#also yeah i tried doing a background here d'you guys see that.

[technovillain]

did you ever figure it out (?)

( part two of this comic )

[dvp95]

quiet on widow’s peak (9)

pairing: dan howell/phil lester, pj liguori/sophie newton/chris kendall rating: teen & up tags: paranormal investigator, mystery, online friendship, slow burn, strangers to lovers, nonbinary character, trans character, background poly, phil does some buzzfeed unsolved shit and dan is a fan word count: 3.1k (this chapter), 29.6k (total) summary: Phil’s got a list of paranormal experiences a mile long that he likes to share with the world. Abandoned buildings, cemeteries, and ghost stories have always called his name, and a particular fan of his has a really, really good ghost story.

read this chapter on ao3 or here!

The sleep Phil has is restless and patchy. He wakes up so many times, spikes of panic cutting through the calm as he tries to remember where he is and who's breathing next to him. Dan is either a very heavy sleeper or very good at pretending to sleep, because Phil jerking awake never makes them stir.

It's a comfort, to look at Dan and see their blurry face slack with a peacefulness that wasn't there all night, but Phil doesn't do it for too long. Watching someone sleep is the pinnacle of creepiness. He just looks for a couple of seconds until his heart rate slows back down and he can roll onto his side. He faces away from Dan so he isn't tempted to keep looking at them, staring at the boring wall instead and waiting for sleep to momentarily take him again.

He's still tired when he wakes up properly to Dan tossing and turning, but he decides that's his cue to be awake.

"Hey," he murmurs, reaching for Dan's hand. He squints, but he can't tell if Dan is having a nightmare or if they're awake without getting even closer to their face. "It's okay. You're okay."

Dan takes a deep, shuddering sort of breath and cradles Phil's hand in both of their own. It's like they're afraid he's going to let go. "Sorry, fuck."

"You've got nothing to be sorry for," says Phil. His stomach is doing a weird twisty thing at the sound of Dan's voice all husky with sleep. As long as he acts normal, it's fine, right? It's hard to convince himself of that when Dan's hands are pressed to his own and making him feel impossibly small. "How did you sleep?"

"I mostly slept fine," Dan says, and Phil nods like he didn't already know that.

"Good. You needed it."

For a moment, Dan is quiet. Then, they shuffle onto their side so they can properly face Phil, who has to fight the urge to hide away from their gaze. It's a good thing that he can't see the depth and warmth and sparkle of Dan's eyes without his glasses on.

"You didn't sleep very well," they say like it's a fact. Phil doesn't bother trying to deny it, he just shrugs. "You could have woken me up."

"Why would I do that?" Phil asks, puzzled by the offer.

Dan smiles, and Phil reaches for his glasses. He feels so vulnerable without them, and the sensation of not being able to see the way Dan is smiling while Dan can probably read every tiny emotion on his face is anxiety-inducing.

He leaves his other hand in Dan's. Maybe it would be easier if he just let go, but he finds that he doesn't want to.

The world comes into focus, and Phil blinks over at Dan like it's his first time seeing them. They look so different with their lashes clumped together and lines creased into their soft cheeks by the pillow. Curls are in complete disarray, and Phil presses his fingers into his palm so he doesn't try to brush the frizzy, unruly mess off Dan's forehead. Their smile doesn't fade when Phil just kind of stares - if anything, it gets even wider.

"You stayed with me all night," says Dan. Their tone is dry, but Phil imagines there's not a small amount of sincerity behind it. "You didn't have to, like, be alone."

Alone isn't something Phil had felt at all. Dan's steady breathing and the warmth of them emanating from their core even when they weren't touching were the only things keeping Phil grounded every time he woke with a start. He doesn't know how to say that to this person he barely knows, though, wouldn't know how to say something so open to most of the people in his life, so he just chuckles.

"No use in neither of us getting any sleep," he points out.

Dan is very warm, and Phil can feel his palm starting to get sweaty where it's trapped between both of theirs. He makes an apologetic face and pulls his hand back, patting it on his flannel pyjamas. Dan doesn't seem bothered by the lack of contact, but they also don't seem relieved - Phil can't tell what they're thinking at all, if he's honest.

