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jaedore · 5 years ago

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BINDING BONDS | 1

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parings: jung jaehyun x reader

genre: ceo!au, arranged marriage!au, (semi) angst, consumption of alcohol, asshole/player Jaehyun, swearing

note: BB deals with themes of mental and physical abuse, which can be upsetting for some readers. If you feel uncomfortable reading these types of plots, you are advised to not continue

[ 4.9 k words ]

Out of breath. That’s what you felt when you woke up this morning and saw that you were going to be late to work.

“SHOOT!” you jolted out of bed and sprinted to the bathroom.

Today was the first day where you would work under your mother to prove to her that you’re worth the CEO position. Your mother was the CEO of Audace, a clothing line competing against other luxury brands such as Gucci, CocoChanel, Versace, Louis Vuitton. Today, you couldn’t afford to be late, so there you were, sloppily throwing makeup on your face in your bathroom.

“Not today, you’re not gonna ruin this y/n,” you talked to your reflection.

As soon as you looked as ready as you could be, you rushed out the door of your apartment and into your car.

“Whatever, I’m already late,” you sighed and as soon as you knew it, you were taking a detour to the coffee shop.

Parking your car, you shut the door and entered the little coffee shop. It was always your favorite, even though you never drank coffee. The comfort it held, held a soft spot in your heart.

“Hey Soojin, I’ll have my usual,” you smiled, setting your sunglasses on top of your head, “Oh! And a medium chai for my mom please,” you figured that you could bring her her favorite drink while you were at it.

“Of course, $5.75 please.”

You swiped your card and stood aside, waiting for your drink. You sat at the nearest table and looked at the little pot of sunflowers sitting in the center. You ran your fingers against the soft petals, but soon your thoughts were interrupted by a call.

You sighed looking at the contact, “morning, mother.”

“Why are you late? You were supposed to be here half an hour ago,” she asked.

“I overslept and made a little detour,” you simply replied.

“Y/n!” As soon as you heard your name called, you stood up and grabbed both of your drinks.

You nodded at Soojin to thank her and rushed out of the coffee shop.

“Well you better be on your way in the next half hour because we have a meeting with our joint company, got it?” Your mother sternly said as you opened the door with your back.

“Of course! I’m coming right n-HEY! Watch it!!” you yelled.

You looked down at your stained white blazer and blouse. The iced matcha you were dying to drink was suddenly gone and absorbed into your shirt. It was the first blazer your mother bought you for your first day of working with her.

“Chill, princess, you were in my way” the man stood in front of you, the nickname he gave you frustrated you even more.

The man stood tall and confident, he was wearing his own suit and he wore it well, too bad your drink spilled a bit on him.

“Do you have a napkin?” you desperately asked him.

“Only my handkerchief,” he replied.

“Oh, thank you,” you reached to grab it from his blazer pocket until he stepped to the side.

“I never offered it to you,” he bluntly said, taking it out and wiping himself instead.

Surprised at his comment, you huffed in defeat and walked to your car. You couldn’t be late to the joint company meeting.

“Hey, mom,” you walked into her office.

“Hey-oh...what happened to you?” your mother looked up from the papers in front of her.

“Some douche ran into me on my way out to the coffee shop,” you muttered.

“My blazer’s in the closet, grab it before we go,” your mother pointed to the closet.

The only option was a navy blue blazer so you grabbed it and buttoned it, hiding your stained blouse. After you fixed yourself, it was time for you and your mother to go to the meeting. Thankfully the CEO was coming to Audace’s building.

“We’re meeting with Jung Corporation, they’re the biggest trading company here,” your mom explained as she reread the files in her hands.

“But we don’t need to trade...Audace is international,” you stated.

“Yes I know, but it’s got to do with partnerships, stocks, it’s a joint business partnership, y/n,” she explained.

The elevator bell rang and the two of you left for the meeting room.

“Anyways, we’re meeting to discuss our joint business celebration that’s happening this Saturday,” your mom continued.

“Shoot,” you whispered to yourself.

“Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten,” your mom stopped walking to look at you.

“I-I mean I-no I haven’t mom,” you lowered your head, “lets just go, they’re probably waiting for us.”

“Greetings, Mr. Jung! Thank you for coming,” your mom was the first to walk in and shook hands with the man and his wife.

The man was a little older, had some grey streaks in his hair, but still looked fairly well for an older man. His wife stood up and also shook hands with the both of you. She was very beautiful, there wasn’t even a streak of wrinkles, you couldn’t stop looking at her youthful features.

“My apologies, my son couldn’t make it. He had a...minor incident before this,” the wife spoke.

“No worries, I’m sure we’ll be seeing him at our joint business celebration this Saturday” your mother smiled.

The meeting went by smoothly, the talk of the facility, decorations, invitation acceptances, champagne. You had to refrain yourself from yawning so much, the meeting felt like it was never going to end. It felt like forever until the never ending conversations finally stopped.

“So everything’s set!” Mr. Jung clapped.

“Yes, thank you, and thank you Mrs. Jung, for both coming to meet us. We’ll be seeing your family this weekend,” you and your mother shook their hands and walked them out of the building.

“No, y/n I just don’t think it matches your...vibe?” Your friend Haewon brows furred thinking of the right word.

“Well then, I don’t know. Maybe I should just wear one of my older dresses,” you sighed.

“No no no, you can’t do that. We’re going to Versace,” and with that, she took your hand out of the store.

Haewon was your only friend. Growing up, you had a hard time establishing friendships and later on, relationships. As a kid, no one had a desire to be your friend. Your family was one of the richest where you lived so all the little kids were afraid to approach you, intimidated that if they’d get on your bad side, hell would ensue. As for relationships, you never had time for them. Even when you did, the guys were in it for the money and fame, so you saved yourself the energy to pass dating overall.

You opened up your heart to many many people in your life, but it always resulted in them leaving after they took something from you. You learned that the hard way. Each and every time someone left, you guarded yourself more and more. Instead, you went to school, studied hard, and focused on the CEO position your mother was going to pass down to you.

Haewon, was there the entire time. You always laugh to yourself whenever you remember the moment you two met. You met her at a charity ball when you were very young. She took the last cream puff that you wanted and ran off with it, so when you chased her into one of the rooms, you cried to her that you wanted it. Feeling bad, she gave half of it to you. That’s when the friendship began. Even though she’s loud, a talker, and loves to gossip, she’s always been there for you during hard times.

“Haewon, I’m tired and my feet hurt, can we just-”

“No, we are not going, I’m going to make sure that you look so good at this celebration. Especially when the Jungs are going to be there,” her eyes widen looking at the wide variety of dresses.

“Huh?” you furrowed your brows.

“Oh you haven’t seen? Their only son, Jung Jaehyun, he is-oh my gosh- he is the most beautiful man you will ever see,” Haewon gushed.

“I...doubt that,” you walked ahead of her, searching for a dress.

“Just wait until you see him! He is gorgeous, but…” Haewon paused.

“But what?” you asked not taking your eyes off your choices.

“He kinda likes to uh...play around?” Haewon cautiously said.

“Really?” you hummed uninterested as you still browsed the dresses.

And that was the truth, you were truly uninterested. You thought men like him were a waste of time, they’d never survive in the world of business.

“Girls say that he never gets into serious relationships. The ones that I’ve talked to, had either one night stands or flings with him, but sadly, nothing serious…” Haewon pouted.

“Guess we’ll just have to confirm that on Saturday,” you picked up a dress.

“Oh, that’s perfect,” your best friend’s eyes widen in awe.

Saturday came closer than you thought. You just got back from helping your parents prepare for the celebration, along with the Jungs. And again, the famous Jaehyun still didn’t show up.

You picked up the Barocco Signature Shift Dress that you bought from Versace the other day and carefully slipped into it. After you got yourself ready, you drove yourself back to the facility. There were already so many cars, the sudden amount of people overwhelmed you. You parked your car and sat there, leaning your head against the steering wheel. As a baby, before you could even walk, you were taught a certain way to act at events like these. At the same time, you didn’t find joy in being the center of attention and being presented in front of a crowd like a...prize. It was draining.

Ring ring ring!!

“Hello?” you cleared your throat as you answered.

“Y/n, are you coming yet? The Jungs will be coming here soon,” your mother said on the other line.

“Uh yeah, I just parked,” you sighed, rubbing your forehead hoping that the marks from the steering wheel didn’t tattoo on your forehead.

With your Runway Virtus Mini Chain Wallet, you walked into the facility that held the large room. There were two staircases on both sides of the room that went up to an indoor balcony that oversaw the whole room.

“Y/n, over here,” your mom waved to you.

As you walked over, you spotted Mr. Jung and his wife standing behind your mother.

“Hello,” you bowed to them.

“You look so beautiful, y/n,” Mrs. Jung hugged you.

“Thank you, you look wonderful,” you complimented.

“Oh honey, where’s Jaehyun?” she asked her husband.

“He said he’s going to be late,” Mr. Jung’s lips thinned, fists tightening.

“No problem, I’m sure we’ll see him in a bit,” your mother said.

You excused yourself to grab some champagne. You could feel it in your spine that it was going to be a long, long night. As people started to pour in, the music got louder and the hotter it got. People came by and greeted you, giving out small talk. After a while, you excused yourself to grab more champagne.

When you could feel the temperature in your body rise, you fanned yourself as you walked up to the balcony to oversee everyone. Despite the second level, it was still cooler. You sighed, sipping on your champagne thinking to yourself how much more you can drink in order to still drive.

“It’s quieter up here,” A low voice came from behind you.

It was the guy, the guy from earlier who spilt your iced matcha. He was dressed in a sleek suit and tie that framed his broad shoulders and lean physique.

“You,” your eyes slightly widen, “who are you to be here?”

“I’ll leave that for you to figure out,” he sipped on his drink, looking down at the crowd.

“No I’m serious, I’ve never seen you before, but apparently you made it through security,” you stated, mumbling the last part.

“Just know that I’m significant enough to make it in,” he turned towards you, eyeing you up and down.

“Although, I can say the same thing, I don’t know who you are, yet you managed to make it in too,” he raised a brow.

“I’m-”

“Didn’t ask,” he waved his hand up and dismissed you off.

You bend your neck to the side and think to yourself, who this man was and who he was to be acting like that. Someone so forthright, rude, and upfront disrespectful. Before you spoke up, another girl around your age came to his side, wrapping her arms around his.

“There you are, I’ve been looking all over for you!” she smiled.

“Just wanted to get some air,” he looked back down and gazed at the crowd as she pecked his cheek.

Girlfriend…? You took another sip and walked away from the couple. You thought to yourself if you’d ever get to that stage in life. To be in a relationship where things were gentle, comfortable, and felt like home. You had to remind yourself that you didn’t have that kind of luxury.

“Ahem, excuse me!” Your mom stood on stage holding onto a microphone and her glass of champagne.

“We would just like to thank all of you who were able to make it to our celebration,” she spoke happily, “being able to become partners with Jung Corporation is such an honor. With this, we hope to expand more internationally. At the same time, I would like to introduce my daughter to everyone,” the light panned on you.

Oh mother, what are you thinking? You sighed, she didn’t inform you on this. You walked up on stage and presented your best smile. You didn’t have a speech written down, so you were only relying on what sounded reliable and serious in your brain.

“Tonight isn’t just about Jung Corporation and Audace joining businesses, it’s also about our future generation! As you all know, I will be retiring soon, and I want everyone to know who will be taking my position,” your mother explained, “This lovely young lady, is my daughter, y/n. I want you guys to know that she wasn’t given this position. I pushed her to the bottom of the chain and told her to work herself up. She did it quicker than I thought,” she winked to the audience, earning several laughs.

“Y/n?” Your mother turned her attention back to you, “how about a few words?”

You adjusted the microphone to your level and began speaking. You weren’t as nervous as you thought, probably because you’ve done this a dozen times already.

“Good evening everyone, as you know, I will be taking over the CEO position soon,” your voice echoed throughout the facility, “I want everyone to know that this isn’t all fun and games. The world we live in doesn’t grant wishes and it most certainly won’t go the way we want. Business is one of the biggest factors that make the world go around. So, when you invest in us, you are entirely with us the whole way. You are part of the family, and so with this, I hope you can warmly welcome me into it,” you smiled as you bowed and left the stage after the audience clapped.

It was Mr. Jung’s turn to speak. He gave a few wise words, but you were way too hot to stay for the entire speech so you left to go outside to the garden. As you were leaving, you could hear him faintly introducing his son, who apparently, finally made it to the event. You knew you should’ve stayed to meet him, but you figured that you’d see him sooner or later. He’s the one who’s been absent anyways.

“Honey, what are you doing out here?” It was your father.

“Father!” you jumped from your seat to hug him, you didn’t think he’d come, “I was just getting some air. What are you doing here?”

“I decided to take a little time off. Work was getting overwhelming, so I’m taking a few weeks off. Hopefully I can spend time with you and your mother,” he smiled.

Your dad held the CEO position of a law firm in the overseas, so that’s where he mostly was. Of course he came home for the holidays, birthdays, celebrations, and other important things. Your parents were married, but they were forced to be. Nonetheless, they learned to love each other so you grew up with a healthy childhood. You wondered if your parents had thought about forcing you to marry someone as you were around the age they also got married.

After you and your father got the chance to catch up, you two went back inside to join the celebration. The night consisted of exchanged laughs, short conversations, and business plans. Soon, people trickled out and before you knew it, it was midnight. Sleep was beginning to call your name, you were ready to walk out the door until your mother stopped you.

“Where are you going? We have important matters to talk about with the Jungs,” she waved for you to come back.

“Really mother? It’s past midnight, what’s so important that we have to talk at this time?” you frustratedly asked, all you wanted was to take off the tight dress, high heels, and the makeup that sat on your skin.

“No, come,” she gently grabbed your arm, dragging you to an office room.

When you went in, your father sat on the leather seat and the Jungs sat on the other side of the room, leaving two seats in the middle of the room. The guy you met earlier was sitting in one of them. The one who spilled your iced matcha on you and approached you on the balcony.

“What’s going on?” you quietly asked.

“Sit please,” she let go as you obeyed her.

Please don’t be the son, please don’t be the son, please don’t be the son. You mentally pleaded.

“Y/n, this is my son Jaehyun. My apologies that you had to finally meet him,” Mrs. Jung said.

Shit. Your eyes widened looking at him, and he held your gaze, you could see his dark orbs hold frustration and curiosity.

“As you two know, we now hold a joint business partnership,” Mr. Jung began from his seat.

Based on his tone, you knew that he wasn’t going to be delivering good news. You could feel the beating in your heart pick up.

“And that means that you were joined based on an agreement,” your mother finished his statement.

By this time, your palms were sweating and you held your breath to stabilize your breathing. You just wanted to get this over with, but you weren’t ready for the bad news.

“You two will be getting married,” Mr. Jung spilled.

“What??” You and him both turned your heads towards Mr. Jung.

“No,” Jaehyun stood up, “There is no way I am marrying her,” he spat out, pointing at you.

Yes, you were hurt by his words, but you were focused more on the big announcement.

“Jaehyun, you don’t have a choice,” Mrs. Jung gently said, patting his shoulder.

