#also.. christmas day is so close so getting tickets n stuff could be hard

[tskumoyuuma]

i feel like i should do something for my winter break since im planning on taking a little over 2 weeks off, but like. the thing about me is that i do not have the need to travel, and certainly not by myself. like i recognize all the benefits of taking a trip by urself in comparison to even just going with a single friend. but if someones not taking me to places they like or im not taking them to places i like then i dont really see the point in going on the trip. theres no one to experience it with !! not to mention having to pick every single place id being going, including where id eat. n i also dont see the need to go out to a restaurant by myself, which is another thing about me that decreases the appeal of a solo trip.

but then p much all of my coworkers as well as my parents will look at me taking those 2 weeks n be like "what do u mean ur not going anywhere. ur a foreigner in japan who has 2 free weeks. u have to travel somewhere" and theyll think im wasting my time, even if i instead spend that break doing things i actually know i wlll enjoy

[watchmegetobsessed]

The best present - Harry Styles

Sequel to UPDATE

on demand, this is a fluffy little sequel to update, hope you’ll like it! tagging the people who asked for said sequel: @urdadbtch​ @f-vasquezp​ 

word count: 3k

masterlist

Harry has a soft spot for surprises. Especially if he is the one planning them for a loved one. The overflowing joy he sees in one’s eyes upon receiving a carefully planned surprise just gives him a different type of satisfaction in life, one he couldn’t live without.

His life has taken a pleasant turn ever since Y/N entered it, virtually and in a real dimension. It hasn’t been the easiest with his hectic schedule and her anchored life in Spokane, but with some time paid to adjusting to the situation they managed to make it work. He wouldn’t have settled for anything else, because he just simply couldn’t imagine his life without her anymore and luckily she felt the same way.

Harry fell in love with her quicker than what it took for the weather to turn cold in the fall. It felt like the most natural thing that has ever happened to him, to fall for her whole being, everything that’s her on the inside and outside. Harry often caught himself thinking what he did in life to earn such a beautiful person in his life. He hasn’t figured that one out yet.

Y/N was like a warm summer breeze on a hot august evening, easily charmed anyone and everyone Harry introduced her to. She slowly but surely met some of the most important people in Harry’s life and he just couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that it felt like she’s been part of his life since forever even on the first meetings.

“She is wonderful, I love her,” his mother told him when they finally had the chance to meet upon a weekend they spent in New York. It was a lucky time when both his mother and Y/N were free and he took the chance to cook up a mini vacation in the city right away. Anne was thrilled to meet the woman that had her son wrapped around her fingers even before meeting.

Harry felt like he was on the top of the world when he saw the two women get along like they’ve been friends for years, it filled his heart even more.

The situation was quite the same with Gemma, in just a blink of an eye they were making plans on their own not including Harry, which hit him a little hard in the chest, but he was happy knowing they found the common ground.

“You amaze me so much,” he once told Y/N when they were spending the night at her place, one of those weekends when Harry flew all the way to Spokane just to spend less than 48 hours with her. Even with the long flights and hustle that came with the traveling he wouldn’t have done it any other way. If he could see her smile for just ten minutes he would have travelled days.

“I do?” she asked smirking up at him, putting her book aside as she rested her chin on his tattooed chest.

“Mhm,” he hummed with a quirky smile. “In so many ways.”

“Write a song about them so I can listen to it,” she told him as a joke. Little did she know that not even a week later that’s exactly what Harry did. It was another addition to the endless list of songs she inspired.

December creeped its way around the corner faster than they were expecting and in a blink of an eye every store was filled with Christmas ornaments and wrapping papers, the most iconic Christmas songs were played everywhere, making those who work at retail want to throw Michael Bublé and Mariah Carey right out the window for every having the thought of recording Christmas music.

Harry and Y/N had plans for the holidays. They agreed on spending three days from 22nd to 24th with his family and then fly to Portland to be with her family from the 25th to 27th before they head to New York City to spend the last few days left from the year together and celebrate the new year at a party Harry was invited to.

These plans were set in stone right until Harry decided to surprise his lover with the best gift he could think about. It was a tough call and took him weeks to arrange but Harry was able to get Y/N’s brother to leave for the holidays earlier, on the 21st instead of just the 26th.

“Why are we changing it again?” Y/N asks curiously as she sits on Harry’s lap when they are changing their plane tickets so they could start the holidays at her family instead of his.

“Mom is not going to be home until the 24th,” he lies and then adds: “Gemma is also gonna only arrive on the 23rd. Figured it would work better. We would be at your parents’ from the 21st to the 23rd, go to the UK from 24th to 26th and there is an early flight so we would be in Portland by the time your brother arrives.”

He had spent a long time figuring out how to manage the dates so she wouldn’t be suspicious. Seemingly, it worked, because Y/N nods as she stands up and walks over to the kitchen.

“Alright. But isn’t that too much of a hustle to go back and forth two times?”

“Not that horrible,” Harry smiles in her way, his fingers moving fast on the keyboard to make the right changes for their trips before she returns and sees that the dates are not exactly the same as he told her. Luckily, she hops onto the kitchen counter as he finishes up and closes his laptop feeling ecstatic about the surprise he has planned for her.

“It’s gonna be busy,” she points out as Harry walks over to her, placing his hands on each side of her on the counter.

“But we will be busy together,” he grins leaning closer to steal a kiss.

As the days pass by Harry is growing more and more excited about the surprise. He almost slipped a few times upon talking about the holidays, but managed to save the situation just in time. Y/N had no idea what he had in store for her.

“That’s all your stuff for our trip?” Y/N asks when Harry arrives to her place with his decent, normal sized suitcase that has his essentials for the next about seven days while they will be on the road. He glances down at his bag before walking inside and setting it down in the hallway.

“Love, I’ve learned how to pack in a smart way,” he tells her teasingly before pecking her on the lips while he takes his coat off and hangs it in the hallway.

“Yeah, but it’s an entire week. I’m going with twice this much.”

“’Cuz you are packing for New York as well. We’ll be staying in my place, remember? I don’t need stuff for that time,” he reminds her and he is right, but she is still amazed at how he managed to fit everything he needs into just one suitcase.

That night Harry lies awake with her sleeping form next to him. Looking around the room he thinks about how this is the same place he fell in love with her, but it was through just a screen. All the plants, the furniture, the bed he saw behind her in the videos are now his reality as well and in just a few short months they have grown so close to each other, he couldn’t imagine his life in a different way.

“What’s the matter?” he hears her groggy voice coming from next to him and looking to the side he sees that she is blinking at him in the dark.

“Nothing,” he shakes his head, turning to his side to face her, noses almost touching on the pillow.

“Then why aren’t you sleeping?” she asks, sneaking a hand to his back under the covers and she starts to gently stroke his skin with his fingertips, sending a shiver down his spine.

“Just… excited about the holidays,” he whispers with a shrug. He can’t tell her that he is excited to meet your family, especially your brother since he is kind of the reason you ever got the chance to meet. He feels like he is too worked up about meeting her parents and cousins, but he can’t wait to feel like he is part of her family. What he doesn’t know is that she already sees him as part of it, has been since she realized how deeply in love she is with him.

“Mmm, excited about your gifts?” she teases him with closed eyes, but her fingers are still moving on his back. Harry lets out a soft chuckle.

“Especially about those.”

He brings his arm around her frame and pulls her to his chest as they make themselves comfortable under the covers, legs tangled, her face resting on his chest as he gently strokes her arms, soothing her back into sleep.

“I love you,” he whispers thinking she has already fallen back asleep. It wasn’t the first time he has said the words to her, but tonight just feels a little different.

“Love you too,” she mumbles back pressing a kiss to his naked chest before she sighs and lets herself fall back into sleep.

 Her family knew about the change in Sammy’s arrival, but Harry made them promise they won’t say a word to Y/N, keeping it as a surprise.

Her mother welcomes the two of them with warm excitement, the house already smelling amazing from all the different cookies she’s been baking, the dinner is also in the making on the stove.

“Finally here!” she hugs both of them, even though she hasn’t officially met Harry, only talked to him on the phone about Sammy’s early arrival. “Come on in!”

The two of them get rid of their winter attire before Harry turns to her mother holding out a hand to make their first meeting official.

“So nice to meet ya, I’m Harry.”

Instead of taking his hand her mother pulls him into another tight hug that he returns with a soft chuckle.

“I’m so happy you are finally here! I’ve heard so much good about you,” she tells him with a sly, knowing smile while Y/N is not looking. “I can tell you are a blessing to the family already.”

“Thank you,” he nods smiling.

Harry meets Y/N’s dad and two of her cousins who have arrived earlier and they all gather in the living room just talking at first, then soon enough they start playing board games. They get stuck on Activity, the pairs are Y/N and Harry, her mom and dad, and her two cousins. The competition is burning up the house, Harry can tell they all take the game very seriously.

Through the game Harry keeps glancing out the window, waiting for a car to park at the driveway. He has sent a car to pick Sammy up, but since he didn’t have his phone on him just yet he couldn’t let Harry know when he would be arriving exactly.

Just after he is done drawing in one of the rounds he sees the black car pull up at the house. Harry pretends to get a call and he can see the excitement grow in her parents’ eyes as they already know what this means, while Y/N is oblivious to anything that’s about to happen. Harry quietly makes his way out of the house hoping he didn’t draw her attention, and that’s when Sammy gets out of the car thanking the driver for the ride. As he turns around Harry is stunned to see how much the two of them resemble. He sees her eyes in his, their ears curl the same way and he has the exactly same hair color as her. There was no doubt the two of them were related.

“Harry, right?” he asks holding his hand out firmly that Harry takes smiling.

“Yeah. Sammy, I supposed.”

“The one and only,” he chuckles holding his bag’s strap over his shoulder.

“I would love to chat more, but I think we should move inside first,” Harry suggests and Sammy follows him up the few stairs that leads to the front door.

“Harry! Come on, we are up next!” Y/N calls out from the living room as the two guys walk inside.

She is seated on the floor, her back to the hallway so she doesn’t see when the two men walk in, grinning from ear to ear. She only notices something is happening when she sees her mother gasp happily at the sight of her son.

“What—“ she starts but turning around her words disappear as she stares up at her brother who she hasn’t seen in what feels like ages.

Harry overflows with joy when he sees how shocked she is, in the best way possible. He watches her leap to her feet and jolt right at Sammy, throwing herself into his arms as he lifts her up, twirling her around in excitement.

“Hi there, little sis,” he chuckles still holding her close as she is fighting with her tears upon the surprise she just had.

“How… What are you doing here early?” she asks in total awe as she tries to comprehend that he is truly here, in her arms.

“Ask you boyfriend,” Sammy chuckles looking in Harry’s direction. “He arranged an early leaving for me, I don’t know how, but he did,” Sammy adds letting go of his sister.

As her parents make their way to their son Y/N moves over to Harry, still in complete disbelief that he did this.

“How?” she asks, arms snaking up around his neck while his hands get a hold of her waist.

“I have… connections,” he shrugs shyly and she just shakes her head laughing before she pulls him down for the sweetest thank you kiss.

“I can’t believe you,” she sighs pecking his lips once again.

“What I can’t believe is that he could keep it a secret this long,” Sammy speaks up.

“Wait, how long have you known this?”

“A couple weeks. Got it finalized early December,” Harry admits, feeling proud that he could make this happen.

“So this is why we had to change the tickets!” she gasps in realization. “When do we have to leave for real then?”

“We are staying until the 25th, our plane leaves in the afternoon,” he smiles warmly as he sees her eyes light up. According to the original plans they would have had only two days with Sammy at home, but this way it’s almost four entire days. “This was the most I could get, Love,” Harry adds, feeling a bit guilty that they are leaving to see his family, but Y/N shakes her head.

“This is absolutely perfect. You gave me the best present,” she smiles cupping his face in her hands as she pulls him down for another kiss.

This Christmas goes down as the best one she has ever had. The time they spend with her family holds a special place in her heart, especially because she loves seeing her family and Harry get along so well. She now knows what he felt when she met his mother and sister. Seeing him be so kind to her mom and have loads of things to talk about with her dad and brother warms her in a way only Harry can make her feel.

The feeling doesn’t change when they arrive to his home. She feels like she is part of the family just as much as he is. They spend some splendid days with his extended family, enjoying the spirit of the holidays and she is almost sad when it’s time for them to leave.

“Come back soon, Sweetheart,” Anne tells her when they are saying goodbye at the airport.

“I will, if he is okay with bringing me next time,” she chuckles glancing at Harry by her side.

“Oh I sure am, Love,” he smiles kissing the top of her head.

Those couple of days they spend together in the city holds memories they will surely never forget. They finally get to spend time together without anything interrupting them, just enjoying the little moments, falling deeper in love with each passing day.

The last day arrives in a fast pace and neither of them can believe the year is ending so soon. They spend the day in bed mostly before it’s time to get ready for the party one of Harry’s friends is hosting in Manhattan.

It’s a nice way to end such a wonderful year, they mix and mingle with the guests but keep each other close, especially when they reach the last minutes of the year left. Harry takes her hand and pulls her out to the balcony to have some privacy before the countdown.

“Crazy how we are here,” he sighs as his arms are wrapped around her figure, warming her body as much as he can in the New York City winter time.

“Who would have thought?” she chuckles placing a sweet kiss to his jawline.

“Not me,” he admits laughing. “But I’m glad it’s my reality now.”

Y/N smiles up at him with gratitude in her eyes, just when the countdown starts inside.

“Have you ever had a New Year’s Eve kiss?” Harry asks as he pulls her closer, if that’s even possible.

“Sadly, I have not.”

“Then can I have the pleasure to be your first?” he smirks down at her and she just nods biting into her bottom lip.

“Three! Two! One!” the guests call out inside as the whole city erupts at the same time, fireworks go off and cheering echoes through the building, but it all fades into nothing as Harry leans down and kisses her sweetly. They spend the first couple of moments of the new year melted together until they pull back for air. The crispy winter air has turned his nose red quickly and she is lost in how adorable but handsome he still manages to look.

“Harry Styles,” she sighs feeling defeated by her own feelings. “You are one wonderful creature, you know that?” she wonders, as if she was saying her inner thoughts out loud. Harry chuckles as he presses a kiss to her forehead.

“That makes the two of us, Love.”

I’m opening a Harry taglist, let me know if you are interested in being on it!

[mybillyhardgrove]

The Language of Love s.h.

A/n: another one! love language is such an endearing idea to me… plus, I need to show steve more love lol

ps. i mentioned watching movies too much lmao

Disclaimer: i don’t own any Stranger Things material

Word count: 3125

Warnings: a couple curses (par for the course at this point)

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Reader (female)

Summary: after being with Steve for a while, it has become clear how he shows his love for you

Words of Affirmation

You couldn’t stop shaking your leg or gnawing on the skin of your bottom lip on the drive over to the Wheeler’s house. You looked over at Steve when you heard him laugh a bit under his breath. “What are you laughing at?”

“Nothing, nothing.” You nudged his shoulder a bit, whining that he share what was so amusing. He sighed, glancing over and resting his hand on your thigh before returning his eyes to the road. “I just think it’s cute how wound up you are to meet a bunch of kids. You can relax, they are not hard to impress.” The entire party was meeting at the Wheeler’s to watch The Neverending Story and it would be the first time you met them all. Of course you’d seen your boyfriend talking with them from time to time and you knew Billy, Nancy, and Jonathan from school, so you knew something about their younger siblings, but this was a different circumstance altogether. You thought you might be more nervous than when you met Steve’s parents.

“This is important, Steve. I mean, these kids are practically your children the way you talk about them, and I want to fit in, make sure they like me. You love them and I love you, so I really want this night to go well.” You took a deep breath, getting worked up again and grabbing his hand from your leg, squeezing it tight.

After a few minutes, he pulled his car to the curb outside the house and turned to you. You looked towards the first-floor window and saw the kids all gathered in the dining room, laughing and wrestling. Oh boy.

Steve reached over and put his fingers under your chin, turning your face towards him and pressing a kiss to your forehead. “You’re gonna be great tonight. You are so funny and loving and sweet. Those idiots will love you as much as I do. Trust me, beautiful, just be yourself and everything will work out.”

And not to spoil anything, but it did. A few days later, Steve recounted over the phone how all the kids were raving about you and how cool, funny, nice, and pretty you were - just as he said they would.

Gifts

Ever since the first night you met them, you and the party were very close and they always invited you to everything they did. You accompanied them to the arcade from time to time, you helped El and Max get ready for the school dances, you gave the boys relationship advice, and you were even attending the Christmas party at the Byers’s house. Though it was usually you, Steve, and the kids getting together for impromptu hang-outs or some casual pizza nights, this evening involved everyone getting dressed up and bringing food, drinks, and their secret santa gifts.

You had received Max and took care to get her the specific skateboard she had been talking a lot about, information passed to you by Lucas. You gave the gift after being at the party for a couple hours and she jumped up and down, hugging you tightly and saying more than once how excited she was to try it out. After that success, you were riding high through appetizers and dinner, so glad your gift was a success and you were celebrating the holiday with those closest to you. When you had collected the plates for Mrs. Byers and finished washing them with her, you heard someone clear their throat behind you. You turned and saw your handsome boyfriend in a cozy sweater and khakis, hair brushed back neatly from his face.

“Hey, stranger.” You reached out your arms, slipping them around his waist and letting him pull you in tight.

Mrs. Byers shooed you two to the living room to be comfortable, “Honey, everything is all set here. Thank you for the help.” Steve released you, draping his arm over your shoulders and walking with you towards the couch. Once you were both settled, you tucked into his side, watching the kids exchanging more gifts, he pulled something from his back pocket. Passing it to you, he leaned his lips to your ear and whispered, “Merry Christmas, sweetheart.” You looked over with a smile, surprised he hadn’t let it slip that he got you for the secret santa (he wasn’t the best at keeping secrets usually). You sat up a bit more, tearing the neat paper from the gift, gasping when you saw what it was.

A small, ornate book filled with ticket stubs, receipts, polaroids, pressed flowers, and other mementos from your relationship. Your vision got blurry as you looked through each page, reading the little handwritten descriptions Steve had added. When you got to the last page, it said ‘To be continued’, which made you giggle despite how emotional you were. You closed it and held it close to your chest, turning and kissing Steve a few times before thanking him profusely. “Steve, this is beautiful. I love it so much. I can’t believe you put this all together and kept these things.” He placed his hand on your cheek, running his thumb under your eye to wipe a tear away before kissing you again.

“The kids helped me set it all up and organize it, but I had been keeping it all in a little box in the glove compartment of my car. I looked in there from time to time when I was having a shitty day, so I put it in this book for you to look at.” His cheeks were red from all the attention and the confession, which you thought made him so handsome.

You kissed him a couple more times before resting your head on his shoulder, finally realizing that all eyes were on you. Steve seemed to realize at the same time, so he said, “Alright, show’s over. Put the movie on already.” When the lights were turned down low and all attention was on the screen, he turned to you once more, whispering, “Merry Christmas. I love you.” And what a merry Christmas it was.

Acts of Service

It was your birthday and you were dreading it. Birthdays felt like a day of awkward encounters and attention you didn’t want, all while being reminded you were another year older. For most of high school, it seemed to be a letdown in a way because it fell on some random weekday and you did homework for the evening, instead of something fun or relaxing.

This year, however, would be different because of the one and only Steve Harrington. When you had explained your sentiments about birthdays to him a couple weeks earlier, he assured you he would change your mind. You argued that your family would be leaving you for the week and hadn’t even mentioned or apologized that they would be missing your birthday. After making you feel better, he wouldn’t say what he was planning, but he seemed to think it would excite you.

You were on the couch working on Math when you heard a knock at the front door. You rose, opening the door to see your boyfriend juggling three bags full of stuff. “Come in, come in. Do you need help?” He shook his head and shuffled past you, heading right for the kitchen and putting everything on the counter.

When he had done that, he ran to you, wrapping his arms around your waist and picking you off your feet, squeezing you tightly and kissing your neck a few times. “Happy birthday! Happy birthday!” He spun you around before setting you back on your feet. “Alright, I love you and this is all for you, but not yet. Please return to whatever you were doing and when you’re finished, you can… one second” and he rummaged through one of the bags with a frown before pulling out a VHS tape. “Here, this is your first gift. I grabbed it on the way over, so you can watch this while I do my thing in here. I will call you when I’m ready for you to see.” He turned you around and hit your backside, kicking you out of the kitchen and back to your place on the couch.

You were confused, but knew he had things handled and had been over enough to know where everything was, so you got back to work.

When you had finished, you played the movie and tried to ignore all the mumbling, clanks, and shuffling you could hear from the kitchen. At one point, you thought you heard him go upstairs, but ignored it. Then, after a little over an hour of that, Steve came back into the living room, announcing that he had cooked you your favorite dinner and the table was set for you to eat. “While you were watching the movie, I also took the time to clean the kitchen and your bedroom, all sparkly clean. I would like to say I saw your Christmas gift album up there, as well, which makes me very happy. Anyway, happy birthday.” He looked rather pleased with himself and you admitted you were too with all he had managed to accomplish in the time he had been over.

He offered his arm to you and escorted you to a beautiful dinner illuminated by a few candles and enjoyed the delicious food and meaningful conversation with your thoughtful and caring boyfriend.

“This is perfect, Steve, thank you. I think I am starting to like birthdays.” He did a little celebration dance in his seat. You laughed at his silliness, heart swelling with how grateful you really were and how much you loved him.

“Well, get ready because I also made dessert.” Yeah, you really loved him.

Quality Time

The nature of your relationship with Steve was that you spent a lot of time together, whether just the two of you or surrounded by people. He was clingy (in the best way), craving your attention and affection. He cuddled, hugged, and kissed you more times than you could count each time you were together, so you would say every time you were together was meaningful and special. If you both had your ways, you would spend all your time together, but the need for money outweighed those wishes.

Steve had been working at Scoops Ahoy, but after everything in the mall, he and Robin began working at a movie rental place. You were not lucky enough to work with them, working instead at a pizza place that was always loud and always filled with rude teens and entitled adults. Your only time of solace was your hour lunch break, which you took each day at the same time. This was so Steve would know when to stop by. Usually, you ate a couple slices or walked to the strip mall across the street to grab something quick, but this time, Steve said he had lunch handled. When he said that, you frowned and tried to ask what he meant, but he wouldn’t elaborate, so you let it go.

Looking at the clock, it was finally time for you to get some fresh air and spend time with your boyfriend before returning to work again. You pushed open the door, bell jingling, and waited out front for the flash of Steve’s deep red car. After a few seconds of scouting the lot, you found it, parked a few spaces away, Steve smiling at you and waving through the windshield once he saw you approaching.

He got out to meet you at the front of his car, pressing a kiss to your lips and rubbing your back. “How is it going today, sweet cheeks?” You laughed at his silly nickname and explained that it was relatively quiet, fewer phone calls and customers than usual. “Oh, that’s great. The day will fly by and I’ll come pick you up when it’s all over.” He put up a finger to signal you to wait where you were, opening the back door and leaning in to grab a basket and a blanket. “In the meantime, I packed a little picnic for us because I remember how you feel a little sick of all the shitty food we’ve had lately. There are some sandwiches, chips, cookies, and sodas.” Steve placed the basket in your hands, a pleased smile on his pink lips. You never got over how thoughtful he was, always taking care of you. It reminded you of your birthday dinner and how much care he took to make it special for you.

“Thank you, honey. This is perfect. Where should we eat?” He grabbed your hand and brought you to the back of his little car, laying the blanket across the back and took the basket back from you. He put his hands on your hips, squeezing a little before lifting you on the back, making sure you were comfortable before pulling the lunch from the basket, explaining everything and kissing your cheek.

