in her text to me suddenly making a lot more sense.

 “Thank you, really,” I say, looking up from the flowers to him, a full head taller than me. “Sorry, I’m being weird, Lucy just… is full of surprises,” I admit, meeting his gaze as he observes me cautiously. He must think I am crazy, or incredibly rude, most likely both.

 “I’m Violet,” I quickly introduce myself and gesture for us to sit. He does, with a relieved smile which I mirror.

 “Harry,” he says gently.

 Duh.

 Harry Styles. I am on a date with Harry Styles. The man I had admitted to wanting to let ‘break my heart and sex me back together’. Not one of my best lines, I will agree. And he is even better looking in person. His hair is kind of messy in a very put-together kind of way. His eyes are deep and their hold on me is strong. And his lips kink up at the edges, pulling joy out to his cheeks as he watches me, almost assessing me.

 “Yeah, I’m actually a fan of your music,” I admit shyly, hoping that he finds it endearing rather than psychotic.

 “Likewise. To be honest, I can’t believe I’m sat here with you,” he speaks deeply.

 This has to be a prank. No way on Earth did Harry Styles, Harry Styles, just say that to me.

 “I didn’t realise you and Lucy were so close,” I confess, allowing my confusion and curiosity to spill out of my mouth at lightning speed.

 “Oh, yeah, first day we met it was like instant sibling rivalry, you know? Straight away bullying each other,” Harry explains with a low, breathy chuckle. God, even his laugh is sexy.

 I will admit to being relieved to hear that their feelings for one another were strictly platonic, not wanting to step on Lucy’s toes even if she had been the one to set us up. Something about hearing this new information allows my most recent conversations with her to make a lot more sense, her being the one to let me explain in detail all the disgusting things I would let this man do to me while she just laughed. That sly devil.

 “How long have you two known each other?” he asks, sipping at the glass of water on his side of the table.

 “Oh, since we were kids, think our souls are melded at this point,” I tell him, earning a captivated smile that reaches up to his eyes. “Do you do this thing a lot?” I ask, fascinated as to how I ended up in this situation. When he looks at me blankly, I hurriedly add, “Blind dates?”

 “Not really, only one other time and it was… interesting,” he says, eyes glazing over as his mind flashes back.

 “Me neither,” I start, bringing his attention back to the present in hopes to prevent him from reliving whatever terrible memory I had just triggered, “I do have a very important question for you though,”

 “What’s that?” he asks with a grin that matches the one creeping on to my face.

 “Are you a wine person?” I ask, faking sincerity.

 “Oh, yeah,” he nods, laughing at my intensity.

 “Good, ten points to you,” I smirk as we both glance down at the drinks menus, after a moment of reflection I speak up, “Want to just get the cheapest? Don’t think my palette could tell the difference.”

 Harry lets out a small laugh and agrees happily, ordering a bottle of chardonnay for the two of us when the waiter circles around to us. My mind begins to spiral as I watch Harry pour us each a glass, wondering how I ended up here, what I think of him, what he thinks of me. Brain almost about to short-circuit[AH1] , I cheers my glass with his and take a long sip of white wine, desperate for a touch of Dutch courage.

 We sit in a comfortable silence for a few moments, eyes locked as we drink in our surroundings, allowing the madness of the evening to sink in for our brains to process. There is a gentle smirk on each of our faces, enjoying the mischief of our mutual friend.

 “I really loved the album by the way,” I confess to him, only to be rewarded with a bright and grateful smile.

 “Thank you,” he says softly, an excited buzz coming from him as he shifts in his seat to lean his elbows on the table, chin resting on his interlaced knuckles. “I listen to The Lady Grey Project at least once a week,” he admits, and if I look closely (which I do) I can see a light rosy flush appearing on his cheeks.

 At this point I reckon a rhinoceros could stampede into the restaurant and I would not bat an eyelid. Of course, he listens to my album regularly, this is a dream, in all honesty I am just shocked he does not have a tattoo of my face on his body somewhere. I say a silent prayer that I will be allowed to remain in whatever simulation I am in.

 “You’re too kind,” I smirk, having to use my wine glass to hide as much of my blushing face from him.

 “Can I ask where the Lady Grey name came from?” he asks curious about my stage-name, watching intently as I swallow and place my glass down. “Sorry if I’m being too nosy by the way, tell me to fuck off if you want,” he says, causing a light laugh to tumble from my lips.

 He watches me with a soft gaze that makes me want to melt into a puddle underneath the table. Does he like me? No, he is probably just being polite.

 Calm down crazy.

 “Um, well, Lucy and I used to spend days in her room making music, and all we would eat was Cadbury’s Fingers and all we drank was Lady Grey tea, it was kind of our fuel you know? And then it just kind of stuck, and we used to joke about who Lady Grey was and I don’t know, I sort of idolised the character we created,” I explain as best I can.

 “So, you became her?” Harry asks softly, his smile never faltering once while I spoke.

 “Yeah, Lady Grey and Lucy Hind were going to take on the world together,” I say, looking down at the tablecloth, a slight feeling of embarrassment for oversharing my childhood dreams. It probably seemed so silly to him.

 “And you are,” is all he says.

 When I look up at him, his eyes are so gentle and comforting, and staring into them feels like stepping into a warm bath.

 The waiter arrives back to our table to take our orders, preventing me from drooling over how idyllic this date is becoming. Harry apologises for the two of us, neither having even looked at the food menu yet, and asks for another minute. Eventually, we order our food and the conversation continues to flow easily, finding out about each other’s passions for not only music, but art in general, both discovering that the other loves to draw and paint despite having very minimal talent for it.

 We talk about what we are working on, both giddy at gaining secret information about the other’s new projects. He whispers to me that he has a new album coming out at the end of the year, in return I tell him I have a small tour happening in a few months, a few intimate venues across the country. He tells me he would love to come to a show. I mentally let out a scream.

 We discuss our hometowns throughout the main course, both hailing from the north of England, giggling over the surprising culture shock of living in LA. Conversation moves to talking about our families and still feeling homesick.

 “I’ve been writing about home a lot recently,” I admit, finishing my second glass of wine, “I miss the colour green so much,” I laugh honestly, missing the miles and miles of fields and trees I could see from my family home.

 “I get that completely,” he says, refilling my glass without me even having to ask, “I miss my little village and knowing everyone there. LA can feel a bit lonely at times,”

 There is a pregnant pause, silence falling over the two of us as I give him a small nod, understanding wholly the feeling of moving across the world. It is scary and isolating and you really have to push through and commit to your work to ensure it was all worthwhile. However, that does not leave much room for forging any kind of relationship other than professional. Harry is right, it can be very lonely sometimes.

 I find myself watching him, eyes a little bit softened by the wine and the evening light. Seeing his face flicker under the crackling firelight feels like I am seeing him for the first time, as though his features are completely new to me and I get to meet a whole new person. He really is breath-taking. Something about getting to know him allows me to see his personality in his physicality; patient eyes and dimples that deepen every time I nearly knock over my glass and insist that I am not drunk, that this is just how I am. Finding myself smiling while I watch him, I remind myself to act like a normal human being and sip at my wine.

 But he watches me right back.

 When desert rolls around, both of us are too full to appreciate anything fancy, sadly deciding to call it a night. After insisting that we split the bill, threatening to get his bank account details somehow and send him a direct deposit, we leave the table.

 “Man, I shouldn’t have worn this dress, looks like I’m smuggling a watermelon,” I say, rubbing my bloated belly slightly as we walk through the restaurant, now significantly emptier than when I had arrived nearly three hours earlier.

 “I like it,” Harry tells me, biting back a smirk, “Wrote a song about watermelons, actually,”

 “Really? You’ll have to let me hear it sometime,” I say, thanking him as he holds the door open for me to walk through.

 “Do you, uh, do you need a lift home?” Harry asks once we are outside, wrapping our jackets a little tighter around ourselves in the early autumn air. I pause to look at him and assess the sincerity of his offer. When he looks at me with nothing but kindness and caution, I nod, finding his trepidation incredibly endearing.

 “That would be great, thank you,” I say softly, failing to mention that I would say yes to any offer he made so long as it meant I could spend longer getting to know him.

 “Cool!” he says with so much enthusiasm that I have to bite down on my bottom lip to keep from smiling too big, utterly smitten with him. Harry clears his throat and pulls out his phone, calling his driver to come and pick us up. “He’ll be five minutes,” his voice is back to its low rumble when he turns to me, a light flush spread across his cheekbones. I pretend not to notice, instead fixing my attention to the roses in my hand.

 “I’ve had a really nice time,” I tell him, hoping that in showing some vulnerability it will ease his embarrassment. It works. As I look up at him, he meets my gaze and smiles down at me gently.

 “Me too. I think you’re really cool to be around,” he says tenderly, taking a step closer to me so that he is less than an arm’s length away. “More than exceeded my expectations for tonight,” he teases.

 “I think part of me still thinks this is a prank,” I admit, breathing a laugh as I find myself gravitating closer to Harry, silently praying that he will kiss me.

 “I know, I was listening to Penny on the way here to keep me sane,” his voice has dropped to just above a whisper, his face less than a foot from mine.

 “As if,” I laugh incredulously, finding myself stepping back slightly so I do not deafen him.

 “I was!” he defends with a chuckle, “I love that song,”

 “Sorry,” I breathe, “I just didn’t think anyone really listened to it, except maybe my parents,”

 “It was the first song of yours I ever heard,” he says, closing the gap between us again, “Thought how talented you were, even wanted to cover it.”

 Back into the simulation you go.

 “Wanna make sweet music together?” I tease, my voice a little low and breathy as the space between us rapidly reduces.

 Harry exhales a chuckle, eyes flitting between my own and my lips.

 He is fully going to kiss you.

 Or at least he would, if that had not been the moment Harry’s driver decides to pull up to the curb, startling us both. Gaze fixed to the ground to hide my certainly bright pink cheeks, I shuffle into the car when Harry opens the door for me, sliding in shortly afterwards.

 “Where to?” Harry asks, clearing his throat slightly.

 I tell him my address, watching as he and his driver share a small nod before we set off.

 The first few minutes of the ride are, I will admit, awkward. The only sound to be heard is the crinkling of the paper surrounding my flowers, my hands fidgeting nervously.

 He was going to kiss me. He totally would have kissed me if we were alone for just one more moment.

 An assertive person would kiss him now.

 Would he want that? Would I want that? For our first kiss to be in the back of his car as we drove through my neighbourhood. I’m not so sure. Harry feels special, like he deserves a bit more romance than that.

 I continue to fiddle with the paper in my lap.

 “What’s your favourite flower?” I ask curiously, eyes fixating on the bright yellow petals.

 “Quite like apple blossoms,” he tells me. His voice is soft, and I can tell his head is turned to look directly at me.

 “See, I never would have guessed that.” I confess. Upon hearing him breathe a laugh, I follow it up with a mirrored tone, “What? You’re a mysterious dude.”

 “Very mysterious,” he jokes as I look back up at him. There is a warmth in his eyes as they shimmer with laughter. It is almost as though the small amount of time focussing on something other than him has erased all memory of his face. Suddenly, excitement courses through my body. His stupid, happy face making my stomach squeeze itself.

 “A real enigma,” I smirk after gathering myself.

 There is silence again in the car, our eyes softly locked on the other’s, even as we pull up beside my house.

 “This is me,” my voice is barely louder than a whisper.

 “I’ll walk you,” Harry says, our gaze still unmoved.

 For a moment, my mind drifts to Harry’s driver. I wonder what he makes of us sitting in the back of his car despite reaching our destination. Perhaps he thinks it is sweet, two kids still so nervous enough around one another that we both refuse to make a move. Maybe he thinks we are crazy and should just get out of the car like normal people would.

 I nod my head slightly, more so trying to encourage myself to get moving rather than Harry. In all honesty, I would love little more than to just sit here and look at him, to feel whatever tension there is between us for a moment longer. But I steal myself away from that thought and open the car door.

 Harry, ever the gentleman, sees me to my front door. It is a little old-fashioned but incredibly charming, nonetheless. I turn to face him once we reach the doorstep, craning my neck a little to meet his eyes.

 My gaze lingers a moment on his lips, and I wonder if I should kiss him. Or would he not like that? He seems like he would not be opposed to a woman making the first move, but he is also the type to open doors and walk people to their homes. What if he wants to be the one to initiate? I doubt he would find me kissing him to be emasculating, but what if he recoiled at the thought? Maybe I shouldn’t kiss him. Maybe I should invite him inside. I will admit, the idea of ending the night with him sounds idyllic, but what if that gives the wrong impression. What if he is the type of guy who cares about a woman’s sexual habits? I never would have him pegged for that sort of person, but you never know.

 Nerves and paranoia form a whirlpool in my brain, sucking me in until I am so overwhelmed that all I can physically do is stare at him, trying not to allow my eyes to widen too far in fear of looking like a maniac.

 He looks down at me with a gentle gaze, his right hand lifting and fingertips gently grazing the side of my left hand. His thumb brushes across my wrists, his eyes flitting across my face until I am convinced that he has stopped on my lips. The palpable energy from outside the restaurant returns.

 “Can I—” Harry starts but I interrupt him.

 “Yes,” I say hurriedly, my heart beating a little louder in my chest at the thought of his lips against mine.

 Thank goodness he’s making the first move. If it were up to you, you would be standing here for days.

 “Great,” he smiles broadly, quickly retracting his hand from mine and reaching into the inside pocket of his suit jacket, “Lets make music sometime.”

 Harry hands me his unlocked phone.

 You absolute fucking idiot, V.

 I quickly input my phone number and hand it back to him with a small smile.

 “Great,” he grins, part of me hating how adorable he is, the majority simply hating how dim-witted I am.

 He wasn’t trying to kiss you.

 “Hang out again soon?” he asks brightly.

 I just nod and return a polite smile. He beams down at me before bidding me goodnight and walking back to his car.

 As quick as physically possible, I unlock my front door, dash inside and shut the door behind me.

 Idiot, idiot, idiot.

 I sink to the floor, back pressed to the door. He wants to work together. While that notion alone would have had me fainting before tonight, I cannot help but feel a little disheartened to have misread the situation.

 He didn’t want to kiss you.

 My mind quickly scans through the whole evening, wonder at which event I began to misinterpret the signals. Maybe he was going to give me a hug outside the restaurant. Maybe he actually was going to kiss me, but then I laughed in his face and stepped away from him. Did I put him off me that quickly?

 Pulling myself off the floor, I put the flowers in a mug of water, telling myself I will deal with them tomorrow once I am over the embarrassment.

 * * *

 I barely sleep, tossing and turning and reliving every stupid detail and mistake I undoubtedly made.

 “You absolute cow!” I shout with a laugh when I spot Lucy walking towards me.

 She just laughs along with me, a slight bashful blush arising in her cheeks as she steps closer to me.

 I had text her when I got home last night, asking her to meet me first thing and she had agreed. Meeting at the dog park between our houses had been my idea, desperate to see her new Dalmatian puppy, Pip. I had arrived early, pre-emptively getting Lucy and I lattes, knowing fully well that no matter what time I got there I would still beat her by at least ten minutes.

 “Thanks, gorgeous,” Lucy greets, taking the coffee I had extended to her.

 “Hello, sweetpea,” I say in a higher pitch than my natural tone, crouching to welcome the excited dog. Pip wags her tail aggressively, desperately trying to lick my face. I giggle as my face scrunches at all the attention she is giving me, “I know, I know, it’s been a whole two days since I saw you, how could I neglect you like that?”

 “She pissed on my shoes. Right little dickhead,” Lucy muses as I stand up, giving the pup one last scratch behind the ears. My eyes drop to her feet as we begin to walk through the park. “Not these ones, idiot,” she laughs.

 “Don’t call me an idiot, I have a bone to pick with you,” I reply, trying my very hardest to chastise her but just giggling through it, faking sincerity always having been difficult for me, “What was it you told me? ‘Its just a date, no biggie’?”

 “Something like that,” she mumbles, feigning shame but smirking as she looks at the ground.

 “Harry Styles,” I mock, “Harry fucking Styles. You could have warned me, mate! I thought about him in the shower before dinner, thought I must have slipped and bumped my head when he rocked up,”

 Lucy laughs as continue through the park, walking out on to the open expanse of the field. Pip excitedly yaps at the dogs playing in the distance, a little too young to join them just yet. We walk in bemused silence for a moment until we find a bench and take seat on it, sipping intermittently at our cooled down coffees.

 “How was it then? Complete disaster or did you hold it together?” Lucy asks.

 “Well, I thought I was holding it together, we were even kind of flirty,” I begin. Remembering last night stirs up excitement in my stomach, contrasting my skin crawling with embarrassment, “But he never kissed me. He walked me to my door, got me to give him my number and left,”

 Luce nods, letting me give her the gist of the previous night, not pushing for more information as I bounce one of my legs anxiously. “He got your number though?” She offers, always looking on the bright side.

 “Yeah, because he wants to make music together,” I say, a small smirk interrupting my words.

 “Make music or make music?” She teases, wiggling her eyebrows dramatically.

 “I don’t know!” I laugh, giving her a gentle push when she keeps leaning closer to me and putting her creepy moving eyebrows in my eyeline, “We complimented each other and stuff, and it became a bit of a joke but now I’m worried he was serious and I just made a fool out of myself… I did have half a bottle of wine,” my tone more serious now.

 “One, you’re a delight when you drink. Two, I bet Harry was such a fucking flirt, ‘Oh yeah, baby, lets make symphonies with our bodies’,” I cannot help but crack a smile at her, surprisingly accurate, impression, “And three, even if you did misread things, it sounds like he would be up for working with you, and if I remember correctly, you said you’d give your left kidney to sing a duet with him,”

 “I’m never drinking sambuca again,” I mutter, shuddering at the memory of that night, drunkenly screaming as Sweet Creature played over the speakers of the bar.

 “I say text him,” Lucy shrugs as if the solution is so obvious that she cannot understand why the two of us are even having this conversation.

 “Ah,” I breath, “That’s another thing. I was a bit distracted by the whole ‘not wanting to kiss me’ thing that I forgot to ask for his number.”

 “Idiot,” Lucy giggles, picking up Pip as she paws at her leg and setting her between the two of us on the bench, allowing me better access to pet her freely, “I’ll text it you,”

 “I can’t text him out of the blue, won’t that look psycho?” I stress.

 “No,” Lucy says, again so plainly it is as though she cannot believe she is explaining something so simple, “Pretty sure Harry likes confident people anyway.”

 “Why would he want to date me then?” I mumble, eyes fixed on Pip’s as her mouth hangs open, tongue rolling out happily as she gets attention from the both of us.

 “Maybe because you can throw it back like no one I’ve ever seen,” Lucy teases.

 “Fucking hate sambuca,” I grumble half-heartedly.

 The text from Lucy arrives on my phone a few hours later, just as I step out of the shower. I have to wipe a few droplets of water from the screen before it allows me to unlock it.

 Don’t puss out x

 Underneath is what I can only assume is Harry’s number. I stare at the white screen for a while, contemplating whether or not to text him. Should I? Luce said he liked confidence, and I wanted him to like me, or at least not think of me as some blob of flesh he sat through dinner with. What would I say? What possible message could I send that did not make me sound like a creep?

 Hey it’s Violet. Lucy gave me your number, promise I didn’t ask for it

 No, that sounds rude.

 Hi, it’s Violet from last night. Lucy gave me your number, hope you don’t mind. I’d love to make sweet music with you

 He could read that two ways. Either he would read it as me just wanting to work together, or that I wanted to see him with no clothes on. Neither option appeal despite both being shamefully accurate.

 The condensation on my bathroom mirror has almost vanished by the time I set my phone back down. Desperate to go about my day without worrying, I head across the landing and into my bedroom.

 Despite having lived here for well over a year, the Los Angeles heat never fails to stifle me, even as autumn creeps into view. The humidity seeps into my bare skin as I flop back on my bed, urgently searching for a reason to get back up and be proactive with the work I need to get done today. That in itself should be reason enough, but the temperature in my room seems to counter any sensible thoughts in my brain. So, I let my eyes close for a moment.

 However, Lucy’s words keep circling around in my mind.

 ‘Don’t puss out’

 That is what I always do. Deciding to grow a backbone, I stand up and march back into the bathroom to pick up my phone. I quickly unlock it, ignoring the notifications on my lock screen, assuming its just my manager prompting me to get my act together. I quickly copy the phone number from Lucy and make a contact for Harry, set on typing a message to him and pressing send before I can overthink how keen I will most likely come across.

 You are keen.

 Selecting his contact, my phone takes me to a chat with him, however, it is not blank like I had expected. Instead, there is a white bubble of text, a smaller bubble beneath it, both timestamped seven minutes ago.

 I know films and tv shows always say you should wait at least three days before messaging but I reckon it’s all bollocks. I had a really good time last night and would love to hang out again. I understand if this seems a bit eager so I’ll leave it up to you. Whatever you fancy I’m up for – Harry

 Also I don’t know why I signed that off like it’s an email but I’m going to stick with it so I seem confident – Harry

II

[sugarandspice-games]

Spicy take time (costarring Sugar): The Bros rated by how well I think their arcs/character development/relationship with MC was written and how much it makes sense. (Disclaimer: Our affection for these characters and how interesting, compelling, and lovable we find them has ZERO bearing on this list. ALSO, beware, here there be salt, IE, this is critical of the writing. It’s also long as fuck, so if you just wanna skim and read the bold parts, that’s okay too. You are also free to disagree with us as this is just an opinion, and keep in mind that we have only read to chapter 24 so if there are elements of the story we are unaware of... please be understanding of that and don’t spoil it.) Let’s get started, shall we?

1) Starting at the top is BEST BOI IMO: Beelzebub. So, yeah, in terms of character development and growth, he really doesn’t change all that much, aside from starting off not trusting MC to slowly opening up to them about his trauma. But putting that to the side, his relationship with them makes the most sense. After sharing a bedroom and helping him open up, as well as having the mutual goal of protecting Luke, and then even later going on to save his beloved little brother, it follows that he absolutely adores you afterward. Also, he doesn’t start off disliking you like some of the others. So, all around, he makes the most sense. He’s also one of the deeper characters with his backstory, even if I wish they’d give him other flaws than just being hongry (and playing his unhealthy eating habits/coping mechanism as a joke. Disordered eating should be taken more seriously, especially binge eating but that’s a can of worms for another day)

2) Second best is probably going to shock you, but Satan takes this spot. Why? Well, strictly in terms of arc progression, his relationship with MC starting out as one of manipulation and growing into something more genuine when they go on a heartwarming and wacky adventure together with his hated older brother which causes him to open up makes a lot of sense, at least more so than some of the others. While I wish they gave him more meat characterization wise, I think his arc was pretty well done in terms of story structure.

Okay, so, Sugar here. While I agree with Spice that Satan could use some more meat (and that we should be able to have some more information on Baby Satan because we all need that in our lives), I think that the progression of him and LUCI’S bond (not MC’s) could have done with more subtlety. While I appreciate him softening up, and see that progress, we don’t really get to see the tension of the newfound change and how he settles into letting things go/mellow out and I get it-- it’s a dating sim and the secondary relationships are well, secondary, but it would be interesting to see him and MC bond more through time.

