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waitimcomingtoo · 4 years ago

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In Case You Don’t Live Forever

~chapter one rewritten~

Pairing: Peter Parker x Venom!Reader

Synopsis: you are Peter’s greatest love and Spider-Man’s greatest enemy

Masterlist and Series Masterlist

“Married?” You squeaked as your eyes grazed over the words on the card a hundred times without retaining any of the information. As you momentarily forgot how to even read, you had to rely on the words coming out of Andy’s mouth.

“Yes, uh, married.” He awkwardly cleared his throat. “Dani and I are getting married over the summer.”

The awkward silence filled the air, suffocating the three of you, but you didn’t care. You were still staring at that damn card. That damn card that said your ex boyfriend was getting married to another girl.

“Married.” You repeated, at a loss for words.

“You said that already, dumbass.” Venom chimed in, telepathically. You rolled your eyes and kicked the bench, signaling to her to quiet down.

“Yeah.” He said again. “I know we’re young, but I’m sure about her. She’s the love of my life.”

“Wow. Good for you.” You faked a smile as you stared at the invitation. “It’s Uh, it’s a lot to take in.”

“I know. That’s why I wanted to tell you in person. I figured it would be better than you randomly getting the card in the mail and finding out that way.” Andy explained.

“Our hero.” Venom snarled, so you pinched your leg to send her the message to be quiet.

“Yeah. Yeah, no, I’m glad you told me.” You lied as your eyes finally processed something on the card.

“You’re getting married on August 10?” You asked, finally tearing your eyes away from the invitation to look at him. He looked good, you had to admit. His curly brown hair was cut shorter than usual and he was still wearing his police uniform.

“Bright and early. I chose that day because-“

“Because it’s your parents anniversary. I know.” You cut him off, a little sharply.

“I’m sorry if this is awkward.” He frowned. “I understand if you’re too hurt to come.”

“It’s fine. We were together and now we’re not. Besides, I’m really happy for you and Dani. She really helped me get back on my feet when Venom and I first bonded. I like her. And if you want to marry her on that day, then go ahead.” You said, and you meant it. You did like Dani. You’d like her more if she wasnt dating the love of your life, but hey, nobody’s perfect.

“You’re lying. We want him back. He looks so juicy and delicious.” Venom said. You choked on your saliva for a moment at her words and Andy was quick to pat your back.

“You alright?” He asked. You nodded and made a mental note to have a domestic conversation about boundaries with Venom when you got home.

“I’m fine. And anyways, I’ve uh, I’ve moved on.” You lied, adverting your eyes so he wouldn’t catch on.

“What? No we haven’t?” Venom didn’t grasp the social cue.

“You have?” Andy asked, seemingly taken aback.

“No! We love you!” Venom growled in your head.

“Yep. I’m in a deeply committed and loving relationship.” You nodded as you looked anywhere but at him. It wasn’t a total lie. You were technically in a relationship with Venom, though be it a host/parasite kinda deal.

“What’s he like?” Andy wondered, looking pissed off all the sudden.

“They’re great. They’re, uh…tall. Super, super tall.” You began to describe Venom. So far, it was all true. Venom was 7’6 in her final form.

“They’re black, like yourself, and they’ve got this big, beautiful smile.” You could feel yourself cringing internally as you painted the picture for him.

“You think our smile is beautiful?” Venom teased you.

“And they just always have my back. They’re my ride or die, you know? If I didn’t have them, I’d be dead. Literally.” You finished. Also true. If you and Venom ever got separated, you would both die. Andy was looking off into the distance, sucking his teeth before nodding again.

“That’s nice.” He said, but his tone didn’t sound like he thought it was nice.

“I’d literally die.” You repeated to fill the awkward silence.

“I get it.” He deadpanned.

“Like, I’d freaking perish.”

“Alright.” He held up his hands and you stopped.

“So, do you think you can come?” He brought the conversation back to him, something he was good at.

Of course you could come. What else would you be doing? But you were just getting back on my feet after losing your job and a wedding might be too much too soon. You were at rock bottom before you found Venom. Well, before you found each other. That was nearly a year ago, but that day came back in flashes every now and then...

“You’re seriously breaking up with me? Over a job?” You asked as you followed Andy out of the police station. You were under the impression that he had just been fired because of the files you took from his computer. Classified files on local businessman Carlton Drake and the people he had killed with his experiments, of course.

“Yeah, I am.” He snapped. “I’m done with you.”

“Can’t we talk about this?” You pleaded as you followed him down the street.

“Okay.” He stopped, looking angry. “Do you want to talk about how you embarrassed me in front of my precinct? I just got yelled at in front of my all my coworkers because of you and your greed. You used me for your stupid show.”

“I wasn’t being greedy.” You insisted, ignoring that he called your job stupid. “You had the information on Carlton Drake and I needed it to make an accusation. He’s killing people! He’s a bad guy, Andy. And I write about and report bad men. That’s my job. I didn’t know that looking at your files would get you fired.”

Andy put his hands on his hips and looked around, suddenly sheepish.

“I wasn’t fired.” He mumbled.

“What?” You switched from upset to confused. “Then why are you angry?”

“I was demoted to traffic duty for two weeks because of you.” He pointed an angry finger at you and you almost laughed.

“I’m sorry, wait.” You compared yourself. “You’re breaking up with me after two years together because I got you demoted to traffic duty? Are you serious?”

“Do you know how embarrassing it is to wear that orange vest? It’s humiliating.” Andy shouted and you covered your mouth to keep from laughing. “Everyone in the neighborhood knows me and now they’re gonna know I’m on traffic duty.”

“People know you?” Your eyes widened at how dense he was being. “Andy, I’m a local celebrity. I had a whole show on YouTube that I was just fired from. Actually fired. You’re just a police officer who was demoted.”

“To traffic duty.” He repeated, as if it was suddenly worse.

“I know!” You snapped before calming down. “Are we really over? Just because of one mistake?”

“You used me.” He shrugged. “I can’t trust you.”

You stared at him as he walked over to you, never breaking eye contact as he took his key off your key ring.

“We’re over.” He hissed before turning around and walking away.

“Y/N?” Andy waved a hand in front of your face, snapping you out of it.

“Oh, right sorry. Um…” You trailed off as you mulled it over. You were happy for him, but you weren’t ready to see him marry someone else. That was gonna be you guys. Of course you wanted to be at his wedding, but you wanted to be the bride.

“Actually, I cant.” You blurted, quickly thinking of a lie. “The Daily Bugle called me and offered me a job in New York. They want me to cover a story on some serial killer. I was gonna move there part time until the story is done. I’m leaving in a few weeks.”

It was partially true. The Daily Bugle did reach out to ask you to write the story, but you had planned to write it at home. News of Andy’s impending marriage was enough to drive you out of the state.

“Oh really?” Andy raised an eyebrow. “Wow.”

He was never one to celebrate you, even when you were together, but his reaction seemed different now. He almost seemed surprised that you were still successful without him.

“Yea. I just finalized everything this morning.” You lied again as you wondered how you’d get a NYC apartment on such short notice. “But hey, maybe I’ll finish early and make it back in time for your big day. I mean, it’s only April. I have lots of time. How many people could this guy possible kill until August?” You joked, but Andy didn’t laugh. He never really got your sense of humor.

“That’s great Y/N.” He nodded, not much enthusiasm behind it. “Things are really turning around for you. I can’t believe you found a job and a boyfriend. I didn’t think it would happen.”

You narrowed your eyes at his condescending comment but decided to brush it off.

“Well, it did. I’m on to bigger and better things.” You cut into him a little as you stood up. “I better go. I told my partner I’d meet them for lunch. Bye!”

“Bye!” Andy called after you, still in a funk from what you told him.

You practically ran home and slid down your door once you got inside.

“Holy shit. I’m such a liar.” You grimaced and covered my face with my hands. Venom manifested herself in her snake-like form and looked at you.

“You’re not a liar if we move to New York and start dating.” She said, making you laugh.

“You have a point. In that case, will you be my girlfriend, Miss Venom?” You asked sarcastically and Venom grinned.

“You’re not really my type, but I’m willing to settle.” Venom matched your sarcasm.

“Then let’s make moving plans, baby.” You sighed. “We’re going to New York.”

#peter parker x reader #peter parker x y/n #peter parker x you #peter parker fanfiction #peter parker imagine #peter parker x venom!reader #venom!reader #tom holland x reader #tom holland x you #iron man #tom holland fluff #tom holland fanfiction

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peralta-guaranteed · 3 years ago

Note

Jake and Amy single parents AU.

Pretty please! :))

oh! Oh, I strangely love this one!

- Amy is a police-widow with little Mac (no, Teddy was not the father, it was a non-canon detective), while Jake is at the better end of a really messy divorce from Sofia, who very quickly handed over all alimony of Maya to him to focus on her career.

-Amy tries her best to juggle the newly single parent life with her full-time position running a bookshop, while Jake is not too happy about having to bring Maya in to the precinct all the time, but it can’t be helped (and Scully makes a surprisingly good babysitter). The squad’s had his back through the entire break-up, and they all love his little girl to bits, so at least she won’t be missing the family aspect in her life - and will always have an amazing female role model in her Auntie Rosa, who’s already planning to teach her Spanish just so she can trashtalk her dad with her without Jake knowing

- Mac + Maya meet at daycare and absolutely hit it off, despite the age difference of two years. Mac has apparently seen another curly headed toddler and immediately decided to brother the sh*t out of her. He takes her along to all his games and helps her pick colours for her pictures and shares his apple slices with her in exchange for a bit of sandwich (which is much nicer anyway).

- the daycare workers absolutely adore the little duo, and can’t help remarking how much they look like siblings anyway. So of course Jake has to meet the mom of the adorable little boy who always bring his daughter over to him for pickup by holding her hand.

- he’s a bit afraid of having to deal with the usual “Aw they’re little boyfriend and girlfriend” comments he’s expecting, but obviously Amy is having none of that. Instead, she tells him how glad she is that Mac has found a little friend to protect. “He’s always trying to protect everyone so much, ever since his dad... well...”

- (Jake knew, distantly, that she was the widow of one of his colleagues from another precinct, but apart from the usual condolences they’d all sent it had never really registered in his mind that there was a wife and a child left behind.)

- “Oh well Maya is so happy too. She’s a bit shy and scared at the moment, so having a big friend help her get out of her shell is great. Your little boy is a sweetheart, too.”

- Amy smiles at him, and he’s pretty sure his heart should not be doing what it’s doing, so he beats it down and tries his best to ignore it. Which is hard, because she smiles at him a lot in the coming months when they meet up for playdates, Mac over excited to show Maya all his favourite spots at the park or the coolest fish at the aquarium.

- Jake moans during one of their meet-ups about a case that has been dragging on forever and is going to need an allnighter to finally be solved, and his partner Boyle is really trying his best alone, but he’s the primary on it and- it feels great to talk about it with someone who understands, outside of his squad, even if Amy sometimes nods with the saddest look on her face when he mentions parts of his job. But she offers him last minute babysitting if he ever needs it, considering her job finishes promptly at 5pm each day, and he can’t help but take her offer when another case hits that needs him on a stake out at 10pm.

- so Maya gets a lovely sleepover with Mac, and Amy gets the biggest box of her favourite pralines as a thank you, because Jake has never, not once, given Maya to a babysitter to go to his job without feeling remorse and guilt, not even his own mom, but he had to deal with none of that when Maya gladly ran up the stairs to Amy’s place where Mac was already shouting her name.

- needless to say that Amy and Jake become the great friends they always are over time. He brings coffee and muffins to their park playdates, and she brings over frozen meals from Mac’s abuela for kid movie marathons at Jake’s place. They know each other’s schedules to help out with the kids, Jake has convinced everyone in his friend group and workplace to only buy books at her store from now on, and Amy is already planning the christmas gift she needs to pack for Maya and her daddy.

- it would be a nice, supportive friendship of equals, and a good help in their single parent life, if it wasn’t for the fact that Jake realised about three playdates in that he was falling for Amy faster than a shooting star. It took her a little longer, but realisation hit when she was packing Mac’s lunchbox, her own lunchbox, and Maya’s lunchbox too after a sleepover, and subconsciously already wanted to bag up a fourth set of sandwiches with some gummy bears and a soda thrown in for good measure.

- Rosa tells him to ‘grow a pair and ask her out, she sounds perfect for both you and Maya’ when Jake confides in her. And that is rare praise coming from Diaz, because no one is good enough for Maya in her eyes, sometimes not even Jake himself. But he can’t take advantage of Amy’s friendship like that, not when it risks losing both her and Mac for Maya... and there is always the underlying fear that Maya will bond with a new woman in her life and be left behind yet again if they don’t work out, just like with her mom, whose biggest contribution to her life since the divorce has been the alimony payments each month.

- Kylie, meanwhile, warns Amy not to risk too much when she confides in her. She sadly remembers the many days she had to spend at her friend-coworker’s side after the funeral, cleaning out half of a closet and half of a shared home, basically. She’d been hoping that Amy would find love again, maybe in a few years time, but when she heard the news about her ‘great new friend’ being a detective himself, her heart dropped because she knew what that might be heading towards, and Amy very much shares her fears. She’d vowed to an absolute ‘no cops’ rule for her planned restart of dating in two years, perfectly scheduled with Mac’s start of school.

- as it is, both of them dance around their emotions in a perfectly synchronised waltz while still getting closer and closer as friends and parents, to the point that the daycare workers don’t even bat an eye anymore when Amy brings both Mac and Maya in, or when Jake picks both of them up into his arms with an excited ‘ready for ice cream and games?!’ before they meet up with Amy for a Coney Island afternoon.

- until one day, when the daycare offers a ‘star gazing sleep over’ event after the story of the stars and night sky was the theme of the week, and it falls right on the day Amy and Jake were planning to take the kids to a movie. “We could still go.” Jake mumbles while Maya runs into the daycare center, not shy at all anymore, and Mac follows her. “You want to go see Paddington’s Big Adventure... without the kids?” Amy jokes, but he looks so serious. “No, of course not, but I mean - we - uh - we both got the evening off now, don’t we? I told my captain I won’t be in no matter what. Seems like a waste of time just going home. We could see that period drama you talked about, that will definitely get an Oscar?”

- Amy hesitates only for a second, but they do go. They watch the drama that Jake has to admit is pretty damn good for a movie where nothing explodes or is set on fire, and that praise does not only come from the fact that Amy grabbed his hand with a gasp during a particularly emotional scene, and then kind of forgot to let go afterwards.

- but then the movie ends and Jake still doesn’t want to go home. Neither does Amy, apparently, because she offers up an ‘amazing 24h diner’ around the corner for some late night snacks, during which they laugh and flick chocolate chips at each other and end up blushing like mad when the waitress comments on what a ‘cute couple’ they are.

- he walks her to her front door, and they both kinda don’t know what to do as they say goodbye, because this kind of date night should usually end on a kiss, but it wasn’t really a date, was it, they would’ve taken the kids along if it hadn’t been for the day care event, and-

- “Ames, I’m - this is terrifying, but I think I’ll hate myself even more for not ever saying anything - and, and, I kind of, maybe, I think you might also-” She takes his hand again, a lot softer than she did in the cinema. “I think this is the kind of talk that needs a coffee and a good couch.”

- That’s how they end up at her place that Jake already knows so well from bringing Maya over, from the perfectly styled bookcases down to the absolute mess of a playroom that is Mac’s kingdom. They both grip their coffee cups tightly as they talk it all out, about what they’re afraid of, what they would risk if they gave ‘them’ a try.

- “I wouldn’t ever want to put Mac through losing another cop-dad even if it wasn’t from work, and I won’t let Maya lose another mom.” “Me neither. And I promised Mac I’d never forget his papa, but... I can clearly see him love his new daddy, too. He already looks up to you so much. He wants a flannel shirt for christmas.” “Maya introduced you as Mama Amy to one of my aunties. Which was quite a thing to explain.” Amy laughs, and then smiles at him, and his heart does that thing again, like it has been doing for months now, but this time he doesn’t beat it down. This time he lets it lead him to lean in for the most careful kiss, a kiss that Amy gladly returns, just as carefully.

- they agree to take things slow, be mindful, not drop it on the kids immediately or rush into things from the pressure of friends or family.

- and then three months later Amy finds the perfect apartment for the four of them, and Jake aks Gina and Rosa for ring preferences and proposal tips, and ‘slow and mindful’ has flown out the window the second Maya brought home a picture she did with Mac at daycare showing their little ‘family’ before Amy or Jake had even talked to them about their possible dating.

- Maya grows up with her Mama teaching her Spanish along with Auntie Rosa, and an abuela and abuelo who love to spoil her with Cuban sweets just as much as her big brother. Mac gets to ride along in his Daddy’s police car sometimes, and hears stories about his brave Papa from his colleagues. His auntie Gina is so proud of him for taking care of his little sister the way she took care of her little brother too. And Jake gets to see Amy smile all the time now, and knows it’s him and their kids that is making her smile so much.

#B99 #Brooklyn 99 #Peraltiago #Jake Peralta #Amy Santiago #headcanons #mac peralta #maya peralta

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hauntedflamingo · 3 years ago

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Hold Up! What Happened?

Credit to whoever owns the picture.

Brian x fem!reader

Warning: kinda controlling boyfriend

A/N: on Imbd it doesn’t have his last name so the hashtags might be messed up. That is also going to be a problem whenever I finish my Ace one from Nancy Drew. Some of this sounds okay. The rest of it, I’m not so sure. Sorry for any mistakes.

“Ready to eat?” You boyfriend calls from across the way when he spots you waiting outside the restaurant. As he walks closer to you, he stops in his tracks, touching his back pocket to check for his wallet. “I left my wallet!”

Here we go again. “What do you do with your money?” You shout, narrowing your eyes at his ‘sudden realization’. “You never pay for anything.”

“I told you I don’t have my wallet.” He reiterates as his voice becomes louder while he starts his trek towards you again. “You should be more worried about my wallet than me not paying!”

“Yeah right.” You mutter to yourself. “I’m tired of this.” Briefly looking up at the sky, you make your decision. “I’m breaking up with you.” This had been a long time coming and you were finally at your breaking point.

“Come on. Let’s go talk about this.” He wraps his hand around your wrist, holding you close. “You are being irrational.”

“No! I’m not!” You yank your arm out of his grasp. “This is the last straw. I’m done!” You shout as you start to walk backwards. Spinning on your heel, you walk face first into a disaster.

“Oh my gosh!” You shriek as leftover food and drinks are poured onto your body. It feels like you were hit by a freight train.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t see you.” The busboy apologizes over the sound of shattering glass.

“Can this day get any worse?” You ask yourself through clenched teeth.

Out of nowhere, he grabs his towel, trying to mop up the liquid trailing down your outfit. His effort to save your dress is useless as the liquid continues to spread. Why did you decide to wear a new dress today?

“Just. Stop.” You beg, your eyes shining with tears. You were humiliated enough without any more of his help.

He drops his hand as registers your plea. When he lifts his head, he notes the panic on your face and starts to speak softly. “Look. I have some clothes in my car. You can borrow them.” You slightly nod your head, knowing that if you tried to speak you would be done for. He runs to his car while you stand still, working on controlling your breathing before you burst into tears.

The busboy returns a few minutes later, handing you a shirt, sweatpants and a pair of flip flops. “Thanks.” You whisper, holding them at arm’s length so they don’t get dirty. Another wave of embarrassment hits you as you walk inside. You can feel everyone staring as you pass them so you keep your sights on the bathroom, not wanting to see their cruel smiles.

Your shoes don’t help with the situation. They are filled with someone’s drink so they squish with every step which makes your voyage to the bathroom excruciating slow. And you are pretty sure that is part of the reason everyone else is staring at you. As you enter the bathroom, you set the clothes on the counter and grab a million paper towels. Carefully sliding your purse off your arm, you inspect it closely. “My purse is unharmed.” You mutter as you set your it on the counter next to the clothes. Looking at yourself in the mirror above the sink, you check out the damage. Miraculously, your face and hair were also missed by the barrage of debris. One less thing to worry about.

But your dress is a totally different story. Ketchup and coffee stains are splattered across your chest along with some other things you can’t make out. The rest of your dress, well, it is just as bad and everything is making it stick to your skin.

Turning around, you lean against the counter and slip off your heels. Wiping off your feet with a wet paper towel before sliding on the flip flops. You check your legs for any blood in case the broken glass hit them. “Good thing I painted my toenails last night.” You whisper, picking up your shoes and looking inside of them. How am I supposed to clean these? What if they get moldy and start to stink? I guess these are garbage now. Placing them back on the floor, you move on to the next part of your dilemma.

“Eww.” You cringe as you start to pick off particles of food from your arms and legs with a paper towel. Unbuttoning you dress, you peel it off and look down at your bra. The liquids managed to soak through your dress and into your bra. How many cups were in that bucket?

“My bra too? Great!” You sarcastically talk to yourself as you unhook it and pull it off, throwing it into the sink. You rinse it out and try to wring it out without disfiguring the whole thing. “I can’t even wear it. How am I going to do this?” You mutter to yourself. “How many people are out there?” Thoughts run through your head as you look at yourself in the mirror. I can’t wear a shirt with no bra. Please let this shirt be big enough. You already embarrassed yourself enough, why not continue. At least my underwear is dry enough to still wear.

You use wet soapy paper towels to wipe off the excess that soaked through your clothes onto your body.

Drying yourself off with another paper towel, you quickly pull on the clean shirt and catch a whiff of something. Is this what he smells like? He smells nice. Cool it, Y/N. You barely broke up with your boyfriend.

You lean down and pull on the pants before someone walks into the bathroom. Dropping your dress in the sink, you let the water run on it as you walk over to the soap dispenser. In the middle of slamming the button on the soap dispenser, the bathroom door swings open. Two women share a look before walking past you to the stalls. You think they would be nice enough to give you some sort of advice on how to clean your clothes, but nooooo.

After desperately rubbing the soap filled paper towel on your dress and getting nowhere, you let out a growl. “This isn’t working!” You twist your dress to get out the excess water before folding it up along with your bra. You grab your purse and shoes, letting out a breath before pushing open the door with your shoulder.

As you step outside the bathroom, you are greeted by none other than sabotage boy.

“Can I make it up to you?” His eagerness intrigues you. Is he genuinely being nice or is it only because he is at work? "No. Thanks-." You scan his chest, looking for a name tag. He picks up on your cue. “My name is Brian.”

Brian. You mentally repeat. Looking back up at him, his eyes catch you off guard. What color are they? You were too in shock earlier to notice them. “Um…” You clear your throat. “I was thinking about throwing the dress away. I was trying to clean it in the bathroom but I made it worse.”

“At least let me buy you lunch.” He offers, leaning against the wall. “That’s why you were coming this way, right?”

“You already let me borrow your clothes. I don’t want to put you out any more.”

“It’s my fault.”

“Maybe if I was watching where I was going.”

“Well, it sounded like you were too busy having a fight to pay attention to what you were doing.”

“How do you know that?” You wonder out loud. “Everyone heard you screaming at him.” His explanation as to why he was even listening to your conversation in the first place. “I wasn’t screaming.” You scowl. “He is selfish among other things. So, I broke up with him. He deserves it.”

“Brian!” His boss yells the man’s name to grab his attention. Brian jumps, standing up straight. “Gotta go.” He walks away, heading over to the table he was cleaning before you exited the bathroom.

The stares continue as you walk over to the line to buy your lunch. Doing your best to ignore them, you look for a table inside, keeping far away from the windows. You didn’t want to be reminded of your incident. Setting your clothes on the chair next to you and hooking your purse on the back of the chair, you sit down waiting for your food. After a few minutes, your food is delivered to your table and you can finally start eating.

Every chance he gets, Brian stops by your table to check up on you. One of the times he stops by, he lifts up an empty paper bag, laying it on the table across from you. “This is for your clothes.”

“Thanks.” Picking up your drink, you take a sip. He lingers for a moment, longer than the other twenty times when he stopped by. “You never told me your name.”

“Oh. My name?” I didn’t know we were doing this. You already planned on never returning to the restaurant no matter how much you liked the food. “It’s Y/N.”

“Hi, Y/N. I’m Brian.” He gives you a little wave.

“Hi.” Doing your best to hold in your giggles as you set your drink back on the table.

“That’s a relief.”

“What?”

“I made you laugh. I thought you were going be angry forever.”

Finishing your lunch in record time, you dump your clothes in the bag and grab your purse. The accident already took up enough time and you needed to get to work.

As you exit the restaurant, Brian spots you, walking over to you again.

“You cleaned up the mess?” You state the obvious.

“I have to. It’s my job.” He smiles at your observation.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize.” He insists. “You look nice in my clothes, by the way.”

“Thanks.” You mumble, waving and walking away before he can say anything else.

Grabbing your jacket off your office chair, you slide it on and zip it up before anyone else can look at you. Sitting down at your desk, your coworker spins around in her chair to greet you. “What are you wearing?” She gasps, astonished by your choice of clothes. ”I ran into a busboy when I went to go eat and ruined my dress and shoes.” You state as turn on your computer and stare at it while you wait for it to load.

She scoots her chair over to you. “Was he cute?”

“Yeah. But I broke up with my boyfriend today so...” You spin around in your chair since she wasn’t going to let this conversation go.

“Finally. How did that go?” She changes the subject, more interested in the new boy than your previous flame. “Did you get busboy’s number?”

You point to the clothes you were wearing.

“That bad huh. Well, now you can date the busboy.” She scoots her chair back over to her desk. “How were your classes?”

“They were okay. I have some homework and studying for a quiz that I need to do later.”

Your boss happens to walks by and stops at your desk. “What happened to you, Y/N?” Did everyone have to comment on your appearance today? Your coworker answers for you without missing a beat. “A cute boy dumped food on her.” You shake your head at her comment and answer your boss. “I didn’t have time to go home and change.”

As you turn back to your computer, you mumble to yourself. “I’m going to have to return his clothes sooner or later.”

“Those are his?” Your coworker squeals as she scoots back over to you, lightly smacking you on the arm. “He gave you his clothes after he bumped into you. That is so sweet.”