He moved from her touch as he mumbled something you couldn’t comprehend. The sound of voices tuned out into nothing as vexation clouded your mind.

“Don’t say that you don’t know her,” his mother whispered as she pleaded with him.

The room was soon filled with arguments with Jaehyun and his parents. He was clearly frustrated and the boom in his voice told you so. You had to cover your ears to block out the loudness of his voice that managed to slither its way into your head. You pressed your hands against your forehead to stop yourself from shaking.

You paused for a second, calming yourself down before you stood up, “I’m not getting married to him.”

“Yeah, same. Anyone but her,” Jaehyun commented.

“ENOUGH JUNG JAEHYUN,” his father stood up and shouted at him.

His wife, Jaehyun, you, and your family all stood in shock.

“Mr. Jung, don’t be so harsh. We just announced it to them, let them process it for a few days,” your mother gently spoke, holding onto your father.

“She’s right honey,” Mrs. Jung grabbed onto her husband’s shoulder.

“I don’t think anyone understood what I just said, I’m not getting married to him,” you repeated in a low tone, running out of patience.

“Y/n-” before your mother spoke, you were already out the door.

When you finally arrived at your apartment, you threw your heels to the ground and quickly unzipped your dress. Tossing it onto your bed, you immediately went to the shower to get yourself cleaned. As the hot water relaxes your muscles you think about the announcement that was made a while ago. You couldn’t believe your parents were forcing you to marry him. Fucking Jung Jaehyun.

Wait- but how come I never seen him before? You sighed to yourself as you wrapped the towel around you.

Trudging to your bedroom, you pulled out your pajamas and immediately buried yourself under your blankets. Before you could manage to fall asleep, you mother called.

“Yes mom?” you were beginning to get tired of her constant calling, but you couldn’t because she is your mother.

“Where are you? Are you okay?” She feverishly asked.

“Mother, I’m fine. I’m back at my place, I just need to sleep. Please, let’s just talk about this another time, okay?” You begged her.

“At least you're safe. Good night,” she said hanging up.

With that, you set your phone back onto the night stand and finally dozed off.

Jaehyun on the other hand wasn’t handling it well. He left right after you did, but he didn’t go to his place. Instead, he went to the nightclub run by his friend. He immediately went to the bar, started drowning himself in drinks, and making out with random girls who begged for his attention.

“Dude, stop this,” Taeyong, the nightclub owner, sat next to his best friend.

Jaehyun pushed the girl who sat on his lap away from him to speak, “you don’t understand” he slurred.

After Taeyong didn’t say anything, Jaehyun aggressively grabbed the girl from her nape and continued making out with her. He groaned as her heated core moved against his member. Before it got even more heated, Taeyong spoke up.

“You’re right, I probably won’t understand, but it’s not gonna be any better if you don’t tell me.” Jaehyun waved his friend off, clearly too busy exchanging saliva with the girl sitting on his lap.

“Okay,” Taeyong had enough of Jaehyun’s behavior.

He gently pushed the girl off Jaehyun’s lap and dragged his best friend away from the booth.

“Dude, what the hell?!” Jaehyun shouted.

Taeyong politely bowed to the customers who snapped their heads towards Jaehyun’s shouting, “Come on, you’re drunk. Let’s get you home.”

Jaehyun struggled getting out of his friend’s grasp, it didn’t help that he was intoxicated. Taeyong dragged him to his car and sped off. It took awhile for Jaehyun to calm down.

“I’m getting married,” Jaehyun whispered, his head against the window.

“Really? This is about that?” Taeyong curiously asked.

“But it’s not like that,” Jaehyun glared at his friend.

“O-oh?”

“It’s an arranged marriage,” he announced.

Taeyong didn’t speak, he kept his vision on the road thinking of something to say. To break the quietness that swallowed them.

“Have you met her yet?” he finally asked.

“Yeah, she was the one who spilled her drink on me, then I met her at the party,” Jaehyun slowly said.

“Oh her? What’s her name?” Taeyong suddenly became interested.

“I don’t know and I don’t fucking care,” Jaehyun grumbled, throwing his head back on the seat.

“Jae, come on, you don’t even know her. She can’t be that bad,” Taeyong stated.

“Whatever man, she’s the daughter of the CEO of Audace,”

“What? Really? You’re getting married to y/n l/n, Jae. The y/n l/n.”

“So?” Jaehyun furrowed his brows.

“Are you kidding me? That’s where I get all of my business wear,” Taeyong said in awe.

“That’s not significant, Taeyong.” Jaehyun said before dozing off.

“I mean, I don’t know her personally, but I heard she’s cute,” Taeyong chuckled to himself.

“Why don’t you get married to her instead?” Jaehyun retorted.

“You know what? May-”

“Just shut up and drive,” Jaehyun rubbed his temples.

“Wait, but what are you going to tell Gaeul?” Taeyong asked.

“What- that girl I brought to the celebration? It was nothing to begin with, so who cares? After I don’t respond to her for a couple of days, I’m sure she’ll understand,” Jaehyun quietly replied before quietly falling back asleep.

“I’m telling you man, you gotta stop doing that…” Taeyong sighed as his drunk friend fell asleep.

You woke up to the sunlight aiming at your face. You groaned and turned around, hoping your body would fall back asleep. It was your last day before you had to go back to work and the last thing you needed was to be forcibly woken. That wish didn’t stay long until you heard your phone ring. It was your mother...again.

“What mother?” You groggily got up.

“Are you up yet? I need you to come over right now. The Jungs are also coming,” she sounded in a rush.

You shot up, “seriously? Now?” You looked down at your thin pajama shirt that loosely hung from your shoulders and your messy hair poking in every direction, you were far from ready.

“Yeah, Jaehyun’s coming too,” she cautiously said. This was probably unplanned by the warriness of her voice.

“I’ll see you in a bit,” you heavily sighed before groaning, your body falling back onto your bed.

In the car ride, your mind wandered to the conversation last night. You felt hurt that he didn’t want to marry you, it didn’t make a difference because you didn’t want to marry him because of the kind of guy he was.

“I’m not that bad...right?” you whispered to yourself.

To be honest, after all of those individuals who’ve left you, it really questioned your self-worth. It took years for you to love yourself and not have anyone tear you down.

Jaehyun barely let you talk, so it’s not like he knows you. You had to remind yourself that you meant business and you weren’t going to let him tear you down. He already wasn’t fond of you, you giving him the cold shoulder shouldn’t be a problem.

As soon as you got home, the Jungs’ car was already parked in the driveway. You assumed that Jaehyun drove separately since there was another car you didn’t recognize. You gave the driver your keys and walked inside. They all sat in the living room of your large home. It’s been so long since you’ve come back, the smell was nostalgic, you were reminded of your childhood, everything used to be so easy.

“Good morning,” you held your chin high and greeted everyone.

“Have you eaten yet?” your mother asked.

“No, I don’t have the appetite,” you sighed, sitting down, “I have things to do so, let’s get to it please.”

“Well,” your mother breathed, “as you know, you two will be getting married soon.”

You looked up at her figure, “mother, I thought I made myself clear, I’m not marrying him,” before you stood up again, your father held you by your shoulder.

“Just...hear us out please, both of you,” Mr. Jung said, “we’ve become joint businesses because that’s what’s best for the business. With you two as the major players, the media will go crazy once they hear you two are getting married and the stocks will rise.”

You frowned at his commentary. Players? Does he think this is a game? Seems like money is all he cares about. You sighed, setting your sunglasses on top of your head, a sign that you’re willing to stay and listen.

“And what if we don’t agree?” Jaehyun asked, to be honest you forgot about him.

Jaehyun sat on the couch across from you, he looked like he hasn’t slept in days. His eyes held bags under them and his face was a little swollen. You scoffed to yourself.

Poor boy must have a hangover. What a mess. Jaehyun maintained eye contact with you, he knew what you were thinking and he glared at you for thinking it.

You turned your head towards his father who began speaking again, “So, we wanted to gift you guys an apartment.”

“Father,” Jaehyun’s tone rose.

“You are getting married and that’s it,” Mr. Jung stated, “end of discussion.”

“Yes, I agree,” you looked at your mother in shock.

You couldn’t actually believe she was going along with this, “mother,” you began.

“Enough, y/n. It’s done. We just want you guys to get as comfortable with each other as soon as you can. We want the wedding to happen this summer.”

“Mother, it’s January,” you retorted.

Did she really think that you could get to know a person, let alone, love someone within six, seven months? Insane. INSANE! You thought to yourself, Especially if it’s Jung Jaehyun.

You sighed before standing from the couch, “well if this is done, then I’ll get going,” you bowed then walked towards the door.

“You’re not going to stay and have lunch with us?” Your mother asked.

“I told you before, I don’t have the appetite,” you shut the door without saying goodbye.

You stood in front of the door, not moving since you shut it. Most of the time you were rarely mad at your parents, but this made you absolutely livid. How could they just marry you off like that? You’re not even 25 yet, you have so much to do, discover, to love.

The door harshly swung open and you slightly jumped from the impacted sound it made as he slammed it shut. You turned around to see Jaehyun looking down at you.

“I-” you began, soon being interrupted by him.

“One,” he held up a finger, coming closer to you, “when we get married I don’t want you thinking that everything is happy and everything is fine. Two, I don’t want you clinging onto me when we’re in public, and most certainly, number three, never call me your husband. Don’t even call me your fiance now.” As he got closer with each rule, you could feel his breath leaving his lips as he reached the last one.

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thesmokingguns · 4 years ago

Text

Wendy and The Lost Boys Chapter 10

He was going to have to wake her up soon so that they would make the plane ride back to Los Angeles but she was asleep on top of him, her head on his chest and seemed so at peace that he couldn’t be the monster to wake her up. Plus he had been true to his word and she had only fallen asleep a couple hours ago. She shifted slightly, her hands sliding up and resting in his hair. Nikki was feeling sentimental with her laying on him and not the usual claustrophobia of being with someone. How was he going to move in with Lita when he had just had a night like that with Sasha? She had done something impossible by having him feel relaxed and like himself. He didn't have to think of the right responses or put on this rock and roll persona. She wanted him as he was, with or without the frills. It was this refreshing realization that he didn’t have to try with Sasha to be anyone but who he was. He could talk to her about things outside of music and he liked having that. A soft yawn took him out of his thoughts and he saw her smiling up at him.

“I fell asleep.” She said it was obvious but he still nodded his head, his fingers running through her blonde hair, “One more shower together and then we can get on the plane?” Nikki grinned, liking how he thought and practically dragging her to the bathroom.

For most of the flight Nikki had watched amused as Sasha shifted in her seat trying to get comfortable but not being able to find the sweet spot. She was wearing one of his shirts, a jean jacket, her eyes hidden under sunglasses, white socks, keds, and a deep burgundy lipstick. He watched her head to the bathroom for what felt like the seventh time of the flight and decided he better check on her to make sure that she was okay. He did a quick glance around and saw Tommy had passed out on Mick’s shoulder which would be a huge issue if Mick wasn’t also fast asleep. However, Vince’s eyes were following him with a smile on his face as he saw what Nikki was going to do.

“Are you okay, angel?” he asked as he knocked on the door. She reached out a hand pulling him into the small space. Nikki nearly fell over but there wasn't even enough space to do that. She gave him a look and he smiled at her, “Did you set up a plan to lure me in here?” he asked, smiling as he leaned down to kiss her. Her hands were around him as they kissed and when they pulled apart she was holding the bandana he had been wearing. She tied it around her to cover some of the bruises that he had left all along her neck. Nikki wished she’d leave them uncovered, he liked looking across and seeing her fingers absentmindedly touching the places he had been kissing last night.

“As much as I would like to fist fight your girlfriend at the airport, I don’t think it would be a fair fight since someone didn’t let me sleep last night.” He didn't like her bringing up Lita but it was the reality of the situation they’d be going into. Nikki lifted her up pressing her against the wall easily. “We land in a half hour so you have ten minutes to get us into the mile high club, Sixx.” she said with a smile. He didn’t need her to say another thing about that.

Sasha had expected to see Lita at the airport and she was very surprised to see Len standing with a bouquet of roses, shifting from foot to foot as he waited for what she expected was her. When he caught sight of her he did a wave, hoping she’d notice him and come over. She had wanted to turn to look at NIkki and see his reaction but she just made her way over to him, letting him wrap her in a hug, wondering if he could smell Nikki all over her.

“Sugar Pie, I’m so glad you’re back. I hope you don’t mind but I asked your mother where you were and she told me about you flying back in.” he was looking at her with these clear eyes that made her almost feel guilty about the last 24 hours she had. He pressed the flowers into her hand, leaning in to whisper, “Can we go and talk somewhere? I think we need to open up about a few things.” her eyebrow shot up wondering what the hell that could mean but she just nodded her head. He must know about her and Nikki if he was talking about opening up about things.

“Yo, Sasha.” she turned to see Tommy waving at her as he walked over. He gave Len a nod in acknowledgment, “Lita and NIkki just moved into a place in Coldwater Canyon and they’re having a housewarming party at 8. You both better be there.” he gave her a look and she knew that she’d have to go. She thought about turning and saying bye to everyone but she already knew that when she turned around she'd see Nikki and Lita and she wasn’t strong enough to have to see that twice in one day.

Sasha was drinking her coffee feeling like she couldn’t fully process what Len was asking her and telling her. She didn’t know if it was the lack of sleep or just how crazy everything was but she couldn’t make sense of what he was exposing to her. She was sitting at his kitchen table in the huge three bedroom apartment his parents had in the city. The place he had just asked her to move into with him as part of this whole elaborate plan for the next few years until she graduated college and possibly after that. It wasn’t that she didn’t understand the plan but she didn’t get why he was so sure she was going to go along with it or why she was thinking about how she was going to go along with it. It would be the perfect cover with everything with Nikki. She wouldn’t have to do anything with Len but would have the cover of a boyfriend but the freedom to be with the bassist on the down low. All she had to do was accept all the perks of being his girlfriend without sleeping with him. She would be dating one of the most eligible bachelors from an old money family. She would have to go out to dinners with him and to family events where they would be playing the young couple in love. The weird pressure from her sorority sisters who all wanted her to graduate with her WIFE degree would be put to rest if she dated him long term. She would have to go out with him more and she had the option of moving out of her sorority or living there until she graduated so there was some choice in the matter.

“Are you okay? I think I broke you. You look blank.” Len touched her hand and she looked up giving him a smile. He had definitely overloaded her. She sipped her coffee and just nodded her head. Leaning back she looked at the person in front of her. Len was the blonde haired rich kid who was always dressed in what seemed like brand new clothes.

“You’re gay and you need to date me so that you keep up appearances?” She was clarifying what he was saying to her. He nodded his head, anxiety seemed to be written on his face. Sasha knew that this wasn’t an easy thing that he was asking and it was hard for him to open up. There was nothing for her to lose and she did like Len a lot as a person. “And I can’t tell anyone, not even Nikki?” She asked . There was a flash of uneasiness on his face as he shook his head at her.