3) Third place probably won’t be all that shocking, because this is where I’m placing Lucifer. He’s arguably one of the characters in the series who’s gotten the most love from the writers, having the most screentime, the most affectionate scenes with MC, and the most fleshed out backstory and characterization as well as fleshed out relationships with each of the characters. His relationship progression with MC also takes a nice, even pace, with him slowly learning to trust them and respect them, culminating in an almost-confession (I THINK. Unless I’m reading that part wrong) and then being shattered at MC’s betrayal, and then earned back in true Pixar-movie fashion by them teaming up for a common goal. HOWEVER. And this is a big however. I would love to see his unhealthy tendencies addressed and NOT fetishized. (Don’t come at me with that “BUT THEY’RE DEMONS THEY’RE SUPPOSED TO BE EVILLLLL” dude. If a demon being in a healthy relationship is where you draw the line in terms of believability, then why are you playing a fantasy demon dating sim anyway?) I love him, I stan him, I simp for him, but I wish he had at least apologized for his not-subtle threats of physical violence toward MC rather than jumping straight into the ALSO kinda violent “You’re mine and nobody else’s” gimmick.

Unlike some men (SPICE), I am actually not a Luci stan and while I do have a soft spot, and understanding of his place as an eldest sibling... I would also like to see the writer’s unravel the unhealthiness/coping Lucifer has in place and why/how it came to be. I feel like we get a sense that Luci has thawed since coming to the Devildom but we don’t really see how Lucifer in the Celestial Realm (and how his friendship with Simeon) has progressed. Luci has a lot of love from the writers but from a story stand-point, he is never really allowed to be weak and own up to his own flaws and how that has impacted/hurt MC.

4) Sharing fourth place is Leviathan and Mammon! I’m putting them in the same spot because the issues I have with them are the same, though I plan on addressing their good points individually. But since my beef is simpler, I’m going to start off with the bad. IMO, a good rivals to friends to lovers romance happens in STEPS. You start off from not getting along, to then finding some things in common, and gradually coming to respect each other, and then like each other, and finally love each other. This... doesn’t really happen with these two, and while we see the change from both tsundere boys starting off disliking you and eventually coming to love you, we don’t really get that inbetween that makes the payoff so much worth it. And if those inbetweens are there, the story doesn’t really tell us that, and it doesn’t show us their thought processes. Like, how much would it suck if in pokemon, your charmander evolved immediately into Charizard upon beating your first few gyms? It’s like that.

But as for the good, Levi’s arc makes sense because you’re the first person to really let him be himself and not shame him for the things he loves. You let him ramble about his interests and show interest in them yourself (AT LEAST IF YOU’RE NOT A FUCKING MONSTER. I’ll let Sugar talk more on him, that’s their boy.)

Whoo, boy. Here we go! For whatever reason, the otaku became my favorite and I love him, but as far as arcs go... He could have gotten a bit more screentime and progress. It makes sense that he would become attached to MC as his brothers are very, very... critical and patronizing about his interests. He is also by far the most skittish and introverted of the bunch, coupled with his sin and seeing all the ways he falls short (in his eyes) is a recipe for loneliness and desire for companionship/friendship. While I am not happy with the progression, for me, it makes sense and I would also have loved to see some breaking/softening of how much his Sin influences him when it comes to MC. I’m not saying erase it because demons are meant to give in to temptation but some reassurance and acceptance of that would be good.

(I also know that there is some disk horse about him guilt-tripping you about spending time with his brothers and while I agree it can be hard... It definitely isn’t on a painful level. Like, say... Ray’s in Jihyun’s route in Mystic Messenger. This also is a difference for players who are interested in one love route versus the many route and different strokes, but I digress.)

As far as Mammon goes, well, you’re his first. And he’s not only glad that there’s someone who’s kind to him instead of making fun of him, but also takes pride in having someone to protect. His puppy crush going to full blown love is adorable.

This blog is all about spicy takes, yeah? Well, here’s mine (Sugar): Mammon is lovable but not as lovable as he could be and before all the Mammon stans, come for me- let it be known I like Mammon but his introduction and how he comes to be soft is NOT an easy, or believable transition. There are ways to write a good tsundere and the writers just missed the mark by having Mammon be too callous and then slipping to lovable without that sweet slide into the other end. I will not deny he is very cute, and a good character, and a good brother (and also the most human, according to Satan’s home screen interaction) but... The progression and endearment factor is lacking because of the structure of the narrative.

5) Is another unsurprising one, but this spot is Belphegor’s. Solmare. My dude. Why did you do this. We could have had it ALL. It could have been great. But you screwed the pooch. You took anything good about this relationship out behind the shed and shot it like a lame horse. Let it be known that I LIKED Belphie and MC’s alliance to get him out of gay baby jail, and I adored that love he still holds for Beel... I thought he was going to be a fav of mine, in fact. But how they handled the... uhm... murder ruined it for me. I’m sorry, I just cannot believe that I’m supposed to suddenly be besties with the man who manipulated me and crushed me to death like, a week after it happened. What if I have PTSD from that??? Also... he claims that he loves MC for who they are and not because of Lilith, but that’s not believable when his whole turning point is finding out that they’re Lilith’s descendant. The change needed to be more gradual, and having a subtle, gradual forgiveness arc would have been AWESOME but we were robbed. ROBBED I TELL YOU!!!!!

Annnd... Belphie is actually one of my favorites FOR SOME REASON. I DON’T KNOW MAN. I agree that we could have had it and I’m like (Insert Hades red flaming hair gif here). The decision to not have a redemption arc ruined it for me and while I love Belphie and his softness/brattiness mixture with handling MC... It is underscored by a lack of believable affection and the payoff of struggle on both Belphie’s part and MC’s. Also, there is a lot of ‘You are not who I want you to be, but it’s good enough’ with MC regarding their lineage and connections to the brothers and how that plays out/color the relationships with maybe the exception of Satan and surprisingly, Mammon that irks me but again, another thought for another time.

6) Aaaaand last and also the least... Asmodeus. “YOU GET NOTHING!!! YOU LOSE! GOOD DAY SIR.” --Solmare to Asmo. The writers neglected him SO much, I like him but what the hell are they doing? There’s so much that could be explored here, and with anything involving Asmo they’re like “I do not see it”. His love for MC also isn’t really that believable when his turning point is realizing that they’re powerful. It doesn’t even fit with any of his potential conflicts. The Diavolo’s castle arc set us up to think that Asmo would have some deep seated insecurities with not being able to be loved or desired by everyone, or maybe some insecurities about not being an angel anymore, or some vulnerability issues or something, and they were just like NOPE. It doesn’t make any gotdamn sense! I just... Grrr. Asmo, I’m so sorry, sweetie. You deserve better.

Asmodeus definitely deserves better and I will stand by that until the day I stop playing this damn game. While I, personally, think that his intrigue with MC makes sense (because he is lusty-- probably not just for sex but in general), it makes sense he would want someone with power but while the set up is there, his character falls flat because there is no bonding moment, or turning point for him at all. His affection for MC is still that playful, carefree, flirty persona he carries and I would love to see it dropped and how his fall from the Celestial Realm really weighs on him and an arc where he and MC talk about vulnerability and the power behind being seen as someone attractive and the way it dehumanizes you at the same time. It could be good-- hell, it could be great-- but it was killed before it started and I will never not think that Asmo could have had some KILLER growth. As it stands, he has more connection/romantic potential with Solomon than MC.

Anyway, that’s all for now folks! Feel free to yell at us in the replies, you know you want to. If this post blows up enough, maybe we can rate the undatables (though they don’t have any story arcs so... that would be a challenge.)

[hadestownmodern]

Dinosaur Nuggets

One of our head canons in this AU is that Orpheus is a vegetarian from a young age. This is that story. 

-A

“Mama, what did you tell him?” She’s never necessarily been angry with her mom, rather than just frustrated. As she paces around her mother’s rustic kitchen, she sighs, rubbing one of her eyes with the heel of her hand. “What did you tell Orpheus..”

It had to be a conversation between Persephone and Demeter, as involving Hades would have gotten heated quickly, and Persephone didn’t have the heart to come between her mother and her husband, not right now.  

“What do you mean, honey bee, I didn’t tell him anything I didn’t tell you?” Demeter promises, kissing her daughter’s cheek before she goes back to the cutting board, julienning some peppers for the vegetable pasta she was making the three of them for dinner. “He’s just more receptive than you were to what I had to say.”

“Mom, you know he’s so impressionable. He cried at dinner the other night. Cried, screamed, was completely heartbroken that his dinosaur nuggets might have come from a chicken that was friends with your chicken. He was crying because he thought he was eating Lucy’s friend. His words, not mine.” Persephone whispers, standing on her toes to watch out of the kitchen window above the sink, to see if Orpheus had made any progress towards coming inside.

Instead, her four year old  boy sat in Demeter’s chicken coop, surrounded by the various birds. In his lap sat the one he always spoke of, named Lucy, which was covered in white feathers. It sat on his lap as he tried to hug her, the bird spreading it’s wings in his arms in an attempt to get away. Regardless, she remained in his lap.

“Do you think he’ll get sick out there with those birds-” Persephone asks, biting her lip nervously, before dropping back on her heels and leaning her back against the sink.

“Persephone Beatrice I used to let you run around without shoes on and then not take a bath for a few days because I respected your free spirit. He will be fine.” Demeter assures her daughter, adding her sliced peppers to a hot saute pan. “He will be just fine.”

“You know I was a toddler, you could have told me to take a bath.”

“Well, as you got older I told you not to marry a city man from a rich family and you didn’t listen to me then, who’s to say you would have as a child?” She teases her, taking her hand and squeezing gently. “Orpheus is just an empathetic, kind soul. So what, he won’t eat meat. I don’t eat anything that comes from an animal, and i’m just fine. He will have enough to eat. It’s not the end of the world, Persephone.”

“I can only make three meals, mom! Three! Dinosaur Chicken Nuggets, Grilled Cheese, and Pasta with sauce from a jar! I can’t even make him Ramen now because it’s chicken flavored. We are down to two meals, so don’t you dare get him started on being a vegan, too!” She warns, shaking her head. “I now am down to two meals to make him.”

“Maybe it’s time you learn how to cook, hmm?” Demeter shrugs, handing Perspehone the rubber spatula she used to toss the onions and peppers in the pan. “It’s not terribly hard to do.”

“I married a man who can cook, we’ll have to live on grilled cheese in his absence.” Persephone rolled her eyes, setting the spatula down. “Or takeout. I’ve always been a fan of lo mein.”

“How is the million dollar man taking Orpheus’s dedication to animals? And hermes?”

“Don’t call him that. He’s fine with it, you know, he does cook so he doesn’t mind making something for him those three days of the week, and then Hermes, obviously, he’s good at it. But he’s also the king of peanut butter and jelly.” Persephone reminds playfully, breaking off a few pieces of raw pasta to eat while they talked. “We’ll be fine. He’ll be fine.”

“Of course you will. Orpheus will not be hard to take care of. He has a kind, loving heart. Which will get broken and hurt a few times. Like when Calliope came back-”

“Don’t mention that bitch, I should have killed her-” Persephone hisses, unknowingly tightening her fist in anger  and crackling the raw noodles inside.

“No, she is not worth violence. And she won’t be back. Not for a long, long while. But people will hurt him, because he loves so deeply. You will want to shield his heart, but it is inevitable.” Demeter admits as she adds the pasta to the water, as they stand and watch him play in the coop together.

“I can handle that, I can learn to help him. I can learn to make more options, maybe ungrilled cheese..but mama..” She sighs, leaning her head on Demeter’s shoulder. The older woman lays her head atop her daughter’s, patting her hand gently.

“Yes, honey love?” She whispers as she squeezes her daughter’s hand.

“Is he going to be happy? You talk about heart break and that horrible mother he has and people hurting him- is he going to be happy?” It’s a natural fear, she supposes, that Orpheus will spend his life hurting and on his own.

“Oh, of course he will be. Growing up, of course. He’ll have a wonderful life. It takes good parents, good people raising him, to make him so loving and empathetic. And he has those.” Demeter compliments as her arm wraps around Persephone’s shoulder, rubbing her upper arm sympathetically. “And when he’s grown? He’ll be so happy. So loved. So loving. So in love. He’ll have a wonderful, wonderful life.”

Persephone lets out a sigh she did not know she held, nodding in relief as Demeter affirmed her wishes, her goals and hopes for the boy she loves like her own son. “Thank you. Thank you. And thank you for letting us stay-”

It was no secret Persephone hated to be alone, on her own in their city apartment, when her husband was gone for work. Her mother was always so welcoming, always ready to have her baby back under her roof.

“Of course. This will always be your home Persephone. Now, as much as I love that boy enjoying his time out there, bring him in to wash up for dinner.” She instructs, patting Persephone’s arm gently.

“I thought he couldn’t get sick?” Her voice is light, teasing as she sends Persephone off to gather Orpheus for dinner.

“He won’t. Doesn’t mean I want him tracking dirt and feathers to my table.”

With a laugh, she slips out towards the back door. “Mama? I love you.”

“I love you too, Persephone.”

[tbhwhocaresanymore]

Nancy Drew 1x16

Oh my God you guys it has been so long since I have been able to watch a show that is so well written that has clearly been planned out from the beginning where the viewers have been able to theorize and have it pay off and Jesus Christ it is GLORIOUS. If I ever write for a show I would want to work with these writers on a show like this.

Before anything else let me start off gloating that I started calling Nancy as Lucy and Ryan’s daughter back around episode 9 or 10 and I am so fucking vindicated right now, I have been riding an otherwise unattainable high nonstop for the past three days. @kat--writes is this how you feel when you accurately predict things??? Because it feels AMAZING.

For the rest of the episode first can I just say how horribly tragic Lucy Sable is? Kudos to the writers because it was a stunning plot twist that I never saw coming but for some reason it’s almost worse than a murder to me? If for no other reason than how it has affected and will continue to affect everyone around her. Ryan who is now going to be even more guilt ridden about not getting to the ice cream parlor on time, Karen and Josh trying to avenge a murder that never even happened, Tiffany Hudson who died for nothing, Nancy who will be forever wondering if her mother slipped and fell or if she really did kill herself right after Nancy was born because if anything will give you an abandonment complex it’s that.

And hearing Carson say what happened that night with Lucy (PHENOMENAL acting by the way, maybe best scene of the season so far) makes rewatching the earlier episodes, especially 7/8 where Nancy was accusing Carson of murdering Lucy so much more tragic. This girl who he and his wife clearly cared for and felt sympathy for, begging him with her last words to take care of her daughter, knowing he looked away for less than two seconds and probably spending weeks if not months if not years questioning if he’d just looked up a half a second sooner if maybe Lucy would still be alive. Seeing Lucy’s daughter, his daughter, accuse him of murdering Lucy had to be a gut punch and it gives his character so much more depth. I just hope this doesn't put too much of a strain on his relationship with Nancy because they have finally gotten to such a good place and as far as Carson is concerned Nancy is his daughter, and he wasn’t trying to lie to her about Lucy. All he was trying to do was respect Lucy’s dying wish and protect her from the Hudsons. I mean he was willing to go to prison for murder before admitting what happened on the bluffs that night, that should count for something.

Moving away from the Shakespearean levels of tragedy for a moment.

God I fucking KNEW Owen was shady I have known it since the beginning. Granted I do not have absolute confirmation yet BUT: him being in his car outside the Claw when he said he would be out of town, holding a piece of Lucy Sable’s skull? (As far as the skull goes though, loved that bit of Bess/George/Nick teamwork to casually hide it from the cops.) Creepy bastard, thy name is Owen. I have no idea how it will play out yet but I hope to God that it will. But also that is going to be a bit of a blow to Bess, finding out her cousin is whatever he is, and also Nancy who literally just had sex with him.

Speaking of.

Much as it pains me to admit, the writers are clearly taking several steps away from Nancy x Nick for the moment, probably to give Nick x George a fighting chance. Side question. Why is Nick sleeping on a couch when he has over four and a half million dollars? Like he could afford to build a house with that much money. But I digress. I think it will be good for George to have a love interest who is A her own age and B not married, especially someone who she already had a good friendship with. Maybe since Owen is a Confirmed Shady Motherfucker the writers will either keep Nancy single for awhile or pair her up with Ace because their chemistry is off the charts. And as long as we’re on the romance topic, Bess. BESS. My sweet queer daughter. Where are Lisbeth and Amaya? Last time we saw Lisbeth they admitted they were kind of falling in love and slept with each other, last (and first) time we saw Amaya I fell in love and she and Bess had more chemistry than a high school sophomore. GIVE ME MY ON SCREEN BESS ROMANCE DRAMA WRITERS. And am I the only one who finds it a little bit weird that Bess is apparently so good at other people’s relationships when she has never really had one before?

I’m going to take a quick minute to be sad about Nancy x Nick so if you don’t like that you can skip this paragraph. NED NICKERSON. How the FUCK can you be so totally fine with Nancy sleeping with Owen when you two are clearly soulmates and you never liked him anyway? After the inevitable Owen betrayal possibly one of two things will happen with Nancy. She will regress and start to push people (read: love interests) even further away than before, OR she will finally really start to open up to Nick and they will find their way back to each other. Admittedly the second one is unlikely since Nick and George literally just got together but you never know. Just as long as Nick doesn’t cheat on George with Nancy because those two are finally friends and are really good friends to boot, and also George deserves way better especially post Ryan Hudson affair debacle. Maybe she and Nancy can bond over having shady not good for them older boyfriends.

On the topic of Ryan being Nancy’s biological dad every time George complains about Nancy asking favors I want her response to be “you had sex with my dad” every time.

Now we will talk about the promo for the as of now untitled next episode and also what the rest of the season and possibly season 2 have planned.

In episode 17 Ryan will clearly be Going Through Some Stuff, and will also find out that Lucy was pregnant. Whether he realizes she had the baby or thinks it died with her remains to be determined, but that shot of Nancy with a busted lip and her hair cut off in a car being driven by Ryan makes me think maybe he snaps and kidnaps her? It’s a bit of a stretch but it would certainly be interesting. I think we’re also going to see more of the Aglaeca coming after Nancy for not paying the toll, because for a minute we can see Nancy sort of choking and putting her hand to her throat like she’s about to throw up again. Maybe it’s going to keep coming after Nancy until they finally let the Aglaeca have Owen, or maybe its going to try to kill Nancy as punishment for saving Owen. I don’t know but I can’t wait to find out.

For the rest of the season/next season there are a couple threads not related to Ryan finding out Nancy is his daughter. There’s the new detective but I’m not talking about him. Joshua Dude, Lucy’s brother. He is still out and about wherever he is, and does not know his sister killed herself. This will probably not exonerate Ryan in his mind as Ryan’s family is part of what drove Lucy to suicide. Maybe he will come back and decide to sort of take revenge on A the Hudsons or B the town of Horseshoe Bay as revenge for what they did to Lucy. (Sort of like the Black Hood from Riverdale but you know, well done.) There is also Everett Hudson. Last time I checked he had just been arrested for sinking the Bonny Scot and racketeering and insurance fraud and stuff, what the hell is he doing at a yacht club? I can only assume he got out on bail so maybe we will see Nancy (possibly together with Ryan) work to put him behind bars for good. Maybe Carson Drew will finally leverage some of that dirty laundry he has on the Hudsons, or better yet that Grecian urn thing Ryan has will finally be put to good use. And then in the future although there is zero proof of this I still want A for George to become clairvoyant/psychic like her mother and B for George and Bess to be cousins. I don’t think I’m asking for too much here.

Finally, because of how much of a staple character he is in the books I refuse to accept that Chief McGinnis is gone for good. My very being rebels against it. But before you scream at me about how different the show is from the books (those two or three of you who have read the books anyway) even if he were an original character I would want him to stay. He is a fantastic character, he was just starting to get depth, I adore his relationship with Ace and on top of everything else he’s good Native American representation.

I ALSO WANT VICTORIA TO COME BACK. I HAVE NOT SEEN HER SINCE 2019. WTF WRITERS. YOU CAN’T JUST MAKE ME FALL IN LOVE WITH A DYSFUNCTIONAL PSYCHIC ALCOHOLIC MOTHER LIKE THAT AND THEN ONLY PUT HER IN TWO EPISODES.

Dead Lucy should also continue to stick around, maybe she can teach Nancy how to hang from ceilings or they can bond over how much Everett Hudson Sucks. It’s just that Lucy spent all this time trying to show Nancy that she is her biological mother, and for her to move on after sticking around for 20 years right after Nancy learns the truth? It would be too - and I fully recognize I have used this word too many times but I am going to use it again - tragic.

The wait for April 8 is going to be an agony unlike any other but at least after it comes back there will only be six episodes left, and so it is very unlikely the show will go on another hiatus before the season is up. Let me know what you guys think will happen in season 2/the rest of season 1.

[spine-buster]

Alone, Together | Chapter 22 | Morgan Rielly

A/N:  Thanks again for all the positive feedback!  We’re already at Chapter 22 and only in February.  I would like to say that there isn’t going to be any more drama, but the whole ~incident~ happens in March and, of course, Boston happens in April.  So…yeah.  For now, at least, happy times ahead! This chapter didn’t end up AT ALL where it was supposed to go, but I’m actually happy about that.  Some might call it filler (because it technically doesn’t contain any Morgan/Bee interaction) but I see it as pretty important.  

Hockey Night in Canada was quickly becoming favourite night of the week, especially when the Leafs were playing at home.  She had never been a hockey fan before Morgan, but now that she was – at least partly – she could feel the energy in Scotiabank Arena pulse through her veins.  She could feel it outside on the streets, walking past fellow Torontonians going to watch the game at a bar, at a friend’s place, or anywhere else.  She could even feel it within fellow fans, buzzing around the arena and getting close to the glass during open skate.  

Tonight, in particular, was a big one – Leafs vs. Canadiens.  Morgan had explained to her enough about the historic rivalry between the two teams, and even Aryne pitched in with a “Now they hate us even more because John wouldn’t grant them an interview.”  The energy was palpable.  And if Bee knew anything about Habs fans, it was that they were everywhere in Canada – even where you least expect it – and that they always travelled to support their team.  Even tonight, in prime enemy territory, she spotted a lot of Habs jerseys.  It was going to be a great Saturday night.  

But right now, all she cared about were babies.

Briony loved babies.  She loved them.  And she loved one baby in particular: Henry Gardiner.  He was the cutest, chubbiest, most perfect baby in all of Toronto and when any opportunity to hold or play with him came up, it excited her to no end.  Bee wasn’t going to have babies anytime soon, so when the opportunity arose to do literally anything with babies, she was the first to volunteer.  So when Bee saw Lucy had brought him to the game wearing and a cute, custom-made onesie that looked like a Gardiner jersey with hockey pants, she was over the moon.

“He was being really fussy…is being really fussy tonight,” Lucy said as she tried to bounce him in her arms.  

“You want me to hold him for a bit?  At least while we go down to the ice to say hi to dad?”

“Yeah, that could work,” Lucy agreed, handing her five-month-old over to Bee.  “What do you think, Hank?  Wanna stay with Auntie Bee?” she cooed.

Bee balanced his chubby body on her hip.  He looked up at her with his big blue eyes and she almost melted right then and there.  “Hi Henry!  Are we gonna be best friends tonight?  Are you gonna give Morgan a run for his money?”