“I don’t think he had a choice.” As you continue to doubt his sincerity, you log into the computer and start working.

Once you get home, you eat dinner and start on your homework. Before bed, you change out of Brian’s clothes, throwing them into the hamper and change into your pajamas. Lying in bed, your eyes snap open as you remember your conversation from earlier. Oh. No. That means I have to go back over there to return his clothes. Or maybe he won’t miss them.

Tag list: @writingformany, (@lovesanimals I didn’t know if you wanted to be tagged in this so I tagged you anyway sorry)

#brian charmed #brian charmed cw #charmed reboot #charlie gillespie imagine #charlie gillespie x reader #flip flops

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neptunetheplanet7 · 3 years ago

Text

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐨 - 𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦

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;mikasa ackerman x fem!lesbian!reader

;modern au, band au

word count: 2.1k

warnings: swearing, floch’s bad flirting

bold italics is a text conversation

listen to the music masterlist

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disclaimer again!! i wrote this a long time ago. i know there are things that need to be fixed and things that don’t fit right. i plan to edit this story more in the future but today is not that day :)

You took a shaky breath in as you stopped midway of putting a clean sheet on the bed Mikasa would be sleeping in. The room still had some of her old stuff in it, it's just no one ever came in here after she left. You looked around at all the items she left behind. Smiling fondly at an old picture of you two, you noticed a small figure crossed out in the background. Glancing at the rest of the photos on the shelf, you noticed that every photo had something crossed out.

After looking at each picture, you came to the conclusion the figure was Jean. She must have only taken the photos without him and did this to the rest. You frowned and walked back to the bed. Carefully, you climbed onto it and propped a few pillows up to support you as you leaned back.

For the first time in two years, you got a good look around the room. On the side of the room with the door, there was a large glass window overlooking the balcony above the living room. You always found it strange that she chose a room like that when she usually kept those blinds shut. Her bed was in the middle of the room with a tv mounted on the wall across from it. On the other side of her bed, there were a couple of bean bags below the bay window that looked out on the driveway.

You sighed and took out your phone, pulling up old texts with Mikasa. The last time you texted her was three months ago when you got too drunk at one of Reiner's ragers.

mikasa

mikasas pleasdse

come home

i miss you

i miss you so much

we all miss you so much

come home to me.

She didn't respond to that and you wouldn't know if she even looked at it. She turned her read receipts off for everyone after the first week of trying to contact her. The only time she had ever contacted anyone was two weeks after she left the house.

Don't look for me. Don't contact me.

You got a lot of your friends asking if you got the same message. She sent the same thing to everyone who tried to get in contact with her. You still didn't know where she was or what she was doing. The only thing you knew was that she was coming home the next day. You sighed. Suddenly, you didn't feel like cleaning anything else. You briskly walked out of her room and dialed the number of your best friend.

"Hey, Y/n! What's going on?" Sasha's cheery voice rang through the line.

"Hey hey, Sasha. I'm doing great. At least, I think I am. Do you wanna go somewhere? You can pick me up? Or I can pick you up if you like."

"I'll come to pick you up, honey bunny, don't you worry." You heard her struggling with her keys on the other side of the line and snorted at the noise.

"Need some help, Sash?" You grinned while skipping steps.

"Fine, thanks." She grumbled. "I'll be there in fifteen! You stay put!" She briskly hung up.

Sasha had been your best friend ever since Eren's nineteenth birthday party. She caught you and Eren coming back inside just as she was about to leave, with half the pantry in her arms. She asked for your number to make plans to hang out and chat sometime. You happily obliged, which was probably the happiest thing you had done that night.

You tossed your phone onto your bed as you walked into your room. Your room was on the first floor. You got first pick since you were the one who inherited the house. The house was big and beautiful. It was also on a lake. Perfect for the parties Eren and Jean loved to host. Perfect escape from paparazzi.

Your room had big glass doors that opened to the balcony that wrapped around the back of the house. You had a great view of the lake. The room was painted white. There was a black marble fireplace in one wall with a small wardrobe you used for storing memorable items to the band. You didn't need to use it for clothes since you had a walk-in closet in the big bathroom you partly shared with your bandmates. Jean liked to use the large bathtub.

You collapsed onto the bed and stared into the vanity mirror next to it. It was then when you realized you were still in your pajamas. "Oh shit." Your eyes widened as you hurriedly stumbled over to the closet, falling over once.

You grabbed a pair of baggy sweats and a big t-shirt. With duck socks, of course. The outfit didn't look much different than your pajamas but Sasha would probably be wearing something similar.

You threw your hair into the easiest hairstyle you could muster. You grabbed your boots and hopped up and down while trying to put them on while also leaving the room. "Jesus." You muttered.

Your phone vibrated, signaling that Sasha was here. "I'm heading out with Sasha! You're on your lonesome!" You called out to wherever Armin was in the house.

"Okay! Don't be back too late!" He shouted back.

You laughed aloud as you realized how much he sounded like a dad. You opened the front door and ran to Sasha's car. "Let me in!" You knocked on the passenger window as she reached around to find the button that unlocks the door. Once it was unlocked, you swung open the door and hopped inside.

"Nice outfit," was the first thing she said to you. You glanced at her outfit and scoffed. Your predictions were correct, she was wearing something similar.

"Gee, thanks." You gave a lopsided smile and rolled your eyes.

"Where to, honey bunny?" Sasha said, giving a mock salute while her other hand rested firmly on the steering wheel. You giggled and thought about it. You called her on such a whim that you forgot to even plan anything.

"Uh how about Brain Freezes? I could really use a catch-up with Connie right about now." You suggested.

"That sounds like a great idea! Turns out you do have a brain up there." Sasha snickered.

"Oh good one, because you're the real genius here, clearly."

After a lot of lighthearted banter, you arrived at Connie's workplace. Sasha aggressively grabbed the door handle and slammed it open, causing the bell to fall off its perch and land on your face. "Oops." You grimaced and bent down to pick up the bell. You rang it in front of her face.

"Sasha! Y/n! My two favorite customers!" Connie jumped up and down on the other side of the counter. "How can I assist you ladies today?"

"I'll have the usual." You gave a half-hearted smile, head still impaired from the bell. Sasha had quite the habit of accidentally hurting you.

Sasha snatched the bell from your grasp and started ringing it. She announced her very long order that you could barely keep up with, but Connie was used to this kind of thing, especially with her.

You noticed one of his coworkers scowling at Sasha. You didn't like Floch, to say the least. He was always inviting himself to your parties but he was rude to all of your friends at the same time. He noticed your gaze and smirked.

He strutted over to where you stood, pretending to become very interested in toppings. "How are you, Y/n? It's been a while huh?" He leaned over your shoulder in a way that workers shouldn't with their customers. You made a hasty effort to slip away from his presence.

"It really hasn't. I came here last week. I come here every week and you say that every time." You usually tried to be nice to Floch, but today you didn't feel like being nice.

"Well, even a day without you feels like an eternity." He flirted horridly. You stared blankly at him until he awkwardly cleared his throat and traded spots with Connie at the register.

Connie took off his apron and handed you and Sasha your orders. "Sorry about him. That guy really can't take a hint even if it's right in front of his face." He shot Floch a venomous glare. "Luckily, you guys got here right as my shift ended! Wanna get out of here?" His previous anger seemed to dissipate in an instant.

"Yeah, I do! Where should we go?" Sasha beamed with her spoon still in her mouth.

"Can we just drive around? I've got something I wanna tell you guys." You played with your spoon in the ice cream, averting eye contact.

"Sure thing, Y/n. Let's go." Sasha and Connie said in unison.

Sasha let you drive her car since she was preoccupied with her mountain of ice cream. Connie didn't have a car, he failed his driver's test every time he took it. You'd think he'd learn most of the material by now. "Hey, Y/n?" He asked from the backseat.

"Yeah?" You nodded to him.

"Are you gonna finish that?" He said, referring to your cup of ice cream in the front cupholder. You sighed.

"Go ahead." He thanked you over and over as he leaned over and snatched it.

"So, Y/n? What was it you wanted to tell us?" Sasha wiped her hands on her pants and set the empty container in an extra cupholder.

You gripped the steering wheel harder then relaxed. You took a shaky breath in. "Mikasa is coming home tomorrow."

Connie started choking on your ice cream. "I know, I had the same reaction." You quipped.

"Mikasa..is...WHAT?" Connie managed between coughs.

"After all this time? It's been two years. Tomorrow? That's so sudden! Are you even ready to see her?" Sasha's mouth was gaping open. You leaned over and shut it for her.

"Yes, tomorrow. I still have to get the house ready. I couldn't even make it through her old room without calling you. Jean told us this morning. I don't think we should be worried about me being ready to see her. I think we should be more concerned about her and Jean." You informed. "But, then again, she told Jean about her return first. Plus he's picking her up tomorrow at the airport. So based on that, I think they're on better terms."

"You don't think they'll get back together, do you?" Connie said, his eyebrows furrowing.

You snorted. "Of course not. You know Jean is with Marco now, and he seems pretty happy with him. They've been together for two years now, probably longer if I'm being honest."

"Then what do you have to worry about?" Sasha asked, confused.

"Are you joking? I mean, what if she has found someone? What then? What if she quits the band forever? What if we argue? She dropped off the map two years ago. Completely. She stopped responding to me, to all of us. For two years I thought she lost her interest in everything and went to live a new life, with people better than me. And now she's coming back, out of the blue! It's too much." You stressed.

Connie and Sasha made quick eye contact. "Y/n, I think you're reading too far into it. I doubt anyone could lose interest in you. You're too cool! Let's look on the bright side, she's ready to come home and you finally get to see her again," Sasha said in an attempt to lift your spirits. You smiled graciously. You really were lucky to have a friend like her. "Right, Connie?" She gestured to Connie who looked very deep in thought.

"Didn't you and Mikasa go out in high school?" You almost crashed the car from the shock of the question.

"Briefly, yes. But we weren't 'going out' so to speak. We just, like, made out a couple of times." You could feel your face grow hot at the subject. You thought you were over your crush on Mikasa, but after hearing that she was coming home, the familiar feeling was coming back.

"You're going red, Y/n. I think it was more to you than just a make-out." Connie grinned while Sasha wiggled her eyebrows.

"You're totally in love with Mikasa!" Sasha sang.

"Shut up, you two. I don't wanna get into the details right now." You couldn't even try to hide your heated face since you were the one driving the vehicle.

"Not right now? So maybe somewhere down the line, you will?" Sasha raised her eyebrows and broke out into another infectious grin.

"Whatever, Sash. Enough about Mikasa and me. I really wanna hear about you and Niccolo." You gave her a similar grin while she slowly turned red.

"Nice one, Y/n!" Connie cheered.

"You idiots should just shut it!"

posted: 8/24/21

no reposts, edits, or modification to my work by anyone other than me.

#mikasa x reader #mikasa x you #snk fanfiction #aot fanfiction #mikasa ackerman #band au #modern au

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artificialqueens · 3 years ago

Text

Galactica, Chapter 65 (Group Fic) - TheDane/Veronica

A/N: Chapter 65 seems like a good time to tell you that there’s nothing we love more than talking to you guys about this story! We are both on tumblr (@theartificialdane and @veronicasanders) and we’d love to hear from you!! We also have other Galactica content there under the “galactica” and “galactica wardrobe�� tags. XOXO!! Click here if you’re looking for previous chapters (or here if you’d rather read on AO3). 💫

Last Chapter: Bianca threw a wrench in the annual holiday party when she brought Courtney as her date, and Katya tried to (not) deal with her surprise pregnancy.

This Chapter: Miss Fame and the team work on the final lineup for the spring runway, and Katya figures some things out.

***

It was Violet’s luck that she was a light sleeper, the first note of her alarm barely ringing before she had grabbed her phone from under her pillow and turned it off.

There really wasn't a need for Violet to wake up at 6, for her to start her day so early since she couldn’t go to the gym because of her ankle, but habits were hard to break, and she liked how quiet the world was in the morning, how it felt like she was the only one awake.

She wasn’t hungover, had barely had a drink because of her crutches, but she had a feeling all of her coworkers would be wearing sunglasses and asking each other to shut up, the Friday after the Christmas party always an experience.

Sutan’s bedroom was dark, his curtains swallowing the ever present lights of Harlem, the man asleep next to her, his head resting on his pillow.

It took everything in Violet not to reach out and run her fingers through his hair.

She had been so annoyed with him last night, so uncomfortable in the beautiful red dress she had bought with his money, the simmering anger not leaving her until she had felt Sutan’s clever fingers undo the zipper on her back, skin against skin finally freeing her from the smoldering fire.

“Stop staring at me.” Violet froze, Sutan’s voice deep with sleep.

“I’m not.”

“Oh?” Sutan cracked an eye open, a smile playing on his lips as he reached out, grabbing her hip on top of her blanket. “Could have fooled me.”

“Well,” Violet smiled back, allowing him to pull her in, “Maybe I was. A little bit.”

***

As her alarm sounded, Courtney groaned, burying her head into Bianca’s neck. Bianca laughed, reaching over to hit snooze, giving them a few more precious minutes in bed before Courtney had to get up.

Bianca had never been much of a morning person, but she’d discovered that, in many ways, this was her favorite part of the day. When the world was dark and still, and they were curled together under the covers, naked and warm. She trailed her fingers up and down Courtney’s back, pressed a kiss to her temple.

“You okay, sunshine?” Bianca asked.

“Mmmhmm...I just don’t want to go to work.”

Bianca smiled, one hand settling into the curve of Courtney’s waist, enjoying the way they fit so perfectly together.

“Then don’t,” she stated, warming up to the idea of taking a day off, just the two of them. “Call in sick.”

“I wish,” Courtney scoffed, a deep sigh leaving her. “But I can’t, so…”

“Why not?”

“The day after a party? Everyone will think I have some crazy hangover.”

“Yeah, so?” Bianca laughed.

“Plus, I’m pretty sure Miss Fame is less than pleased with me right now. I don’t want to give her any reason to be annoyed. And there’s a big meeting to decide on the spring runway, and I have to-”

“Alright, alright...forget I suggested it,” Bianca said, holding up her hands in surrender. “I just really liked the idea of spending all day in bed with you.”

Courtney raised herself up on her elbow, gazing down at Bianca with a dreamy smile on her face.

“Maybe, um...can we do that tomorrow?”

“You’re on, angel,” Bianca said, reaching up to run her fingers through her hair.

“And...we still have about seven minutes before the alarm goes off again.” Courtney brushed her lips against Bianca’s neck, murmuring, “You wanna go back to sleep, or…?”

“Hmmm...” Bianca cocked her head, pretending to think. “I may have some other ideas…”

Courtney let out a delighted squeal as Bianca flipped her onto her back with a wicked grin.

***

Maxwell groaned as a loud clatter sounded through the design floor.

“Sorry!” Kiara whisper-shouted, quickly picking up the pair of scissors she had dropped. Trixie had gone to the department head meeting about 20 minutes ago, which meant that everyone had given up the pretense that they were working. Alexis had gone straight for the couch to take a nap as soon as the door had closed behind him, April still nursing a terrible-looking green smoothie at her desk. “Sorry everyone!”

“Don’t even think about it girl!” Bob smiled, his phone pressed between his shoulder and his ear, and Maxwell groaned again, sliding down so he could rest his head on his arms, Bob chatting away.

He loved his boyfriend, he really did, but there were few things more annoying than when Bob had managed to get into any tabloid, the perceived fame of it always going directly to his head. And of course, it was made even worse by his friends and family back home in Georgia playing right into it, acting as if it meant anything at all.

“Listen, I didn’t ask to be born fabulous, but it’s my cross to bear, and I’m-” Bob laughed, adding, “Exactly!”

“He’s really getting into it, huh?” Maxwell looked up to see Violet standing next to his desk, looking over at Bob, Jovan at her side holding three cups of coffee.

“Here,” Jovan smiled, giving one of them to Maxwell, the scent filling his nose.

“Oh god I love you,” Maxwell grinned, taking the liquid magic. It was probably not healthy to be on his third cup already, but he didn’t care.

“Love you too boo,” Jovan grinned, taking a seat on the edge of his desk, Violet doing the same, balancing her crutch so she could take her own cup. They didn’t talk, and Maxwell loved that, Violet fitting so nicely into their little boys club that he barely even thought about the fact that she was a girl and straight most days.

***

“Pearl! Pay attention!”

Pearl snapped out of it, the wheels of her chair squeaking as she moved, her eyes wide open at the commanding tone in Fame’s voice.

“Sorry!” Pearl sat up straight, Bendela hiding a snicker behind a sketchbook, her brown eyes clearly filled with delight over Pearl getting reprimanded.

“God,” Fame rolled her eyes, her hand on her hip, her outfit of the day a white cropped cashmere sweater and white linen high waisted pants, her blonde hair in a high delicate updo, a golden belt snug around her waist. “Did anyone come to work today?”

If they had been alone, Pearl would have opened her mouth to point out that she was the one who always arranged for the Christmas party to be on a Thursday, but they weren’t, so Pearl kept her mouth shut.

“Fame,” Raja’s voice was warm, and it apparently functioned just as intended, her tone a soothing balm on whatever had Fame into such a tizzy. “We’re almost done.”

If Pearl had to make an educated guess, she’d say it was probably the whole Courtney and Bianca thing, though it could be anything from her breakfast grapefruit not being ripe to morning traffic to a photographer catching a bad angle of her last night.

“You’re right,” Fame sat back down, sliding her chair over to Trixie. “So, fourth look. What do you have?”

“I was thinking about these pants?” Trixie held out a sketch, and Pearl folded her hands over her stomach, watching her best friend do his job exceptionally well.

Fame tapped her fingers against the table, french tips hitting the wood and Pearl made a mental note to see if she could sneak in a visit to Fame’s office, providing their boss with an orgasm before lunch a great Christmas gift to everyone in the company.

***

V-List Alert: BDR’s Latest Blonde Bombshell

[Pictured: A large photo of Bianca and Courtney kissing on the red carpet, along with a few smaller shots of them looking giggly and affectionate. And lastly, a grainy, low-res photo of them on the street after the event, kissing while a driver is opening the car door.]

Well, well, well…

Okay, so to begin with, let’s all admit that BDR showing up on a red carpet with some sweet young thing is nothing new. In fact, it would be strange if she didn’t. But the shameless PDA last night at Galactica’s annual Christmas party—both on and off the carpet—had us wondering...who the hell is the new paramour?

We did a bit of digging and strap in kids, cause it gets juicy…

Turns out that this little darling is named Courtney Jenek. Sound familiar? No? Yeah it shouldn’t. But she happens to have two very interesting connections to BDR: 1, apparently she’s friends with B’s baby sister, princess of the underground punk scene Adore Delano. And 2, even more hilariously, Lil Courtney here is the Executive Assistant to none other than Miss Fame of Galactica.

Wonder what the illustrious and brand-conscious Miss Fame thinks of her bestie using her staff in what appears to be an extremely filthy unprofessional way? And how’s it all gonna play out?

We can’t wait to watch this drama unfold…

***

As Courtney slipped on her coat and grabbed her bag to head downstairs for yet another coffee run, she glanced at her personal phone, laughing to herself when she saw the 17 missed calls from Morgan. She scrolled through the text messages in the elevator.

MORGAN: COURTNEYYYYYYYY!!!

MORGAN: OMG PICK UP

MORGAN: WERE YOU PLANNING TO TELL US YOU’RE FUCKING BIANCA DEL RIO?????

TYRA: She’s WHAT

ADORE: You guys didn’t know? ;)

TATIANNA: Yawn, old news :p

MORGAN: BITCH

MORGAN: COURTNEY I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU DON’T PICK UP

MORGAN: COURTNEYCOURTNEYCOURTNEYCOURTNEYCOURTNEY

Courtney called her back, laughing some more when she picked up even before the first ring.

“You know I’m working, right?”

“I am going to murder you,” Morgan announced.

“Wow Morgan. A hate crime? I really thought more highly of you,” Courtney replied with a giggle.

“Omigod, shut up! How could you not have told me already?!”

“Well...I don’t know, I wasn’t sure what it was at first-” she said.

“It’s still fucking major!” Morgan laughed. “I guess it makes sense, though. God, you always chose the worst men.”

Courtney chuckled, nodding as she exited the elevator and headed for the coffee shop.

“So what did your parents say?”

“Uhhh...I haven’t exactly told them yet.”

“Courtney!”

“What? It’s not gonna be dramatic or anything, you know my brother’s gay.”

“Omigod, Court, you absolute idiot. You have to-”

“One sec.” Courtney lowered her phone to give the orders for the meeting, then went back to the phone. “Sorry, I’m on a coffee run.”

“Yeah, I heard. Listen, Courtney, you have to tell them! Do you really want them to find out that you’re dating a woman who’s almost twice your age from a fucking tabloid?”

“I don’t think my parents subscribe to American fashion blogs.”

“Did you even read the link I sent you?! Someone’s gonna send it to them, trust me.”

“Alright, alright, I’ll tell them,” Courtney told her with an eye roll. She really didn’t see the big deal though; telling her parents was the last thing on her list of worries at the moment.

“Also…” Morgan’s voice lowered, taking on a sing-song, teasing tone now that the business was out of the way, “When are we hanging out? ‘Cause you know I absolutely need all the sordid details.”

“Soon, I promise.”

“Tomorrow night?”

“I’m kind of busy tomorrow,” Courtney admitted.

“Busy getting railed, you mean?”

“Maybe…”

“Ha, you slag.”

***

Maybe she was avoiding going home. That was certainly possible. But on Friday, Katya just seemed to keep finding things to do to prepare for the next week of school. It would be their last week before winter break, so she knew that any kind of serious learning would be difficult. Rather than spend her time fighting with the kids to focus when they just weren’t capable of it, she planned as many fun projects as possible, and though a lot of them were old hat for her by now, the prep work never seemed to end.

Which is why, when Jasmine, the woman who ran the afterschool program, came to her door at almost 6:45, she was still there.

“Hey, I’m sorry to bother you…”

“It’s no bother, come on in,” Katya said, a big smile on her face, especially when she saw that Jasmine had Grace with her--one of Katya’s favorite students.

“You know we close at 6, and Grace’s mom is running late today,” Jasmine said. Her tone of voice was light and cheerful, but her eyes told Katya a different story--that this wasn’t the first time it had happened, and that she was likely furious. “I gotta get home, and Dani’s out with the flu, so...do you mind keeping her here until Leslie shows up? It should be soon, she texted me ten minutes ago that she’s on the way.”

“No problem. We’ll have a great time, won’t we Grace?”

The little girl nodded, skipping into the classroom happily.

“You’re a lifesaver,” Jasmine said. “Thank you!”

Katya turned to Grace, who had dumped her jacket and backpack on the rug and was already prowling around the book bins, likely looking for her favorite Junie B. Jones stories. Soon, the two of them were settled into bean bag chairs in the comfy zone, Katya reading a few chapters out loud to her before realizing that she was probably hungry and suggesting a snack. Grace was just finishing her juice box and goldfish crackers when her young mother, Leslie, came rushing inside, harried and out of breath, apologizing profusely.

“Mama!” Grace jumped up from her seat at the little table, knocking the chair over in her excitement to leap into her mom’s arms. She hugged her tightly, face buried in her neck, and Katya could see some of the tension in Leslie’s face melt away.

Katya stood up from her own seat, picking up the book they’d been reading.

“I’m gonna put this book in Grace’s backpack so that you can finish it together this weekend,” she said, and Leslie shot her a look of pure gratitude, nodding.

“Grace, can you say thank you to Mrs. Zamo?”

“Thank you Mrs. Zamo!” she echoed cheerfully, taking the backpack and her jacket as Leslie dropped a kiss to the top of her head.

“Honey, can you go wait for me on the bench for a minute?” she asked, tugging gently on one of her pigtails.

“Okay!”

As Grace skipped into the hallway to wait, Leslie turned to Katya, tears filling her eyes.

“I’m really so sorry about being late, I-”

“It’s okay,” Katya said, head tilted sympathetically. “I get it, things happen.”

“It’s been happening all week. I got this new job, and the hours are so tough and the commute is shit, but it’s an extra two dollars an hour and I can’t say no to that. But I just feel like...I feel like I can’t do anything right.”

“I understand,” Katya nodded, putting a hand on her arm. The truth was, though, she didn’t understand. Not really. She’d never been in a position where an extra two dollars an hour would make such a big difference in her life--not even when her dad cut her off. She’d always had money, and by the time her trust fund was depleted, she was living with Trixie, whose generous salary more than covered what they needed, her meager teacher’s salary mostly paying for fun extras, keeping them entertained and living their best lives, or just going in the bank.

She knew she was lucky, but until that moment, seeing the pain in Leslie’s eyes, the fear that she was failing at life and failing her child, maybe she didn’t understand just how lucky.

“I was sitting on the bus thinking about her waiting and waiting, wondering where I was.”

“Can I tell you something?” she asked softly. “Grace didn’t care that you were late, she was just happy to see you when you got here, because it’s really obvious what a good mom you are.”

“Sometimes I feel like the worst mom ever,” Leslie admitted, tears spilling down her cheeks.

“No way. Grace is an amazing kid. She’s smart and kind and enthusiastic--and it’s totally okay if you need some more help. That’s what all of us are here for. I can talk to Jasmine about maybe extending the hours next week, until you can get your schedule sorted. Or maybe Grace can go home with Joey’s mom...don’t you all live in the same building?”

Leslie nodded, a deep sigh leaving her. “Thanks, that’s a good idea. I...I’ll figure it out.”

“Okay. Just remember that you’re not in this alone, you know?” Katya handed over a box of tissues from her desk.

“Yeah. Thanks. Sorry, I-” Leslie wiped her eyes.

“Don’t be sorry,” Katya said, giving her a warm hug.

***

“Oh god!” Gigi groaned, pushing the door to the modeling apartment open, her shoulders aching, her fingertips numb. “Finally!” She dumped her bags down in the hallway, slumping against the wall.