“Not now. If he gets drunk or he gets mad at you and says anything my life would be over. Maybe in a year or so if something goes on but not right now.” Sasha nodded, reaching out to hold his hand, giving Len a smile.

“Okay, baby. When can I move in?” She asked, the visible relief on Len’s face made it worth it for her. He’d be able to live his life as long as he had her to keep up the front with him. Being able to now feel safe was something that he hadn’t felt in a long time.

“I’m going to be the best fake boyfriend you’ve ever had.” She laughed as he hugged her tight. “We need to have dinner with my parents tonight but then we’ll go to the party after. “ she just nodded her head in understanding. Part of her was glad she’d have someone to show up to the party with. She’d need to be all over Len tonight to throw Lita off. She knew Nikki was going to be pissed and part of her was glad. There was nothing like giving him a taste of his own medicine.

Nikki watched the string of people move into the apartment he now lived with Lita. She had been pretty pissed about Sasha answering the phone in his hotel room and they had a pretty big screaming match on the ride home. He might have made the mistake telling her that he didn’t even want to date anyone but that had just made her get really quiet. She had given him a look at that point trying to decide if it was worth it to fight over Tommy’s sister, who wasn’t going anywhere and who he was insisting that he didn’t fuck.

Just thinking about Sasha made his head spin. How the fuck had the last 24 hours just changed his opinions on pretty much everything he believed? As if on cue he saw the blonde walking up the driveway, she had on a white suit with her jacket open showing off a lace bra. She stopped to light a cigarette at the end of the driveway, seeming to take in the new apartment which was a major upgrade. Nikki frowned as she saw Len come up behind her, they laughed about something together and moved inside.

He made himself finish his beer before heading inside, telling himself that he wasn’t going to look for Sasha but his eyes were running around the rooom for her. He almost threw up seeing her in front of Lita, Len was handing her a bag as the bassist rushed over to them. They all gave him a confused look at why Nikki looked like he had been running.

“Congrats on the new place, man.” Len reached out his hand to shake Nikki’s. “We were actually just inviting Lita and you to dinner on Friday. We’re having a small dinner party in our new apartment.” That’s when Nikki actually got to look at her. Sasha was wearing what looked like Len’s suit with a white bra under it. Her blond hair pulled back in a tight ponytail. She also had a scarf on, which hid most of the hickeys he had left on her. He wished she was here with him; he’d pull off that scarf and show everyone who she belonged to. It freaked Nikki out how possessive he felt about her and how badly he wanted to show her off. He was always dominant but never selfish like this.

“I’m going to cook Friday so I’d recommend getting pizza before you come over.” She teased making a joke at her own expense. Nikki snorted, burying his face in his drink as he remembered her setting the kitchen on fire trying to cook eggs last summer. He had to spray the foam over the stove, which was ruined after that point, to get the flames to stop.

“That’s going to be an interesting dinner.” Nikki said, tossing his arm around Lita’s shoulder. He had watched the way Len had worked his hand under Sasha’s jacket and rested it on her stomach. HIs fingers seemed comfortable skimming her hip and touching her in a way he wished he was doing. He gave her a look, knowing Lita couldn’t see it, and frowned watching her wrap herself around the man she was with as if he hadn’t been fucking her on a plane hours before.

“We just stopped by to give you a house warming gift and to invite you Friday but we have-“

“Sasha!!!” She cursed, seeing Tommy walking over towards them, pushing his way past people to find her, “I’m so glad you came with your boyfriend! Mom told me you’re moving in together and I have to come to dinner Friday in a clean shirt.” He was grabbing her away from everyone before she could figure out what was going on. She was thankful when Len grabbed her, making Tommy stop dragging her away.

“Sugar pie, we have brunch in the morning.” Len knew Sasha didn’t want to be at the party for a long time because being around Nikki and Lita together was a bit much for her to see. They had only invited them to dinner to make sure everyone saw her with Len and to give them a stronger cover story with everything. Unfortunately, Tommy and Nikki both didn’t like seeing someone tell Sasha no. Even though Len was just holding her forearm lightly the fact he had reached out and grabbed her didn’t sit well with either of the men .

“You’re right-“

“Let her go.” She was going to kill Nikki for speaking. Instead of smacking him, like she wanted to, she needed to put on a fun smile laughing like the boys were just being silly because Lita was currently giving the bassist a confused look as to why he had let go of her to go to some other girl's rescue. Sasha spun away from them linking her arms with Lita, trying to not feel like a piece of shit for having slept with her boyfriend. The move surprised everyone and all the guys didn’t know what was about to happen.

“Why don’t we go have a drink together and make sure Vince isn’t bothering your friends? The boys obviously need to have a dick measuring contest.” She was guiding the woman back to her apartment from where they were standing in the front yard. This night was going to be very long if she didn’t start drinking soon.

What made her night harder was how much she realized she liked Lita and how easily the two women got along with each other. Sasha had gotten her away from the guys who were bound to blow the situation up and started talking to Lita about everything. They had a similar taste in clothes and music. They found themselves getting to know each other and finding common ground. The pair of women had gotten very drunk in this process and were stumbling around the party together hand and hand.

“Nikki kept telling me you were like the band's little sister but you’re so pretty so I didn’t believe him. But I feel you’re my little sister now.” Lita said, kissing her forehead. Sasha needed to get the fuck out of there. Her guilt was going to come out soon, probably in her hysterically sobbing, “I love Nikki. Do you know he’s my first love?” Lita said and now she was feeling even worse about everything.

“Don’t love Nikki. He only loves himself and the band.” Sasha warned her, her eyes caught Sixx through the crowd and she felt like she could punch him right now. As if he knew someone was looking at him he turned to see the look she was giving him. Her blue eyes were sad, even from across the room he could see it. He felt like a monster having her here with the woman that he was living with. He knew that Sasha cared about him and that even though she talked like she was fine with everything her feelings were hurt.

“You’re right. All musicians love their bands more than their girlfriends. But we have dreams. Dreams were both going to live. I think he’s really going to stick with me.” Lita was rambling and Sasha was wondering if she would die if she jumped off the roof. She needed something guaranteed to make her guilt stop and just getting a broken leg wasn’t going to cut it. “Do you love Len?” Lita asked her, turning and giving her a look that left really no other way for the question to be answered. All she could think about was Nikki. She looked at her drink, as if she found that interesting all of a sudden.

“I feel safe with him. Like when we are laying in bed and I can hear his heartbeat I feel safe like that's where home is. Wherever he is and I can sleep and not have to worry about having nightmares before he’s like my own personal dream catcher. Or when we go out I know it’s going to be fun and I’m going to be okay. And when he kisses me it’s the only time my mind stops running at a million miles a minute and I can just feel. And he never wants to be vulnerable or weak but sometimes I feel like when he’s wrapped up in my arms he feels safe there and he can just rest. So maybe I am in love with him.” Sasha looked up to see Lita staring at her with Nikki beside his girlfriend, his green eyes seeming to burn into her. Her heart was in her throat and she was going to puke all over the nice living room from the way that her nerves were frazzled.

“I love you too, sugar pie.” Len was wrapping an arm around her like the hero that he was; when he saw Nikki moving toward her and Lita he wanted to act as a buffer. He was pressing his lips to hers to take her attention away from the other man and make it seem like they were in love. “Why don’t we get you home now?” He asked, he could see that she was going to cry and if they were in this fake relationship together he knew it was his job to get her out of there. She could vaguely hear him saying goodbye to everyone for them as he weaved them out of the apartment. She was never going to drink with that woman again and she was going to steer clear of Sixx.

Nikki woke up on the couch in a vaguely familiar apartment. It took him a second to realize that this was his new place and the living room. He had been “accidentally” falling asleep out here for the past week. After the party, where he was pretty sure Sasha had said she loved him, In her typical fashion she had vanished after that declaration and he hadn’t seen her since. But it was the Friday of her dinner party and he knew that she would have to see him tonight. The problem with seeing her was he had no idea what he was going to say to her. Was what happened in Canada a one time thing? She would be back in school in a couple months to start her second year and he knew she had a lot of growing up to do but he was suddenly thinking about how he wanted to be around for that instead of letting her explore.

“No one is going to believe I cooked all of this.” Sasha said as she moved around the kitchen and turned so Len could zip up the cocktail dress he had helped her pick out. It had mesh sleeves and was tight to below her hips where it had three tiers of ruffled. She had spent the week trying new recipes from a mix of magazine and cookbooks so everything would be perfect; their lives were really blending together at this party. From their parents to their school friends to the band it was going to be quite the collection. “Can you start making cocktails? I’m going to start putting the appetizers out. I think people will arrive soon.” It was strange how well her and Len adapted to domestic life together. Understanding what they had and what they were made them a lot closer.

The spare bedroom was where Sasha was sleeping in the house. Even though she had nightmares or a hard time sleeping alone it was important to her that she get a space where she could be alone and Len needed to have his own space too.Getting to know each other on an even deeper level had them falling into a domestic pattern. Sharing the house and not having time to be fully alone wasn’t awkward but actually both of them thrived. It was like two best friends who just wanted the other to be happy and to have fun.

The doorbell rang as Sasha set down the platter on one of their coffee tables. Len gave her a look to make sure she was ready before he headed to let in their first guests. She was smoothing out her dress, hoping that the night would go okay. In the back of her mind she was hoping that Nikki didn’t show up and make this dinner harder. Even though he was invited she hoped he had the sense to stay away.

“Hi Lita, Hey Nikki. So glad you guys could make it!” She turned to see the pair walk in. Lita was smiling as she walked over to Sasha, giving her a hug but she was looking past her to where Nikki was. She couldn’t help but smile seeing he was wearing leather pants with a white button down that looked like he had hastily tried to tuck in and a skinny tie loose. Part of her wanted to go over, straighten out his tie and let him know how good he looked but she reeled herself in to the reality of the situation

“Hey, can I take your jacket. I’m going to put jackets and bags in the spare bedroom.” She felt stupid saying a spare bedroom after having the summer where she shared a room with Tommy. It all just felt out of the norm.

“Can you show me the bathroom?” He just wanted to have a second alone with her. Nikki was surprised to see a slight hesitation on her face before nodding leading him away from the living room. “Why are you so quiet, Angel?” He touched her wrist feeling her flinch but not letting her go.

“We’re both with people, Nikki. And last time I was with your girlfriend she told me that you were her first love.” She said when they were alone in the bedroom together. He saw her eyes looking at him with hurt and confusion. “I don’t want to be the reason for her first heartbreak.” Nikki looked out as the doorbell rang again and shut the door behind them, turning the lock to give them a couple minutes.

“Why are you being like this?” he was touching her, bringing her closer to him, “I thought we understood each other, Angel?” He was touching her face making her look at him.

“I don’t think you understand me.” Her words hit him hard and Nikki flinched taking a step back. “I think you want everything and it doesn’t matter who gets hurt. I didn’t realize you were moving in with your girlfriend when we slept together. I didn’t expect her to tell me that you were her first love. I could be with you, just you, and be happy, Nikki, but you’d think being with me was settling and you’d resent me forever.” He didn’t expect this from her. He expected everything to be fine and for them to really consider being with each other, “I think you like that I like you and you like sleeping with me. It’s like you got that notch in your bedpost now and you have someone who can be in your rotation. But I’m not going to be that for you, Sixx.” Her hands were in fists by her side and she was hoping that she wouldn’t start crying. “You knew you were moving in with her and things were serious and you didn’t tell me. You let me think it wasn’t serious.” The guilt was making her feel crazy and she wanted him to have some of it but Nikki wasn’t going to let her project all the blame on him.

“You’re the one who showed up at my door. You’re the one who wore lingerie to the show and told me how fucking wet you were.” He could see the flush of embarrassment on her face as he threw the intimacy between them back at her, “If you didn’t want to sleep with me you shouldn’t have opened your legs so easily.” The way he snarled at her made Sasha feel even worse. If this had been a movie that would have been where she slapped him. Instead she started sobbing covering her face, throwing him completely off balance. The anger vanished as he saw the tears leaking out behind her hands.

“You’re right. I knew you were with her and I still wanted you.” She hiccuped out. Nikki did not like seeing her this upset about something. He wrapped her in his arms letting her lay against his chest as she cried, “I’m sorry.” The fact she was apologizing made everything worse for him. They had done everything together and were both guilty. He wondered why he didn’t feel bad for her way he was but he felt guilt for making her upset.

“I don’t want to fight with you, Angel. Everything happened and I don’t regret it and I don’t want you to either.” He was holding her close to him wishing that it was then living together in this apartment. He could picture a whole life with her but he didn’t know how to start it, “We should go back out there.” He knew it was a stupid thing to say as soon as she stepped back and looked at him. But she just nodded, wiping her eyes.

“Yeah, I’ll meet you out there in a minute.” She gave him a weak smile and he frowned as she sat at the vanity opening a drawer and starting to do her makeup. If this was the guest bedroom why would her stuff be in here? The wheels on his head were turning as he tried to figure out what situation the girl was in. His jealousy of her living with another man making the situation peek even higher.

“Are you really dating him?” She looked at him through the mirror almost frozen by the question. Nikki stepped forward sitting on the bed behind her. Sasha chose to ignore his question as she lined her eyes once more, “I asked you a question, Angel.” She could see the way his eyes were narrowed and the anger was rising in her stomach again. She hated when he spoke to her like he had some command over her. Even though she liked the way Nikki could take control of situations she felt like he wanted more control over her and wanted more from her when he never seemed to want to give an inch.

“Yes, He is my boyfriend and we live together. You’re here for our housewarming dinner party.” That much was true. She could see the way he was trying to make sense of something. “Are you really dating Lita?” She asked thinking two could play this game but Nikki wasn’t buying into this. He stood up moving to the closet, opening it to see her clothing inside, “What are you doing?” She asked, trying to seem like what he was doing was stranger than all her things being in this room. Nikki was moving on now, he reached under the bed pulling out a notebook, book and a pair of her signature white shoes. Sasha was standing up now, hands on her hips as she watched him dig into things.

“If you’re dating him why do you have separate bedrooms?” His eyes were blazing as he looked at her, wanting to know what was going on between her and Len. “Tell me what’s going on with you and him because it’s been driving me crazy all week knowing you’re moving in with some guy.” Her face softened slightly when he said it was driving him crazy but she wasn’t going to fold that easily.

“Nikki, we need to get out of this room. Your girlfriend and my boyfriend are probably wondering what’s taking us so long. Plus, Lenny and I have other guests coming.” The way she had a new nickname for him made the bassists eyes narrow. He wanted answers to his questions. Sasha was unlocking the door but before she could open it Nikki was pressed up against her. The feeling of his body firm behind her making her forget how to breathe for a second.

“In a few years, Angel, it’s going to be our housewarming party. So make sure you get all the practice tonight so you’re ready for it.” He kissed below her ear on the soft spot of her neck before reaching around her to open up the door, “Go play hostess. I’ll be there soon.” She didn’t even bother turning to look at him only heading back to the living room with the thought that he wanted a future with her playing in her mind over and over again.

Nikki was getting drunk. When he finally reappeared into the living room again he saw a full living room of people. Sasha was talking to Tommy and her parents, that pest of a fucking boyfriend, holding her elbow and laughing with them about something. Lita was with Tommy and a few of the girls that Sasha went to school together. Everyone seemed to be happy to be there to support the young couple and it made him absolutely sick.