“Henry you wanna go see Dada?  Wanna go see Dada?” Lucy smiled as Henry smiled at the word ‘Dada’.  Lucy slipped on his blue pair of baby headphones to protect his ears from all the noise before setting her diaper bag on the chair.

As the pair slowly made their way down the steps of the lower bowl, they eventually got to the glass in the corner, which was already surrounded by fans taking pictures of the team.  They stood back for a while, watching the team skate and shoot pucks as Bee bounced Henry in her arms and pointed out all the players to him.  He obviously couldn’t hear a thing, but he followed her points and let out happy noises the more she bounced him.  Eventually, some fans noticed them and made way for them to go right against the glass.  Bee held Henry close to the window, pointing at Jake.

Jake took a few more shots at the net before he saw them, quickly making his way over.  Like clockwork, a cameraman and photographer appeared beside them and started snapping pictures of Henry and Jake smiling at each other.  Bee thought it was out-of-this-world adorable, but also thought it was slightly awkward since she was neither Henry’s mom or Jake’s wife.  “Maybe you should take him,” she giggled, handing back to Lucy with open arms.  

“Yeah, let me hold him until they leave,” she agreed, bringing Henry a bit closer to the glass.  Jake continued to smile and wave, and the fans around them practically awed in unison.  Morgan came skating behind him, stopping briefly to wave at Henry and smile at what was transpiring.  He pulled a silly face to try to get Henry to laugh.  Instead, Henry looked at him, his little baby eyebrows furrowing, before he began to fuss and cry slightly.  Jake hit Morgan and Morgan made a dramatic ‘oops’ face before winking quickly at Bee.  She shook her head at him as he skated away.  

“Ooookay, that’s enough of Dada and his friends,” Lucy said, trying to calm him down.  “You want to go back to Auntie Bee?  Seems like you liked when she held you,” she said, handing him back into Bee’s arms.

Like previously, Henry began to calm down as Bee held him and bounced him on her hip.  Lucy began to thank the fans for making room for them, and as she did, Bee noticed a group of three young girls – they couldn’t have been older than 21 – recording them on their iPhones.  Bee tried not to look their way or give them any mind, but when she overheard one of them say to the other, “That’s Morgan Rielly’s girlfriend,” her breath couldn’t help but hitch in her throat.  

“Let’s get back to our seats before the Zamboni comes out,” Lucy said, unaware of the girls filming.  “Hank’s really scared of them and Jake’s still upset about it.”

As they made their way back to their seats, they saw Aryne and waved, Penny following close behind her.  They nestled into their seats – Lucy near the aisle, then Bee, then Aryne, then Penny – as Bee turned Henry to face forward to look out onto the ice, bouncing him slightly on her knee.  

“Are you girls ready for a shit show?” Penny asked.  “I don’t know if you saw, but Max Domi has already been chirping a few of the boys.”

The girls rolled their eyes, but Bee had no idea who Max Domi was.  “Who is Max Domi?”

Penny cringed.  “Don’t ask.”

Aryne looked over at her.  “Max is a player on the Habs.  His dad Tie used to play for Toronto from the mid-nineties to the mid-2000s,” she explained.  Bee was so grateful that Aryne and the other girls were still patient enough to explain things to her.  “He just crawls under people’s skin.  He likes to play dirty.  And ever since he got traded to Montreal and became a Hab, he’s been shitting on Toronto – literally the city he grew up in – every chance he gets.”

Bee furrowed her brows.  “So you’re telling me he’s a dumbass.”

The girls burst out into laughter at Bee’s deadpan delivery.  “Exactly,” Penny snorted.

“If he so much as touches one of our guys tonight I’ll go down there and fight him myself,” Lucy warned.  “I haven’t slept in two days and I’m surviving on cereal and smoothies.  I’m a ball of rage.”

Henry seemed content to stay on Bee’s lap during the first period, despite the constant grimacing, flailing of arms, screaming, and general scowling from the ladies.  By the end of the period, the Leafs were down 3-0, and Bee got the gift of seeing first-hand what kind of a player Max Domi was.  Though he hadn’t scored any of the goals, he was being an asshole, completely targeting Freddie and riling up Johnsson – of course, the referees called nothing.  Bee knew she always had to be mad at the referees.  

As Lucy left with Henry to change his diaper, Bee spent the intermission on her phone catching up on the day’s news events.  She was pretty busy at work these days, and throughout all the meetings Mark liked to spontaneously plan and the working lunches they’d have, she wasn’t able to catch up on anything during the day like she used to be able to when she was in-between classes.  She was nervous for the second period too – a lot of the fans that had made their way out into the concourse were grumbling about the lacklustre period and 3-0 score.

“The boys better make a comeback,” Aryne said almost to herself.  “I’m not putting up with any gloating Hab fans, and I’m sure as hell not putting up with a gloating Max Domi.”

Bee snorted at Aryne’s words as she opened Instagram, scrolling through her feed and liking pictures.  She had made it private back when Angie called her in Vancouver, but that didn’t stop people from somehow stealing her pictures – like Aryne showed her on Valentine’s Day – or stop them from trying to tag her in videos or send her DMs.  The tags were relentless – every picture someone stole from her profile, they’d tag her in it again, as if they wanted her to see that they stole it.  And now, there were more tags to sift through.  The girls who had recorded them at the glass had of course already uploaded the video to Instagram, and it was making the rounds.  She was tagged four times from four different accounts.  She watched the video, and obviously it was cute because of Henry, but the girls were in prime position to catch Morgan winking at her before skating away.  Perfect position.  She could only imagine what people were saying about it, and she didn’t want to read the comments.  Instead, she went to her Instagram DMs to clear her inbox.

So what, are you Lucy’s BFF now or something?

LMAOOOO now ur trying to get mo to have a baby with u U R PATHETIC!!!

R u pregnant

I know it’s your man’s jersey and all but it’s really doing your body no favours.  Have you gained weight?

“Whatcha reeeeading?” Penny asked.

Bee sighed dramatically.  “Well Penny, apparently I’m forcing Morgan to have a baby with me,” her voice was deadpan.

Penny snorted at the delivery.  “Oh how I just love Instagram DMs,” she giggled, shaking her head.  “Don’t worry, I’m only with Will for his money.”

“Oh, of course!  Morgan’s my sugar daddy!” Bee exclaimed, causing Penny to laugh even more.  “These girls see one video and think I’m pregnant.  It’s so weird,” she focused back on her phone.

Maybe Lucy should give you some yoga lessons so you can lose some weight.  She looks better than you do and she’s had a baby.

I told u we’d find pics of u and mo.  You’re not sneaky.

You guys looked really cute in Vancouver!!!!!  Can’t believe you met his parents already does that mean you’re getting married?????

You and Mo are rly cute

You’d look better with a nose job and some upper lip filler.  Just saying.

How kind of them to suggest a nose job and lip fillers.  Like women around the world weren’t already insecure with themselves.  She deleted everything, not bothering to read anymore.  She deleted the list of them until she heard a crying baby, bringing her back to reality and what really mattered.  When she finally looked up, she saw Lucy coming back with a crying Henry, and more fans filing back into the arena for the start of the second period.  

“He is being so incredibly fussy it’s driving me insane,” Lucy’s voice was exasperated as she sat back into her seat.  “The entire time he was wailing.  Just wouldn’t stop crying.”

“Awww, come here my chubby prince,” Bee cooed as she took Henry from a tired Lucy’s arms.  “You gotta let mommy rest.  Why’re you being so fussy?”

It took a few moments, but he eventually stopped crying and settled down, again looking up at Bee with his big blue eyes.  He even gave her a smile and giggled at her smiling down at him.  Lucy put her hands up in dramatic frustration.  “You’re like the baby whisperer tonight!  Seriously!” she exclaimed in astonishment.  “I can’t believe this!”  She even took out her phone to snap a quick picture of Henry smiling up at Bee, and Bee smiling down at him.  “You’re stuck with him the whole night if he’s going to be like this with you.”

“I’ll hold him the whole game if I have to,” Bee smiled.  “I’m not joking.  You want me to rock him to sleep?  Tuck him into bed?  I’ll do it.”

“Don’t tempt me.  I might take you up on your offer.”

As the second period started, Lucy fetched Henry’s bottle from her bag, and Bee fed him.  Auston scored early in the period, with Morgan getting the primary assist, and Bee hoped that the goal was a kick in the ass for the whole team to start scoring.  When Tyler scored a powerplay goal near the end of the period, she was confident they would come back.  And as always, Max Domi was being a pest, but because the boys were answering back, he didn’t have that much to say.

Then Willy scored in the third period to tie it and Penny went crazy.  Henry fell asleep and was snug in his carrier when Zach tied it and everybody in the arena went crazy.  Then the Habs got upset.  Four unanswered goals.  On the jumbotron, they showed Morgan and Max going back and forth, chirping one another with a body in between them, holding them apart.  God, Bee hated fighting, but if Morgan had slapped the smirk off Max’s face, she would have had no problem riding him across the Pacific Ocean.  She even fanned herself as the girls pointed it out to her and had a laugh about it.  A fifth goal by Johnsson, getting his payback on Max.  A sixth goal by Zach, again.  Six unanswered goals.  One hell of a comeback.  Sweet sweet revenge.

This is the hockey Bee could get used to.  

As fans began leaving the arena after the 6-3 win, the ladies took their own way to the locker rooms.  In the elevator, Bee took out her phone and saw she was tagged in yet another photo – but this one she would definitely keep.

@lucygardiner_: Henry loves his Aunt Bee! <3  Uncle Morgan has to work on his funny face game though…

It was the photo she had taken earlier of Henry looking up at her smiling.  With both of them smiling and the sea of blue jerseys behind them, it did make for a very cute picture.  Bee liked it immediately and decided to comment.

@brionymctavish: Heart eyes for my chubby prince!  Uncle Mo’s baby blues ain’t got nothing on Henry’s

***

“Listen, I know you have work tomorrow but can I please come over?  I don’t want to watch this alone.”

Thus began the night of February 28th, the dreaded day – the day John Tavares returned to Long Island.  The media had been hyping the return for days, and truth be told, Bee thought they were making a bigger deal than what needed to be made.  They kept stressing the fan reaction, the videos they posted online of them burning John’s jerseys, which was absolutely ridiculous.  They kept asking John annoying questions about it, and they kept asking players on the Islanders annoying questions about it.  Bee wished it could all just end, but they needed to get through the game first.  

Aryne showed up to Bee’s apartment with takeout Greek food.  They didn’t even bother setting it up in the dining table – they just took their spots on the floor and spread everything out on the coffee table in front of the TV.  Coverage was already on, and the guys on Sportsnet were blabbering on about something.  Judging by the time, Bee knew the boys would be on the ice soon for the pre-game skate.  She didn’t need to wonder what the reception for John would be since she was being told for an entire fucking week that it “wasn’t gonna be good”.  

“Are you looking for places?” Aryne asked as she sat down on a pillow, looking at Bee’s laptop screen of apartment listings.  

“Oh.  Yeah,” Bee nodded her head.  “I can’t live off of Naz and Ashley forever.”

“It’s not like they’re going bankrupt,” Aryne quipped.

“Yeah, but I’m earning decent money now.  They can at least get the income back from leasing out this place,” she shrugged her shoulders, wanting to drop the subject.  “Have you talked to John?”

Aryne nodded her head, opening the takeout container to reveal her gyro.  “He’s fine.  At least he seems to be.  He’s seen some of his old teammates already and they caught up, which was nice.”

“That’s good,” Bee offered gently.  “Does it feel weird for him being back there?”

“I don’t think so,” Aryne said.  “I mean…he spent nearly ten years of his life there.”  She looked at the TV and they both noticed the teams making their way on to the ice.  The camera was focused solely on the Leafs.  “Can you turn it up?” she asked.  

The more Bee turned up the volume, the more boos could be heard.  The arena wasn’t even at full capacity but they were deafening.  Between keeping the focus on John, the camera also panned to people and signs in the crowd.  People who had taped up their Tavares jerseys and re-wrote ‘Traitor’; people who made a sign saying ‘We don’t need you’; people standing and booing and giving the middle finger with one hand while a beer was in another.  It was gross.  

“How could they be so awful,” Bee said more so to herself than to Aryne.  Seeing person after person with toy snakes and throwing them on to the ice was not funny.  It was not amusing.  This was a person that was their captain, and here they were disrespecting him and treating him like shit when he did so much for their team.  Bee looked over at Aryne, who didn’t seem to blink as she watched the clown show in front of her.  “We can change the channel if you want.”

“No,” Aryne answered.  As much as it pained her to watch, she couldn’t.  “I promised John I’d watch the whole thing no matter how bad the fans were.  I’m watching it for him, not for them.”  She worded it perfectly.  This wasn’t about them, no matter how much they wanted to make it about them.  Aryne knew that.  Bee knew that.

They watched in silence as John made his way back to the tunnel.  All of the sudden, something flew across the TV screen heading towards John’s head, narrowly missing him, making both women gasp in fear.  They held their breath as the replay occurred, Bee’s hands over her mouth.  “It’s a jersey.  It’s a jersey,” she said quickly, noticing the colours on the object being thrown.  The distinct blue and orange couldn’t be mistaken for anything else.  

When she looked over at Aryne, she could see tears welling in her eyes.  “Aryne…Aryne it’s okay,” she said, crawling over to her side of the table before giving her a quick hug.  “It didn’t even hit him.  The guy missed.  It didn’t hit him.”

“Why do they hate him so much?” she asked, her voice shaky as she continued to look at the screen.  “He was the backbone of that team for years.  He moved there alone when he was eighteen years old to play for them and this is how they repay him?”

“Aryne, they’re being dumb.  They’ve been amped up by the media and this is just theatrics,” Bee tried to calm her down.

“I don’t get it,” she shook her head.  “You just…you spend nine years of your life somewhere, building your life and career, and they just turn on you at the drop of a hat…just because you want to go home.  Just because you want to play for your childhood team.  Because you want to be close to your family and start a family of your own,” she lamented.  “My God.  I don’t even know why I’m crying.  This…this is definitely pregnancy hormones,” she was embarrassed as she wiped away the tears.  

“It’s okay to be emotional about this Aryne,” Bee said softly, rubbing her back.  

“He’s just so happy to be home, Bee.  Why can’t they see that?”

“They’re blinded by their anger, but that’s not your problem,” Bee said.  “He was a UFA Aryne.  What was he supposed to do?  Stop playing hockey just to make them happy?  Play somewhere he wasn’t truly happy?  Play for his childhood team when he only had a half a tank of gas left?  That’s not far to him and his goals.  Even if hockey wasn’t a part of it at all.  He made the best decision for himself and for you both and they don’t want to see that.”

Aryne didn’t say anything.  She wiped the remaining tears from her cheeks before laying her head on Bee’s shoulder.  After a while of silence, she finally said in a soft voice, “I think the reason I like you so much is because you just…you see things outside of hockey.  Sometimes I forget what it’s like.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You just have this perspective the rest of us don’t have,” she said without elaborating.  “Never lose it, okay?”

The boys played like shit.  They didn’t show up for one of the biggest games of the season – there was no other way to put it.  They let John down.  After Zach opened the scoring and got another goal taken away (because of the “offside” rule, which Bee still thought was a completely made up call), the team was sucker-punched to a 6-1 loss.  It was brutal.  Every time John touched the puck, the crowd booed so loudly it almost drowned out the announcers.  Bee hated it.  She never wanted to experience another game like this again.  

This was not the hockey she wanted to get used to.  

“Are you sure you don’t want to just crash here tonight?  You must be exhausted,” Bee asked as Aryne was packed up to leave, taking most of her uneaten gyro with her.

“I’ll be okay, don’t worry.  At this time of night the drive is nothing.  Plus, John will probably call and want to talk,” she explained, putting her Styrofoam container into a plastic bag.

Bee kept ruminating over what Aryne had said to her earlier.  ‘You see things outside of hockey.  You have this perspective the rest of us don’t have.’  She wondered what Aryne meant by that.  She knew it wasn’t super invested in hockey.  She knew that Morgan had only ever played for the Leafs and he had never switched teams, been a UFA, signed an offer sheet, demanded a trade, any of that.  She knew she was only getting one perspective, especially since Morgan wanted to stay a Leaf forever.  Despite being from Vancouver, they were his childhood team.  His dad fist-pumped on camera when the Leafs drafted him.  Aryne had been through so much more than she had, yet she was the one telling Bee ‘You have this perspective the rest of us don’t have’.  “Hey Aryne…” she began, unsure if she should bring it up.

“Mhmm?”

“You know…you know before…before the game started.  How you said I see things outside of hockey and that I have a perspective the rest of you guys don’t have?  What did you mean by that?”

Aryne stood still.  “I didn’t offend you did I?”

Bee shook her head vehemently.  “No no.  Not at all.  I just want to know what you meant.  I’m wracking my brain trying to figure it out.”

“Do you promise not to hate me if I explain it?”

“I could never hate you.  The only reason I could hate you is for telling me who Max Domi is.”

Aryne smiled before getting more serious.  “A lot has happened to you this year, with the break-in and with your mom dying.  A lot has happened to you in your life.  And somehow, you’re still…it never seems to phase you.  And…I don’t know.  It brings me back down to earth a little bit.  When I get stressed over John or hockey or whatever else, I just think about all you’ve been through and how you’ve overcome it all with such grace and a good head on your shoulders and I just think ‘Man, this girl’s got it all figured out.’”

“I don’t have it all figured out,” Bee shook her head.  “Far from it.”

Aryne bit her lip.  “Listen, you just prioritize the right stuff in your life.  You prioritize yourself, your relationship with Mo, your job…not a lot of girls your age that we know can say the same thing.  That’s why Sydney reacted the way she did when you mentioned having a career and the fact that Morgan liked you having one.  A lot of people lose sight of what is supposed to matter and all they end up caring about is their boyfriend or their wedding or how they look on Instagram.  But despite all this new stuff around you, all this money and all this privilege, you’ve never lost sight of what truly matters.  Even the way you brush off all the DMs you get on Instagram.  And I don’t want to patronize you and tell you I’m proud of you, even though I am, and I’m not saying that you’re a saint, but it makes me think about the priorities in my life,” she absent-mindedly put a hand over her baby bump.  “Hockey is there but it’s John’s priority more than it is mine.  I care about my husband, my family, our growing family, our friends who are like our family.  And in the grand scheme of things, stuff like what happened tonight…it doesn’t matter.  You get that.  Somehow, without having been involved in hockey for years or without being involved in the wag lifestyle that so many girls think is an absolute dream when it’s really not…you get that.”

“I don’t know what to say Aryne.”

Aryne shrugged her shoulders.  “I just think we can all learn a little from you, that’s all.  Remember where our real priorities are.  Because it’s not with the Chanel bags, or the gala events, or the mingling with Toronto socialites, or the Instagram feed showing off your new lip fillers and the picture perfect way your boyfriend has proposed.  It’s with each other.”

[fallen029]

Hey so I just saw your miraxus post about Master finding out and I was wondering if you could do one where they (miraxus) tell the guild about them getting married

I’ve touched on this before (I feel like I say that in response to every request, but hey, I have a bunch of one-shots), in Clandestine and here’s the original request that spawned this one. Wedding Wars also has a secret marriage (sort of) in it’s plot, so here’s that. Anyways, thanks for asking for so much guild stuff, guys. I forgot how much I liked writing the chaos of them all together. 

.

They were arguing about which job to take, Natsu and Lucy were, because he wanted to go on this cool sounding quest for treasure while she wanted to go the much safer bet of journeying to find a bandit with a reward clearly marked while his was ambiguous. Following a long discussion over just what ambiguous was as Happy snickered in the background, Lucy had nearly won the slayer over to her side when it happened.

Just as she was preparing to snatch the job down and skip right over to the bar, to ask the Kinana to put in the request for them, the guildhall doors opened and in walked Mirajane. And Laxus. Which was weird on it’s own because Mira rarely entered during midday; she’d usually been around for quite awhile. And he wasn’t much of an afternooner, honestly. Laxus either came in at the crack of dawn, to snag a job, or slumped in late in the evening to start his drinking off early before hitting a more apt bar.

But there they were, right around noon, walking in together.

And oh, it was clear they were coming in together. Not just happened upon the doorway at the same time. No. Laxus had an arm tossed over the woman’s shoulder and she had this giddy look about her. A real one. Different than the usual facade of one she put on.

Neither had been seen in a week as Mirajane had claimed to want to take off, a rarity, but a welcome one, everyone felt, and Laxus was prone to long absences, but the sight of them then, wrapped up in one another, was more than a cause for concern.

Lisanna, who was filling in and helping Kinana tend bar in her oldest sibling’s absence, rushed right over at the sight of Mirajane there, once more, in the guildhall, but found herself skidding to a stop as both she and all those around them took notice of the obvious oddity.

“Mira,” she began slowly and uncertainly as she glanced between the two. Mira was grinning brightly and Laxus looked off. “What’s, uh, going on?”

“Well,” her older sister started as, in the hall now, she looked all about as, slowly, the noise died down and everyone began to wonder much the same. “Laxus and I got married.”

“You what?” was the resounding noise from all those present.

Happy, in fact, fell from where he was fluttering about above them, right onto Lucy’s head.

“Hey, cat-”

“Am I,” he asked her, “dreaming?”

“Married?” Natsu looked to Lucy. “Is that what she said?”

“Would you both,” Lucy complained as she reached up to grab the Exceed and shove him off on the slayer, “shut up? I have to go talk to Mira.”

Everyone did in that moment. Save three people who had to talk to Laxus.

“What is she speaking of, Laxus?” Freed was the most impassioned. “We demand answers!”

“Answers,” Bickslow’s baby’s agreed as the man himself was slinking through the crowd, so he could get real close to Laxus and Mira. Mostly Mira. For, uh, inspections reasons. “Papa needs answers!”

“Marrying a Strauss?” Evergreen fanned herself as she stood from the table she definitely was not just sharing with the male member of said family. “Who would ever even concieve such an idea, much less- Elfman!”

He shoved her, full on, out of the way then, to get to Mirajane. “Big sis, I think you’re delirious! Come sit down. Did Laxus slip you something?”

“My boss here,” Bickslow snickered as he was beside the glaring Laxus then and giggly Mirajane, “slipped her somethin’ alright, didn’t ya, boss? Huh? Hey, Mrs. Boss. Can I call ya that? After this whole thing goes sour, you can be Mrs. Ex. Ya like that?”

“Fuck off.” And Laxus shoved him away finally as Mirajane only stared. But he was far from the only one at their sides.

“You cannot,” Lisanna, coming to grab her sister and drag her away from the slayer, “be serious, Mira. How did this happen? You-”

“Marriage is a serious commitment.” Erza had risen from her seat at a table with Cana and Gray, but didn’t make a move towards the pair. No. She just stood and seemed to be glowering somewhat. “One that you must plan for. Even years, decades, perhaps, out. Do you even own a wedding dress, Mirajane? Have you even dreamed of the perfect one? Bought many, even, perhaps, over the years? Hmm? Is no one else concerned with this?”