She had been around the town with Sutan all day, shopping for what he called a model wardrobe, Gigi trying on several pairs of heels and flats, her new backpack and purse stuffed with a newly printed book and her brand new phone, their last stop of the day Gigi’s new gym that was just around the corner.

“Gigi?” Bimini popped her head out of the kitchen door, the golden rim around her eyes and her crimped hair clear indicators that meant she had been shooting, Bimini rarely bothering with removing hair and makeup on set. “Welcome home sweetie! How did it go?”

“I’m exhausted!” Gigi pushed out from the wall and kicked her sneakers off. “Who knew shopping could be that hard?”

Gigi heard Symone giggle, her friend sitting at the table and painting her nails, the apartment's newest arrival chopping vegetables for whatever vegan crock pot Bimini was cooking for everyone. They had someone new arrive every couple of days, most girls only staying for a night or two in the bunk beds in what Naomi had dubbed the summer camp room before they were shipped off again if they didn’t interest any of the agents.

“I told you, didn’t I?”

“I know,” Gigi groaned, dumping down in a chair to rest her aching feet, “but I thought you were kidding.” Symone had gone on the trip two weeks ago, her Instagram exploding with content now that she had a brand new phone to post with.

“Did he give you the drink speech too?”

She had eaten lunch with Sutan at an awkwardly fancy restaurant, three sets of cutlery surrounding her plate, her manager going through each set as well as her wine glasses, explaining it to her. Gigi’s mom had always insisted on good manners, but it hadn’t been anything like that.

“The ‘never leave your drink unattended’ one, I mean.”

“Mmh,” Gigi nodded. “The whole entire speech.”

She hoped it’d be unnecessary, but Sutan had run her through what he called the basic safety procedures like putting a hand or a napkin over her glass when she wasn’t paying attention, her manager drilling it into her skull that she shouldn’t accept poured drinks or opened bottles from strangers in clubs unless she saw the bartender prepare it.

“Is he seriously doing all that?” Naomi raised an eyebrow. “So far, all my agent has told me is that if I showed up in any tabloid looking messy, he’d drop my ass.”

Suddenly, Sutan’s mothering didn’t feel as smothering, the attention and assistance the man had poured over her nothing compared to the terrifying thought of being left basically on her own like Naomi.

***

At first, Katya wasn’t sure why she stopped at Macy’s on the way home. Especially now, on a Friday night during the holiday season, when the sales clerks were at their most frazzled.

She wandered around, unable to get Grace and Leslie out of her mind...and in particular, the look of pure joy on Grace’s face when her mother appeared in the doorway. Leslie was a single mom, and by the look of her, she was pretty young, but she had managed to raise an exceptional kid who was sure how much she was loved.

Why was Katya so afraid of having a baby? It was like she’d told Leslie--she wouldn’t be doing it alone. Not by a long shot. No, she was fortunate to have the most wonderful man in the universe by her side. And lord knew, Trixie would make up for any maternal instincts she may lack herself. And plenty of people, people much less capable and loving than her, had babies every day.

She stopped, looking around, realizing that she’d found herself in the baby department. Specifically, in front of a shelf full of tiny little infant shoes. She smiled to herself, knowing exactly what she needed.

When she arrived home, she was thrilled to see that Trixie had prepared dinner, heating up some leftover chicken and mashed potatoes and throwing together a salad--exactly what she was in the mood for.

She smiled when she saw him, announcing, “I brought you a present.”

Trixie’s face lit up, and for a split second she could imagine that exact same expression of joy on a tiny child, the thought making her insides warm as she handed him the little bag.

He looked inside, where the two tiny pink moccasin slippers sat in their plastic box, his head then snapping up to look at her with an expression of amazement.

“Kat, are you-” His eyes were bright with tears, hopeful but still a bit tentative.

She shrugged slightly, self-consciously, afraid to say what she’s been thinking out loud, but Trixie seemed to know anyway.

He rushed forward and swept her up into the biggest, tightest hug she’d ever had, repeating over and over how wonderful she was going to be. She took his face in her hands, kissing his tear-stained cheeks, finally sure that as a team, they could do it.

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vxlkyrie · 4 years ago

Text

everything i wanted

pairing: steve rogers x reader

genre: angst, fluff, nonavenger!au

warning: cursing, body image, bullying, mentions of suicide (pls listen to the song before reading this)

word count: 3.6k

summary: going to a high school reunion sounded like fun, until all the nightmares and bad memories started coming back

request: anon said “hii, can i request steve rogers x reader based on billie eilish song everything i wanted. thank you and have a nice day.”

a/n: i’m sorry it took so long! i don’t know why i kept scrapping every idea i had for this one, but i’m finally satisfied with this plot (i swear it’s based on the song, also peep the lyrics). it gets really sad, but i hope you all enjoy!

you were in the kitchen cooking up breakfast, waiting for your boyfriend to come home from his morning jog. suddenly, you heard the door open.

“honey, i’m home.” steve said. you laughed at the cheesy line, greeting him with a quick kiss.

“go change. breakfast is almost ready.” you told him, earning a nod from him.

“i also checked the mail.” steve said, placing a pile of envelopes and magazines onto the dining table.

as soon as you prepared two plates, you sat down and looked through the mail as you waited for your boyfriend to get ready.

bills, coupons, greeting cards from wanda and vision, files from the law firm, letter from your high school – what?!

your eyes widened as you examined the envelope that displayed your school’s name across the top.

“hey doll, whatchu looking at?” steve’s voice broke you from your thoughts. you didn’t even notice him taking his seat across from you.

“oh, uh, just something from my high school.” you said, raising an eyebrow at it.

“yeah? what is it?” he asked.

you shrugged as you carefully rip open the top. you unfolded the paper that slipped out of the envelope.

“y/n l/n, you have been formally invited to your class’s ten-year reunion.” you read out loud. you felt your stomach twist.

“a high school reunion? that sounds like fun.” steve said as he chewed his food.

“yeah, no.” you shook your head.

“and why not?” he snickered.

“let’s just say i did not have the best experience in high school.” you simply answered. you never really told steve about your days before you went to college and he never asked.

“i’m sorry to hear that. i mean, you don’t have to go if you don’t want to. but i mean, you haven’t seen these people in years.”

“i would like to keep it that way.” you quipped.

“maybe you could use this reunion as a chance to show everyone that you are not the girl you were in high school,” steve started. you recognized his ‘motivational speech’ voice coming in. “i might not know what you were like back then, but you can show them that you’ve made it – that you’re better than them. you can make them regret doubting you all those years ago.” steve explained.

“you sound like nat when she wants revenge on some guy that dumped her,” you joked about your coworker, making him laugh. “but, seeing people’s face drop is pretty fun.”

“so you’re going?”

“we’re going.” you emphasized.

“do you see what she’s wearing?” she whispered to a group of girls.

“yeah, it looks a little too tight on her.” another girl said as the others giggled.

“who told her that looked good on her?”

“oops, i did.” one of the girls admitted, earning even louder laughs from the group.

you wrapped your arms around your middle, feeling very insecure as you stood in the corner of the room.

i shouldn’t have went to this stupid party. i thought they were my friends.

“y/n?” a male voice called to you. you snap your head up to see steve looking down at you.

“s-steve?” your eyes widened.

what is he doing here? he can’t see me like this!

you looked up again to see the familiar group of girls and steve laughing at you.

no, please no. stop this. you tried to yell, but silence only came out of your mouth.

“stop!” you shouted, jumping up from your bed.

“doll?” steve groaned, only hearing you panting as you held your heart. “are you okay?” he sat up.

“uh, yeah. just a nightmare, i guess.” you said, melting under steve’s touch as he rubbed circles on your back.

“do you want to talk about it?” he asked.

“no,” you shook your head. “i’ll be fine, thank you though.”

“okay. now come here, we got a flight to catch early in the morning.” steve said, pulling you into his arms as you both drifted into slumber.

as much as your body (and steve) wanted you to, you couldn’t bring yourself to sleep on the plane. you haven’t had nightmares like that since before you started college. you thought after graduation, you wouldn’t have to deal with anyone from high school ever again. but now that you’re going to be seeing them after ten whole years, your brain couldn’t help but bring back memories.

all of your friends turning their backs on you after one small mistake.

“how could you do that to me? i trusted you!” she yelled at you.

“it was a mistake! i didn’t mean to tell him, it just slipped. i’m sorry!” you said, tears brimming your eyes. “can’t we just talk this out?”

“there’s nothing else to talk about. go fuck yourself.” she spat in your face as she walked away.

you looked at your friends for help, only to be given dirty looks as they followed her.

all the bullying and shit-talking and petty social media posts.

“look at this fat pig. i was only her friend cuz i felt bad for her.” she laughed as she flipped her hair.

“did you see her new haircut? she looks like an abomination.” she laughed.

you scrolled through instagram to see that she posted a picture of her and her friends, making it obvious that she cropped you out.

“so grateful for my best friends!”

you thought you were going to puke.

even all the good times you all had before they decided to kick you out.

“oh my god you look so good in that dress!” she cheered at you as you and your friends went dress shopping.

“thank you! you look great too.” you smiled at her.

“we all look great. we are going to kill it at prom.” another girl said, holding her phone up to the big mirror as you all posed for a picture.

“you know i would trust you with my entire life, right y/n?” she told you. you slept over at her house, comforting her after she broke up with her boyfriend.

“yes, and i trust you with mine.” you smiled at her.

were they all lies? did they ever like me to begin with?

they all flashed through your head and you felt your breathing stop. you sharply inhaled, suddenly reaching for your water bottle as you chugged the rest of it down.

“you okay doll?” steve asked softly. you nodded, smiling at him, telling him to go back to sleep. “i love you.”

“i love you too.” you smiled at him. he squeezed your hand with his before he knocked out.

everything’s going to be fine. you and steve are going to walk in that venue tonight and you’re going to show them that you’ve been doing better without them.

you distracted yourself with the files your boss sent you for the rest of the flight, ignoring the anxiety that ran through you.

you were putting on the finishing touches of your makeup in front of the bathroom mirror.

tonight was the night.

you concentrated on putting on mascara, not even noticing your boyfriend walking up behind you. you almost jump at the feeling of arms wrapping around your middle.

“you look great, doll.” steve whispered in your ear, sending chills down your spine.

“thanks, nat bought me this dress,” you smiled as you looked at your cocktail dress that hugged your figure perfectly. “you clean up well yourself, mr. rogers.” you chuckled, pointing out his slacks and dress shirt that had the top two buttons undone.

“why thank you, doll.” he beamed at you, leaning towards you.

you met him in the middle and molded your lips together. after a while, you two pulled apart to catch your breaths.

“as much as i would love to stay and do this, we got a reunion to attend.” steve said, earning a pout from you.

“fine,” you sighed as you exited the hotel bathroom and grabbed your handbag. “but if i want to leave, will you come rescue me and sweep me off my feet?”

“of course, doll.”

“name?” the man at the check-in table by the entrance of the venue asked, his eyes looking through the list.

“y/n l/n.” you answered. the man snapped his head up at you.

“my, my, my,” he smirked. “my eyes must be deceiving me. there’s no way y/n l/n is standing right in front of me.” he joked.

“unfortunately, tom, they’re not.” you laughed.

“well, you look great! ten years did you good.”

“thanks.” you gave a small smile.

“and who is this fellow with you?” tom asked, eyeing steve.

“steve rogers, y/n’s boyfriend.” he spoke up, offering his hand to tom.

“you even got a boyfriend! i must be in a different dimension,” he joked once again, making you roll your eyes at him. “anyways, you’re good to go. have a great night!”

“thanks tom.”

“oh and y/n?” he caught your attention once again. you raised your eyebrows at him. “they’re here.” he said, causing you to swallow the lump in your throat.

you nodded at tom as you walked into the ballroom, admiring the decoration that filled up the walls.

student council still doesn’t disappoint when it came to events.

“who’s here?” steve asked, wrapping an arm around your waist as you walked around the tables, trying to find your seats.

“um, just some people.” you dodged.

before steve could ask you to elaborate, a voice shouted towards you two.

“oh my god, y/n?!”

you nervously looked around to see a girl running up to you. you exhaled in relief.

“zoe?!” you exclaimed, beaming at the girl that pulled you into a hug. “how have you been? i’m so sorry that we haven’t talked in so long.” you almost cried.

“don’t be sorry. we both got jobs to do,” she smiled at you. “i heard you’re a lawyer now! i’m so proud of you.”

“yeah!” you nodded. “and i heard you’re a doctor in korea. i’m so happy for you, i know you’ve always wanted to move there.”

“thank you! and who is this hunk?” she smirked at steve who had been silently listening in on their conversation the whole time.

“this is steve. he’s my boyfriend.” you shyly smiled.

“nice to meet you ma’am.” he smiled at zoe, shaking her hand.

“and he’s a gentleman too! you got a keeper,” she joked, making the two of you blush. “he’d give those bitches’ boyfriends a run for their money.” she snarled, looking in the direction of a big group laughing a corner.

“i’m still surprised they’re all still together, they all just swapped partners.” you quipped while looking at the group too. zoe laughed at your remark.

steve looked in your direction, nodding to himself as he tried to piece the puzzles together.

“i’ll be right back, save some seats for me!” she added right before walking away.

“it’s nice to know that you had at least one friend from high school.” steve said, grabbing your hand.

“yeah,” you smiled. “she was there for me when no one else was. i feel bad for not contacting her after high school. i moved away and she was studying abroad. but it was nice to see her again.”

“that’s good,” he smiled at you. “and from the looks you both were giving to that one group earlier, i’m assuming those were the people that made high school a living hell for you?” he added. you nodded.

“yeah,” you sighed. “they were, uh, my friends, um, until-” you felt yourself starting to heat up.

“hey, it’s okay,” steve turned towards you, placing a hand on your shoulder. “you don’t have to tell me anything if you’re not ready.” he comforted you. you nodded, giving him a small smile.

“thanks.”

“of course.” he said, placing a chaste kiss on your lips.

“y/n l/n?!” a painfully familiar high-pitched voice called to you.

fuck, here we go.

you and steve turned your head to see a girl with the fakest smile on her face.

“hi alicia.” you said, trying to keep your composure. you acknowledged the other girls behind her, noticing the confused and surprised looks on their faces.

“it’s been so long!” she squealed, opening her arms. once she took a step towards you, you instinctively stepped back. steve immediately placed a hand on your lower back. “oh, there’s no need for hostility here. we’re all friends here, right?” she smiled as the other girls chuckled.

“i don’t remember you calling me your friend after you turned your back on me.” you snarked.

“that was years ago! we’re all adults now,” she laughed, clearly putting on the nice girl facade. “i see you finally got yourself a man – it’s never too late to have a first.”

“thanks,” you gave alicia a small smile, ignoring the backhanded comment. “i see that you’re still with kevin – or are you with henry now? you know, the one that dated jenny. or are you dating brad? i heard from my law firm that he and mia went through a nasty divorce. i’m surprised all of you are still friends.” you smirked as steve suppressed his laugh. the other girls gasped as alicia laughed right back, trying her best not to lose control.

“i see you still got a sense a humor. i thought you usually get less funny once you lose a lot of weight. got tired of not being able to fit into a small?” she bit back.

“maybe. but i see you still use people’s appearances as a way to make yourself feel better.” you shrugged your shoulders.

“alright everyone, let’s get this party started!” someone announced over the microphone as people cheered.

“watch this one,” alicia looked at steve. “that little mouth of her’s has always gotten her in trouble.”

“and yet her pretty little mouth turned her into one of the best lawyers at her firm.” steve spat back, which made you smile from ear to ear.

alicia gave you two one more dirty look before her and the other girls returned to their boyfriends. you felt like you could breathe again.

“i’m sorry you had to go through that.” you apologized to steve.

“don’t be sorry. i’ve never seen you snap at someone so calmly before. it was kind of scary – but also kind of hot.” he laughed.

“i’m going to have to stop you right there,” you placed your hands on his chest, laughing back. “i don’t know where that confidence came from, but i wish i had it back in high school.”

“well, i’m proud of you. you did amazing.”

“fuck yeah she did!” zoe said, walking up to you two.

“you saw all of that?” you raised an eyebrow at her.

“at least half of our class did,” she chuckled. “never mind alicia, let’s enjoy this reunion and dance until our heels break!”

almost an hour past by, and it was safe to say that you were enjoying yourself. you danced with zoe and caught up with a few more classmates before everybody was told to sit back down.

“as you guys know, it’s been ten years since we’ve walked the halls at our high school,” the class president spoke into the microphone. “let’s take a trip down memory, shall we? i had a video made filled with all of our memories as high school students. i hope you all enjoy!” she raised her glass as the crowd applauded and averted their attention to the big screen above the stage.

the video started playing nostalgic music – a remix filled with throwbacks that were popular when you were still in high school. everyone laughed as they watched videos and pictures of friend groups having the time of their lives and pranking each other.

you weren’t expecting to see yourself that much. maybe a few pictures of you and zoe, or maybe even an accidental video of you hanging out with alicia and the other girls – until more videos started playing.

“get her!” alicia yelled as the other girls threw eggs at you. you screamed as you tried to shield your body from the attack.

“please! why are you doing this to me?” you cried.

“this is too easy when your fat body is an easy target!”

“i don’t remember this from the final edit.” the class president muttered as the laughs suddenly stopped.

you gulped as the video continued on to the next clip, not noticing alicia and her friends laughing at you from their table and in the video as if it was some terrifying echo.

alicia laughed into the camera’s microphone as she filmed the bonfire in front of her. she zoomed in closer, focusing on pictures of you that continued to burn.

“that’s what you get for being a fake bitch!” mia cackled.

“just go kill yourself already!”

“can someone turn that video off, please?” the president pleaded. you felt your breathing get quicker, steve grabbed your hands.

“y/n, doll, look away.” he told you, but your eyes stayed glued to the screen as tears began to form.

“hey y/n, can i ask you something?” a man asked you. the camera’s angle looked weird. it was as if someone was secretly filming you two.

“yeah, ryan, what is it?” you smiled at him.

“i-i was wondering if you wanted to go catch a movie with me this weekend?” he nervously scratched the back of his neck.

“sure, that sounds nice!”

“great! i’ll pick you up at-” suddenly the camera got closer to you two as you heard laughs.

“i’m sorry ryan, i couldn’t take it anymore!” alicia laughed.

“w-what?” you said, pushing you glasses up as you looked at alicia and ryan in confusion.

“here’s your $20. i didn’t think you’d actually do it.” jenny laughed as she handed ryan the dollar bill.

the camera catches you crying as you ran away.

“watch out people, earthquake coming in!”

suddenly the screen went black. an awkward silence filled the room, only to be broken by familiar cackles from alicia and the rest of their group.

“y/n...” zoe said softly, placing her hand softly on your shoulder.

you couldn’t take it anymore. you got up from your seat and ran towards one of the exits, letting the cool air hit your face as tears ran down your cheeks.

“y/n!” a deep voice called out to you. you turned around to see running towards you, pulling you into his arms. you started sobbing into his dress shirt. “it’s okay. i’m here. no one can hurt you.”

“how could you still love me after knowing that i looked like that? that i was such a horrible person back then.” you tried to wipe your tears away.

“y/n, listen to me. you aren’t a horrible person – you were never one to begin with. those girls were never your friends. from what i can tell, they were fucking toxic and bullied you. they’re the horrible ones heres.”

“no one even noticed or even cared to stop them.” you sniffed.

“i know and they don’t deserve you. and who cares what you looked like back then? you’re everything i want – everything i need and i want you to see yourself the way i do.” steve said.

“can i tell you something?” your voice croaked.

“you know you can tell me anything.”

“i- the nightmare, me zoning out. they were about them.”

“oh, y/n-” steve gave you a sad look.

“i had my life together. i had a job, a place to live in, you. but then once i read that invitation, memories started flooding in and it just reminded me of how-” you suddenly stopped yourself.

“how what?”

“it reminded me of i, uh, almost tried to kill myself one night,” you felt tears starting to build up again. “i was at a bridge looking over the river, and uh, i was thinking about jumping in it and letting the waves take me away. i was so weak. i couldn’t take it anymore.” you cried. steve immediately wiped his thumbs across your cheeks.

“y/n, doll, you are a survivor – a fighter. they might’ve hurt you, but they never broke you. you win by simply living your life without them. you’ve already proven yourself that you are above this, that this did not define you.”

“thank you steve.” you smiled.

“you’re welcome doll,” he kissed your forehead. “and i’m sorry for making you come to this stupid reunion.”

“don’t be.” you chuckled.

“y/n! there you are!” you both turned your head to see zoe running towards you two. “are you okay?” she pulled you into a hug.

“i am now.” you smiled at her.

“thank goodness you’re okay. after finding out that alicia switched the video, she and those fuckers got kicked out.”

“really?” your eyes widened.

“yeah, and the whole class started cheering and went back to dancing. they were asking for you, and miss class president sends her apologies.”

“tell her it’s okay and it’s not her fault.” you told zoe as she nodded.

“well, i’ll be inside if you need me.” she smiled at you, heading back inside.

“you don’t have to go back inside, you know?” steve asked, knowing that after all the shit that you’ve gone through today, you’d probably want to go back to the hotel.

“i know. but i think i can survive the next few hours dancing. how about you?” you grinned. steve held out his arm for you.

“lead the way.”

#steve rogers x y/n #steve rogers x reader #captain america x reader #captain america x y/n

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limitededitionsanderssidesblog · 5 years ago

Text

Love Like You - Chapter 1/2

Ships: Anxceit, Logicality

Summary: Now thirty years old, Virgil has given up on romance and love and, at the suggestion of his friends, instead turns to adoption as the only means fill the hole in his heart, only to realize that he's not yet ready to be a father either. However, he's found himself growing attached to a pair of orphaned brothers and the man who watches over them.

Chapter 2

AO3 - Here

Since no seems to be writing wholesome anxceit fics, I decided to take it into my own hands.

With his thirtieth birthday one day away, Virgil has since given up on ever finding the love of his life. Oh sure, there had been a boyfriend here or there over the years, but each and every one of his relationships always came to an end. His best friend and coworker at the local public library, Logan, told him that it was estimated that most people in the state of Florida got married at the age of twenty-nine, so Virgil held onto hope that he’d met his special someone before then.

In hindsight, he should have realized that that estimate was for people who weren’t an anxious mess that pushed people away the moment any intimate action was enacted.

That meant that the years of his mid and late twenties passed in a flash of loneliness and disappointment, with no partner or happy ending to show for it. The worst part of it all was probably not the fact he was going to die an old maid, but rather that his nagging, albeit accepting, mother would never let him live it down. Virgil was her only child, and it was a miracle she even had him considering her condition, so he knew that no matter what he’d have her love. That didn’t mean he was free from her constant questioning as to when he was going to bring home a man.

He envied Logan sometimes, he and his boyfriend Patton, another good friend of his, had been together for a little over two years now and were virtually inseparable. Virgil loved the two of them, but sometimes seeing them act like a picture-perfect couple from a marriage poster made him want to go jump out the nearest window and hiss at them until his throat ran dry from dehydration and spite.

Virgil couldn’t do that right now though, because he desperately needed their help on what in the world to do about his situation.

Currently, he sat with his two best, and only, friends at their favorite diner. He and Logan had just closed up the library an hour ago, while Patton worked as an assistant at an Elementary school and got off a few hours ago. The two were again acting disgustingly cute and perfect, causing Virgil to stab a little more forcefully at his food than necessary.

“Are you sure it’s that big of a deal, Virge? I know tons of people who are dating in their thirties, and even older than that!” Patton told him reassuringly, trying to give solace that he wouldn’t take.

“Of course it is! Most of those relationships end up breaking up anyway. I’m literally one day away from being off the market forever and being alone for the rest of my life, I gotta do something!” Virgil shoving his face with comfort food to avoid a public meltdown.

“Hm, well have you thought of other alternatives to romantic love?” Logan asked from across the booth, sipping on a cup of hot tea.

“I’m not gonna do it with random dudes to feel better, Lo.” Virgil deadpanned, his face contorting with a look of disgust.

“No, I mean something like familial love.” He clarified, setting his cup down on the table and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Perhaps you’d feel a different type of fulfillment if you adopted a child.” He said as if it were perfectly normal to suggest and not at all life-changing.

“Wait, Logan, hold on-”

“Great idea Logan!” Patton chimed in excitedly, “Oh you’ll love the little ones, Virge, they’re so adorable and funny.”

“Pat, that’s not-”

“Not to mention distracting. You’ll hardly notice your lack of an intimate relationship if you're taking care of a child.” Logan added bluntly, slightly stinging Virgil’s nonexistent ego.

“Would you guys just-”

“Ah! We’re gonna be uncles! I can’t wait until they get here!” Patton rambled, cupping his face as he started to drift off into dreamland, imaging whatever kid the two were trying to push onto him.

Realizing that the couple wasn’t going to stop to give him a turn to speak any time soon, Virgil quickly slammed his hands on the table, softly, to not anger the diner staff, and stood from his seat to gain their attention.

“Who said that I wanted to be a father?” Virgil shouted, slightly louder than he had meant. A few other patients of the diner turned to look at them, but Virgil kept his eyes on his friend and tried to keep his embarrassed blush down to a minimum.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to Virgil, it was a mere suggestion,” Logan said, adjusting himself in his seat.

“Yeah, well it felt more like a decision.” Virgil fell back into his seat, pouting.

“Kiddo, it’s okay if you’re not ready, or if you don’t want to at all. But maybe bringing in a little bundle will add new meaning to your life.” Patton said warmly in his ‘dad’ voice, “If you’d like, I can go with you to the local adoption agency where I volunteer to go play with the kids. Maybe that will help?”

Virgil sat silent for a moment with his arms crossed, staring out the window to watch the cars go by on the city street. Tonight had not gone as he had expected it to, he had simply wanted to complain about his loveless life and chug down bowls of ice cream until midnight with his friends. Yet, now he was faced with a new decision in his life that would drastically alter it. While Virgil didn’t necessarily dislike kids, he just hadn’t ever pictured himself with one. Sure, he used to babysit the neighborhood kids to make extra money when he was in high school, but they were someone else’s and he got to give them back when the day was done. If he were to adopt, they’d be his and his alone. It would be his responsibility to feed them, clothe them, house them, and overall care for them.