He moved over to the bar cart pouring himself three fingers of Jack Daniels. The bottle wasn’t open and he wondered if she had made sure it was there for him. He walked over to Lita, passing Sasha and letting his hand slide across her back, watching amused as she gave him a side eye look before going back to her conversation. Lita smiled at him when he came to her side and he felt a bit of guilt, he needed to do the right thing in this situation. It was hard because she wasn’t a bad person and they could get along really well.

“Can you believe she went from living in the apartment with us to this in one year? What a serious upgrade.” Tommy said, elbowing his friend. Nikki sipped his drink heavily. Once they got paid for their music he was going to buy the biggest house they had ever seen. He’d have a maze of rooms and that would be the upgrade that she deserved. He could imagine her running through the halls barefoot as he chased her threatening to throw her in the pool when he caught her.

“When we all make it big we can have a house that will fit this apartment in it.” Lita grabbed his arms when she said this and it took him a second to realize that she was talking to him. Tommy gave him a look making him realize that he was supposed to say something to follow that up with.

“I’m sure you’ll have a great house, Lita.” Nikki said pulling slightly away to go fill up his drink again. He saw the hurt flash across her face but he had so much that he was thinking about that he didn’t even care about it. His plan was just to get shitfaced drunk to make it through the night because without that he wasn’t going to survive.

Sasha glanced up looking at Nikki who had made it through the complete bottle of Jack Daniels by dessert. She could see Lita giving him these looks all through the meal as well as Tommy looking between the two of them. Obviously something was going on between them that she had missed. The parents had all left after dessert leaving just the younger kids to have some after dinner drinks and talk. She was sitting between a pair of her sorority sisters when Lita sat down giving the girls all a smile. Sasha made introductions and she felt all the eyes suddenly on her.

“You date the Nikki?” her friend asked Lita making Sasha’s stomach drop. She buried her face into the wine glass wondering how she could get out of this conversation, “And you’re friends with Sasha?” well this conversation wasn’t going to go well. She was trying to look past the girls and catch anyone eyes but all the guys were having some stupid bro chat and she couldn’t seem to meet a single pair of eyes. Except of course Nikki’s. He was staring at her so openly that she knew if anyone saw him they would be able to see. When she met his eyes he sipped his drink, still frowning and staring.

“The Nikki? Quite the title for Mr. Sixx.” laughed Lita but she was looking at Sasha now knowing that in girl talk a lot had been spoken just by adding the before his name, “We just moved in together and he was talking to my dad a few days ago so we all know what that means.” the excited chatter started and Sasha looked at the woman now confused. Did she think that Nikki was really going to propose to her or was she saying this to get some weird sort of control over the conversation. The girls all turned to look at Nikki who seemed surprised to have so many eyes on him from across the room. His eyes left Sasha and he was standing walking over to them. This catching the eyes of some of the guys, thankfully Tommy being one of them.

“Are you girls talking about me?” he asked plopping down on the couch and throwing his arms around Lita’s shoulders as well at the girl on his other side. Everyone kind of shifted nervously, smiles playing on their face, “I want to know what everyone had to say.” He watched the way Sasha finished off her wine reaching forward and dumping the rest of the bottle into the empty cup. Tommy sat besides Sasha ready to intervene in case this started to go badly. There was this tension building as Nikki waited to hear about what everyone was saying about him.

“We were all talking about marriage and what our weddings would be like.” Sasha said sipping her wine, “And what our perfect proposals would be.” she added, crossing her legs. She wished Nikki would stop staring at her like that. It was giving away everything and he wasn’t helping the situation.

“Well why don't you girls all give me some tips on how to give a girl the perfect proposal?” His heart was beating and he could see the way everyone was giving Lita these looks. What the hell had they been talking about before he had walked over to them? A realization was suddenly dawning on him as he realized that they thought he was going to be marrying the girl he was dating. HIs eyebrows raised, “Not that I am going to get married anytime soon. That’s going to be saved for the late 80’s.” he joked so easily about these things without knowing that Lita had just said she was sure he would be proposing soon. All that was playing in Nikki’s head was how he could imagine being with Sasha, “Aren’t we all too young to fall in love?. Even if we know who we’re going to end up with there’s no need to .” she wouldn’t make eye contact with him because she could feel eyes on her and was uncomfortable with it.

“I don’t think we’re too young to fall in love.” Len was suddenly behind Sasha, his hand sliding onto her shoulder, “I love Sasha and after we graduate I hope we can get married and start our careers and possibly a family together. You can’t put a timeline on love, Nikki.” his hand laced with hers and she could feel the smile blooming on her face. It was nice to hear someone say all the right things even if it wasn’t true.

People started to leave shortly after and Sasha had stayed close to Len for the rest of the night, wanting to make sure they were seen together as a couple. The shit Nikki had been pulling all night was making her annoyed. He could really talk a big game but he never wanted to commit to her in a way she craved. Finally she saw them headed for the door, Lita not bothering to say goodbye as she walked out. Nikki licked his lips, stopping at the door as if he was thinking about what to do next. The only other person still there was Tommy, who was staying the night. He was currently in the den being shown the sound system that Len had gotten installed a few days before.

“I’m sorry about tonight, angel.” he had gathered the courage to say goodbye to her. It was obvious that she was mad at him. Sasha gave him a look turning to stack a few empty platters, moving to the kitchen, “Please, don’t be like this.” she threw the platters down turning on him now in a full rage.

“Get out.” she pointed to the door. His mouth opened and closed. “Get the fuck out.” the way she was looking at him made him realize that she wasn’t joking around but she was actually really upset with him.

“Angel-”

“GET THE FUCK OUT.” She pushed his chest trying to get him to the door, tears stinging her eyes for the second time tonight. “You come in here and you act like an asshole. You make me the asshole along with you and I’m done with it. I’m done with you. I’m done feeling like this and being treated like this. You’re all smoke and no fire. You’re so used to writing songs and creating this fantasy it’s like you don’t understand how to actually be a person and live that life. It’s pathetic.” she had these tears falling down her face as she shook her head at him, “So get out, Nikki. Go be with your girlfriend and just let me try to be happy.” she was serious about what she was saying to him and it was clear that she wasn’t just emotional and mad at the moment. This had been almost a year of what felt like emotional torture and she was ready to break this cycle.

Nikki was searching her face hoping that she would just fall into his arms and cry well he figured out how to fix it. She was far enough away from him that he couldn’t just reach out and draw her into him. The way she was looking at him and what she had just said to him made it clear that this was it and he needed to go. He threw up his hands, the defeat clear on his face. He wasn’t going to get the girl in the end and he had done it to himself by creating these rules for himself and her that they couldn’t follow. Everything that happened was because he had wanted everything and now he realized that he wouldn't get that. She watched him walk out the door, locking it behind him before sliding down and letting herself cry.

#nikki sixx imagine #nikki sixx fanfiction #nikki Sixx fan fic #Nikki Sixx #motley crue fanfiction

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p-artsypants · 4 years ago

Text

I’ll Handle This (6)

In Which Plagg is Annoying

So, my beloved Fiancé really likes Magic: The Gathering. He’s taught me how to play it, and talks about it a lot, but I still don’t really understand it. It’s a complicated game. So this chapter has sections of me purposefully badly explaining the game, sorry if that bothers you lol.

Ao3 | FF.net

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Adrien awoke curled in a ball. His bed was extremely soft, and he sunk right into it.

Oh, except it was a pillow. He was still in Plagg’s tiny Kwami body. Great.

He yawned and stretched, realizing that he was alone in his bed.

“Plagg?” He asked the room.

There was no answer, but the bathroom door was closed.

Plagg was most likely getting him ready, or his human body, ready for school.

Before Adrien could imagine the worst case scenario, the bathroom door opened, and Plagg emerged.

Adrien stared, and then declared loudly, “NO.”

“Yes!” Said Plagg, flouncing into Adrien’s closet.

“How—why? When?!”

Plagg brought his pre-chosen outfit into the main room, and started to get dressed, carefully slipping the purple tiger striped shirt over his expertly gelled Mohawk.

“Did you not see me buy that ultra super strong hair gel yesterday?”

“I didn’t see anything you bought yesterday,” said Adrien with frustration. “I was in your pocket the whole time, remember?”

“Oh, then you’re in for a treat!” He slipped on an over shirt, that was black with orange leopard spots.

“Oh god...”

“You should have been more careful about what you brought home from shoots,” Plagg sang. “Love the leopard spots. Though I’m just a black cat, mixing up my coat on occasion would be fun.”

“I kept that shirt because I thought it was funny, or it would be good for a costume. You can’t honestly wear it!”

Plagg blew him a raspberry. “Oh suck it up buttercup! It’ll be fine!”

Adrien watched with other things on his mind as Plagg finished dressing. Brown pants, rolled up with mismatched argyle socks, and then the same green sunglasses to cover his cat eyes.

“I think I have a photo shoot with Lila after school,” said Adrien.

“And?”

“And you should probably attend it. I know you want to piss off my dad and blow off responsibilities that aren’t Miraculous related, but modeling is my job. I’m still under a contract and I get paid for it. That money goes to my college fund, which I intend to use to pick my own career.”

“What’s one missed shift to the son of the company?”

“A strike against me, and a loss of around a thousand euros.”

Plagg swiveled his head to look at him. “That much? Is Lila making that too?”

“No.” Adrien chuckled. “I am in high demand and so I make more. She makes around 15 euros an hour. That’s why she always drags photoshoots on for so long. Me and some of the other models get paid per gig.”

Plagg scoffed. “That’s stupid.”

“So will you behave for three hours?”

“No,” said Plagg, smoothing his shirt and hair. “But I’ll participate in the shoot and play nice with the photographer. Lila, on the other hand, I have plans for.”

Adrien looked at him warily. “...alright.”

Doing a once-over, Plagg declared, “just one more accessory, the piece de resistance...” he reached into a plastic bag from his shopping yesterday.

Adrien gaped in horror. “NO. NO NO NO!”

—

Gabriel walked from the kitchen back to his office, coffee mug in hand. Dealing with Adrien’s rebellion had been a PR nightmare, but he was able to spin Adrien’s outfit yesterday, as out of character as it was, as merely a phase. A phase which he would grow out of soon, but one that was necessary for Adrien to grow, to explore his own style, to learn fashion in his own mind. The media ate it up, and several articles would be coming out in the next week or so.

Then the boy in question streaked by him in a kaleidoscope of color.

Gabriel sputtered on his coffee, staining his suit with the brown liquid, but not caring a bit.

“Adrien?!” He shouted, beyond horrified. He couldn’t tell what was worse, the patterns? The colors? The hair? NO.

“Where did you get crocs?” Gabriel asked, as Adrien reached the unfortunately unlocked door.

He turned for just a second, long enough to shout. “Ask my butt, old man!” Before the door shut behind him.

Gabriel had to call those magazines back.

—

Plagg arrived at school, drawing the attention of every student mingling there. Some stared in horror, while others held in laughter.

A student passed Plagg and raised a fist. “Nice duds, dude! Stick it to the man!”

Plagg responded with a gleeful grin and matching fist bump.

“Oh my god,” said Nino, as he arrived. “You look amazing.”

“My dad spilled coffee on himself this morning, and the look on his face was totally worth it.”

“God, I wish I could have been there.” Nino sighed.

“It was pretty amazing, not going to lie.”

“Oh, while we have a second...I was hoping to have a sleepover this weekend. Marinette and Alya would come over for the evening, and then leave in time for dude’s night. You in?”

“Just you and me?”

“Yeah, if that’s cool.”

“Absolutely! After school tomorrow?”

“Yeah! Marinette said your schedule was open.”

“Marinette knew that? I didn’t even know that.”

“I think she keeps track of that stuff for class activities.” He cleared his throat, not looking at him. “And for no other reason besides that.”

Plagg chuckled to himself. God, Nino was the worst liar. “I understand. Someone’s got to know my schedule if I don’t.”

“Marinette is the best, after all.” Nino puffed up his chest, doing his damndest to be a good wingman.

Plagg didn’t think he needed to try so hard, but props. “She is the best, isn’t she?”

Nino smiled widely, like he had a secret joke that wouldn’t make sense to anyone.

A pair of arms wound around his own, squeezing tightly like a boa constrictor. “Good morning Adrien!” Lila chirped.

“Morning,” Plagg returned, playing casual in front of Nino.

“I need to talk to you about the photoshoot after school.” She turned to Nino. “Can I borrow your buddy for a minute?”

“You can have him for five minutes.” Nino winked.

Lila giggled, sounding pretty realistic to an untrained ear. “Thanks Nino!” Without waiting for Plagg’s permission, she dragged him away to a sequestered corner of the courtyard.

Before Plagg could even ask what was in her mind, she turned and faced him, expression full of vitriol and rage. It was not a face he’d seen on many mortals.

“Don’t think I can’t see what you’re trying to do, Adrien.” Her voice was cold, sharp, and harsh.

Adrien shivered in Plagg’s pocket.

“And that would be...?”

“Trying to weasel your way out of our little agreement.”

Plagg blinked, remembering the arrangement they had prepared a while ago. It’s what had gotten Marinette un-expelled. Just schmooze with the brat and she’d leave Marinette alone. But it was very apparent she was ready to take any violation of this agreement as an invitation to jump right back into her conniving ways.

Plagg would hold out for now, play the long game. He had a plan, and if that failed for some unexplainable reason, then he had another one lined up. It was just a matter of finding out what bait Lila would take.

He feigned a gasp, as well as she would, and laid a hand on his chest. “Oh Lila, whatever are you talking about? I’m just having a little disagreement with my dear old dad. It’s nothing against you! Honest!”

She squinted at him. “You’re still on the schedule to model with me later today, so I’m assuming you didn’t actually quit modeling. If you had, this would have turned sour.”

“What do you mean?”

“Modeling is our ‘fun friendship’ activity, and if you try to get out of it, I’m going to assume you don’t care about Marinette after all.” She shrugged.

He laughed, a dark sinister laugh that didn’t belong on his handsome, sweet, cherubic face. “You mortals are just so cute when you think you can win against me.”

The look on Lila’s face was perfect. Part confused, part terrified. “What?”

He spoke with a voice older than time, conjuring magics from the ancient unknowns. “Dos valok th’um krosis!”

“Did...did you just cast a spell on me?”

“I don’t know, you tell me. How do your lips feel?”

She pursed her lips. “I don’t know, a little—“

“CHAPPED?” Provided Plagg, with a shit-eating grin.

“Oh my god.”

“Do not test me, Lila Rossi. You won’t win.” He gave her a pleasant little smile.

She stared in bewilderment, before chuckling right back. “Boy, you had me for a second.” She pulled out a tube of chapstick and applied some. “Are you trying to psych me out? Cause it’s not going to work.”

“Well darn,” said Plagg with a little snap of his fingers. “Thought my necromancy could spook you off. Well, if that didn’t do it, I guess you really do want to be my friend, no matter how quirky I can be.” He gave a happy little sigh.