You spent the next hour talking and eating. While he was telling a funny story that involved Robin and a rude customer, you just looked at him - his soft hair, doe eyes, smooth skin, pink cheeks, full lips, and freckles, admiring how beautiful he looked. “And then, she said that he should… is there something on my face?” He stopped talking, rubbing his fingers across his mouth and chin, confused why you were staring at him. You laughed and grabbed his hands, kissing him and leaning your forehead against his.

“There is nothing on your face, Steve. I love you and how much time we spend together. This was a wonderful lunch. Thank you.” You kissed his cheek and encouraged him to finish the story before you had to pack up and return to work.

Physical Touch

Another Friday night with the party, another movie. This time, it was at your house. Since Steve started his new job, it had been even easier for you all to figure out the newest and most popular movies to try. After some arguing, the kids had chosen to watch Gremlins, which would not have been your first choice, but you didn’t want to get involved in the complicated debating. In the end, it wouldn’t matter because on these nights, you and Steve usually ended up whispering together or making snacks as the rest were entranced by the screen.

Max and El looked over at you, asking if you wanted to sit with them on the little mountain of pillows and blankets they had set up in front of the couch the boys were sprawled out on. You smiled and joined them, getting comfortable with one of the large bowls of popcorn you had set out for everyone. You and the girls reached your hands in the bowl every once in a while as you waited for the movie to start. Once it started, you hopped up and shut off the light, looking over to make sure Steve was comfortable. His eyes were already on you and he had an exaggerated pout on his lips, arms crossed as he sat in the big armchair by himself. You shook your head with a grin and returned to the girls.

A little while into the movie, you realized the popcorn was finished and the candy was getting low, so you grabbed all the bowls and quietly slipped into the kitchen, grabbing the makings to replenish everything. After beginning to pour the M&Ms into the bowl, Steve joined you, wrapping his arms around your stomach from behind and swaying you both a bit. “You ditched me. That wasn’t very nice of you.” He kissed your neck after that and you could feel he was a little lonely in that chair alone, despite being only a few feet from you.

You put the candy down, spinning in his arms and wrapping yours around his shoulders as he dropped his face into the crook of your neck. “The girls asked me to sit with them, Steve, sorry.” He grumbled against your skin, pulling you in tighter. You decided to indulge him as you were tired and snuggling into his lap seemed like a nice idea. “When we go back in there, I’ll tell the girls they can spread out more and I’ll sit with you in the armchair. Does that sound okay, you big baby?” You felt him smile and nod. He helped you finish refilling the bowls and carried them to the living room, setting them all by the kids to be devoured. You leaned over to Max and El, informing them of your seat change.

Standing back up, you saw Steve was on the chair and waiting for you to join him, a big blanket in his hand. You smiled and climbed on top of him, sitting with your legs curled up between his and your head against his shoulder. You shifted a little to make sure you were both comfortable and he pulled the blanket over you, wrapping you in his arms. After a couple minutes, you felt your eyes getting heavier with how warm and relaxed you were. Every few seconds, you felt light kisses pressed to your hair and his hand tracing your cheek. He whispered sweet nothings in your ear and it lulled you even closer to sleep. That was, until you heard some snickers and whispers. You lifted your head and saw that the boys on the couch and the girls on the floor were all looking at you, speaking in hushed voices behind their hands. Steve noticed too and frowned. “What the hell are you guys laughing at?” He said this lightly, already having a suspicion it had to do with the two of you.

Dustin answered. “Oh nothing, just that you two are showing a lot of PDA. Steve, you’re whipped.” With that, the kids all laughed, nodding and looking at you for a reaction. You snorted and lowered your head back down, closing your eyes and pressing them against Steve’s neck, letting him answer for you both. You wracked your brain and figured there must be plenty of times where you and Steve act like this in front of the party, so why was this so surprising?

“Oh shut up. Watch the movie.” Not the most graceful comeback, but you felt Steve’s chest vibrate with a laugh as he gestured towards the screen. You heard a few more laughs before attention was once again on the movie. He whispered, “What a bunch of idiots.” You smiled and Steve wrapped you up even tighter, rubbing your back as you fell asleep to the sound of his heartbeat.

masterlist

[foodieforthoughts]

Mistletoe

Summary: Sy has officially left the military and for your birthday he takes you for a long vacation in the Swiss Alps.

Pairing: Syverson x Reader

Word count: 2255

Warnings: 18+, Smut, Fingering, Oral (Female receiving), penetration, sexual intercourse, unprotected sex

A/N: It's for @madbaddic7ed and since she LOVES Syverson (I think more thank Henry sometimes 😅), she needs to have some sexy times with him. Hope you enjoy, Maddy, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! 😘

Also: Used prompt from @dancingwendigo for the Christmas song she sang for which I had requested. Check out the beautiful angel singing in this post! ❤️

Also, also: Used the lovely moodboard by @cavillsbestgal. Thank you darling ❤️

Prompt: You walk up to Syverson holding mistletoe over your head... and it’s aaaaaaaall you’re “wearing”.

Title: Mistletoe

Sy wound his arms around your shoulders as you both made your way back to your cabin. You smiled up at the scruffy bearded hunk of your husband and snuggled closer to his body. The streets were covered in snow and the marketplace you were walking by was bustling with people enjoying the cold Swiss weather.

Doning thick jackets and carrying gift bags you had purchased, Sy and you were strolling in the snow, tired but not quite exhausted from your day's outing. Sy had planned this getaway in the Swiss Alps as he had needed someplace to relax, to forget the harshness of the desert he had endured. He wanted to commemorate his official retirement from the army by treating himself with some tranquility. Your birthday seemed like the best idea for him to take the chance of escaping to the mountains. "Double treat," he said when he had handed you the plane tickets to Switzerland.

After changing your wet, snow covered clothes and changing into fresh ones, Sy lit the fireplace to warm the cold wooden house. You lit a few candles you had bought from the market, the aroma of cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla filling the room and tickling your senses.

"Bought lots of stuff, eh bug?" Sy asked, looking through the bags.

"I didn't want to forget about anyone from the family." You placed a few candles on the dining table, lighting them and gently breathing in the aroma.

"Is that all though? We can sort them if you like." He offered, pulling the sweater over his head and standing only in his shirt and joggers.

"We'll sort them out later, honey." You walked up to him and wound your arms around his neck, feeling the hairs on the nape of his neck with your fingers. Sy had outgrown his buzz cut which you were grateful for because now you could twist your fingers in his curly hair in throes of passion. "Why don't you put them in the bedroom for now? And come back out here."

Sy raised his eyebrow at you. He placed his hands on your waist, the heat from his body warming you up. "Have you planned something, bug?"

You looked at him from below your lashes and cheekily smiled at him. "Maybe?" Going on your tiptoes, you kissed his lips and felt his beard scrape against your face.

"Okay," he drawled. Picking up the bags from near the door, Sy walked towards the bedroom with a wink in your direction.

As soon as he was in the other room, you pulled the soft blankets from behind the couch and laid them on the carpet. The fire crackled in the hearth as you added a few more logs and poked it with the prongs.

Striping out of your clothes, you fished out the mistletoe you had hidden in a box. You smiled to yourself thinking about the surprise you had planned for your sweet husband.

"Should I come out now?" Sy called out from the bedroom.

"Just a minute!" You switched off the lights, testing to see if the candles and the fire illuminated the room enough. As you blinked your eyes to adjust to the new environment, you walked to stand behind the door to hide. You called out to him and waited for him to reach the center of the room.

"Where did you go?" Sy could not hide the humor in his voice as he turned around to search for you. His smile fell as soon as he saw you walk out from your hiding place with the mistletoe above your head.

With hungry eyes, Sy let his gaze travel down your body as you slowly made your way towards your husband. You could already feel the wetness of your arousal beginning to tease at your core. It always took you by surprise that Sy's mere glances could make your pussy so wet.

As soon as you were within reach, Sy pulled you flush against his body. You could feel his hardening cock against your belly making you bite your lip in anticipation. He reached his hands down to your buttocks, squeezing them and in turn making you moan.

"I could have wrapped a bow on top of my head as a present." You said as you wound your arms around his neck. "Kiss me Captain, you are under the mistletoe."

A grin spread on his Sy's face as he hungrily placed a kiss on your lips. He sucked at your plump lips, moaning and pulling your hips closer to his. You threw the mistletoe, pulling Sy's head closer to your face. He lifted up your bottom and you obliged by hopping a little for him to carry your weight. Without even a grunt, Sy lifted you as you wound your legs around his wide hips and walked you towards the blanket near the fireplace.

He knelt down with you still in his arms and gently placed you on the soft fabric. You shivered as the cold blanket touched your naked body. Sy sat up on his knees and pulled his shirt off. You marveled at the vastness of his chest and the dark curly hair covering his skin. Your eyes followed the hair spreading down his stomach and disappearing below the waistband of his joggers. You could outline his straining cock against his pants, making you squirm as you felt the heat pooling between your thighs.

"You are so beautiful, bug." He looked at you with a smile from underneath his whiskers. Running a hand on the side of your thighs, he lowered his face to place kisses on your skin.

The warmth of his breath on your cold skin made goosebumps appear all over your body. Sy was slow and attentive to you while he took his time to kiss and lick your inner thighs, his beard grazing your sensitive skin as he made his way to your aching center. He reached up with his hand to cup your breast as his mouth taunted you and not quiet giving you the satisfaction of his mouth where you actually wanted them.

You moaned as he kissed the top of your mound, his beard tickling your clit as he moved to kiss further down. You reached to grasp his hair with one hand while you placed the other on his hand covering your breast. You urged him to squeeze your breast harder which he gratefully obliged.

"Please Sy," You pleaded, not able to control your need to feel his warm mouth over your trembling cunt.

"Don't beg, bug. I'm getting there." He chided. You felt his finger running over your folds, spreading your juices over your trembling pussy.

Sy placed a trail of kisses from your mound, moving slowly towards your clit. You threw your head back and closed your eyes and his warm breath washed over your aching folds. You bucked your hips up to meet his mouth, but he pushed them down with his hand.

A shuddering moan left your lips as Sy flicked his tongue over your sensitive nub. He sucked at your clit, pulling it with his lips making your bundle of nerves fire up like Christmas lights. You felt your toes curl as Sy slid his tongue down to your hole and gently plunged it inside. He groaned against your drenched pussy, the vibration along with the intrusion of his tongue causing you to tremble.

You felt a thick digit of his, tease at your entrance. With his mouth back on your clit, Sy entered your inviting cunt with his finger.

"Oh..." You felt your back arch.

"You like that, bug?" He asked against your clit. You looked down at him and felt him gazing up at you from between your legs. His cerulean eyes had darkened and the soft amber light from the fire made them shimmer like liquid.

You were a moaning mess as Sy continued his ministrations on you. With every lick of his tongue and pump from his finger, you felt the knot in your stomach twist. You knew you weren't going to last long. As Sy added another finger inside you, you nearly screamed with pleasure. Fisting the blanket in your hand, you tried to meet Sy's fingers with the buckling of your hips.

It only drove Sy to nip at your sensitive clit and add another finger, stretching you out. You moaned as Sy flicked his tongue faster with his fingers knuckle deep inside you, hooking them to rub against the sweet spot of ecstacy.

"Come for me, bug."

With a shuddering breath, your thighs closing in on Sy's head and your muscles trembling, you shouted out his name as you came hard against your husband's mouth. You could see stars behind your closed eyes, hear your pulse thumping in your ear and feel the warmth evaporating from your body. Sy lapped at your juices like it was elixir.

With heavy eyes you looked at your man. Sy sat up and brought his fingers to his mouth, sucking each digit dry while looking you in the eye. He smirked as he licked his lips and cleaned his beard with the back of his hand.

"Come here, Sy. I need you inside me." You whispered as the quietness of the Alps registered in your mind as your racing heart calmed down.

You watched as Sy stood up and pulled his joggers down. You bit your lip as his huge cock sprung out of it's restraints and hung heavily, thick and veiny. He grinned  when he saw you squirming for him.

Kneeling down again, he pulled you by your knees towards him. You laughed as your butt crashed into his thigh. You could taste yourself as Sy leaned down to place a kiss on your lips. You circled his neck with your arms as you felt him place the tip of his cock at your entrance.

Looking deep in his eyes, the one you had fallen in love with, you let out a shaky breath as Sy slowly entered you. Even after years of having sex, your body had never gotten used to his size. You dug your nails in his shoulders and heard him hiss with the pain, as gently he slid his entire length inside your warm cavern.

Taking a moment to let you adjust, Sy waited until you relaxed around him. You brought your legs up to his hip and wound them around his hip. Sy smiled at you, placed a kiss on your forehead before taking a hold of your thighs. You felt him pull out with only the head of his swollen cock inside you, before he plunged right back in.

Soon the cabin filled with the sound of your sweaty bodies slapping against each other. Your moans and his grunts echoed around the snow covered mountains. Sy kept his eyes open the whole time and watched you as you melted in his warmth. You felt his balls slapping against your ass and his pelvis digging in your clit as he moved in and out of you.

You dug your nails in his back as you felt the bundle of nerves knotting again. Sy dipped his head down to your neck and sucked at your skin. You felt him leave a heated mark on your neck and he soothed it with his tongue. The fire crackled loudly similar to your inner fire burning with the impending release.

"So close," Sy muttered against your neck. He laid half down on you and brought his arms under your back to hold your shoulders. It gave him a better grip for he thrusted inside you with vigour.

You repeated his name like a prayer, feeling like you were about to tumble down the peak of euphoria. With a scream, his name leaving your lips, your delicate core clenched around his cock. Sy didn't last long either. With a strong grip on your shoulder, he plummeted inside you a couple more times before you felt him shudder. A loud growl left his lips as you felt the warm sensation of his seed filling you.

You ran a hand up and down his back as he rode his high, emptying his essence deep within you. You heard him take slow shaky breaths and place a kiss on your collarbone.

You had no idea how much time had passed as you later laid in his embrace on the blanket. You had your head on his hairy chest, lazily running your fingers over his skin and through his dark hair. Sy was making invisible circles on your arms with his fingertips, his legs spread wide and one of yours placed over his.

The fire had died down and the candles had burned out. Only the lights from the Christmas tree in one corner of the living room provided illumination as you both basked in the afterglow of your love making.

"Bug," Sy whispered.

"Hmm?"

"It's midnight." He brought his hand up to look at his wristwatch. "Happy birthday, baby."

You felt warmth spreading over your body as Sy placed a kiss over the top of your head. You turned up your face to look at your loving husband. He smiled down as you, twirling your hair in his fingers. You slid up to his face and grabbed his chin to steal a kiss.

"Thank you. And I love you, Sy." You whispered, careful to not disturb the comforting silence enveloping you both.

"I love you too, bug."

[winryofresembool]

Things We Lost in the Fire, ch 30

aka Caleo uni au

Fic summary: Calypso starts studying at a new university, but to her annoyance her new flatmate is a loud mouthed mechanic who also likes to sneak his dog in whenever. But as she learns to know him better, she realizes they might have more in common than what she first thought. Eventually, even the darkest secrets come out…

Chapter summary: At Waystation, pt 3/?

A/N: Chapter 30 already! This chapter was not an easy one to edit as I was insecure about a lot of things, but hey, it's out now and that's what matters, right? I am so aware things are progressing a bit slowly right now but I feel it's kind of 'necessary' to have a bit of down time before things start going down. (Not that I'm capable of writing actual drama.) Well, at least we'll find out a bit more about Leo's past in this chapter.

Without a further ado, please enjoy and let me know what you think (those comments really help me!!!)

Words: exactly 3000 apparently :O

Genre: romance & hurt/comfort

Warnings: none

previous chapter / AO3

...

After breakfast Leo asked Calypso if she would like him to give her a tour around Waystation. She agreed, but Leo couldn’t help but raise his eyebrow at his family members when Georgina asked if she could go with the flatmates and Leo’s mothers told her that they needed Georgie’s help in some Christmas chores.

“What?” Josephine asked innocently when she noticed Leo staring.

“I dunno, tía Jo. It just kinda seems like you don’t want Georgie to hang out with us,” he stated bluntly.

“That’s not accurate at all, Leo,” she denied. “I’d gladly let Georgina go with you but we really do need her help around here. Christmas isn’t coming if we all just slack off, right, Emmie?”

“I agree, dear. I haven’t even…” Emmie’s hesitance only deepened Leo’s suspicions. “...hmmm, taken care of our mistletoes yet.”

“Mistletoes?” Leo crossed his arms over his chest, briefly daring to wonder what would happen if he and Calypso were under one of those plants at the same time. He shook his head to dispel such an idea.

“Didn’t we agree that we don’t need stuff like that? You don’t even like Christmas!”

“I may agree that this holiday is way too commercial these days, but since Emmie has some mistletoes growing in her greenhouse anyway, I don’t see why we wouldn’t use them,” Jo commented. “It’s nice that Georgie gets to experience some of the old traditions even if we grownups don’t care about them.”

“Whatever,” Leo rolled his eyes, knowing he wouldn’t win that battle.

“Um, if you need extra hands,” Calypso joined the conversation, addressing Jo and Emmie, “I don’t have to go with Leo. I’d love to help too.”

Leo felt a twinge of disappointment because of Calypso’s suggestion. His insecure side yelled that maybe he had misread Calypso’s intentions all along.

“Oh, no, no!” Emmie denied immediately. “You are our guest; we want you to take it easy and enjoy your stay here. I bet Leo’s tour is a lot more fun than us peeling way too many potatoes and carrots for the casserole.”

“I wouldn’t mind peeling potatoes,” Calypso mumbled but Leo’s mothers pretended they didn’t even hear that. The flatmates simply had to accept that they wouldn’t have a chaperone - except maybe Festus - on their tour.

Once the two of them were outside, Leo’s thoughts went back to the time when he had first arrived at Waystation. Back then, he had been only 15, having just escaped from his latest foster home, which had been located far away in New Mexico. His foster family there had hidden their opinion on him very badly, giving him sly remarks about his looks and telling him to speak clearer English even though Leo’s English had always been fine, thanks to his real mother allowing him to learn both Spanish and English as a small kid. They had also made him do the hard work such as carrying heavy loads while the other foster kid of the family got the easy tasks. And when he had come home from school with bad grades, the foster parents had commented: “why do we even bother with you?”

At some point Leo had simply had enough, and by selling some of the few belongings he had he had managed to gather just enough money for one plane ticket and so he flew to Indianapolis without telling anything to his foster family.

After living on the streets and successfully dodging the authorities for a couple of weeks, the police finally found him and contacted the local social workers. Thankfully, after Leo put all his convincing skills to use, they agreed to not send him back to New Mexico, instead finding him a new foster family nearby. Leo hadn’t had high expectations because he had been in at least 6 different foster homes since his mother’s death and none of them had been a good match for him. Some had been abusive, some racist, some ignorant, some had had kids who were bullies, some had had alcohol issues… What had been common for them all was that none of them had treated him the way they should have.

That was why Leo had picked some bad habits too; he wanted to drown his feelings somehow and he ended up stealing small amounts of money from his foster family so he could buy alcohol from his older homeless ‘friends’. He had hated how it made him feel afterwards, but it had been the only way he had known how to deal with his issues. At some point he had even had suicidal thoughts because the guilt and trauma from his childhood got so bad he woke up covered in sweat after the same old fire filled nightmare almost every night. And going from foster home to foster home and feeling like none of those people cared what he really did with his life definitely didn’t help him regain his feeling of self worth. He had no future, no plans, no real friends or family and nowhere to go.

Luckily, during his worst phase in his last foster home someone from his homeless group mentioned having a relative in Indiana and that he was hoping to move there at some point in hopes of getting a new start for his life. That idea sparked something in Leo’s mind and when he started planning his big escape, Indianapolis was the first place that he thought of.

When he finally met Jo and Emmie, he was surprised. Seeing them spending time with their then 5-year-old adoptive daughter, he could tell that these women genuinely cared about the little girl and did everything for her wellbeing. Not only that, Jo was a mechanic just like Leo’s real mother and they had also other things in common. With some patience and showing that they cared, simply by making sure that Leo ate, rested and had something to do with his time other than dwelling on his sad past, they eventually won him over. And when Leo discovered thanks to Jo’s help that he himself had the skills to become a mechanic someday as well, he finally had a goal to reach and studying wasn’t quite as big a struggle for him anymore.

Soon, however, Leo became afraid that Jo and Emmie wouldn’t want to keep him around because he still had some bad days when he literally had to be dragged from his bed. He was also worried that maybe the women had heard what he had done in his past and were silently judging him. Instead, they surprised him by telling him that they wanted to officially adopt him much like Georgina because he was a part of their family now. As an added bonus they assigned him for therapy sessions, which really helped and the days when he didn’t want to do anything became less and less. Leo knew he was still a work in progress but this family had helped him so much and he had found his purpose, his home, at Waystation.

Calypso had naturally noticed Leo’s silence so eventually she asked:

“Are you OK? You’re being unusually quiet.”

“Oh, yeah, just dandy!” Leo exclaimed, trying to act more like his usual self. “I was just thinking about the times when I first moved in here.”

“Really? Do you want to tell me more about that?” Calypso asked curiously.

“I guess it won’t hurt.” Leo shrugged. “I don’t remember if I’ve told you that I was in a lot of foster homes before I got here. Well, my last foster parents were really shitty people and I was this close to… I dunno, doing something desperate. So I decided to just leave and ended up here in Indianapolis. I, um, was homeless for a bit but when the social workers got me into their hands they found me a new family, Jo and Emmie. At first they were supposed to only foster me for a time being but they ended up adopting me instead. I… haven’t told this to anyone, but they probably saved my life by doing that. The Leo from that time was far from the Super-Sized McSizzle that I am now,” he attempted to joke, but Calypso ignored that. Instead, she said:

“I’m sorry you had to go through that… but I’m glad you opened up about it to me.” Leo’s heart did an extra jump when he saw Calypso smiling at him supportingly. He would never get used to that. “And I’m glad Jo and Emmie adopted you.”

“Yeah, me too… When I first saw the place I was like, ‘wow, I wish I could stay here’. Obviously the people here are awesome - they are my family - but that wasn’t the only thing the 15-year-old me cared about. The cars and other machines Jo was fixing? So cool. I had only seen something like that at my childhood home and the nostalgia hit me like ‘boom’ right away.”

“I should have known it was the machines that convinced you to stay here,” Calypso teased, but Leo knew her already too well to get provoked by that.

“Nah. I mean, they’re neat and all, but Jo and Emmie did the actual convincing.”

“Okay, I believe you. So, was Jo’s garage what made you want to become a mechanical engineer?” Calypso asked.

“I guess the spark was always there but it took me a while to convince myself that I should try to pursue that goal. But when I started going to school again regularly – long story, don’t ask – I noticed that the sciences were easy for me, I was also decent enough at drawing – which of course helps with the blueprints and stuff – and Jo let me try fixing some of the simpler machines she had and turned out I wasn’t half bad. It was Jo and Emmie who kept pushing me to apply for the uni, though, because they believed in me more than I did. I’m thankful that they did it but… sometimes I still doubt...” Leo hadn’t talked about his insecurities even to his adoptive mothers so he felt that the fact that he was able to open up about it to Calypso was a big deal.

“I’ve seen you fix countless items,” Calypso said slowly. “I’ve noticed that you’re always… so different when you’re fiddling with your machines. More relaxed. Calmer. Surer of what you do. And your eyes sparkle and you hum some old school rock song while you work and I can just tell that you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be.”

Leo had to avert his eyes from her because he was afraid he would do something stupid like cry if he looked at her too long in that moment. No matter how encouraging his family, friends and the therapist were… it was still hard to get used to the compliments. And if he was honest to himself, he probably valued Calypso’s opinion more than anyone else’s at that point.