Although, when he thought about it, it may be nice to go home to a condo that wasn’t quiet and instead filled with childish laughter. He’d have someone to spoil and treat out to meals, and also the perfect excuse to go see the latest Disney movie without feeling like a weirdo. Perhaps, being a dad would be a good thing.

“Fine, we go tomorrow at noon.” Virgil gave in with a deep sigh. A bright and cheery smile then burst onto Patton’s face, while Logan simply gave a knowing grin. “B-but that’s it, I’m just gonna play with the kids!”

Patton laughed kindheartedly and Logan gave him a small humored huff. They both knew Virgil got easily attached, it was part of the reason he chased away every single man that came near him. Because despite all his moaning about wanting a significant other and blaming his crippling old age for why he didn’t have one, it was his actually his own guilt with Matthew that kept him from ever fully committing to another relationship. All he needed was to gain a bit more confidence, and a child may just be what the doctor ordered.

The next day found Virgil standing anxiously outside the Stork Agency building alone as he waited for Patton to arrive. They had both agreed to be there at twelve, but Virgil didn’t want to risk arriving late, so he had come thirty minutes early just in case there was an unforeseen increase in traffic, an accident on the road, or anything else that might happen that would cause him to make Patton wait for him. Except now he was just awkwardly waiting outside an adoption agency looking like a complete creep. Virgil wanted to just be swallowed up by the ground and be taken away from this awkward situation, but thankfully Patton had arrived just in time to save him from his inner turmoil.

“Hey, Virge, Happy birthday! Am I late?” He asked as he closed the door to his car and ran over to where he stood on the sidewalk.

“Nah, you’re all good, and thanks,” Virgil said with a shrug and a grin.

Now that they had met up together there, the pair walked together to the front of the agency, Virgil a step behind. The agency’s building itself was small and looked like an older house. The Stork Agency was known in their city for being a place where fosters often went, actual adoption didn’t happen all too often with the children there. According to the stories, most of the children there had all come from harsh backgrounds, whether it be deceased parents or rescue from abusive households. The majority of hopeful parents looking to adopt wanted children from happier backgrounds, or wanted the child from birth, so the Stork Agency wasn’t the most funded adoption agency around, but they made do with government aid.

Patton, bless his heart, was inspired to volunteer here because of the children’s unfortunate situation and had been helping out the owner on his days off for the past year. He and Logan both would hear plenty of stories about the silly shenanigans the children got into there, and even a few stories of the owner getting pranked on. If he remembered correctly, the guy’s name was Dexter and he was in his mid-thirties, running the agency with only a handful of helpers. That kind of life sounded extremely stress-ridden to Virgil, he couldn’t fathom how the guy managed.

Walking up the porch steps to the house, Patton reached into his pocket to pull out his key to let them inside. Doubt and unrest began to flood his nerves. I’m just here to play with the kids, He reminded himself in an attempt to calm himself down, I don’t know if I want to adopt yet, I’m just going to play.

“Knock knock! Guess who’s here?” Patton announced his arrival cheerfully once they walked in.

Virgil closed the door behind them and gingerly took a look around the place. It wasn’t dark, dreary, or full of cobwebs, in fact, the living room was painted a happy yellow color, the furniture was slightly frayed, but not horribly so, and the shelves and walls were decorated with neat little trinkets and paintings. Overall, the house looked rather homey.

The second Patton called out a chorus of cheers sounded from the other room and at least four small children came running in and surrounded them, screaming Patton’s name joyfully. Patton grinned and greeted each one of them at a time and introduced them to Virgil. The children then turned their curious eyes onto Virgil, looking at him with expectant and hopeful eyes. Virgil knew the intent behind them, they all were expecting him to choose one of them to adopt today. If his life were a videogame, he’d unlock an achievement for feeling peer pressured and cornered by small children.

Virgil suddenly felt significantly less comfortable being there, with four bright-eyed and bushy-tailed three to five-year-olds all gazing up at him and circling him almost like miniature vultures, he amazed himself that it had only taken a grand total of forty-eight seconds for him to be trapped by toddlers.

Maybe I’m not actually ready for this.

“Damn it, Remus! Get back here right this instant!” A sudden yell came from the room where the children had come out a minute before, causing Virgil to flinch slightly and look up in confusion and foreboding.

Following that commanding shout, a little brown-haired boy, around perhaps ten years old, came bolting out into the living room, a large smile on his face and a bowl of spaghetti on his head. A tall, older man ran fast on his heels and chased after him into the now crowded space. The boy, Remus apparently, ran and jumped over furniture, leaving drips of tomato sauce in his wake, and found a hiding place right behind Virgil. The man chasing after the kid slowed to a stop once he reached him, finally noticing the stranger in the room.

Now that he was no longer running around Virgil was able to get a good look at the man’s face. It was nice, long, with sharp edges and cheekbones. His eyes were a soft yellowish auburn brown color that reminded him of caramel. His hair was short and neat and a simple light brown, on anyone else it would look plain, but on him it was elegant. There was a patch of different colored skin on the left side of his face, but that seemed to only add to his charm.

Virgil felt like a potato sack in the presence of such a gorgeous looking man.

“Uh, sir?” The beautiful man asked, pulling Virgil out from his distracted thoughts.

“Hm? Oh- yes, sorry!” Virgil spluttered out an apology, dropping his head to stare at his feet, realizing that he had just been ogling this guy for who knows how long.

Damn it, he must think I’m a creep. Stop it, Virgil! you’re thirty years old for goodness sake! Now’s not the time for childish pining. He must hate me now. Well, I just ruined my nonexistent chances.

Virgil’s nervous thoughts scrambled in his mind, turning his words to mush and dropping his self-esteem to negative zero. He knew he looked like a wreck and braced himself for the ridicule that was sure to come. However, he wasn’t met with the sound of disgust or cruel comments that he had been expecting, but rather a light and kind sounding chuckle.

“It’s alright, I’m sorry if we interrupted you, mister…” He trailed off, leaving an opportunity for him to introduce himself.

“Oh, uh, Virgil- Virgil Black.”

“Virgil, huh?” He said thoughtfully. Virgil prepared himself again for ridicule but again didn’t receive any. “What a nice name. I’m Dexter Serpente, owner and head caretaker of Stork.” He held a hand out, removing a rubber yellow glove, and offered it. “Nice to meet you.”

He must have just finished washing some dishes.

“Yeah, uh, likewise,” Virgil said and shook his hand, impressed by how surprisingly firm his hands were.

As they were talking and introducing themselves, Remus, who had taken refuge behind him, had begun to creep out in an attempt to make his escape. Dexter caught on fast to his little scheme, however, and quickly grabbed his shoulder as he tried to run by.

“Ah, ah, ah, not so fast young man.” He tutted and turn to the boy, taking the bowl of spaghetti from his head and set it down on the nearby coffee table so that he could clean out his hair.

“No fair! You took away my crown!” Remus complained, squirming in the adult’s grasp.

“Remus I told you before, being duke of spaghetti does not mean you get to put your lunch in your hair.”

“Yes, it does! Roman gets to have a crown of his own, why can’t I?”

“Because his crown is made of paper.” Dexter sighed, plucking the last noodle off his head. Running his gloved hand through the boy’s hair, Dexter picked up the bowl from the table and then turned to Patton, a look of relief flooding over his face. “Patton, would you mind taking Remus to the bathroom to clean up? I have to make sure the others finish their lunch.”

“Of course!” Patton smiled, leaving Virgil’s side with an encouraging pat on the back before walking over to Remus and leading him away up the flight of creaking stairs to the right of the entryway.

“I’m sorry about all that, would you like to have a seat while I finish up in the kitchen? Or would you rather spend some time with the kids?” Dexter inquired, shooing the smaller children to the room they were in before.

“Oh, no no, I’m not- I mean I am, uh, I’m-” Virgil stuttered wildly, trying to find the words to convey that he had come with the idea of adopting, but wanted to back out after realizing that he wasn’t as ready as he thought he was.

Dexter, on the other hand, appeared to understand him immediately and held up a hand to stop his rambling.

“It’s okay, trust me, a lot of people have second thoughts.” He said kindly with no ill intent, even so, it still stung Virgil.

“I’m sorry.” Virgil apologized, turning his head away in shame.

“Don’t be, fostering is hard work, it’s okay if you need time.”

Oh, he doesn’t know. Virgil realized in his head, Dexter had thought that he had just been looking to foster, not adopt. He relaxed a little knowing that, yet another part of him felt slightly saddened. Does he think I can’t handle adopting?

“You’re welcome to stay as long as you like, visiting hours end at five though. Five of our kids are in school at the moment, but you’ll be able to meet them later if you stay.” The man offered,

“I don’t know...” Virgil said uneasily, shifting back and forth on the balls of his feet and twiddling his thumbs in the pockets of his hoodie. It may not be such a good idea to stay any longer, he’d only be raising the children’s hopes if he did.

Dexter watched him and discerned what he meant, he let out a small breath but still gave him a forgiving smile. Virgil could tell that he had disappointed the man though and that in itself stung.

“I understand,” he asserted, nodding his head, “I have to go finish with lunch, but it was nice meeting you, Mr. Black.” He said with a small wave.

“You too.” Virgil raised his hand to wave back, but the other had already turned and walked away, “Bye…”

Damn it, why am I like this?

Virgil groaned loudly and hung his head in defeat, stepping over to and falling down onto the beige, loveseat couch to the left side of him, shoving his face into his palms. He knew coming here wouldn’t be a good idea, he’s not good parent material and he never will be. The only thing this visit accomplished was raising many people’s hopes only to not come through in the end. Exactly what had Logan and Patton been thinking when they suggested he do something such as this?

I’m gonna die alone, aren’t I? I can’t adopt, I’m not fit to do so. I can’t get a boyfriend either. All of my relationships end in failure. I shouldn’t even try anymore. Nothing will change, I’m gonna be an anxious mess forever. I’m too old for this.

The abrupt sound of rapid footfalls down the stairs quickly yanked Virgil back into the waking world. Looking over his shoulder, he noticed Patton heading down the old oak staircase, appearing to be in a rush, and jumped up to meet him.

“Well, I gotta go, I only managed to get the morning off on such short notice,” Patton told him, taking off a damp apron and pulling on the coat that he had been holding in his arms. Virgil stood off to the side a ways away from him, looking somber. In his flurry of action, Patton caught Virgil’s gaze momentarily and immediately stopped everything he was doing. “What’s wrong, Virge?”

“I don’t think I can do this, Pat.” Virgil confided, hanging his shoulders feebly.

“Sure you can! You love kids, you’re fun to hang out with, and you’re responsible!” Patton said encouragingly, taking a seat on the couch next to him and putting an arm around his shoulders. “But I’ve never had to deal with a kid for more than one day at a time. The kids here are all looking for someone to be their parent. They’d probably be disappointed if they got me.” He remarked depressingly.

“Virgil,” He said, tone changing, “I know you don’t believe it, but you are so much more than you make yourself out to be. If you truly don’t want to adopt, then that’s fine, but if the only thing holding you back is yourself, then just remember that these kids have been wanting a parent for years. I don’t think they’re very picky.” He told him, patting him on the back and standing back up, “See you later.”

Virgil grunted out a goodbye and listened as his friend walked away and went out the door before he dropped his face into his hands and let out a large exhale. He knew that Patton was right, as usual, but he just couldn’t bring himself to believe in his words. So Virgil conceded to his doubt and anxiety, but before he could spend too long on his train of self-pity, a sudden heavy weight fell into his lap, dangerously close painville. Virgil jolted upright and looked down to see what had just hit him, only to see a mason jar full of dirt and grass, accompanied by the strange boy from earlier.

“Here.” Remus said crawling up and sitting on the arm of the couch, resting his small head in Virgil’s lap next to the jar in what looked to be an uncomfortable position for the boy’s back, “You looked sad so I thought it would cheer you up.”

“Oh, uh, thank you?” Virgil said in puzzlement, not really sure how a jar of dirt was meant to cheer him up.

“Why are you sad? Did a trash goblin eat your family?” The boy asked, eyes twinkling with odd curiosity.

“No, that’s not it.”

“Did your favorite pair of pants catch fire?” He guessed again.

“No.”

“Did an octopus-”

“Remus,” Dexter’s stern voice cut off the boy, “Stop bothering Mr. Black and go finish your lunch before it gets cold.”

“Ugh! Fine snake man.” Remus groaned loudly, slumping off Virgil’s lap and walking away with his head hung back.

The two watched the boy walk off, one in amusement and the other in exasperation. Clearly, Dexter had to deal with this kind of behavior on the daily and had grown dulled to all of his strange oddities.

“Snake man?” Virgil asked with a raised eyebrow.

“It’s a pun of my last name since it means snake.” The other man sighed, putting his, now ungloved, hands in his pants pockets, “You stayed.” He noted.

“I did,” Virgil agreed, not sure why he did, “Ah, he’s really… creative.”

“That is one way to put it.” He huffed, walking over to the armchair across from him and taking a seat.

“You mentioned earlier that there were some kids at school. Why isn’t he with them?”

“Well, Remus is a special case, he’s only allowed on campus three days a week.”

Virgil frowned at that and looked at where the boy had just exited. A kid his age shouldn’t be restricted from learning because of his personality.

“So… how many kids are here?” Virgil continues,

“Eleven currently, there used to be twelve, but Janice found a foster family three months ago.”

“How long have they been here?”

“It’s different for each kid. Our youngest, Stephen, has been here since he was four months old, although a family is looking into him and he may be leaving soon if the process goes well.” He explained, “Then you have Remus and his twin Roman. They’re almost twelve and have been here since they were two.”

“That’s a long time to be in the system.” Virgil breathed, pitying the boys. You never would have guessed that Remus’s life would have been so rough by how happy he always looked, he wondered how it was for the other twin he hadn’t met yet.

“Well not a lot of parents want twins, and as they grow older the chances of being chosen decrease. Then you have Remus to consider.” Dexter said matter-of-factly, his voice laced with sympathy.

He could tell that the guardian didn’t mean any spite towards the boy in his words, but he could also see the slightest hint of pain behind his eyes. Virgil wondered to himself what it must have been like to raise them for so long in an orphanage.

“He’s not so bad.” Virgil murmured hushedly, trying to somehow offer his condolences.

Dexter looked at him for a moment, almost as if he was analyzing him, then looked back off into space with a grin.

“You’d be the first visitor to think so.” He chuckled, Virgil joined him, smiling into his palms. “Where’s your partner, are you going to tell them that you aren’t ready yet?”

The question caught Virgil off guard as he hadn’t been expecting it at all. He guessed that it made sense for most who came here to married couples who couldn’t have children of their own, but the question just shoved the fact that he was still single back into his face.

“No partner to speak of.” Virgil grimaced with a sour face, leaning his elbows onto his knees, closing himself off.

“Really? I’m shocked you haven’t been swept off your feet yet.”

Now Virgil definitely hadn’t expected to hear that, especially from someone of Dexter’s league. There was no way the comment had been meant as a flirt, that was out of the question. It must have been a general statement, after all, it was pretty pathetic for a thirty-year-old to still be single and spending his birthday at an adoption agency.

“I mean, there have been a few guys, but you know how relationships go.”

“Only if they’re assholes. Clearly, you deserve better.” He said gesturing his hand up and down at him. “Bet you have to chase them off with sticks,” Dexter smirked, leaning his body against the arm of his chair and crossing his legs in a way that should be forbidden for mortal eyes to see.

“I- I’m not really, I wouldn’t say-”

Then, by a blessing sent from on high above them, a call from one of the kids in the next room came bursting in, stopping Virgil in his tracks before he could make too much of a fool of himself.

“Dee! Remus is putting olives in his nose again!”

In a flash, Dexter’s cool and collected gusto fell away and was replaced with experienced panic as he instantly jumps up from his armchair to the other room.

“Shit! Sorry I’ll be right back.” He called, backed turned and unable to see the melted puddle Virgil had been reduced to.

A fluke. Virgil told himself, holding his hand to his pounding heart. Surely that had been just a fluke, a joke at best. He didn’t mean anything by it.

Even so, Virgil was on the cusp of having a heart attack all because of one small comment. He had just given up on the possibility of any future relationship, he can’t back down just because one guy appears to be half decent and wildly attractive. Besides, they say the stronger the feelings are at the beginning of a relationship, the harder the fall is. Virgil was not about to set himself up for another disappointment. And, most of all, he didn’t want to be a disappointment.

Warning bells and alarms went off in his head to run, leave this place, and never return, but another, smaller, voice told him to stay. He had come here for the kids after all, and even if he wasn’t ready to adopt or foster, he should at least stay until the others returned from school.

Loud giggles and happy screams vibrated through the house from the other room, accompanied by the sound of a very frustrated Dexter. It drew Virgil out of his pessimistic thoughts with curiosity to what the boy had gotten himself into and brought him to follow after where Dexter and everyone had gone. Nothing could have prepared him for the sight he would see at the doorway. Remus sat on the kitchen counter, nose filled to the brim with olives, while Dexter pulled at the small fruit with tweezers. The whole scene looked both disgusting and hilarious, and Virgil had to cover his mouth with his hand to keep from laughing out loud.

It seemed as if this happened quite often because it took less than a minute for Dexter to remove them all and Remus was bouncing off the counter in no time. It also didn’t take long for the boy to notice him standing there and came bounding over.

“Racoon man!” He said happily, jumping into his stomach and almost topping them over with the force he came running at.

Raccoon man? I guess I get a nickname too.

“Sorry you had to see that,” Dexter said walking over, wiping his hands on a rag.

“Nah, it’s alright. We all did things when we were young.” Virgil laughed, patting Remus on the head. “Look, I know there isn’t really a reason for me to stay, but maybe I could hang out here for a bit more? Until the others get here, of course.”

A look of surprise flashed across the other man’s face but was quickly taken over by glee.

“Certainly.” He said, welcoming him further into the room with the kids.

The children didn’t get out of school until three, so Virgil had to wait a few hours to meet the four others, but during that time he got to spend it watching the toddlers play, which made the hours go by in minutes with how quickly exhausting it became. Six toddlers, that meant constant screaming, crying, and tantrums. Virgil was a full-grown, thirty-year-old man, yet these children made him want to crawl into a closet and cry. Dexter, on the other hand, handled everything like a champ and didn’t appear fazed at all. Once more Virgil wondered how on Earth the man managed to do everything alone.

Although they were rambunctious for a long while, they did eventually all quiet down after Dexter put on some mind-numbing children’s program and set out snacks in front of all of them. The only one it didn’t satisfy was Remus, who Dexter instead gave a tablet to play games on. Still, Virgil noticed that he would switch from game to game, quickly becoming bored off all of them before returning to an old one or going to a new one.

When the time finally did arrive for the kids to arrive back from school, Virgil was quickly introduced to them all. Virgil was able to tell instantly who Remus’s brother was the second he walked in as they looked exactly like each other. Obviously, because they’re twins.

Speeding through the introduction, while trying not to look like an inconsiderate ass, Virgil went over Roman and knelt in front of him.

“Sup little dude, what’s your name?” He asked,

“I am Prince Roman Agustus Sanchez of the Stork Household. State your name, peasant.” The boy declared flamboyantly with pride, shocking Virgil with the amount of arrogance of such a small child.

Not only do they look alike, but they also act alike too.

“Roman,” Dexter said warningly, giving the boy a hard look.

“What’s your name… mister?” The boy tried again in a bored voice, head hung low. Virgil frowned slightly at this, he didn’t want him to be a little dick, but he also didn’t want him not to lose his passionate spark, so he tried to speak to him on his level.

“I am Virgil Black, Lord of the Bushnell Library,” Virgil said, with a wide, and slightly sarcastic, bow. Roman perked up at this, no longer looking so glum.

“A lord is lower than a prince, you know that right?” Roman asked him, eyebrow raised.

“Well, I’m not anything special,” Virgil uttered, ignoring the usual sting that always came with how he spoke about himself.

It’s not like I am all that great anyway.

“Okay, enough hanging out in the doorway, how about we all head out to the backyard.” Deceit clapped loudly, shooing the children out down the back hall. The children all filed out, running and shoving, while the twins walked together behind the rest.

Over the course of the day, and even just watching them right now, Virgil noticed that the two didn’t fit in well with the rest of them. Remus got along well with the toddlers because he himself acted like one, but there was still something about him that kept him away from others. Roman, on the other hand, he barely knew, but he could see the stubborn pride the boy had and how he preferred to stick close to his brother. Considering their circumstances of being raised here since such a young age, it was likely they felt like they had no one else but each other.

“They’re good kids,” Virgil commented, watching the two brothers leave.

“I know, all too well.” Dexter agreed, watching them as well. Virgil couldn't help but notice how much of a father he looked like to them rather than a legal guardian, but before he could say anything else, his phone buzzed in his pants. Virgil pulled it out and sighed, realizing that he had the closing shift at the library today. “I guess you have to be going then?”

“Yeah, work. It was, uh, nice to meet you, Mr. Serpente.”

“Dexter,” He corrected, extending a hand forth with a smile, “It was a pleasure.”

Virgil shook his hand, again amazed by how his grip could be so firm, yet so gentle at the same time. Waving goodbye to him, Virgil walked out the door and down the steps. It was strange, he had known them for only a day, yet Virgil felt like he’d miss them, both the twins and Dexter.

An idea then popped into his head as he walked down the concrete path and he quickly turned around and headed back into the house and through to the backyard where Dexter sat on the grass, watching the kids play, his head snapping up at him as he appeared beside him.

“Actually, you wouldn’t mind if I stopped by next week, would you?”

Dexter’s grin grew wider, and Virgil had to beat away at his feelings with a mental stick to not melt at how adorable it was.

“No, not at all.”

One nice thing about working at the public library was that he didn’t have to wake up at six to head to some crappy minimum wage job, instead, he got to wake up at seven to go to a decent, slightly above minimum wage, job. It wasn’t all bad though, he got to read basically any book he wanted to on his breaks or play games on the computers, although that was more of a secret exploit. Plus, with the rise of technology, the internet, and ebooks, Virgil didn’t actually have to deal with that many people than in comparison to his shitty retail and fast food job from back when he was in college. What was even better was the fact that the library closed at eight every day, which meant he never had to work an overnight shift. Although, it did get boring while he was actually on the job.

Presently, Virgil was tasked with restocking the shelves with the returned books. It was dull and boring, but listening to his typical emo bands through his earbuds help it not be so dreadful. The emo subculture may have died out when he was in high school, but Virgil was too far gone to ever make a change. His wardrobe was so full of black that it was literally impossible for him to wear anything else, except for a few purple items here and there. The library also didn’t require uniforms, although it did have a dress code, so he got to look like a depressing ball of angst as much as he wanted.

A few hours passed by the time he put the last book back into place and returned the cart to the staff room. His task now complete, Virgil looked for something else to do so that he would at least look like a good employee. Megan was currently reading to the children, so that section was taken care of; the computers were being overseen by Jack; Luke and Rosario were on the floor helping visitors; and Logan was handling the front desk, where a line was beginning to form. Quickly, Virgil headed over to one of the tellers and opened up a second line to ease both Logan’s load and the customer's frustration.

“Thank you, Virgil,” Logan said gratefully, checking out the third book from the massive pile he had been handed.

“No prob, bob,” Virgil said back, taking the book from the customer's stretched out hand.

Virgil continued to work alongside Logan until his break arrived and he switched spots with Lillian. Logan took his break along with him and they headed back to the staff room to grab their lunches. Ripping off the lid from his Tupperware Virgil put his container of noodles in the microwave and warmed up last night’s dinner. Logan, on the other hand, had a perfect lunch prepared with all the necessary dietary nutrients the average man needed to stay healthy, at least according to him.

The microwave shouted loudly to announce that his food was now heated and warmed. Virgil opened up the plastic door and took out his food, grabbed his chopsticks, and sat down to eat. It was a simple meal, but it was enough. The two friends sat and ate in silence for a period of time and Virgil was content with leaving it like that, but Logan for some reason decided to change it.

“So, how have your endeavors been with the childcare agency?” He asked, nibbling on a piece of steamed zucchini.

“Good, we’re throwing a goodbye party for little Stephen. His new family just finalized the necessary documents to adopt him.” Virgil answered passively.

“Oh? Good for him.”

“Yeah…”

In truth, it wasn’t much of a party since Stephen was only one and a half and couldn't remember anything. The other children at the house were all going to gift him with hand made cards and then they’d all have a cake bought from the store, which Virgil offered to pick up since both Patton and Dexter would be too busy with decorations and watching the kids.

Dexter had told him when they first met two months ago that Stephen was only four months old when he had arrived, so he had been there for about a year. It was a long time to be without parents any parents, but also no time at all in comparison to some of the others, especially the twins, who have been there for over ten years. Stephen was truly lucky to be getting out so soon and at such a young age.

The conversation ended there, as did their meals. Logan headed back first, while Virgil remained at the table for a few minutes more, wanting to enjoy his break as long as he could. When he finally did return to work, it was filled with that same dull drone as it always was that lasted for hours until his shift ended. But thankfully, he didn’t have the closing shift today.

Virgil went as fast as he could from the library to the grocery store to pick up the cake he had ordered a day in advance. It was a simple confetti cake with strawberry frosting that read ‘Congratulations, Stephen!’ Cake acquired, Virgil drove straight for the little run-down house to help out with the party.

For the past eight weeks, Virgil went to the Stork house at least twice a week, oftentimes just to hang out with the kids. Apparently, they weren’t allowed out of the hours except under supervision by standard order of the government agency that managed them, and since Dexter was often too busy to take them out beyond the backyard, Virgil figured that they would at least want someone to hang out with every once in a while.