Lila was immediately suspicious. “Sure, I want to be your friend...?” It wasn’t supposed to be a question, but Lila wasn’t convinced.

Unless Adrien really was that naïve.

“Great!” Plagg clapped. “I have to go talk to Marinette, but we’ll hang out at the shoot! It’s going to be so much fun!” And he hurried off.

Lila narrowed her eyes back in his direction. There was definitely fishy about that exchange. She couldn’t very well text Gabriel and say, “there’s something suspicious about your son. He actually wants to be my friend. Also he chapped my lips.” That would be too confusing and send all the wrong messages.

So she resigned to wait until the photoshoot after all. Since, of course, he couldn’t keep up this act for several hours in a row. She could, but she was a professional.

Her musings came to a halt as she heard the wonderful noise of Marinette’s scream. “MY EYES!!”

Lila hurried from her nook to find out what had happened. Had someone sprayed her with mace? Pocket sand?

No. Adrien was merely striking poses in front of her, and she had recoiled in horror.

“Adrien!” She stated, aghast. “How could you?!”

He posed again, butt in her direction. “You like?”

“It’s foul. Are those crocs?!”

“Yep! I contemplated on getting the little ladybug plugs for the holes, but I didn’t really think it was worth it. After all, how often do you look at a man’s feet?”

“In that outfit, it’s going to be too hard to tell what part is the worst.” Her eyes bounced over the competing patterns and made her dizzy. “Well here,” she handed over a hanger covered with a trash bag. “Your sin against fashion has been committed. I’m willing to do more, but don’t attach my name to it.”

Adrien just laughed. “Don’t worry, Pooh Bear, your secret is safe with me.”

Lila’s lips curled in disgust at the nickname. Obviously, she would tell Gabriel that Marinette was enabling his behavior. Maybe she could spin it as her influence all together. Yes, yes, that would work. Two stones and all that.

—

After school, Lila rode with Adrien to the photoshoot.

Boy, if she wanted a taste of what the day would be like, she certainly got it. And she should have taken the chance to run.

“So Nino and I started playing this game with the guys in class,” Adrien had begun, without so much as a greeting. “Have you heard of Magic: The Gathering?”

“...no?”

“Oh okay, so I’ll tell you all about it.”

As a master manipulator, Lila understood the masterful art of conversation. There were several strategies she had developed over the years. Her favorite was ‘talk passionately and allow for natural lulls in explanation so they can ask questions’. It made people feel engaged and kept them coming back for more, while she was perceived as interesting and smart, but also humble.

However, it seemed that Adrien was utilizing the beginners mistake of ‘poorly explain a subject you’re not really passionate about without letting the other person talk’. Like an underpaid substitute teacher filling in for a class they don’t know much about.

“So like, there are these cards with different landscapes on them, and they’re all different based on color, right? So there’s water or islands for blue and mountains and stuff for red, right? And each one is worth mana. And you have to use mana to play a card. Except for lands, I think. You can play those whenever, except you have to draw them, you can’t just go searching through your deck. Unless a card tells you you can.”

Finally, they arrived at the shoot, and Lila nearly fell out of the car in her haste to get away for some peace and quiet, just for a second.

Who knew that boy could talk so much?

—

Plagg and his mohawk were led to the makeup trailer. Thankfully for the hairstylist, it came with a salon sink, so Adrien didn’t have to go home and shower.

“Sorry, Mr. Agreste,” the stylist said as she draped a cape on him. “We have to flatten the mohawk.”

“That’s alright,” Plagg assured with a polite smile. “It served its purpose.”

“It was very well done, honestly,” she said with a laugh. “For not having the sides of your head shaved, that is.”

“I had to work with what I had.”

The stylist just hummed in understanding, as she started to rinse his hair, the gel melting and washing down the drain.

The stylist sighed, and gave a little huff to herself.

Plagg normally wouldn’t care, but if his meddling had inconvenienced someone else’s job, that would reflect poorly on Adrien. So, he asked. “Is everything alright?”

“Umm...” she paused, biting her lip. “Look, we’re friends right?”

Plagg didn’t even know this person’s name. “Of course.”

“Are you close to Miss Rossi? I know you guys are friends...”

“I hate her guts.” Plagg declared with a broad smile.

“Oh good!” She relaxed. “I really really hate working on her. And so does everyone else, and last time she was here, she was just—Ugh, the worst. I got so frustrated because Giuseppe and your father like her, so even if I complained, nothing would happen. Likely, I’m the one that would get in trouble. You remember Alexander, right? The lighting assistant?”

No. Not one bit. “Yeah?”

“Well, she yelled at him one time during a shoot, in the back. Apparently, she wanted coffee and he wouldn’t get it for her, even though that’s soooo not his job. So she complained to Giuseppe and got him fired! Honestly, I don’t know how he didn’t get akumatized over that.”

“I don’t either!” Plagg said, with surprise. “I knew she was a pain, but yikes...”

“I think you’re a really cool kid, Adrien. But she’s going around and telling everyone you got her this job and—“ she sighed. “People are getting resentful.”

Now Plagg was mad. It was immediately apparent that Lila had a ‘if I can’t have them, no one can’ attitude, turning the staff on Adrien if she couldn’t win them over with her outlandish lies. Adrien couldn’t afford having that many enemies. He was too soft.

“Actually...” Plagg began to explain how Lila had wound up with her job, lying to Nathalie and Gorilla to get access to his house, lying to his father to get on his good side, and all the things she did to Marinette, who he took the bullet for to protect. “She means a lot to me,” Plagg said, in regards to Marinette. “So I didn’t mind having to pretend to be Lila’s friend if it meant she could come back to school and not be harassed anymore. It seems that Lila has a loose form of friendship.”

The stylist wiped her eyes. “Oh Adrien, you’ve got such a heart of gold. I’ll set everything straight with the team. Don’t you worry!”

“I actually have a plan, that you might let everyone in on. And I apologize in advance.”

“Lay it on me.”

—

By time Lila was called in to get ready, Plagg had been groomed into a normal looking boy with normal looking hair and clothes. Though normal protocol usually had Lila in hair and make-up alone with the stylists, Plagg sat in a chair nearby, separated from her by a curtain.

“Adrien? Shouldn’t you be out there?”

“Oh it’s okay, I wanted to keep telling you about this game.”

“Oh, well, you shouldn’t keep Giuseppe…”

“He won’t mind. So, there’s a bunch of colors, right? Red, Black, Green, Blue, White, and…one more. I think there’s one more.”

A sigh was heard from the other side of the curtain.

“No, no I was right, there’s only five. But you can combine them. But not like, mix them? It’s like, Blue-Black, and Red-Black. And Green-Blue. And so different colors have different themes, right? And the themes are different based on the set. Oh yeah, there’s different sets and Wizards of the Coast release like, two or three sets a year. I think. Like they had this one that was all about Dinosaurs and pirates. But they usually aren’t that wacky. Unless it’s a joke set. Which that one wasn’t. I can’t remember the name of it right now, but it started with an ‘I’.” And he was off, explaining all he could remember of the game, from what Adrien had told him, to what he had heard while the boys played at school. If he could find a point to elaborate on, he did.

Every once in a while, he’d make eye contact with a staff member, who would in turn grin and give a secret thumbs up.

He started to run out of steam while Lila was in makeup.

Thankfully, one of the technicians with a grudge noticed, and helped him out. “Would you ever play competitively?”

Through the mirror, Plagg could see the lightbulb go off over Lila’s head. “You know, my grandfather was one of the chess masters of the world. He won lots of tournaments, and I’m sure he’d love to give you some pointers if you were interested, Adrien.”

The technician answered for him. “Chess? We’re talking about Magic: The Gathering. Two totally different games. The tournaments are pretty fun too, but I really enjoy playing at pre-releases. They usually only allow you to play with the set you’re buying, so you can’t look at them beforehand…”

Plagg beamed at the guy, thrilled with how quickly he had shut Lila down.

Lila, however, was undeterred. She met the eyes of the female stylist and just shrugged. “Boys, right? So, this weekend—“

“Shh,” the stylist hushed. “I’ve been trying for weeks to learn this game.”

Lila crossed her arms and sat silently for the rest of the session.

Once the models were all dolled up, they were escorted out to the set, and Giuseppe got to work with posing.

Here’s where Lila tried to make up for lost attention.

“Oh Giuseppe! I had such a wonderful idea for the shoot today! Since the gardens are in full bloom—“

“Which reminds me!” Plagg snapped his fingers. “Green-Black combination cards are really unique because they create a bunch of minions. Like, the cards in them have the ability to spam the battlefield with like a bunch of little guys called tokens that take a lot of extra work to get rid of. Well, like, not a ton of extra work, because they only have like one HP, but like, it's more work then you would have had to do. Wait, white, not black. Actually, I think white is the best at tokens, my mistake.”

Despite her best efforts, Lila could not suppress a full body eye roll.

It was exactly what Plagg was waiting for, and he jumped in for the finisher. He turned his sad kitten eyes to her, looking like Puss in Boots from Shrek, and asked, in the most pathetic voice he could muster. “Am I annoying you?”

Lila stared at him, as the staff and Giuseppe looked right at her, to see her response.

“I…I…” she stammered. “N-no, not at all, Adrien. I…love hearing about this game.”

He beamed. “Good! Because I have to tell you about my favorite combination of Blue-black. It’s really high in conditions and making things difficult for the opponents, right?”

Lila’s nostrils flared, but she held back any other sign of frustration. It was remarkable, really.

Plagg was quiet while Giuseppe gave directions, and during the actual shooting, but in between takes, when he didn’t have to be ‘professional’ he filled in the silence with whatever jargon he could find. He was wearing her down.

“Alright,” Giuseppe finally said. “We’re all done with you, Lila. Now it’s just Adrien’s solo shoot. But you can stay if you like.”

Lila was already halfway to the trailers. “I’m so sorry Giuseppe, I have somewhere I have to be this evening, so I’m going to head out. I’ll see everyone next time!” And she practically sprinted off set.

Once she left, Giuseppe gave a loud sigh of relief. “Now let’s get some real work done.”

—

Later that evening, when Adrien and Plagg had returned to the mansion, Adrien sat on the desk as Plagg scrolled online. Homework had been completed with ease, and it was still too early for bed.

“What are you reading?” Adrien asked.

“I’m trying to slog my way through the lore of that video game you like, the one with the Dragons. I have to have more ammunition the next time I deal with Lila. I almost ran out today.”

“Is that what I sound like?”

“What?”

“You today, when you were talking about Magic. Is that what I sound like to you? Do I ramble on?”

Plagg screwed up his lips in thought. “Mmmm, sometimes.”

Adrien hunched in on himself.

“But look. Culture and creative medium has grown astronomically in the last 200 years since I’ve been asleep. I want to know about what’s out there. I like hearing about things that you enjoy. Even if it is annoying sometimes, I still care about you. The reason I pulled this strategy is because Lila likes to talk, and she doesn’t like to listen. Even if I was talking passionately about something I knew a lot about, I doubt she would have cared. I hear how often she interrupts class.”

Adrien hadn’t thought about it like that.

“You know who Pavlov is, right?”

“Uh, the guy that did the experiment with the dog, right? He rang a bell and gave his dog a treat, and eventually the dog came to associate the bell with treats.”

“Precisely. Humans are the same way. Knowing this principle is the easiest way to win people over. You have to make them associate you with good feelings. If you treat people well, be friendly, courteous, and funny, eventually, people will like to be around you. The same works in reverse. If I can associate myself with frustration and annoyance for Lila, she won’t want to be around me. Being straight up mean to her won’t work because she’ll see that as a challenge.”

“So you have to be subtle,” Adrien concluded. “Thats…that’s genius.”

“I know.”

“So you don’t think I’m annoying?”

Plagg rubbed him between the ears. “I only found you annoying when you would complain about Ladybug, your dad, or Lila. But now, in your shoes, I’ve realized how easy it is to get frustrated about these things. But hopefully soon enough, you won’t even have to worry about it.”

Adrien smiled brightly. “Thanks Plagg. I hated this at first…but you really are making some progress.”

“Told you. Now, help me pack. You have your first sleepover tomorrow night.”

“My first sleepover, and I’m going to spend it crammed in a bag!”

#miraculous ladybug #ml #adrien agreste #plagg #I'll handle this #fanfiction #adrienette

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spicykoreantatertots · 4 years ago

Text

Spine Breaker

Pairing: Jimin x Female Reader

Word Count: 959

Rating: PG

Genres: SFW, College AU

Summary: You have to team up with dance student Jimin on your art project.

Warnings: Taehyung says mean things about Jimin bc he doesn’t know him. :(

A/N: This is part of my new drabble series that I’m doing for ficswithluv’s Bulletproof Bingo! 24 drabbles in 12 days so I can get that blackout before the deadline. See my challenge post here and the master list here! Message or send an ask to be on the taglist!

This has not been beta read, please be kind. 💜

~~~~~~~

Today is the most excited you’ve been to go to class all semester. As a freshman in art school, you aren’t actually creating as much art as you thought you would be. There’s so much history and theory to learn before they even hand you a set of paints.

The only class that actually lets you create, Drawing 1, is starting a new unit today. Moving on from Still Life to The Human Body. It’s not easy to capture the curves and lines and life of a human body, but that’s why you love it. It’s a challenge.

“I heard they’re pairing us up with students from the Dance Program for the unit project.” Taehyung, the boy who usually sits next to you, sits down and leans over to continue talking. “Do you have any friends in dance?”

“No... why?” Students continue filing into the class, chattering about the upcoming project.

“I heard we get to choose our partners. I’ve got a friend, Hoseok. He’s an amazing dancer and he’ll be fun to work with.” Taehyung is already doodling vague human-like shapes on his notebook.

“I don’t know anyone in dance.” Taehyung waves you off, everything will be fine. Surely not every art student has friends in dance. Right?

Wrong. After a brief introduction of the Human Body unit, the professor ushers in the dance students. You eye the line of students at the front of the room, trying to find someone who looks friendly. You see a few familiar faces from around campus, but most people seem to be avoiding eye contact.

When the professor allows everyone to pick their partners, the room becomes chaotic. Everyone makes their way quickly to their friends. Unfortunately most students immediately match up and before you can even catch your breath, you are face to face with the last dance student.

He is the most stunning man you’ve ever seen. His body is lean, muscles visible under his form fitting clothes. His eyes are hidden behind a pair of designer sunglasses that are probably worth more than your entire wardrobe. His face somehow has a sharp jawline and beautiful full cheeks. And his lips...

“I’m Park Jimin.” He says, handing you a slip of paper with his name and phone number. “Text me to set up a time to work on the project. I spend most of my time in practice room 13, so we’ll probably meet there.”

“I, uh, okay.” You were about to introduce yourself too, but he’s already walking away. Taehyung approaches you once Jimin is gone. He pats your shoulder, comforting you.

“Park Jimin, huh? Good luck with that...” He trails off.

“What do you mean by that? Do you know him?” You question as you make your way back to your seat.

“No, but I’ve heard he’s a brat. Did you see his outfit? He’s rude and entitled and I’ve also heard his poor parents work two jobs each to pay for his school and yet still he spends his money on designer clothes.” Taehyung explains. You turn the slip of paper Jimin gave over in your hands. He can’t really be that bad, can he?

You: Hey, this is Y/N, I’m your partner for the art project. [1:57pm]

You: I’m fine with meeting you in your practice room, but what time and day is good? [4:31pm]

You: Hello... [8:32pm]

Jimin: I was practicing, sorry. If you’re free tomorrow stop by anytime between 2pm and 11pm. [9:02pm]

You: Okay, I’ll stop by after class. Around 4? [9:05pm]

There’s no response after that. Are you really supposed to believe he was practicing for seven hours without checking his phone. Maybe Taehyung was right about him after all.

Standing in front of practice room 13 in the dance building, you’re feeling a weird mix of nervous and annoyed. Jimin seemed very disinterested in this project. All he has to do is hold a pose and let you draw, but apparently that’s asking a lot.

You take a deep breath and knock on the door. After waiting about thirty seconds, you knock again a little louder. Then the door opens quickly and Jimin pokes his head out. He’s sweating.

“Oh. It’s you. Come in.” He opens the door and steps aside so you can enter. Jimin is wearing some sweats, still looking like a greek god. His face is clear of sunglasses, so you get a chance to see his eyes. Much like the rest of him, they are beautiful. And surprisingly kind.

He walks over to his bag and jacket in the corner near the stereo system. He grabs a water bottle and wipes the sweat from his face with the back of his hand. You find a spot near the door to sit down.

“Do you have any poses in mind?” You question him as you get your sketch pad and pencils out. When you look up, Jimin is watching you carefully.

“Why don’t you watch me dance and then we can discuss.” Before you can respond, he cues up a pop song and moves to the center of the room.

He begins by moving his arms slowly, delicately. But as the music builds, his dancing becomes more intense, using his whole body, hitting each beat with precise movements. He twists, spins, jumps, and pushes his body to the extreme. The passion in his eyes makes you second guess everything negative you’ve heard about him.

The song ends, Jimin is breathing heavily.

“Did you find any inspiration?” He’s wearing a smirk across his face and you notice that your mouth is hanging open, you’re amazed and it shows. Working on this project is going to be even more challenging than you thought.