“I think,” Cana muttered to Gray who remained sitting, just glancing all about because, yeah, this sounded like the exact fuckery that happened on a day when everyone was around, “I mightta had too much to drink. Did Mirajane say that she and Laxus are-”

“Married?” Suddenly, they were joined at their table. Err, well, Juvia didn’t so much sit at the table, but rather, practically, in Gray’s lap, nearly causing him to spill his ale all over himself. “That is what I fear I heard as well. Could you imagine? Marrying someone you only know through random encounters at the guildhall? That will be nothing like our wedding, in the coming months, will it, my darling Gray?”

“Our what?” he complained while trying to shove her then, out of his lap.

“She doesn’t even own a wedding dress.” Still standing, Erza fumed enough for all of them. “How is this fair? It is unjust!”

“It was a surprise,” Mirajane insisted to all those around. Lucy finally had shed the dead weight that was Natsu and Happy (for the time being, at least) and shoved her way through the others so she could stare at her best friend as she spoke. Mostly though, Lisanna’s gaze was the one that the oldest Strauss sibling was holding. “Really. Laxus asked me and then we decided, while we were on our trip-”

“You went on a trip with him?” Elfman raged from where he stood. “What kind of man goes a trip with another man’s sister without saying something to him?”

“Probably the kind that marries her without saying something,” Wakaba suggested around a cigar to Macao who stood by with crossed arms and a glare.

Made sense though.

“Your grandfather isn’t going to like this,” Macao said simply as Laxus, finding his gaze, glared right back. “You know that?”

“I don’t like it,” Lisanna wailed then as she stared up at her sister with tearful eyes. “I mean…Laxus? Mira? Really? Him?”

“Hey!” Bickslow was shoving up then, from where Laxus had tossed him. “Boss! Ya gonna let her talk down to you now? She’s your sister! Put her in her place! Like this.” And he looked to Lisanna then. “I mean…Mira? Laxus? Her?”

“That’s right, Bickslow.” Freed was rare to pick on a defenseless woman (he felt Lisanna pretty defenseless), but desperate times called for desperate measures. “We will crush Lisanna for her insolence!”

“I mean, I dunno about that, dude,” Bickslow snickered as his babies cheered on the idea, “but if that’s what you’re into-”

“Hey!” Elfman, reinvigorated, was shoving his way to the front then. “You will not talk to or about my sisters like that, you-”

“I will so long as she speaks in of Laxus that way,” Freed retorted with a glare.

“Now, now,” Mirajane tried to appease them all though, at the moment, her main focus was pulling Lisanna in for a hug. “You’re all brothers now. Play nice.”

“The hell they are.” Laxus could not hold his tongue for much longer. “They ain’t my brothers.”

“Well, Elfman definitely is, now, dragon, so-”

“Dragon?” Lucy repeated. It was drown out, however, by Happy landing on her head and saying the word to a much higher volume. As she tried to shake him off though, she felt a shove in the back as Natsu was beside her now.

“Hey! Laxus! Where do you get off, huh?” the pink haired slayer complained.

“Probably on Mrs. Boss, I’d assume,” Bickslow snickered which made Elfman rush to attack him, but then Freed was drawing his sword on him and, well, it was a brawl from there.

Still, Natsu’s desire to fight was washed out as he had his eyes on a better prize.

“You can’t marry Lisanna’s sister and not at least fight me for her,” Natsu growled and he shoved Lucy again, this time to get passed her and Laxus was so frustrated then, with the entire thing, that it was just a single crack of thunder, over the pandemonium already going on, that ended the Salamander right where he stood.

“I knew,” Pantherlily complained, over at the table he and Gajeel were still at, the former standing atop it while the later just grumbled about the racket, “I shouldn’t have come in today.”

“Oh, it’s alright, Lily,” Levy giggled. She was sitting with them, before, but stood now, craning her neck to see over everyone, watching the events unfold. Still, she reached over then to pull the black Exceed into her arms and rub at his ears, so he didn’t have to cover them with his paws. “Just a little thunder.”

“A little?” he griped as Gajeel only snorted, still grumbling.

“Who the fuck gets married nowadays anyways?” he griped, more hung up on the idea rather than the participants. He couldn’t give a shit what Laxus did, at all, so long as he left him the hell alone and Mirajane, well, he was on the outs with her after an incident in which he definitely didn’t steal her guitar before she was going to preform at the hall because it wasn’t fair that he wasn’t allowed to preform too. Nope. Definitely didn’t happen. “It’s stupid.”

“Well,” Levy thought, hardly glancing at him. “I might get married someday. I’d hope.”

He choked some, on his drink, before grumbling once more, though this time it was something along the lines of, well, maybe, if someone was really into that idea, it wasn’t so bad.

“Elfman!” Evergreen was the one yelling then as she stepped over the fallen body of Natsu as well as Lisanna, who’d detangled herself from her sister just to go check on him (one shot of Laxus’ lightning and he was pretty bad off) “Let Bickslow go!”

“Never!” He had the other guy in a headlock then as Freed kept shouting at him that if he didn’t release him, he’d be forced to stab him. The man’s wooden dolls weren’t doing so great either. “Not until he apologizes to my sisters!”

“My,” Bickslow gasped out, “sisters too. Now.”

“No,” Laxus growled as Mirajane was shoving at him then, telling him to get everyone to calm down, “they’re not!”

“How can you get married, Mira,” Erza was yelling still, “without a wedding dress? How is it, even, that someone who might have a wedding dress or seven on hand is not gifted the bless of a wedding?”

“Seven?” Cana slurred with a frown as even Juvia stopped peppering Gray with hugs and kisses at the number.

“Perhaps even eight,” the scarlet swordswoman admitted as her cheeks turned much the same.

“What would you even do with that many?” Gray asked, also at least somewhat interested. Maybe. He wans’t sure. He also felt in awe of the woman. “Erza?”

“I like,” she defended as, slowly, she sank back into her seat, “to have options.”

“Or,” Juvia decided then as her eyes glazed over and she imagined the exact scenario, “you could just have seven separate weddings. With your beloved. Tell me, Erza, do you have one of those? Or-”

“Wh- This isn’t about me!” She frowned at all of them. “This is about the irresponsible decision that Mirajane has made.”

“Yeah, marrying a guy without knowing him is kind of more my thing,” Cana offered, also in awe, it seemed, at such a thought.

“What?” Erza huffed. “I meant getting married without a proper dress.”

But there were much bigger concerns, up at the front, as Mirajane had begun to try and at least explain, a bit, to the others. To ease the tensions.

“There is no way,” Lucy said as she refused to go aid the fallen Natsu (he and Happy were getting on her nerves that day, purposely, like always), “that the two of you have been dating that long, Mira. And none of us knew. Not even Lisanna. No way.”

“I agree.” Lisanna had the dazed Natsu’s head in her lap, but still managed a suspicious glance up at her sister. “If this is some kind of a joke-”

“It’s true,” Mirajane insisted as, finally, Laxus went to break up the guys from their brawl, barking out orders now not only to Freed and Bickslow, but Elfman as well.

“I don’t have to listen to you,” the muscular man growled. “Laxus. Who are you to me?”

“He’s your older brother now, I think,” Happy offered and wow, no, Elfman never considered that.

As he tossed Bickslow from him and into Freed, he got the glares of all three members of the Thunder Legion, but it was his sudden tears that threw Laxusoff.

“Oh, Mira, how’d ya know?” Elfman sobbed. “I always wanted an older brother. And now ya married this guy just to give me one?”

“Well,” Mira began uneasily. “Not exactly, but-”

“Why is he hugging me? Demon, get your brother off me!”

“Demon?” Happy didn’t even give Lucy a chance to question it that time.

“This has to be some sort of setup,” Lisanna kept up, “or something. Sis. Please, tell me that-”

“Would I have this?” Mira asked as she held up her hand to them then, flashing the bright diamond of an engagement ring. “If it was just a joke?”

“U-Uh, hey, Laxus?” Suddenly, Lucy was focused on the seething man who was still being hugged by his brother. “Remember all those times that you were so interested in many going out on a date? Well-”

“Don’t be a gold digger, Luce.” Natsu was better then, sitting up as he rubbed at his head. “Anyone can get loaded, when they’re S-Class. It’s not an accomplishment.”

“I would feel accomplished,” Happy remarked as it was Mira’s head he landed on then, so he could stare down at the ring on her finger. “If I bought a woman that. Is Carla around? Don’t let her see this, Mira. It’ll really undersell that fish I was gonna split with her.”

“This,” Erza complained as, finally, she slammed her hands down onto the table with such force it nearly toppled Cana’s barrel, “is absurd. To be so wasteful with your jewels. I am unimpressed! Disapproving, more like it.”

“Didn’t you just say you spent hundreds of jewels on seven wedding dresses?” Gray asked with a frown.

“Eight,” Juvia whispered.

“And what,” Erza growled at them, “of it?”

“N-Nothing! My darling was merely wondering, is all.”

“T-That’s right! Just curious!”

Levy sighed though, still hanging back with Gajeel and the now soothed Pantherlily. “Imagine. Having a diamond like that. It’s beautiful.”

Gajeel set his jaw. “Not that big. Or nice.”

“You haven’t even looked at it, so-”

“Probably doesn’t even taste good.”

“You don’t eat them, Gajeel!” Lily yelled at him as Levy just stared with wide eyes at the implication.

Mirajane though was all giggles as her sister, ditching out on the no longer downed Natsu, came to stand her hand and examine the ring closer. “Dragon proposed to me, the first night of our trip together-”

“A real man,” Elfman sobbed as Laxus finally shoved him off, “is great at surprises!”

“-but then, the last day we were there, we just thought, you know, why wait?” Mira finished as Lisanna turned her wide, blue eyes onto her sister’s similar ones.

“Because of us, Mira,” Lisanna insisted softly. “I mean, I’m in shock right now, so this is really going to hit me later, but I thought we were always going to, you know, plan weddings together. Yours, mine. Now what?”

“You can still have one. A big one. Laxus will fund it.”

“Yeah, but-”

“Laxus can give you one right now.” Mira looked to the slayer. “Make Freed or Bickslow marry Lisanna. Please. Just so we can have a pretend wedding.”

“What exactly do you think I do, Mira?” Laxus complained. “Huh? Just go around bossing people-”

“Laxus? Question.” Freed even rose his hand. “Are Mira’s commands now as binding as yours? Since you are one in the faith? Are you? One in the faith?”

“The faith of what?” Laxus complained.

“We are,” Mira assured him.

“If Mrs. Boss has the same power as the boss, then I guess we gotta listen to her.” Bickslow sighed. “Okay, Lisanna, even though you’re our sister now, I guess you and Freed gotta get hitched.”

The rune mage bowed his head. “I will do my duty.”

“Don’t call marrying me a duty,” Lisanna carped as Natsu and Happy snickered uncontrollably.

“How many toes will their kids have?” Bickslow mused to his dolls and any who were willing to listen. “Since they’re siblings now? And gonna bone and all that?”

“Can we please,” Evergreen begged then, looking to Laxus, “go somewhere and talk about this? Seriously?”

But that was where they were exactly at the moment as it was then, from all the commotion, that the Master awoke from his midday nap in his office. With a yawn, he’d strode out into the bar expecting to have to break up some sort of fight or something or other over a job request, maybe, or a drunken spat. As he glanced about though, seeing everyone crowding around the entrance way, he wasn’t sure what was afoot and rushed over to where Erza sat.

“What is the meaning of this?” he asked the woman. Typically she could handle such disturbances on his behalf, but she seemed to be stewing rather than assisting at the moment. “Erza?”

“Laxus and Mirajane,” the swordswoman got out threw clinched teeth, “have gotten married. Without a wedding dress! Or even true love. What a disgrace.”

“What? Married?”

And it only took a moment. The man grew then, sizes above his natural height, causing the entire guildhall to fall into silence once more.

“Laxus,” growled his super big and super scary grandfather. Mirajane, for some reason, was the only one that giggled at his current state as Makarov’s head brushed the roof of the multiple story building. “What is the meaning of this? Married? I thought you told me you were going to just propose to her first?”

“You knew?” came the group complaint of the hall and, at it, Makarov deflated slowly. Figuratively and literally.

“Yes, well,” the man sighed as he returned to his normal state. “Perhaps a bit, but-”

“We’re in love.”

But that didn’t come from Mira.

Instead, as she beamed from his side, Laxus spoke, arms tossed over his chest as he refused to make eye contact with any of them.

“Ain’t that all that matters?” he griped and, even though Erza still was pretty pissed about he dress and Gajeel was definitely gonna take a least a bit of a nibble of that engagement ring when he got the chance, yeah.

That was all that mattered.

[nalu4emily]

The Unexpected Reward - Chapter 15

Summary:  Natsu and Lucy go on a job together, but what they bring home is something neither anticipated. Forced to make a life changing decision, they have to adapt quickly, but that's never easy, especially given the circumstances. As they work together on their toughest adventure yet, they find themselves drawn to one another, in ways they never realised. Nalu/cute/fluff/multi-chapter.

The moon had come out to play by the time the Heartfilia girl finally stirred from her slumber. Casting shadows across the bed she found herself in, she carefully sat herself up and promptly took in the familiar sight of her bedroom. Goosebumps scattered across her skin as the covers fell from her shoulders. Catching a glimpse of herself, she noticed her clothes were not the same borrowed items she'd worn previously, but a slinky night top instead, one that barely covered much of her midriff and a pair of butt-hungry underwear.

Adjusting to the dim glow peering in through the large window, her eyes pored over the room in hope her memories might return should she find what she was searching for, not that she knew what that was, of course. There was something—something important—she knew, but what? It was right there, staring her blankly in the face, so close she could almost touch it…

"Haru!" She yelled, eyes widening when the events of the previous day came flooding back.

In a blind panic, she scrambled to get herself out of the bed, battling with the covers that didn't seem to want to let go. Cursing at them in her haste, she attempted to swing them off of her and felt the frustration rise when she'd accomplished nothing more than nearly tumble out of the bed. Luckily, a single warm hand reached from behind and grabbed her around the wrist, guiding her back onto the mattress just as she was about to face-plant the floor.

"Lucy, what're you doing? You'll wake everyone up with the noise you're making." Natsu's gravelly voice reached her ears from behind.

Turning around, she noted that he had also just woken up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and yawning loudly. She stared long and hard at him, like she was searching for answers to questions of which she'd not asked yet.

"Natsu…" Tilting her head in confusion, she hadn't even noticed him there. "Where's Haru? Is he okay?"

"He's doing just fine; warm and comfy last time I checked." Natsu grinned, trying to ease the worry that was clear in her expression. "Why don't ya come lay down with me? Then you'll be warm and comfy too!"

"But, I-I…" She hesitantly pulled away from the fire mage, who'd been gently coaxing her back into bed, and walked over to the bedroom door. "I need to peek in on him and see for myself, or I'll never get back to sleep."

Truth be told, when she cracked open his bedroom door, little Haru was fast asleep. A milk bottle still hung from his mouth and a little milky drool had trickled onto the mattress. Lucy stood by his crib side for a moment, drinking in the sight of her son sleeping so peacefully after his ordeal. Smoothing a few wispy black strands away from his eyes, she smiled, relief over taking all sense of dread that had reeked havoc on her and relaxed a little.

Yawning herself, Lucy left the baby's room to return to her own, slipping down under the plush covers. A calmness washed over her, allowing sleep to pull her back in. Her peaceful disposition was quickly ruined when she felt a ruffling of the covers. Her eyes pinged open when two very strong arms came to wrap around her middle and draw her into a muscular torso, one she all but melted into.

"See, I told ya he was fine. You worry too much." The fire mage spoke into her hair, smirking as he nuzzled his head against the top of Lucy's.

"It's not that I didn't believe you; I just needed to see for myself and you were right. He is fine—more than fine—he's perfect!" She confirmed, snuggling into Natsu's firm hold, eyes level with his collar bone. "That was some incredible power he dispelled though, don't you think? It was enormous! I definitely wasn't expecting that!"

"You're telling me, it was awesome! He's gonna be so much fun to spar with when he gets older; I can teach him all kinds of cool stuff!" Natsu beamed in his enthusiasm, already making plans for the little boy.

"You want to teach him your magic? But I thought it was too dangerous? If it weren't for Igneel and his plan, you and the others would have dragonized by now." The blonde pointed out, wondering if the man next to her had thought about the consequences of his magic type.

"Yeah, so? He doesn't have to be a dragon slayer to learn fire magic."

"O-Oh… right. Well, what if he doesn't want to learn fire magic? What if he wants to be a celestial mage, like me?" She asked uncertainly, half expecting him to scoff at the idea.

"Then he'll learn celestial magic… duh! Honestly, Luce, I thought you were the smart one here?" Natsu smirked and Lucy simply rolled her eyes back at him, secretly impressed by his answer.

"What about ice-make magic?" She suggested oh-so innocently, grinning to herself as she heard the displeased growl emanate from Natsu's chest.

"Okay, now you're pushing it…"

Lucy chortled, in turn making Natsu do the same. They turned to each other, moss green peered down whilst chocolate brown gazed up, grinning like idiots no less—like best friends did—just the two of them for the first time since the fire mage had returned from his mission.

Lucy was so contented to have him back in her arms again. The same old dragon slayer that brought joy wherever he went and to whomever he met. A truly pure-natured and beautiful person was he, inside and out, that she really didn't know where her life would be without him.

"I've missed you, Natsu, and I'm so glad you're home now, everything feels normal again." She leaned up to gently caress his cheek with her thumb and felt him move closer, his breath now fanning softly against her mouth.

"I've missed you too, Luce, but I thought about ya everyday!" He gently placed his forehead on hers and relished in her wondrous scent, allowing it to seep into his pores and overtake his senses. "That job was such a drag without you there, it's just not the same."

"At least you had Happy to keep you company. How did it go anyway? I never did get to ask you." She asked, feeling guilty for being so distracted at the time.

"You're gonna wish you hadn't either." He shrugged nonchalantly, obviously not interested in talking about it.

"Oh… Like that, huh? My little wake up call was well received then?" The girl smirked, flicking her nose against his.

Hearing his chuckle rumble through his chest sent a shiver down Lucy's spine. She had certainly stirred something within him. The hunger evident from the way he licked his lips. His tongue glided from one curved corner to the other so fluidly, so intentionally, that he appeared almost predatory. With his face so tantalisingly close, she felt her breath mingle with his. The slight quirk of his lips formed into a knowing smirk once she'd surrendered under his fiery gaze.

Pushing forwards, the lustful dragon welded their lips together, pouring three weeks of needy desire into her mouth for her to swallow down. Lapping it up desperately, a tingle ran from her lips straight down to the heated area between her legs, eliciting a small hum from the pleasant sensation.

He flicked and swirled his tongue across hers, reminding her of all the times he'd done that exact action in other, more intimate places to bring her to the brink of ecstasy. The very thought had her clenching her thighs together to calm the arousal that was surely building. But, she had to pull away all too soon, stifling a yawn that'd rudely interrupted them.

"Oops, sorry!" She heard him snigger this time, clearly amused by her body's impeccably shit timing. "What a way to ruin the mood…"

"Nah, you could never do that." He murmured close to her mouth, looking her dead in the eyes as he spoke so huskily. "I'm always in the mood to fuck you."

Nearly choking on her own spit, she hadn't expected him to be so crude. "Natsu…" She blushed, giving him exactly the reaction he wanted. "You're so dirty! It's a shame I'm too tired to teach you a lesson."

"Is that so?" He smirked, grazing his mouth along her jawline, planting open mouthed kisses all the way along it. "Maybe I need to try a little harder then…" The young man whispered into her ear as he sucked on her lobe, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. "Call it, returning the favour."

Using his teeth to nip at her sensitive neck, he deployed his hand to graze languidly down towards her ample chest, lightly brushing over her nipple peeking through the fabric of her top on its journey towards her panties.

"A-And where does your hand think it's going?" She gasped, a vault of electricity shooting down to her groin as he tweaked the erect nipple once more.

"For a little wander…"

His hand delved under her chest and lightly brushed along her curves. Upon settling between her hips, it had one final hurdle to overcome—her panties. He pushed the heel of his palm down into her lower tummy to tuck his fingers inside and slide them deep below the lacy material.

Lucy's eyes flew wide open the moment his heel dug too deeply and unexpectedly shot upright, gasping loudly. Clutching hold of her belly with both hands she looked down at it in shock; a moan of discomfort passed her lips as she felt a wave of nausea hit her straight in the gut.

Her stomach had felt fine not a few moments ago, but now it was twisting and churning unpleasantly. With gritted teeth, she winced, clenching her hands tighter around the tender area in the hopes it might pass.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Natsu asked surprised, sitting up with her to have a closer look. He noticed instantly that her expression was pained and distorted. Her fingers gripped at the hem of her top and seemed to tighten every time her face winced. Was she in pain? Did he hurt her somehow? He didn't remember doing anything to cause such discomfort. "Did I hurt you, Luce?"

"I-It's not yo-" The poor girl covered her mouth with a slight groan, feeling something other than words about to spew out of it.

Natsu placed his hand on her shoulder, feeling her skin begin to warm and moisten under his touch. Honestly, he wasn't all that sure what was wrong or what he could do to help, except to try and offer some sort of comfort. About to ask what he could do for her, the blonde groaned much louder this time and hurried off of the bed, using her legs to push off of it like a slingshot and catapulted out of the door.

"Lucy?!" Natsu exclaimed more urgently, moving quickly to follow after her.

Before he could even reach the bathroom door, the offensive sound of his partner throwing chunks showered his ears. In all the years he'd known Lucy, she'd rarely got sick and he'd very rarely seen her vomit, so this was a new one for him. Unease and, dare he say it, curiosity filled him as he made his way to the bathroom, not fully prepared for the sight that greeted him. The poor blonde was kneeling on the floor, her hunched form hugging the toilet bowl with vomit coating the bottom of it.

Taking the initiative, he knelt down behind her and gathered her hair away from the danger zone. Applying a light pressure, he placed a warm hand on her back and rubbed it in small circles, just like she did for him when he had motion sickness. She continued to puke until there was nothing more to bring up, retching and heaving instead until her ribs and stomach began to ache.

"Ugh! This is so gross… I'm sure this isn't what you meant by repay the favour." Lucy chuckled lightly whilst panting, earning a small half smile from the fire mage.

No, it most definitely wasn't… He'd seen their night going very differently. Not a few minutes ago he had been complete horn dog, now that couldn't be further from the truth.

She leaned herself against Natsu's upper body and placed the back of her sweaty head on his shoulder. Inhaling rapid, shallow breaths through her dry mouth, she closed her strained, watery eyes, knowing the nausea wasn't quite through with her yet.

"Did you eat something funny or what? You don't just throw up like that for no reason." The disconcerted man asked, dragging the clumped, blonde bangs away from her clammy forehead. He was trying to work out just what the heck could be wrong with his sickly girlfriend and what, if anything, they could do to cure it. "Are you in pain, Luce?"

"A-A little… My head is pounding, but it's my stomach that hurts the most. I don't think I've eaten-" The thought of food in that moment twisted her stomach in knots, enough to land her head back in the bowl.

"It's alright, Luce, I gotcha." He quickly gathered her hair again and began running his fingers through the ends, trying to bring her some comfort at least.

She could only describe her stomach pains as something similar to period cramping, but instead of bleeding, it was accompanied by the need to force more and more bile out of her system. With barely enough time to catch her breath in between heaves, her chest had grown tight and heavy causing even more discomfort than before.