"So," says Dan. "Where do we go from here?"

Before Phil can even think about it, he echoes the question in falsetto. It's louder and more obnoxious than he intends it to be. He swings his legs out of bed and reaches for his phone on the nightstand to try and hide a blush. "Uh, we go eat breakfast. Lunch, I guess."

"You lied," Dan says to his back. "You are always thinking about Buffy."

"Not always," Phil says weakly.

"Often enough."

"Once More With Feeling bypasses my brain entirely. It's just a primal call and response to anyone as obsessed with the show as teenage me was."

"I've never seen the show the whole way through," says Dan. "But Buffy is a style icon of mine."

Phil's tired brain offers him a half dozen mental images of Dan in various Buffy outfits before he shakes his head to try and clear it. He's never been particularly interested in boys wearing girls' clothes, but the concepts of gender identity and presentation are so blurry when it comes to Dan that he's going to have to rethink that position. They're not 'girls' clothes' on Dan. Maybe there's no such thing as 'girls' clothes' at all.

It's too early in the day for a deep dive on his own perceptions of gender, though. He thinks that sort of existentialism can wait until after his second or third coffee.

--

Phil's parents eat lunch with them and do their best to make small talk, but only Chris is On enough to properly converse with them. At Phil's umpteenth 'huh' of the early afternoon, they give up entirely and migrate to the lounge to watch tv.

For a long few seconds, the kitchen table is quiet. Then, Dan stands and starts to clear everyone's plates.

"You don't have to do that," Phil says, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"I need to do something with my hands or I'll lose the plot," says Dan. They dump the dishes carefully in the sink and start running water. Having their back to the group seems to give them the courage to add, "I don't have all my meds with me. I didn't exactly expect to be out all night."

"What d'you take?" Chris asks.

"Little fucking nosy of you," says PJ.

"Well, one of us might have what he needs, love. I'm not just asking for the hell of it."

Phil feels a bit like his mum has possessed him when he clicks his tongue disapprovingly. "You really shouldn't share medication," he says when Chris gives him a look.

It makes Dan laugh, anyway, so Phil feels like he's done something right. They still don't turn around, just washing everybody's dishes and looking so weirdly at home in Phil's clothes, Phil's old kitchen. Phil doesn't realise he's staring at their back until someone kicks him under the table.

"Earth to Phil," Chris murmurs. He's resting his chin on a hand and smirking, but his eyes are too sharp for how little sleep he must have gotten. Phil feels heat rise to his cheeks and pulls his coffee closer to use the steam as an excuse.

"I don't need anything, really," Dan hums. "Thanks for asking. My brain just struggles a bit."

"A big mood, as the kids say," Chris says sagely.

Dan laughs again. It isn't as loud as Phil knows it can get, but it still fills the room and makes everything seem a bit brighter. "Do the kids say that?" they ask. "Is that what they say?"

"I believe it is," says Chris.

There is another stretch of silence. Phil watches his friends' faces as the elephant in the room weighs on them all. He's making a bet in his own mind about who will be the first to break when Dan turns around and bluntly says, "I still don't think that was a ghost, but I really fucking hated it."

"Sorry," says PJ, "but what else could it have possibly been?"

"I dunno," says Dan. They cross their arms over their waist, holding onto their own elbows. Phil is beginning to recognise the position as a protective one for them. "But I'm sure there's an explanation. Sleep paralysis is normal."

"The way it happened was not normal."

"What do you think it was, Dan?" Sophie asks. Her tone is much kinder than PJ's, but she seems just as skeptical.

Dan's dimple is pulling downwards in unhappiness or discomfort, so Phil waves a hand to get everyone's attention on himself instead.

"Why don't you guys tell us what exactly happened to you," he suggests, meeting Dan's eyes almost apologetically. He knows that none of them want to relive it, but it's easier if they're all on the same page here. "And we can toss around theories later."