~~~~~~~

Stay tuned for part two! (Filter 😉)

~~~~~~~

A/N: Thank you so much for reading. Check out my masterlist here and the series masterlist here. I’m always looking for betas and friends so send me a message! :)

#ficswithluv #fwlbingo #magicshopnet #bangtanhq #park jimin #jimin #jimin x reader #jimin fan fic #jimin fan fiction #dancer!jimin #bts #bts fan fiction #bts fan fic

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waywardodysseys · 5 years ago

Text

Nobody but You - Chapter Two

Pairing: Pedro Pascal x plus size female reader

Warnings: cussing, slow burn

Requested?: Yes by @tyferbebe in regards to this post

Author’s note: first person narrative (reader), third person narrative (Pedro); this includes a song - lyrics are indented; date idea and insert of song was a suggestion by the wonderful @tyferbebe

Nobody but You: Chapter One

~ ~ ~

“Dress comfortable,” Pedro’s voice is smooth in my ear.

I roll my eyes and groan. “Dress comfortably? Really?”

Pedro laughs, “we’re going somewhere exciting! Though it’s little bit of a car ride, but I promise – it’ll be worth it.”

I sigh lightly, “alright. Okay.”

“Great! I will pick you up around three on Saturday. See you then!”

“See you then,” I remark before I’m listening to nothing.

I place my phone on the counter as my heartbeat returns to normal. Or I think it does.

Pedro and I are going on a date. A date. A date?

Oh, fuck. What have I gotten myself into?

I sigh as I finish my dinner of leftover Chinese food from a couple of days ago. Work’s been busy for the last few weeks. Pedro and I haven’t had time to see one another privately. He was called out to California for The Mandalorian and I got pulled into a project at work so the only thing we could do for the last few weeks was talk on the phone.

I had thought about the kiss we shared for days on end, still think about it now. My mind had wondered endlessly about his hands roaming my body – traveling over my skin, touching every curve.

I had moaned thinking about him sitting at my desk one day and Kay looked over at me with a raised brow.

“What ya thinking about?” She had asked.

“Nothing,” I had mumbled.

She had smirked and laughed, “thinking about the kiss?”

I had rolled my eyes, “whatever Kay.”

She had giggled lightly and returned to her work.

Now I hover my thumb above her name in my phone. I press the green button and place the call on speaker.

“Y/N!” Her voice is full of sunshine and rainbows.

“Kay,” I sigh.

“What’s wrong?” Her voice turns to concern instantly.

“Pedro told me to dress comfortably for our date. Which could mean anything!”

“He say anything else?”

“Bit of a car ride.”

Kay sighs, “could mean anything sweetie! Maybe to throw you off?!”

“I don’t know what to wear!” I sigh in frustration.

“It’s springtime Y/N! Dress for warm weather but maybe cool weather too. Maybe some capris or comfy jeans and a comfy top. Make sure you take a jacket. Your phone, some money, a condom.” Kay snickers.

“Oh my god! Really Kay?”

“What?” She nearly shrieks in laughter. “Always be prepared sweetie!”

I blush and sigh, “thanks for the help.”

“You’re welcome! Maybe I should stop by Friday night?”

“You have a date. Don’t skip it on my account.”

Kay smiles, “text me pics of some outfits! Love ya sweetie!”

“Love you too. Bye.”

I walk to my bedroom, turn towards my closet. I open the door and look at all the hanging clothes.

I sigh heavily. I don’t know where to begin.

-------

Pedro parks the car he’s borrowing along the curb outside Y/N’s building. He checks his watch, notices it’s only 2:30. He’s early but he couldn’t wait to lay his eyes on her.

He hasn’t seen her in a few weeks and missed her every day. Missed her soft mouth, her plush curves. Missed her eyes looking at him in bewilderment after they shared a kiss in her apartment.

The kiss. Pedro’s mind thinks of the moment he brushed his mouth against hers. He had been waiting a long time to do so. Was afraid of what her reaction would be.

Pedro and Y/N’s friendship had blossomed out of a chance meeting inside a bookstore. He had liked her instantly with her dazzling eyes, beautiful smile, and quiet laugh. He had wanted more with her back then, but he settled on being friends.

He watched as men walked into her life then left just as quickly. He had sat with her, helped her eat ice cream and watch sappy movies. He had gone out with her and Kay to drink to get her mind off the broken heart. He had watched other guys approach her, make her smile, make her laugh. He had hated himself for not stepping up and making it known he wanted her sooner than now.

Pedro gets out of the car and heads inside the building. He makes his way up and knocks on her door.

“Hold on!” Comes her muffled voice from the other side.

Seconds later Y/N opens the door and smiles widely, “Pedro.”

Pedro steps in and cups her cheeks. He brushes his mouth along hers. He pulls her close and deepens the kiss.

Y/N puts her arms around Pedro, returning the kiss as eagerly as he is. She moans lightly against his mouth as his tongue sweeps across her soft lips. She lets him in, and Pedro returns the light moan.

Pedro and Y/N stand wrapped in one another as they let their mouths fuse together, soaking in one another after weeks apart.

-------

Pedro’s plush lips are soft against mine as he kisses me deeply. His tongue dances with mine as his arms tighten around me. I never want to let him go.

I need to breathe. I pull faintly away and smile.

“Pedro,” I sigh happily.

He smiles at me as he runs a finger across my lips. “I’ve missed you.”

“I missed you too.”

Pedro looks me over.

I am dressed in comfortable blue jeans and a cotton purple shirt (approved by Kay), along with a light jacket. I was dressed and ready to go hours ago. I had spent most of the day staring at my phone and catching up on some T.V. I was aching to see him, to touch him, to know this is real. To know what we are doing today is real. A date. An actual date with the man standing before me.

My eyes roam his body. He’s dressed comfortable as well. A loose-fitting short sleeve maroon button down top, khaki shorts, and a pair of TOMS. A pair of sunglass sits atop his head.

“You look overly comfy,” I mutter.

Pedro shrugs, “I know where we are going.”

I laugh and grin, “well I don’t mister. So, if I am wearing the wrong thing you better tell me now.”

Pedro grabs my hand and kisses the top of it. “You’ll be fine. Are you ready?”

“Yes,” I sigh making sure to check my pockets. Phone, money, condom. I make sure it’s tucked tightly in my jeans. There’s no way in hell this man needs to know I have one – but hey, you never know.

Pedro pulls me towards the landing, “let’s go then. Come on!”

“Okay,” I smile as I close the door behind us and lock it.

We walk down flights of stairs and into the warm air and shining sun of a Brooklyn spring. I’m able to smell fumes and gasoline but I can also make out the smell of cherry blossoms. My street is adorned with the beautiful blossoming white petal trees.

Pedro pulls me towards a car I’ve never seen before.

“You’re driving?”

“Hey now! Just cause I’m a New Yorker doesn’t mean I can’t drive.” He laughs as he walks over to the driver’s side, placing the sunglasses over his eyes.

“Mhm,” I hum under my breath.

The thought of him driving might’ve crossed my mind but I guess our date is a bit of drive. He wasn’t throwing me off when he told me that tidbit of information when he called a couple of days ago.

Pedro looks at me and smiles, “we want to get going Y/N. We need to get a good spot.”

I sigh and open the passenger side door. I slide in as he does the same.

Pedro starts the car, “buckle up. Safety first.”

“Of course, mister Pascal,” I remark sarcastically as I grab the seat belt and buckle it, “definitely going to need it.”

Pedro grins and shakes his head. “Find some music. I’m the pilot and you’re the D.J.”

I smile as I turn on the radio and we begin the car ride to the surprise he has waiting.

Two hours later Pedro pulls off the highway and drives through Southampton. People are walking the streets, carrying chairs and coolers, making their way towards the beach.

Pedro looks over at me and smiles, “concert on the beach.”

I look over and smile back, “my kind of night.”

“I have a few things in the trunk too.”

“Like bikes?” I joke. “Parking’s horrendous.”

“We’ll be fine,” Pedro remarks as he pulls into a parking lot near the beach.

“You know it says customers only,” I point out the sign.

Pedro grabs my hand and kisses it, “it’s fine.”

I roll my eyes, “says the man, who when we come back, won’t have a car.”

“Trust me. We are fine. We’ll have a ride home.”

Pedro parks the car and gets out. He walks back to the trunk as I get out of the car. He notices my eyes go wide as I notice what’s inside.

“A picnic Pedro?” I whisper.

He opens the cooler and basket, “with some of your favorite junk food, and mine. Grab something, please.”

Pedro and I grab things from the trunk, close it then make our way down the street and towards the throng of people. Towards the laughter and chaos of people finding spots to set their chairs, lay their blankets. Children running after one another, some splashing into the crystal blue waters of the ocean.

I smell the ocean air as we make our way towards the far end of the beach. I notice couples sitting up their own little picnics, smiling at one another, kissing each other lightly.

“Perfect,” Pedro grins as he finds a spot with not many people around.

“You sure we going to hear the band from back here?” I ask with a smile.

Pedro brushes my lips, “I’m sure.”

We unfold the blankets and lay them down.

“Good evening Southampton!” A voice carries down to our ears from the stage.

The crowd erupts in cheers.

“This special concert is for all you wonderful people! Here they are, our favorite local band Exit 32!”

The crowd erupts again as music begins playing from the stage.

-------

Pedro watches her smile and move to the music. She’s carefree and beautiful.

He smiles to himself wondering why he hadn’t had the courage before now, well before a few weeks ago to ask her out. It appeared she never wanted more with him, yet he did but the night at the bar when she had turned her back on him and walked away, he desperately hoped she’d turn around. But she didn’t.

He had hated seeing her sad, hated seeing her heart get broken. Didn’t like the men who used her then walked away with caring about her and her feelings. In the years Pedro had known Y/N, he had never seen her truly happy with a man, and he wanted to be the one to change it for her. He wanted to be the forever man, the one to be with her for the rest of her days.

Pedro opens the cooler and hands her some food.

She smiles widely, “thank you.”

Pedro and Y/N settle in for the evening. Listening to the music of the band playing anything from country to pop, hip-hop to classical. They watch people dance and laugh, hear people sing along to their favorite songs.

They enjoy being in the presence of one another as they take in the sights, sounds, and smells of their first date.

-------

The sun begins to sink behind us, and I try to sear everything to my memory. I don’t want to forget this date. The best first date, in my opinion, of my life. It was perfect.

Listening to a local band, sitting on the beach, enjoying junk food. Being with someone I want to be with because I want to be with them. Not someone who will eventually toss me aside.

My mind starts racing at this thought. I need to push it aside.

Pedro and I have been friends for years, he would never do such a thing. Would he? He wouldn’t! My mind is firm in this accusation.

Pedro wouldn’t toss me aside after…

He’s seen me through many heartbreaks. Sat with me in my apartment eating from ice cream containers watching sappy movies with me. Listening to me cry and groan over the most mundane things a romantic movie could do to make people feel happy. He’d tell me there are more fish in the sea, others who will see me for me.

No, I think, Pedro wouldn’t toss me aside. He knows how my heart will break if he does.

I’d lose him forever. I’d lose a friend, a close friend. I’d never recover from a broken heart if Pedro was the one doing the breaking.

“Want to dance?” Pedro’s voice interrupts my fast thinking thoughts of negativity and doubt.

I clear my head. The music the band is playing sounds familiar to me. It’s soft and romantic. It’s “Just a Kiss” by Lady Antebellum.

“Yes,” I whisper as I take Pedro’s outstretched hand.

Lyin' here with you so close to me It's hard to fight these feelings when it feels so hard to breathe Caught up in this moment Caught up in your smile

Pedro wraps his arms around me then runs the back of one hand down my cheek. Goosebumps cover my flesh instantly. His coffee colored eyes look at me, look into me.

I've never opened up to anyone So hard to hold back when I'm holding you in my arms We don't need to rush this Let's just take it slow

His lips are pillow soft as they sweep against mine. His hand travels into my hair as he pulls me closer to deepen the kiss. My hands travel up his arms, across his broad shoulders. I loop them around his neck as my fingers weave themselves through his hair.

Just a kiss on your lips in the moonlight Just a touch of the fire burning so bright No I don't want to mess this thing up I don't want to push too far Just a shot in the dark that you just might Be the one I've been waiting for my whole life So baby I'm alright, with just a kiss goodnight

My body is flooding with heat and pleasure. I’ve never felt more alive and beautiful in this moment. Pedro’s awakening me in ways I never thought possible. I want him, need him. I never want to let him go.

I know that if we give this a little time It'll only bring us closer to the love we wanna find It's never felt so real, no it's never felt so right

Pedro’s free hand is traveling down my side. It’s light but I still feel his touch through my clothes. He goes over the curve of my stomach, the thickness of my hip. Waves of goosebumps keep covering my skin. I shiver in his arms and he pulls me closer without removing his mouth from mine.

I am lost. I don’t want to be found. I never want to be found. Being lost in Pedro’s embrace and kiss is exhilarating and adding to the heat and pleasure already pulsating through my body.

No I don't want to say goodnight I know it's time to leave, but you'll be in my dreams

Tonight Tonight Tonight

The world is turning around us, but Pedro and I are frozen in this moment. We are oblivious to the world. I don’t care, he doesn’t care. In this precise moment, it’s us. It’s him and I. There’s no one else for me, I want there to be no one else. I need there to be no one else. Pedro is the one. I feel it in my gut and when you feel it in your gut you know it’s the right instinct to follow.

Pedro pulls faintly away. We are both breathless.

He traces a thumb over my swollen lips, “beautiful.”

I blush and try to hide my face, but he cups my cheek and makes me look at him.

“You are Y/N,” Pedro whispers, “there’s no one else I’d rather with than you.”

My heart’s already pounding inside of my chest.

“Pedro,” is all I’m able to muster as I smile at him.

Pedro leans down and whispers, “I need you Y/N. I want to take you home and have you.”

I swallow, knowing the drive back to Brooklyn is going to be the longest car ride of my life.

Tags: @pascalisthepunkest, @kaelyn-lobrutto24, @mandadl0rian, @knight-of-heart44, @jokersdoll, @cosmo-bear, @caitlincat-95, @readsalot73, @random066, @stardust-and-starlight, @behindmyeyes-insidemyhead, @longitud-de-onda, @arrowswithwifi, @bonkybaaarnes, @halefirewarrior, @x-wingwarriorbbpoe8, @earl-01

#nobody but you chapter 2 #pedro pascal #pedro pascal fanfiction #pedro pascal x plus size reader #pedro pascal x reader #request #multichapter #plus size reader #nobody but you #songfic

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tjkiahgb · 5 years ago

Text

Episode Recap: 3.20, “We Were Here”

Guys, I’m sorry. I know the whole idea is, oh, tjkiahgb does his funny little recap and makes his jokes and all that.

I don’t know what to do about this episode.

I feel like this recap is just going to be a bunch of screencaps and me writing “I’m emotional!” underneath each of them. I’m going to have to do 15 paragraphs on Celia in a dinosaur costume just to have anything to say.

Alright, well, let’s see if I can pull myself together long enough to do this.