The stellar mage didn't know how long she'd spent vomiting in the end; after what'd felt like hours, the nausea finally subsided. A sense of euphoria came over her when she could finally breathe again and Natsu, ever so gently, pulled her back into his chest.

"My chest is so sore!" Hands clasped between her breasts, gulping down as she fought to fill her lungs with needed air.

"I know, you've been at it for a while, Lucy. Do you think you're okay to come back to bed? Some sleep will do you good." She nodded and went to stand. Natsu jumped to his feet first and reached a hand out to carefully bring her up onto unsteady legs. "Take it easy there Luce, you don't wanna make yourself hurl again."

Smiling appreciatively, Lucy grabbed a wash cloth from beside the sink and soaked it with cold water to cool her skin, washing the sweat off in the process. She brushed her teeth and rinsed her mouth out to get rid of the nasty taste that lingered there. Once she felt a little fresher, she straightened herself out and took one last glance in the mirror.

"Do I look different to you?" She asked curiously, staring down at her exposed abdomen, not sure if it was just her eyes playing tricks on her.

"Obviously…" Natsu answered, watching Lucy whip her head around to glare at him, giving him scary Erza vibes. "You're all sicky; you're not gonna look normal after all that!" Then she relaxed again, thankful for Natsu's obliviousness to such matters. "Do you need me to get you anything? Water? A bucket?" He sniggered at the last suggestion, earning a playful smack to the arm by an amused but overly exerted blonde.

"Water would be great, thanks." He was gone in a flash.

With an exaggerated yawn and stretch, her jelly-like legs traipsed back to their bedroom. Perching herself on the edge of the bed, Lucy leaned her head down at her sensitive stomach and stared at it curiously, grazing her hands ever so gently over it to test how far she could push without feeling sick again.

She didn't understand what was wrong with her; why was she so sick? Could it have been something that she'd eaten? Or maybe she'd caught a stomach bug? Whatever it was, it seemed to come in bouts and was made worse when she felt tired or drained, like when she'd used her magic. She'd never felt so sick in her life, the odd cold here and there but that was about it.

In general, Lucy felt that she was pretty healthy, she ate well, looked after her body, stayed well hydrated, so to be struck with an unknown sickness like this had knocked her for six, that was for sure.

"Here ya go, Luce." Natsu said, walking into the room. He passed her the water and watched her swig it down in one. "You must've been thirsty! Are you feeling alright now?"

"I don't really know. It's my stomach; it feels… weird, I guess?" Lucy steadily reached over to place the empty glass down on the bedside, careful not to make any sudden movements that might land her back in the bathroom.

"Hmm… You mean like you can't touch it?" Natsu asked, not really understanding what 'weird' meant in this context but took the initiative to go off what he felt like after vomiting.

"Yeah, kinda. Every time I do, I feel sick again. It's super sensitive right now." She sighed dejectedly and let her head fall lazily onto the pillow, bringing her legs up to get comfortable while Natsu got in beside her. "I hope this feeling goes away soon. Maybe I'll feel better in the morning after some sleep?"

"Maybe. But if you don't, I'll look after ya, so you ain't gotta worry." He said, planting a small peck on her cheek and then turning her face with his fingers to place a longer, more loving kiss on her lips. "G'night, Luce."

"Thanks, Natsu, good night." She felt the warmth from his body envelope hers, comforting her sore muscles as his hand laid carefully on her hip and stroked the exposed skin there, relaxing under his touch.

The young slayer waited for her to fall asleep before relaxing completely, exhaling a large sigh as he took in the events of the previous day. He really did hope that Lucy wasn't coming down with some nasty bug, that's all she needed after dealing with Haru being so poorly. If Natsu was being completely honest with himself, he wasn't sure what to think. From what he'd seen so far, he was sceptical to say the least; was this some unknown ailment? Or something else entirely? He didn't know.

Sure she felt nauseous; was vomiting; complained of headaches and fatigue; which were all indications of illness—he knew that. However, something just felt different about her symptoms compared to other times he'd seen her under the weather, the boy just couldn't figure out what.

Lucy had told him she'd spent the better part of the past week awake all day and night feeling stressed about Haru, which would tire anyone out. He deduced that that might explain her fatigue and headaches, but the nausea and vomiting—that he couldn't explain. Not to mention her sensitive stomach and the cramping. Nor could he decipher why she'd struggled so much when using her magic; a bug wouldn't usually interfere with that.

He was no expert on these sorts of matters, hell, it was rare the hot head ever found himself unwell in the first place, so really, what would he know?

But there was an inkling. A hunch you might say or conception, ironically. In the deep recesses of his boggled, clueless mind, he knew he'd come across this sort of thing before. Not all that often but around town, on jobs, even in the guild hall he'd heard mutterings between fellow members and guild mates alike, he'd just never taken the time to care before now.

Now he kinda wished he had…

With his lack of knowledge, Natsu had no idea what his suspicions meant and whether he was actually on to something or just barking up the wrong tree. His brain, unable to make any sense of it, was beginning to hurt from all of the over thinking he was doing and decided to dismiss the idea completely.

Nestling his head into the back of Lucy's hair, he inhaled deeply, her floral scent invading his nostrils and allowed the tiredness to overcome him. Closing his eyes, the slight pang of disappointment didn't go completely unnoticed before he drifted off to sleep.

"Are you sure you're gonna be okay while I'm gone?" Natsu asked outside the bathroom door, not overly pleased that Lucy had locked him out. Hearing more vomit hit the pan, he cringed and wondered how much longer she was going to be. "Because I don't wanna leave you like this…" He heard the flush go and the water run, then finally the lock on the door clicked and it swung open, revealing a ghostly pale and zombie(ish) looking Lucy, "Luce, you're looking awful!"

"Thanks, Natsu, always the charmer…" She croaked out, throat sore from throwing up her breakfast. She'd been in and out of the bathroom all morning, puking her guts up, looking more and more, as Happy put it, like death warmed up. "I was kinda hoping I'd feel better today, but I just feel like shit…"

"Maybe you just need some more rest? I could always ask Wendy over?" He suggested, forgetting the young girl had left for a mission that morning. "Oh, actually forget that, what about Porlyusica instead?"

"No, please not her! I think she saw enough of us yesterday and I really don't feel like being shouted at today, my head can't take it." That woman could be frightening at the best of times, it was better to avoid her unless absolutely necessary.

"But Luce, you've been in the bathroom all morning, you gotta see someone about it!" Natsu tried to make her see reason, he didn't want to see her sick any more than she wanted to be sick, but Lucy was stubborn.

"I'll wait for Wendy to heal me; I'm sure I can manage until she comes home."

If Lucy was going to have anyone help, she wanted it from Wendy. The sweet, young dragon slayer was always eager to assist anyone and far from being intimidating or dismissive, unlike the old dragon woman. No matter how well versed Porlyusica was in magical ailments and medicines, particularly potions, she had a hot temper and a dislike for humans, so it was best to take her in small doses.

"You never know, I might feel better by then." Lucy smiled at the fire mage in a weak attempt at easing his worry.

"If you say so, Luce." Realising he wasn't getting anywhere, Natsu sighed. He'd have to figure out another way to help her instead.

Once back in the living room, Lucy slumped onto the couch and smiled at the little one playing on the floor with Happy. The sight of Haru finally acting like his usual self again was enough to brighten her up a bit. He'd been perfect all morning—happy, playful and cheeky, just the way she liked him.

"Hey, Lucy, this'll cheer you up!" Happy gestured to the baby, catching both Lucy and Natsu's attention. "Right Haru, just like we practised, say, Mama!"

Haru looked over to Natsu, who was smiling encouragingly at him, and then to Lucy, who was waiting patiently. It was the one word, he'd been reluctant to say since he'd started trying to speak, but Lucy could hope.

"Mama. Go on, you said it earlier." The cat encouraged.

"He did?" Lucy asked, surprised to learn that she'd missed it.

"He sure did!"

The baby looked apprehensive, sucking on his fingers, it seemed he needed a little extra push now that there was an audience. Happy flew over to Lucy and pointed at her, repeating the word again.

With a smile forming on his face, Haru crawled over to Lucy's feet and yelled at the top of his voice, "Mama!" whilst attempting to clamber up onto her lap.

"Yay! You clever boy, you finally said Mama!" Lucy beamed, picking the little one up and supporting him to stand on her lap.

"Good job, little guy!" Natsu grinned, coming to lean over the couch where Lucy was sitting and pretended to high five the baby. "Next we gotta get you saying Happy."

"Yeah, then fish, then fishing, then yummy fish-"

"Naturally…" Lucy hummed sarcastically, rolling her eyes at the cat.

"Anyway, I think we better head off. What do ya say fella?" Natsu said, picking the small boy up from his mother and placing him on his hip. "I think this little guy can come with me to the guild. It'll give you time to rest and me some time to catch up with him."

"Oh, er… okay." She smiled, liking the sound of having a few hours to herself. "That'd be nice."

The young man smiled down at the pale girl and kissed her cheek, gesturing for Happy to follow him as he walked over and opened the front door. "Catch ya later, Luce!" And off he went, locking the door behind him, leaving the blonde in peace.

"Is Lucy gonna be okay on her own?" Happy asked, flying along beside the dragon slayer. "She's really not looking too good."

"She'll be fine, she just needs some rest, that's all. If she needs me, I'm sure Loke will sense it and come looking for me. Lucy's a tough one; she don't need us pandering to her and getting in the way." He dismissed it knowing fully that Lucy's 'sickness' didn't seem to be as simple as that, but alas, this was the best he could do for now.

The journey to the guild was a pleasant one as they strolled leisurely through the busy streets of Magnolia. Entering the bustling main hall, Natsu quickly slipped passed the unknowing mages drinking away at the bar, not wanting to be cornered by one of them, and made his way to the back room where Master Makarov was waiting for him. The old man had asked to see him about something and the fire mage hoped it wasn't about the destruction Haru had left yesterday. Without knocking, the boy with the baby and flying cat walked in, announcing his presence with a bright smile.

"Natsu, there you are! I didn't think you were gonna show." The short man perched himself on the table and gestured for Natsu to sit amongst the piles of papers that made up the man's office. "How's the little one today? I heard he's had a rough time of it recently?"

"Yeah, but he seems back to normal now. Don't ya, bud?" Natsu grinned at Haru, who'd been eyeing the old man's beard since they'd entered the room. The little boy grinned back and began repeating sounds like 'da' and 'ba' as if he were joining in on the conversation.

"Good, I heard about what happened. Magnolia's Mayor has been here all morning giving me an earful about some woodland that had been… decimated, I think he said. You wouldn't know anything about that now, would you, Natsu?" The old man stared at the young man, his brow and lip raised simultaneously whilst waiting for an answer.

"Well, Natsu?" Happy teased, revelling in the slayers fluster, finding it rather funny and in turn making Haru chuckle too.

"Er… I-I don't know what you're talking about… M-Must've been some one else?" Natsu's voice raised in octaves and he began to sweat profusely, not sure what hell awaited him for what his son had done. Was this now going to become a regular occurrence?

"That's what I thought." The Master said, smiling knowingly, a chuckle passing his lips at the state the fire mage was getting himself into and decided that was punishment enough for now. "However, I did mention that should it have been a Fairy Tail mage responsible, I would personally see to it so that it doesn't happen again."

"R-Right… Sure, Gramps." Natsu stuttered, thankful he wasn't going to suffer the consequences because little Haru had destroyed the woodland. It suddenly dawned on the poor dragon slayer that this was, in fact, almost definitely going to become a regular occurrence, he could just feel it in his bones.

The baby, not knowing the trouble he'd caused, had been too focused on the Masters facial hair and was reaching his chubby little hands out to touch it, but with no one paying him any attention, he did the only thing he knew would work—whine. It was a quiet little noise but enough to catch his father's ears.

"What's the matter, little buddy? Whatcha tryin' to reach for?" Natsu asked, following the baby's line of sight, landing on the old man's face. Furrowing his brows, the slayer looked back at the small boy, "You want Gramps' hat? Alright, kiddo."

The fire mage plucked the hat off of the old man's head, much to Makarov's annoyance, and gave it to the ten month old. Although not what he'd originally wanted, Haru settled for the strange item in his hands, sticking the material straight in his mouth and began to suck it, effectively stopping his whimpers.

"You know I expect that returned, without infant dribble on it?" Makarov stared at the clueless dragon slayer and sighed; who was he kidding? He was never going to see that hat again now that Haru had claimed it. "Oh, and before you head off, Natsu, there was another reason for calling you in here. A job has come through asking for you personally again. You're quite popular it seems." The Master gave him the request paper, watching the fire mages eyes light up with excitement.

"Awesome! This one better be cooler than the last one!" Natsu read through it quickly. It appeared to be the typical 'unknown monster raiding my garden, need help!' sort of request, a stupidly easy one by the looks of it. Reaching the bottom of the paper he saw in big bold writing: the reward. A figure so great, his eyes nearly flew out of his skull.

"Whoa! They're offering that much?" Happy exclaimed, not even knowing what to call a number with that many zero's at the end of it.

"Yes, they are willing to pay that much at the request that it is you, Natsu, that attends. Obviously you don't have to go alone, you can take whoever you want with you."

"Wait 'til I show Lucy the reward, she's gonna be so pumped! That money would last us forever!" He exclaimed, beaming with excitement, wanting to run home and show it to her right away.

Then like a ton of bricks hitting him all at once, he remembered.

Lucy…

As if reading his mind, Happy was the first to speak, "But, Lucy, she's not-" He whispered.

"Yeah, I know, Happy." He looked up from the paper and without any hesitation went to hand it back to the Master, a serious face replacing his excited one. "Sorry, Gramps, but I can't do it this time."

"That's not like you, my boy, is something up?" The bearded man asked, concerned for the fire mage. "What's this about Lucy? You can take her if you want, it's up to you."

"No, I don't think I can, Gramps. She's really sick at the moment and I don't know why." Natsu said sombrely, mindlessly stroking the infants back as his eyes faced the floor.

More time away from her and Haru was definitely not something he would consider; who knows how long this job would take? Taking her with him could've been an option if she'd felt up to it, but with her magic being all weird, he wasn't willing to take the risk.

"Yeah, she's been spewing her guts all morning and yesterday she could barely summon any magic without it tiring her out. What kind of illness does that?" Happy blurted out without thinking.

"Is that right? Have you spoken to Porlyusica about it yet?" Makarov asked.

"No… Lucy told me not to…" Natsu sighed, not knowing who else to turn to. "She said she'd wait until Wendy returned, but who knows when that'll be?"

"It'll be about a week before that happens. There are other doctors she could see in the town, but if it's affecting her magic then I doubt they'll be of much use. The only other option is you go to Porlyusica and ask her yourself, Lucy doesn't have to know you've been." Makarov could see it was getting the fire mage down; he'd always been fiercely protective of his friends and particularly Lucy. He absolutely loathed it when he couldn't make her feel better. "I'm sure it'll work itself out, my boy, Lucy's strong enough to get through it, whatever it is."

"Yeah, Natsu! Lucy's beaten worse than some sickness bug before, she'll be fine!" Happy chirped in, his eager expression popping up in front of Natsu's.

"Your right, come on then Happy, let's go. See ya, Gramps." Natsu feigned a smile for the old man and left the room, his lips dropping into a frown the moment the door slammed shut.

It wasn't that he didn't believe them, he knew Lucy could cope, that wasn't the problem. His issue with it all was that it didn't seem to be acting like any ordinary ailment. It affected things that it shouldn't and that made him feel even more incompetent than he already did, but worse than all of that, he felt helpless.

The dragon slayer was desperate to get some answers to what was wrong with his pretty blonde and there was only one way he knew he could do that. If he went to the old woman healer to ask for advise, that would go directly against Lucy's wishes; but on the other hand, could he really sit around and watch her suffer the way she had been?

If she would just let him ask for her like Gramps had suggested, she'd be better in no time. They'd even be able to go on that job together, he knew how Lucy was with money and that was one hell of a reward he'd just passed up.

All this crap was doing his head in, he needed some fresh air, some time alone to think things through before he made any rash decisions. Happy had wanted to stay behind at the guild. Glad the cat could see he needed space, Natsu headed out of the door, ignoring his guild mates shout out to him, they were but a buzzing sound amidst the chaos in his brain. Not up to explaining it all to them, he continued forward, legs guiding him towards the park.

It'd been hours, well, it'd felt like hours since he'd been sat there, in the same spot, entertaining the little one who was playing in the grass. Haru had a way of making everything bright in the dullest of moments. His little face was so cute and his smile so happy, it was hard not to mirror. Seeing the world through the infants eyes was both refreshing and simple, with everything so new and exciting, Natsu found himself getting excited for him. But that usual happy, contented feeling had been duly quashed by everything else on his mind and it was starting to irritate him.

"Whatcha got there? A stick? If that's really what ya wanna play with then go for it, buddy." Natsu chuckled, watching Haru try to pick up a stick twice the size of him was a sight to behold, settling for munching on it instead, spurring Natsu into 'daddy mode'. "I wouldn't go eating that if I were you! That's gotta taste nasty and Mama's not gonna like it if she finds you with splinters in your mouth. Let's chuck it away and find something else to play with, how does that sound?" Natsu took the stick out of the baby's mouth and coaxed it out of his hold. Launching it in a random direction, he'd failed to notice the horror-stricken expression on Haru's face.

It began with a whimper, with his bottom lip jutted out and quivering, a full on wail came next, piercing the poor slayers ears, shocking him and making him wince. "Hey, no, don't cry! Daddy didn't mean to throw your stick away, er…" Struggling to find something to replace it, Natsu whipped his head in every direction, finally settling on giving his scarf.. "Here ya go, that's much better. You can suck on that as much as you want."

"Huh… So you do know how to parent, who'd have thought?" A low male voice mocked from above. Glancing up, Natsu saw none other than the ice-make mage himself standing there, half naked as always, smirking down at him.

"Well, duh! That's because I am one!" Natsu rolled his eyes like Gray was the stupid one.

Huffing at his friends idiocy, Gray ignored him and sat down, greeting little Haru with a smile and a wave. "You're looking much better now little guy, everyone was worried about you yesterday!" Ruffling the baby's thick hair, the young man chuckled, in turn, receiving incoherent babbles back. "Although you on the other hand…" He turned to Natsu, "What're you doing out here by yourself? It ain't like you to want peace and quiet."

"What's that supposed to mean? I like it every now and then; there's nothing weird about that." Natsu had avoided eye contact with the raven haired mage since he'd sat down. He knew he was acting odd, but he just couldn't help it.

"When it comes to you, Flame brain, it's very weird. And you didn't answer my question." Gray knew something was up, regardless of how often they fought, they were very in tune with one another, some would say in a brotherly capacity. "If you're not gonna tell me, I could always guess? And from where I'm standing, it looks like something to do with Lucy, am I right?"

Natsu tsked, pretending not to be impressed by the half-naked man's insightfulness. Gray waited patiently for an answer, a smirk ever present on his face. But he received nothing from the suspiciously quiet Natsu, which, in itself, was his answer. "Right, so it's about Lucy, that's obvious. Did she finally kick you out?"

"What? No, why would she do that?" Confused, the pink haired man turned to his rival and knitted his brows together.

"Alright, well, I thought maybe she'd come to her senses, ya know." Gray cocked his brow up teasingly as he took great enjoyment in seeing the annoyance rise within the fiery tempered slayer. "Well, if it isn't that, then… huh… I got nothing… Just tell me why you're here, Natsu?"

"Well, why're you here, Snowflake? You don't have to be; you could always go bother someone else." Natsu bit back, not wanting this sort of interrogation and especially not from Gray Fullbuster, of all people.

"I could, but they're not as fun to annoy and I have my own reasons for wanting to see you."

The ice mage leaned forward to grab Haru and hold him in his lap, doing that funny baby talk thing and laughing when the infant responded. Natsu watched their small exchange, confused that Gray actually wanted to see him about something other than brawling. Intrigued, he waited for the topless man to start speaking.

"I actually came here to, er… well, apologise for something." He stuttered, placing his hand on the back of his head, whilst looking slightly embarrassed.

Natsu remained quiet, speechless in fact, not sure whether the guy was being serious or if this was some elaborate prank. Gray had never apologised to him before, so this was definitely a peculiar experience for the both of them, one to be cautious of.

"You don't gotta look at me like I've got two heads or somethin', I can be mature to admit when I'm wrong… sometimes." Gray added, not entirely keen on the shocked gawk he was receiving from the fire mage. "It's about yesterday actually. The way I reacted about helping Haru and our fight because of it; he's your son after all and it wasn't my place to say those things. I can't imagine how I made Lucy feel, she was struggling enough already without me making it worse. It was wrong of me to do that, so I'm sorry."

If he was being honest, Natsu had forgotten all about that, putting it to the back of his mind like he did with all of his bickering with Gray, it was the least of his worries at the moment. But the ice mage did have a point, their disagreement had gone beyond the boundaries of their usual rivalry banter, having brought not only Haru into it, but Lucy as well.

"I didn't mean to explode like that, I've kinda had a lot going on and I took it out on you guys." Gray added, his earlier smirk gone and mood now dampened.

Natsu could see the man was troubled; something was bothering his friend deep down under that hard exterior, but was reluctant to say what. He'd been eyeing him carefully; he knew him apologising smelt off and now he just needed to know why?

"Yeah, so quit broodin' and spit it out." Natsu said, not wanting to give away too much that he was concerned for his frenemy, but also completely clueless as to what he might tell him.

Sighing dejectedly, Gray answered, "Natsu, what's it like?" He couldn't bring himself to look at the fire mage, his eyes trained on the infant in his lap.

"What is what like?"

"You know, this." He gestured to the infant playing with his father's scarf, still comfortably sat in the ice mages lap.

"You mean having a kid?" Natsu asked, garnering the attention of said child when he spoke. "It's the best thing ever!" The young father exclaimed with his usual, vibrant enthusiasm, lightening the mood without even meaning too. "Why'd you wanna know?"

At first Gray stayed quiet, not knowing how to answer that question without it all becoming too real for him. He was worried for sure, scared of the unknown, not knowing if he was prepared enough for such a life changing experience, yet now, he really had no choice and it didn't take long for Natsu to cotton on to what was going on.

"Oh! I get it! You're just worried that your kid ain't gonna be as great as mine." Natsu smirked at Gray's dumbstruck expression, chuckling as he turned his attention to Haru briefly, "Did ya hear that kiddo? You're gonna have a new buddy to play with!" Sniggering, Haru gave one of his 'Natsu' grins and decided to crawl his way over and sit in his fathers lap instead.

"Whoa! Hold on a second! I never said that; who said I was having one? Maybe I was just asking out of curiosity?" Gray began fidgeting, his eyes shifting between Natsu's knowing eyes and his smug grin.

"Uh-huh… And if I were to go to Juvia right now…"

"No! Okay, you're right!" Gray panicked, waving his hands to stop Natsu from getting up. "Please don't do that, she didn't want anyone knowing until she felt well enough to return to the guild. She wanted to be there to tell everyone herself. Which is fine but what a pain it's been having to pretend she'd caught some weird bug on her last mission and that's the reason she hasn't shown her face recently."

"Why is she sick?" Natsu asked, curious to find out more. He didn't know a whole lot about what women went through when having a baby, he'd never experienced that with Lucy—they'd skipped that part. "The baby makes her sick?"