As it turned out, Dexter only had one employee, an elderly woman named Alice who managed most of the financial and legal documents that Dexter didn’t have time to look over and take care of. According to Patton, the agency only received the bare minimum to take care of the kids and pay basic bills, Dexter didn’t make enough to hire any extra hands. He had been getting by from the help of Patton and two other volunteers who all came by on separate days throughout the week. That led to another incentive for Virgil to come for visits, not for any special reason or treatment towards the man, but just because he felt Dexter deserved to rest every once in a while.

Arriving at the house, Virgil pulled over to the curb and quickly checked his reflection in the mirror, but only because it was a special occasion, not because of who he would be seeing. Quickly fixing his hair and eyeshadow, making sure he didn’t put on too much, Virgil hopped out of his car, switched out of his work coat and into his patchwork hoodie, and headed for the front door, cake in hand.

Walking up to the door, he rang the doorbell and called out to be let in, “Patton? Dexter?”

Following his call, the sound of several small footsteps could be heard from behind the door and soon it was opened to reveal two of the younger kids, Christine and Mark, ages seven and five respectively.

“Virgil!” They cheered when they saw him, running up and wrapping their arms around his waist. Virgil laughed and gave them a one-armed hug back.

“Hey Christine, Mark, have you guys seen Dexter?” He questioned, following them inside, closing the door behind them.

“He’s standing right here.” Dexter’s voice came ahead of him. Virgil looked up and noticed that Dexter was standing in the mouth of the hallway watching him, dressed in one of his usual button-up shirts and black slacks. Virgil then wished he had worn something a bit nicer than ripped jeans.

“Dexter! I-I didn’t see you there.” Virgil said, standing up from his hug with the kids, “I brought the cake.”

“Wonderful, let’s set it up in the kitchen.” Dexter smiled, taking the cake from his hands and leading the way to the kitchen down the hall. Virgil followed close after, bringing Christine and Mark with him, but sent them on their way to the back room where he could see some of the other children were.

“How’s everything been going?” Virgil asked, leaning against the doorframe.

“With the party or just in general?” Dexter asked, setting the cake on the kitchen counter next to a large bowl full of popcorn, and another filled with chips.

“Uhm, both I guess,” He shrugged, stuffing his hands in his hoodie pockets.

Dexter watched him through the corner of his eye before replying, “Everything is almost ready, the kids are spread out making their cards. I invited Stephen’s new parents to come to join us, so they’ll be here in a little while.” Rummaging through one of the cabinet doors, he pulled out a packet of small paper plates and plastic forks, and placed them on the counter, “Would you mind setting the table?”

“Yeah, of course,”

“Oh, and Virgil?” Dexter spoke again, stopping Virgil in his steps, “I like your outfit today.” Dexter winked, grabbing the two bowls of junk food and walking out of the kitchen to the backroom.

A ship could have been led through the darkest night with how brightly Virgil flushed at his comment. His knees nearly gave out beneath him and Virgil swore that he was on the brink of passing out from embarrassment.

He’s just joking, it doesn’t mean anything.

It wasn’t the first time Dexter had told him something like that, and he secretly wished it wouldn’t be the last. Despite it all being just a silly joke, Virgil hadn’t been complimented like that in a long time, not since Matthew.

Virgil quickly shook that thought out of his head and recollected himself before grabbing the plates and utensils, heading to the connected dining area to set the table.

The way the floorplan of the house was set up, the kitchen dining area, and the backroom were all connected without a door in an L-shape. This meant that Virgil was able to see Dexter as he worked. He did his best to keep his eyes on his task and not let them stray, but his eyes would often betray him and drift towards the caretaker, who sat with seven kids surrounding him, trying to keep them calm and entertained as they worked on their cards. Virgil couldn’t help the smile that crossed his face at how domestic it all looked.

“Hey, Virge?” Patton called behind him, walking in from the hallway.

“Yeah?” Virgil responded walking over to him, noticing how Dexter’s eyes seemed to follow him and tried to play it off as if he didn’t.

“Everything is ready, but no one knows where Remus is. Could you check in the boys’ room?” Patton asked cradling little Stephen in his arms, patting his back as the child drank from a bottle.

“Sure thing,” Virgil nodded, giving two thumbs up as he pushed passed him and headed up the stairs to the boys’ room. Honestly, he was happy to get out of that room and be given a chance to calm his heartbeat.

Seriously, it’s pointless, I shouldn’t even think about him that way. It won’t lead anywhere.

Walking up the short staircase, Virgil went to the first door on the right where the twins and two other boys all shared a room. It was small and cramped, containing two sets of bunk beds and two dressers, leaving very little room for anything else. It only took a quick look to spot Remus sitting in the corner behind one of the beds. As he crept closer, the sight of him cutting shapes out of pieces of paper came into view.

“Hey, Remus. You okay?” The young boy shrugged his shoulders, cutting out the shape of an octopus, “Do you want to talk about it?”

The boy didn’t answer for a moment but ceased in his paper cutting, then answered, “I don’t wanna go to the party.”

“Why’s that?”

“I don’t want to scare Stephen’s new parents away,” Remus confessed crossing his arms over his knees and tucking into himself.

“You think they’d be afraid of you?” He asked in a mix of confusion and saddened shock.

“They all are. It’s why Roman and I haven’t been adopted, I chase them all away.” He cried, eyes tearing up.

Within the time that he had been there, Virgil had never seen the boy look anything but happy, with a rare bout of childish rage, it looked unnatural for him to be so sad. Virgil had wondered if the boy had been affected by his situation, but he hadn’t realized it had hurt him so deeply to the point of believing he was the reason he and Roman hadn’t been adopted.

Gently, Virgil sat down next to the boy and pulled him into a loose side hug, leaving him room to push him away if he wanted. Remus quickly leaned into him and tucked his head into Virgil’s shoulder, staining it with snot and tears, not that he minded.

“That’s just because they don’t know you, Remus. It’s easy to judge someone, but harder to know them. Someone will come along, you’ll see.” Virgil promise, running a hand through his messy hair.

Remus looked up at him and wiped his eyes, sniffing, “You really think so?”

“I do, I like you, and someone else will too.” Virgil smiled, standing them both up, “Now, come on, let’s give baby Stephen a happy goodbye.”

“Okay! Do you think he’ll like my card?” Remus asked, showing him the card he had been working on. It read ‘Hapy New Perents Day’ with little pictures of octopuses, dolphins, and unicorns. The spelling concerned him though, he wished that the school would let him go for more than just three days a week. But perhaps he could bring books to Remus from the library to help him.

“I’m sure he will,” Virgil told him, taking his hand and leading him out and down the stairs.

For now, the spelling won’t matter, Stephen is only one year old after all.

The party had begun downstairs and the new parents were in the backroom sitting on the couch with their new son in their arms. The children each took turns handing the couple the cards since Stephen couldn’t read them, and Remus quickly ran from his side to go join them.

“It seems like Remus has grown pretty attached to you,” Dexter noted walking up to him. “He really likes you.”

“He’s a sweet kid when you look past his eccentricities, he’ll make a family happy one day,” Virgil responded, watching as said boy began poking at the air around Roman, not actually touching him, but irritating his brother nonetheless.

“You truly believe that?” Dexter asked, voice becoming earnest.

“Don’t you?” Virgil shot back, wondering why he would ask such a thing.

“It’s not that I don’t, it’s just,” He paused, looking into his eyes as if he were searching for something in them, “You continue to surprise me, Virgil Black.”

Virgil blushed again, suddenly realizing just how close they were, and took a step away, clearing his throat. Dexter did the same and let the conversation drop. The air became awkward around them, and yet, it felt nice to stand next to him.

“Thank you,” Virgil whispered, wondering if he was even heard.

“Of course,” Dexter responded, and then left to greet the parents along with Patton. Virgil watched him from a distance, thinking that’s where he belonged.

Over the course of his life, he had been the downfall of so many relationships, went through so much heartache, until he eventually gave up hope of ever finding someone to love who would love him back. Yet, despite all that pain and regret, he found himself again wishing for another chance, but unwilling to risk another fracture to his broken heart. Each time he came here he left wanting to never come back so he could move on and not keep feeding his ridiculous fantasy, but he always came back for two major reasons. The twins, Roman and Remus, who had been without parents their entire lives, who he’s grown attached to; and also the owner of the house and caretaker of the twins, who threatened to squeeze his way into Virgil’s guarded heart every time he saw him.

Virgil had really driven himself into a corner this time and wasn’t sure if he’d be able to get out of it intact.

@omikkydraws @stormypain-t I’m tagging you since you both commented on my ask post earlier

#sanders sides #ts sides #sanders sides fic #ts fic #my fic #anxceit #anceit #logicality #virgil sanders #deceit sanders #patton sanders #logan sanders #roman sanders #remus sanders #adoption au

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sj-thefan · 5 years ago

Text

Surprises (Charlie Nelson x reader)

Charlie Nelson (Midsomer Murders) x reader

Warnings: alcohol, unplanned pregnancy, very fluffy.

Masterlist

Midsomer was a beautiful place to live in. Charlie had been here nearly two years and had only just begun exploring all the county had to offer. After a few months, his landlady, and coworker, Kate Wilding, had begun urging him to get out and experience the town. He had become quite monotonous, following the same routine every day.

Now, with a girlfriend of over a year, Charlie was quite happy. Not that he wasn't happy before, he was, but living with his girlfriend was exciting and comforting all at the same time. She liked to surprise him, whether it was a spontaneous date at the local fair or springing a new fact about herself on him. She also enjoyed the quiet peaceful nights where they would snuggle on the couch watching movies and drinking tea.

She had called Charlie today, while he was on the job, to warn him that she had a surprise for him tonight. He was worried. She hadn't sounded overly excited like she usually was about her surprises. It didn't help that she didn't ever warn him about her surprises. The only one that he had been warned of was her very first one, and that one had been very shocking.

They had sat at a local pub. It was their second date and they were still learning about each other. She had suggested a game. They would share a fact about themselves and if it totally shocked the other, they would take a shot. Neither had taken a shot yet, although they had only just reached the third round, she had one that was sure to make him drink.

"You being a detective is not surprising," she laughed. "Have you forgotten how you introduced yourself when we first met? You were still in work mode." He laughed, covering his face in embarrassment with the surfacing of the moment they met. "I'm DS Nelson - oh - I mean, Charlie Nelson," she mimicked.

"I think I selectively forgot that." He moved his hands away from his face, his cheeks pink. "I was so embarrassed."

"Oh, definitely. That's why I am never forgetting it." They laughed.

"Your turn." He gestured to the untouched shots. "Surprise me."

"You asked for it." She clasped her hands together, using them to support her chin. "My uncle is a detective as well. In fact, I'm quite certain he is your superior. John Barnaby."

Charlie's jaw dropped. He hadn't asked for her last name and she hadn't given it when she introduced herself. It hadn't seemed like a big deal and it wasn't, not really. It was just shocking.

"Really?" he asked, turning to see her giggling at his reaction.

"Yep. I am Y/n Barnaby, daughter of Tom and Joyce Barnaby," she spoke in a fake formality, "niece of John and Sarah Barnaby, cousin of Betty- do I have to go on or do you get the picture?"

"No, no. I get it."

"Then drink up, DS Nelson."

They laughed a lot that night, and even though the next day was awkward at work, Charlie wouldn't want to be with anyone else. Barnaby was a bit overprotective of his niece, especially since her parents were often away, travelling the world on their retirement, but even he had to admit that the two were a good match.

None of her other surprises were as shocking as that one though.

"Who was that?" Barnaby asked, exiting the witness' house.

Charlie looked up, trying to hide the worry on his face. "Just Y/n."

"Oh, what'd she want?" They walked to the car and got in.

"Just stuff about tonight."

"Ah," John hummed, before turning his attention back to the case.

Charlie arrived at home to find Y/n in the kitchen plating their dinner.

"Hello, Love," he greeted with a kiss to her cheek.

"You're late," she frowned playfully. "You're lucky I like you."

"I know." He grabbed the plates bringing them to the dining table. He pulled out Y/n's chair, leaning down to whisper in her ear as she sat. "You made sure of that last night when you screamed-"

"Stop that!" She swatted Charlie away. "Sit down and eat your supper."

He pulled away with a laugh. "So," he began, taking his seat. "What's this surprise that was so important, it deserved a call in the middle of the day."

"While," she took a bite of food, "I didn't get the news until the middle of the day, so I couldn't tell you before you left for work, could I?"

He hummed, eating his supper and waiting for her to continue. When she didn't, he tried again.

"Y/n?" He raised his eyebrows at her. "What did you want to tell me?"

She paused. She was nervous. It was big - relationship alternating big. Depending on his reaction, their relationship could be over. She wasn't ready to end things with Charlie, she loved him too much.

"I love you, you know?" she began.

He nodded. "I love you too."

His face grew serious as he recognized the severe worry in her eyes. "Have you ever thought about our future? Where we'll end up?"

He smiled softly at her. "Of course I have." He laughed lightly, standing up. "Wait one moment, love?"

She nodded as he backed out of the room. She ate a bit more as she heard him shuffling around upstairs.

He ran back down after finding what he was looking for, a big smile on his face. "I've been thinking about our future a lot, lately." He knelt in front of Y/n, taking her hands in his own. "I love you, so much. I've been waiting for the right moment," he pulled out a tiny box from behind his back, "but every moment I spend with you is right." He opened the box, revealing a beautiful diamond ring. "Y/n, will y-"

"-I'm pregnant." Y/n couldn't help herself. She had grown teary-eyed as he pulled out the box and desperately wanted to shout 'Yes!' but she had to tell him first. He had to know.

She stared at him, waiting for his reply. His gaze was blank as he comprehended her words.

Then, without warning, he pulled her in for a kiss. It was a bit awkward, him kneeling on the floor and her sitting in a chair, but they both put all the love they had for each other into it - until Y/n fell off the chair. Then they sat on the floor, giggling like teenagers.

Charlie repositioned himself, pulling Y/n into his lap and hugging her close. "I'm so happy, love. You've made me so, so happy." He kissed her again and placed his hand on his stomach. "It's unexpected, but not unwelcome."

Y/n was quiet, enjoying listening to Charlie ramble. He often did so when he was excited.

"Are you happy about this? You've been abnormally quiet." His hand brushed a strand of hair away from her face.

"I'm more than happy." She covered his hand with her own. "I love you so much." They leaned in again, meeting in the middle in another kiss.

"Yes," she whispered as she pulled back, leaving her forehead resting against his.

"What was that, love?"

"Yes." She giggled as realization filled his eyes. "I want to marry you."

He smiled, kissing her again before reaching for the box and sliding the ring onto her finger.

"I love you."

"I love you, too." Y/n stood up, reaching a hand down to help Charlie up. "Come on, fiancé. Let's finish dinner."

"As you wish, fiancée."

Hi again! Hope everyone is having a great time. Let me know what you think of it, I love hearing what you think, even if you think it’s terrible. Tell what I did good, tell me what I did wrong, or just tell me something cool! No matter what, I hope you have a good day!

Tagging people I think might be interested:

@supersonicfreddie

@queen-irl-af

@theborhapboysawakenedmywhatever

@bluesfortheredj

@writingfortoomanyfandoms

#charlie nelson x reader #charlie nelson #gwilym lee x reader #gwilym x reader #midsomer murders #x reader #pregnant!reader #surprises #fic #Sj writes

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forever-more-never-again · 6 years ago

Text

False Rumors (A Chris Evans Request)

Requested: Anonymous

Word Count: 1485

Warnings: None? Super Mushy! And funny!

Pairings: Chris Evan X Reader

Request: Could you do a imagine or series of Chris Evans and Y/N . She is the same age as Tom Holland. She joined Marvel in 2012. Tom and reader are very close (rumors of them dating just like Tomdaya). It's the last for Chris filming Captain America, he asks her if they are dating. She denies the rumors. Because Chris had feelings for her since his split with Jenny in March. She went to him in Lobby Hero and loved his moustache. Also, a headline that they are a couple no one expected.

Masterlist

“Please give a round of applause for [Y/n]!” Ellen shouted to the studio audience.

You walked out with a grin and waving your hand. Laughing slightly, you took a seat on the comfy chair across from the comedic talk show host. “No one is going to jump out and scare me again, are they?” You ask jokingly referring to two years ago when Scarlett Johansson had jumped out from the box and scared you.

Ellen laughed, “Not this time. I promise a scare free interview.”

You made a show of looking under the table in front of you and peeking behind you, causing the audience to erupt in laughter.

Ellen waved her hands, a smile on her face, “So…[Y/n]...You just finished filming your latest Marvel film. Can you tell us anything?”

You smiled, relaxing in the chair, getting into the familiar exchange of an interview, “I’ll have you now that I am not a spoiler like some of my coworkers. So sadly..I can not.”

The audience groaned in good nature as Ellen laughed.

“Coworkers like...Tom Holland?” She asked with a raised eyebrow. The giant screen behind you came alive with a picture of Tom and you hanging out on Hollywood Boulevard

a few weeks ago.

You smiled softly at the picture, “Tom is a great friend, but a horrible secret keeper.” You replied with a giggle.

Ellen smirked, “And you two are working closely on his new Spiderman movie, am I right?”

You shook your head with a smile at Ellen’s insight prodding, “My character in the Marvel universe does make an appearance in his character’s stand alone film. Since joining this amazing crew when the first Avenger film aired, I have been blessed to work with many different people on many different films. Although, my favorite has to be Captain America.”

Ellen waved her hand, and another picture popped up on the screen. This time of Chris Evans leaving the theatre of his acting show, Lobby Hero.

You smiled looking at him, even though it was just a picture, it made your heart happy.

“Your character and Chris’s have a tangled relationship in the Marvel Universe, isn’t that right?”

You nod, “Getting to work with Chris was a real treat. He really is Captain America in real life! So sweet and ready to fight for anything he deems morally wrong.” You laugh.

The audience awws and Ellen raises her eyebrows at your praise.

“You seem to hold him in high esteem.” It wasn’t a question, but you knew she would want a response.

Your smile slipped slightly, as you struggled to find the words that would be the least conscrued out of context. “Chris is just a really good guy. And He’s supportive of everyone on the cast and crew. I know that the cast was sad when he filmed his last scene and went to go join the cast of Lobby Hero.” You turned to the audience with a wide smile, “We made sure to let that cast know what a gem they had with adding Chris to their team.”

Ellen leaned back into her chair, her face growing serious, “We have a lot of questions from our Twitter tag when we released that you would be coming on our show today. Let’s read a couple out!”

You and Ellen both turned to the screen, angling your body so that the camera could still see your face.

Ellen read aloud from the twitter screenshot, “From @[Y/n]ismybae, they asked, ‘Does it ever get confusing switching from your character back to reality?’”

You sighed, “Sometimes I forget that I don’t have powers or martial art skills in real life. It’s a real let down!” You say with a laugh.

“@Sugarbabybear asked, ‘Seeing you post pics with the cast is so sweet! Who is your favorite to work with?’”

You thought for a moment, “If I had to pick one person...I would say Tom Holland. He makes filming super fun and he’s constantly joking around and making everyone laugh with his antics.”

The audience awwed again as Ellen clasped her hands to her chest. “That’s so sweet!” She exclaimed.

Pulling up another screenshot, she pointed at you, “Now this person asked the question we have all been asking ourselves the past year, @IShipItLikeFedEx asked, ‘Is it true that you and Tom Holland are secretly dating? Cause you two are seriously super cute together! I ship it!”

You smiled.

Ellen stared at you expectantly.

The audience held its collective breath.

“No. We are not dating. I’m actually interested in someone else..”

The dam broke.

The audience screamed.

Ellen gasped. “Who! You have to tell us now! Don’t leave us in suspense!”

You smirked, raising your brow in a gesture similar to the one Ellen had given you, “What?? I thought I already said I know how to keep a secret.”

Ellen groaned with a laugh, “Aww come on [Y/n]. Guys, don’t you think they should tell us?” She turned to the audience.

Another wave of people screaming and cheering for you.

You giggled, “Okay okay. Fine. It’s not like we planned on keeping it a secret for much longer. I got approval to announce it from him already.”

Ellen gasped again, “What announcement!? It’s not just a crush?”

You covered your laughter with your hand, Eyes squinting as you laughed, seeing the shock in Ellen’s eyes. You hadn’t discussed this before the show began airing, so it was a surprise to her as well as the audience.

“We have been dating for a few months now. And he knows all about the rumors of me and Tom. Tom and him laugh over it whenever we have the cast over for dinner. He actually approached me asking if the rumors were real before asking me out. And then...He invited me to the opening night of Lobby hero to watch him perform.” You said with a straight face.

The audience and Ellen lost their marbles again.

Ellen frantically waved her hand and the picture of Chris Evan exiting Lobby Hero, his mustache on full display, appeared on the screen again.

“You mean to tell us! That you and Chris Evan are dating!?” She screamed. Her grin so big you thought her face would crack. Then she calmed down and frowned at you, “Wait, what about the age difference? Doesn’t it get a bit awkward?”

You laughed, doubling over in your chair, “That’s part of the reason we wanted to keep it out of tabloids and reporters for as long as we could... so that we could get to know each other on another level without any outside criticism and statements and rumors. We don’t see age as a factor. We love each other.”

You gazed softly off into the distance, “He was such a dork when he first approached me to ask me out. Stumbling over his words, blush turning his ears pink. He thought the rumor of me and Tom dating was real but he wanted to be sure before he did something that might be taken out of context.”

Ellen and the Audience leaned forward toward you as you talked about your first date with Chris. How he had hesitantly asked you for a kiss at the end of the date. How he had asked your opinion on his mustache that he had to grow for Lobby hero.

“And? What did you say?” Ellen asked.

You giggled, “I actually think it’s cute on him. Though I didn’t mind him growing a beard along with it.”

“They said all the time that I should grow it out. So I did.”

Another voice piped up from behind you.

Jumping with a yelp, you turned and saw the subject of your conversation.

Turning to Ellen you pointed at her with a grin, “What is this?”

Ellen laughed, “I had an interview scheduled with Chris after yours.”

You jumped out of the chair and ran over to Chris, leaping into his arms.

He spun you around with a laugh before you both walked back to the couch.

Sitting next to him, you held his hand and looked up into his baby blue eyes.

He still had a mustache but it melted right into a beard making him look extra yummy.

“So you and [Y/n].” Ellen said.

Chris laughed, “Oh man.” He groaned in fake annoyance. Broken when he laughed, “Yes. I love this little fireball.” He gestured to you.

You winked at him, causing him to laugh, doing his signature left boob grab.

Leaning over when he caught his breath, you placed a light kiss on his lips.

“Awww! Young love!” Ellen sighed, “You two are the couple that no one expected, I’ll admit, but it’s just two cute now seeing it in person.”

You and Chris shared a smile. Too in love to care what the world thought.

FOREVER Taglist:

@sxph-t @mialeelavellan @rainydaysrnevergrey @platonic-plots @sociallyawkwardcircus-freak-hi @ayyidkeither @mcuimxgine @mythixmagic @chas-z @thefridgeismybestie @strangersstranger

Avengers Taglist:

@jadepc

#Avengers #avengers x reader #Chris Evans #chris evans x reader #Avengers Cast #captain america #imagine #imagines request #reader insert #ellen degeneres #avengers tower #please give credit #please give feedback

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imagine-loki · 5 years ago

Text

Giftless

TITLE: Giftless CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: 22/50

AUTHOR: nekoamamori ORIGINAL IMAGINE:

Imagine that you are Stark’s niece and you secretly share a strong relationship with Loki since he entered the crew. One day you get hurt so bad during a mission that you are about to die. Loki knows a spell that will save you and share his immortality with you but you and he will be linked forever sharing thoughts, pain, emotions…

RATING: T NOTES/WARNINGS: Also on AO3 click here

Things were fairly quiet until Fury came to talk to all of the supers (and you) one morning in March. “Listen up! This is a reminder that the producers from the Avengers movies will be on campus shooting their next film, starting today. This place will be crawling with actors, cameras, and all sorts of crap we usually don’t have to deal with.” Fury and the team let them film pieces of the movies at the tower, provided they didn’t interfere with their operations and only filmed anyone from the tower with permission and only when that person was in costume. They let you be extras and side characters occasionally, and sometimes the supers even used their powers on film to cut down on the CGI budget. You were sure Fury got something out of this, but he never said what it was. “They won’t be in the building except during scheduled times, which you’ll have plenty of notice about. Any time you go outside, you must be in costume. I don’t want anyone’s secret identities compromised. Ironman, Loki, Kat, you’re excused from that of course.” Tony’s secret identity had already been compromised, everyone knew who you were thanks to Tony, and Loki didn’t have a secret identity, nor did he care to.

Loki took you out that day to a matinee ballet. He wore his perfect all-black suit again and convinced you to wear the green dress he had gotten you. It was still just cool enough to wear it. The ballet was amazing, you couldn’t believe how effortless they made dancing on their toes look.

You were walking back to the compound from the parking lot when you were stopped by the film crew. That wasn’t atypical, they would reroute people who were in jeopardy of getting in the way of their shots. “Tom! Good! You’re already in costume, come on, your scene is up!” one of the producers got ahold of Loki and led him towards the cameras and the set that had been set up on your property.

Apparently, they had gotten Loki confused with his actor. Loki looked over at you apologetically, but let them lead him away, unwilling to harm the mortals. You followed as far as you could. You had a feeling this was going to be fun.

/How long before they figure out you’re not Tom?/ you thought at him. He turned to you with a glint in his eye and a smirk. He was going to keep the game up as long as possible.

They actually ran a few takes of the scene (how Loki knew the lines you didn’t know) before the real Tom showed up between takes. He walked straight over to Loki, thinking he was a stunt double. They were both wearing the infamous black suit of sexy. No wonder the film crew had gotten confused. They looked at each other and both started laughing after a moment when they figured out what was going on. One of them went back to doing takes of the scene, the other came over to stand with you and watch. He put his arm around you gently.

You looked up and laughed. “You’re not Loki,” you told him softly. It was Tom, the actor, not your boyfriend. You knew the difference immediately. Tom was warm where Loki ran cold due to his heritage.