“Wow… umm… I don’t know how to answer that…” He rubbed the back of his neck.

“A simple thank you would probably do,” Calypso replied. “But know that I mean what I say. Now, how about you show me that famous garage?”

Leo did as he was told. He introduced Calypso to all the tools and machinery they used to fix whatever item the customer happened to bring in. He had a feeling that Calypso probably didn’t have any idea what he was talking about half the time because he tended to get very technical with the terms when he got excited, but she still seemed content listening to him. At least she wasn’t telling him to stop, which was definitely a plus.

To Leo’s surprise, Calypso went to the table where he and Jo used to draw their blueprints and asked him if she could see how he did it because she hadn’t seen his blueprints before. He complied, taking a pencil and a piece of blank paper from the stack and looking at Calypso questioningly.

“What do you want me to draw, then? I may have some experience on this but even I need some ideas first…”

“You can draw whatever you like. How about Festus?” Calypso requested.

“Festus?” Leo tapped the pencil against his chin for a moment, considering Calypso’s request. “Hmm, as you wish, Sunshine.”

He started making fast, swift motions on the paper and it didn’t take him very long to finish the sketch. Sure, the lines were a bit rough, but Calypso told him she was very impressed by how accurately he remembered even the little details, such as a dark spot on Festus’ back, how the tail curved when he was happy, and how he was missing a tiny piece of the tip of his left ear.

Leo felt a bit embarrassed by the praise. “It just comes with me hanging out with him so much. Nothing more to it, really.” He looked at the sketch for a moment. “Hold on, I feel like this is missing something. Can you look towards that window for a moment?”

“What, why?” Calypso asked, but turned anyway.

“Just adding something real quick,” Leo replied and started sketching again. He wondered if it was the lighting of the room but he thought Calypso’s cheeks seemed a bit darker than usual and she kept looking at the floor shyly. When he realized that he’d probably feel the same way if she was drawing him, he himself got flustered and decided to try to finish the drawing as quickly as possible. Within minutes he had drawn her next to Festus, playing with him, wearing the same holiday sweater and jeans she currently was.

“Can I see?” Calypso asked.

“Uh, yeah, sure.” Leo gave the picture to her. “It’s not detailed or anything but I tried.”

Calypso kept staring at it for a moment. “Leo… this looks great! I mean, I don’t think I am that pretty but I am quite amazed that you managed to do this that fast!”

Leo wanted to say that there was no way the picture did her justice but he knew that would be a never ending debate so instead he told her: “It’s the experience, Sunshine. When you draw hundreds of blueprints you learn to be fast.”

Calypso turned her attention to the drawing again. “Can I get it?” she asked after a while.

“Why?”

“Because Festus looks cute, you weirdo. That’s a good enough reason, right?”

“Fine, you can have it. I’m not sure where I’d put it anyway.” Leo shrugged. He wasn’t sure why Calypso possibly hanging the picture on her wall made him feel a bit weird. In a good way, though.

Once the two of them left the garage, Leo pointed at a smaller building next to the ‘main’ one. A couple of pointy ears were peeking from the upstairs windows. “That’s where our foster animals live. I think the kid me wished on some level that I could have a pet but my mom could never afford one… but Jo and Emmie have been fostering rescue cats and dogs even before I got here. One of them was Festus’ mum; she was pregnant when she arrived here. When she had her puppies, I noticed that one of them was a bit of an outsider and we instantly formed a bond. Jo and Emmie allowed him to stay here even though he sure would have had adopters.”

“That was really sweet of them,” Calypso commented. “Can we see who’s in there right now?”

“Sure but we should probably let Emmie know about it because she’s pretty strict about who can go in. She may ask us to wear ‘bunny suits’; some of the animals may be sick and we don’t wanna spread the bugs around.”

“No problem, let’s go see her then.”

When Emmie heard what Leo and Calypso were about to do, she promised to stop her Christmas chores for a while so she could show them (mainly Calypso) around in the rescue house. Currently she was fostering two young puppies who had been found on the streets without their mother, a mother cat with her 4 kittens who were getting close to their adoption age, and an older cat with some kidney issues who seemed to however adore the little kittens.

Leo was watching Calypso’s reactions closely as Emmie was introducing her to the kittens. Soon one of the braver kittens climbed on the girl’s lap, giving her a tiny ‘meow’ and then started nuzzling against her sleeve.

“Aww, look Leo! He loves me,” Calypso exclaimed, smiling widely as the kitten started purring loudly on her lap while she pet him. ‘He’s not the only one,’ Leo thought in his mind. Aloud he asked: “Why do you sound so surprised?”

“I guess because I’ve never really handled cats so I didn’t know how they’d react to me…” Calypso noted more seriously. But then the happiness returned to her face. “You know, this one reminds me of you! He also has long, black hair like you and fierce eyes.”

“Fierce?” Leo raised his eyebrow. “That’s what you think of me?”

Calypso seemed to want to explain but with Emmie in the room she didn’t go to details. “Um, maybe? Hey, look! Another one is coming!”

This time a small ginger kitten was approaching her and Calypso extended her arm so the kitten could sniff her. The group kept making small talk about the cats in the room and continued snuggling them, but Leo’s eyes were on Calypso the whole time. He could see how happy she was about such a simple thing as kittens and it made him feel lighter, warmer again, even though he had just remembered some very bad times a few moments earlier. Maybe all of it had been meant to happen, he wondered briefly. After all, it led him here, to his family… and Calypso.

[chelseamount]

Far Away From Each Other - Timothée Chalamet x Reader

warnings: bad grammer

Masterlist

Request Yes/No

an i request an imagine with timotheé, and he's been filming a movie so he hasn't been able to see you for a long time and he's really sad and missing his girlfriend especially how his birthday is coming up and she ends up surprising him on set and he gets all emotional 🥰

------

dating an actor while being one yourself came with its ups and down one of them is that when your both filming you can't just go with each other.

the worst it being when either of you shoots on a holiday and because timothée's birthday is like two days after Christmas that means that this year you will miss both of them or so you thought.

when you and timothée found out that you weren't spending Christmas together you were both heartbroken but I guess that's one of the bad things being actors 

when Timothée left in November to film call me by your name two. there was a lot of crying but thankfully you were going to see each other a few time in between breaks

that day you went home and literally just cried because after all, you were going to not see each other for some months.

and that where the story begins

your .p.o.v

a knock on my door interrupts my movie as I lay on my couch

"coming"

timothée left some days ago and even tho I feel like a baby for crying about it, it breaks my heart

I open the door as I am met with the sweet eyes of his mother and my future mother in law Nicole

"Hi" I smile this woman and I are so close she knows so much about me it's sometimes scary

"Hi honey how are you feeling are you okay"

and you would be lying if you say when someone asks you when you're sad if your okay that doesn't make you shatter even more

"not really" I look down at the ground a tears start to form in my eyes again

"awe come here honey" I lean into her arms as I feel just a slightly happier than before "I know it's hard let's sit down"

we sit down on the couch as she wraps her arm around my shoulder

"do you want to have a relaxing lady day"

"please" I smile

"well then my love how about I make you some of the pancakes you like so much"

"yes please your so sweet Nicole,"

we walk over to the kitchen counter as she starts to get the ingredients 

"so tell me darling what's in that brain of yours?"

"well, of course, I miss him and if that wasn't enough my anxiety is boiling these days I just wished I hadn't said yes to this movie. I mean if I hadn't i could just go with him"

"do you want to know why you said yes to that movie?" I nod "because you got that call a year ago I remember very well that you and timothée were fighting that day and that's why you said yes, you can't change the past but you can decide the future"

"but I already signed the contract"

"I didn't think about that part" she starts baking the pancakes as she looks me in the "for now just eat and we will figure something out"

"thank you"

"of course"

----------

sooner or later I fell asleep and Nicole left not long after

I woke up by the loud ringing of my phone 

"Hello," I say 

"y/n hey it's paul so I have some bad news but they are also good," my manager says

"what's up," I ask

"so Andre's wife is pregnant they just found out which means that he can't film because apparently, he has to take care of her"

"so the movie is cancelled," I ask trying not to sound too happy

"gosh no... but we will not be shooting before about mid-time next year so we will send you a mail-in about may with some new dates and stuff I hope that's okay"

"yeah totally paul I got to go but just text if you need anything bye" I hang up as I laugh out of happiness

and with that, said I called timothée

after a couple of rings, he picked up the phone

"Hey love" he doesn't sound stressed

"hi, honey" 

"what's up your okay?" 

"Yeah I'm fine I just miss you" I smile

"I miss you too more than anything I would give literally everything to see you"

"I would too, how is filming going?" 

"okay I guess, but it's hard without you here"

"I know mon amour but we'll hopefully soon see each other soon"

"I hope so are you excited to start shooting the movie soon," he asks

"yeah" I lie

"babe I have to go Luca calls"

"okay love good luck"

"thank you amour, I love you" 

"love you too Timmy, bye"

"bye"

we hang up the phone and I immediately text Armie

'hey Armie

so my movie has gotten moved due to some pregnancy, so I was thinking if you can give me a call, as soon as possible💕'

not even seconds later my phone rings as a photo of Armie, Timmy, Elizabeth and I pop up on my screen.

"h-"

"YOUR PREGNANT!" he yells in a low voice

"what no! why would y-  oh yeah I could have written that better. no my costars wife Is"

"dang it, well what's up girl"

ever since Timmy started filming call me by your name armie and I have been very very close, so we often had phone calls together just talking

"we'll as I texted the movie got moved to another date to i was thinking of surprising Timmy"

"please do i really can't listen to him crying anymore"

"he has been crying" i ask

"yes of course he has"

"oh my god" tears starts to collide in my eyes again

"oh my god not you too- just please hurry up and get over here"

"yes sir" i laugh

"bye y/n/n" 

"bye armie" I hang up the phone and quickly goes in to order flight tickets

-

and finally 42 hours later and I'm outside of where they are filming i quietly open the door as the first sight I am met with is Timmy and Armie standing against a door kissing as they are getting filmed

since i already planned this with Luca it is okay that i talk since they already got this scene but Timmy and armie just don't know it

"well, this is surely a sight that I will never get fully used to seeing," I say. Timmy breaks the kiss as he makes eye contact with me

"y/n" he says exited as he runs over to me. and picks me up "i thought you where shooting your movie"

"it got moved due to some sudden pregnancy" i smile

"wait oh my god doll are you pregnant" 

"god I really need to work on how I say that, no"

"oh"

"don't worry Lil Timmy tim i thought so too" armie yells

"I'm so happy that you're here"

I stayed for the rest of the shooting and when it came to my movie Timmy came with me. and we were no longer far away from each other

[regrettablewritings]

Maybe the gift rule, the bringing lunch, and the taking care on sick days for Poe?

Captain Dreamsicle it is!

Takes care of on sick days: Both of you, though Poe gets a bit more in by comparison . . . Poe is a man of many traits: He is sweet, hard-working, a little gung-ho but altogether just plain passionate. He’s also a bit of a hypocrite when it comes to his own health. The moment you so much as hint that you might be coming down with something, this man is on your case. You can’t even sniffle around him before he’s right in front of you, those big, brown eyes of his filled with almost puppyish worry. “Are you okay?” he asks, voice gentle yet heavy with concern. He places a hand to your forehead, searching for any excessive heat. “You don’t think you picked anything up, do you? I know your bunk mate just came back from a recon mission --” And so begins the Resistance pilot’s transformation into a mother hen, however annoying as it may be. He can’t force you to stay in bed, especially if the infirmary insists that it’s just a slight head cold (at most), but he’s definitely going to keep an eye on you whenever he can: He has subordinates working close by you report back to him, sending him messages on his tablets as to whether or not you seem particularly light-headed or drowsy. He requests the droids’ assistance in making sure you stay in bed just so long enough that you get a confirmed eight hours. He makes sure your plate has only ever so slightly the bittest more of rations when it’s time for you to eat. (If you make any comment on this, he eagerly ushers you along, commenting on oh look at that lucky you! You don’t see the nod of thanks he gives to the person on ration duty, but you know they’re in cahoots.) And once he gets promoted to general, you can just forget about it! . . . But the moment Poe sniffles, it’s like he’s done a 180 on the matter: To him, Poe Dameron can’t get sick. And if he does, well, he can work it off. So many people depend on him now more than ever, and he can’t let them down by taking some down time just to fight off a common cold. Besides . . . doctors are a little scary. It may take some convincing (and fussing), but eventually, he does give in -- to a degree. Really, if you can convince him to lie in bed with you while he reads over plans and maps, it’s a win. Because you’ll inevitably massage his curls until he drifts off into a much needed sleep. He pretends to be frustrated that you let him sleep in the next day, but the truth is he greatly appreciates it in the long run.

Brings the other lunch at work: You swear that ever since he got promoted to general, Poe’s self-care has taken a hit: He’s up at all hours, he’s running around like crazy, and he keeps skipping out on meals, insisting that he’ll eat later! At first, you were very understanding of it: He did, after all, just jump ahead into way more responsibilities than he’d previously had as just a captain. Sure, he’d been trained for it, but that didn’t make the reality of what it was that much easier. You did your part where you could: Delivering messages, sitting in with him on meetings to take notes on anything that might be of use to him later, making sure BB-8 kept out of trouble . . . But really! Did the man seriously think he could get away with his third straight day of skipping lunch!? You had never been a particularly intimidating person but as you stormed across the base, expression stern as you carried a small tin case in your hands, everyone knew to stay out of your way. You sure wish you’d kept that same amount of confidence when you stormed into his designated workspace. Thankfully, he wasn’t in the middle of talking with somebody, but he was definitely in the middle of something. But you tried not to care about that: Instead, you found yourself focusing on how your beloved looked. He didn’t look sickly, and you’d certainly seen him in a worse state. But there were clear, tiny traces of him lacking proper or consistent nutrition. And rest. Nevertheless, he wore that boyishly cute grin when he looked up from his tablets and saw you. “Oh, hey!” he said, as though there weren’t threats of shadows developing beneath his eyes. He leaned back in his seat ever so slightly. “What brings you to this neck of my woods?” You bit your lip. Remain stern, you told yourself. Be gentle and loving, but make it clear you’re not going to mess around. “Castion told me he didn’t see you in the mess hall earlier. Or for lunch for that matter. So I’m here to deliver your rations,” you lifted up the tin container just a bit higher for him to take note. He nodded. “Thank you, hon. You can put it right there--” he nodded at a corner of his tech-cluttered desk-- “and I’ll get to it in a bit.” He then returned his attention back to the holo-map in front of him. You fought to release an exasperated sigh. “No,” you decided upon instead. You watched as the general blinked before looking back up at you. “Huh?” “I said no,” you informed, a bit more assertive than before. “You always say you’ll ‘get to it’ but according to BB, you ever really do. You take maybe, like, three or four bites and then you’re done. And that’s if you can be bothered to eat it even four hours after receiving it!” You could see Poe gently scowl. How rude: Ratted out by his own droid. He tried again, “Honey, I promise to you: I’ll eat it within the hour. All of it. Heart crossed and hope to --” He paused. “Get Force-blasted by Rey. Again. This time, on purpose.” You hummed. That was a fair proposition to make. But neh, you weren’t buying it. “Oh, I know you will,” you responded, walking towards the desk. And then around it, until you stood next to Poe. You didn’t set the container down. “Because I’m going to stay and make sure you do.” You threw in a cloyingly sweet smile. Poe returned with a smile of his own, albeit one much less composed and far more wobbly. Oh, boy. “Uh . . . Don’t you have something else to get a handle on, sweetie?” “Nope!” said, popping your ‘p’. A beat of silence. Poe eyed the tin. “But . . . I’ve got a lot of stuff to focus on, babe . . . I can’t exactly take the time out to just --” “For the Maker’s sake, Poe! I know you have a lot to do, but that’s no reason to keep skipping out on food. That’s frankly even more of a reason to eat when you can -- you’re not going to be of any help if you’re just a pile of bones, you know!” This time, it was Poe’s turn to do the lip-biting. You had a point . . . You continued, “Look, I know the rations aren’t that great, but you gotta eat something. In fact . . .” You popped the lid off. “How about a feed you?” “I’m not a baby, (Y/N) --” “No, but you’re being reluctant like a toddler. And in any case, if I feed you then at least you can keep your hands busy doing whatever it is you insist you need to do instead of actually putting nourishment in your body. Capiche?” Did he have any real say? No, not really. By this point, after all the ones he’d grown up around and encountered in the Resistance, Poe had learned when to fold in the face of a woman on a mission. Besides, underneath the resigned demeanor, he rather appreciated the gesture. You didn’t have to do this; you were just as important as he was to the Resistance as far as he was concerned. Yet, you were spending your time, making sure he was operating better than he thought he already was. And doing that? It made the disgustingly bland protein glob you spoon-fed him ever so slightly more palatable. Well, almost.

Breaks the expensive gift rule during Christmas: (Since Christmas apparently doesn��t exactly exist in the Star Wars universe as we know it, I’m keeping a more modern setting in mind.) Every year, you would make Poe look you in the eye and promise that he wouldn’t go overboard with the gift-giving. You two weren’t exactly hurting for money, it just didn’t seem to make much sense to go and splurge on something that the two of you both couldn’t benefit from equally (a pool, a tv, a roomba, and so on). At least, to you it didn’t. Which was why every year, you reminded your significant other of this and hoped he would keep a lid on it. And every year, Poe would find some sort of loophole to squeeze himself through, or just plain break the rule, offering only the most sheepish of smiles when the reveal inevitably arrived. Though, if you were “lucky”, you’d be regaled the story of how he found whatever that year’s big splurge was and how he knew from the moment he saw it that it “had to be yours”. Which was how you wound up with a limited edition makeup set. And a gorgeous cocktail dress. And a diamond-and-pearl earrings and necklace set. And tickets to the touring version of that musical you’d always dreamed of seeing. And so much more. And every year, you’d be somewhat upset about it, but only a little bit: You’d learned long ago that none of this was done out of malice or to humiliate you by making whatever you gave him appear lackluster or bought on the cheap. This was simply how Poe was: He was a go big or go home type of fella and it only made sense that this type of mindset would carry over into how he showed you his love for you. To Poe, you deserved to be showered in gifts, and he made it his goal every year to shower you with the best of the best. There just wasn’t a price that could be put on surprising you or making you smile (well, on the inside, because on the outside you were weakly chiding about how he once again broke the rule). And you couldn’t fault him for being your loving, passionate Poe. Besides it wasn’t as though every year, he didn’t also gift you with a painfully ugly Christmas sweater to match his. 

Thank you for asking!! Hope I did okay . . .

[girlgrouptrash101]

Dating Poly!LipSoul

Request: “Dating Poly!LipSoul and Poly!ViSeul, please! I'll wait until Olivia is of age to request HyeWon😅”

A/N: a sad life pretending LipSoul aren’t divorced while I was writing this smh

- C

I don't think you're ready for the chaos that is about to ensure when it comes to LipSoul I really don't

Did someone order one tsundere and a girl that makes dinosaur noises for attention??? no??? well you're getting it anyway <3

both you and Jinsoul's favourite pastime is embarassing Lippie, her reactions always make it worth it

she literally stands there like... I don't know these guys as you and Jinsoul scream vine references at each other from across the supermarket

all the other shoppers are just there like 👁️👄👁️

but you both know Lip loves you guys anyways, the big grin on her face a complete contrast from her playfully scolding words

When Jinsoul's hungry and she tries to deafen you and Kim Lip with her aegyo... like damn let's just eAt okay we GET IT FJDJDJ

(but neither of you will ever admit just quite how cute she is,,, though you and Lippie are ever so whipped)

Kim Lip going super mom mode whenever you or Soul gets sick

"hey guys what's up- OH MY GOD DID YOU JUST COUGH BABY WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME JINSOUL SOUP NOW GO GO GO GO"

she just doesn't like seeing either of you unwell, and with her undivided attention, you and Jinsoul always get better in no time :]

Your dates are rare enough due to work and schedules, so you three tend to go on more adventurous dates when you can to make the most of your time

one of your favourite locations is probably the zoo, all of you just getting way too excited to see the animals jfjdjs

(ft. Jinsoul stretching her neck and sticking her tongue out to imitate the giraffes when you finally reach their enclosure)

the best bit is when Lippie loses her reservations and just enjoys herself, taking both yours and Jinsoul's hands and skipping around, getting excited whenever she sees one of her favourite animals 🥺

If you guys don't feel like going out, staying at home works just as well,,,, getting a takeaway and playing board games until like 2am also sounds like a fun time

except for when monopoly arguments almost ended your relationship... let's just stick to snakes and ladders or Uno or sumn oKay???

PDA is kept to a minimum until one you guys sleepy after a long day n then it doesn't matter who's watching y'all just tired and need hugs

speaking up hugs,,, Jinsoul just opens her arms and you two fall into her, girlie is the best for bear hugs

she also loves to be in the middle of your cuddle piles when she can be, nothing makes her happier than holding her two babies close

also you and Kim Lip being like let's not go wild with presents this Christmas okay??? gotta save??? and Jinsoul is like hehe yeah sure and then buys you both like a fucking planet each or something

but then you and Lippie save up to buy Jinsoul the new gundam she wanted and my god,,, the TEARS when she opened it 🥺🥺 soulie was just not expecting it at all uwu

CEOs of sharing each others clothes like what even is owning your own stuff

especially Lippie like she loves wrapping herself up in yours a Jinsoul's clothes, it makes her feel all fluffy and soft heheh

matching pyjamas that jinsoul picked out and Kim lip is like.... you really want me to wear that but eventually ,,, with enough of your pouting and Jinsoul's eyebrow thing she gives in hehe

baking dates that tend to be you and Jinsoul vibing and Kim lip having a panic attack every time you dAre stray from the recipe

but then it turns out good and she's like 💅💅💅 that was all me don't even know what you mean I made these myself xoxo don't be jealous

Roadtrips!!!

you guys like to go on little trips to the most secluded places where you know there aren't that many people around so you won't be disturbed

n you book a nice lil hotel room and spend a few days exploring the area, you guys love to go to little seaside towns especially

late night walks on the beach, the cold sea water just reaching your toes as you three walk hand in hand

then getting up early to head out and buy the most fresh fruit from the local market, living in your own little world with the two girls you love the most

It's often been discussed that, in the future, you three would definitely want to live in a little lodge near the sea, with the most beautiful seaside view and gorgeous little garden

for now though, you know they're priority is their idol career and you support them 100% through that

plus you get free tickets to every loonaverse concert and cinema theory event etc I mean what more could you ask for

Also be prepared Choerry is basically your child now I'm sorry I don't make the rules that's just how it is

Kim Lip CEO of being really reserved and then sometimes just out of nowhere comes out with how much she loves both of you so much and you and Jinsoul are like 🥺🥺🥺

ft Jinsoul saying ‘I Love You’ 3474985309457 times per hour

overall 10/10 best girlfriends would reccommend lipsoul for top tier cuddles and endless uwus

NSFW From Here:

Either of them can top if they really want to, it just depends on the mood or who's feeling what

usually Jinsoul takes the lead, but she isn't very rough, just super duper loving

will literally spend forever kissing all over you and Lippie, just looking at you both with the most loving eyes because she's so whipped

Kim Lip would be more likely to top when she's pissed off and wants nothing more than to just hear you and Jinsoul scream her name to calm her down

Kim Lip's neck and collarbones are her most sensitive places, mark her up there please and THANK YOU

for Jinsoul, it's her thighs, nothing drives her crazier than you or Lippie marking her up there, it just makes her legs shake from the sensitivity

Jinsoul being so fucking loud like don't ever do shit at the from unless you want every single member to hear you guys

one time Jinsoul went out and bought a strap on,,, completely red faced the whole time and so embarrassed to bring it home

but when she showed you what she bought, Kim Lip was like "come on then let's try it out" like girlie was completely unphased

and that was when Lippie found out what her new favourite toy was oop

Let Jinsoul sit on your face and she will be ever so happy, she gets so whiny,,, especially when you grab her thighs and just let her use you to get herself off

ok I really think we need to talk about Kim lips hands now I mean,,, not that you wouldn't mind them being wrapped around your throat but like.... you wouldn't mind them being wrapped around your throat

I feel like Lippie in public would either be super reserved or such a tease, her hand inching further and further up your thigh until either you or Jinsoul would be squirming in your seats

just depends on her mood tbh,,,, soulie wouldn't initiate anything in public but would definitely find it hard to sit still if you or Lip started something

aftercare can be anything from showering, to a bath, to just being pulled in to a cuddle pile by a rather sweaty, yet very blissed out Jung Jinsoul

[iguesswhatever]

Surprise

A/N: Credit to @vintagedolan for the idea. I hope I did ok. Also, this is my first fic so please don't roast me. I also haven’t posted anything on this damn website in years so I forget how to add gifs and stuff. The gifs lynds posted were of Ethan Dolan running in and then doing the peace sign so just pretend they’re here or go look at her page which you should be doing anyways. Oh, and I know there’s supposed to be a word count, summary, etc. but ya girl ain’t at that level yet. Ok, enough stalling. 