OH MY GOD, IT’S THE LAST “PREVIOUSLY ON ANDI MACK” WE’RE EVER GOING TO SEE. I NEED TO LIE DOWN!

Okay. I’m back. Let’s try this again.

For the last time, our episode begins at Celia’s house.

Celia’s all packed and ready for a trip. She gives Bex her orders and lays down the law.

Bex is like, come on, mom, you know we’re going to have a party.

And Celia’s like, yeah.

Consider this my wedding gift.

Celia departs for places unknown and...

OH NO IT’S THE LAST TIME WE’LL EVER SEE THE INTRO! HELP MEEEEE!

At Bex’s, Andi and Bex gather supplies for the party.

Bex is like, oh thank God we still have those. It’s not a party until the cheaply made SWAG sunglasses make an appearance.

They start making a list of the essentials for a party: food, balloons, glow-sticks.

Bex says she’s been meaning to get one of those. So, wait, she doesn’t already have one in the apartment’s emergency preparedness kit? What happens if there’s a natural disaster?

Bowie wanders in and they let him know there’s going to be a party. Bex and Andi start wondering what they’re going to wear to the party. Andi runs off to decide, but Bowie holds Bex back for a second to talk to her.

Bowie goes to retrieve a letter he brought in from the mailbox.

But, more importantly:

THE CAT! An appearance in the finale for The Cat! He’s been here since season one, he deserves it!

Bowie tells Bex there’s a situation. Andi has received a letter from SAVA.

The two wonder about the letter. Acceptance letters usually have a lot of paperwork and such in them and arrive in bigger envelopes. Rejection letters, on the other hand, are usually just a piece of paper that says “Thanks but no thanks.” on it.

They worry about how sad it’ll make Andi if it’s a rejection letter, and don’t want to ruin her night with that possibility, so they decide to keep it quiet for now.

Then Andi appears and Bex sits on the letter. Andi tells her she found something for her to wear, so Bex gets up and Bowie jumps on the letter like it’s a grenade.

Once he thinks the coast is clear, he gets off of it, but then Andi appears again and Bowie crumples up the letter in his hands to hide it and does this completely natural thing...

Oh, don’t mind me, just listening to my hands.

Andi tells him she picked out something for him to wear, too, and runs off.

Bowie examines the state of the letter.

On the bright side, if it is a rejection letter, you can always say this is how it showed up and trash SAVA for lacking the decency to take any care in mailing their letters. I mean, if this is how they mail stuff, imagine how little care they show in other places! Who would want to go to such a school anyway, right?

That night, everything is in place for the party.

Bex comes walking down the stairs in her wedding dress, which looks nice but feels impractical for a night of partying.

Andi tells her how beautiful she looks.

There’s a knock at the door. Andi lets Bowie in. He’s wearing his father’s tux.

Andi starts up some music and invites the bride and groom to the floor for their first dance.

And-- oh GOD it’s the song from the first season.

Well, we’re six minutes in and I guess this is going to mark the point of the episode where I start going under and just never recover.

The party is in full swing now. Cyrus finds Buffy watching Marty from across the room as he chats up another girl. Cyrus asks her if things are still weird between the two of them but she doesn’t know. He asks her what she would like things to be like between them.

Buffy feels that Marty doesn’t like her anymore. Like like. Cyrus doesn’t believe that’s true, but Buffy says Marty said it himself.

He’s like, you’re really going to believe the word of a known liar like Marty? If he’s so honest, what’s his last name? And don’t you dare say Fromdaparty.

Then TJ walks in and Buffy’s like, perfect timing, let’s get off my thing and onto yours, Cyrus.

And TJ’s like...

*waves in goofy*

And Cyrus is like...

*waves in goofy back*

Look, in fairness, there’s no way to wave enthusiastically without looking goofy. That’s why we invented that like, hand up thing, where you just put your palm out and hold it there for a second. But that’s for business scenarios and not parties. You’re at a party and see the boy you’re crushing on, you do a goofy, enthusiastic wave. It’s how it goes.

Then Kira walks in and the atmosphere instantly drops.

If some random kid came running in and shouted that they found a dead opossum on the floor of the bathroom, it could not have made the mood in the room worse. There’s a non-zero chance it could’ve made things better because at least we’re wondering where the opossum came from now.

Buffy assures Cyrus that the reason TJ is hanging out with Kira is not because he likes her, but he doesn’t agree. He thinks that ship has sailed.

So Buffy and Cyrus commiserate, both thinking they’ve lost their opportunity to get their man.

Later, Kira and TJ watch from the sidelines as the others dance.

How did Cyrus take and pass a dance class and get worse at dancing?

Kira asks TJ why he doesn’t want to dance. He says he just doesn’t want to.

Kira notes Cyrus dancing and starts to laugh.

TJ’s like, what’s so funny? Kira says look at Cyrus.

TJ’s like, yeah, he’s great, but Kira’s still laughing at him. TJ tells her she can’t do that -- laugh at someone for their dancing. Kira’s like, you thought it was funny. TJ’s like, no, I thought it was fun. There’s a big difference.

So, Kira’s like, okay, here we go again.

She says that if she made him pick between her and Cyrus, he’d pick Cyrus. TJ’s like, the fact that you’re even going to the place where you’d think of making me pick proves how wrong this all is.

Kira says that answers her question and exits the party.

The party continues on.

Electronic music starts, the lights go down, and the dinosaur descends the staircase.

Nice to get one last sentence in before the end where I can write what’s literally happening on the screen, take a step back and go, what the hell did I just write?

Everyone gathers round to watch the neon dinosaur dance. They chant “Go Andi! Go Andi!”

Then Andi shows up.

Their next guess is Jonah, but then he shows up, too. He couldn’t find the dinosaur costume because it had been stolen by the mystery dancer.

The music ends and the audience cheers for the dancing dinosaur, who finally reveals herself, ripping off her face mask like a Scooby Doo villain.

Everyone gasps. They’re like, uh oh, the party police are here and they showed up in a T-Rex costume for some reason.

But then Celia’s like...

Everyone wants to know what Celia’s doing back. She’s like, well, I got four hours out and realized I’d rather be attending one of these parties than on a vacation somewhere so I turned around and came back and snuck into the house through a second story window so no one would see me and inflated this dinosaur suit and put it on and waited for the right music to start and shut off the lights and came downstairs and performed this dance routine. Was it worth it? I spent the whole four hours on the way back practicing that “No parties, just kidding” thing.

And everyone’s like, yeah, it was alright.

And Celia’s like, okay, cool.

She’s like, I’m glad I tried fun. And then she walks off and that’s the last we ever see of her. From strict mom to dancing grandma in a dinosaur suit. What a ride. I hope she enjoys her vacation.

Later on, TJ has gotten on stage with a piano. He starts playing the intro to “Born This Way”.

TJ, NO! We don’t have the money for the rights to that song! Are you crazy? Can I interest you in some generic production music that can be purchased for a tenth the cost? Maybe something in the public domain? How about we all sing “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”?

But it’s too late. TJ, to celebrate his liberation from Kira, elects to come out to the entire party by showing he knows how to play the gayest song of all time on the piano by heart.

The whole party is like, oh, this is nice. He’s playing some music. And then Cyrus is like...

SURPRISE! I have a microphone and this is a performance now!

Amber starts singing, too. TJ calls up Jonah and/or Bowie to get on stage and provide some guitar, but then Bex is like...

SURPRISE! I have a guitar and I know how to play it!

Jonah and Andi get on stage and get thrown mics.

Buffy grabs a mic and joins in. The entire cast can sing! It’s a musical miracle.

Cyrus joins TJ on the stage and they sing together.

Bowie at some point also wandered up with his own guitar and joined Bex.

Everyone performs in the song, except for Marty, who just kinda sings from the sidelines like, “Eh, this is nice but pop’s not my genre.”

The song comes to a finish.

Everyone celebrates how good that was despite it never having been rehearsed.

A gosh-dang musical miracle, I tell ya.

Later on outside, Jonah finds Andi and tells her he has something for her. Andi immediately panics. Jonah reassures her it is not one of his famous terrible gifts, like the piece of rice with Andi’s misspelled name on it. He asks if that was the worst present ever.

Jonah says this isn’t a present anyway.

He found their bracelet. The one thought lost for so long. Well, he didn’t find it.

Oh, Judy Bartholomew, you never cease to impress!

Jonah offers it back to Andi, who promises to make it disappear forever. But Jonah says, he actually wanted to know if he could keep it. It’s a great bracelet and he’s always liked it.

Andi puts the bracelet on him. She wonders what things would’ve been like if they’d met when they were older and more mature.

Well, older, at least.

Back inside the party, Buffy finds Marty at his usual party position, hanging around the food table. She starts reenacting the conversation from their first meeting. They get to the “eat a live frog” bit and Marty can’t continue.

Buffy tells him that she didn’t think that. She found him funny. Marty warns her that she is dangerously close to complimenting him. She tells him it was a compliment.

Buffy wants to try having a conversation to see if they can. So they ask each other how their day was and both agree they had fine days. Marty asks her what the next step is and Buffy decides the next step is to leave.

Buffy heads outside, but Marty chases after her. He says he thinks he messed it up and wants to try the straightforward thing again. He tells her to go first.

Yep, that’s straightforward. Marty compliments her on how straightforward it was. Buffy tells him that’s all she wanted him to know, in case he ever changes his mind about liking her, but Marty’s like...

He goes in for a kiss.

They smile at each other and head back into the party.

Cyrus, meanwhile, heads to the backyard where he finds TJ sitting on...

T H E B E N C H.

Cyrus asks what happened to Kira. TJ says he poured water on her and she melted. Boy’s dropping Judy Garland movie references now. Really laying it on thick.

TJ says Kira’s not a nice person, but Cyrus reminds him people used to say that about him, almost verbatim.

Cyrus says he knows that, but there are things he didn’t know, like that TJ played piano. TJ tells him his mom is a piano teacher. Cyrus didn’t know that either. TJ promises he’s not that mysterious, just ask him anything.

TJ panics. He’s like, oh, you went right for the kill shot. He doesn’t want to say what his name is. He says there are only like five living souls on this planet who know what TJ stands for, and they are all of Kippen blood.

TJ’s really digging himself a hole here with Cyrus. The more you sell the mystery of this, the more a kid like Cyrus will want to know.

“My name’s only ever been said out loud once before, by the doctor who filled out the birth certificate, and then he disappeared, never to be seen again! Mythology says that my name used to be sung by the Sirens, who’d use it to lure unsuspecting sailors to their dooms! Legend says there’s a secret cave in the Gobi Desert, and that if you shout my name into it, a trap door will open revealing billions of dollars in hidden treasure! So surely you must understand, I can’t possibly tell you what it is.”

Cyrus says if he doesn’t learn what TJ’s full name is, he will literally die of curiosity. Now faced with the impending death of his crush, TJ realizes he must make the ultimate sacrifice to save his life and tell him what his name is. First, he swears him to secrecy. Cyrus swears.

TJ tells him his parents were way into music, so they named him after their favorite artists:

This is where I’d make a joke like, “It could’ve been worse, they could’ve named him...” but I don’t have a way to finish that sentence. I guess like, Beethoven Mozart, so then he couldn’t even use his initials or they’d be B.M.?

You know, though, it’s such an odd name, it becomes immediately endearing.

To Cyrus as well. They didn’t come all this way, accepting each other through everything, to be stopped in the finale by bad dancing or weird names.

TJ says his grandparents stepped in to intervene. They were like, this is preposterous and we’re not going to spend what short time remains of our lives on so many syllables! He’s TJ!

TJ asks if there’s anything else Cyrus wants to know and then he makes just the ever-so-slightest of hand movements toward him and I’m telling you right now, I don’t know if I will ever be okay watching this.

I’m serious. I don’t know when I’ll be able to watch this scene and see that hand movement and not get emotional. Definitely not now, and I can’t imagine anytime soon.

Cyrus sees his hand. He asks TJ is there’s anything else he wants to tell him.

TJ asks Cyrus if there’s anything he wants to tell him.

They grab each other’s hand.

And both let out this nervous exhale.

And they hold each other’s hand and smile at each other as the screen fades to black.

Just the two of them, together, in their own little world.

I get that people might have wanted more, more words, more actions, and I don’t necessarily disagree. I don’t think there’s a hypothetical version of this scene that has more and is bad or anything.

But, in my opinion, I think this is brilliant. In its subtlety and in its simplicity, this is one of the sweetest, most graceful, most touching ways I’ve ever seen two people express their affection for one another. That they’ve been through so much, and that they know each other so well that they can just look at each other and only need to say yes to tell the other one all they need to know, to tell each other everything? I’m not going to label two middle schoolers as “in love” because, look, they’re kids and it’s middle school. But what I will say is this: that’s what love is. When someone knows you so intensely and so intimately that you don’t have to say it. When all you have to do is look at someone to know. It’s a connection that goes beyond words. It’s beautiful.

Or, in other words, I’m emotional!

Later, after the party has ended, the GHC, Jonah, and Bex and Bowie hang out in the backyard, reminiscing.

Andi shares a picture of the GHC starting second grade.

From the day they met.

Buffy remarks how they’re still together after all these years. And Cyrus says they always will be. And Andi says...

They’re like, uh oh. Andi says she wants to show them something and leads them to Andi Shack, which has been stripped clean.

They ask why, and Andi tells them she doesn’t need the Shack anymore. She needs a studio because she got into SAVA, which makes her parents very happy, but bums out Cyrus and Buffy. They’re happy for her, but...

This is going to change things.

Bex remarks how a lot of life has happened in Andi Shack. We see some nice clips from over the years, and, if you liked those, you can see more clips by purchasing previous seasons of Andi Mack on your preferred streaming platform. (And coming to Disney+ this Fall!)

Bex tells Andi how proud she is of her and they hug.

Bowie hugs her, too, and tells her she’s going to do great things.

And then, like responsible adults, they decide to go clean up the house. We’ve all really grown so much, haven’t we?

Andi regroups with Cyrus, Buffy, and Jonah. Cyrus says they should be mindful of the moment because after this, we’re all going our separate ways. They all yell at Cyrus for this.

Andi reassures them all that no matter where they go or what they do, they’ll always be a part of each other’s lives.

And then they do this weird sort of group imagine thing where they actually manifest images of the future.