--

PJ says, "It was a demon. I could see it. It was tall and humanoid-ish and had a Cheshire Cat smile and it kept going closer to Chris and Soph just to watch me panic. Then it would laugh and sharpen its claws on the wall. It felt like hatred and fear in a physical being. I really don't think our protection sigils did fuck all, but it didn't actually touch any of us, so maybe they helped a bit?"

Dan says, "It was nothing of the sort. I saw the same shit you did, Peej, but that doesn't mean anything. Haven't you ever heard of mass hysteria? Folie à deux - not the album - isn't unheard of. Maybe there's a high level of carbon monoxide. Maybe the asbestos got to us. I don't fucking know, but there's a hundred explanations before you hit demon. But, yeah. It looked like what PJ says. It felt like I was frozen for a fucking week, not just a few hours, it was awful. Zero out of ten, would not do again."

Sophie says, "It smiled at me and I felt cold."

--

They pile into the basement to recuperate so they aren't bothering Phil's parents. Or, more accurately, so Phil's parents aren't bothering them. Most of the games are packed up, but Phil finds the Wii and its small collection of disks in a box under the stairs. He sets it up, hands his friends the controllers, and sits back to zone out while they tear each other apart at Mario Kart.

Phil doesn't consider himself a skeptic. He knows that his threshold of belief is a lot lower than he makes it appear to be in his videos, but he'd never call himself a Scully. He always thinks about the supernatural aspects of any case he's looking into, even if he doesn't commit a hundred percent to the mentality that it must be something weird. He usually just prefers the weird option to the more common and boring reality of things.

So this thing with the Wilkins place is downright terrifying. Not only is it in Phil's proverbial backyard, too close for comfort in a lot of ways, but he hasn't had an experience quite so chilling since he was sixteen and dipping his toe into this hobby at Martyn's side.

He and Martyn still aren't sure what exactly left those finger-shaped bruises on Phil's ankles, but it's become a funny story in the years since.

Maybe this will be something to laugh at in a few years, too. Phil hopes so.

"You sure you don't want to play?" Dan asks, breaking into Phil's reverie. They're in first place and not even looking at the screen, their concerned brown eyes focused on Phil. Phil gives them a small smile and shakes his head.

"No, I'm alright."

"Phil, please take the controller from him," says Chris. He seems annoyed, but Phil can never tell how much of that is a show. It's possible that Chris isn't actually competitive at all and just likes to work Phil and PJ up by acting like he, too, would rather eat a whole head of lettuce than lose. It's also possible that Chris genuinely feels that way. "He's not even fucking trying and he's kicking our asses."

"Maybe you deserve to have your ass kicked a bit," Phil says, watching the screen to see how easily Dan ducks around various obstacles.

It still jolts a bit, hearing the people around him make an assumption - however logical it is - about how Dan wants to be addressed. Phil knows it isn't his place to correct them, especially since it seems like they're not using any less correct terms than he is, but it still rankles a bit.

"Fuck's sake!" PJ exclaims, looking like he's a hair away from throwing the Wiimote at something. He's never actually hit that level of gamer rage, but getting lapped by someone who keeps checking their phone during a race seems to be getting on his nerves. Phil reaches out and pats at PJ's mess of curls.

"You'll be okay," he says, dry. "They're just better than you, you'll live."

Maybe the pronoun use is a little more pointed than it needs to be, but Dan gives him such an exasperatedly fond grin that Phil can't bring himself to regret it. There is a brief beat of quiet, and then PJ groans again.

"It's not fair," says PJ, gesturing dramatically with the Wiimote. Sophie leans out of the line of fire. "This is unacceptable. We have to play a game they're bad at, now."

"I don't care what you call me," says Dan. They sound more amused than anything else. "As long as you know I'm winning anything we play."

"That's why they call him Winnie," Chris says in that very mild voice he uses for absolute nonsense. He puts his own controller aside and flops onto his back on the basement floor, stretching. "I can't do it, I can't play another round of this farce. I'm going upstairs to let my future mum-in-law dote on me."

Phil sighs. He can feel Dan's eyes on him again, and he shrugs helplessly in their general direction. He does not control the Chris. "Please stop saying things like that. Dan is going to think I'm mixed up in… this."