*****

Dating Ethan was anything but boring in the best and worst ways. He was always trying to surprise you with cute dates or gifts of any size- little getaways, big trips, a note in the lunch he packed you, putting gas in your car, or picking up ice cream when you had a bad day. He was also always getting hurt or breaking something. You weren't exactly Miss Grace- you had your share of broken dishes, bruised elbows, and scuffed shoes from all the trips you've had but Ethan always managed to outdo you in all aspects.

Ethan had invited you over to hang out and you were just wrapping up work when he texted you.

bby e: let me know when you're outside

You immediately knew he was up to something. You shook your head and smirked.

You: Oh no. What are you up to?

bby e: nothing

You: You do know I can always tell when you're lying, right?

You: But it's fine. Have your fun. Leaving soon

bby e: drive safe ❤

You finished packing up your stuff and signed out for the day. As you got in your car you couldn't help but feel the excitement in your tummy. No matter how small his planned surprises were they always made you feel special.

*****

As you parked and shot Ethan a quick text, you ran into Grayson walking to the Porsche.

You put on your sweetest smile and asked innocently, "Where you off to, Gray?"

"Nope," he said seriously. After you had badgered him into revealing one of Ethan's bigger surprises- tickets to Hawaii -the boys had an argument which ended up with you trying to pull them apart after they started wrestling.

"Pussy."

He flipped you off as he got into his car and started it up. You stuck your tongue out and he revved the engine in return. You blew him a kiss and he just shook his head as he backed out, trying to hide his smile.

You walked in and set your keys down, kicking off your shoes in the process. Unhooking your bra you caught a glimpse of the living room and noticed a bunch of cushions missing from the couch. You paused in the middle of shoving your bra in your bag but but a crash sounded from Ethan's room before you could process.

"E...? You good?" You called out not wanting to ruin anything he was trying to do. You couldn't handle the pouting after a blown surprise.

He slid into the kitchen, eyes wide and out of breath.

"Heeey," he had the nerve to throw you peace signs like it was the most natural thing to do.

You raised your eyebrows and tilted your head, "Real slick. Whatcha up to? I noticed some cushions are missing."

"Just setting up. Give me like 5 minutes. Wash your hands or something."

"...for 5 minutes."

He just smiled and ran back out. "I'll let you know when I'm ready!"

You went to the bathroom, where you did wash your hands, then sat at the island and screwed around on your phone.

You looked up at the sound of his steps a few minutes later. Ethan rounded the corner with his hands behind his back. As you craned your neck to try and peek, he presented you with the comfy clothes you left there for the nights when you came right after work.

"All that noise for these?"

Ethan walked over to you and gave you a soft kiss, "This isn't the surprise, babe. You know better. I just want you to be comfy."

You wrapped your arms around him, taking a deep breath of that Ethan scent that was all his own. Your cheek rested on his chest and his heartbeat sounded in your ear bringing you more comfort than one of his oversized shirts and a pair of shorts could ever do. Not that you'd turn those down.

Ethan placed a kiss on the top of your head. You could hear him inhale, almost mimicking what you did moments ago. You hoped it brought him the same comfort and feeling of home.

"Change into these and then meet me in my room." He pulled back and looked at you. His eyes were radiating light and the mischievous energy was so overwhelming you had to laugh.

"Aye aye, captain."

He gave your butt a light smack as he released you from his hold and ran off like a child going for presents on Christmas morning.

Trying to make final guesses as to what he could be up to, you changed right in the kitchen since no one else was home.

"Coming!" You yelled down the hall. He was standing right in the doorway waiting.

"Close your eyes."

You rolled them before clamping them shut. Even in doing that, Ethan walked around behind you and placed his hands over your eyes.

"I wasn't going to cheat," you huffed.

His breath hit your ear as you felt his mouth murmur against it, "I know but it's more fun this way." You pressed into him and moved your hips, your hands reaching back to touch him.

"Definitely more fun." You hummed as your hands roamed down his lower back and rested on his butt. You returned the light smack he had given you earlier with one of your own.

Ethan pulled you closer. He kissed your shoulder and made his way up your neck. You couldn't help but moan when he took your earlobe in his mouth. He pushed you forward with his hips and you felt a glimmer of pride at the fact he was already getting hard.

Before you could say anything, Ethan removed his hands with a "ta da!" and shifted to the side.

What you saw as you opened your eyes almost melted you into a puddle of pure fluff.

He had made you a fort.

The cushions from the couch extended from his bed with blankets helping cover the roof. You walked forward, one hand covering your mouth as the other moved the "door" to the side. You could see his laptop with Netflix open, some snacks for the both of you, pillows, and more blankets.

You couldn't help but feel dumb as you pulled back with tears in your eyes. You had showed him a fort from your IG explore page and had said you guys should do it, but you didn't expect him to take it to heart.

Ethan walked over, concern etched on his face when he saw your tears.

"What's wrong, sweetheart?"

His hands came up to either side of your face as his thumbs stroked your cheeks. You placed a kiss on the inside of both wrists.

"Nothing at all. Just so unbelievably and totally in love with you."

His eyes exploded with stars. Ethan leaned forward, his nose rubbing yours. You closed your eyes as you felt those plush lips against yours and heard him say, "Ditto, my love."

You both made your way through the doors and as you snuggled into his side wanting nothing more than to revel in this feeling...the fort collapsed.

Yells turned into uncontrollable laughter once you locked eyes. Another successful Ethan surprise.

*****

tags:  @angelgrayson because she also told an anon that might have been me to send her anything I wrote

[rosesvioletshardy]

life as we know it - b.h. chapter 13

sorry that this took a while and for the fact that it’s terrible I just started my english class and it’s a lot to do in 6 weeks so there are going to be some slow updates on this story

the story is also going to be done soon i was thinking about ending at chapter 15 maybe i’m not exactly sure yet

i said in one of my previous posts that i had two different versions of this chapter and i came to the conclusion i’ll post this version first then after the story is over, i’ll post what i originally had in mind so i hope you aren’t mad

masterlist

summary: when their two best friends die, it’s up to ben and y/n to take care of their goddaughter and face the challenges with it

# of words: 2,231

warnings: language, angst

taglist: @myfatbottomedgirls , @evemarie05 , @suckerfor-fanfics , @lilharms , @youngpastafanmug 

inbox me or message me if you want to be added to the taglist for the series

----

things have been awkward for ben and y/n since the last social services visit and it caused a little bit of conflict between the two on how they parented. they went back to being themselves even after they said that they’d give a relationship a try. at this point they didn’t even know where they stood in the relationship after the visit with janine. ben went back to sleeping on the couch and she was by herself again in the guest bedroom. Whenever they wanted to talk to each other, it felt like the universe wanted them to be apart and kept telling them that they weren’t meant to be. but it was wrong. all of it. the two of them were too stubborn to talk about their feelings in a way for them to both understand and the situation they were going through was making it worse.

now, y/n was with lucy as they finally got to have a day to themselves and hangout like they originally planned. lucy sensed that something was wrong with her due to her being quiet and avoiding every sentence that involved ben. lucy stopped looking through the racks when she decided to speak up to find out what was wrong

“okay, you’re being quiet and you’re also avoiding every question whenever i bring up ben, what’s wrong?” lucy asked as she stopped looking through the racks

she didn’t answer her though. it’s not like she wanted to but it’s how she didn’t know what to tell her and what was happening. she stayed quiet before she felt lucy’s eyes burning a whole in the back of her head already knowing that she can’t be avoided of her questions 

“i’m not sure. everything was going all smoothly. first, we were laying on the couch talking about us and whether we wanted to give a relationship a try then we went out on a date and it went crashing down the next day”

“wait. hold on a minute. you went on a date? did anything else happen? like some you know?” lucy winked causing y/n’s face to turn red 

“LUCY! not in front of the child! but yes we did and then we went and baked some special brownies”

“i’m sorry but in all seriousness how did it go? i mean did you confess your love to each other?”

“we did but after that social services visit it all went downhill. she asked us how we were going to make everything work and whether or not ben’s next project was going to be here again or if he was going to be away for a while. we started to argue on how good of planners we are, then she found out we did it, it just all went down.”

lucy understood her situation even if she had never been in it and knew that if y/n and ben continued to be like this, it’ll be hard for charlie to grow up in a stable household if both of her guardians weren’t talking and going back to their old habits of almost hating each other's guts. 

“i can’t relate to your situation and i probably never will, but the only thing you need to do is talk to him. you know that it’s the right thing to do. don’t do the wrong thing and push him away. It’ll only make it worse. i’m not blaming you for anything and i’m not blaming ben either, but this is between the both of you and how you are going to raise charlie so she knows that her guardians and godparents love each other whether it’s romantically or platonically. i think that you need to do what’s best for all of you and yourself. next time i see ben, i’ll tell him the same thing or hopefully you would have told him before. i don’t like seeing either one of you like this. so what are you guys going to do for the holidays?” she finished

“thanks luc. i’ll try to, it's just a tough situation and we both want what’s best for charlie and for her to grow up with a healthy relationship with the both of us. for the holidays? we haven’t really talked about that much. at first we were thinking about going to charlie’s grandparents for christmas and  then ben’s parents for new years and his birthday but i don’t know if the plans are going to follow through now.” she told her avoiding eye contact with lucy to save herself from feeling like she was lying to herself about what she was going to do. she knew that it was wrong to lie but it was a tough situation for both of them.

the rest of the day was spent with the two of them and charlie shopping and getting lunch before they went their separate ways. she had thought over what lucy had said and begun to think about what she was going to do or how she was going to talk to him. ben didn’t have that much filming left to do and was supposed to be finishing up soon. he had spent the day not paying attention and having to stay a little longer due to constantly messing up before he gave up and stormed off. the cast and crew knew something was wrong because of how quiet he started to become after rather than talking all the time and being as energetic as he used to be when they first started to film. when time came, the guys eventually came around and asked what was wrong with him and why he was being the way he was. he plucked up the courage to tell him how both him and her had screwed up their relationship. they didn’t know much of the situation and tried to get it out of lucy but she promised that she would tell anyone about it and would let ben do it on his own time.

“about a few weeks ago, we had a date, then we slept together. the next day we got a surprise social services visit and we were a mess that morning. she and i had baked some brownies with a little bit of weed in them a little after sleeping together and we spent i don’t know how long completely fucked until we woke up the next morning.”

“well i mean that’s not exactly too bad.” rami told him as gwilym and joe agreed

“during the meeting with our social service worker, we, y/n and i, started to somewhat argue and then janine found out we had sex and said it’s going to strain our relationship and how we raise charlie. so we went back to being how we were at first without the insults though.”

“oh damn i did not see that coming”

“Neither did i”

after he had told them, they understood and knew that both ben and y/n would be able to overcome their stubbornness and talk it out and have another real conversation about it rather than say one word to each other. 

when ben came home, it was quiet. not a single light was on besides the porch light and the lamp that was sitting on the small counter next to the couch. at first, he must’ve thought that both y/n and charlie were asleep but he checked their rooms to find no one there besides frankie who had a sad look on her face as she laid beside the crib. He left the room to look in the other rooms to see if any of their stuff were there. 

when he entered y/n’s room, he found the bed neatly made as if it had never been touched and an envelope with his name on it. ben knew what was coming. He knew that the letter will contain something that he doesn’t want to read and  felt like he was living in some cheesy romance movie. he stood in his spot, staring at the letter as if it were going to attack him if he moved a bit before gaining the courage and picking it up. he saw the way his name was neatly written on the front in her handwriting and began to tear up. taking a deep breath, he opened the envelope and took the letter out of it. ben looked up at the ceiling before closing his eyes and exhaling, sat on the bed and began to read;

Dear Ben,

I don’t know when you’re going to notice this letter if you come home late or early next morning but i’m sorry. I’m sorry about everything and leaving with charlie. We’re at a friends house right now but i can’t tell you who. Ever since the visit, i began to wonder if we can truly do it until i think back to our talk that one day. you were so sure of yourself that we can make this happen and i was too, but we can’t. We can still talk this out but I won’t be available until christmas. I already bought mine and charlie’s tickets for california to see jack and melissa in a couple of days. They know of the situation and aren’t mad at you, and they won’t ever be mad at you. you can still come over and we can talk it out there but it’s up to you. I really love you ben, i really do. This whole time i have never felt more comfortable with someone and telling them my secrets and things that have happened in my life. I told you things that i have never even told lennon about and that’s how comfortable i felt and how much i love you. I hope that you can make a decision about what we can do. I have already made mine and i’m willing to change it after we talk it out and have time to think.

I love you,

y/n 

by the time ben had finished reading, tears were escaping his eyes after not being able to hold them in any longer. she was confused with her feelings and so was ben but it was clear that they both wanted each other but just didn’t know how to talk about what they wanted in their lives even though they have done it before. he felt too numb to move and ended up sleeping where y/n once laid. her scent still lingered on the sheet and he hugged the pillow as tight as he could as he silently cried himself to sleep with frankie laid beside him.

Throughout the night he couldn’t sleep. The most he got was 2 hours before waking up at 1 am and going downstairs to the kitchen. he wasn’t having trouble sleeping, but he wanted to get rid of what was happening and forget about it without having to be drunk and make himself worse. ben ruled out coffee because he knew that it’ll just keep him up for a little longer and that his other choice was tea. he wasn’t the biggest fan of tea, but y/n was and she had managed to get him to at least drink it a couple times a week. 

rummaging through the cupboards to find where she kept the tea, he found her favorite chamomile that she loved. He took the box out and turned on the kettle near him and her favorite mug. Ben stared at the cup as he began to think about why she loved the mug so much.

Flashback

“i have a question, why do you love that mug so much? i mean we have a bunch of other mugs yet you always use that one no matter what you’re drinking.” ben asked curiously setting down his drink

she stayed quiet for a bit and stared at the mug that was in her hands before taking a deep breath and telling him why she used it 

“Someone close to me gave it to me and i just miss them. it’s pretty much the only thing i have left of them back from the states.” she shrugged

ben just stared at her and didn’t say anything besides pulling her into him and giving a kiss on her head”

Flashback over

ben snapped out of his thoughts when he saw that the water finished boiling. when he finished making it, he sat where she would sit with charlie and took out his phone to see if she had responded to any of the texts he had sent before he had entered the house to see if she was up to talk. nothing. ben changed to his photos app because he needed some happy memories. the most recent one was when he forgot his phone one day and y/n and charlie decided to have some fun with it and take millions of photos and videos of them. He scrolled through and found the first picture of them when charlie was first born and wondered if it’ll ever be them in a way in the future. 

ben finished his tea and went back up to the bed and laid back down and stared at the ceiling where he let thousands of thoughts run through his head about where they could be before his eyes started to droop and close, letting sleep take over his body again.

[k-llama-llama]

the backup plan

X1 AU: 12th member

Mya x X1

Mya receives an unexpected call from her parents.

A/N: ALSO CHECK OUT MY PATREON FOR ACCESS TO EXCLUSIVE CONTENT AND EARLY ACCESS (patreon.com/kllamallama)

Requests are closed, but your feedback is still greatly appreciated!

Masterlist and other Follow Me links in bio!

“Can someone please open the door?” Mya knocked on the door with her forehead. “I’m dying out here.”

The door opened by an inch, Wooseok peeking through. “Why can’t you open the door?”

Mya held up her hands, each weighed down with bags. “My hands are full.”

He squinted, but opened the door anyways.

Mya sighed and hurried in, dropping her bags on the couch before stopping to unlace her boots. “I thought I would never make it up those stairs.”

“Why didn’t you take the elevator?” He asked, leaning over to look in her bags. “And where were you?”

Mya kicked him away. “Christmas shopping. And now I’m going to go hide them so you don’t snoop.”

“But I wanna.”

Sliding into her bunny slippers, Mya recollected her bags and stood from the couch. “If you snoop, you don’t get a present.”

Wooseok just rolled his eyes, heading back to the kitchen.

Mya hauled her bags into her room. Yohan looked over from his bed, but otherwise didn’t react as she hid the bags in her closet.

“Oppa. How do you feel about ordering a pizza?” She asked, jumping onto her bed.

He looked over from his phone. “Last time we did you ate half and made yourself sick.”

Mya gave her sweetest smile, pulling her pink blanket over her and snuggling up. “But it was so worth it.”

Yohan grinned. “You’re cute. I’ll order it.”

“Perfect.” Mya grinned. “Can you make sure that-”

Her phone started ringing, vibrating against her pillow. “Who’s calling me?”

Yohan shrugged. “Answer it. I’ll just order the pizza.”

Mya sighed, grabbing the phone. It was an unrecognized number, but she hit accept anyways and held the phone up to her ear. “Hello?”

“Hello? Mya?”

Mya’s eyes widened, and she sat straight up in her bed. “Mom?”

Yohan shot her a look at her sudden switch to Japanese, concern growing in his eyes as he watched Mya start biting on her pinky nail.

“Yes, it’s me. Your father is here too.”

“Oh, hi Dad.” Mya offered nervously. “I didn’t...your name didn’t come up in my phone.”

“Isn’t it the phone you got in Korea?”

“Yeah.”

“We haven’t called since you’ve been in Korea.” Her father explained. “We got the number from Aito.”

“Right.” Mya sighed. “Well, it’s so nice to talk to you guys. You haven’t been working to hard, are you?”

“We always work hard.” Her mother reminded. “We all have jobs.”

Mya felt her heart sting a little bit. “I mean...it doesn’t hurt to take some time for yourself.”

“Yes, actually that’s what we wanted to talk to you about.” Her father said. “We have an amazing opportunity.”

“A promotion?” Mya asked. “That would be amazing.”

“More like a transfer.” He told her. “I’ll be working at the University now.”

“Wow, Dad, that’s so cool.” Mya tried to sound supportive. “I know you always wanted to work there.”

“It’s a good first step.” Her mother said. It sounded like she was trying to agree with Mya, but she always seemed to turn Mya’s positivity into some sort of process towards their success. “But we have a good opportunity for you.”

“For me?” Mya tilted her head. “Mom, I’m not really able to do anything right now. I’m still in X1 for another five years.”

“You aren’t currently promoting.” Her father explained. “But we can get you into the university. So you can come back and study, and hopefully work on our backup plan, so that -”

“Dad-” Mya wasn’t sure if she’d ever cut her father off before. “The backup was in case I didn’t debut. I did. I’m not going to university.”

“Mya, what if something happens with your group.” Her mother cautioned. “You need a backup plan.”

“I don’t.” Mya insisted, swallowing her nerves. “I’m here. And I’m staying here. Thank you for worrying about my future, but I’m happy in Korea. Please...please just let me be happy.”

She could practically hear the disappointment through the phone.

“We should’ve listened to Aito.” Her mother whispered. “He said she wouldn’t listen.”

“He humours her.” Her father answered. “He’d let her make whatever stupid decisions she wants.”

Mya bit her lip. “If there isn’t anything else, I have to go. But I’ll talk to you on Christmas?”

“I have work.” Her mother said. “We have real jobs, remember?”

“I heard you the first time.” Mya frowned. “Bye, Mom. Bye, Dad. Merry Christmas and i’ll talk to you later.”

The line went dead.

Mya slammed her phone onto the bed with as much force as she could muster, throwing herself back into the cushions. 

Her parents had never understood. They thought she was throwing her life away, and they’d never made any secret of the fact that they though she would come crawling back to them.

“Mimi?” Yohan said quietly, breaking her out of her seething. “What was that? Who made you angry?”

“I’m not angry.” She answered, turning away.

“Was it...” He hesitated to even say the words. “Was it your parents?”

Mya nodded. “They wanted me to go back to Japan to go to university.”

“Why?” Yohan pushed himself up on his elbows. “You’re part of a group.”

“Yeah, well, it’s not a real job.”

Mya stared at the wall, so she didn’t see as Yohan stood, walked over to her bed, and carefully lay down behind her.

“Mimi?” He asked. “I don’t know if I’ve ever asked. But why don’t you talk to your parents?”

Mya sighed, rolling over to face him. “Because they think that my career choice is a humiliating mistake.”

“Yeah, but you proved yourself.” He shook his head. “I don’t understand why they haven’t come around.”

Mya thought for a moment, before deciding to tell the story.

“I wanted to come to Korea for so long, but my parents wouldn’t let me. Aito surprised me with tickets, he bought them without telling my parents. They freaked out the day before I left, screaming at him and telling him he was a disappointment to the family. And he told them that if they wouldn’t let me be happy, he’d just follow me to Korea and cheer me on from there.”

Yohan felt his mouth drop open. “I knew he payed for some stuff, but...”

Mya nodded. “He payed for the flight, for my hotel for the month I spent doing auditions. And even once I was at a company, he still sent me an allowance every week because my parents cut me off.”

“And you don’t talk to them because the last time you saw them in person they were mad at you?”

Mya shook her head. “No. I don’t talk to them because Aito was willing to throw it all away to make sure I got to follow my dream. And I can’t disappoint him, and I can’t make things any harder between him and my parents.”

“You’re making him proud.” Yohan promised. “You don’t need any stupid university. Look at me, I did the same thing as you and I turned out great!”

Mya gave a small laugh. “Well....you’re kind of dorky.”

Yohan grinned. “That’s why you love me.”

“True.” Mya nodded. “But seriously, thank you, Oppa. It’s not easy being so far away from home. But with you guys, I feel like I’m home.”

Yohan felt his heart melt a little bit. “Okay, that’s it.” He sat up.

“What’s it?” Mya sat up with him. “Was that too cheesy?”

He poked her nose. “Of course not. Now I just need to prove that I’m way better than your parents and any other stupid university.”

“And how will you do that?” Mya smiled. 

Yohan rolled his eyes. “Well, we’re ordering two pizzas and eating until we’re sick. And then probably breaking into that ice cream in the freezer. Would your parents approve of that?”

Mya shook her head. “Definitely not.”

“Then we’re doing it.” He hoped up. “I’m on pizza duty. Can you track down some of those snacks I know you have hiding around?”

Mya reached into her pillow case, pulling out a box of chocolate chip cookies. “Got it.”