"Well, yeah, and a bunch of other stuff. It's like living with a bag of hormones at the moment. One minute she's normal, then she puking her guts out, then she's crying for whatever unknown reason. Honestly, man, I don't know where my head is at right now, I just can't keep up!" Gray sure did look frazzled, now that he had openly said it out loud, his own mood swings and weird behaviour made a bit more sense.

"Hasn't Juvia always been like that? Apart from the blowing chunks bit."

"I guess so, but now she's even crazier."

"Aren't you happy about it though? 'Cause I'm sure Juvia is." The slayer asked, curiously.

"Yeah, sure I am, but I'm terrified too. It's just weird ya know? And with her magic acting up lately, she hasn't been able to go on any jobs with me." Gray shrugged, not seeming too bothered by it.

"Wait, what did you say?" Natsu's mind had gone into overdrive the moment those words left the demon slayers mouth. "The baby… It affects her magic too?!"

"Yeah, it drains her, makes her sick and tired. Although, Porlyusica said that's a symptom that eventually wears off." Gray said, eyeing the dragon slayer as his eyes became like two saucers, a gaping mouth to match. "What? Did I say something?" Not having a clue what was going on, the ice mage stared at his friend, not knowing what he'd said wrong.

"N-No, it's, uh, L-Lucy, she's… I gotta go!" The pink haired boy hopped to his feet and as quick as lightning he was in the distance, yelling his thanks behind him.

"Wait, Natsu! You never told me… what was wrong with Lucy?" Already out of sight by the time Gray had finished speaking, he sighed and shook his head. "That idiot…" He muttered under his breath, ignoring the horrified stares of the people around him as he took himself out of the park, never looking down to see that he'd lost his trousers now too.

[justanoutlawfic]

The Earrings: A Light Queen Fic

Lucy disobeys her abuela and loses something very special to her. It's that day, she learns a lesson in forgiveness and unconditional love.

Prompted by @queen-of-the-merry-men, based on the flashbacks on Chapter Twelve from JTV.

Tagging @queenofglassbeliever & @ellamills2003 as well.

Also on AO3

Ella had never been overly girly. Sure, she had worn dresses growing up, but that was more expected of her given the circle she grew up in. She felt far more comfortable in riding pants and a tunic. That was even more true after she had been cursed as Jacinda.

 The same could not be said for her daughter. Lucy was very girly and it was one thing that she couldn’t connect with her mother over. Luckily for them, they had Regina. She had helped Zelena raise Robin and she always allowed Lucy to come over to place dress up and have fun. As Lucy got older, she stopped wanting to play dress up and instead, borrow things. Regina allowed her to wear some of her more inexpensive jewelry, but there was one thing in her jewelry box that was off limits.

 They were a beautiful pair of gold earrings that Henry Sr. had gifted Regina when she was 10 years old. She had seen them in a trip to town, but Cora had said she was too irresponsible to own a pair. Regina had done all she could to prove otherwise, but Cora had been insistent. It wasn’t often that Henry felt bold enough to stand up to his wife, but he had in his own way that time. On Regina’s birthday, her first gift was from her father…the earrings she had seen. Cora had sneered as Regina hugged her father, thanking him over and over. She promised she would take good care of them and she had.

 To Regina, the earrings were a sign of trust. As she got older, they meant more to her than anyone could realize. It was why she had named her son after her father. At one point, he had been the only one in all the realms that truly believed in her. Even back when she was a little girl, free of sin.

 She loved Lucy, but she couldn’t risk them being misplaced. So, while she let her try them on, she never let her take them out of the house. Heck, they never even left Regina’s vanity in her room. Lucy grew up knowing this. She respected her grandmother’s wishes. After all, there were plenty of other pretty things she could borrow.

 When she was 12 years old, however, there was a big dance at her school. While most of the dances were themed around typical modern ones, this one was special. Everyone was dressing as they would in the other parts of the United Realms. Drizella, who had taken over her father’s old tailoring business, was making Lucy a beautiful gown. It was pink with flecks of gold. When she went over for a fitting, Drizella made a good point.

“As pretty as this dress is, the accessories will be just as important.”

 Lucy had an idea of what she wanted to wear. She had a locket that her parents’ had given her for her 8th birthday, along with a bangle she had bought on their last trip to Agrabah. No matter how many pairs of earrings she tried on, however, none seemed right.

 Until she remembered the ones that sat in her abuela’s jewelry box. She knew there was no way Regina would allow her to take them, but she rarely wore them herself. She wouldn’t notice if they were missing for one night, would she?

 The next time Lucy was over her abuela’s house, she snuck into her bedroom and slipped the earrings into the pocket of her jean jacket. It was so easy; Lucy didn’t even feel any guilt. She’d have them back before her abuela could even notice they were missing.

 When Lucy got home, she went to take the earrings out and stash them away. Not only did her pocket come up empty, but she realized it had a hole in it. Panicking, she raced down to her father’s car and tore through it. They weren’t there. They had left right after she taken them to go to Granny’s for dinner. She had felt them in there when she ordered, so there was no way they were still at Regina’s.

 She spent the next couple of days checking every square inch of Storybrooke. Granny helped her look and promised to call if she found them, but it wasn’t looking very likely.

 Lucy didn’t know what to do. It wasn’t like she could replace the earrings. Even if she found the money to buy another pair, they wouldn’t be the same. These were so important to her abuela. They had been a gift from her own father. Lucy’s hand went over her locket, unsure of how she would feel if she lost something her dad had given her. She was sure that Regina would hate her, she would never speak to her again. She couldn’t face such a shame.

 She packed her bags, unsure of where she was really going. When she was younger and got bad at her parents, she’d run away to Abuela’s It wasn’t as if that was an option. Aunt Tiana would probably call her parents, as would any member of her family really. Maybe she could go to her Grandma’s? Emma had told her about her adventures as a runaway (much to Ella’s dismay), surely she’d understand. No, she was the town sheriff. She could potentially arrest her. The only solution was to be like her great-grandmother and become a bandit.

 Before Lucy could make it out the window, however, she heard her mother’s voice. “Luce?”

Lucy paused, suitcase still in hand. She turned to face her mother. “Hi Mom.”

Ella put her hand on her hips. “Just where do you think you’re going?”

“I’m running away.”

“Wasn’t that a phase you should’ve grown out of when you were little?”

“It’s serious this time. I can’t be seen ever again,” Lucy said, urgency in her voice. “I have to become a bandit.”

“A bandit, huh?” Ella sat on her daughter’s bed. “You want to tell me what you did that is that is so bad, that you’d rather live in the woods than a house with heat?”

Lucy gnawed on her lip. “I can’t tell you.”

“You can tell me anything, baby. You know that.”

 Looking into her mother’s kind eyes, Lucy broke. She collapsed next to her mom and told her everything. Ella looked mighty disappointed and Lucy didn’t blame her one bit.

 “Running away won’t solve this, Lucia,” Ella said. “You have to face your abuela.”

“But she’s going to be so angry with me.”

“She has every right to. Not only did you steal-which I know your father and I have taught you not to do-but you took something that was very special to someone that loves you very much.”

“I didn’t mean to lose them.”

“I know you didn’t, but it happened. Now, come on. We’ll drive over there now.”

Lucy nodded, knowing there was no way to avoid this. She went to grab her purse and paused. “Mamí…can we make a stop first?”

Lucy felt the lump growing further in her throat as her mother knocked on the door of the house on Mifflin Street. Since they all moved from Washington to Maine, she had been there a million times. This was the first time she wanted to be anywhere but there.

 The door opened and Regina stood there with a smile, which just made things even worse. “Hey guys, I wasn’t expecting you.”

“We need to talk to you about something.” Ella placed her hands on Lucy’s shoulders. “Don’t we, Luce?”

 Lucy slowly nodded and Regina tilted her head, but stepped to the side to allow them in. Ella had calmed down a lot in the car and though she didn’t say it, Lucy could tell she was sympathetic. She was going to need a lot of it.

 “Abuela…you know those earrings that Bisabuelo Henry gave you? The ones you told me I couldn’t take outside of your bedroom?”

Regina nodded. “Yes.”

“Well…I…I wanted to wear them to the dance. I thought they were so beautiful and that I could put them back before you noticed they were missing but then I…I….” She felt like she was going to cry all over again. “I lost them.”

 Regina’s face turned to one that Lucy had rarely seen and whenever she did see it, it was never directed at her. It caused the tears to instantly start running down her face. It wasn’t even anger, it was disappointment and that made all of it so much worse.

 “Those were very special to me, Lucy,” Regina said. Her voice was very quiet, making it clear that she was really upset. “I don’t have much left from my life before the curse, especially things from my father. It’s why I asked you never to touch them. I have so much jewelry that you could’ve borrowed instead.”

The tears fell faster down Lucy’s face. “I am so sorry, Abuela,” she said, her voice cracking. “I know what I did is unforgivable.”

Regina’s face softened and she bent down, so she was at eye level with Lucy. She tipped her chin up, so she was looking at her. “Hey now, you are my granddaughter, mi nieta. There is nothing that you could do that is unforgivable to me.”

Lucy sniffled. “But I disobeyed you.”

“Yes, you did. I am disappointed in you, Lucia, but that doesn’t change that I love you more than anything in the world.” She kissed the center of her forehead. “It will take time for me to trust you with my things again, but I am going to give you something that my father always gave me: the belief that you will do better next time.”

 Lucy couldn’t believe it. She felt as though she was getting off too easily, Regina and Ella knew she might have been as well. However, they also knew how truly guilty she felt. This was one misdeed worthy of forgiveness, Regina knew that.

 “Gracias, Abuela,” Lucy whispered.

“De nada, mi amor.”

 Lucy reached into her purse and pulled out the tiny white box she had purchased at the store on their way over.

 “I couldn’t afford to replace the earrings, and even if I could, I know they’re still not the same. Still, I wanted to give you these.”

 Regina opened the box to reveal a pair of earrings. They were faux amethyst studs; Lucy knew that was her grandmother’s birthstone. Regina softy smiled.

 “They’re beautiful, sweetheart. Thank you.”

 Regina would wear those earrings more than any other pair over the years. In the beginning, Lucy couldn’t look at them without feeling guilt, but soon her abuela’s graciousness replayed in her brain. She had taught her so much about forgiveness and love in that moment. Even though she wasn’t allowed to touch her grandmother’s jewelry box for another year, it didn’t change how her abuela treated her. This didn’t define their relationship. She still showed her so much love.

 Cora may have built their family on lies and zero second chances, but Regina redesigned it with trust and forgiveness.

[cristinablackthornkingson]

Shadowhunters Short Story #34.

It was a warm summer’s day in the middle of July 2012, and one of the happiest times of Tessa Carstairs life. Three months ago, she had given birth to her and Jem’s first child, a beautiful little girl who they named Sophie Charlotte, after one of their dearest and closest friends and the woman who had been like a mother to them. Jem was besotted with their daughter, he loved her more than he had ever loved anyone before, and would do anything to keep her safe and happy. Being a father was a joy for him, he didn’t mind the nappy changes, the sleepless nights, the spit-up stains on his clothes, non of it, he was just so happy to have a baby, granted he was absolutely exhausted but he didn’t mind, whenever he felt himself growing frustrated with his lack of sleep or lack of clean clothes, all he had to do was look at his daughter and instantly the frustration fell away and was replaced with love and joy.

About half an hour ago, Tessa had left Jem and Sophie in the music room, while she went upstairs to sort out and put away her maternity clothes and clothes that Sophie had grown out of, for the next time, for there would be a next time, she and Jem had already discussed it and agreed that they wanted more children, for now of course they were perfectly happy with just Sophie, but in a few years time it would be lovely to give her a little brother or sister. 

Now, she has finished sorting through hers and Sophie’s clothes that they did not need anymore, and was going to find her husband and daughter, deciding to first check the music room, where she had left them. 

As she approaches the door to the music room, Tessa hears faint music coming through the door, classical music, one of Jem’s favorite albums that he always had on in the background. 

Quietly opening the door, Tessa is greeted by the sight of her husband waltzing around the music room, with Sophie in the circle of his arms, humming along to the music, while Sophie smiled her wide, toothless smile at her father and let out a few giggles of delight. It was on the most beautiful things Tessa had ever seen, something she had dreamed of for so long. 

As she stands watching her husband and daughter, Tessa feels a vibrating in her pocket, her phone ringing. She pulls it out and sees Catarina’s number displayed on the screen. Turning and making her way back into the hall, Tessa swipes across the screen to answer the phone. 

“Hi Cat, haven’t heard from you in a while!” Tessa answers in a cheery tone. 

“Yeah sorry about that, work has been really busy lately, how’s the little one?” Catarina asks. Tessa smiles broadly at the mention of her daughter. 

“Perfect as always.” She replies, glancing over her shoulder into the music room, where Jem was now bouncing Sophie in his arms. 

“Listen, I have today off and I was just talking to Ragnor and he wants to meet the little one, would it be alright if we called around in say an hour?” Catarina asks. Both Catarina and Magnus had met Sophie shortly after she was born, but at the time of her birth, Ragnor had been quiet busy and wasn’t in the country and had only returned a few days ago, so he had not yet had the chance to meet Sophie. 

“That would be lovely!” Tessa says in an enthusiastic tone. When James and Lucie were growing up, Tessa had not been so close with Ragnor and Catarina, or even Magnus,( though they were still friends, they grew close when she and Magnus lived together in Paris) so her children did not really know them, now she wanted Sophie to grow up with her mother’s friends in her life, people who love her and care about her. Like her siblings, Sophie was part Warlock part Shadowhunter, Tessa and Jem agreed that she should grow up surrounded by everyone who loved her, from her Uncle Magnus and Uncle Alec to her cousins Mark and Helen in LA. Their daughter would grow up within the new Clave, the better, stronger one, with a kind, caring, responsible Consul, who hated no one simply for who they were and would not try and make Sophie feel odd or different for having powers, Alec would tell her to cherish her powers, to embrace her heritage, he would never let her be expelled from school because of who she is, or anything her siblings had to go through, Sophie would have a much easier life.

“Great, see you then!” Catarina says, before ending the call. 

Just as Tessa is about to slip her phone back into her pocket, her phone starts buzzing again, and this time Magnus’ number flashes up on screen. 

“Hello you!” Tessa answers enthusiastically. 

“My, you’re in a good mood.” Magnus lightly says.

“How could I not be? I have my fabulous, wonderful husband, Kit is settling in here so well and I have a beautiful new baby, what’s not to be in a good mood about?” Tessa says in a joyful tone. 

“Good point, dear. So Tessa, darling, Alec has taken the boys to The Institute for the evening so I can get some work done but I simply cannot concentrate right now, I’ve given up for the time being, but I thought I might as well take advantage of my rare free time and come visit you and the little one? Would that be alright?” Magnus asks. He could easily go meet Alec and their boys at The Institute but he so rarely got time to himself to go see his friends, and he simply couldn’t stop thinking about sweet little Sophie Carstairs, she was giving him serious baby fever and he simple had to see her or he was afraid he would adopt every child in need of a family, everywhere. 

“Of course, that sounds lovely, Catarina and Ragnor are coming around in about an hour so maybe you could come then, if that suits you?” Tessa asks, delighted at the idea of being with all her friends and her beautiful daughter. 

“Ah it will be just like old times, I always thought it would be fun to add a baby to our little gang!” Magnus says in a joking tone. 

Tessa laughs and says

“See you in about an hour, then?” 

“That you will!” Magnus replies. 

Once she has hung up, Tessa returns to the music room, where Jem has turned the music down and is now sitting at the piano with Sophie in his lap, letting her smash her little hands against the keyboard. 

“That sounds excellent Sophie! Uncle Will would be so proud, and daddy is very proud!” Jem exclaims, turning his daughter around so she is facing him, and blowing a raspberry on her cheek, causing her to giggle loudly. “Yes, yes I am! Daddy is so proud of his little musician!” Jem coos, peppering Sophie’s face with kisses. 

“Mummy is very proud too.” Tessa softly says, slipping onto the stool beside Jem and leaning against him. “We have a talented little girl on our hands, I saw you two waltzing earlier.” Tessa lightly adds, smiling up at Jem. 

“Honestly I thought if I sat still for one more moment I would fall asleep!” Jem says, smiling brightly at Tessa. 

“Magnus, Catarina and Ragnor are coming over soon to see Sophie, we should probably get her dressed.” Tessa lightly says, her eyes running over Sophie’s pink baby grow, which by now was destroyed with spit up.

“Yes I suppose you’re right, I know I should have gotten her dressed earlier but I was afraid she would just spit up all over her clean outfit and I’d have to change her again.” Jem says. 

“She probably still will, but there’s not much we can do about it.” Tessa says, taking Sophie’s little hand in hers. 

“True, I’ll go get her dressed, do you want to feed her after that?” Jem asks. At 3 months old Sophie was just settling into a routine, she slept pretty much through the night, waking once or twice for a feed, she woke around 7:00 a.m. and then had a nap around 10:00 a.m. until about 12:00 p.m. and another around 3:00 p.m. till 5:00 p.m. and then she was down for the night around 8:00 p.m. She was feeding every 5-6 hours and had no problems nursing, which Tessa was extremely thankful for. 

“Yeah, she is due a feed soon, if I feed her now before everyone comes over she’ll probably be in a good mood while they’re here, then I can feed her again when they leave.” Tessa says. 

________________________________________________________________

*1 hour later*

As Tessa sits in bed, winding Sophie, with Jem beside her, she is pulled from her sleepy state by a knock on the front door. 

“I’ll get it, you finish winding her.” Jem softly says. 

“No, no don’t leave, I’m afraid I’ll fall asleep while I’m holding her, I can finish winding her downstairs.” Tessa says, wiping the sleep from her eyes. 

Ten minutes later, everyone is settled in the living room, Sophie is dressed, fed and winded and in a very good mood. Currently, Catarina was holding her, she was the first out of the three to hold her, since she was the most experienced. She was extremely sweet and gentle with Sophie and clearly adored her, and Sophie was fascinated by her bright white hair and blue skin, every time she looked at Catarina her eyes went wide.

“I can’t believe how much she looks like you Jem, it’s quiet unnerving!” Catarina says in amused tone, looking from Jem to Sophie. Little Sophie had thick black hair, big brown eyes, Jem’s bone structure, mouth shape and pallor, all she got from her mother was her eye shape and nose shape. Tessa was thrilled that Sophie looked so much like her father, and Jem was too, but he had also really wanted her to look like Tessa. 

“It’s so unbelievably fair, isn’t it? I literally grew her inside of me and she still comes out looking like her dad, when I did all the hard work!” Tessa jokingly says. 

“It’s typical, Ephraim looked much more like Tobais than he did Eva, and your James looked just like Will, didn’t he?” Catarina asks. 

“Yes he did, they could have been twins, Lucie looked a bit more like me, but she still mostly resembled Will.” Tessa lightly says, everyone had always said Lucie looked just like her mother, and though she did have more of her features than Jamie did, Tessa still saw more of Will in her, and she certainly saw a lot of Jack in Kit, and not so much Rosemary. 

“Well lets hope she doesn’t grow up to be as influential as her older brother.” Ragnor says in an amused tone, remembering the outrageous things he had been able to coerce James Herondale into doing, particularly the time he bet him he couldn’t shoot out the lights in a gambling hall, that was a fun night. 

At the mention of this, Jem’s eyes grow wide with concern.

“Ragnor, please don’t rope my daughter into outrageous behavior when she’s older.” He says. Ragnor laughs and says

“Relax James, I would never! I promise to be nothing but a caring, loving and responsible guide to little Sophie!” Ragnor declares. Magnus snorts and says

“You are the least responsible person in the world Ragnor, last time you babysat for Alec and I you let Max and Rafe watch The Haunting Of Connecticut, even 13 year old Drusilla Blackthorn knows better than to show kids horror movies!”

“Oh Ragnor you didn’t!” Tessa says in a tone of shock. 

“I only let them watch the first half hour! It wasn’t even that scary! And I am responsible, I stopped Tiberius Blackthorn from committing Necromancy.” Ragnor says in a defensive tone. 

“No you didn’t, you tried to but in the end it was just pure luck that it didn’t actually work, and Ty still has to deal with the consequences.” Magnus says. 

“Have their been any signs of Sophie’s powers yet?” Catarina asks, changing the subject to something less bleak. 

“Nothing yet, but Jamie and Lucie’s powers didn’t surface until they were teenagers, so we’re expecting the same with Sophie.” Tessa says. 

“How did the birth go? Was the pain as awful as you remember?” Catarina asks. Tessa represses a shudder at the memory of her daughter’s birth, which had been a terrifying experience.

“It was terrifying, very sudden and very painful.” Tessa quietly says. 

“Why? What happened?” Catarina curiously asks. 

“Well....” Tessa begins to tell the story of how her daughter came into the word. 

*London, April 2012*

It was a warm, spring day in the middle of April 2012 and Tessa and Jem were standing on The Black Friars Bridge, looking out onto the Thames, remembering when they use to meet here every year for one brief hour.

Tessa was currently 9 months pregnant and due in just a few short weeks, that day she and Jem had decided to take a day trip to London, spend some one on one time together before the baby arrived. They had invited Kit, but he declined and chose to stay at home. Tessa and Jem were awfully worried about him, he was barely eating, seemed to be up all hours of the night, nothing seemed to interest him and he pretty much slept all day. Tessa had suffered badly from depression after James was born, and recognized all the symptoms she had, in Kit. They would have to speak to him soon.

As Tessa and Jem stand looking out at The Thames, they suddenly hear fast approaching foot steps. Tessa turns to see the source of the noise, and sees a young mundane boy, pounding down the bridge at full speed, seemingly taking no notice of his surroundings. Tessa takes a step toward him to ask him if he is alright, when he smacks into her, full force, causing her to lose her balance and topple to the hard concrete, hard, landing on her back.

“Tessa! Oh my god, are you okay, is the baby okay?” Jem asks in a panicked tone, kneeling beside her and helping her to sit up. Before she can answer him, Tessa is hit with a strong, sharp pain in her stomach, causing her to groan and clutch at her stomach. “Oh god, we need to get you to The Institute, I don’t think mundane doctors can help us.” Jem says in a tone full of concern. He and Tessa were no longer part of the Clave, but at the same time they could not ask for mundane medical help right now, if the baby was born now and was born with a distinctive feature like golden eyes, they wouldn’t be able to hide it from the mundanes. 

As Jem helps Tessa to her feet, she notices her underwear feel damp. Pushing her coat aside, Tessa presses her hand to the inside of her thigh, her breath hitching in her throat when it comes back stained scarlet. 

“Oh my god! Did you cut your hand when you fell? Oh god you’re loosing so much blood!” Jem asks in a tone of pure panic. 

“N-no, I didn’t cut my hand, I’m bleeding, down there.” Tessa says in a fearful tone. Just as Jem is about to hail a cab, there is a sudden gush of water from between Tessa’s legs. The baby was coming.

20 minutes later. Tessa and Jem are in the London Institute infirmary, Tessa has changed from her wet, bloodstained dress, into a hospital gown, and is trying to work through her contractions. When they arrived, Jem had contacted The Silent Brothers and begged them to come help. Brother Enoch assured him he would come check on Tessa and the baby, and would be there very soon. 