Tom laughed and held his hands up in surrender. “I apologize for touching you without permission. Loki said you would find it amusing,” he explained immediately. He was a perfect gentleman after all. His accent wasn’t quite as honey sounding as Loki’s most of the time, but it was really close. They also looked nearly identical.

“It’s alright. Loki was right. It was amusing,” you replied with a warm smile. It was a fun joke. “I’m sorry about him. They thought he was you and dragged him over to do the scene. Since then…” you shrugged as if that were enough explanation. “I think he’s trying to see how long it will take them to figure out that he’s not you,”

“You’re the only one who’s noticed so far. I’m disappointed in Chris. We’ve done how many movies together? He should know better.” Tom sighed in exasperation at his coworker. Chris was the actor who played Thor. It took a few more scenes before Chris finally did figure out that Loki wasn’t Tom.

“Who are you?” he boomed in his Thor voice. “You’re not Tom!” he accused, probably thinking Loki was a stunt double.

Loki did the character’s head bow and held up his hands in surrender with his trademark smirk.

“Game’s over,” Tom said sadly. “It was a fun game too. Thank you for keeping you company, Miss -?” he asked politely, though of course he knew who you were.

“Y/N Stark,” you filled in, just as politely. You could play the game to let him properly introduce yourselves. “Trade you autographs?” you asked with a grin. He chuckled and you did exchange autographs.

“I best go rescue Loki and do my job,” he said once the autographs had been exchanged. Chris was still shouting, but it was in fun and the crew was laughing at Loki’s antics since he was showing them some magic tricks. Loki and Tom posed for pictures before work began again. The crew let you stick around and watch the taping, which was a lot of fun, especially since you got to meet and hang out with the other actors as well.

Tom came back over to you on a break between scenes. Loki summoned him a cup of tea, which Tom accepted with appreciation. “Do you two want to pretend to be me and Kelly for the next scene?” he asked while he sat with you and enjoyed his tea. Kelly was the one playing Sigyn, Loki’s romantic interest.

“Won’t the production crew get mad about being tricked twice in one day?” you asked. You were also really recognizable.

Tom shook his head. “Not on this one. You’re a dead ringer for Kelly in costume. I think the designers used you as inspiration for the character design. Trust me, this scene will be perfect for you two,” Tom said with a grin. It was far too close to Loki’s Cheshire Cat grin. You were quickly finding that he could be just as mischievous as his character. You and Loki agreed to try it and Tom went off to have a word with Kelly. She grinned and gave you a thumbs up. She came over to sit with you until the break was over.

“Tom! Kelly! You’re up!” the director called. Loki took your hand and the two of you went over instead of the actual actors. You were nervous about this trick, sure you were going to be caught. It seemed too important for you to be playing around with. You weren’t an actress, and didn’t know Kelly’s lines or anything.

You shouldn’t have bothered worrying. The entire scene was you running to Loki and him kissing you deeply. It took a couple takes to get it just right, but the kiss was a really good one and the director seem pleased, until he realized that neither of you were his actors.

“Tom!” he yelled, mock-glaring over at Tom and Kelly who were drinking tea and watching the fun. “He’s doing your job better than you are!” he called, laughing. The entire crew started laughing again.

“But they’re already dating. I figured they could do the kiss scene justice,” Tom replied innocently as he came over. He looked you over. “Great job, by the way,” he told you. “Are you going to the comic con tomorrow?” You shook your head while Loki just looked confused. Tom handed you two passes he just happened to be carrying. “Come in costume to Hall H at noon. I promise you some fun,” he told you, which was all the enticement Loki needed to go to the event.

“What is a comic con?” Loki asked as you finally walked into the compound.

“People dress up as comic book and movie characters. There’s shops and talks about the comics,” you tried to explain. It was an experience one kinda had to go to in order to understand it.

“It sounds like fun. We should attend,” Loki replied. He just wanted to see what Tom had up his sleeve, but he would enjoy the rest of the con as well.

“You’ll have to make our costumes,” you reminded him. He nodded. That was no big deal for him.

The next day you went to the convention in full costume. The same costumes you’d been in for the movie. You found Tom and Kelly in costume in Hall H just before noon. “You made it!” Tom lit up in excitement. He handed Loki a sheet of paper while Kelly handed one to you. Both of them were grinning. “Here are your lines. You’ll get the cues from Mark there,” he pointed at one of the guys at the presenter’s table. You looked over at Loki and both of you exchanged a glance wondering what you had gotten yourselves into. “We have parts to play too,” Tom reassured you. They went to go get ready for their parts while you read over you part and grinned.

This would be fun, indeed.

You stood off stage while the crowd filed in to the conference hall. You were nervous, and kept clutching on to Loki’s hand. “You’ll be fine, love. This is just for fun,” he reminded you. “There is no reason to be nervous.” You wished you believed him, but you didn’t want to mess this up. There were lots of fans counting on you and you really weren’t an actress. Loki was the one with the flair for drama.

The presenter started his speech about the Avengers movies and how well they did and all sorts of nonsense to talk about the new movie coming out. “We are currently in production on the latest installment-” The lights suddenly went out. That was Loki’s cue. He walked out onto the stage to begin his own speech.

“People of New York, look how far you have fallen!” He announced. “Look how you huddle, scared in the dark, waiting for your saviors to come. They are not coming to rescue you this day. All you have is me!” The lights came back on to reveal Loki standing in the middle of the stage. The crowd roared. “I am Loki of Asgard and I am burdened with glorious purpose. Swear loyalty to me, swear your city over to me, and you shall live in riches in my kingdom. Kneel to your overlord!” he boomed. You saw his expression that he was enjoying every moment of this. “I said KNEEL~!” He used magic to amplify his voice even more than the room should have allowed. At once the cheering roaring crowd dropped to their knees in front of him.

That was your cue. You straightened your spine, gathered your courage, and stormed out onto the stage. “LOKI!” you shouted as you stomped toward him. He looked over at you, shocked and acting sheepish and embarrassed. He gave you an elegant bow while the crowd called:

“Sigyn!”

You raised a hand to them and they fell silent at once. “Are you pretending to rule these mortals again?” you demanded of Loki.

“Of course not, my love!” he protested, rising from his bow and trying to look innocent. “I would not!”

You looked out at the crowd, glad that you was blinded by the lights and couldn’t actually see them. “Was he, dear mortals?” you asked them, calmly, sweetly, gently. They roared in cheers and applause. “There is my answer, Loki,” you replied, turning back to him.

“But, darling~” he started. You glared, your hands on your hips. The perfect picture of an insulted angry wife.

“Don’t you ‘darling’ me, Loki Odinson,” Loki went by Odinson to get the people to accept him if nothing else. “Back home with you, now!” you ordered, pointing off stage.

“My love, they need someone to rule over them!” he protested. You snapped your fingers and pointed again off stage.

“Be gone with you. They shall have their ruler,” you turned back to the crowd. “Won’t you, my dears?” They all roared in applause while Loki skulked off toward off stage, his head hung in shame.

“IMPOSTERS!” Came a roar from the crowd. The lights changed and a spotlight appeared on Tom and Kelly, who stormed up towards the stage from the back of the auditorium. There were even more cheers from the crowd as they realized what was going on. “Foolish mortals allowing yourselves to be tricked by such amateurs. I am your God. The true Loki of Asgard and you shall kneel before me!” Loki took your hand and teleported you off stage where you could watch the rest of the act from the sidelines. At the end, a trailer for the new movie was shown, and you and Loki were brought back out on stage to bow to cheers from the crowd.

“That was a lot of fun,” you told Tom and Kelly after the event, once the audience had cleared. “Thank you for letting us do it,” they both smiled and said how it had been partially the director’s idea. He thought it would be good publicity. You ended up getting Tom’s and Kelly’s phone numbers and friending them on social media, promising that you’d keep in touch, especially through their production of the new movie on location. They were great fun to be around. You found you couldn’t be terribly surprised that you’d become fast friends with them already.

#Loki #Lover #Submitted fic #submission #giftless #Nekoamamori #chapter 22

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sooghostwriter · 5 years ago

Text

Bodyguard

Pairings: Do Kyung Soo x OC

Genre: Mature, Romance, Angst (But not love angst), fluff

Warnings: Main character under trauma.

Summary: Ae Ra is a singer who has been receiving threatening messages and letters for a while now, but she didn’t give them importance. Until one day the sender decides to act and kidnaps her. It’s then when her agency decides that she needs protection, so they hired two bodyguards for her. Mister Do and Mister Park.

Chapter 9

She was back at her house two days later. An intern from her agency made sure to keep her house fresh, the plants watered and her fridge full. It wasn’t too hard to go back to her normal life. At least inside her house. She really missed her bed, her studio, her garden, and even her furniture. She even was able to sleep alone. At least the night of Chanyeol’s shift.

By the third day she decided that it was time to start facing things. She wanted to end this issue as fast as possible “Mister Lee Joon Young in now been questioned by my partner and the psychologist” It felt weird to finally know the name of that man. She wasn’t sure if it was a good weird or bad weird “I was at home once and I saw her perform on stage” She read on his statement “And I could see it. Her body language, the way she looked at the camera and her lyrics, she was calling for an uprising so her twisted ideas could reign, followed by a horde of innocent people who would do everything she said, they are all organized, ready to attack at any moment” Ae Ra couldn’t believe what she was reading “We ask him what his sources were, with the excuse that we needed to investigate it so we could press charges against you, he gave us a list of websites, hashtags, usernames, etc” He stopped and sighed in frustration “They were all fansites, blogs dedicated to you, fan accounts, and the words they used to refer to you are Queen, goddess , and everybody professed rather feverishly they love and blind trust towards you, acting like a cult, this only feed is fantasy” Chanyeol and Kyung Soo were showing their anger in different ways. Chanyeol was holding his head between his hands, shaking it in disbelief. Kyung Soo was laying back, his arms folded across his chest, and a leg bouncing in exasperation. He looked so mad that it scared her. It was tragicomic, Minseok always joked about how every fan meeting looked like mass, someone took it literal “That’s all we have for now, he believes he is in the right, so his attitude towards us is of course not the best, but he already confessed, everything is there, so we don’t need you to meet him, not until the trial at least” That was a relief. She was ready to face him, but that readiness was a lot of fake it until you make it. She was still terrified by him. And she didn’t even know what he looked like. The detective walked them out of his office and engaged in a light conversation with them when they heard a small commotion ahead. Ae Ra stopped on her track, instinct maybe, and Chanyeol and Kyung Soo stood behind her. A couple of policemen walked in front of them, talking in their radios, and a couple of steps behind, two more cops walked by holding a handcuffed man. Ae Ra looked down out of respect and watched the three pairs of feet walked by, but one of them stopped “Ae Ra” A male voice called quietly “It’s you Ae Ra” He said louder this time, almost shouting. She looked up, she knew she shouldn’t have to, she should have taken a step back. But she didn’t, she looked up and met the eyes of the men calling her name. Lee Joon Young. He was tall, with long limbs, gaunt, and his skin lacked any shine or color. His eyes were red and big. He stared at her without blinking. He kept struggling, trying to free himself from the grip of the policemen, moving closer to her. She wanted to move away, but her legs didn’t respond “Let me go so I can finish her!” He shouted right on her face, but before she could move away, Kyung Soo pulled her behind him and rushed on his direction. Chanyeol was quicker this time and grabbed Kyung Soo, passing his arms under his armpits and over his chest. Kyung Soo tried to charge again, but Chanyeol stopped him. Joon Young began laughing, a loud, terrifying laugh “Look at that, your toy boy is here!” She was sure she felt the same rush of anger that Kyung Soo felt, wash over her. She took two big steps, but Chanyeol stopped her too, grabbing her by her jacket, stopping her from taking one step closer. She was furious, him calling Kyung Soo like that remained her of the times he tried to hurt him. She wasn’t going to let that happen again. She tried to take her jacket off so she could move, but Chanyeol noticed it and pulled her again, making her lose some balance. Only then Kyung Soo looked away from Joon Young and moved her attention to Ae Ra, worried that she could fall. At the same time, the two policemen were able to control Lee Joon Young and took him out of the place. Chanyeol didn’t release his friend or Ae Ra, just in case “You two are making a scene, let’s go!” He grabbed them both by the arm and walked them back into the detective’s office.

A couple of days later, Mister Min arrived at her house with her lawyer. Kim Junmyeon looked as young as he was, and she liked that. Maybe he wasn’t very experienced, but he had the ethics that only youth gives you. And if Mister Min brought him, it meant he was good. Mister Min, Junmyeon, Kyung Soo sat at her dining table with her, cups of coffee at hand and folders with police reports inside “Lee Joon Young confessed all his crimes, although he didn’t really need to, his fingerprints were found on the gun that was used to shoot you, his car and motorcycle matched the ones seeing on the footage, and we are going to use that, but he sustains that it was a favor for our country, the defense is having a hard time” “What about Jin Tae Ri?” “Well in her case, she has a record, she recognized that she attacked you in the bathroom and broke into your house, the bathroom attack was a femicide attempt, which will give her the highest sentence and she was also an accomplice all the way” She was asking about that, sure, but she was worried about something else “What Miss Ji is really worried about is their mental state, Miss Jin has a story of substance abuse and Mister Lee has a diagnose of schizophrenia” Kyung Soo was able to put into words what she was really worried about. Junmyeon was worried about sentences and how many laws they broke, and it was great because he was a lawyer. And Ae Ra was conscious about how much they both hurt her and affected her these last months, but she also knew that it was something beyond their control. So they couldn’t pay for what they did as everybody does. And also, they got Kyung Soo in the middle. That wasn’t going to go unnoticed. “Miss Ji, I can ask for a number of years…but the prosecution needs a stand on that matters too, I understand your position and I support it, and I can promise you that I will try to help you, helping them” That was all she was asking for “Thanks Mister Kim” He smiled warmly at her and kept informing them about the curse of the case.

+++

After weeks, she stayed by herself at her house for the first time. She missed the company, but she didn’t feel lonely or scared. One time a bird clashed with her kitchen window, and she almost called the police, yes. But after she took a couple of deep breaths, as her therapist recommended, she was back to normal. Therapy was doing wonders. And not only in the matters related to Jin Tae Ri and Lee Joon Young. She now had new weapons to come back to her idol lifestyle. She learned that she didn’t need everyone’s approval, that resting was necessary, that her own image couldn’t be based on how people saw her and that she didn’t own an explanation to anyone regarding her life. Most specifically her private life. She realized that therapy will become a health necessity for her, like the 6 pills of vitamins and supplements she took every day.

Kyung Soo arrived a bit after dinner time “I thought today was Chanyeol’s shift” She commented as he great her at the door, kissing her warm cheeks and giving her a long hug “It was, but we reached a deal” A deal was kind of a big word. He simply told Chanyeol that he was going to Ae Ra’s house, and he only agreed. He grabbed her hand and walked her inside the house into the living room. He sat in the couch and patted the spot beside him. Ae Ra sat as close as she could and passed her arms around his waist resting her head on his shoulder “Did you eat? I cooked some pasta like you taught me” He regretted the bowl of Udon he ate, he wanted to try her food “Don’t worry, I ate with Chanyeol before I came here” He embraced her back, pulling her even closer and kissed the top of her head “Ae Ra, Chanyeol and I had a meeting today with your boss and our boss” “Our bosses, remember we are coworkers” He laughed softly and ruffled her hair “Right, I forgot, well, a lot of things came from that meeting” He prompted her to move so he could look at her when talking about this matter. She released him from her hold but grabbed his hand. He was pleased with the skinship “Tell me, tell me!” She asked eagerly “First, your agency will be hiring the services from our agency permanently for you and your colleagues, which got us two big bonus checks” He was going to be able to afford a new mattress and a better oven “Congratulations!” “Thank you, also, we talk about our contracts” He saw the change on her face. From happy too wary in a second “You are going to have a bodyguard from now on, that will accompany you only in public appearances” “And is not you” She guessed “And is not Chanyeol” She was right again “Is a colleague and friend of us, Jongin” Her expression softened a little bit “If he is your friend, I guess is alright, when is he starting?” “After your trial” Now she was free of tension “You wanna see him, I’m sure I have pictures with him” He fetched his phone from his back pocket and searched for a picture. He found one of Jongin and Chanyeol at the new year party of the agency in full suit. Ae Ra’s eyebrows went up “Is he going to protect me with how beautiful he is? Is he planning of dazzling people?” He laughed at her comment and looked at the picture again. He did look quite dazzling “Don’t look at him too much, you could end up falling in love with him” He joked, bringing up their inside jokes “Impossible” She leaned forward, tilting her head, her eyes focused on his. He knew that look. He liked that look. He grabbed her strongly by her waist, pulling her on his lap. He wrapped Ae Ra’s body with his arms, nosing her neck taking in her wonderful scent. She circled his neck with her arms and caressed his back and head absentmindedly. He felt like taking a nap. Ae Ra always talked about how he was a strength for her. How he brought her peace and calm. But she had no idea how peaceful felt to be in her arms. How healing her warmth was. And it wasn’t that he was particularly stressed, but the world always drove him a bit mad. Too much noise and too many things going around. But being with Ae Ra felt as if she was stopping time, and he had time to breathe.

++++

She met with Mister Kim several times before the trail. He always came in with new information. He confessed that this was the first time he worked almost hand in hand with the prosecution “Next week we will present our evidence, they will say that it was all product of his schizophrenia and her drug abuse, and then we will ask for a sentence that the judge has to approve” “What sentence are you asking for?” “15 years…that’s the minimum” He clarified, but still it sounded like so much “He hasn’t been very collaborative with his lawyer. They could lower if he accepted that he is sick and needs treatment for example, but he isn’t doing it yet…in fact, he keeps repeating that you need to be put on trial” Ae Ra was worried about that. She had to be at the trail. And if he kept acting as he did before when encountering her, the situation wasn’t going to be pretty “What should I say? If I get ask if I am sending secrets messages through my music and all that, what should I say?” Junmyeon gave her a funny look. And when she heard what she just asked, she felt stupid “Ok, I know what I should say, no, of course, but how?” It was an honest question. Did she need to be calm? Or be emphatic? Maybe giggle before answer because it was a stupid question, should she bring proof that she wasn’t a dictator? “If they ask you, just say no, explain what your writing process is, what you write about, actually Joon Young told the police which are the songs with subliminal messages” He pulled a list of ten songs from one of the folders. They were all singles, of course “This is insane, this two are about summer, this one is about partying, this three are about not giving up and the rest are love songs” Junmyeon asked her if she wrote all of them. She did. He recommended her to bring the drafts for the songs, notebooks, etc, so they could have it on hand. Just in case. Their meeting went on for two hours. He had to go to the police station for the last bit of proofs “Miss Ji, we can’t make him go through therapy before the trial, I wish we could, I will do my best so you both have a fair trial, but you have to remember that justice is here for a reason” “Why are you telling me that?” “Your manager and bodyguard told me that you could be thinking of drop all charges on him” Those bastards, how could they read her so well “Don’t worry Mister Kim, I will not do that, I trust you” He bowed at her smiling, and then left. A couple of minutes before he left, she got a message from him – Sorry, forgot to tell you that the trial is set for next Friday – She had to run to the bathroom for the sudden nausea she got.

+++++

She wasn’t surprised when she arrived at the court and a sea of reporters rushed to her. Chanyeol and Kyung Soo stayed next to her, unwavering. She didn’t answer any question as instructed by Mister Kim and walked inside the building. Head up, as Kyung Soo instructed. She was amazed at how she didn’t fade, even after not eating for almost a day. Her anxiety got the best of her and only water could go down her throat. Any solid thing was immediately rejected. It scared her a little bit. This was worse than on other occasions. She even had a pregnancy test, because of nausea. The idea of having to relive everything that happened in the last months. Every fear, every encounter disgusted her. Mister Kim promised her that she wouldn’t have to talk more than necessary, after all, there were proofs that spoke for themselves. But having to hear everything, as if someone was reading a horror novel to her, wasn’t appealing at all. Chanyeol, Kyung Soo, Mister Min, Sehun, Minseok, Baekhyun were witnesses. Specially Kyung Soo and Chanyeol since they were there at the worst attacks. She sat next to Junmyeon as a couple of journalists allowed at the courtroom arrived. She could recognize two girls from her fan site, a small group of people wearing t-shirts with her name on it and people from her agency. Time passed so slowly. Junmyeon told her that in 10 minutes Lee Joon Young was going to arrive. But those 10 minutes never passed. And then he arrived. And suddenly everything happened very fast. First thing Joon Young does when he arrives is lock eyes with her and grin menacingly. She looked away immediately and found Kyung Soo’s eyes looking at her. He looked peaceful as always. He smiled softly at her, and involuntarily she smiled back. How not to. And he did that for the rest of the trial until it was his turn to give a statement. Lee Joon Young remained quiet the entire time. When Chanyeol and Kyung Soo testified, Mister Kim asked them very specific questions, then the prosecutor did the same and Joon Young stayed quiet the entire time. Smiling sometimes, nodding or talking to himself. Ae Ra avoided his figure. He only looked at whoever was standing in the witness stand. She didn’t quite listen to what they were saying though. It was self-defense. The last one to give his statement was Mister Min. Ae Ra couldn’t avoid listening to him. He spoke seriously, but every word was charged with a fatherly feeling an emotionality. Once he was done, the defense had their turn. It all went as Junmyeon told her. The prosecutor did what he could with what little he had. He didn’t deny any accusation. And when he reached the motive for the attacks, his tone was apologetic. But the whole room reacted. Her agency never published the whole story. They all knew Ae Ra took the hiatus for the attacks, but no one knew who was attacking her, or how. The angriest ones were her fans. The small group that made it to the courtroom complained loudly at the lawyer and Lee Joon Young. She could feel the shade they were sending them. The defense finished and the judge called for a twenty minutes recess and left the room, so he could come back with the verdict. The police took Lee Joon Young to another room and Ae Ra went to sit between Chanyeol and Kyung Soo. He grabbed her hand and hid it under his coat, meanwhile Chanyeol and Baekhyun distracted her with silly comments. Junmyeon looked confident and it was contagious. She was feeling positive all of the sudden. This could end up soon and in the way she hoped. Twenty minutes passed. This time faster, and they all went back to their sits. The judge, a middle-aged man who looked bored started going over the case. Pointing out the facts, how believable the evidence presented was “After considering the evidence showed to me, listen to all the witnesses and considering the mental situation of the accused, besides him not being able to recognize it, I came to the decision that Mister Lee Joon Young will be sentenced to 15 years at psychiatrist facility designated by this court, where he will receive the treatment he needs to overcome his situation, but also serve his sentence for the several times he broke the law. Because even if the history that his mind was making up about Miss Ji and her intentions for the citizens of South Korea was true, killing her was never the answer. As she came to justice to clean this situation, he should have done the same” He hit the table with his hammer, and everybody stood up as he left. Joon Young lost it there. He started shouting that he wasn’t crazy and that she needed to be erased from here. Before he could keep shouting and getting himself another charge, two big bulky officers came and almost lifted him from the floor, taking him out. Hearing Joon Young’s loud voice scared her again, and she was sure the memory of it will keep making her jump in shock. She could hear him shout outside, until the sound was a low hum. No one celebrated. No one clapped. And she was thankful for it. Her fans didn’t try to talk to her out of respect, but she made sure to thank them for being there. She answered a couple of questions from the journalist but cut it short since she was planning on giving a press conference. After everybody left only her friends and boyfriend stayed with her. They didn’t congratulate her nor celebrate. They only hugged her and patted her back. There was nothing to celebrate really, so she was kind of relieved by her friends’ actions. They took their time to go out, although time wasn’t going to help. The journalists outside the court were able to wait for her under heavy rain if it was necessary. They resumed their positions and Chanyeol and Kyung Soo sandwiched her and walked outside, pushing back every daring journalist and photographer that came too close. She jumped inside the van, and went to the back seat, feeling exhausted “Now go straight home, take a bath, eat and then go to bed, we need you strong for tomorrows trial with Jin Tae Ri” Right, it wasn’t over yet, she thought, falling asleep on the back seat.