[babyczk]

christmas with you — eh

summary: edwin finds himself stranded on campus for christmas, quickly realizing he isn’t the only one who isn’t able to go home for the holidays

authors note: literally just some fluff (:

•••

the subtle throbbing of music coming through the walls of edwin’s tiny dorm usually wouldn’t frustrate him, but he was already in the grumpiest of moods.

it was christmas eve, a time of year that edwin particularly loved [aside from halloween] but unfortunately for him, he’d been scheduled to work through the holiday season, and there had been absolutely no way he could get his shifts covered to venture back home to the bronx.

he was missing matching pajama sets with his entire family, iconic pictures that would be used as christmas cards in the future, and time away from school and with the people he loved most. it was excruciatingly painful to sit on facetime with his parents and siblings instead of physically being there.

the only good thing was he would be alone in the dorms, figuring that mostly everyone else would’ve left for the winter break. his roommate had, leaving edwin with a bit more space than usual. of course, like everything else in his life, things just couldn’t go his way.

when the music seemed to be growing louder with each passing minute, and edwin had exceeded the volume for netflix on his laptop, he begrudgingly threw off his sheet covers, angrily slipping his feet into slippers.

muttering profanities under his breah, he opened his door and marched the three feet over to the next room. knocking loudly, he waited impatiently on the other side of the door, having every intention of letting his anger out on whoever was about to open it.

the music instantly stopped, edwin hearing rustling from the other side, before the door swung open. his breath halted in his throat, seeing the bouncy curls of adaline summers. jeans rolled up, and sweatshirt sleeves cuffed, her brown eyes held nothing but confusion and question as she stared at edwin.

his mouth was insanely dry all of a sudden, mostly because he shared three classes with adaline, and in each one he found her progressively more beautiful than the last. his friends were constantly teasing him about his middle grade crush on her, but honestly, how could he not find her attractive.

“do you need something?” she asked, leaning against the frame of the door in curiosity.

“uh... n-no. i mean, i just...” edwin stuttered over himself, wishing the entirety of the floor would open up and swallow him whole, saving him from this excruciatingly, embarrassing moment.

adaline blinked, clearly more puzzled then before. “sorry?”

“i just didn’t think anyone was still in the dorms this close to christmas, s’all,” edwin blurted. “music was kinda loud.”

the puzzled expression on adaline’s face quickly turned to horror, followed by immediate regret. she pushed a stray curl away from her face, sheepishly smiling at the dominican boy. “fuck. i’m so sorry. i didn’t think anyone was here either, usually i’d have my headphones in. totally my bad.”

edwin felt a course of pity run through him. clearly, he could’ve stuffed some noise canceling headphones on himself, or maybe gone down to the lounge. he didn’t need to be a buzzkill and shut down her music, but another part of him knew he was only trying to find an excuse because this was adaline summers.

“no, no. you’re fine.”

adaline shook her head. “i swear, if i knew you were on this floor, i wouldn’t have been this much of an asshole.”

“i believe you,” edwin smiled shyly. “i didn’t even know you lived in this room until five minutes ago.”

adaline squinted a little, her eyes raking in one swift movement over edwin’s figure. she knew him from the three classes they shared, and she also knew he was an audio engineering major, sometimes seeing him putting flyers up around the dorms advertising shows he was playing in at local bars or clubs.

“funny, seems like we’re the only two people still on campus for christmas,” she pointed out. edwin shrugged, pulling at the drawstrings of his hoodie.

“kinda sad if you think about it, huh?”

adaline shrugged, kicking her door open a little wider. “only if you think about it. mind me asking if you’re doing anything worthwhile right now, edwin?”

his mouth dried up at the sound of his name coming from her tongue. a sense of pure giddiness at her simply remembering who he was.

“netflix and chilling, mostly. why?”

edwin half expected adaline to wrinkle her button nose in discontent, changing her mind and slamming the door in his face, but instead he was met with her dimpled grin, which might’ve caused severe heart palpitations for him.

“i know the most amazing spot for hot chocolate.”

he furrowed his brows. “aren’t all public restaurants closed right now?”

a mischievous glint reflected in her eyes, causing edwin to swallow thickly. “i might know a way to get in... unless you don’t want to come with me?”

edwin weighed his options. he could either decline and spend christmas eve, alone, burrowed under a plethora of blankets, with his eyes glued to his laptop screen. or, he could agree, and spend what was supposed to be a pity party with a beautiful girl, drinking hot chocolate.

he chose the latter.

adaline beamed. “great choice. lemme grab my jacket and keys, real quick.” edwin nodded, deciding to use that time to grab his stuff from his room as well, practically giddy with excitement as he flitted around the small space, the goofiest smile on his lips.

“ready?” he whirled around to see her leaning against his door he’d left propped open. she’d secured her curly hair in a messy bun above her head, a few tendrils coming down and framing her face. her red puffer was pulled up to her chin, making her look, in edwin’s opinion, the cutest he’s ever seen her look.

he hummed in agreement, the two of them bundled up to brace the cold weather, as they walked side by side through the empty campus. the conversation flowed easily, edwin finding himself having to stop in his tracks multiple times from doubling over in laughter.

“what’s your plan to get this hot chocolate?” he asked.

producing a set of keys from her pocket, she jangled them in front of his face, the mischievous glint still in her eyes. “like this.”

“how’d you get those?”

“i work here,” she said, matter-of-factly. “figured my compensation for closing up last week could come in this.”

“so we won’t get in trouble?”

“not if we don’t get caught.”

edwin gulped, letting adaline fiddle with the keys in the lock. he couldn’t afford to get caught, knowing breaking and entering would probably get him a one way ticket straight out of university, and him being on scholarship meant he had to be on his best behavior at all times. and right now, adaline was making that extremely hard.

the door to the small cafe creaked open, and adaline stood up, a triumphant grin on her lips. pushing herself inside, edwin followed behind tentatively, the rush of warm air hitting him. the lights flickered on, as adaline began taking chairs off of an adjacent table, beckoning for edwin to sit.

“any special requests for your hot chocolate?” she asked, already walking behind the counter.

“you got marshmallows?”

she smiled. “just for you.”

the cafe was cozy, lights strung up around the place, and different christmas decorations on the surrounding tables. edwin relaxed in the plush chair, looking up when adaline came back around with two steaming mugs, each topped with whipped cream and as she promised, edwin’s had marshmallows littering his.

“i’ve been told i’m a hot chocolate expert, y’know.” edwin hummed, letting the warm liquid run through his body. the chocolate goodness was enough to agree with adaline’s sentiment, and she laughed at his expression.

“well, you’ve been told right.” edwin glanced at the clock behind her head, noticing that it was exactly one minute until christmas day. “if someone had told me this was how i was spending my last minute of christmas eve, i don’t think i would’ve believed them.”

adaline raised a brow. “meaning?”

“breaking into a cafe with a beautiful girl, and drinking hot chocolate. probably beats out every other year.”

adaline’s laugh bounced off of the walls, the sound infectious and causing multiple butterflies in edwin’s stomach.

“you think i’m beautiful?”

“maybe...”

adaline leaned forward in her chair, elbows on the table. her fingers ghosted over edwin’s face, tracing over his skin, lingering at the tops of his lips. he was frozen in his seat, too afraid to move and disrupt her movements.

“i think you’re beautiful too.”

she dropped her fingers, much to edwin’s dismay, and before he could open his mouth to respond, she scooted her chair around, to the point where there was only a few inches of space between them.

“can i do something?”

edwin nodded once, curiousity taking over. adaline leaned forward, her chocolate breath waning over his face. instinctively, he closed his eyes, feeling her soft lips capture his softly, as if testing the waters. edwin, always the eager, couldn’t get enough, gripping the side of her face and pulling her in more. adaline smiled against the kiss, pulling away after a few moments.

“merry christmas, edwin.”

•••

in honor of december starting!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR 500 FOLLOWERS, I LOVE YOU GUYS. also thank you for dealing with my inability to write lately, cranked this out over the span of a couple of days, and i still don’t know how i feel about it.

[crazywritingbug]

hiiii:)) i’ve been reading your stuff recently and have fallen in love with your writing🥺❤️. here’s my ask:) raph knitted his so a blanket and she carries it around everywhere, she uses it at her house, she uses it at the lair. like, everywhere. she brings it on the couch and probably lays in raphs lap:) you can go any direction u want, but if u could make it fluff that would be amazzingg❤️ w luv

Okay so this is the first ask I have every gotten and I am thrilled over it! I just hope that I fulfilled it well! Also sorry it took me so long, I just wanted it to be as good as possible!

Raphael X Fem!Reader

Raph almost had to do a double take when Y/N sat on the couch beside him, notebook and pen in hand. Her being in the lair was nothing new and he would never complain about it, but he was surprised by the blanket she wrapped around herself. 

He’d made it.

It had been his Christmas present for her and the only thing he’d knitted that he’d ever given away. If it wasn’t for how amazing Y/N was, he doubted he'd have given it away in the first place.

“Everything alright Nounours?” Y/N’s accented voice broke through his thoughts. “You look surprised to see me.” Even if he wasn’t embarrassed by how he’d been staring, the nickname alone would have had him blushing. She’d given all of them nicknames, so why did his heart still race? After all, she called Leo “General” which was better than “teddy bear”.

“Yer, uh...yer using the blanket.” He muttered, looking back to his magazine. “I didn’t think ya would.”

Y/N tilted her head. “Why would I not? You made it for me and I love it.” Raph didn’t know what to say to that. What could he say when just the sound of her French accent had his mind spinning? He was falling and falling hard. 

“I’m gonna go get something to eat.” He stood, tossing the magazine onto the table. He hightailed it out as casually as possible. Why couldn’t he just face her? She wasn’t some beast, she was gorgeous, sweet, and incredibly smart, so why did he lose his mind around her?

Why couldn’t he just tell Y/N that he loved her?

***

The red blanket was an increasingly common sight, and Raph loved it. At least until he found her waiting on the rooftop, wrapped in the blanket. He knew something was wrong the instant he caught sight of the tears lingering her e/c eyes. 

“Y/N?” The worry rose in him. “What’s wrong? Are ya-” He fell silent as she closed the distance between them, hugging him tightly. Raph wrapped his arms around her, uncertain as to what he should do. Mikey was the comforter. Raph was the one who’d kill who’d hurt her. He’d teach a lesson to whoever had caused his goddess to hurt.

“What’s wrong?” He asked it after several moments.

“Mama says we’re moving back to France.” She whispered it as she stepped back, swiping at her tears and Raph’s heart plummeted. France? She was moving back to France after what? Six years? He’d never thought she’d go back, not even when she’d mutter to herself in French every time something about the US surprised her.

“What? Why?” He could barely keep his voice from shaking. What if he never saw her again?

“She thinks America is too unsafe.” Y/N tugged the blanket tighter around her. “Especially after the Shredder last year.” Raph had seen the worst of humanity and knew that her mom had a point, but he would never let anything happen to Y/N. He’d die first. But how could her mother know that?

“Ya could stay..live with us…” He suggested it, half hopeful. But he knew better. She was too loyal. She wouldn’t leave her mother, not like her dad did. “How long do ya have?”

“Two days…” Y/N spoke softly. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to get away to see you or your brothers before then…” She sniffed, the blanket slipping down around her shoulders as she looked up at him. “I’m going to miss you nounours.” That was when he cracked. It was now or never. He had to tell her.

“I’m gonna miss ya too,” He couldn’t help but reach out and wipe away an escaped tear. “I love ya Y/N…” She stared up at him, eyes wide. Had he screwed it up? Should he have just kept quiet? Waited for another time? Would there have been another time?

“Nounours,” She stepped closer, “I love you too” He felt a smile flicker over his face even as he kissed her. She tasted of tears, vanilla and something entirely her. Raph did everything he could to memorize this feeling of holding her close, of her hands sliding over his arms to the back of his neck. He tried to memorize the feeling of her because if their first kiss was to be their last, he didn’t want to forget anything about it.

***

“Ya sure?” Raph followed after Master Splinter, asking for the “200th time”. “I’d just go and make sure she’s okay.” He knew he was dangerously close to ending up in the hashi, but after two years he couldn’t care that much. He just missed her.

“You are not going to France!” Splinter exclaimed, storming into the dojo. Raph glared at the door that was shut in his face. Standing there, he tried to swallow his anger. Why couldn’t Splinter just try to understand? Or trust him enough to let him go find Y/N? He’d be gone for a week, two tops.

“Well, I hope you did not already buy a ticket.”

Raph stiffened. He knew that voice. The accent was thicker, but it was just as beautifully musical as ever. Slowly he turned around to see her standing there, a small smile on her lips. Was he dreaming? How was she there? 

“Y/N?” It came out a bit more high pitched than he meant for it to and she laughed. That was when he knew he wasn’t dreaming. The memory of that sound could never be as beautiful as the real thing.

He closed the space between them in an instant, wrapping her up in a hug.

“Yer back!” He said it as she laughed. “Yer really back! When? How? Why?” 

“One question at a time Nounours,” She looked up at him with a look in her e/c eyes that had him melting. Every question left his mind with that smile. All that mattered was she was back.

“I missed you…” He whispered it, glad that for once Leo had told him to stay home from patrol. He leaned into her touch as she cupped his cheek. Then he noticed what she had wrapped around her shoulders. The red blanket he’d made her, she still had it. He’d never thought that he’d say goodbye to her with that blanket wrapped around her, or say hello to her with it. 

“I missed you too…” She muttered before he captured her lips in a kiss.

Tags: @missbeautyandherbeast @akari180 @ @bluesakurablossom @raphlife @marimo-punk @msmcsmutt @gruffle1 @sweetkitty1966 

If you would like to be added or removed from the tag list please message me.

[mirkwoodshewolf]

It’s a kind of magic tour pt.1; Queen x reader

*Author’s note*

Hey guys wow been awhile since you guys got a Rock Angel update but I figure it’s time you all got an update, and good news, it’s A TWO PARTER!!!! Okay so here’s the deal with this chapter, it’s all one thing but I’ve chosen to break it up into 3 parts because this chapter is ALL about the It’s a Kind of Magic tour, the very last tour Queen did with Freddie.  So this first chapter is strictly the Wembley performance, the next chapter I will post up is the Budapest events, and the last one is the very last show Freddie did at Knebworth. 

So in this part prepare for some fluffy feels, and LOVEY-DOVEY MUSH!!! Not really any hard warnings, except for the swearing or two. And for anyone interested in watching the concert to follow along are free to watch it on this link----> Concert here

Taglist:

@plethora-of-things​

@psychosupernatural​

@waddles03​

@ixchel-9275​

@platawnic​

@bohemiansweede​

@onebigfangirlworld​

@naturalswifty89​

@starswin​

@dj-lowkey​

@isabella-bby​

@labessieisallama​

@5sos-wdw​

@geek-and-proud​

@queendeakyy​

@simonedk​

@kairosfreddie​

____________________________________________________

*July 11th, 1986. Wembley Stadium*

It was the hottest tour that Queen had ever done.  In light of having just recorded some songs for a movie known as “Highlander” Queen came to the decision in calling their next tour the “It’s a Kind of Magic Tour”. A full on summer European tour filled with new surprises, new songs, and of course the partnership of the decade, for the Rock Angel was also in on the show as the supporting act.

So in reality it was really called Queen+Angel “It’s a Kind of Magic ‘86” tour.  Tickets were filling up and had sold out quicker than any tour in the past for both Queen and the Rock Angel.   One place in particular ran out faster than anywhere else, and that was Wembley Stadium, so the tour managers of both Queen and the Rock Angel worked out that they would do 2 nights performing at Wembley so that fans could get the chance to see them perform.

*My POV*

I was currently in my dressing room getting ready when I heard a knock at my door.

“Who is it?” soon peeking inside was the face of my loveable husband.

“Fanclub of the Rock Angel, party of two.” It was then Jack came in holding our baby girl in his arms. I smiled and turned towards them.

“Aww there’s my little girl. Ohh darling you’ve gotten bigger since I last saw you.” I cooed as I took my daughter in my arms and held her close.  I kissed her cheek repeatedly making her coo and laugh.

“So baby about tomorrow when do you want to head out for our dinner date?”

“Oh Jack I don’t know. I’m scheduled for a full rehearsal all day tomorrow, and then the concert. By then I don’t know if I’ll be up for anything.”

“Then why not just a simple room service dinner and a bottle of champagne. Then I could make you a bubble bath and we could—get in together and……”

“Jack you dirty man. Not in front of our daughter.”

“Ahh she doesn’t know what all that means, do you sweetie bell?” Jack cooed down at her as he took her back and held her once more.

“I swear you’re as bad as Roger and Jensen mixed into one.”

“So how long do you guys got till showtime?”

“About ten minutes. C’mon why don’t we go and try to find the guys?” I asked him.

“When did she last have her bottle?”

“I gave it to her on schedule right before we left the hotel. So she should be good.”

“And how about her nappie? Does she feel wet at all?”

“You know I can never get used to that word, why do you guys call it that here?”

“Because we just do. And why did you Americans have to change it to diapers? I swear it almost sounds like you’re saying diarrhea.”

“That is not what it sounds like at all! Those are completely different words.” Jack tried to defend himself and for all Americans in that manner.

“Whatever, but seriously does she feel wet?” Jack felt around and he said.

“Oh yep, it does feel a bit damp. Must’ve done it on our way here.”

“Okay, c’mere love-a-bug. Let’s change your nappie.” I placed her on my loveseat couch and took off her dress so that it wouldn’t get wrinkled.  Jack handed me the diaper bag and I took out the necessary things I needed.

Thank god for the Sensei-Veronica and her wise teachings about changing nappies.  Cause boy when it came to changing her nappie, Kelly sure could throw a tantrum.  She then began crying as I took off her diaper, her legs kicking in protest.

“No! No none of that now. We gotta get your wet nappie off of yah. Don’t want you to go smelling like pee all day do we? No I don’t think so.” She continued to fuss and kick her legs as I threw the soaked nappie away, applied the baby powder and medicine on her, before finally getting her into a fresh nappie and putting her dress back on.

“Aww see there’s our good girl, don’t that feel better?” Jack said as he picked up our girl while I grabbed my Red Special.  We then left my dressing room and went down the hall where I knew Freddie and Roger’s dressing rooms.

Already from down the hall I could hear Freddie’s vocal warmups.  Which made Kelly alert and her eyes widened as she reached out. I gasped and said as I took her.

“Who’s that? Who is that poppet?” I could even hear the faint echo of Roger’s vocalization and at that point she let out a “Bah” “Yeah that’s papa Roger and Uncle Freddie, shall we go say hello?” we then walked over to the dressing room but stayed hidden as to not ruin the surprise.

Freddie continued going up his scales in a scat like manner that he always did and that’s when I heard Roger go.

“Oooh!”

“Ohh-Ohh!” Freddie replied in a slightly higher octave.

“Ohhh!” Roger sung again before Freddie and him laughed.

“Well I see you guys are doing your little vocal competition as per usual.” I said as I came around with my family in tow.

“And I see you’ve brought the entire Kline clan with you.” Freddie sassed back at me.  I grinned and said as I adjusted Kelly.

“Hope you guys don’t mind your smallest fan coming today.”

“Of course not love, you know we love it when she comes to see us.” Roger said as he came around and took his goddaughter in his arms.  “Plus I thought that was her making all that fuss, for a moment I thought it was her mum.” I mockingly gaped at him.  A wide, gummy smile spread across Kelly’s face as her godfather played the helicopter game with her.

“Happy to see her again Rog?” Jack asked.

“Of course, last time I saw this adorable face was the around Christmas time. So it’s basically been seven months, and she was still such a tiny thing. Kiddos growing like a weed.”

“So how has parenthood treated you both?” Freddie asked.

“She’s a blessing. I mean there are a few nightly wakeups but other than that she’s good.”

“Although she’s still scared of the horses over at Jared’s place. Anytime we go near them, screams her head off like a banshee.”

“Aww poor baby, did the mean ole horsies scare you?” Roger cooed as he brought her close to him and bounced her up and down gently while rocking her soothingly.

“Well I thought I was hearing a baby earlier but I thought my ears were playing tricks on me.” We turned to see Brian coming out from the tuning room, holding an acoustic guitar in his hand.

“Yep. Our mini-angel came to see us.” Roger bragged as he bounced her once more.

“What do you say lovebug? Wanna go see Uncle Brian?” I said.

“No she doesn’t, she wants to stay with god-papa Roger, isn’t that right my little lovie?” he said as he softly tickled her tummy with just his index finger.

“Oh no you don’t get to dictate on who she stays with. She loves all of you guys equally.” I proclaimed as I took my daughter out of his arms and walked over to Brian and allowed him to hold her.  “Careful now Bri.”

“I know (y/n), I know this isn’t my first rodeo trust me.” He assured me as he held Kelly in his arms.  Out of all the guys she was always entranced with Brian (probably because of the hair).

Sometimes she would reach out to touch it, and it goes either one or two ways either she tugs it, or she just holds a strand of his curls in his hand.  The first few times she did tug at them, but then she relaxed and we told her not to pull it, but of course there’s the occasional pull and tug.

Luckily this time all she did was touch it and even stroke her hand down, almost like she was petting a dog.

“I swear Brian dear you’ve got that little girl wrapped around your finger, and I’m the one whose supposed to spoil her.” Freddie stated with a wave of his hand.

“It’s the hair what can I say?” Brian said as he handled Kelly very delicately and allowed her to take hold of his finger.

“So there’s no chance of you ever cutting it or even changing it, is there?” I asked.

“Not on your life my dear. Especially if this little one likes it, huh? Whatcha say Kelly?” she babbled and continued to grip onto Brian’s index finger.  She even started to nuzzle herself into his shoulder.  We all awed and that’s when I asked.

“So where’s Deacy? I’d figure he’d want to see his little niece.”

“He’s probably up backstage with his Deaklings as well as the rest of the Queen family.” Freddie replied as he stroked Kelly’s head softly.

“So everyone else is here?” asked Jack.

“Yep, Chrissie brought the kids, and Dominique brought Felix and baby Rory.” Brian replied.

“Well why don’t we head up there now, seems like we’ve got about seven minutes till showtime.” I said as I looked down at my watch.  We gathered up our stuff and walked out of our dressing rooms from the bottom of the stage and headed up outside towards the stage entrance.

For some reason security almost wouldn’t let Brian through because he didn’t have a pass. So I spoke for him in the light of mentioning you can’t have Queen without their guitarist (and I may or may not have threatened the guard to let him through cause Brian was still holding my baby and I wasn’t gonna be parted with her for another second).

As the kids reunited with their parents and the crew took the backstage pictures that they wanted to get.  I was sitting and watching as Jack stood beside Dominique as Kelly was entranced with baby Rory.  Even with being six months apart, Kelly and Rory got along very well.

I was even imagining that when those girls got older, they were gonna be more than just cousins to each other.  They would grow to be sisters.

“You doing okay love?”

“Yeah. Just—picturing what Rory and Kelly are gonna be like since they’re technically sisters by law.” I said with a soft smile as I turned towards my brother Deacy.

“Roger did luck out in making you the godmother. Seeing how you fit into the mother role so well with your own baby girl.”

“That or to just make it even since he’s Kelly godfather.”

“Or that too you’re probably right.” I hummed a soft chuckle before turning back. “You miss her when you go on tour, don’t you?”

“How could you possibly know that?”

“C’mon you’ve heard this time and time again sister dear. We know you too well. Plus I know firsthand how that feels. Remember I had my first child at around your age. So I know how hard it is for a first time parent to be away from their child for such a great lengths. But I have a feeling you’re feeling it much worse than what I did, cause after all I didn’t give birth to Robert.”

That finally got a laugh, a real laugh, out of me which made Deacy smile and he wrapped an arm around me as I said.

“I just—I don’t know how you guys do it every year. Every tour you all go on.”