He gestures vaguely at the three of them, and Chris' eyes sharpen like he's spotted prey.

"Oh, so you want Dan to know you're horrendously single, then?" Chris gives Dan a wide, conspiratorial sort of grin. "He's useless at this, you know."

"Me rejecting you doesn't make me useless," Phil huffs. He can feel a flush creeping up his neck, because Chris is more right than he wants to admit, and Dan is smiling back at Chris like they're in on the joke.

"I think it demonstrates a lack of taste," Chris sniffs.

"You know what I think?" Sophie asks, stretching her arms above her head. "I think I need a shower."

"Me too," Dan says with an unnecessary little sigh. Phil pinches his own thigh to circumvent the mental images before they start. It's annoying to have such a good imagination, sometimes. "And I need to take my meds. Is there a bus that runs around here or something?"

"Don't worry about taking the bus," says PJ. "I'll drive you."

"I don't mind," says Dan.

"I mind," says PJ, more firmly. He stands like he's planning on dragging Dan to the car himself if Dan tries to say no again.

Dan's shoulders relax forward. Phil knows the anxiety of riding unfamiliar public transit all too well, and he definitely wouldn't make Dan do something so harrowing after they got roped into ghosthunting. He's glad that PJ is on the same page again, keeping Dan in that sense of protection that being a team gives them.

It's only been a weekend, but Phil is already reluctant to let Dan go home and leave the team bubble. He wants to insist on coming along, but he knows PJ probably wants solitude on the drive back.

Still. Phil chews his lip and looks down at his phone so he doesn't have to see the looks on his friends' faces when he says, "You can keep the pyjamas. If you want them."

"Okay," Dan says softly. "I will, thanks."

He knows that he should look up, should smile at Dan or stand and hug them before they leave his life, but that all feels so big at this moment. Phil's anxiety lets him wave and murmur a goodbye before he's left alone in the basement. At least, he thinks he's alone, until he sighs heavily and Chris responds from the floor. "Oh, you're fucking mooning over him, aren't you? This is awful. I preferred the ghost."

--

Phil takes a shower after his friends have, to be polite, and it feels incredible to wash off the dirt and dust from the attic. It feels less incredible when the door opens.

He hadn't bothered locking it, because his parents' shower is loud and it should be obvious that he's in there. At least the curtain isn't see-through. He takes a moment to just stand under the spray, bewildered, before it occurs to him that he can ask what's going on. It probably isn't a serial killer. "Er, hello?"

"Hi," Chris' voice comes, tense. "We've got a problem."

"I'm a little busy," Phil says pointedly.

"Well, get your hand off your knob and get out here," says Chris. "We need to figure this out before Peej gets back."

Phil rolls his eyes, but doesn't bother arguing about why exactly he's busy. He rinses the last of his mum's conditioner out of his hair and squints at the unfocused, opaque shower curtain like he'll be able to see Chris if he just tries hard enough. "Figure what out, mate?"

"All of the footage is fucked," Chris says, blunt. "It's corrupted to high hell. Every single second. There's no evidence we were even there at all."

[helloalycia]

almost [one] // carol danvers

summary: you've always had something for Carol and one night, both of your feelings come to light after hanging out and reminiscing on old times.

warning/s: none.

two | three | masterlist

"Don't even think about it," I mumbled, earning a sigh of defeat from behind me.

"I told you it wouldn't work," Maria chuckled.

I turned around and saw Carol and Maria walking towards me with their helmets balanced under their arm. Maria was watching Carol's defeated expression with amusement and I cracked a smile at her adorableness.

"Do you really think it's a good idea to jump-scare the person who is fixing a plane engine? The same plane you'll be flying in a few weeks?" I asked, quirking an eyebrow as I met Carol's brown eyes.

Her defeated expression transformed into a grin as she patted me on the shoulder. "I know nothing will go wrong when you're the mechanic fixing it up."

I rolled my eyes playfully and got back to what I was doing in hopes of hiding the blush I could feel heating up my cheeks.

"We did come here for a reason," Maria said, nudging Carol in the side playfully. "This one just doesn't know when to stop."