As Tessa grits her teeth through another contraction, The Infirmary door squeaks open and Brother Enoch silently steps in and makes his way over to Jem and Tessa. 

“Brother Enoch! Thank you so much for coming, I’m so worried about Tessa and the baby, some idiot mundane knocked into her and knocked her over and she started having contractions and bleeding and then her water broke!” Jem hurriedly exclaims. 

Worrying will do no good to your wife or child, James, calm yourself. Tessa, lie back and I can examine you and the child. Brother Enoch tells them. 

Tessa does as instructed, flinching as Brother Enoch’s cold hands come into contact with her bare stomach. It had never been like this with Jem, when he was Brother Zachariah, and he had looked after her during her pregnancies with Jamie and Lucie, she did not mind his touch, it did not feel inhumane like Brother Enoch’s did. 

For the most part everything is well, but the child is in distress, they are not in any immediate danger but it is best they are born as fast as possible, Tessa, I can give you a herbal concoction that will speed up your labor so that your child may be born much faster than if you labored naturally. Is that alright with you? Brother Enoch asks. Tessa didn’t care what he gave her, as long as it meant her baby would be okay.

“Do what you have to, I just want my baby out safely.” Tessa weakly says.

Once Tessa has taken the herbal concoction, within minutes, her contractions become closer together and much more intense. After only an hour of labor, she feels the urge to push. 

I can see the baby’s head, push as hard you can, Tessa. Brother Enoch tells her. She was quickly running out of energy, but she knew she had to find the strength to bring her daughter into the world. 

Tessa takes a deep breath, clutches Jem’s hand, and pushes as hard as she can, groaning in pain as she feels the baby’s head pass through. She was sure things hadn’t been this painful with Jamie or Lucie, but then again they weren’t in distress and her labors with them had not come on due to injury, like this one had.

Your baby’s head is out, just a few more pushes. Brother Enoch says. Jem glances toward the bottom of the bed, and even though he had delivered hundreds of babies himself, he still found himself disgusted by what he saw, it was different now it was Tessa and his own child. 

5 minutes later, Tessa feels a weight lift from her, and waits to hear her baby cry. Almost an entire minute passes, and the baby does not cry. Tessa’s heart contracts in fear, she couldn’t loose her baby, she couldn’t. 

“Oh god no.” Jem quietly says, silently praying to The Angel to let his daughter live. Just as he and Tessa are about to give up hope, a loud, sharp wail pierces the air and they both relax. 

“is she okay?” Tessa asks Brother Enoch. 

She is fine, she simply needed some help clearing her lungs, though she seems to be struggling to hold onto her body heat, place her inside your gown, skin to skin will help her immensely, as I am sure you both know. Brother Enoch says, passing the baby to Tessa.

As Tessa cradles her baby to her chest, she feels her adrenaline wear off and feels more grateful than she ever has in her life, for her beautiful and perfect daughter.

Devon, July 2012.

“Oh god that must have been so awful for you.” Catarina says in a sympathetic tone, after hearing Tessa’s birth story. 

“It was one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever been through.” Tessa quietly says.

“Did you ever find that idiotic mundane who knocked into you, Tess?” Magnus asks. He knew if he ever got his hands on the little shit, he would kill him for hurting his best friend and her baby. 

“No, neither of us got a proper look at him, I doubt he hit into me on purpose, I don’t care about him anymore, Sophie is here and she’s fine, I still have some pain and bruising but I don’t care, Sophie is healthy and that’s all that matters to me.” Tessa softly says.

“Goodness me Miss Carstairs, only 3 months old and already causing so much drama!” Magnus coos to Sophie, who he is now holding. She smiles widely up at him and lets out a little giggle. “I think that smile says that I am your favorite Uncle!” Magnus declares, smiling broadly at the baby in his arms. 

“What utter nonsense, come to Uncle Ragnor, Sophie, look what I can do!” Ragnor coos to the baby, producing a ball of magic in his hands and turning it over and over. Sophie’s eyes grow wide and she instantly reaches for Ragnor, who happily takes her, and sits her in his lap. She reaches up to touch the ball of magic, which Ragnor made sure would not hurt her in anyway, and giggles at the tickling sensation it gives her. 

“You like that little one, don’t you? You may be able to do this yourself one day, you’re not just any old boring Shadowhunter are you? No, you’re better than the others, in fact you are my favorite Shadowhunter!” Ragnor coos to her. Sophie smiles up at him in delight, as if she understands what he has just told her. 

“Oh wait till I tell Rafael!” Magnus jokingly says. 

“Alright so maybe I have two favorite Shadowhunters, but that’s it, isn’t it sweet Sophie? Just you and your cousin, the rest of The Nephilim are idiots, yes they are!” He coos. 

“If her first words are anything along the lines of ‘Shadowhunters are stupid’ I will not be pleased with you, Ragnor.” Tessa teasingly says. 

“Well they are, I am just trying to be responsible and teach my niece the truth!” Ragnor defensively says.

“You know half her family are Shadowhunters, including her father?” Tessa says. 

“Well of course James is not an idiot,  I am sure he agrees with me that most Shadowhunters are bafoons!” Ragnor exclaims. 

“Actually, yes, you’re right, most Shadowhunters are idiots, but those idiots are all in Alicante now and we have a new Clave and a new Consul who aren’t idiots, and my daughter will grow up surrounded by good people, Shadowhunters or not, but she will never think that Downworlders are lesser than her, she will grow up knowing the Cohort were and are ridiculous children throwing tantrums because they don’t get their own way, she will be better than them.” Jem firmly says.

Later that night, after Magnus, Ragnor and Catarina have left and Sophie has had her evening feed, Tessa sits down on the couch, with Sophie propped up against her legs, and produces a ball of magic for her daughter. 

“You may be able to do this one day my love, but that won’t make you any less of a Shadowhunter, if you want to be a Shadowhunter, your powers are yours and yours only, and you can do with them what you please, as long as you don’t hurt anyone else. Your powers don’t make you bad or evil, they make you unique and you, you will always be my sweet baby girl and I will not make the same mistakes with you that I made with your brother and sister.” Tessa quietly says. Sophie needed to grow up knowing about her potential powers, she needed to grow up surrounded by people like her, magic needed to be a part of her everyday life, turning a blind eye to her Warlock heritage and powers would do no good. Tessa had not known about her powers or how to use them and that had ended up almost costing her a happy life, if Sophie grew up in control of her powers and knowing about them, then she could defend herself and be safe, Tessa would do everything in her power to keep her daughter safe, she would not let her endure the same suffering and pain those before her had, she would grow up in a new era and she would be amazing. 

[mypoorexcuseforwriting]

Just Hold On - Part Two

Pairing: Surgeon!Loki x Surgeon!Reader

Word Count: 1744

Summary: When you end up in a car accident, you’re shocked to find out you can see everything that’s going on while you’re in a coma.

Warnings: Near death, hospitals, car crash

Prompt: Greys Anatomy

A/N: Part Two of my fic that I have entered in @revengingbarnes 10K Writing challenge. 

I watch as help arrives on the scene, the paramedics rushing to the separate cars to assess the situation before the firefighters can swoop in to get Nat and I out. Slowly I pull myself up off the ground and make my way over to my car as the police ask the bystanders to move so the paramedics can get to us. My heart wrenches as my eyes fall on one of the officers, my good friend Steve. Then I hear someone scream my name and I instantly recognise it as my best friend Bucky. I run to the car to see him kneel down on the ground, my hand in his as he struggles to fight away his tears, needing to stay professional so he doesn’t get pulled away.

“It’s okay. I’m here” he whispers and I feel a sense of relief wash over me, knowing I’m in good hands. He places a kiss to the back of my hand before gently placing it down again and getting to work on stabilizing me before the firefighters extract me.

I bend down beside him and look through the car to see another paramedic working on Nat. I glance behind me and see Steve talking to some of the witnesses. Thankfully I don’t think he has noticed that its Nat and I yet. I take a step back and avert my eyes to Bucky again to see him stabilising my neck, while another paramedic continues checking me over. “Her Glasgow coma is at a 9, someone pass me a bag,” he says and I can see the panic reflecting in Bucky’s eye. I place a hand on his shoulder, wishing I could comfort him. However, my hand gets shaken off as he takes the bag from his partner, and instructs him to continue preparing me for extraction.

I watch as he struggles to breathe, looking at the bag and emulating the breaths it's taking for me. The other paramedic runs over to the other side to check on Nat before telling the fire department they are ready.

The noise of metal on metal is deafening, the jaws of life ripping the metal apart bit by bit. After about 5 minutes, Nat is free and only now does Steve realise who is in the car. He rushes to Nat’s side as they load her up on the gurney and takes her hand in his, following the paramedics to the ambulance.

It takes another 5 minutes, however, to get me out of the car, but once it’s done I’m getting put onto a gurney straight away and wheeled towards the ambulance, Bucky standing by my side the entire time. They hoist me up into the ambulance and I follow behind them, making it in just in time before the doors close behind me.

I hear someone shout, “To Grey Sloan Memorial��� before we drive off, the scene before me getting further and further away. I turn away, my eyes casting to Bucky. His hair is dishevelled, his face pale and his eyes watering, on the verge of tears. He’s pumping the bag with one hand but his other is stroking my hair as he leans down to whisper in my ear. I take a step closer, curious of what he is saying.

“You need to hang in there okay. I can’t lose you. Just hold on until we get to the hospital. Everyone else will hold you from there. Okay? Please, just don’t leave me” he says, his voice cracking at the end.

The ambulance pulls up to the hospital and the doors open to reveal Bailey staring back at me. “What do we have?” she asks, ready to jump into action, with Rhodey, Clint, Sam and Jackson behind her.

The other paramedic speaks up, “Jane Doe, Tachycardic and…” he begins but Bucky cuts him off.

“It’s not a Jane Doe. It’s (Y/N), Bailey, it’s (Y/N)

Bailey jumps inside the ambulance, helping Bucky wheel me out as he continues pumping the bag. Jackson runs inside, presumably to alert everyone and the others rush over to me. I take a step out of the ambulance and onto the ground beneath me, a sense of relief falling over me at the thought of being at the hospital.

I look around at all the familiar faces as they swarm me, each taking on different jobs like a well-oiled machine. I turn around only to come face to face with the blue eyes I’ve grown to love. “Loki” I whisper, taking a step towards him as I analyse his face, trying to figure out what he’s feeling.

He’s frozen in place, one glove on his hand, the other on the ground beside him as he stares at my lifeless body in disbelief. I take another step, glancing behind me briefly to see them rushing me inside, Sam screaming for everyone to get out of the way.

Loki doesn’t move, he stands stuck, staring at the place I previously was, not knowing what to do. I run up to him, trying to shake him out of this state, but it does nothing.

“Loki” I hear Derek call, watching as he runs over to him, seemingly managing to snap him out of whatever trance he was stuck in as he pushes past Derek and runs inside.

I follow after him, pushing my way into the trauma room to see everyone in overdrive. Derek comes into the room and heads straight for Loki, “You need to go. We’ve got this”

“I’m not leaving Derek,” He tells him standing tall.

“Fine, then get back. Can someone page Dr Odinson” Derek yells over the top of everyone.

“He’s already here,” says one of the interns and despite being in a life-threatening condition I can’t help but roll my eyes.

“Dr Thor Odinson” Derek yells before rushing to my side. “She’s got a depressed skull fracture with a probable bleed,” he tells everyone, slipping into the chaos without a second thought.

I tune out as they all shout various things about my condition and my array of many, many injuries, but Loki’s voice pulls me back in as he shouts, “Is there a fetal heartbeat?” I begin to panic, how had I not thought of this? How could I just assume everything was fine? What if it's not? Oh my god. Holy shit.

Everyone continues on as if they didn’t hear him and I begin to lose it, my fear taking over my body as I begin to have a panic attack. Is it even possible to have a panic attack when you’re...what am I? A ghost?

I shake the thoughts from my head as Loki shouts again. “Lucy, is there a fetal heartbeat?” No response. “Lucy!” he yells again, growing more and more panicked as well.

“Give me a minute!” she replies as I contain my anger. I know these things can be hard to find, I’ve worked in peds for years not but that still doesn’t mean my over the top concern as a soon to be mother doesn’t outway all logic I have in a situation like this.

“Loki, you need to back up,” says Rhodey, pushing him out of the way, his voice filled with sympathy but also authority as the chief of surgery.

“I want an answer!” Loki screams before backing down, speaking softly, “I want an answer.”

“Against the wall and silent. You hear me?” he tells him one last time and before Loki can respond my childhood best friend Amelia walks in, “What’s going on?” she asks, oblivious to the fact it’s me on the table. As her eyes reach my face I can see the colour drain from her own and Derek looks up.

“Amelia, I’ve got this”

“Derek I can’t leave her,” she tells him, her eyes pleading. Derek knows he’s going to get nowhere, so with one nod, Amelia’s in there. Checking my IV’s and my chest tube making sure everything's perfect. It’s the only thing she can do, everyone else has it covered and she's the kind of person that needs to keep herself distracted or she’ll fall off the edge.

As the seconds grow by Loki grows more and more desperate. “Derek, please,” he says, his voice a reflection of how desperate he is.

I’m ready to lose it when finally Derek says, “How are we doing with the heartbeat, Lucy?”

“If I'm going to find a heartbeat, I need everybody to shut up for a second,” she tells him.

“Everyone, quiet. Right now” Derek yells and all that can be heard in the room is the beeping of the machines.

“There it is! Fetal heartbeat” yells Lucy, the sound of my baby's heartbeat music to my ears as I let out the biggest sigh of relief ever. I turn to see Loki doing the same and all I want to do is kiss him, glad our baby is okay, but I can’t. I hear the door open and turn to see Thor, Loki’s older brother.

Thor walks over to him, wrapping his arm around his shoulder, whispering something to him under his breath before leading him out of the trauma room. As Loki exits the room I hear Jackson shout “V-fib!” and at that moment I am so glad Derek paged Thor because only God knows what Loki would have done if he was in the room at this moment.

“She's crashing!” yells Amelia, “Start bagging her!” she continues and I can tell she is about to panic.

“Come on, get her on her back!” Derek yells

“Watch her C-spine.”

“Starting CPR!”

“Get me an intubation tray please!”

“Charging to 120! Clear!” says Jackson and everyone takes a step back. I watch as my body jerks with the shock and turn my eyes to the monitor. Still in v-fib.

“Charge the paddles to 200!” Sam screams.

Charged to 200.

“Clear!” Everyone steps back and once again I watch as my body jerks with the shock. Only this time I’m back.

“Sinus tach,” Jackson says and everyone lets out a sigh of relief.

“Everybody ready? Grab that, grab that! Go, go, go! Move!” yells Derek and everyone grabs the various monitors and bags of fluids before rushing me to the OR elevator. As we exit the trauma room Loki stands up from the ground and trails behind them. I follow them all inside and watch as the doors close, leaving Loki behind.

[taylorhardybby]

sweetener // ben hardy x reader and bestfriend! Lucy x reader.

hi so basically the reader is a famous musician (shes pretty much based on Ariana Grande with syle elements from kylie jenner but picture her as anyone you like)  this is pretty long and I realised everything I've posted has had the same sort plot kinda so ill be changing that up I promise. 

5.7K words. 

also I've linked the songs that I mention  and ideas of the outfits I've mentions just cause i can I guess. enjoy xo 

_____________________________________

You were 19 when you first met Lucy. She was 22 and you met at a charity gala. You were new in the industry, barely knowing anyone. You and Lucy became instant best friends. She was like your big sister, your mom and your best friends rolled into one person and you couldn’t be more thankful for her. Fast forward three years and Lucy was working on one of her biggest projects yet. Bohemian Rhapsody. You had just released your lasted album and were only weeks away from tour, but when Lucy asked of you would come visit her you were on a plane within the hour.

You had barely seen your best friend in almost two months due to your album blowing up then your surprise world tour, for the last 10 weeks you spent every waking moment  rehearsing,  doing chorography, or at costuming fittings if you weren’t preparing for tour you were doing a interviews or attending events and award shows. You were completely exhausted. But you were new and young, and your record company had almost complete control over you. You were terrified if you said no, they would drop you, and you had worked too hard for that.

Your plane landed in London and you went straight to your hotel, Lucy would be filming until 9pm tonight then she was coming straight over to spend the night and in the morning you would both head over to the set. You were beyond excited, queen had been such a inspiration both musically and just in general through your entire life and to see even a tiny bit of the movie about them would be an honour.

It was 6pm when you got to your hotel, so you had three hours to kill, you considered just going for a walk and exploring but you had seen a few paps at the airport so you were sure there would be more. So you started rehearsing, you played the backing track to your newest song, Everytime. The choreography was fast and you kept messing up the steps during the chorus.

Time slipped away as you rehearsed, and your phone ringing brought you out of your trance.

“Hey sorry, ive bene so distract-” you were cut off, not even bothering to see who was actually calling, until you hear her voice.

“ive bene knocking for ages come let me in baby” you smiled at the nickname, lucy always called you baby, maybe it was because you were younger than her or she said it’s what her older sister would call her.

“oh my god sorry I’m coming lulu” you ran to the door of the hotel room apartment, the door swung open and Lucy was standing their champagne in hand and overnight bag in the other. She dropped her bag and pulled you in for a hug.

“I missed you so much lulu ”

“mee too, baby. I’m so sorry I miss everything” you had come inside and closed the door by now,

“your album release and the Grammys, you won and I wasn’t even there I’m  so sorry” you shook your head,

“its fine trust me its been crazy busy and this is important for you. I’m  just so happy that I get to see you now”

“yes me too now I want all the gossip”

You popped the champagne and shared not only that bottle but another you had found the mini bar, you spoke about your ex Kevin, and how he was inspiration for a few songs on your album. Lucy insisted on listening to your album from start to finish you didn’t mind. You loved your songs and you loved that your best friend sang along to every single word. Your tour was still a secret. Your record company wanted to announce it a week before you actually left, in the same way they kept your album a secret until a week before its release date. You were sworn to secrecy and you had told nobody but your mom, and when Lucy asked how you  were, really truly, you broke down.

“I’m a mess luce, I’m going on tour, surprise!” Lucy congratulated you but she knew you weren’t finished “I’m running myself ragged, if I’m not rehearsing im at a costume fitting I’m doing promo for the album or I’m at an awards show or event” you flopped back onto the bed trying to just let your body rest.

“I’m so tired I never stop. And thank god you called because this three-day break is such a blessing you have no idea” Lucy pulled you into a hug reassuring you it would all work out,

“what about with Kevin, how are you in realm” you sighed, you and Kevin broke up for a good reason, he was having personal issues and it was hurting you physically and mentally, so you left.

“I miss him so much, but I know that I did the right thing for me, I was so unhealthy always looking after him I forgot about me” you paused and thought for a moment “I think he’s better, from what I’ve heard, I still speak to his mom every now and then” Lucy nodded

“you did the right thing Y/N I know you loved him, but you need to look after yourself first” you nodded. The conversation turned a little lighter and you decided to pop another bottle of champagne just because you could,

“to us, successful women who are making shit happen” you made a toast and Lucy shouted back “to us” you changed the music and danced, laughed and just had fun with your best friend.

You woke up to the sun in your eye and Lucy’s alarm blaring, your head was pounding, and you looked around. Lucy was slowing waking up in the bed next to you. You had clearly tried to find pyjamas but you both looked like a mess. As you stood up out of bed you looked down at out outfit, a pair of black hotpants and a large oversized grey shirt tied in a knot and one blue sock. Lucy didn’t look much better and as you looked each their up and down you both laughed. The apartment was a mess. There was pillows and blankets everywhere, you counted 5 champagne bottles, all but one were empty the last was about three-quarters gone.

It was 7 am and Lucy was needed on the set at 8:30 so you both got ready, Lucy ordered breakfast- more specifically coffee, very strong and lots of it.

Once you looked presentable, Lucy looked you up and down raising an eyebrow,

“heels? Really Y/N” her tone was mockingly, and you just shrugged

“you know I love my heels, they make a statement” you twirled, and Lucy laughed at you

“also, I like to feel taller, it’s not easy being tiny”

Lucy drove you to the set, stopping to get more coffee on the way. You had music blaring the whole time just laughing and smiling. The set looked pretty normal and when you got there you followed Lucy to her trailer where you both set down your stuff. Her first costume of the day was already hanging so she got changed then wrapped herself in a coat. You followed her to hair and makeup,  and to your surprise Rami was already there when you walked in and Lucy introduced you of course.

Rami was very sweet and you felt much more comfortable knowing at least one more person liked you here. He mentioned your music and you blushed. These people knew who you were holy shit.

“I actually brought you album the day it came out, I love it” you laughed,

“thanks rami that’s really sweet of you, its still kind mind-blowing that people other than Lucy and my parents listen to my music” everyone laughed and the conversation flowed. Rami left soon after and Lucy finished not much later,

“okay so my the first scene today isn’t until later but we can go watch the boys film if you want” she checked her watch,

“they start in 20 so that heaps of time for you to meet them and what not” you nodded and just followed her into the sound stage.

From the moment you saw him you were breathless, you of course had googled all of Lucy’s co-stars as soon and she knew them but seeing him in person was something else, you eyes met his and you felt you cheeks heat up. You turned your face towards Lucy, sending her a smile but she sent you a knowing look. When you looked panicky, she giggled a little,

You walked over, and they group of four men turned towards you,

“hey Lucy, oooh who’s your friend” the man you assumed was playing john deacon spoke first.

“Joe, Gwil and Ben this is my best friend Y/N” she gestured to you and she spoke “Y/N this is Joe, Gwil, Ben and you of course know rami who you met earlier” you nodded and shook each of their hand but before you could say anything you were cut off,

“Lucy why didn’t you tell us that your Y/N was THE Y/N”  Joe playfully pushed Lucy and she tried to explain, but before you could get to deep in conversation the boys were called to their scene.

The scene was a short one and soon enough Lucy was whisked away to work so you sat there just on your phone, you felt someone come over towards you and you looked up. It was him. Ben Hardy. To say that you were in love was  a bit much, but he was so gorgeous it was hard not to. As he walked over to you smiled but internally you were panicking. You just kept telling yourself don’t make a fool of yourself, don’t do it

“Uh hey Y/N, where’d Lucy go” of course, he just wanted Lucy not you,

“oh she went to do some filming I’m not sure how long she’ll be”

“Okay cool so um are you hungry” you internally died omg what was he going to say holy shit

“I’m starving” he invited you to go with him for lunch, it was just Kraft services but you didn’t mind.

You spent the entire lunch hour just talking and laughing, it was so refreshing for someone to talk to you as just Y/N not THE Y/N.

You spent the next three days surrounded by the BoRhap boys and Lucy having the time of your life. You and Ben had gotten quite close and even while you were still in London if you weren’t with each other you were texting. You decided against telling Lucy, not wanting to make it weird between her and her co-stars.

Two weeks after arriving back in LA the tour was announced, it sold out almost everywhere and you were glad to see that your London tour date was the same weekend that BoRhap wrapped filming, Lucy had already texted that she was coming and that she would need six more tickets which you gave her no questions asked.