“Having children puts things in a whole new perspective. Same thing with relationships.”

“I totally get your song now. The line ‘I’m happy at home’. It all makes sense now. Because did you know that I missed my daughter crawl for the first time ever?”

“Really? Kelly’s first crawl?”

“Yes. It happened during our show in Paris. Jensen and Jared came for a visit to our home in Napa, California and they were trying to get her to crawl. After hours of getting nowhere, when they had their backs turned, Jack came down from doing some laundry to see Kelly crawling across the floor. Of course poor baby ended up bonking into the couch but she crawled Deacy. And I missed it.”

“It’s hard missing those milestones. Believe me I would know. I missed Robert crawl for the Night at the Opera tour, during News of the World I missed Michael take his first steps. And my little girl Laura, she actually said her first word, and it was my name. Well title name, during the Hot Space tour. I was fortunate with Joshua but.... I can never take back the first experiences with Robert, my first child, or my only baby girl Laura.”

“Oh Deacy I—I can’t believe that. And here I am bitching about missing a simple crawl. Man I’m such a drama queen.”

“No you’re not. You’re just protective and loving mama bear, well mama lioness I should say. After all you had Kelly inside you for nine months.”

“Nine months and a week.” I corrected him.

“Oh yeah, that’s right.” We both softly laughed and he said as his hand came up and ruffled my hair a bit. “But there’s no doubt in my mind you’ll make it up to Kelly. And there will be plenty of milestones to come, because she’s gonna need someone strong to look up to, and I already know she has the best role model a kid could ever have.”

“When did you ever get so wise?” I asked him with a teary eyed glaze.

“Comes with the territory, and experience. You’ll get there one day.”

“Thank you brother mine, really this talk….it’s been the best relief I’ve had in a while. I don’t even think I could’ve talked about this with Roger or Brian.”

“I’m always here for you sister dear. And anytime you want to talk, I’m here for you.” He leaned his forehead against mine and I closed my eyes and drew in his strength.

After the whole family reunion; it was getting close to showtime.  We were escorted by our team towards the stage, all five of us pumped up on adrenaline.  Even though I wouldn’t go on till the guys started Under Pressure, I was still feeling the anxiety of going on stage.

“Good luck guys, I’ll see you all in a bit.” I told them.

“We’ll see you then darling.” Freddie said as he came up and kissed both my cheeks.

“You’re gonna kill it out there as always.”

“We try our best.” Brian said as he tuned his Red Special.  As the opening for ‘One Vision’ began echoing through the speakers and we could hear the audience clapping along and cheering I knew it was time. The guys got into position and I waited backstage from my spot on stage where I would enter and I heard the roar of the crowd as Queen finally made their appearance.

As always Freddie was extravagant on stage, a living legend and a God amongst men.  With songs like “One Vision”, “Tie your mother down”, and a surprise for both me and the audience two oldie but goodie songs of Queen, “In the Lap of the God (revisited)” and “Seven Seas of Rhye”, “Tie your Mother down” and “It’s A Kind Of Magic”.

During “A king of Magic”, giant balloons of the guys’ cartoon drawn selves from the album were floating and bouncing amongst the crowd and it was comical to see.  Once the song was over Freddie starting doing his vocal echoes with the crowd.  As usual they replied back to him with each vocalization that Freddie gave them.

If he held out a note, they did the same thing.  But I was noticing that his voice didn’t hold the same amount of power as it used to, even kinda cracking but he still powered through it.

“I can’t go any higher than that. Aye-Oh! Let’s go down. Aye-Oh!” Either it was just due to age or just due to the fact he’s been working his voice so hard, but it surprised me that Freddie couldn’t go higher than he just did, cause just a year ago he was able to.  But he still held a long “Aye-Oh” just like he did last year during Live Aid, which I admired. “Fuck you.” I grinned and shook my head.

“Ohh Fred you cheeky son of a bitch.” It was then Deacy began playing the bassline for ‘Under Pressure’. One of my roadies “Lucky” handed me my mic and he gave me a thumbs up and I mouthed a thank you.  I shook my jitters out as Freddie and Roger began the song.

*Roger and Freddie*

Pressure pushing down on me

Pressing down on you no man ask for

Under pressure that brings a building down

Splits a family in two

Puts people on streets

Um ba ba be

Um ba ba be

De day da

Ee day da that's okay

*Freddie (Roger)*

It's the terror of knowing

What the world is about

Watching some good friends

Scream

Let me out (Let me out!)

Pray tomorrow gets me higher

Pressure on people

People on streets

Day day de mm hm

Da da da ba ba

Okay

Chippin' around

Kick my brains around the floor

These are the days

It never rains but it pours

Ee do ba be

Ee da ba ba ba

Um bo bo

De do

People on streets ee da de da de

People on streets ee da de da de da

I had my Red Special on hand, I took a deep breath as the two volunteers pulled back the slaps of the see-through curtains and I walked through the smoke and sung the next verse. And as soon as the cameras showed me, everyone was in a roar of applause as I came right up and stood next to Freddie.

And as agreed for this performance whenever I came in at the second verse, I would go up in my high, controlled alto range with Roger and Freddie backing me up before Freddie ended the bridge.

*Me*

It's the terror of knowing

What this world is about

Watching some good friends

Scream! (let me out)

Pray tomorrow higher

Higher high!

*Freddie*

Pressure on people

People on streets

When the bridge came out, Roger, Freddie and I sang in a mezzopiano volume before Freddie sang the rest of the bridge before Roger and I came in on the first “Why”.  Then to show off my vocal range, I did a sorta ‘Freddie’ vocal with my why’s and adlibbed a bit.  Before we ended back together.

All the while Fred and I danced around together, even sharing his mic at one point as I joined Brian on guitar.

*Me, Freddie and Roger*

Turned away from it all like a blind man

Sat on a fence but it don't work

*Freddie*

Keep coming up with love

But it's so slashed and torn

*Me and Roger*

Why

*Me*

Oh why.

Tell me why?

*Freddie*

Insanity laughs under pressure we're breaking

*Both*

Can't we give ourselves one more chance

Why can't we give love that one more chance

Why can't we give love give love give love give love

Give love give love give love give love give love

*Roger, Freddie and me*

'Cause love's such an old fashioned word

And love dares you to care for

The people on the edge of the night

And loves dares you

To change our way of

Caring about ourselves

This is our last dance

This is ourselves

*Freddie and Me*

Under pressure

Under pressure

Pressure

Freddie and I hugged and kissed each other.

“Ladies and Gentlemen the Rock Angel herself Mrs. (Y/n) Kline!” Roger spoke into his microphone. I bowed graciously as the crowd roared in applause.

“HELLO WEMBLEY BEAUTIES!” I then saw Rock Angel signs being raised high in the sky like a banner waving in the wind.  I then heard Deacy strum and fiddle with his bass another familiar bassline.

“I’m feel a little boogie coming on, what do you think?”

“I’m feeling it to Fred.” I spoke into my mic before proclaiming to my dad, “HIT IT ROGER!!” He gave us a beat before counting into the microphone.

“1 2 3 4!” And it was then he and Deacy began playing “Another one bites the dust”.

“Hey! You both called me out.” Freddie spoke.  I grinned at him and began playing alongside Brian as the crowd began going crazy and clapped along.

During the song it was like a little competition between Freddie and I.  He would sing the first verse, then get the crowd rolling to sing the title of the song with Roger backing him up.  Then it was me and Brian getting the crowd pumped up during the second half of the song.  Then during the instrumental break, he and I would have a “Scat-off” which is basically all the ’be-boops’ or “de-ba-ba-boop” scats that Fred is known to do very well.

We would even have a competition between the guys and the girls to see who could chant the title out louder.  I obvious led the girls and Fred led the gentlemen.  Before the two of us would end the song together, and by the end of it all as the crowd cheered, Fred and I hugged each other once again.

After dabbing his face with a towel and I already needing to get myself wiped off from the summer heat as well as the beaming lights, I went up and stood by Brian who was up by the keyboard and he would tell me that now was the time when I would play his guitar part for their newest song, “Who wants to Live forever”.  Fred took a sip of beer before saying into the microphone as he walked further up towards the edge of the stage’s catwalk designed specifically for him.

“You know something there’s—there’s been a lot of rumors lately. About a certain band called Queen, along with a talented female artist known as the Rock Angel. The rumors are that uhh—the rumors that we’re all gonna split up and—break our partnership, what do you think?” at that point the crowd began booing and crying out in protest.

It's true.  I don’t know where or how it came to be.  I mean I myself have heard the rumors about Queen cause to my knowledge, they are literally the longest band to stay together without fully breaking up.  I mean yeah there was that break 2 years ago, but Freddie and all of us learned to forgive and forget because we’re family.

And families have their fights, but it’s those fights that keep us together.  But now some of the press are saying that Queen is planning on splitting up, and that I may also be thinking about severing my ties with Queen.  To fully go off and no longer want anything to do with them.

And it warmed my heart to see Freddie pointing to his ass before proclaiming.

“They’re talking from here!” I grinned and nodded as the crowd cheered.  Brian placed his arm around me and I leaned my head against his chest and wrapped my arms around him. “My apologizes but I say what I want. You know what I mean. So forget those rumors, we’re gonna stay together until we fucking will die I’m sure.” The crowd cheered and I nodded. “I keep—I must tell you, I keep wanting to leave but the Devil Angel back there won’t let me.”

“Watch it Mercury.” I warned him into my microphone as the crowd laughed and cheered.  He grinned cheekily at me before blowing a kiss my way and I blew one back at him, but also snuck in the finger.

“Also I suppose we’re not bad for four aging Queens and an eternal youthful angel, are we? Really what do you think?” the crowd whistled and exploded with an applause.

“I’d say you guys look great. Better than ever even, what do you all say?” at that point I heard some airhorns go off.

“But you my fine Angel. Serious folks some may not know but that angel right there, just became a mother for the first time ever just several months back last year.” At that the crowd went awe and I even heard some shouts of congrats and cheers, mostly from the women in the audience “And she’s positively glowing, what do you all think? Cause she’s been saying all tour how she wasn’t ready to come out just based off her body now.”

At that point the crowd all booed at the last part and I even heard some men shout out “YOU’RE STILL BEAUTIFUL!”

“YOU’RE A FINE GIRL ANGEL!!”

“WE LOVE YOU ROCK ANGEL!”

“Thank you all it really means a lot to me. At first I didn’t even want to do this tour but—it not only took these four misfits to get me back on stage, but all of your love and support. So I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. Thank you.” I blew the audience a kiss and whether it was the hormones I still had or just seeing all this support from thousands and thousands of people, I honestly got a little teary eyed.

I wiped them away so that I wouldn’t be crying on stage but I could hear the sounds of the crowd awing me.  It was then I felt Brian give me a real hug and he said in my ear.

“You’re still beautiful (y/n). We all love you.” He gave me a kiss on top of my head, which showed up on the cameras and I continued to try and suck in my tears.

“Thanks Bri.” I said to him before we separated from each other. “Okay,” I spoke into my microphone, “Before you all truly make me cry. This is a new song of Queen’s ‘Who wants to Live forever’.” The audience clapped and that’s when Brian led in on the soft and gentle intro before Freddie’s voice entranced the audience.

Just like Brian had taught me the scales and notes for this song, I came in when necessary while he kept at the keyboard.  When the solo came on, I walked up center stage onto the catwalk and performed the solo which had the audience cheering and whistling as Queen came back on the song.

I got to sing the backup vocals alongside the guys by the end of the song, Freddie sung out the last line as I gave the whammy bar a soft shake to make the last note of my Red Special vibrato a bit before we finally closed the song.

The concert continued with a couple more Queen songs before we did some of my songs like “Rock the World”, “Who I am”, “So good”, “Shallow” (accompanied by Roger, with Fred conducting the audience to sing along since he knew this song was special to me and Rog), and a new song from my recent album, a song I called “Rush”.  After that, Roger, Deacy and I left backstage to change while Brian and Freddie took over the stage with “Love of my Life” and “Is this the world we created”.

After that it was time for a little close in personal bonding time as all five of us came down the stage, Rog with the tambourine this time, Deacy and Brian standing at each end, me standing between Rog and Deacy and Freddie (who was now sporting a police officer’s helmet) gathered around as we began to sing our ‘medley’ songs like.

“(You’re so square )Baby I don’t care”.

“Hello Mary Lou”.

And some new songs of mine, one of which I had dedicated to the guys called “Protecting me”.

“No One”

“Tutti Frutti”

Then there were the more popular songs of Queen like their famed “Bohemian Rhapsody”, the audience participation that was “Radio Gaga”, the groovy dancing of “Crazy little thing called love”, the head banging that was both “Hammer to Fall” and my famed song “Set it all Free” (which was more of the audience singing the song and all I did was sing the chorus).

By the end of the entire concert after singing the last two songs “Friends will be Friends” and “We are the Champions.” Freddie came out for the first time on stage in his kingly attire that consisted of a very long red and white robe and a king’s crown that had red velvet inside and had jewels that could actually rival the actual Crowned Jewels of her royal highness.

Like the true Queen he was, he held his crown out to the audience as the boys and I rocked out the final part of the song and once we ended the song, Deacy, Brian, Roger and I came down with Freddie and waved goodbye to the crowd.

“Thank you, you beautiful people. Goodnight, God bless you.” Then as a final touch to the end of the tour we decided to add something special.  You know how in every Queen concert you hear their rendition of ‘God Save the Queen’, well for my second album, I included me actually singing Britain’s National anthem.  And thanks to the brilliant mind of our sound department and sound mixers, they’ve found a way to combine the two versions together so it sounded like I was singing alongside Queen’s recording.  

All for this tour.

As the five of us waved goodbye and I could hear them singing alongside me, I came up to Freddie who had actually placed his crown on top of my head and he bowed before me.  I went along with the act by knighting him with his music staff before he stood up and wrapped an arm around me and the two of us walked out, waving and blowing kisses to the audience with the rest of the boys trailing behind us doing the same thing.

After all that, we quickly raced out towards the back where the cars would take us back to our hotel. So all of us gowned in our after concert robes, mine being a red with white wings on the back quickly raced out with my assistants by my side with towels or water as we quickly raced towards the cars.

I got in my car and as soon as I got in, my driver took off back for the hotel.  When we all finally arrived, we all had a celebration up in Freddie’s suite with some drinks (non-alcohol due to the fact we had a show tomorrow) and food.  It was a small family party really with all our loved ones surrounding us and congratulating us on yet another successful concert.

The next day it was the same thing all over again at the same place.  But I began to notice that Jack was acting a bit strange today. He knew that today was our 2nd anniversary and yet he was playing it off like it was no big deal.

I mean yeah I told him I would be busy today rehearsing for today’s concert but I would’ve thought he’d at least wish me a Happy Anniversary.  But here’s the catch, whenever I tried to talk to the guys about it, they also waved it off like it was nothing and told me to keep busy.  

So I decided was going to get to the bottom of this.

“Now we sure she doesn’t know anything about it?” I heard Brian say.

“Oh she doesn’t have a single clue darling.” Freddie’s voice rang out proudly.

“Shhh! Fred lower your voice. Do you want her to overhear you from her dressing room.” Roger hissed.

“Too late!” I made myself known.  They gasped and turned towards me all huddled together, almost like they were hiding something. “Alright spill it, what are you four Queen’s up to?!” I demanded.

“Up to?”

“Up to?”

“Up to?”

“Up to?”

They all chorused out one at a time starting from Deacy, Roger, Brian then Freddie.  Brian began stammering trying to find the right words while Freddie threw some accusations at me for thinking that they would be behind something devious (coming from the most devious one of the Queens, that was just rich).

“We want you to rehearse the drums for ‘Now I’m here’.” Deacy blurted out.

“That’s it!” proclaimed Roger.  Soon I was hurried out by all four members with Brian and Freddie gently pushing my back or shoulders, while Deacy and Roger each had my wrists gripped in their hands as they proceeded to drag me away from the room.  All four of them agreeing with Deacy’s statement.

“But I wasn’t told I had to do the drums in tonight’s show.” I said to them.

“Well things have changed darling.”

“Yep and you’re skilled enough to learn it.” Roger said as he handed me his drumsticks and kissed both my cheeks and nose.  “Now go and practice at my kit love.”

“And don’t rush through it.” Advised Brian

“Take all the time you need.” Said Deacy.

“Practice, practice, practice.” Freddie proclaimed.  I rolled my eyes and went on to practice at Roger’s drumkit.  I waved them off and turned the corner to head up to the stage.

*3rd Person POV*

The four band members continued to wave so long to her, then when she turned the corner, Deacy muttered.

“You still think she doesn’t suspect?”

“Of course not Deacy dear, now c’mon.” Freddie turned with a clap of his hands. “She’s gone!” he proclaimed and that’s when her roadies, costume designers, hair and makeup team as well as Jack came out.

“You’ve kept her busy?” Jack asked.

“Yep. Got her practicing the drums. And she always struggles with ‘Now I’m here’ so she’ll be there for a while.” Said Roger.

“Excellent, okay everyone I’ve got your assignments. Hair and makeup, I want you all to make sure that tonight she looks her best, including waterproof mascara.” Jack explained.

“Yep, cause lord knows she’ll be bawling her eyes out once we execute the surprise during the show.” Freddie said.

“Costume designers, make sure she wears the dress I had picked out once Brian and Freddie begin ‘Love of my Life’.”

“Right-o Jack. And may I just say you picked out a wonderful dress for her to wear. It’ll fit her like a glove.” Her head costumer Phillipe said.

“Thanks, and roadies, you all are in charge of setting up the color themed lights for our dance, as well as the video projection of our wedding.”

“We’re on it Jack.” Said Lucky, (Y/n)’s head roadie.

“Okay now we don’t have much time, get going go!” Jack said with a flick of the pencil to the clipboard and the Rock Angel’s team all scattered to get ready.  “And you guys will come out with the cake right?” he said to Roger and Deacy.

“You can count on us Jack.” Deacy said.

“Ohh she’s gonna be so surprised!” Freddie said with pumped up fists.

“And guys, thank you again for helping me plan this. After last year’s anniversary kinda going down the drain due to late rehearsals for Live Aid, I wanna make this up to her.”

“We’re happy to help you Jack darling, anything for you two.” Freddie said with a pat on his shoulder.  Jack smiled at the frontman of Queen and said.

“Okay, before she gets even more suspicious, let’s head out and see if we can help the others.” The band nodded and they left the room and helped out around backstage.

*My POV*

As the hours ticked by, it was finally concert time.  It pretty much ran the same way as it did yesterday with the songs in the exact order as we sang them yesterday.

But what was odd was that just before ‘Now I’m here’ which the guys told me I was gonna drum to, my roadies and agent pulled me aside and my wardrobe and makeup people began to fit me into something else.  I was now sporting a wine ruched bodice high silt velvet dress.

The two spaghetti straps were snug against my shoulders and the slit in the dress only came up to my mid-thigh and was barely noticeable unless you moved and exposed it. I was also forced to wear 2 inch black heels and my hair was done up even curlier than before.

“Okay Phillipe what in the world is going on?”

“My darling I am sworn to secrecy I cannot explain.” He said in his heavy French accent.

“Then can you at least tell me where this dress came from?”

“Maybe from a secret admirer no?” he teased as he told me to look up and he applied some mascara on me. “Ahh and there she is our beautiful Rock angel is complete!”

“Oh wait one more thing,” his assistant Marie said as she came up with a wand and gave me some wings at the corner of my eyes.

“Oh brilliant Marie. Now then my dear, let’s get you back on stage.”

“But how am I gonna perform looking like this?”

“Oh don’t worry it mon Cherie. Now go out there and be beautiful. Kisses.” He kissed each of my cheeks before he and Marie shoved me out and shut the door.

“God what the hell is wrong with everyone today?” but I walked back towards the stage.  When I arrived I could still hear the roar of the crowd and that’s when I saw the lights go down and a spotlight came onto Brian as I could hear him prepare to play ‘Love of my life’.

“This is the point where the guitarist gets to speak, now and again.” I grinned softly. “And today I don’t have very much to say except thank for you making this the hottest ticket we’ve ever seen. You’re great we love you.” He played a few more chords before then saying something that caught me off guard, “But tonight, tonight is something very special. And I’d like all of you to give a warm welcome back onto the stage the beautiful Rock Angel (Y/n) Kline.”

Oh god, with me looking like this I’ll be totally out of place but Phillipe and Marie went to all this trouble and work and I hate to disappoint them.  So I slowly walked out from backstage and I could immediately hear the wolf whistles and proclamations of love.  I smiled and waved before going up to Brian and I said.

“Tell me what’s going on right now May or I swear your Red Special will be missing by morning.”

“Just trust us darling.” He said to me.

“We’d also like to bring out another special person,” Freddie said as he came up beside me. “He’s the one who took this lovely Angel away from us, and was also the one who knocked her up.” I slapped his arm which made the audience laugh, “But he was also her bass player for a time, ladies and gentlemen give a warm Wembley welcome to Mr. Jack Kline!”  

The audience cheered loudly as Jack came on the stage sporting a white button up shirt, dark grey pants, and his hair sleeked back.  I looked at him and my heart went BOOM! But with that boyish grin, it also made my stomach flutter.  He came up to me and took my hands in his and wrapped them around his neck.

“For you see two years ago today, was the day these two young turtledoves became one.” At that point the audience awed and was in a roar of applause. “So this song is dedicated to them, Happy Anniversary Jack and (Y/n).” Freddie said.  Finally Brian began playing the final opening chords before Freddie began to sing “Love of my Life”.

All the while Jack took me towards center stage under the spotlight so that we could have a slow dance together. What was even more romantic was when Freddie conducted the audience to sing the song, and Jack stopped dancing and had the two of us look out as the audience sang.

“They’re singing to us baby.” By the end of the audience participation, I cupped Jack’s cheek and brought him down for a kiss which made the audience cheer and whistle.

*Freddie*

Love of my life, you've hurt me You've broken my heart and now you leave me *Audience*

Love of my life, can't you see? Bring it back, bring it back Don't take it away from me, because you don't know What it means to me

*Freddie and audience*

Love of my life, don't leave me You've stolen my love, you now desert me Love of my life, can't you see? Bring it back, bring it back Don't take it away from me Because you don't know What it means to me

You will remember When this is blown over Everything's all by the way When I grow older I will be there at your side to remind you How I still love you

*Audience*

I still love you

“He still loves you (y/n).” Freddie spoke as he came up to us which made the audience cheer.

“I love him too.” I said into Freddie’s microphone and as I kissed my husband of two years once more under the pink lights that shined down on us, the audiences whistled and cheered. The sweet sound of Brian’s acoustic playing and the warmth of my husband holding me in his arms as we continued to sway, had me feeling like I was in heaven.

It was then I took notice of the monitor and saw that there were pictures of us playing on the screens in a slideshow format, some of is were just us goofing around from the summer we met, to our first Christmas and birthdays together, then finally our wedding pictures.

*Freddie*

Oh, hurry back, hurry back Don't take it away from me Because you don't know what it means to me *Audience*

Love of my life *Freddie and Audience*

Love of my life Ooh, yeah

As the song ended, the slideshow ended with Jack and I at the wedding doing our first kiss as husband and wife.  It also did a cute little editing of fireworks and a heart around the two of us before finally ending in elegant cursive writing.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY JACK AND (Y/N) KLINE.

Jack then softly dipped me before capturing my lips with his and I gladly accepted the kiss. I stroked my hands through his hair and down his jawline before he sat me back in the upright position, as the crowd was in a roar of whistles and exclamations.