Carol laughed and I suppressed a smile at how happy she looked.

"We were wondering if you wanna join us for drinks tonight," Maria said with a smile. "I've got my parents to babysit Monica until nine, so we have a few hours after work to unwind. What d'you say?"

I stood up and wiped the grease from my hands on my cloth. "I don't know... What if the arseholes are there?" I was referring to the male majority of our team – the ones who looked down on Carol, Maria and I because we were 'women in a men's world'.

"Don't worry about that, Y/N, we'll just ignore them – sit in a corner or something. C'mon, it won't be the same without you," Carol tried to convince me, smiling at me hopefully.

She knew I couldn't resist her ask – I would literally do anything she wanted me to. So when I sighed and glared at her, she grinned and fist-pumped like a little nerd.

"I'll see you guys in a few hours, but right now, I need to actually get some work done," I said knowingly, but they were both smiling at me and I couldn't help but smile in return.

---

"Over here," Maria said, leading Carol and I to a booth in the corner, away fro-

"Hey! Look who it is, everyone!" the arrogant arse known as Tom yelled obnoxiously.

"So much for ignoring them," I mumbled to myself, following the others.

"You girls come for a drink after a long, hard day of doing nothing?" Tom continued to mock, earning laughs from his colleagues.

We ignored them as we tried to reach our booth, but of course they tried to intimidate us by giving us a narrowed path to cross.

"Hey, Tom, are you always this much of an idiot? Or do you just show off when we're around?" Carol said with a cheeky grin, watching Tom's face drop with offence. A few of his friends snickered and I couldn't help but bite my lip to suppress an oncoming laugh.

Carol looked over her shoulder and winked playfully, making my stomach flutter with butterflies, before grabbing my hand and leading me to our booth, following Maria as she sat down.

"One day that humour of yours is going to get you into trouble, Danvers," Maria said, though she was smiling with amusement.

"Can't wait," she said confidently, smiling widely at Maria.

We spent an hour of our time simply chatting and having a few drinks between us, enjoying the break we had from work. It did get a little difficult since the guys were still a few booths down, scattered all over the bar and surrounding tables and acting like idiots, but we managed to try and pretend they weren't there.

When it got to a point where we couldn't even get a game of pool in without them mocking us, I decided to take matters into my own hands.

"I heard through the grapevine that Tom and Grady have been arguing lately – something to do with one of their girlfriends flirting with the other guy or something," I shared to the girls with a suppressed smile.

"And you're telling us this because...?" Maria questioned, exchanging confused glances with Carol.

I grabbed a peanut from the tray on our table and lined myself up with Tom's head a few tables down. "Because you need context for when I get the guys kicked out of here in less than two minutes."

Both girls subtly looked over their shoulders to see what I was looking at, and Carol finally caught on, looking back to me with a challenging smirk.

"I dare you."

I smiled back at her innocently. "No need."

I focused on Tom's head carefully before throwing the peanut directly at his face. He flinched when it hit him on the cheek and patted his face before spotting the nut on the table. I contained my laughter as he tried to piece together what happened before seeing Grady sat in front of him, eating from the tray of nuts on their table. Grady was distracted by a conversation he was having with one of the other guys, but Tom was already accusing him.

"Are you serious? You're gonna hit me with a peanut? You think that's funny?!"

"What are you, five? Why would I throw a peanut at your head?" Grady's voice was rising with anger as Tom glared at him.

"I thought we were good after everything that happened, but obviously you're still acting like an arsehole!" Tom yelled back, standing up and slamming his hands on the table, getting everyone's attention.

"Wait for it," I whispered, watching the fight about to take place, as Carol and Maria held their laughter in.

"What did you just call me?!" Grady stood up, too, his chair knocking to the floor behind him.

"An arseho–"

But Grady had already punched Tom in the jaw before he could finish, making the girls and I flinch, feeling the pain from here.

At this point, the two were in a hand-to-hand brawl, with their friends trying to break them up, but it seemed to be getting them nowhere.