You went on tour and it was marvellous, the adrenalin you felt as thousands of people sang along to your songs was thrilling and you never wanted it to stop. You played shows all across the US, you were halfway through the US leg of the tour when you got a surprise. You had still been talking to ben every day and although you hadn’t put a label on it you felt pretty committed. You were in your dressing room, your show started in three hours, so you were slowing warming up your voice when you heard a knock.

When you answered the door there stood Ben his gleaming smile beamed from ear to ear, and he was holding a bunch of flowers, your favourite of course.

“holy shit what are you doing here” he pulled you into his arms and you hugged back excitedly,

“we had a few days off from shooting, so I thought I’d come visit you”  you pulled him into your dressing room and placed the flowers down, your eyes met, and the world felt like it melted away. He pulled you closer and whispered so quietly,

“Y/n can I please kiss you” you nodded,

“please” you barely got the word out from your mouth and your lips were on his.

Everything moved so fast and he fell back onto the sofa and you moved, straddling his lap. Every move felt like it was perfectly practiced and every touch felt like fire and you both shed yourself of clothes, ben of course being the perfect gentle mean continued to ask for permission before doing anything  you were to in the moment to speak so nodding sufficed.

Time passed, and you were lying in bens arms on the sofa, a random sheet covering you as you just held each other.  You lazily shared kisses and spoke about your time apart. The sound of your manager knocking on the door made you jump apart,

“Y/N they need you in hair and makeup” you jumped up and threw on your panties, bra and covered up with your robe.

“shit sorry ben, I totally lost track of time, stay here and I’ll send someone to come and get before the show”

“ill be waiting” you kissed him before closing the door behind you and walking down to hair and makeup.

You were in your first costume, as you walked towards the under stage your makeup artist fixed up the bright red lipstick you had on and you had you Mic in hand. You were ready.

You had never felt so pumped for a show before, partially because you knew Ben was there the other part was probably your post orgasm bliss. You snickered to yourself as you thought about it.

The show was a smash, the crowd were full of energy and so were you. As you walked off stage ben was waiting in the wings for you, he picked you up and spun you around, your lips connected as he did.

“what did you think of the show”

“you were bloody fantastic, I loved it the music, the dancing, the costumes” his kissed you again, “and I thought I was the rock star” you laughed at that one,

“you’ll always be a rock star” you walked hand in hand back to you dressing room, your meet and greet outfit was already laid out and you apologised to ben as you got changed.

“I’m sorry the meet and greets only go for 45 mins then we can go back to the hotel and I’m all yours I promise” he shook his head,

“it’s fine doesn’t apologise I need to make some phone calls anyway, you better keep that promise” he teased, you zipped up your dress. It was short red and left little to the imagination and you loved how ben eye you as you spun and asked his opinion.

“Y/n your making it hard from me not to rip that off your right now” you bit you lip and whispered into his ear,

“I promise you can rip it off later” you kissed directly behind his ear then giggled as he groaned when you walked away.  

The meet and greet felt like it dragged on for hours. Now you loved your fans but  the torment knowing exactly what was going to happen afterwards was enough to make you a little frustrated.

Finally you were back at the hotel, it was a short drive from where you had performed so the car ride wasn’t as tormenting as it could have been. But from the moment you stepped foot in the hotel room the door was locked, and your lips were on Ben’s and your legs were wrapped around his waist.

It was early morning before you had stopped. You both finally so exhausted that you fell sound asleep. Ben woke you up at around 11:30 the next morning apologising as the directors had called him and he was needed back on set ASAP. His flight left in an hour, so you said goodbye, and a little more very quickly and he left. Your next show wasn’t until tomorrow night, but you were flying there later this afternoon.

Three months after Ben had left your US tour was finished, you had gotten so sick and exhausted for weeks now you had been nauseous and your whole body ached. Your period was late, it was the stress. It had to be the stress.  You now had two weeks before the European leg of the tour started, and you were going to stay with Lucy. She had about a week and a half left of filming and although you really wanted to go visit the set you just so sick you could barely move.

Lucy picked you up from the airport and she took you back to her apartment. She brought it up first, after you had been explaining your sickness she blurted it out before she could stop herself,

“Y/N what if your pregnant”

“don’t be ridiculous how could I be- oh shit”

“oh shit what. What do you mean oh shit”?

“he-h came and visited it was months ago fuck why didn’t I think of this” you were rambling and so distracted you did even see your best friends face,

“Y/N who visited who are you talking about Kevin” by now you were crying, you shook your head

“no not Kevin, ben” Lucy gasped,

“ben who, Y/N”

“Ben Hardy” Lucy had that smirk,

“I knew it, I knew you were who he had been talking to”

“your not mad” you were so worried, that she would think you were unprofessional or soothing,

“not at all I don’t care I saw how you too looked ta each other when you first met, it was bound to happen”

So you explained to her when he came and surprised you three months ago and how you spent all night together alone in the hotel room, she was happy for you. That you had moved on form Kevin, but the looming issue was still there. Were you pregnant or not? Lucy disguised herself and drove down the street to the local pharmacy and brought a few tests.

You were terrified, your career had barely even begun and here you were at 21 and potentially pregnant to a man who’s 7 years older than you. You thought about your options, but you knew you would keep it. You had once promised yourself if something like this were to happen you would only get rid of it if it was going to harm you or if you weren’t going to be able to support a child. From what you knew it wasn’t hurting you and you had plenty of funds to support a baby.

You tried to think and work it out, the European part of your tour was only 3 months long. By the end you would be six-ish months pregnant. That’s not too bad. If you altered some of the choreography and costumes, you could probably hide it from the fans until then. It would all work out in the end.

You were brought out of your dream land when Lucy came back. She passed you the first test and came with you into the bathroom.

So you sat. three whole minutes. 180 seconds. The timer went off and Lucy grabbed your hand.

“no matter what that says, I’m here for you we can work this out” you nodded, took a deep breath and turned the test.

Positive.

You don’t even know how long you spent sobbing into Lucy’s arms. But eventually you got up and tried to fix yourself up. You and Lucy were meant to be meeting everyone for dinner tonight and it was 5 pm and you were a hot mess.

So, you showered, fixed your hair and did your makeup. You weren’t even sure how far along you were but now that you knew you were so paranoid that you look pregnant, so you put of two different pairs of spanx and threw on your least fitted outfit.

The dinner went well, considering you entire life had just changed an hour before and you were acting like you were perfectly fine. On the inside you were dying. You sat next to ben and he asked if you were okay more time than you could count. You felt horrible. You wanted to tell him, you really did but you couldn’t put that pressure on him. You could handle this own your own. Lucy surprised everyone with tickets to your London show at the end of dinner, and you were happy but terrified. Lucy had invited all the BoRhap boys as well as Roger and Brian. THE Roger Taylor and Brian May.  You were shitting yourself.

In the next two weeks you and Lucy went to the doctors and it was confirmed, you were 14 weeks pregnant. You had a meeting with your head of costuming and she agreed to fix your costumes as discretely as possible, so far only four people knew. Lucy, your doctor, your manager -Angela and your head of costume and makeup -JayJay.

Your London show came so fast, everyone had come backstage to see you. You were in your first costume once again . So far you hadn’t needed to fix the sizing you just wore a waist trainer and spanx underneath. You checked with the doctor who said it should be fine for a few hours for your shows, but you shouldn’t do it all the time. When you walked into your dressing room in your outfit Lucy gave you a worried look but she was confused when she saw no bump. You gave everyone hugs as they wished you luck, you thanked everyone for coming and promised them that this would be one of your best.

The show opened with one of your favourites on the album, God is a woman.  It was followed by breathin’ you spoke to the crowd and in a split second you had a costume change. You were wearing a sparkly red outfit now and your boots were now tan. You had changed your finale so when you changed into the lilac dress and boots, the first few beats of your new song filled the arena.

Breakfast at tiffany’s and bottles of bubbles,

Girls with tattoos who like getting in trouble,

Lashes and diamonds, ATM machine s

Buy myself all my favourite things

This was the first time your new song was being heard and the crowd loved it, 7 Rings was a hit and you finished the performance on a high like no other.

You came off and Lucy was there first screaming with joy

“WHERE THE HELL DID THAT SONG COME FROM ITS AMAZING” “it was a surprise its brand new I literally flew to LA the day before I came here to record it and we did the choro this morning” everyone was in awe of your work ethic and you were passed flowers and small gifts. you excused yourself to get changed. Lucy came with you.

“I can’t believe you went to LA to record the day before you came here, you were so sick that day”

“I know but they won’t let me perform songs until live recorded them in studio and I wanted to perform it for you guys” Lucy picked out an outfit for you before you both headed back to where everyone was.

Backstage the party was growing; your management had thrown a party to celebrate the start of your European tour.  Against all your wishes against it. Champagne was spilling, and the music was loud. You took a glass of champagne just for looks, you had no intentions of actually drinking it.

You found ben almost instantly and he embraced you, you still hadn’t told him but you were going to. Tonight. Its was selfish, you knew you were leaving on tour tomorrow and at least if he wanted nothing to do with you, you would be distracted. Heartbroken but distracted.

It was almost one and the party was still going strong, you took ben’s hand and asked if he wanted to back to your hotel room. You saw Lucy smile as you left, you had to do this. From the moment you were in the car the partition went up and all your plans went out the window. It was cruel, to keep the secret from him but a few moments of bliss before it could all potentially disappear was all you wanted.

You stopped it before it got too heated, one part of you said it was because of the paps and another was because you felt so guilty. Ben didn’t mention it. You went in through the back entry of the hotel and you went straight up to your room.

“Y/n what’s up you’ve been just a little off these last two weeks, Lucy said you’ve been sick” he paused, fuck. He knew. “are you okay, like are you really sick or something, last time I checked the flu doesn’t last for weeks” you sighed and ran you hand though your hair,

“no its not like that I’m not dying or anything I promise” you took a deep breath

“but there is something need to tell you” you sat down trying to calm your nerves, “now just know before I tell you I expect NOTHING from you okay but you deserve to know” Ben looked terrified, you were pretty sure he could have put two and two to bet but just to be clear you said it,

“I’m pregnant, 15 weeks to be exact and its yours”  he didn’t move you swore he barely even breathed. Tears were slipping down your cheeks you wanted him to do something, scream or yell anything was better than silence.

“please. Please say something I’m so sorry it took this long to tell you-“ but he cut you off when he attached his lips to yours.

“I love you Y/n I really fucking love you, and I was going to ask you tonight anyway, but will you be my girlfriend officially”

You nodded, not trusting your words.

“I love you to ben, I really fucking love you too”

You decided to announce your relationship to the fans the next day, as much as you wanted to keep it a secret the longer, they know about it  the less of a shock the pregnancy should be. Hopefully. You posted a selfie of you and Ben, he was kissing you sweetly and it was obvious what had taken place earlier. You had taken the picture month ago and you both loved it.

Now that Ben was finished filming BoRhap and his next project started in 3 months, so it seemed logical that he would  come on tour with you. You decided that he was going to head home and take a few weeks off just relaxing and what not then he would meet you when you got to Paris. It sounded perfect.

It worked. Tour was hard, each day your bump grew, and it was getting very difficult to hide it in the end. But with lighting and costuming you finished tour with a six-month-old baby bump and it was still a secret.  A few weeks into the euro tour you changed all your costumes to from body suits and peplum to flouncy dresses. They all looked gorgeous and you were totally going to be using then in your other tours.

Ben was a god send. You loved having him with you and when tour was over, he was moving to the states. After a hard decision he decided to move to your house, instead of you moving in with him. Living in LA would probably benefit him in the long run anyway, so it wasn’t too hard of a decision.

You had decided to announce your pregnancy at the BoRhap Premier. Your dress was ready. It was the first tight dress you had worn in a while and it perfectly showed your  7-month-old baby bump. The fans were loving your relationship and you hoped the reaction to this would be as happy.

The day of the premier had arrived and you had spent hours In hair and makeup, you were nervous. Excited but nervous. You swear you heard the gasps as you stood out from the car. You were sure it was already world wise news,

“Americas sweetheart Y/N pregnant at 22 to her 28-year-old boyfriend”

You spent the night being questioned about your bump; why it was kept a secret, how far along were you blah blah blah.

By the time you got inside you were exhausted. Your feet hurt, because you were wearing your beloved heels of course. Your face hurt from smiling and your back was killing. Ben tried to look after you, and he got you everything you wanted. Lucy and Rami had also announced their relationship tonight, so the press was buzzing with all this new information.  Lucy sat next to you laughing at all the notifications you were getting,

“hey baby I think you broke the internet have you checked anything”

“im too scared, can you. Check my twitter” Lucy nodded, and she gasped

“they love it. Everyone loves it. Look your fans they did the maths and realised you were pregnant on tour and they love you for it” you started crying. Fucking pregnancy and its hormones . what a relief.

The premier went well and once you flew home, you were on the plane with all the BoRhap boys and Lucy  because as they had promo for the next few weeks. You had already decided to do another album, and you had a few songs ready to go, that you were recording then once you had the baby you would take three ish months off and you would be back in the studio.  Your record company had decided instead of doing another tour if your album was received well you would do more events like award ceremonies  and music festivals. You agreed. You knew that you wanted to continue with music and your baby would always be your first priority.

On the exact day you were 39 weeks, you were standing in the recording booth, it was your last day and you had one last verse to record. Ben had promo all day and you were meeting for lunch in about and hour. As you sang your last lyric everyone clapped, and you were beaming.

“fuck”  this caught the attention of your manager,

“Y/n is everything okay?”

You shook your head,

“my waters just broke”

You were rushed into your car and Angela your manager drove to the hospital as you called ben. He was in the middle of an interview when he was ushered off stage,

“what wrong,”

“Y/n’s waters broke and she son her way to the hospital this interview finishes in about 5 then you’re going straight away”

When Ben arrived with Lucy in tow you were in the hospital bed trying get through another contraction.

At 3:21 pm your gorgeous baby boy was brought into the world. Noah Benjamin Jones was perfect in every way. He was a carbon copy of his father, much to your disgrace. Nine months of pregnancy and he looks like his father. Typical male.  

Noah was the perfect baby, and as you went back to work, he came along and was an angel. When Noah was three you toured again you took your little family with you. Noah loved to see all the new cities and he became a crowd favourite when he would come out and dance with his mamma on stage for his favourite song. History seemed to repeat itself and you found yourself pregnant again in your last few weeks of your second tour.

Your family grew,  your second child was born, a little girl Lucia Rae Jones, named after your best friend of course Lucy.  When Lucia or Cici, was six months old you and ben finally decided to get married. It was a quite a large wedding, but it was full of love and that mattered to you.

[lyatttrash]

New Chapter Alert!

As Fate Would Have It Chapter 2

I’m going to try and keep up with these but we’ll see. 

FF.net/AO3

“Wyatt I am not putting him in that seat it’s disgusting!” Lucy argued at the entrance of Target. She tightened her grip on Henry as Wyatt moved to take him.

“Lucy it’s fine! A little dirt will do him some good.” He huffed.

“Wyatt he’s ten months old he’s not even big enough for that seat.” Wyatt stood his ground, giving her a stare that he reserved for when he meant business, hoping it would cause her to surrender. No surprise that it didn’t. Lucy is the only person brave enough to constantly go toe to toe with Wyatt, and frankly she’s the only person he’ll allow to do so. Lucy straightened her spine and met his stare with the same intensity, years of being a college professor have perfected her ‘no nonsense’ glare. Henry obliviously giggling between them, completely unaware of the silent power grab going on above his head.

Wyatt gripped the cart tighter before muttering, “fine.”

Lucy smiled and whispered to Henry, “See? He can never say no to me.” Henry babbled in response. An older couple walked past and just smiled and shook their head at the pair. To everyone else they looked like a young couple running errands as a little family. She’d never admit it but it was fun to pretend that’s what they were… even if it was only for a few hours.

As they strolled through the aisles, everyone they passed seemed to smile at them. Lucy huffed when one too many women made eyes at Wyatt. He shot her a quizzical look and she pretended she was just blowing hair out of her mouth. They nearly crossed everything off the list Lucy made a crib, a car seat, a stroller, some bottles, diapers, a few toys and now they were standing in the food and formula aisle. Wyatt was just about to comment on how easy Henry had been through the store when he decided he’d had enough. His little face turned red and scrunched up, Wyatt was sure his screams could be heard in the parking lot.

“Damn little mans got pipes. You sure he’s not your kid?” Wyatt joked. Lucy involuntarily blushed at his indirect compliment. She just laughed and rolled her eyes. Lucy began soothing Henry, shushing him while holding him close to her chest, bouncing him up and down. Lucy’s heart broke for the child. This morning he woke up in his own bed with his mom there to take care of him then suddenly he was thrown into a new environment, surrounded by people he doesn’t know. Poor thing is confused as all hell, looking for anything familiar, most likely his mom. Lucy wanted to cry along with him.

“I know little guy. Shhh, I know, I know. It’s scary but I’ve got you.” Lucy cooed softly to the boy. Lucy met Wyatt’s eyes and the way he was looking at her took her breath away. She hadn’t seen such a genuine smile from him in such a long time.

“You’re a natural, you know” Wyatt said softly. His compliments and the way he was looking at her was too much to handle. Lucy had to remind herself not to get sucked in. Things were finally back to normal, well as normal as two people who have gone through what they did could be. They were Lucy and Wyatt no doubt about it, but not quite Logan and Preston. It was a weird limbo they were in, neither knowing where they stand with the other. Had the moment for them passed? Are they destined to just stay friends? These are the questions that keep Lucy up at night, it also doesn’t help that she’s currently holding his baby, a baby she has to keep reminding herself isn’t hers. She was just going to end up getting hurt if she kept pretending they were a family. Wyatt and Henry were a family, Lucy assumes she’s just going to be called in from time to time to baby sit, probably be referred to as ‘aunt Lucy’.

“I adored Amy as a baby, my parents had to remind me all the time that I was just her sister not her mom.” She joked, desperately trying to deflect from the situation. Wyatt chuckled and turned his attention back to the wall of baby food. He stood with two containers of formula in his hands, intensely checking the nutrition and ingredients. Lucy’s heart warmed at how much he already cared for this little guy that he has only known for a few hours. Lucy looked around she spotted something that she knew would help Wyatt immensely. She silently walked over and placed a large box in the cart.

“Lucy what is that?”

“It’s like a Keurig, but for babies” Lucy replied hoisting Henry higher on her hip.

“Absolutely not, we don’t need that.” Lucy tried not to get too excited over the word ‘we’ but it made her smile nonetheless.

“Trust me I saw this on Oprah you want it!” she challenged.

“Since when do you have time to watch Oprah?” he teased.

“I do have a life outside of our training sessions, you know.” She scoffed lightly. Even though the threat of Rittenhouse is gone Wyatt still makes her train with him three times a week. He claims you can never be too careful, especially living in the city, but Lucy doesn’t mind. She likes all the extra time she gets to spend with him, having a reason to be physically close with him even if it is only for a few hours a week.

He took a step closer, his flirtatious tone having an even greater effect at his proximity, “well then sounds like I’m not working you hard enough since you have time to watch Oprah.” She sucked in a breath, he hadn’t flirted this openly with her in a long time, possibly ever.

Standing her ground, she knew she couldn’t let him win. Lucy took a step closer so she could whisper in his ear, being a full head shorter than he is she had to stand on her toes which forced her body to be pressed against his, “I think you won’t do a damn thing considering I’m standing in the baby section of Target at 9:30 on a Saturday.” He didn’t have a response but he swallowed hard and Lucy knew she won their little flirting match.  

                                                        ---

Lucy eventually dragged a reluctant Wyatt over to the clothing section, a place he had been dreading since they stepped into the store. He smiled and rolled his eyes as Lucy pilled outfit after outfit into the cart.

“I think that’s enough Luce, he probably has more clothes than you do at this point.” He teased. Lucy tried not to outwardly show how affected she was by the nickname. She ducked behind a rack of clothes to hide her blush.

“Daddy doesn’t know what he’s talking about, you can never have too many outfits. Right little guy?” she cooed at the baby. She honestly doesn’t know why she referred to Wyatt as daddy, it just slipped out but somehow it felt natural. She laughed at his stunned expression at her bold teasing. He cocked his head to the side. Lucy knew that look, he was about to dish it right back out, he was about to speak when an older lady placed a hand on his arm.

“Your family is absolutely precious, how long have you and your wife been married?” Lucy turned her head,

“Oh uh…” she fumbled unsure of what to say. A deep blush appeared on her cheeks at being called Wyatt’s wife. The name secretly sent a thrill through her. She was about to politely correct the lady when Wyatt cleared his throat next to her.

“Um… almost four and a half years.” His answer took her completely by surprise. She hadn’t expected him to just go with it. If her cheeks were pink before she probably looked like a tomato now. He smiled and glanced at Lucy. Her heart fluttered at the memory and she wondered if he remembered as well.

           “Well stop the presses here I am going on and on how’d he do it with you?”

           “Do what?”

           “Propose silly I mean look at that rang!”

           The smile and small wink told her he did.

“He is just the cutest little thing on God’s green earth!” the lady gushed at Henry, “what’s the little angel’s name?”

“Henry” Wyatt and Lucy said in unison. They made eye contact with each other, his lips turned up into his signature smirk and she felt her face heat up again. Get it together Lucy! He walked over so he could stand next to Lucy. He put his arm around her to he could rub Henry’s back. They’ve been closer in the last 20 minutes than they had been in a long time. The smell of his cologne all around her was intoxicating. Her mind fogged with the memories of their time in 1941, being able to completely give themselves over to each other. They let themselves fall hard, knowing the other would be there to catch them. Lucy missed being this close to him, the whole time he was with Jessica she ached for his touch. Seeing the way their future selves were with each other gave her hope but it’s still been a long journey back to him. Not one Lucy minds taking if it means she’ll end up in his arms. Feeling bold she leaned her head back against his shoulder. She felt him freeze for half a second but then instantly relaxed and moved his hand to her lower back, falling into a comfortable familiarity that she’s missed so much.

“You don’t let anything happen to them!” the lady warned.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Wyatt said softly while pressing a kiss to the top of Lucy’s head, her breath caught in her throat as she fought back tears. The gesture was so small yet so intimate, her mind was swimming with all the things his action could mean. Was this all just a show for the nice old lady? Were they finally at a place to cross over into something more? Seems like kind of an odd place to make that jump, the infant clothing section of a Target…lost in her thoughts she didn’t even notice the woman walk away, Wyatt awkwardly cleared his throat and stepped away from Lucy, both refusing to make eye contact.

“We should probably get the little nugget home.” Lucy whispered glancing down at a sleeping Henry.

“He’s certainly had an eventful day.” He agreed. They made their way to the check out in silence and carried all their items out to Wyatt’s jeep. The mood lightened as Lucy laughed at Wyatt fighting to install the car seat, she kept telling him he was doing it wrong and he just grumbled in protest. Mumbling something about a ‘bossy-know-it-all’. Climbing in on either side of the car they both turned towards the back seat. They sat in silence for a moment watching Henry sleep. Lucy traced his face with her eyes, the soft fullness of his cheeks, his large eyes, long eyelashes, cute little button nose, lopsided grin that she would know anywhere, the grin she fell in love with all those years ago in the waiting room at Mason Industries. Lucy looked to her left and saw Wyatt staring at her with admiration but quickly turned away when she caught him staring. Blushing slightly, she turned her gaze back to Henry, wishing so bad he was hers.