By this time I was in full on waterfall moment as tears kept pouring down my face.  I hugged my husband before turning to Freddie and hugged him.  He patted my back and kissed my temple then I turned to Brian.  He wrapped an arm around me and kissed my other temple before saying.

“Happy Anniversary love.” I turned around and that’s when I saw Deacy and Roger coming out with a cake.  The two of them grinning as they clapped along with the audience.  I buried my face into my hands as I jogged towards my dad and brother and hugged and kissed them.  Jack came up and wrapped his arms around me before kissing my cheek and the two of us stared down at the beautifully decorated vanilla icing cake with angel wings decorated around it with the words HAPPY ANNIVERSARY KLINES KLAN.

“As an added bonus; we’ve elected to give our beloved Rock Angel the rest of the night off to spend with her beloved husband who worked so hard to put this together.” Freddie said into the microphone.

“Wait what?” I said through the crowd.

“We talked about it love and after having to miss your first anniversary last year for Live Aid stuff, we want you and Jack to have what you couldn’t last year.” Roger said.

“But what about the audience?” it was then I saw Deacy go towards Freddie and Fred handed him his microphone and for the first time Deacy spoke to the audience.

“She believes that she should stay here and continue with the concert. Should she?” at that point the audience all hissed in rejection, telling me to go and be with the love of my life.

“Seems your spoken for darling. Now go on you two crazy kids. Spend your anniversary together.” Freddie said.  I smiled and lowered my head when I suddenly felt myself being carried bridal style.  Jack grinned cheekily at me before leaning forward and gave me another kiss and carrying me backstage, some of my roadies taking the cake back out.

Once we reached backstage, Jack set me down and wrapped his arms around me.

“I can’t believe you did all this for me.”

“How could I not? I know how devastated you were last year, so I decided to make it up.”

“But you know I had said we could’ve just made it up with wine at the hotel after the show.”

“I know that’s not what you really wanted. I know when you really mean something, and when you said that to me yesterday you were just trying to cover up the hurt you thought I would feel fearing we had to miss another anniversary because of your career.” Damn him, he’s just as perceptive as Brian and Deacy combined.

“Oh Jack, I love you.” I sobbed happily as I hugged him.

“I love you too baby, happy anniversary.”

“Happy anniversary.” With that we raced out of the stadium and caught a ride with my driver Louis.

“To Mazzello’s Italian restaurant Louie, and step on it. We’ve got special reservations tonight.” Jack said.

“Right away sir.” Louis said graciously before starting to car and getting us on the road.

We arrived at the restaurant around 20 minutes later and that’s when Jack led us inside after Louis wished us a Happy Anniversary, which we both thanked him for.  Jack opened the restaurant doors for me and I thanked him in a posh tone before he followed in after me.

We went up to the front desk and Jack said the reservation name and the waiter confirmed it and escorted us up the stairs to the upper level of the restaurant.  He then led us outside to the balcony sitting and it turned out we were the only ones there.

“Here we are signor, signora.” The waiter said as he set up our table with our menus.  Jack allowed me to sit down first and he scooted my chair in before he himself took a seat.

Our waiter came in and Jack ordered us the special champagne they had going on sale for tonight and we both ordered our meals.  Jack ordered the spaghetti with meatballs while I got the Fettucine Alfredo with a side of calamari for the both of us.

Once our food came and we both began to eat, it was then I saw the band come up to us and I heard the accordion player begin to play a familiar tune.  Oh my god no way, it was then he began to sing “Bella Notte” from my favorite Disney movie, Lady and the Tramp.

“Jack you didn’t.” I said in awe.

“I knew it was your favorite movie. So…..shall we give it a go?” he said as he held up a single strand of spaghetti.

“What did I do to ever deserve you?”

“Just lucky I guess.” I then took one end of the spaghetti and placed it in my mouth as Jack did the same for the other end, till we both slowly came towards each other (timing it with the song just right) as our lips met in a kiss.

Like Lady did, I turned away and blushed thinking I couldn’t believe I had done my fantasy dream kiss. I felt Jack take my hand in his and he stared at me with those beautiful blue eyes of his.  He leaned his forehead against mine as the two of us fell under the spell of the Italian singers singing to us.

After dinner the two of us took a romantic stroll under the moonlight in the park.  The streetlights and the fireflies being our only source of light, along with the full moon and the stars.

As we walked along the sidewalk, guess the two of us were too dazed and entranced with each other to realize we were now walking on wet cement.

“Oh bugger!” I swore as I laughed embarrassingly.

“Not really, look.” He knelt down and drew a large heart with his first and last initial.  I smiled and knelt down beside him and wrote mine in the heart underneath his.  Then we imprinted our hands next to the heart before looking at each other smiling lovingly at each other.

Once that was done, we cleaned our shoes and hands off at a nearby sink and continued on our walk through the park.  As we came to ‘Lover’s bridge’ we stared down at the small lake stream that flowed under the bridge and watched as two swans swam together.

“Did you know that swans are known to be monogamous?” Jack asked me.

“Really?”

“Yep. It’s even said that when they swim together, they can intertwine their necks into a heart. Which makes swans the sign of love.” Jack said as his hands cupped around mine and when I looked down at my hands, I saw that both his and mine made a heart with mine being the inner heart and his being the outer.

I looked up at him and he looked down at me.  He slowly leaned down towards me, his lips softly grazing against mine, his nose nuzzling against mine.

“I hope we can last forever, just like those swans down there.” He whispered.

“I want that to my love.” I whispered back as we turned back towards the water to see the swans intertwine their necks together to form the famed heart shape.

We ended our walk by sitting on top of a hill that overlooked the rest of the park and had a great view of the moon in front of us.  Jack and I spoke not a word as we turned to each other.  Because truthfully there were no more words that needed to be said at this moment.

I loved Jack and he loved me.  As the two of us cuddled close together to stare up at the moon and enjoyed what this night meant to us.

The night we became “And”, the day we became “We”, the day we became husband and wife.  

[insideoutstory]

Inside Out → Chapter Twenty-Four

summary: Two unexpected visitors, one with an apology, one decidedly not. word count: 6k warnings: Men being held accountable for their actions, can I get a hell ya a/n: Hey guys! This is the second to last chapter! Next week will be the Christmas epilogue, so prepare yourselves! This one is actually one of my favorite chapters, so I hope you enjoy.

[ masterlist ]   [ FF.net ]

Christine’s sling came off two weeks after the incident. She would have partied, or cried, or done something to celebrate. Something more interesting than going to work. But after what had happened with the spray paint and the missing candy, she was already on thin ice. If she wanted to keep her job at the Hawk, she needed to show up to work. 

Still, Anthony had been kind enough to switch up her duties. The sling was gone, but she was still on crutches, which meant it was still hard for her to get around. Joey was taking over the concession stand and cleaning duties, while she sold tickets and ran the projector. She knew Joey wasn’t exactly happy with the arrangement, but complaining made him look like a dick. You couldn’t be mean to a cripple. 

So that’s where Saturday morning found her—in the front booth at the Hawk, selling tickets to the new comedy they’d just gotten in. Hawkins was already getting colder, and Anthony had grudgingly allowed her to wear a plain black sweatshirt while she was upfront. It was the best she could do while she waited for her new uniform to come in. Her shirt and bowtie had never been collected from the school. 

Christine tapped her pencil against her head, trying to decipher the physics notes in front of her. Steve had been attempting to take notes while she was out, and had kept it up for the last two weeks. She could tell he really was trying, but his handwriting was crap. He also kept misspelling words like “electromagnetic,” “gravitation,” and “field,” which added a whole layer of mystery to the subject. So she was going back over the papers to amend and copy them. This way they could study off something that actually made sense. 

She was just erasing one of the bullet points when a familiar, gruff voice spoke through the glass. 

“Uh, hi. Can I get one ticket to…uh…whatever the hell you’re playing this week?” 

Christine did not look up. She jabbed her pencil to her right, gesturing to the giant movie poster on the wall. 

“Oh. Right. A Christmas Story. Sounds great.” 

She rang up the ticket and passed it through the window. She still did not look up. 

“How much?” 

She tapped on the top of the cash register at the numbers that had popped up. There was a grumble from the other side of the window. The money came through the slot, and she counted it out to make the change. It was company policy to end transactions with, “Enjoy your movie!” Christine decided not to follow company policy. 

“Just curious,” the voice started again, determined. “When are you guys gonna get something new?” 

Christine held up two fingers. 

“Two…? Two what? Two days? Two weeks?” 

She shook the two fingers again. 

“Fine. And what’s that gonna be?” 

She pointed her pencil at the opposite poster. 

“Huh. Christine. How about that? Not about an annoying babysitter is it?” 

Christine finally lifted her head, glaring at Chief Hopper through the glass. 

“It’s a horror movie about a haunted car. Will that be all?” 

“Horror movie,” Hopper said, with the minimum amount of interest. “That the kind of stuff you’re into?” 

“Why?” 

“Just trying to have a conver…” 

“Why are you here?” 

Hopper stopped, narrowing his eyes at her. “Just came to check in. See your arm’s out of the sling. How’s the leg?” 

“Still broken.” 

“And uh…any…any unexpected visitors?” 

“Who wants to know? You or the Department of Energy?” 

Hopper frowned. But he didn’t deny it. That was good. If he had, Christine might have landed her arm back in the sling trying to punch him through the glass. 

“Forget it,” he grumbled. “I’m just here to watch the movie.” 

He tapped his ticket on the counter and started to walk away. 

“You know the worst part?” Christine blurted before he’d gotten too far. “I actually thought it was gonna be Mrs. Byers. I figured, desperate mom looking to find her kid. What if she decides to make a trade for Will? But Joyce doesn’t have it in her. She never would have done that to Eleven.” 

“Hey!” Hopper stormed back to the glass, looking frantically up and down the street. “Keep your damn voice down, kid. Do you want to end up in a lab cell, too?” 

Christine’s heart nearly snapped in half. 

“Is that where she is? At the lab?” 

The chief’s face furrowed in frustration, and he leaned heavily against the counter. 

“No. No, she’s not at the lab. I’ve been keeping an ear out, but it doesn’t look like she’s anywhere.” 

“Good. Wherever she is, I hope it’s far away from you.” 

“I did what I had to to save Will Byers.” 

“Yeah, and El paid the price. You just gave her up as collateral, after everything you said. All that bullshit about not letting a kid go back to a prison like that. And I was actually stupid enough to believe it.” 

“I tried, okay?” he said impatiently. “How do you think the cops got there so fast, huh? I sent in the tip to cut the agents off.” 

“And look how great that worked out,” she spat. “The kids had no one to help them, and Eleven had to go up against the Demogorgon alone. Whatever happened to her after that, that’s your fault. If she’s…If she’s dead? That’s on you.” 

Christine abruptly cut herself off, staring blankly down at her physics notes. She had no idea what she expected to get out of this conversation. It wasn’t going to bring Eleven back. It wasn’t going to change anything. She couldn’t have been the only one who put the pieces together. But for some reason, none of them were talking about it. Like they were so grateful to have Will back that they wouldn’t look the gift horse in the mouth. Well, if no one else was going to put up a fight, she would. She would punish Hopper in every way she could. Even if that was only with extra sass and overpriced movie tickets. 

He was still hovering on the other side of the glass, his massive form casting a shadow on her notes. It was very annoying. 

 “You tell the kids any of this?” he asked. 

“No.” 

“Why not?” 

“Because they’ll probably do something stupid, and I’m hoping Dustin can make it through middle school without jail time.” 

“Right. So if someone eggs my house, I should assume it’s you?” 

The sound of his chuckle filled her with fury. This was Eleven they were talking about. A real girl, who was really lost, all because of his really stupid decision. And he was laughing at her. 

It made her reconsider breaking through the glass. 

But Chief Hopper seemed to sense the storm he’d stirred. He held up his hands before Christine could open her mouth. 

“I deserve worse, I know. But try and keep it hypothetical, huh? Sure your folks want you to make it through high school without jail time, too.” 

Christine clenched her newly freed fists. “Enjoy your movie, Chief.” 

He nodded and backed away from the counter. She turned back to her notes, which seemed even more incomprehensible now than they had before, but he wasn’t done annoying her just yet. 

“What’d you feed her? When she was living with you?” 

It was so out of left field, it took her a second to respond. “…Why?” 

“Just curious.” 

Christine frowned down at her homework. Her pencil hovered over one of Steve’s doodles, where it looked like he’d been playing tic tac toe against himself. She traced a circle around the grid, unable to restrain a smile. 

“Eggos, mostly. She really liked waffles with whipped cream.” 

Hopper didn’t respond. She heard the door open, and when she looked up, he was already gone. 

Whatever the chief had wanted out of their conversation, Christine hoped he’d gotten it. All she’d gotten was the uneasy sense of being watched, of being in the dark. She’d been confused a lot over the last month, but somehow it still felt like she didn’t know everything. She was still reeling when Claudia came to pick her up at the end of her shift. Thankfully, her spaciness was easily disregarded. If there was one thing her cast was good for, it was excuses. 

Claudia drove her to Big Buy, and together they did their grocery shopping. Even then it was hard to put Eleven out of her mind. The automatic doors at the front of the store had only just been replaced, and there were still fragments of glass that refused to be swept off the sidewalk. The manager, Robert, had spent the first week telling anyone who would listen that a little girl had broken it with her mind. After business had taken a hit, he changed his tune. It had just been a malfunction with the door wiring, and everything was all fixed now. 

Christine smiled wryly at the thought. She grabbed her own box of Eggos and dropped it into the shopping cart. 

It was a pretty light trip to the store. Christine had to limit herself to three bags if she wanted to be able to walk. Claudia was more than happy to help, but Christine always waved off her offers. There were only two people in the Walcott house, and neither of them ate as much as they should. She could manage the groceries on her own. 

“Hey, Dad! I’m home!” She smacked the front door closed behind her, and limped her way into the kitchen to start putting away the food. “I just got the basics. Mostly cereal, bagels, more Pop Tarts. There’s some chicken in the freezer if you wanted to do that for dinner. Otherwise it’s Chinese or pizza. Or burgers, I guess, if you wanna make the drive. What’re you feeling?” 

Not for the first time that day, Christine didn’t get a response. 

“Dad…?” 

She put the essentials in the fridge, then poked her head into the living room. Her father was, in fact, home. He was sitting in an armchair, newspaper held up in front of him. 

“Dad, did you hear me? I asked what you were feeling for…” 

“There is a boy in your bedroom.” 

Christine stared at him. “Excuse me?” 

“There is a boy in your bedroom,” he repeated. He folded the corner of the newspaper, briefly checking his watch. “He’s been in there for about…oh, thirty minutes.” 

“…okay…who is it…?” 

“I don’t know. He didn’t care to introduce himself.” 

“Right.” Christine nodded, still not following. “And you just…let him into my room?” 

“Oh, I didn’t let him anywhere. He climbed through your window.” 

Christine choked on air. Her father, on the other hand, just continued to stare at his newspaper. 

“I’m sorry, he—he what?” 

“Climbed through your window. I watched him try and sneak around the house, trip in front of the living room window, and stop outside yours. Took him a good five minutes to get it open.” 

“Uh huh.” Somehow, Christine was still waiting for a punchline. “And you just decided to…to not do anything about it, huh?” 

“I wanted to ask you about it first. See if you were expecting any visitors.” 

“Uh, no. Definitely not.” 

“I see.” Her father casually turned the page in his paper. “Gotta say. That answer does not feel as reassuring as I hoped it would.” 

Christine rolled her eyes, and was halfway to another quip when a thought occurred to her. Unexpected visitors… 

“I’ll handle it, Dad,” she said quickly. “I’m sure it’s just one of the kids playing a pranks, so uh, don’t go for the shotgun yet. I’ll let you know.” 

“Okay. And be careful! It sounded like he knocked over a stack of your cassettes.” 

“What? Oh. Yes. Yeah, uh, will do.” 

She hurried down the hallway, fast as her crutches would carry her. Could it really be her? It wouldn’t be the first time she was mistaken for a boy. And if she was sneaking around—she should be more careful. Coming here, especially when Hopper was looking for her, it was entirely too dangerous. 

Christine nearly tumbled into her own room. She looked around, out of breath. But she did not find what she was expecting. 

“Steve?” 

“Sh, sh, sh!” Steve sprang up from where he’d been sitting at her desk, and hurried to close her bedroom door. “Keep it down, alright? I had to sneak in through the window. Your dad doesn’t know I’m here.” 

“What the hell are you doing here?” 

“Uh, nothing. I just…you know. I…wanted to check up on you.” 

“You just…?” Christine gaped at him. “And this required breaking into my house when I wasn’t home?” 

“Well, now—hey,” he said defensively, holding up his hands. “I didn’t know you weren’t home. I know you usually get off work around now, so I was just guessing, and—and I didn’t break in, okay? Nothing is broken.” 

Her eyes strayed over to her dresser, where several of her cassettes had been scattered across the top. Steve grimaced. 

“Technically, those are not broken. I just…knocked them over when I tripped. Sorry. I uh…I hope you didn’t have them in any specific order.” 

“I did.” 

“Ah, okay, well uh…if—if you want help putting them back or something, I could…help?” 

She stared at him, still trying to wrap her head around the image. Steve Harrington was standing in her bedroom. His face still horrendously bruised, and wearing a green T-shirt that matched her carpet. He was just standing there. There was her poster of Indiana Jones. There was her poster of Han Solo. And there was Steve Harrington. There was her closet, still open from her morning’s search for a black sweatshirt. There was the towel on the floor from her shower. And there was Steve Harrington. 

 Christine gulped. He’d been waiting in her room for thirty minutes. Alone. The thought filled her with panic, though she had no idea what she might be hiding. 

“Did you touch anything else?” she demanded. 

“What? No! No, I didn’t—I barely even looked. I didn’t look. At anything. Sorry.” 

His nervousness had the curious effect of calming her down almost immediately. If nothing else, Steve looked just as uncomfortable in her room as she felt to have him there. Which only begged the question further. 

“Seriously, Steve. What are you doing here?” 

“Right, yeah.” He nodded and, right on cue, ran a hand through his hair. “Can…Can we talk?” 

She nodded without really processing the question. She let Steve help her over to the bed. He grabbed the desk chair he’d been sitting in and dragged it over. Steve did not sit down. He paced back and forth behind it a few times, drumming his fingers on the back. Christine had only seen him this nervous one other delightful time. 

“Look, Steve,” she said flatly, “if you’re here to talk about Nancy, I can’t help you. She’s dealing with a lot right now, and I don’t know what…” 

“Nancy?” he asked absently. “No, this isn’t about Nancy. Nancy doesn’t even know I’m here.” 

“She doesn’t?” 

“No. Well, she doesn’t know I’m here right now, but she knew I was coming.” 

“She did?” Somehow, this was even more baffling than the first statement. “You told Nancy you were coming?” 

Steve stopped pacing abruptly, and plopped down into the desk chair. “How’s your leg?” 

“Oh it’s…fine…” She stared down at the cast, almost surprised to see it. “I mean, it’s still broken.” 

“Right,” he said with a small grin. “So your leg is about as fine as my face.” 

“I don’t know. I don’t think it’s that bad.” 

“No, I know it is. You can be honest.” 

“Oh, I meant my leg,” she said cheekily. “Your face still looks like shit.” 

Steve gawked at her for a moment, then choked out a laugh. “You—jeez. Alright. Pulling no punches, today.” 

“Hey, you wanted honestly.” Christine smiled, looking at him expectantly. “So…?” 

“Your leg, right.” Steve leaned forward in the chair, his elbows propped on his knees. “Well, seeing as you still can’t ride your bike, I was thinking I could give you a lift to school if you wanted.” 

“…Seriously?” 

“Yeah, sure. You’re only a couple blocks away from me anyway. And then I was thinking, you know, since you still need someone to carry your shit, Nancy and I could take turns walking you to class. This way she can stop freaking out about missing so much school.” 

A heavy, knowing feeling settled in the pit of Christine’s stomach. 

“Steve, you don’t have to do this.” 

“Hey, don’t worry about me,” he said jovially. “I don’t care about missing class.” 

“No, I mean any of it. In fact, I’d prefer if you didn’t.” 

“Oh.” He paused, looking crestfallen. “Why not?” 

Christine wet her lips. It made it slightly less painful when they split into an incredulous, wounded grin. 

“Because I don’t love being used, Steve. If you wanna patch things up with Nancy, that’s great. Good luck. But don’t use me to get your redemption. I don’t need your pity. Either of you. I honestly thought we were past all this.” 

“What—We are!” He nearly jumped forward out of his chair, waving his hands in front of him. “Chris, I’m not here because Nancy asked me. And—And I’m not here to make it up to her.” 

“Oh, right. You just had some completely unrelated conversation with her before you came to my place. Honestly, Steve, I know I’ve been dumb, but I’m not that dumb.” 

She tried to slide off of the bed, but Steve forcibly pushed her back into her seat. 

“No, no, no. Look, Nancy doesn’t even know about the carpool thing, okay? That’s all on me. I went to her to ask for permission to talk to you about some other stuff.” 

“Permission?” Christine echoed. She wasn’t sure if she should feel relieved or outraged. “Why the hell would you need permission?” 

“Because…Because Jonathan was right. I know you and Nancy were fighting, and yeah, a lot of it was because of Barb or the Upside Down or Jonathan or whatever. But it was also because of me. Because I was being a colossal shithead, to both of you. And I wanted to talk to you, but…I didn’t want to start anything on accident.” 

Steve sat back down in his seat, his hands folded in front of him. He was watching her anxiously. It looked like he was waiting for her response before he went any further. 

“Oh,” was all she could muster. “That’s…thoughtful, I guess.” 

“I’m trying,” he said earnestly. “Also, I didn’t want one of you badasses to beat my face in any more than it already is.” 

Christine bobbed her head slowly. “So, what was the other stuff you wanted to talk about?” 

The question made him look almost as nervous as the Demogorgon had. But Steve swallowed thickly and nodded. 

“I meant what I said that night. About wanting to make things right. I’ve done…a lot of shitty things, to a lot of different people. I went to Jonathan’s to apologize about his camera, but…obviously things didn’t go that way. And now with his brother home, he’s got more important things to worry about than whether or not he wants to forgive me. 

“I apologized to Nancy, for…well. The thing at the Hawk. It was dumb, and I was hurt and overreacting for absolutely no reason, and I know I can’t erase it. Well…like I literally erased it, but it doesn’t…yeah. And she says she gets it, but that she still needs time, which I totally get. So I asked her if she thought I could talk to you without making things weird, because…I’ve been going around apologizing to people and…and I still haven’t apologized to you.” 

He was quiet for a worrying amount of time. He was just looking down at his hands, perfectly still except for the rise and fall of his chest. Christine nearly kicked him to make sure he was still awake. But finally, Steve looked up at her. He almost looked bashful. 

“I just wanna start by saying that…I honestly don’t expect you to forgive me at this point. Which is kinda why I’ve been putting it off. It’s a pretty long list of bullshit so…if you’re gonna punch me, just try and wait until the end, okay?” 

“Okay,” she agreed hesitantly. 

Steve wiped his hands down his face, and started from the top. 

“Alright, well, first off—I’m honestly not that busy with basketball. I lie about that all the time to just about everyone so I can get out of chores and homework and everything else. I just hate physics. I don’t understand it, and I know you’re really good at it, so I let you do all the work so I can get a good grade without having to do anything. I lied because I knew that you’d do it for me. And I did the same thing when I invited you to Jenny’s party so I could hook up with Nancy. And when I invited you to my party so Nancy would come too. And when I asked you not to talk to the cops about the beers so I wouldn’t get in trouble. And…when I asked you come talk to me at the Hawk so Tommy could spray the building. 