"Out of here! All of you! Now!" the bartender came round from the bar and dragged them out himself. "I don't tolerate fighting in my establishment, arseholes!"

When they had all left, the rest of the people in the bar were quiet with anticipation. Meanwhile, Carol, Maria and I were laughing our heads off at what just went down.

"You are actually a genius," Carol complimented, raising her glass. "To Y/N!"

Maria raised hers too and they both stared at me expectantly, leaving me no choice but to also raise mine and clink my glass with theirs.

After that, the three of us could actually enjoy our time together without having to put up with sarky comments in the background. We were having so much fun that when it was nearing nine, we were sad to have to part ways.

"Look, I don't wanna be the party pooper, so you guys stay and I'm gonna head home," Maria compromised after we tried to convince her to stay.

"You sure?" Carol asked.

Maria nodded as she put her jacket on. "You got your key, right?" Carol nodded. "Awesome. I'm sure Y/N won't mind giving you a ride back when you're done for the night."

Carol and Maria looked to me with hopeful expressions and I rolled my eyes at the fact that they even needed to ask.

"When have I ever said no to giving you a lift?" I asked Carol with a knowing look.

Carol pretended to think before countering with, "Perhaps that time when you drove off when I was in the bathroom and you were supposed to be my ride?"

I snickered at the memory. "To be fair, I completely forgot you were still here. And I came back!"

Carol rolled her eyes jokingly as Maria shook her head judgementally.

"You," she pointed to me, "don't forget about her, and you," she pointed to Carol, "don't make too much noise when you get back later. I don't want you waking Monica."

"Aye, aye, captain," Carol said with a salute, winding Maria up.

"God help me...," Maria mumbled, before walking away with our giggles sounding around her.

When Maria left the bar, Carol turned back to face me with a devious smile on her face.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

She didn't break eye contact as we both shouted: "Ice cream!"

Our childish grins mirrored each other as we both stood up to leave.

"After you, m'lady." She motioned for me to walk first.

I was unable to lose my smile as I walked ahead, feeling her presence behind me. We both got to my car and I drove us to the nearby ice cream parlour, AKA the one we frequented quite a bit.

We chose our flavours and paid before taking a seat on one of the tables. It wasn't too busy this evening, so there was no need to be wary of certain people coming to ruin the fun.

"I'm curious," Carol said, and I looked to see her eyeing me mysteriously behind her ice cream cone.

I quirked an eyebrow. "About...?"

She sat up straight and eagerly leaned on the table, a devious smile on her lips. "What was your first impression of me when we first met?"

I breathed out and sat back in my seat, smiling nostalgically. "Wow... when was that – two years ago?" I thought carefully as I said, "It was when Dr. Lawson was setting up our team to help her test her work. I was in the hangar with her and Maria. Maria and I had just met... yeah, and then you walked in."

I bit my lip as I remembered seeing Carol for the first time. She walked in, light on her feet with excitement. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail and she was wearing her signature bomber jacket and denim jeans. I had never seen someone's smile radiate that much energy and I remembered thinking how beautiful she was.

"And...?" Carol pressed, a pursed smile on her face.

I chuckled. "You walked in and you must have been really excited to be there because you just couldn't stand still. Dr. Lawson introduced you and you gave us all a nervous but eager wave. Almost poked your own eye out."

"Oh, god... did I really?" Carol's cheeks heated up with embarrassment, but she was smiling through it.

"I thought you seemed nice enough. You were definitely determined – anyone in the room could see it," I continued, reminiscing happily. "You were the perfect addition to our little team."

Carol stared at me, her gaze softening. "Thanks, Y/N..."

I felt frozen in place, in a good way. Her eyes looked golden as they kept their hold on me, making me forget where I was, what I was doing. Just like that first day, something stirred inside of me.

"You know, I thought that I was late to the party when I walked into the hangar," she suddenly said, a small smile on her lips. "I saw you all and thought you'd all bonded or something without me."

I laughed as she licked around her ice cream cone to stop it dripping before continuing.

"You looked friendly though," she added confidently. "I remember thinking that I couldn't wait to work with you, especially because I was told you were a mechanic and I thought that was really cool."