++++++

After the two trials, she stayed at her parents’ house for a couple of days. Her house was still surrounded by journalists. It was a very emotional visit. She didn’t inform them about all the things that happened to her this past month. She forbid them to go to the trial or google her and they obeyed. That’s why when she told them everything that happened, they broke into tears, especially her dad. She spend some good thirty minutes being hugged by them. Just like that time when she was 10 and broke her arm, they didn’t know what else to do to comfort her, to make the pain go away “But there is no more pain mom and dad” She assured them “And that’s the next thing that I want to talk about with you both…Kyung Soo you can come in now”. When Kyung Soo was driving her to her parent's place, she dropped the bomb “Since we are visiting them and is your shift, I will tell mom and dad that we are dating” He almost crash with the car ahead “Can you wait until we stop working together?” “Why?” “Well…what are they going to think about me? We started dating, we work together and we pretty much live together, that makes me look like a horrible man” She giggled and hold his hand “My mom already knows about us, and she doesn’t care, my dad is going to be busy thanking you for taking care of me and all that, don’t worry they are going to love you, and also, they are modern people, they got married after I was born and my mom is 7 years older than my dad and she was his boss at the company they worked” “I…ok…yeah it’s like us” “It’s not like us, because she was his boss and we are…” “Coworkers, yes, we are coworkers” He interrupted her, sounding exasperated but still smiling. He wasn’t smiling when he came to their living room though. He was dead serious, he was good at that. She gave him a signal to relax, but he ignored her. Kyung Soo sat on the sofa in front of them and remained silent “As mom already knows, so I guess dad you are informed too, Kyung Soo and I are dating” Kyung Soo bowed until his chest almost touched his knees. Ae Ra stood up and sat next to him, she didn’t like how lonely and sorry he looked there by himself “I’m aware of your relationship…I’m glad you brought him, we are going to have a couple of days to know each other better” “I’m sorry we have to meet under this circumstances Kyung Soo” Her mom spoke to him softly, smiling at him “I’m sorry I didn’t come here early ma’am” “Oh, those are silly details, don’t worry” Her dad got up and stood in front of Kyung Soo, signaling him to get up too. He did so with military obedience, and her dad immediately catch him in a hug “My wife told me all the great things about you, I know how much you have done for our daughter, I’m glad I can call you son from now on” She always knew she got her talent with words from her dad. After the crying and after her parents finally left Kyung Soo alone with all their hugs, she was able to get her boyfriend back and go for a walk with him. It was already dark outside and there were very few people on the streets. Kyung Soo bought two coffees and they walked for almost three hours around the neighborhood. She showed him her high school, her old house, the place where she took piano lessons since she was six, the laundromat where she worked for the first time “And last, the next year I was hired by my agency, the owner plays one of my records every day” “Were you a good employee?” “Of course I was…although one time I was careless and a red sock went inside a charge of white clothing…thank god it was my dad’s clothing, he wore pink shirts and t-shirts for months” Kyung Soo broke into a goofy laugh, his apple cheeks glistening in the night lights. It was so nice to see him laughing like that again. It felt like in the past week everybody around her, including herself, were pained, or pitying and Kyung Soo wasn’t the exception. She knew why, she wasn’t going to blame him. He was always the one giving her calm and reassurance, but he was as human as she was, and he was only worried for her. But know everything was over. Jin Tae Ri and Lee Joon Young were sentenced, and they were going to receive the help they needed. Her agency was taking care of the press and arranging her press conference, and finally her marvelous fans were taking care of all the hate she could get in social media. Now her only worry was to go back to her normal life. She got a text from her mom telling them to go back home for a midnight snack, so they turned around and walked back, holding each other by the waist, sharing some warmth. It was three in the morning when they went to sleep. Her parents went to their room, Kyung Soo got a futon on the living room and she went to her room. She didn’t go to bed immediately though. She waited until her parents were asleep, to snick out of the room to the living room. She found him in bed already, but still awake “Ae Ra, go to sleep” He told her from under the covers “No, I want to cuddle, move” She got under the covers and pushed Kyung Soo to the side until her body was firmly pressed to his. Despite the initial response, he immediately enveloped her in his arms, kissing her nape “What if your parents come in?” “They are already sleeping, nothing can wake them up” He hugged her tighter, so she imagined he had already given up “I like your parents” “They like you” “Thank god, so we are really doing this? Dating?” She turned around in his embrace, curious “What do you mean? We have been dating for almost a month now” “Yes, but now you introduce me to your parents, so is very official” He was right, kind of “Actually, we haven’t informed my other parents yet, my agency” Kyung Soo cursed under his breath “Look, I will take care of that, but only after Jongin starts working with me” “So this Monday” “That soon! Today is Thursday!” Kyung Soo covered her mouth, but it was too late, with some luck, her parents wouldn’t hear her yelling “If it helps, tomorrow Chanyeol will be with you, but I’m going to take Saturday and Sunday shift” That did help, a lot “And then on Monday Jongin will take over, but since you don’t have a schedule until Friday, Chanyeol and I will guide him through some stuff at your house and agency, so for some days you are going to have three bodyguards” Not bad, she thought “Kyung Soo, I still have to talk with my agency, but for the time being, I prefer us to keep dating in secret, I want to avoid any situation where you could get hurt, some fans can be very rude and hurtful, you don’t deserve going through those things… at least meanwhile all this fades off” “Whatever you want Ae Ra, I want the best for us, especially for you, I can only follow what you say in this matter, you know best, so whenever you feel ready, open up about us” She felt a burn in his heart, not a bad one. It was just a burst of something. That burst she felt whenever she saw him, but it was stronger when he said those kinds of things. Words of understanding, support, care and love. She planted a chaste kiss on his lips, because what else does one do on those situations. He smiled and she knew she did well. She caressed his cheeks, his cute ears and head “Are you willing to be kept in the shadows? I can’t tell the world about you, I can’t even take you out on dates” As she asked him, her voice broke. He was alarmed for a second, but then smiled at her again, returning her caresses “I don’t like going out that much either” She moved her hands away from his face and hugged him. His lips pressed against her forehead, hers resting on the base of his neck. Kyung Soo whispered different words of love until she fell asleep.

The next morning she was awakened by her mom “Ae Ra, wake up and go to your bed before your dad comes in, poor Kyung Soo would be mortified” She followed her mom’s order, half-awake, half asleep and was able to release herself from Kyung Soo’s grip. She saw Kyung Soo move peacefully on his sleep. It was still 7 in the morning, he still had some minutes of sleep left. As she closed the door of her room, a strange feeling settled in her chest. This peace and this homely feeling they have been sharing all this time were coming to an end. She was on her way to come back to her normal life. To the busy schedules, the airport life, the rumors and the lack of privacy. And despite all the things Kyung Soo told her that night, one could never know how he would actually feel when rumors of her dating another celebrity came out, or when she cancels dates, when she was so physically and emotionally exhausted that she didn’t want to see anyone or when the first possessive fans started attacking him. She trusted that he was brave and that he loved her. But this wasn’t about her. She was terrified of the mere thought of him getting hurt.

___

Note: After watching police show after police show (Bones, The Mentalist, Brooklyn 99, etc). After watching so many dramas with lawyers on it (Suspicious Partner, Lawless lawyer, While you were sleeping, etc) here I am forgetting every single term and how the law works. Fuck it.

Next week, last chapter!!

#Kyungsoo #kyung soo #do kyungsoo #d.o #exo fanfiction #d.o fanfic #exo fanfic #do kyung soo #kyungsoo fanfic

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spidey-babe-parker · 6 years ago

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Fragile Line

chapter 5:

oh, holding my breath

Inspired: Beauty and the Beast

Featuring: Bucky Barnes

warnings: angst, tears, sadness, oh and yeah smut happens... finally.

an: So it’s been forever and a day, and I’m sorry about that. There might be one more chapter of this if people like actually want epilogue chapter. Also Infinity War totally didn’t happen in this story for many reasons.

I’m starting almost done with a Drunk Bucky Barnes college au mini series, that I’m trying to finish so that’s going up soon. Oh and the next next fairy tale inspire story is going to be the modern day little mermaid story with Steve Rogers and Bucky is going to pop up in that.

Series Masterlist: links are broken, the series masterlist is in my masterlist. The link is in the bio.

Lydia listened to what Steve has told her to do. She got down to Amsterdam and checked into a hotel with nothing but her duffle bag and purse. She watched as the feud between Iron Man and Captain America played out in front of the world.

After the constant coverage it got to the point, she couldn’t watch it anymore.

She couldn’t believe all of this seemed to be happening over Bucky. Who was being framed for something he didn’t even do.

She went into to town to find a bookstore so she could find a something to reader to keep herself distracted. She avoided seeing newspapers or watching TV. She didn’t want to read the horrible things that everyone was saying about Bucky Barnes. She saw over and over again he was being referred to as the assassin the Winter Soldier. She couldn’t wrap her mind around the fact that some people considered him to be a killer. The man who rescued her who seemed more afraid of himself didn’t seem like the man who would kill people. She knew he had a dark past but she knew he didn’t have any control over who he was or what he did. He wasn’t the monster they were making him out to be.

It had been two weeks since she last saw Bucky, and she missed him. She missed constantly having him around even if they didn’t talk much. She just felt safe being around him and she like his presence. On the fifteenth day they had been apart she opened the door to her hotel and found a flip phone with a text on it. It simply read “meet me at the café rose at 8:30am”. She didn’t have a doubt in her mind that it was Steve finally coming to let her know she could leave. That night she nervously sat around. She was worried Steve was going to tell her something bad happened to Bucky. That night she didn’t get much sleep, she tossed and turned and a dream about being with Bucky again.

She got dressed and headed into town in the early morning. At eight thirty she walked up to Café Rose to find Steve Rogers sitting outside with a baseball had on and sunglasses. Slowly she walked over and sat down across from him. She could tell something was wrong, he just looked sad.

“Morning,” he softly said.

“Morning,” she replied not exactly what else she should say. She hadn’t ever talked to Steve outside of the time Steve found her in Bucky’s apartment.

“Before you ask, he’s safe and hidden away from everyone,” he looked over at the girl who seemed to be on the verge of tears right in front of him.

She let out a soft sigh and nodded her head knowing that him being hidden away was for the best.

“He’s not hurt at all?” she asked knowing there had been a big fight in an airport in Germany.

Steve sighed and her heart dropped at the thought of him being hurt. “He got pretty beat up and his metal arm gotten taken off.”

She gasped and reached up to cover her mouth. She suddenly wanted to cry at the thought that he lost his arm again. “Is he okay?”

“Yeah he’s fine I took him somewhere where he can get a new arm and he’ll be okay,” Steve sounded so calm and it was making her feel better about the situation.

“Where is he?” she asked.

Steve let out a heavy sigh and looked down at the table that had a coffee sitting in front of him, “Lydia I can’t tell you that unfortunately. I can’t let anyone know where he is. I can only keep him safe if nobody knows where he is.”

She knew he wouldn’t be able to tell her, but there was a part of her that wished he could, “is he still having nightmares?”

He shook his head, “no he won’t anymore. Where we took him, they’re going to fix him and take away what Hydra put in his mind away.”

Her eyes grew wide and started to brim with tears, “please tell me you’re not gonna wipe him.” She felt bile crawl up her throat at just the thought of someone wiping Bucky again, when he was just getting some of his memories back.

Steve’s own blue eye grew wide as he reached across the table and placed his hand on top of hers, “oh god no, I will never let that happen to him again.” He paused for a moment. “Were trying to get him back to being normal Bucky. I don’t want them to ever be able to trigger him again.”

She nodded her head trusting Steve. From what she had read in the last two weeks, Steve and Bucky were childhood best friends. She knew that he cared for Bucky as much as her.

“What happens from here?” she asked knowing that Bucky was never going to be in her life again. It was finally time for her to go home to the states for a while. She just needed to hear what Steve thought she should do.

“I’m going to go into hiding and you should probably leave Europe for a little while. If anyone ask about your time in Romania don’t let anyone know you knew who he was.”

“Okay will do.”

-&-

She had been home back in the states for about two months. She moved back into her parent’s house. When she first came home, they asked her loads of questions of about her time in Romania. She didn’t tell them much other than she worked in a café. She worked on restarting her life back in the states. She had just started working at a coffee shop in her town. Her life was simple and she knew that, but since coming home she felt like something was missing. She knew it probably had to do with the fact she never actually got to say goodbye to Bucky. The last time she saw him was the morning in the safe house after they shared a kiss. She had fallen in love with the man that saved her life, and now here she was having to live her life acting as if she had never met him.

She often heard people talking in the coffee shop about Steve Rogers and Tony Stark. Every time she heard Steve’s name, she would help but listen in at the thought that maybe they might mention Bucky. After everything had originally happened Bucky’s picture was plastered across magazines most of them referred to him as the Winter Soldier one of the deadliest assassins to live. It always made her sick to her stomach reading about him, because she knew the Winter Soldier wasn’t truly Bucky. That was who the people who wiped him turned him into. She hated that people didn’t know the Bucky she knew, and they never really would.

Three years later

Sitting in the kitchen at her parent’s house she was listening to her parents talking about her birthday that was tomorrow. She hadn’t even actually thought about her birthday her mind had seemed to be in other places recently.

“What are your birthday plans Lydia?” her mother asked grabbing her attention.

“What?” she looked up from her coffee that was sitting on kitchen table in front of her.

Her mother gave her an unamused look as she knit her eyebrows together, “Lydia have you even been listening to me or your father?”

“Sorry I zoned out,” she picked up the large cup of coffee and brought it up to her lips. Her eye looked at her mother who gently shook her head at her daughter.

“Did you want to have dinner tonight with us?” she asked her daughter.

Nodding her head, she gave her mother a half smile, “yeah I’m going out tonight with some friends and people from work tonight. So, tomorrow is perfect.”

-&-

Walking into the crowed bar with some friends and coworkers, she couldn’t help but wonder if she made a mistake by going out. She wasn’t ever a person who enjoyed going to crowed bars, and she wasn’t sure why she thought going to one with all her friends to celebrate her birthday would be a good idea.

Standing at the bar next to her friend Allie she was listening to her go on and on about her cousin who she thought would be a great match for Lydia. Allie had been a friend of hers since high school, and she was on a mission to find Lydia a man, even though she had told her often she wasn’t interested in dating. Allie like everyone else had no clue about Lydia’s time with Bucky. She just assumed that Lydia didn’t want to take because of her terrible break up before she left to move to Romania.

“Lydia you and Kyle would get along amazing, why do you at least go on one date with him?” Allie asked before taking a sip of her cranberry and vodka.

“Allie I’m not interested in dating,” she sighed looking down at her drink that was sitting on the bar.

“Come on Lydia one date wouldn’t kill you,” Allie wasn’t ready to give up on getting her friend to go out on a date.

“Allie maybe another time,” she picked up her drink and walked over to the table where the rest the group was sitting.

Allie followed behind her friend, and shouted to the group, “someone buy the birthday a shot we need to get her drunk.”

Lydia did nothing but roll her eyes as she sat down at the table. Moments later some of the group were waving down a waitress to order her a couple shots. She groaned as two shots of tequila were sitting in front of her. Taking both shots, she shook her head as the gold colored liquid slid down her throat.

Soon she was being dragged on to the dance for in the corner of the bar and was dancing with some friends. The gold liquid left her feeling slightly tipsy, few people offered to buy her drinks, but she turned them down not wanting to get drunk. As the clock struck midnight, she said her goodbyes to her friends telling them she couldn’t stay out super late because she had family stuff to do the next morning.

Walking outside she hailed a cab. Luckily the bar she was out wasn’t too far from her apartment. The warm feeling of the alcohol flushed through her system as she walked up to the elevator in the lobby of her apartment building. Clicking the button, the doors to the elevator opened and walked inside alone. Leaning against the wall of the elevator she couldn’t help but wonder if she should have maybe stayed at the bar for another hour, but for some reason she wasn’t really in the mood to celebrate her birthday. As the elevator doors opened as stepped out into the hallway. She saw a man in a hoodie standing in front of her door and she suddenly got nervous, she was tempted to go back to the bar instead of walking up to the man. Before she could even decide what to do a familiar face turned and looked at her.

Her heart jumped at the sight of Bucky standing at her door. Her eyes went wide as her eyes locked onto his icy blue ones. Without even thinking she took off running down the hall towards him. The second she got to him she wrapped her arms around him holding his body close to hers. “Bucky,” she muttered as tears started to slide down her face.

“Lydia,” his metal hand rubbed her back holding on to her.

As she held onto him tightly afraid if she let go of him, he would disappear again. Her body shook gently as she held on to him.

Pulling away from him slowly she looked up at him with watery eyes. She was still in a state of disbelief that Bucky was standing in the hallway in front of her apartment. She reached up placed her hand on his scruff covered cheek. A soft smile formed on his lips as his blue eyes stayed lock onto her eyes.

They hadn’t said a single word to each other, other then their names. She still seemed to be in a state of disbelief that she was with Bucky again, and he was shocked that she wasn’t mad at him for leaving her.

Leaning down he rested his forehead against her taking in her presence.

She wasn’t even sure what she should say to him right then. She had no clue where he had been for the last three years, and even though she thought about him often. She was constantly trying to remind herself that most likely she was never going to get to reunite with the man standing in front of her.

“I’m sorry I left you and never said goodbye,” he whispered breaking the silence that was between them.

She closed her eyes pushing back the tears that had formed between them. Reaching up he rested his hand on her cheek, and his thumb reached up an brushed the tears off her cheek.

“You didn’t have choice,” she said softly.

“Can we maybe go inside and talk?” he asked pulling away from her.

Nodding her head, she reached into her purse to pull out her keys. Bucky took another step away so she could the door. Walking side she set her purse on the floor and walked over to the couch in the living room. Bucky followed behind her and sat down on the couch next to her.

They stared at each other for a long moment neither of them exactly sure what they should say to each other. She reached over and rested her hand on thigh, and gave him a soft smile.

“I’m assuming you have a lot of questions,” he said softly knowing that three years had passed since they had seen each other and she had to have some questions.

“How did you find me?”

“Steve tracked you down for me,” he reached over and rested his hand on top of hers and gently squeezed her hand.

At the mention of Steve’s name, she couldn’t help but wonder if Steve had told Bucky that she thought she loved him all those years ago. She couldn’t lie that even with three years passing she was pretty sure she loved the man that was sitting next to her.

“Did he tell you that he met up with me after Germany?”

He nodded his head, “I asked him to make sure you were safe. I had him check on you occasionally.”

She nodded her head not exactly sure what else she should ask him, she was still completely blown away by the fact that she was seeing him again. “Are you still having nightmares?”

He shook his head, “no, they were finally able to take away what Hydra put in me.”

He gave her a gentle half smile that suddenly gave her butterflies.

“This might embarrass me, but did Steve possibly tell you how I felt about you?” her heart raced at the thought of Bucky rejecting her feeling she felt for him three years ago, especially since she still had those feelings.

Slowly he nodded his head, “he told me about them a little while ago. He also made sure to bring you up often. He knew you were one of the only real things in my life in the last seventy years.”

Tears started to slide down her cheek slowly, “when he found me that day, I honestly thought I was never going to see you again. We had shared that kiss that morning and I thought things were getting better for you…” she paused for a moment reliving that morning. “I should over never ask for you to go out and get fruit. We might have had more time together,” she couldn’t help but cry feeling suddenly guilty.

“Hey,” he reached up placing his hand on her cheek so she was looking up at him. “We were living on borrowed time. If I didn’t go out that morning, I was eventually going to go out again, they were going to find me at some point. I’m just glad that Steve found you and not someone else.”

She nodded her head and asked him the one thing she needed to know in that moment, “are we on borrowed time right now?”

He shook his head, “no I’m not going anywhere unless you ask me to.”

“Okay good because I’m not ready to lose you again.”

“Lydia, just so you know, I felt the same way you did back then.”

She couldn’t help but smile. Reaching up she placed her hand on his wrist that was resting on her cheek, “do you still have those feelings?”

She needed to know, even if he didn’t it wouldn’t change how she felt then or now.

He nodded his head, “you’re still the realest thing that has ever been in my life.”

“That makes me feel better knowing that I’m the only one with those feelings,” she said softly causing him to smile.

“Are you single?” he asked completely out of nowhere.

Her brows furrowed together as she gave him a confused look, “yes, why?”

“Because I would like to kiss you again, but I want to make sure you’re not taken.”

Her eyes lit up at the thought of them sharing another kiss. “I would love for you to kiss me.”

Without another word he leaned forward and connected his lips to hers for a gentle kiss. His lips moved against hers slowly as if he was testing the waters. Pulling away from her he couldn’t help but smile, he had waited a long time before he was able to see her again, and here he was being able to kiss her again.

“I have missed you so much,” she whispered.

“I missed you too, I know I have been gone for a while, but they fixed me.”

Even though they had taken out what Hydra put in him, Bucky was still left with what he had done under his control. He felt a substantial amount of guilt for the people he had hurt because of Hydra.

“Why does it sound like you don’t feel like you’re fully fix?” she asked knowing that by his tone he still sounded guilty.

“I will never be able to forget what I did because of them. Even being wiped I’m still left with the memories are coming back,” he sighed.

“Hey, we’ve been over this, you weren’t in control you aren’t a monster. You didn’t do those things,” she sighed shaking her head.

“I know, that’s what Steve reminds me of all the time.”

“Bucky what happens now?” she asked needing to know if eventually he was going to leave again.

“I don’t exactly have a plan, I asked Steve to track you down. I told him I needed to see you, I wasn’t sure if you had a boyfriend or something, but needed to see you again.”

She smiled, “I’m glad you tracked me down, because in the last three year I have thought about you often.”

He reached up and pushed a piece of hair behind her ear and asked, “where were you tonight?”

She let out a heavy sigh, “I went to the bar with some friends to celebrate my birthday.”

His eyes went wide at the mention of her birthday, “it’s your birthday?”

She smirked at how caught off guard he sounded, “well technically since it’s after midnight yes it’s my birthday.”

“I wish Steve would have told me that I would of brought you a gift,” he sighed feeling suddenly stupid that he didn’t know this information.

“I don’t really need a gift. See you again is enough,” she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his again for a soft kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck pulling him close to her, she didn’t think she would get over the fact that she was able to kiss him again. Pulling away from him she looked over at the clock to see that it was one in the morning. “Did you maybe want to stay the night? It’s late and I’m exhausted, but I’m not ready for you to leave again.”

He nodded his head, he couldn’t lie he thought about the nights he shared wrapped up in her arm held close against her curvy body.

“I would really like to stay the night.”

Standing up she reached over and laced her fingers with Bucky metal fingers and led him down the hallway towards her bedroom. She dropped his hand and walked towards her dresser to grab her pajamas.

“You can sleep how ever you want. If you want to sleep in your boxers,” she as she walked towards the bathroom so she could take off her makeup and get ready for bed.

She removed her make up and washed her face and changed into her pajamas. Walking back into her bedroom she found Bucky sitting on the edge of the bed in nothing but his boxers. Walking over to him she moved to stand in front of him, he looked up and smiled at her. He never in his wildest dreams thought he would see her again, let alone get to share a bed with her again. Reaching up he gently took her hand and pulled her closer to him. Standing up he moved to press her lips to his for another kiss.

“How are you even real?” he asked wondering how he found her.

“I’m pretty average at most,” she whispered as his hands moved to her round hips.

He shook his, “you are far from average Lydia. You are perfect.”

Before she could even say anything sat back down on the bed and pulled her onto his lap so she was straddling him as he sat on the edge of the bed. Reaching up he held her face in both hands staring at her.

“I don’t know what happens tomorrow, for all I know you could kick me out and tell me to leave…” he paused for a moment to stare into her eyes. “But I would love to share one real night with you.”

“Bucky I would never kick you out and tell you to leave,” she leaned down and connected her lips to his for an intense kiss. Their lips moved together as if they need the other to breathe. Her fingers tangled in his long hair hold him close to her as his hand gripped her round hips grinding her against him. There tongued moved together as she rolled her hips gently against him. His lips moved from her mouth and started kissing down her jaw. As his beard tickled her skin, she couldn’t help but moan at the feeling of his lips against her skin. His metal hand pushed her shirt up exposing the metal of his touch to her bare skin. The cool metal sent a shiver down her spine in the best way possible. Tilting her head back she gave him more access to her exposed skin.

Pulling his lips away from her skin he reached down for the bottom of her shirt. Pulling it off he couldn’t help but groan at the sight of her bare chest in front of her. He licked his lips before his lips moved to kiss her collarbones, before working his way to her bare chest. His lips kissed her sensitive skin as she grinded her hips against his grown bugled.

“Bucky, I need more,” she moaned.

With his lips ghosting her skin he spoke, “I didn’t come to see you with the intention of this happening.”

“I know you didn’t, but I need all of you,” she sighed as his lips peppered kisses across her skin. “I have missed you so much, and I just need all of you.”

He pulled his lips away from her skin, and in one quick motion stood up holding Lydia’s curvy body as if she weighed nothing. Her eyes went wide as he held onto her. She attempted to have him put her down but before she could say something he said, “you weigh nothing to me, quit freaking out.”

He moved and laid her down on the bed. Reaching up to her curvy hips he hooked his fingers into the band of her pajama shorts and panties, and pulled them both down in one quick motion. Laying on the bed completely naked in front of him she sat back on her elbows and watched as Bucky removed his boxers leaving him naked and proud in front of her.

“Do you have a condom?” he asked sounding slightly nervous.

Nodding her head, she moved to reach into the top drawer of her nightstand and pulled out a foil packet. Holding the foil packet out Bucky took it and tore it open and slowly slid the rubbed down his length. She watched with lust filled eyes as he pumped his length a few times before crawled into the bed. Lying next to her he connected his lips to hers for a searing kiss as his flesh hand moved down to her sensitive mound, his finger slid up and down for slit a few times before his fingers did lazy circle on her bundle of nerves while their lips moved together. He was attempting to give her some foreplay before. Pulling his lips away he continued to move his finger against her bundle of nerves causing to moan her name.

“Lydia what to you want?” he asked lying next to her.

“All of you,” she moaned.

Pulling his fingers away from her, he moved so he was hovering over her. She reached down and helped line him up with her entrance. Slowly he slid in and she gasped at his size, it had a been a really long time since she had sex. She was going to need a moment to adjust to his size. Once he was fulling in, he stilled for a moment giving her time to adjust. Her head rolled back as she took a deep breath and then looked up at Bucky who was staring out with lust blown eyes.

“Are you okay?” he asked feeling suddenly worried at the was hurting her.

“Yeah I’m fine, I just need a moment,” she said giving him a soft smile. He leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers for a soft kiss. “Go head and move,” she said with his lips still brushing hers.

With a slowly roll he started to move his hips against hers. Her hands moved up to grip his back as he continued to move into her. Groaned as his hips thrust into hers picking up the pace slightly. In all the time that had passed since they had last seen each other, he didn’t think he would ever get to be with her. In his mind back then he thought that they might event sleep together, especially after they had kiss, but then again, he wasn’t sure if she ever would want to do this with him.

“Bucky,” she moaned.

“Baby,” he groaned dropping his head to her shoulder. He started placing wet kisses across her bare skin. She moved her hands down to his butt pulling him as close as possible with every thrust. His teeth gently dragged across the skin of her shoulder as he moaned her name. He was getting close to the edge and he needed her to finish before him.

“Are you close?” he asked.

“Yeah Bucky,” she moaned as he picked up the pace.

Biting her bottom lip, she rolled her back moaning. Her fingers dug into his tone butt pulling him closer. With a few more thrust he pushed her over the edge. Her hands moved from his but up to his face pulling him closer to her so she could kiss him as she rode out her high. She moaned into his kiss as he rolled his hips a few times before hitting his own high. With a couple sloppy thrust he rode out his high before stilling his hips as he kissed. Pulling away from her he rolled off her and laid on the bed next to her. Silently he discarded the condom, and reached over to pulled her curvy body close to him.

She was left in a dazed state as she curled up next to him.

“Don’t ever leave me again,” she whispered as she was coming down from her high.