“All of it was—I was wrong on so many levels. I was a manipulative son-of-a-bitch. I was self-centered, and—and arrogant, and honestly—I just really liked knowing that you would do things for me if I asked. I guess it…I don’t know. It made me feel good about myself. So…So I used what I may or may not have known about…how you may or may not feel about me, just to get what I wanted. Which is like, super fucked up. And I don’t know if it counts for anything, but…I’m sorry. And I don’t want to be that guy anymore.” 

None of this was news. Logically, Christine had known everything he’d said. She’s known Steve had been using her. She’d known he’d been doing it on purpose. She’d known that he had to have been clued in to something about her if he realized how he could manipulate her like that. 

But somehow, hearing him say it was so, so much worse. Having to listen to him say the words, “how you feel about me”…she wasn’t sure if she’d ever been more mortified in her life. 

She felt about ready to vomit. But she was still in a cast, and Steve was sitting nervously between her and the bathroom. It probably wouldn’t be good form to excuse herself to upchuck before they finished the conversation. 

Christine smiled, knowing it was supposed to suppress the human gag reflex. 

“Hey, it’s a two-way street, right?” she said, awkwardly. “I let you do it. It’s not like I didn’t know what was happening.” 

“You knew?” 

The thought honestly seemed to surprise him. Christine laughed for real, still dangerously close to tears. 

“Yeah, Steve. I knew. You’re not that smooth.” 

“But…if you knew it was a load of bullshit, then…why did you keep playing along?” 

She must have given him the bitch face to end all bitch faces. She’d explained a lot of simple concepts to him in the past few months as his lab partner. She was not about to explain that. 

Steve’s face dawned with realization, and he grimaced. 

“Sorry, that’s…I’m a fucking idiot. In case you haven’t noticed.” 

“Trust me, I’ve noticed.” 

She regretted it as soon as the words left her mouth. She’d meant it as a slight, to mean that he was such an idiot, it was impossible to ignore. But in her mouth it just sounded like another compliment. Of course she’d noticed he was oblivious. She noticed everything about Steve, from his GPA to his cologne to his favorite breakfast sandwich. What hadn’t she noticed when she’d been spending all her days watching him? 

Thankfully, Steve was just oblivious enough that he didn’t pick up on her tone. 

“I am an idiot,” he agreed, with a smile. “I just meant that—you know, you’re way too cool to be taking orders from a douchebag like King Steve.” 

That one threw her for a loop. 

“I…what?” 

Steve stared at her, seemingly just as surprised. 

“Christine, you’re awesome. Just this month I’ve watched you finish four science projects, hold down a job, empty a shotgun into a monster and then jump into a hole in the ceiling to save a kid you barely knew. You got thrown into a wall—hell, even just the fact that you punched Tommy H! I mean, maybe you haven’t noticed, but…you’re kinda a badass.” 

Her stomach could not digest the butterflies fast enough. It was infuriating. 

“Shut up, Steve,” she said, shaking her head as he laughed. 

“No, I’m serious! You’re a badass, you’re a genius, and you’re just…a really good person. And if by some miracle you don’t want to deck me, or jump ship and tell Mr. Austin you’d rather die than try and read my handwriting again, then…I’d really like to put in the work as your lab partner. And maybe be a better friend.” 

Friend. Christine had to stow away her bitterness before it shone through. It was what she was going to get. Steve liked Nancy. Nancy liked Steve. Christine would not stand in the way. After all, it wasn’t all that different than it had been before. She would do what she had to if it meant spending time with him, and preserving her friendship with Nancy. She’d get over him and get used to it, because that was life. Sometimes, you had to put your own feelings aside. 

“Friends, huh?” Christine stroked her chin dramatically. “I don’t know. Friends with Steve Harrington. That’s a pretty exclusive club.” 

“Oh yeah,” he said, with an exaggerated nod. “So exclusive that membership is currently running at about oh, uh…zero. So, we could use the numbers.” 

“Well, I guess that settles it.” Christine pushed herself closer to the end of the bed, extending her hand. “Consider me member number one.” 

Steve beamed. It looked weird, with his broken face, and his eyes that were still a little too bloodshot to be normal. His mouth couldn’t make it all the way up on the right side, because his lip was still split. Still, he grinned like none of it could bother him, and clapped his hand into her own. 

“So I’ll drive you?” he asked, even sounding hopeful. 

“If you want to,” she said with a shrug. “I don’t want to make you look bad. I mean, Tommy will probably wonder why you’re riding with Psycho Bitch…” 

“Screw Tommy. He’s an asshole anyway, and if he ever calls you that again, I’ll make sure his face looks worse than mine.” 

Christine raised an unconvinced eyebrow, but decided not to comment. As his friend, it probably wasn’t nice to tell him he would lose that fight in a heartbeat. 

“I do have one condition, though,” Steve added with a grave look. 

“Besides my forgiveness?” 

“Yeah. We are not listening to your music in my car.” 

“Excuse me?” Christine’s jaw dropped and she glowered at him. “What’s wrong with my music?” 

“I know! I’m sorry! It just—It seems kind of limited.” 

He got up from his chair and circled around the bed, heading back to the dresser where her cassettes were still scattered. Christine grunted, and had to barrel roll clumsily on the bed to keep him in sight. 

“I only got a quick look when I was picking up the tapes, but come on! Look at this! Piano Man, Billy Joel. Cold Spring Harbor, Billy Joel. Elton John, well, Elton John. Blonde on Blonde, Bob Dylan…that actually doesn’t sound bad. Oh look! Nylon Curtain, Billy Joel. Night at the Opera, Queen—that can stay. And, what a surprise, we’re back to Glass Houses by Mr. Billy Joel. I mean, where’s your Blondie? Where’s your MJ? Where do you get this stuff?” 

She smiled. “A lot of it’s my mom’s.” 

“So what? She makes you listen to all her stuff? I’m gonna have to sneak you a mix or something cause this collection is…phew!” 

She decided to wait rather than say anything. It wasn’t long until he realized what was wrong. He was holding one her tapes up to the light, squinting at the tiny font. The squint ebbed away until he was finally staring at it with eyes blown wide. Gently, he put it down on the dresser again. 

“Christine, I’m—I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to…” 

“It’s fine,” she assured him. “You can’t know if I haven’t told you.” 

“Yeah, but you did. You did tell me. At Jenny’s party, you said it was just you and your dad and I…I just don’t listen. Sorry.” 

“Guess we can work on that too. That and your handwriting.” 

Steve laughed politely. Christine was still smiling, and she beckoned with her hand. Steve dropped the Billy Joel cassette into her palm, and hesitantly sat next to her on the bed. 

“She got sick when I was about four,” Christine confessed, flipping the tape in her hands. “In and out of the hospital with kidney problems. Eventually we had to move out of New York so she could get around the clock care. She couldn’t move a lot, so she’d just listen to a massive amount of music. I remember the nurses used to yell at her for singing too loud…and then, um…she died when I was six. That’s when Dad and I started doing the whole move around the country thing.” 

“This guy her favorite?” Steve asked, tapping the tape. 

“Yeah. He’s from New York, so she was always really big on him. State pride and whatever. He only had two albums out at the time, so the rest are mine. It just makes me feel closer to her, I guess. Like maybe it hasn’t been ten years.” 

“Hey, I get that. It’s not the same thing, but I don’t feel that close to my mom either. I don’t think I could even tell you what her favorite artist was. Just the stuff my dad has us listen to.” 

“Which is?” 

“Beatles, mostly. It’s not the worst, but…it’s kinda like the movie theater, you know? You listen to the same thing every day and…” 

“And suddenly ‘Blue Skies Forever’ is the worst song ever created,” Christine finished with a grin. “Yeah, I get you.” 

Steve plucked the tape from her hands, inspecting it with renewed interest. “So he’s your favorite too, huh? You got any recommendations?” 

“The Stranger,” she said without missing a beat. “1977. Not a miss track on it. I’ve probably got to get another copy soon, I listen to it so much. It’s in the other stereo though, cause…I was playing it for Eleven…” 

Her sentence trailed off, but Steve just nodded in understanding. She wasn’t sure how much he knew about what had happened the other week. She supposed it was a conversation he’d have to have at some point, but if felt like something Nancy should do. She was the only reason Steve had gotten involved anyway. 

 He nudged Christine’s knee with his own and gave her a bracing smile. “You’ll have to make me a copy too, huh?” 

“Hm…no. I don’t think so.” She enjoyed watching his face contort with shock, and couldn’t contain her smirk. “Make your own copy, Harrington.” 

Steve laughed too loudly, which died instantly when there was a knock on the door. Panic shot across his face, and he jumped up from the bed. 

“Shit! Shit, I’m—can you stall him? I can just head out, or—or hide in the closet, or…” 

“Yeah, Dad, come on in!” 

The door swung open, and her dad took his time stepping around the corner. He was wincing, afraid of what he might find inside. Christine wished he wouldn’t play it up so much. She was in a cast for Christ’s sake. How much trouble could she get into? 

“Hi,” her dad said awkwardly. “Are…we still having dinner?” 

“Yeah. I tried to ask what you wanted before but you never answered me.” 

“Right. I was…a little preoccupied.” 

His eyes shot to Steve, who was standing stock still in the middle of the room. Realizing he’d been spotted, he quickly composed his face into a smile. 

“Uh…h-hey! You—You must be Christine’s dad. I was just…just asking about some notes for school, so I thought I’d…” 

“Sneak in through my daughter’s window?” her dad finished coolly. 

Steve’s face flushed with terror once more. 

“Relax, Dad,” Christine scolded. “Steve, this is my dad. Dad, this is Steve Harrington. My lab partner.” 

“Your…lab partner,” her father repeated, turning to her with a knowing look. “Right. Nice to meet you, Steve.” 

“Likewise,” Steve said quickly. His voice was about two octaves too high. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Walcott. Christine is…she’s like super smart. Probably the only reason I’m passing physics.” 

“I see. And…will you be joining us for dinner?” 

“Oh! No, I don’t want to be—I should probably just…” 

“Yeah, Steve,” said Christine, enjoying his discomfort. “We were just trying to decide between pizza, burgers and Chinese. What do you think?” 

It was hilarious how betrayed he looked. 

“Um, I don’t—no, I don’t think—you know, ha! Who am I to…?” 

“Come on,” she said with a shrug. “You’ve been living in Hawkins your whole life. You must know where all the best take out is.” 

“Yeah, but my parents…” 

“Would probably want you to study so you can start passing your physics tests instead of just your physics labs.” 

Steve glared at the thinly veiled threat. His eyes bounced nervously between Christine and her father, each more amused than the next. He ran a hand through his hair, and deflated. 

“Uh…burgers sound great. There’s a diner on the north side that does pick up.” 

“Great. Dad can call it in, and we’ll go pick it up.” Christine grinned, and herded Steve toward the door with her crutch. “We can listen to some Billy Joel on the way.”

[anotherkpopvictim]

Come Back To Me - NamJinKook Littlespace Drabble

(Source - nochuie)

“mami-200o asked: Hey I love your blog it’s real cute and your writing is amazing, if requests are still open can I ask for little Jungkook being really clingy with his care givers (Namjin) and maybe having separation anxiety and stuff. Just super soft and fluffy. Maybe they need to leave the house and Jungoo has to stay behind and he gets upset. Thank you 🥺💗“

A/N: Ooh, my first poly request! I hope I did your request justice :) Also, I added some background Taegi, I hope you don’t mind!

Relationship: Little!Jungkook X Caregiver!Namjoon X Caregiver!Jin

Rating: T

Words: 2332

Light angst, fluff, non-sexual

WARNINGS: Jungkook gets close to having a panic attack (I put this just because I don’t want to trigger anyone)

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Jungkook couldn’t get to sleep.

He had his favorite blanket (giant, red and fluffy) wrapped around him, trying desperately to make up for the lack of arms holding him close. He preferred the warms chests to the chilly pillow he had under his head.

The young man sighed out for the nth time in the last forty-eight hours - ever since they left.

“Y-You’re going to come back, right?” Jungkook knew it was a dumb question, but he couldn’t help himself. His little side needed reassurance.

Namjoon and Jin, his caregivers (and boyfriends) had to leave for three-day conference in Los Angeles, and due to his work schedule, Jungkook wasn’t able to go with them. And there was no way he was going to leave the grandma (Jungkook called her Nana) that owned the bakery he worked at on such short notice.

So now, Jungkook was seeing his boyfriends off, all of them full of anxiety. This would be the longest they’d been away from each other since they became boyfriends, so they were all a little on edge.

“Of course we’re coming back,” Namjoon ruffled his hair fondly, eyes wrinkling in a bittersweet smile. “Don’t be silly, bun.”

Jungkook pouted, “I’m gonna miss you.”

Arms circled around his midsection from behind and kisses were pressed to the back of his head. “Gonna miss you too, baby. Love you so much.” Jin said into his hair.

Namjoon pressed forward so they were in a Jungkook sandwich. “Me too. Love you, baby.”

Jungkook couldn’t help the whine that bubbled up in his throat as he tightened his arms around Namjoon, doing his best to bury the sound further into his chest. “I’m gonna miss you guys the most.” he sniffled, trying desperately not to cry. “Just come back to me.”

Words of “promise” were whispered into his ear, kisses all along his face following the words.

As Jungkook waved and watched the back of Yoongi’s car disappearing down the road, he finally let his tears begin to fall.

Taehyung was at his side in seconds, long arms wrapping around him comfortingly. “Let’s go inside, Kookie. Do you wanna cuddle until Yoongi gets back?”

The younger sniffled pitifully and nodded, allowing his best friend to guide his slumped body back into the condo.

Since then, two days have passed (Fifty-six hours and ten minutes, not that he was counting) and Jungkook was having a ridiculously hard time coping without his hyungs. It was embarrassing how badly he was affected, how much he craved for the familiar warmth of their bodies holding him close.

Sure, Taehyung and Yoongi were staying with him to keep him company, and they both gave amazing cuddles whenever he needed, but they weren’t his boyfriends. They weren’t his caregivers.

It was only about eleven o’clock at night, but he was still surprised when someone knocked on his bedroom door.

“Hey, Kook,” Taehyung peeked his head in and gave the younger a kind of sheepish look. “Your hyungs are on the phone for you.” he waved around his phone, making it light up with the call screen.

Jungkook thought for a moment, Why didn’t Namjoon and Jin just call me themselves? Then, it clicked. It was some kind of bad news. Something they needed to tell Taehyung first.

With shaking hands, the younger took the phone and pressed it against his ear. He gulped, “H-Hello?”

“Hey, baby,” Jin’s soft voice sent a wave of relief over him instinctively, “How are you doing? Sorry, we haven’t gotten time to call you.”

“I’m alright, hyung. Just r-really missing you.” Jungkook tried so hard to hold back the emotions overwhelming him.

“Ah, bunny,” Namjoon’s velvety voice was muffled a bit by the phonecall, but it still sent a shiver down Jungkook’s spine. “We’ve been missing you so much, too.”

“I-Is there something wrong?” Jungkook asked, unable to stop himself. He couldn’t ignore the bad feeling in his gut.

“W-Well...” Jin hesitated.

For a moment, it sounded like someone covered the phone with their hand as the younger heard muffled whispers and ruffling noises. Then, Namjoon was speaking again, “Jungkookie, baby, there was a mix up with our return airplane tickets. We’re not getting out tomorrow, it will be two more days until we can get home.”

Two more days of this torture? Jungkook thought to himself wiltingly.

“We’ll be back on Monday morning, eight in the morning your time,” Jin said, sounding sorry.

“O-Okay,” Jungkook said quietly. Taehyung had his arms around him again (it was a common occurrence anyway, but especially during the last few days) and it did make the younger feel somewhat better.

“I’m so sorry, love,” Namjoon said, “I wish we could get back to you sooner, but there’s just nothing we can do.”

“No, I-I understand. I’m just sad.”

“Us too, baby,” Jin whispered, and the wavering of his voice was clear even over the phone. “Us too.”

That night was a mess of tears (on Jungkook’s part, but Taehyung and Yoongi both teared up at seeing their friend so upset) and limbs (Taehyung was an aggressive cuddler, but Jungkook wasn’t complaining).

The next two days passed in a slow blur where Jungkook didn’t really feel all there. He was in a haze, feeling more and more vulnerable as the hours went by.

It all built up and up until it finally spilled over Sunday morning, when Jungkook was working a shift at the bakery.

He’d managed through the baking part alright, but when it came time to decorate, things went wrong.

His mind kept wandering off to Namjoon’s dimples and Jin’s eye smile, how they hugged Jungkook so tightly he almost couldn’t breathe. Just the way he liked it. How his Appa and Daddy sometimes gave him kisses all over his face. Jungkook loved it when they did that - when they showered him in all their love at the same time.

Jungkook shook himself out his daze and looked down to see a sight that made his eyes widen.

He was supposed to cover the cupcakes evenly in a variety of light blue, pink and white icing, but instead, he’d used all the colors to create a messy but kind of cute flower pattern on the top. Then, at some point, he had apparently grabbed the sparkly silver sprinkles and dumped a hold load of them all over the cupcakes.

Jungkook took a step back in shock for a moment before he realized that in his daydreaming he had slipped into littlespace. He stumbled and fell to the floor as he looked around with wide eyes.

“Kook-ah,” Nana poked her head into the back of the bakery, worry in her eyes. “Are you alright, dear?”

All Jungkook could do was shake his head. He’d never slipped in public like this before. At least he and his boyfriends had made a plan just in case this very scenario ever happened.

“Take your time, Kookie,” Nana said, “Call someone to get you home if you need to, love. You look like you need some time off.”

“T-Thank you, Nana.” he managed out, trying his best to keep his Big Boy voice going.

As soon as Nana left the kitchen and returned to the bakery, Jungkook grabbed at his phone from his (thankfully nearby) jacket. His fingers shook as he tried to find the right number.

“TaeTae-hyungie? Kookie n-needs help!”

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

Yoongi cuddled with a crying Jungkook on his bed that night, while Taehyung was in the other room on the phone with Namjoon and Seokjin, who were at the Shanghai airport waiting for their layover flight.

“Yeah, he’s fine, hyungs,” Taehyung assured them for the millionth time, “He ate a little bit of mac and cheese earlier for me, so he’s still eating, and he’s been in and out of consciousness today. He keeps wearing himself out with his crying, but at least he’s getting some sleep.”

“Oh, my poor baby,” Jin sounded heartbroken. Taehyung could picture him covering his mouth with his hand in anguish.

“Taehyung, do you think we could talk to him?” Namjoon asked.

Taehyung made an unsure noise and bit his lip between his teeth, “I don’t know, hyung, I think hearing your voices might make things worse right now. Might set him off.”

Jin sighed, “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Well, just tell our baby that we love him a lot, okay?”

“I will, hyung. I promise,” Taehyung replied, “Have a safe flight.”

It took another hour of crying before Jungkook finally couldn’t cry anymore once again. He was passed out cold on the bed and Yoongi slipped away to talk to Taehyung quickly.

“It’s so hard to see him like that,” Taehyung mumbled into his boyfriend’s shoulder. They had been avoiding any PDA with Jungkook around, not wanting to remind him that his own boyfriends were away.

“It is,” Yoongi agreed, pressing a kiss to the side of the younger’s head. “It reminds me of when that first Christmas that we got together. You went home and I went on vacation to Japan with my family.”

Taehyung hummed, “The first time we were away from each other for more than a day or two.”

“Those two weeks sucked,” Yoongi grumbled, “But we definitely weren’t as close then as Jungkook, Namjoon and Jin are now. So I can’t imagine how bad it is for all of them.”

“They’ll be here soon. Jungkook’s going to be fine.”

Or maybe, not so fine.

Three hours later, the little startled awake, shaking and teary eyes wide as he looked around frantically. “Where D-Daddy? And A-Appa?” he asked, voice wavering already.

“They’ll be here soon, bunny,” Taehyung replied, trying to shush the younger back to sleep before there was another round of crying. It appeared to do the opposite, as in his haste to calm the little, Taehyung let that special name slip.

“No! O-Only Daddy and Appa can call K-Kookie that!” Jungkook said, voice not quite at a shout but getting there. He looked more hurt than angry about it.

“Jungkookie, sweetheart, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to-”

Jungkook could feel the familiar feelings of a panic attack coming on. His heart was beginning to beat faster, his palms rapidly becoming damp.

Where were his Daddies? Why weren’t they here? Did they not love Kookie anymore?

A whine made its way out of Jungkook’s throat and he lifted his sweaty hands to clutch at the front of Taehyung’s shirt. “H-Hyungieeee, please. Need Daddies.” he whimpered.

Taehyung was doing his best to keep the younger calm as more time passed and eventually Yoongi slipped out of the condo to go pick up Namjoon and Jin. They both knew that Jungkook wasn’t in any shape to go to the airport and meet them there.

It felt like forever before the front door to open again, but it finally did just as Taehyung’s throat was getting sore from singing lullabies to Jungkook.

As soon as Taehyung heard the definite voice of Namjoon from the entryway, he turned to Jungkook. “Kookie, sweetie, your Daddies are back!”

The younger shot up from where they had been cuddling and began scrambling off the bed and out of the room while Taehyung tried to keep him from tripping over everything. He sniffled and ran like his life depended on it.

The moment that Jungkook skidded into the hallway and spotted Namjoon and Jin in the entryway, he cried out, “D-Daddy! Appa!”

Namjoon caught his baby with a grunt as he threw himself into his arms, Jin already there to rub the younger’s back. “Hi, bun. We missed you.” Namjoon said.

“We did.” Jin echoed.

“Kookie missed Daddies s-so much. So much, he don’t even know how much!”

Everyone in the condo resisted the urge to coo.

“Oh, my poor little baby, huh?” Jin took Jungkook swiftly into his own arms, allowing Namjoon to finish taking off his jacket and hanging it up. The oldest nuzzled at the side of the little’s face, pressing soft, reassuring kisses there.

Jungkook smacked a big kiss on Jin’s cheek before twisting around a bit to do the same to Namjoon. Taehyung and Yoongi watched on in the background fondly.

“K-Kookie almost thought Daddies didn’t love him anymore,” the little admitted sheepishly, “He had sad thoughts.”

“Well, you don’t ever need to worry about that, baby boy,” Namjoon’s voice rumbled against his back, “Your Daddy and I love you so much. It’s not possible for us to ever not love you, bunny.”

“You’ll always be our bunny, Kookie. Remember that, alright?” Jin added softly.

Jungkook nodded into Jin’s chest. “Kookie will. He got scared. Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, love,” Namjoon bopped his nose with a finger, causing it to scrunch cutely. “It’s okay to be scared sometimes.”

After Jungkook gave two big hugs to Yoongi and Taehyung and saw them off with his Daddies, the three reunited boyfriends cuddled up on the couch, squishing the little between the two taller ones, just as he liked it.

They started playing The Little Mermaid on the television, and Jin even made them all some hot chocolate (he may have only done it just to be able to see his baby’s eyes light up with excitement again).

Jungkook knew that even though his anxiety sometimes got the best of him, his Daddies would never fall out of love with him. They were too close and they just loved him too much, just as they had said before.

Though countless panic attacks were inevitable in the future, Jungkook knew that everything would be okay, because he had his Daddies with him, right by his side.

Jungkook smiled almost dopily and snuggled deeper into his boyfriends’ embrace. They responded easily by tightening their grip on him.

Above him, Namjoon grinned at the younger’s cuteness before he leaned over to kiss Jin quickly on the lips. Then, the two of them attacked Jungkook’s face and neck with loving kisses, causing the little to burst out in adorable giggles.

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A/N: So this kind of took off in its own direction before I could stop it. I hope it was okay, though. Let me know what you think.

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Thank you for reading! I purple you all <3