"Really?" I asked, eyes wide teasingly. "You've never told me that you thought that."

She rolled her eyes and licked her ice cream, trying to draw attention away from her red cheeks.

"You had a really pretty smile," I blurted, catching her attention. I licked my lips and decided to keep going with it, even though I regretted telling her. "I mean, you still do, but yeah. You wouldn't stop smiling when we were introduced and I thought it was really..."

"Pretty," she repeated.

I smiled. "Yeah."

A momentary silence developed between us, but it felt different. Like uncharted territory between us and our friendship. She avoided my eyes, eating her ice cream, and I did the same. But somehow, we both remained smiling to ourselves. I knew why I was, but I wondered why she was, too.

---

"I had fun tonight," Carol said as we pulled up outside of Maria's house.

"Me, too," I replied, turning to look at her, and she was already smiling my way.

She looked beautiful and I had a sudden urge to lean forward and kiss her. But I knew I couldn't, shouldn't. So instead I cleared my throat and broke eye contact.

"You should get inside...," I said, instantly regretting it. I didn't want her to leave.

Carol pressed her lips together, looking down at her lap. She nodded and said, "Yeah. Thanks for the ride."

I watched as she jumped out of my car and waved to me as she went to the front door. I was about to set off and leave, but I realised she had forgotten the ice cream we had bought for Monica.

"Carol!" I shouted quietly from my rolled down window, getting her attention. I grabbed the ice cream and went to Carol, making her realise what was wrong as she saw the ice cream in my hand.  

"The ice cream," she said pointedly, a smile on her lips.

"The ice cream," I confirmed, handing it to her.

She accepted it and then searched for her key. I watched with amusement as she patted down her pocket for a good minute, before finally pulling her key out of her inner jacket pocket.

"You good?" I chuckled quietly.

She nodded, playfully rolling her eyes. "Thanks again for the ride, Y/N."

I gave her a smile, meeting her sparkling brown eyes. I tried to ignore how good she looked under the stars tonight. "Anytime."

Her signature smile was on her lips as she pulled me in for a hug. I accepted the embrace, letting her wrap her arms around my shoulders as I did so with her waist. She was warm and comfortable and I found myself smiling contently.

I knew I had to pull away eventually, so I reluctantly did. I offered a small smile as I attempted to step back, but Carol had pulled me back towards her again, this time pressing her lips against mine.

I didn't really think about it as it was happening – I kinda just kissed back, enjoying the feeling of being this close to her. It had been a long time coming and her lips moving against mine drove me crazy. She was still holding the ice cream – I could feel the chill of it against my back as she held me in place. I had my arms wrapped around her, not wanting to let go. This was almost too good to be true.

The porch light switching on was what made us jump apart from each other, acting as if we hadn't just made out in front of Maria's house. Speaking of Maria...

"Damn it, Danvers, I thought I told you to be quiet when you came back," Maria chastised, yawning soon after as she hung by the doorway.

I caught my breath and managed to risk looking at Carol, feeling my cheeks heat up at the thought of being close to her only a moment before.

"Sorry, I was just heading in now," she apologised to Maria, before glancing at me. A heartwarming smile was on her lips as she nodded my way. "I'll see you tomorrow, Y/N."

My lips twitched into a smile, suppressing so many emotions I was feeling now. "Er, yeah. Tomorrow. Goodnight." I cleared my throat, looking to Maria. "Both of you."

Maria was too tired to notice anything different between Carol and I, so she went back inside, followed by Carol who waved goodbye to me before closing the door behind her. I headed back to my car calmly before sitting in the driver's seat and taking a moment to catch up.

Carol kissed me.

I grinned as I drove home, unable to wait for what the following day had to offer.

---

The next morning, I didn't get chance to greet Maria or Carol because Dr. Lawson had a list of things for me to work on. I got cracking on the list as soon as she asked, but I was still impatient about seeing Carol. Would she change her mind? Realise I wasn't what she wanted after all? Would she pretend like it didn't happen?