“I won’t ever let anything take me away from you again,” he leaned down and pressed his lips to the top of her head.

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ionlyreadfivebookslastweek · 5 years ago

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Bless The Broken Road - 22

A new case came in at 4am on Monday morning. Everyone was glad to see Spencer and Jane back at work and to see Spencer well again.

“This case is local. John Barker’s wife was murdered in their home. He’s a high profile lawyer here in town. Her throat was slit. His alibi checks out. He was at his office working on cases late last night,” Hotch shared with the team. “The media will be on this quickly so we need to stay ahead of them. Jane and Reid, go to the crime scene. Morgan and Rossi, talk to Barker. JJ and I will handle the press. Garcia, start looking into Barker’s cases to see if anyone recently got released or paroled from prison.”

Jane and Reid arrived at the Barker house to find that the media was already there, including Jack. A few weeks ago, he had started working at a news agency in town.

“Jack, hey!” Jane greeted, walking up and hugging her brother. “What are you doing here?”

“I’ve been assigned to cover this story. It’s my first big one! It’s with a partner though,” he explained, gesturing towards a man standing by the news van. “So can you give me any information about what happened here?”

“Not yet. There’ll be a press conference at a later time to inform the public,” Jane told him. “Now if you’ll excuse us, Spencer and I need to go examine the house.”

Spencer smiled and waved at Jack before following Jane inside to begin looking around.

“How did the intruder get in here? For such a high profile person, you’d think he’d have a security system on his home,” Spencer commented.

“He did have one,” Jane said, approaching a panel on the wall. “But it never went off.” She looked back at Spencer to find he shared her puzzled expression. Looking past him, she noticed the window was open. “Here’s his point of entry,” she stated, walking over to it. “So before she went to bed last night, she must not have armed the system.”

They made their way back to the bedroom, the main crime scene, to see a blood-stained bed.

“There’s nothing in this house that’s out of place until you get back to the bedroom,” Spencer observed. “This wasn’t a burglary. He didn’t take anything so his sole mission was to get to the wife.”

“Why the wife? Why not target Barker himself?” Jane questioned.

“It’s more torturous to kill the wife than the lawyer himself. He has to live without her now,” he suggested.

Jane turned back to the bed. “It appears that she was sleeping and caught off guard. There wasn’t much of a struggle.”

Spencer headed towards the bathroom. “There’s blood in here. He washed his knife in the sink and dried it with a towel.”

Jane stepped out and asked CSI to check the bathroom out for DNA and fingerprints.

They took one last look at the house before heading back out towards the car.

“Excuse me,” they heard a man speak from behind them. “Excuse me, can you tell me what happened here?”

Jane and Spencer turned around to see Jack’s partner approaching them.

“As I told Jack, there will be a press conference later,” Jane explained to the man.

“Oh come on, pretty thing. Give me something. Or are you not qualified to speak to me?”

Jane raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. “Excuse me?”

Spencer touched her shoulder. “Jane, we need to get going.”

Jane agreed and they started to walk away. Before they were out of earshot, the man called out, “Yeah, go back to a desk job where you’ll fit in better!”

Jane whipped around and started walking angrily back to him.

“Jane, stop! He’s not worth it!” Spencer insisted.

She sighed, summing up all of her will power to turn back around and go to the car.

When they arrived back at the BAU, they all shared what they’d learned. Garcia had come up empty on her search and Barker was unable to think of anyone who would do this.

JJ entered the room and picked up the remote on the table. “You guys need to see this,” she told them, turning on the news.

The caption on the bottom of the screen read, “FBI agent lashes out at press” and on the screen was a picture of Jane. Jack’s partner must have taken it when she had turned back towards him.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Jane exclaimed before storming out of the room and into the bullpen. Hotch followed her out.

“You need to calm down,” he told her.

“That guy was being aggravating, ask Spencer,” she yelled.

“He was just trying to get a reaction out of you. You need to calm down. I need to know that you can do your job.”

“I can do my job.”

“Then prove it.”

She let out a huff and nodded. “OK.”

They worked into the afternoon without finding any leads.

Jack called Jane and she stepped away to answer it.

“Jane, I’m so sorry! I didn’t know he was planning on doing that. I tried to stop it before the story was released, but I just don’t have enough pull for that yet.”

“Just forget it. I don’t have time to argue with you. I’ve got a case to solve,” Jane snapped at him, hanging up before he could respond.

She ran her face through her hands in frustration.

“Agent Addison?” Jane looked up to see Anderson coming over to her. “Another lawyer, Elijah Powers, just came in. He says his wife is also missing.”

She looked past Anderson at the man sitting out by the elevators. “Notify Hotch,” she told him. “I’ll talk to him.” Jane got up and went over to Powers. “Mr. Powers, my name is Agent Addison. Please come with me.” She led him to the break room, where they could speak privately.

“I heard what happened to John Barker’s wife and I wanted to be safe so I said I’d meet her at her work for lunch. When I got there, her coworkers told me she never showed up today. She won’t answer her phone. She’s gone,” Powers grieved.

“I’ll need a description of your wife’s car so we can put an APB out on it.”

She wrote down the information then told him someone would be in to speak more to him in a few minutes before stepping out and heading to go find Garcia.

Hours later, they tracked down Powers’s wife and her car.

Hotch sent Morgan and Addison to the scene to check it out. They arrived to find that the woman’s throat had been slit.

“Damn it!” Jane shouted, walking away from the car.

“Come on, focus here, kitten,” Morgan. “Why take her in the car and kill her? Powers left for work before she did. She was home alone so why not kill her the same way as he killed Barker’s wife?”

Jane thought for a moment. “Carjacking and burglary. What if these are similar to cases of the lawyers?”

Jane pulled out her phone and called Garcia. “Garcia, look into cases in which Barker got a burglar convicted and Powers got a carjacker convicted and see if any of them are connected.”

“OK...ok! I found a father and son pair. The father was convicted of burglary and the son was convicted of carjacking.”

“Addison, you are a genius!” Morgan cheered.

“There’s more, chocolate thunder,” Garcia spoke. “The father of the pair said they did it as part of a plan to gather enough resources to run away from his abusive wife.”

“Does he have any other children?” Jane asked.

“Yes. Looks like there’s a second son who was convicted of robbing a grocery store. He also killed one of the store’s managers. They also had a daughter. She was left alone with the abusive mother after the other three went to jail.”

“That’s gotta be our UNSUB,” Morgan stated.

“Who was the lawyer on that case?” Jane questioned.

“Andrew Wallace.”

“Can you get us his wife’s phone number?”

“Can I get you his wife’s phone number? That’s a silly question. Of course, I can.”

“On a time crunch, Garcia,” Jane reminded her.

“Right, of course. Just sent it to you.”

Morgan dialed the number and spoke with the wife, only to find that she was already at the grocery store.

Shots rang out on the other end, loud enough that Jane could hear them too.

“Stay calm, we’re on our way,” he assured her.

Jane called Hotch to get the rest of the team to meet them at the store and they raced off to catch the UNSUB. When they entered the store, they found Wallace’s wife being held by the UNSUB with a gun against her temple.

Morgan stepped forward and spoke to the UNSUB, managing to get her to drop the gun. He put her in handcuffs and escorted her outside to a police car. Jane led the woman out to the ambulance to be checked out before meeting up with the rest of the team.

~ The next morning, the headline in the paper showed a story about the UNSUB’s tragic background and the difficult job of the BAU, solo written by Jack Addison.

After she finished reading the article, Jane called Jack to congratulate him.

“Jack, your article was great! And your first solo write? That’s awesome. Congratulations!”

“Thank you, Jane. That means a lot,” Jack replied.

“I also owe you an apology,” she told him. “I’m sorry I snapped at you yesterday. You had nothing to do with what your misogynist partner did.”

“It’s alright. I understand you were frustrated and I just happened to be in the line of fiery anger.”

Jane laughed. “Yeah.” ~~~

The next month, Saturday, April 10th, Jane woke up earlier than normal. She crawled out of bed, doing her best not to disturb spencer, and went out into the living room.

Turning on the TV, she found that there was a Harry Potter marathon on TV.

Jane gasped, dropping the remote on the couch and running back to the bedroom, screaming, “Spencerrrrrrr!!!!! Wake up!!!!!”

“Ahhh!” He shouted, sitting up in surprise. “Jane, what is it? What’s wrong?”

“Come on! Get up! Come look, come look!” she insisted, pulling on his arm.

He hurried out of bed to find what Jane was so excited about. Seeing the TV, he turned to her and questioned, “You woke me up because of a Harry Potter marathon on TV when we own the series?”

“But never before seen scenes!!!” Jane cheered. The smile fell off her face when she saw Spencer’s reaction. “What?”

He moved forward quickly and she screamed, running down the hall as he chased her. Eventually catching up to her, Spencer picked Jane up and took her back to the bedroom, throwing her down on the bed. Climbing on top of her, he began to tickle her, causing her to laugh uncontrollably. He leaned down and kissed her neck as she continued to giggle.

“Spencerrrr,” she spoke.

He kissed her once on the mouth then rolled off. Jane rolled onto her side and kissed him one more time.

“I love you,” she whispered.

“I love you too.” “WAIT!”

“What?!”

“Can we go watch Harry Potter now?!” she asked.

Spencer chuckled. “I guess so.”

Later in the morning, the couple got a call from Hotch.

“Yeah, we’d love that! Alright, see you then!” Jane told him before hanging up. “Hotch wants us to watch Jack for a while so he could go for a run.”

“That sounds like fun!” Spencer said, excited.

“Don’t worry, I’ll save you from the monster!” Jack shouted, wielding his cardboard sword.

“Oh, Jack! Hurry!” Jane cried from the corner where she was ‘trapped’.

“Roarrr!” Spencer growled.

Jack ran at him and poked him with the sword, causing him to groan dramatically and fall to the floor. Jack ran past him and pulled the loose rope off of Jane.

“My hero!” she cheered, leaning down and giving him a kiss on the cheek.

Jack shrieked and ran off. “Cooties!” he yelled.

Spencer sat up and looked at Jane. They both laughed.

“Jack, how about I make us all lunch?” Jane called out.

Jack reappeared in the doorway to the living room. “Mac and cheese?” he asked.

“Of course!”

Spencer and Jack continued to play while Jane fixed lunch. When it was ready, they took a seat at the table to eat together.

“Uncle Spencer?” Jack asked after a while of silence.

“Yeah?”

“Are you and Aunt Jane gonna get married?” Spencer looked at Jane and smiled. “Perhaps someday.”

“Why not now? You love each other, right?”

The doorbell rang, saving them from having to answer the kid’s question. Jane stood up and went to answer the door.

She came back a minute later with Hotch following in behind her.

“Hey, buddy! Did you have fun?” he asked his son.

“Yeah!”

“Thanks for watching him,” he told the pair.

“It was no trouble at all!”

Jack put his shoes on and they headed to the door.

“Have a good rest of your weekend!” Jane cheered as they left.

She shut the door then led Spencer back to the living room. They spent the rest of the day on the couch, cuddling and watching more of the Harry Potter marathon.

~~~~~~~~~~

Bless The Broken Road Masterlist

~~~~~~~~~~

Tag List:

@cynbx @neon-deanmon @drw0301bieber @notsosmartbutcute @banananna99

#ionlyreadfivebookslastweek #bless the broken road #cm #criminalminds #criminal minds #spencer #reid #dr. spencer reid #spencer reid #fic #fanfic #fanfiction #multific #multipart #oc #spencer x oc #spencer reid x oc #dr. Spencer reid x oc #reid x oc

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vvirgils · 6 years ago

Text

Merry Crisis-A Moxiety Fic for all your Christmas needs

Pairing: Virgil x Patton

Description:human AU also technically highschool AU but it’s break so who cares, Roman makes a cameo, fake dating, mutual pining, tooth-rotting fluff, excessive gayness, all that good stuff

Words: 2,817

Warnings: Deceit sneks his way in.

Summary: Virgil doesn’t like having a Christmas party at his house, especially when his ex is going to be there. But having Patton by his side, as a friend-or something more?-makes it better.

This is my gift to @brighter-side, I hope you enjoy the moxiety and have a wonderful holiday season! Also, shout out to @syzyji for beta reading (i’ll be over soon). Shout out to me for putting like, way too many cliches in here. Someone stop me. @secretsanders @fandersfic-moxiety

“Patton, I need a major favor,” Virgil said, holding the phone to his ear. He checked around the corners of the hallway. No family in sight, and they wouldn’t think anything of him calling his best friend. They were going to be at the party too, and they couldn’t know.

“What is it?” Patton asked, “Is it something big? You’re calling really late.”

“You know Deceit,” Virgil said, looking up and down to make sure no one was up. He checked his watch. 11:00.

“Of course I know Dylan. He only broke your heart into a thousand little pieces and made you an emotional wreck for a week, and by week I mean month.”

“He’s going to be at the Christmas party my family is having. And I need him to think I’ve moved on or he’ll try to pull some more manipulative bullshit over on me, and I really can’t take that right now, Pat,” Virgil said, taking a deep breath. “Could you pretend to be my boyfriend for one night?”

“Yeah, no problem,” Patton said. “It’s tomorrow, at 4:00?”

“Uh-huh. Good night, Patton,” Virgil said.

“Good night.” Patton hung up first, for once in his life.

Ugh. Why did Virgil’s life have to be this complicated? Patton was the only person he trusted to be a fake date, but he also was the only person who Virgil wasn’t sure about in terms of feelings. As in, did he have a crush, or were they just really close friends?

Both of them were gay, too. Well, Virgil was “sexually ambiguous,” but he liked guys. Which Patton was aware of. There were so many possibilities for what could happen between them tomorrow night; Virgil didn’t get any sleep until one.

Patton tapped the red button and put his phone down. Was he actually doing this? Fake-dating his best friend, who he kind of had a few feelings for.

And by a few he meant all of the feelings. He’d had a crush on Virgil for years, but had never gotten it together enough to ask him out. Courage had never been Patton’s strong suit. No matter how much he wanted to be in a relationship, he was always too scared to initiate. Too terrified of getting his heart broken, of being toyed around with. Of someone not caring about him.

If anyone cared about him, Virgil did. Maybe fake dating wouldn’t be such a bad thing after all. Fantasies were already swirling around his head, and Patton turned off his phone and shoved it under his pillow. He fell asleep almost immediately, thoughts of Virgil the last on his mind.

***

Virgil woke up in the morning to three texts from Patton.

Should I wear smth special?

Nvm checked the evite

Can I punch D? plz?

No, Virgil replied, I want to do that first. Just show up and be arm candy.

Lol i’m sweet that should be easy.

You’ll do great

He turned off his phone and actually got out of bed. It was...noonish, and he had to get ready for the party. Breakfast came first, but then Virgil was staring at his all-black wardrobe thinking What am I going to wear to a Christmas party?

There wasn’t a single ugly Christmas sweater, or even something red and green. He could get away with black jeans, but not a black t-shirt. Sighing, Virgil called Patton.

“Hey Pat,” he said. Thank goodness they were the same size.

“What’s up, Virgil?” Patton asked, “Is something wrong?” The concern in Patton’s voice was adorable, and Virgil really wished he could actually get the guts to ask him out one of his days.

“So, my wardrobe is um…not quite right for a Christmas party,” Virgil said, “As in, I should have gone shopping for something that is not black like, last week. Do you have a Christmas sweater or something that I could borrow?”

Patton laughed over the phone, and Virgil automatically smiled. The simple sound always cheered him up. “I was actually going to give it to you for Christmas next week, but now is as good a time as ever. It actually matches um, mine,” Patton said. He’d actually thought about taking cute couple pictures in matching ugly sweaters when buying them-but Virgil couldn’t know that. “Because it was a 2 for 1 deal. But it’ll really make Deceit pissed if he thinks they’re, you know, matching because we’re a couple.”

“Yeah, totally,” Virgil said. “Just bring it to the party, you know where I live. See you then.” If only they were actually wearing matching sweaters as a couple…but it wasn’t a possibility. Someone as wonderful as Patton couldn’t possibly like him in that way.

“Will do, see you. Love you,” Patton said. It was their standard goodbye, but he wondered if Virgil could hear what he really meant every time he said it.

“Love you too.” Virgil ended the call and threw the phone at his bed. He did have to get dressed.

***

Like the overeager pining idiot that he was, Patton showed up early. It was three-thirty, he had no business being there, and Virgil was happy to see him.

“Thank goodness you’re here,” Virgil said when he opened the door to see Patton. “I am officially sick of Christmas decorations. Glittery snowflakes are the worst.”

“They look really pretty, though,” Patton said, taking in the winter wonderland that Virgil’s living room had been transformed into. “Oh, here’s your sweater.” He handed Virgil the red and green bundle.

“Does this have Christmas lights on it?” Virgil asked, examining the sweater.

Patton pushed the button at the hem of his sweater to make the lights on his sweater turn on. “Yes. Aren’t they great?”

“Not exactly my style,” Virgil said, “but alright. Come on in.” Patton walked in, took off his coat, and put it away in the closet.

Virgil slipped the sweater on over his black t-shirt. “How do I look?” He flicked on the lights.

“You look, um, really good, Virgil.” Patton couldn’t believe how attractive Virgil looked. It fit him perfectly, and the tacky lights almost looked sophisticated on his lean frame. Virgil had done away with the dark eyeshadow today, probably at the request of his mother, and he looked incredibly cozy. Patton wanted to snuggle into his arms.

“Thanks, Pat. Care to give me a hand with stringing oversized Christmas lights across every surface in the house? It should be more bearable if we do it together,” Virgil said, trying to keep things as normal and platonic as possible before guests started showing up. Patton’s eyes lit up at the suggestion, and Virgil realized that he was going to have a hard time only pretending to be in love with Patton.

***

It didn’t take long after the party started for the house to fill up. People, people everywhere. If this party wasn’t at his house, Virgil would have stayed home. He kept up his job greeting people at the door and taking their coats, since it beat having to make actual conversation inside. Patton stuck around, although he had a better shot at talking to people at the party than Virgil did.

His parents had invited everyone that Virgil and his brother knew. Since Roman was involved in a gazillion extracurriculars, and had friends from every theatre program he’d ever done, most of the guest list was his friends. Virgil had invited one person: Patton, because he didn’t really know anyone else well enough to want them at his house.

Virgil wondered when people would stop showing up. The closet was getting full, and he wanted to sit down, but the doorbell kept ringing. He opened it again, expecting his father’s coworker, but instead.

Dylan. Great. “Hi, thank you for coming,” Virgil said, plastering a smile on his face as his ex stepped through the doorway.

“I’m happy to be here, V,” Dylan said, handing him a plate of cookies covered in saran wrap. “For you and your family.”

“Thank you very much.” He handed the cookies to Patton. “Hey babe, could you go put these with the rest of the desserts.” Chills darted down his spine as Patton’s face lit up at the words.

Patton gave him a peck on the cheek, and Virgil felt a patch of heat grow where Pat’s lips had been. “Sure thing, hon.” He disappeared into the kitchen.

“Can I take your coat?” Virgil asked Dylan, who was still standing there. He wasn’t sure if he had registered what had just happened between Patton and Virgil, but at this point Virgil didn’t really care.

“Sure thing.” Deceit shucked off his coat and deposited it in Virgil’s arms before walking past him. So he had noticed.

Ever the drama queen, Dylan turned around at the last second to face him. “You know, I didn’t think Patton was really your type.” He disappeared into the party, leaving Virgil grinding his teeth as he put Dylan’s coat away. What a nightmare.

Just then, Patton returned to a very grumpy Virgil. “Did he do something while I was gone?” Patton asked. When Virgil didn’t answer right away, Patton pressed, “Do I need to punch him?”

“No, absolutely not. He just…made a comment. You ready to make him incredibly jealous of how cute of a couple we are?” Virgil looped an arm around Patton’s shoulders.

“Yes,” Patton said, looking away as he blushed. Virgil was so warm, and they were so close. He really, really wanted to kiss him. “Snack table?”

Heat rushed to Virgil’s cheeks. “Snack table.” They walked over, saying hi to people as they passed. Several people took note of their closeness, and the way that Virgil was, er, pretending to look in love with Patton.

It was working, so that was great. They had a good time, eating food and holding hands, looking casually flirtatious enough that anyone would think they were together. Surprisingly, it wasn’t too awkward. Talking to each other felt normal, they were just…holding hands at the same time. Not bad. People bought it.

Most importantly, Deceit bought it. He spied them laughing and talking together from across the room. Virgil could feel his glare burning into the back of his neck, but he didn’t really care. Patton was laughing at a joke he had told.

Then, Dylan started to walk over.

***

“Hey Patton, you know that thing couples do where they stare into each others eyes and start walking off into the distance and everyone assumes they’re going to the bedroom to get it on,” Virgil half-asked, taking a quick glance at Deceit. Yep, he was still moving in this direction.

Patton looked startled by the statement. “Yeah, I know what you mean. Why do you mention…?” He trailed off, following Virgil’s line of sight. “Oh.”

“We should probably do that,” Virgil said. “I do not want to talk to him right now.”

“Ok.” Pat wrapped both his arms around Virgil’s shoulders and gave him a look that made Virgil’s legs turn into jelly. “I’m whispering something that only the two of us would understand and is probably um, PG-13,” he whispered.

“I’m replying something that’s a little closer to R-rated,” Virgil said, his voice dropping a few octaves. He rested his arms around Patton’s waist. Patton had no idea that Virge was such a good actor, must be a side effect of having Roman around. Still, he was blushing like crazy, and couldn’t stop himself from taking a gratuitous stare at Virgil’s lips.

They stood up, and just in time. Dylan was trying to get past a gaggle of gossiping middle-aged women.

“Is this, um, when we realize that there are other people and switch to holding hands and shooting each other covert stares as we move to a more private area?” Patton asked, his eyes sending a much more suggestive message. It took Virgil a moment to register what he had said.

“Sure, but not without giggling at an inside joke,” Virgil said, laughing a little as he took Patton’s hand. They half-jogged to Virgil’s bedroom, strategically staying as far away from Deceit as possible.

***

Virgil shut the door behind them. He could have sworn Deceit had followed them down the hallway.

“So, now that we’re far away from your snakelike ex, what’s next for the couple who needs some alone time?” Patton asked, still holding Virgil’s hand as he sat down on the bed.

“I guess the cliche would be a long makeout session and then fade to black,” Virgil said, only half-joking. He would really like to be kissing Patton right now.

“Is this your life or a Hallmark movie?” Patton asked, giving Virgil a look of mock confusion. “The Virgil I know would rather watch Coraline.”

“Maybe my tastes have changed, you know,” Virgil said, trying to look anywhere but Patton. So this was the end of their disappointing fake-dating charade.

“Really, because I have like, twenty movies I need you to see,” Patton said, enthusiasm building in his voice. He inched a bit closer to Virgil on the bed.

“Don’t subject me to the torture just yet,” Virgil said, “I’m just recovering from a certain liar who I do not want to get back together with.” At least Patton is holding my hand, he thought.

“Fine, but after the party…” Patton sighed. Virgil’s phone buzzed in his pocket.

Hoping it wasn’t anything big, probably just an automatic message or something, Virgil opened it up. One message from Least Favorite Brother Named Roman

ur ex is about to barge into ur room in like 10 seconds bc hes a massive asshole i guess? Some bs like that

Virgil took one second to process the text before turning to Patton and kissing him full on the mouth. Both of them froze, shocked, but then they kept kissing. Virgil’s hand reached up to caress Patton’s cheek. Patton deepened the kiss, making it slower, softer, more passionate.

It was, without a doubt, the best kiss Virgil had ever had. Patton wasn’t forcing his tongue down Virgil’s mouth, he wasn’t even in a hurry to take his shirt off. There was just his soft lips and the gentle tug around Virgil’s waist as Patton pulled him closer. For a second, Virgil forgot the moment wasn’t real, and they were just kissing in case someone happened to barge in. He got lost in the faint taste of chocolate chip cookies and the smell of Patton’s shampoo.

His phone buzzed again. Virgil was just going to ignore it when Patton broke away from the embrace. “You should probably, um, check it,” Patton said.

Nvm he just left in a hissy fit

“I am going to kill my brother,” Virgil said, turning his phone off and flipping it over.

“That seems a little…harsh. What did he do?” Patton asked, still trying to sound normal. He didn’t feel normal. He felt anything but normal. Virgil had just kissed him, like, out of the blue, and it was an excellent kiss. Probably the best he’d ever had, and Patton wasn’t even sure if it was real. Or why Virgil had kissed him. His brain was still too muddled to figure it out.

“So, he texts me that Deceit is about to barge in here because he’s an asshole, blah blah, so I…” Kissed you, Virgil thought but didn’t say. “Then, he texts me that the snake has just left the party. I was really nervous and I thought something very bad was going to happen!”

“Well, it’s a good thing that it didn’t,” Patton said, trying to be the voice of reason here, even as his heart was slowly breaking into pieces. So it wasn’t real. “I mean, it wasn’t a bad kiss.”

“Yeah, that’s a good thing,” Virgil said. He took a deep breath to steady himself. Locking lips with Patton had really done something to him. Maybe he should like, tell Patton that it meant something to him, that he actually had an enormous crush on the dude.

So, Virgil opened his mouth to say, “I really like you and I’ve kind of wanted to date you for real for ages but now that I’ve kissed you I feel like I can’t not tell you.”

At the same time Patton said, “Virgil, I’m in love with you and I really hope that the kiss meant something to you because it did to me. I’ve liked you for a long time and I want to be more than friends.”

They both stopped, looking into each others eyes. “We’re idiots,” Virgil said. “Absolute idiots.”

“Maybe we should have skipped fake dating and gone straight to the real thing.” Patton smiled, and Virgil smiled back. It was real. All of it.

“Nothing about this is straight, and you know it,” Virgil said, pulling Patton in for another kiss. This was better than any Christmas present.

#ts virgil #ts patton #moxiety #anxiety sanders #morality sanders #star speaks #starredwrites #posts from the past #sanders sides #gay

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