I hated having those negative thoughts, but I couldn't help it. The longer I waited, the more I worried. Second-guessed everything. I mean, did we even kiss last night or did I imagine it?

But I couldn't have imagined the butterflies swirling a storm in my stomach as she pulled me close to her, or the tingling on my lips as she pressed hers against mine. Impossible.

I was closing the panel on the jet I was working on when I heard my name being called from behind.

"Yeah? Oh, Carol... hey." I smiled nervously, setting down my spanner as she approached me with a grin. She was alone, but in her overalls. She must have just finished a test flight.

I expected her to say something to me when she reached me, but once again, she took me by surprise as she leaned forward and kissed me. I felt my back hit the jet, but that didn't stop her as she had one hand on my waist and the other cupping my cheek. I managed to hook my fingers through the belt loops of her overalls and keep ahold of her waist as I returned the kiss.

This one was different to last night – she was more confident, desperate, excited. Yet at the same time, she was gentle, caring, careful.

Eventually, we had to pull apart for air, but that was fine as when we took a small step back, I found myself grinning back, my head fuzzy and my heart warm.

"I'm really hoping nobody walked in whilst I did that," she breathed out, making me laugh. She glanced over her shoulder before nodding with confirmation. "We're good."

"Carol..." I contained my happiness in a suppressed smile as I rested my hand on her chest, pushing her away gently. "We need to talk about this obviously."

She nodded in agreement, a grin still on her lips. "Right, yeah. That's why I came here. But then I saw you working and I remembered last night and I just really wanted to kiss you again."

I rubbed my forehead, glancing down at my shoes as I tried to hide my embarrassment.

"Don't do that because I might end up kissing you a third time," she admitted sheepishly.

I met her gaze and tried to be stern, but her warm brown eyes made me melt on the spot. She was looking at me a certain way, a look I hadn't noticed before. Probably the same way I had been looking at her.

"We need to talk," I got out without stuttering.

She nodded, pursing her lips. "Okay. Well, I guess all I have to say is that I like you a lot and I know I shouldn't, but I can't help it. I thought if I played this out long enough, I could get over you. Anything to keep you in my life, even as a friend. But last night... we had fun and I realised I want that to be like always. I really want to be with you."

I breathed out slowly, feeling my heart rate pick up. "I– wow."

Carol seemed momentarily nervous. "That's what you wanted to hear, right? Otherwise this whole thing is going to be very awkward."

I shoved her in the shoulder gently, chuckling. "Of course it is, Carol. That's the thing. It's exactly what I wanted to hear."

She stepped forward, lessening the gap between us. "So, you wanna try this? Us? It doesn't have to be a big thing if you don't want it to be. Only we have to know. And Maria if you want her to."

I opened my mouth to speak. I was trying to agree with her, but she made me feel nervous because of how close she was. It didn't help that I could feel her breath tickling my skin and she was giving me that flirty smile she always did whenever she knew she was right.

"You're not answering," she pointed out, moving closer and closer. Her eyes darted from my eyes to my lips. "It's completely up to you, Y/N. There's no hard feelings if you just want to be friends."

I licked my lips as I looked at hers.

"Though being friends would definitely be strange from now on," she argued jokingly.

I looked to her eyes and saw she was staring right at me. I could see she wanted this and it reassured me that I wasn't alone. This wasn't wrong. So, I nodded.

"I want this," I agreed. "I want us."

Despite how confident she was coming across, I could see the relief flood her expression as she smiled at me.

"Well, there's only one way to seal this deal," she whispered, glancing up at me.

I waited for her to lean forward, but she suddenly pulled back and extended her arm. "A good ole' handshake!"

I raised both of my eyebrows and shoved her in the shoulder, harder than before.

"Are you kidding me?!" I asked with disbelief, partially embarrassed for falling for that so fast.

Her laughter echoed all around us as she watched me. She glanced over her shoulder before grabbing my hand and yanking me towards her. Her arms hugged my waist as she pressed a quick yet gentle kiss to my lips. I saw her look down at me with a picture-perfect smile and adoring eyes.

"I think we made the right choice," she said confidently.

I smiled up at her. "I do, too."