Where they’re all like, doing adult things, but also, still look like children? It’s, um... it’s a little odd.

But I’m going to retain my positivity and head for the finish line.

Andi asks Jonah to take a picture of the GHC standing together as they did on that first day of second grade. Then, Cyrus drops a Winnie the Pooh quote: “You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”

The four share one last group hug.

Andi asks if they’re all going to meet tomorrow at The Spoon, and they agree.

Each one hugs Andi one last time before exiting.

Andi watches them leave, then heads inside Andi Shack to put up the pictures. She smiles and walks out.

And that, my friends, is a wrap on Andi Mack.

This isn’t goodbye -- I’ve got a little more stuff planned -- but I think this is probably the thing that will be read by the most amount of people familiar with my blog, so let me just say this here: if you’ve read any or all of my recaps, or even if you’re just reading this one, thank you. I have loved writing them and I have loved being a part of this fandom, and I appreciate all of you who took the time to be a part of it with me.

This show and this fandom have been such an amazing experience for me, and it has brought me so much joy this past year and a half. So, once again, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

I will truly never forget it.

#Andi Mack #Buffy Driscoll #Cyrus Goodman #TJ Kippen #Jonah Beck #Bex Mack #Bowie Quinn #Celia Mack #Amber #Marty #Kira #Andi #The Cat #Tyrus #Bexie #Muffy #Jandi #episode recaps

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mirkwoodshewolf · 5 years ago

Text

A day at Disneyland; Chris Hemsworth x reader

*Author’s note*

Hello and good afternoon everybody! So this is a request that I have had done for the past couple of days but I’ve been on a deadline with another request that I’m trying to get done before their bday tomorrow (I’m about half way done with it) but this one is probably my first ever Hemsworth story I had ever done (So I’ve done half of the Chris quartet). Now my knowledge of Disneyland is minimal to none cause I’ve never been to Cally so the only Disney experience I’ve had is Disneyworld down in Florida, but I hope I still did some justice for this fic.

No warnings except PURE, UNADULTERATED, TEETH-ROTTING G RATED FLUFF!!!

Taglist:

@psychosupernatural

@ixchel-9275

@plethora-of-things

@waddles03

_______________________________________________________

I was packing up the car getting ready to prepare for the 2 and a half hour drive to downtown LA so that the kids and I could go to Disneyland. My name is (y/n) (l/n) and I’ve been a single mom for three years. My ex-husband and I were having some problems, constantly fighting until finally one stupid mistake on his part landed him in the LA prison.

Furious and disappointed, I filed for divorce because I didn’t want his bad influence to affect our children and it was hard on us, especially my eldest son Dean. He and his daddy were close ever since he was born, but when I was forced to tell him that his daddy wasn’t ever gonna get out of prison, it was hard for him to cope.

It was tough raising not only 2 growing boys but a newborn baby girl at the same time. My little girl, Leia will never get to know her father because of his stupidity and I don’t want to expose her to him. At first I thought I’d never get to have the father figure my kids needed because it was just me and my sister and my mom who was helping me raise my kids, my dad sadly passed away due to a stroke shortly after my second son Henry was born.

That was until by sheer luck of fate as I was coming home from the store when I accidentally dropped all my well-paid food, that a handsome blonde stranger came into my life.

I had no idea at the time who he was until Dean (whose obsessed with all things superheroes both Marvel and DC) that when we saw the second Avengers movie Age of Ultron, it was shocked to see that it was him. Chris Hemsworth.

We kept in contact and whenever he wasn’t too busy, he’d come over for a visit and we’d have a couple of dinners. Soon couple dinners turned into months’ worth of dinners, then starting a relationship until just recently about a year ago he moved in with me and the kids. Right now he was busy filming “Avengers: End Game” down in his homeland of Australia.

One night as we were all facetiming with each other, Chris had given us a surprise. He said that he and the entire cast would be in Disneyland to help promote the film and not only that, he got all four of us tickets to go throughout the park and spend an entire day at Disneyland. The kids were so excited that they were finally gonna go to Disneyland, especially my little girl since she’s finally big enough to ride some of the rides.

Which leads us to here. As I was putting the bags into the car I said.

“Dean, don’t forget to bring your chargers okay?”

“Yeah mom.”

“Leia, do you got your Simba plushie with you?”

“Right here mommy.” She exclaimed as she held out her stuffed Simba plushie that Chris had given her last Christmas.

“Henry you’ve got your lightsaber right?”

“Yeah, do you think I could really fly the Millennium Falcon?” he asked me.

“We’ll see. Okay Got the bags, toys, gaming consuls, DVD is all set up. Everyone got everything?” My kids all cheered out in choir unison. “So whose ready to go to Disneyland?” they all cheered and raised their hands and I continued, “Alright. Tickets are in my purse and off we go!” I started the car and started up the installed DVD player which played Leia’s and Henry’s favorite movie “Hercules”.

Thankfully with the help of a movie and Dean busy playing on his Nintendo, there wasn’t much complaining from the kids (which was perfect for me). Finally after the long drive, we finally reached the archway of the entrance into Disneyland.

“We’re here! We’re here! Look over there I can see Woody!” All my kids were in pure awe as we drove under the archway, I could just feel from the front seat the energy these kids were about to unleash. I was now waiting in line to pay for parking and when I had gotten up I greeted the worker and handed her my license and money.

But when she saw my picture she handed me not only my license but the cash back as well and she told me.

“No payment necessary ma’am, we’ve actually been told of a special reserve spot for you to go to.” At first I was confused but then it dawned on me.

“That Aussie I tell you what.”

“One of our workers will escort you to your special reserved spot.” It was then another worker came up and he asked if he could hop into the car so he could be my navigator. I allowed him in the passenger seat and he told me exactly where to go.

We drove around for about 5 minutes till we reached the reserved front corner entrance where standing there with sunglasses on was Chris. He grinned and waved to us and the kids waved back to him. I parked in the parking spot and as soon as I turned off the engine, all the kids raced out and glomped him.

“There are my favorite three little munchkins!” Chris proclaimed as he wrapped his arms around all three of my kids at the same time and even lifted them up and spun them around, making them laugh and cheer.

“And what about me? Am I just the cabbie driver? Or just some old maid here to serve your favorite three munchkins?” I teased. Chris set my kids down and he said.

“On the contrary, you my lady are the beautiful good witch who protects and nurtures them. A witch that has put even a god like me under her spell.” He wrapped his arms around me, swaying me gently from side to side grinning down at me. I grinned up at his sweet talk before our lips joined together only to be disrupted when a choir of voices cried out.

“EWWW!!!!” We separated to see all three of my kids with a look of disgust on their faces.

“Ahh no it’s not gross. Be patient soon enough all of you will be doing this.” Said Chris.

“Over my dead body.” I mocked. “I want my babies to stay this young forever! Especially my little man.” I said as I walked up to my kids before hugging my eldest son close. I swarmed his face with kisses and ruffled his ‘lion mane’ like hair that he inherited from his father.

“Mom! Mom, you’re messing with my mane!” Dean cried out as he tried to get out of my embrace. When I finally released him he backed away and tried to readjust his hair to that sweep-over hair that looked like it belonged back in the 1980’s.

“I need to plan an appointment to get your haircut mister.”

“No!” he then raced over to Chris and hid behind him.

“No worries mate, I won’t let any barber cut this hair of yours.” Chris said as he stroked my son’s hair.

“Coming from the very man whose worn the same long blonde wig for years.”

“Hey the last few movies I didn’t have to wear one. But this meeting isn’t about haircuts, now whose ready for a full fun day at Disneyland?!” The kids all raised their hands crying out ‘me! Me! Me! Me!’ “Awesome, already got our tickets, so let’s go out there and have a full day of family fun!” We all cheered before racing onward into the park.

There were so many rides that it was almost impossible to pick just one. However my daughter who has always favored the merry-go-round no matter whether it was a state fair, amusement park or whatever, anytime she saw a Merry go round she wanted to go on it.

So as a nice little warmup, we all got in line for the merry-go-round. We waited for I don’t know 5-10minutes in line before they let the next several people to go aboard. My sons went straight for the two twin black horses while my baby girl went for a white stallion with a pink saddle on it. As I was about to get on my horse, Chris came up and he said.

“Allow me my lady.”

“Why thank you good sir knight.” I mocked in probably the worst British accent I could muster. I felt his hands go to my waist and he gently hoisted me up and I ended up rising side-saddle but then what I didn’t expect was for Chris to get right behind me. “Uhh Chris, I don’t think we’re allowed to do this.”

“Relax love, it’ll be okay.” He assured me. The bell soon sounded off and soon an accordion version of ‘A dream is a wish’ started plaything through the speakers and the ride began.

All around us, kids were cheering and waving to their parents who were standing along the railings watching their kids ride all by themselves, young couples riding side by side holding hands or riding in the sleighs nonchalantly kissing each other.

I felt Chris take my hands in his and I felt his head gently lean against mine and a kiss at my temple. I smiled and nuzzled against him as the ride continued to go on.

After the ride we continued to walk around the park riding more rides like the Mad Hatter’s teacup ride, and Toy Story Mania that was until we finally reached the famous Splash Mountain.

“Ohh mom look! Splash Mountain!” Henry proclaimed as he was now riding on top of Chris’ shoulders.

“I see it Henry.”

“Can we go on that next, please?”

“I guess we can, but I’m not sure if everyone’s tall enough to ride it.” I teased as I looked down at my daughter who was holding my hand.

“Yes I am mama! We measured me last month! I’m big enough.” She said as she pulled on my hand.

“Ohh that’s right, well let’s get a second opinion from the official park height measurements.” We all headed over to the line entrance of Splash Mountain and Leia immediately went up to the height chart. “Okay, now stand still baby girl.” She hummed happily as she could barely contain her excitement. “No cheating now.” I told her in my mom voice and that made her stand still.

In the end, she was eligible to ride Splash Mountain.

“Okay, everyone stick together now.” Leia cheered happily and her brothers high-fived or fist-bumped her and even Chris did a double fist bump with her as he cheered and picked her up.

“Alright that’s my girl! I told you were growing like a weed!”

“Okay everyone let’s get into the line before it gets too long.” We all got in line and we waited. After what felt like forever and the kids complaining about when the line would move faster, hanging off both mine and Chris’ hands and arms, we finally got closer to the ride. Since there were five of us we decided to divide up the group, I took Henry and Leia while Chris and Dean rode together, being the big boys that they were.

I got in the log first with the help of the ride attendant and I told Leia to get in first so that way she would be in the middle and Henry could ride up front. Once we were buckled in and the guy gave us the all clear and the worker at the controls gave a thumbs up and soon we were off.

We went along the trail before going up the first hill. Hearing the ticking of the controls as it took us up higher and higher before finally dropping us downward on the small uphill. We were all cheering and laughing as we allowed the current to push us faster than we did when we first went out.

We were now shrouded in darkness as we were now inside the mountain before we would go off the big hill that would take our picture.

“Is this the big drop yet?” asked Leia.

“Yeah Leia, and watch this, this time I’m gonna have both my hands up in the air!” proclaimed Henry.

“Just make sure you don’t unbuckle yourself Henry.” We soon saw the light at the end of the tunnel and I said as I hugged my daughter’s waist. “Here we go.” As soon as we went off the drop-off we all screamed before finally splashing down at the bottom, getting soaked with water. Both my kids were laughing and clapping. “So Leia, was it everything you thought it would be?”

“It was better mama! We went up and up and up till we went SHOOSH!!” I smiled down at her and I saw Henry was about to get out as soon as we saw the exit point.

“Hold on Henry, wait till we come to a complete stop.” Another worker soon placed their foot on our log and she said.

“Please watch your step as you exit the log, and we hope you have a good rest of your day at Disneyland. And don’t forget about our fireworks show tonight at 8pm in front of Cinderella’s castle.” She helped my kids out and I got out on my own with a bit of help from her. As we collected our stuff, we waited at the bottom of the exit point for Chris and Dean.

A few minutes later we saw them coming down (well Dean was more like racing down while Chris was the one walking).

“Did you boys have fun?”

“You bet we did, and how about you Princess? Was it exciting?” Chris asked as he scooped up my daughter and she laughed giddily.

“It was soo much fun, can we go on it again?”

“Maybe later, for now let’s go see our pictures.” He answered. We walked further down the trail till we reached the giftshop and went up to the picture booth and waited and that’s when I pointed out for Henry and Leia.

“Look there we are.” All three of our faces filled with screams or joy. Henry as promised had both of his hands in the air and his eyes were wide. Meanwhile I turned and saw Chris and Dean’s pictures. Chris had covered Dean’s eyes with his hands while his blue eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his sockets, I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Shall we get a copy?” he asked.

“I don’t know…..”

“C’mon this is my treat.”

“Baby I don’t want to feel like I’m taking advantage of your well-earned—”

“You’re not. This is me treating my lovely girl and her children on a day of fun.” He pecked my cheek before turning to the kids giving them the signal to back him up.

“Please mama, please!” They all ganged up against me giving me the puppy dog eyes, Chris included as he had all my kids in his arms looking right up at me.

“Ohh…..alright.” The kids cheered and then turned to Chris telling him what they wanted. In the end Dean got a keychain, Henry got a small picture frame and Leia got a small locket, and Chris got him and I a copy of a picture frame of our picture.

After a few more rides, we all began to get hungry so we found ourselves a nice little food court restaurant called “Mickey’s Italian shop”. As we ordered out food, like you would see on Youtube of the characters coming up to the guests just to hang out with the customers.

So we ended up having Mickey and Pluto coming over to our table. Pluto being my daughter’s favorite Disney dog was thrilled and gave him a big hug and of course Pluto hugged her back before using that tongue that always hangs out to give her a ‘doggy kiss’. It was so adorable that I just had to get a picture of them together, I also got some pictures of my boys with Mickey and Chris took one with me, Pluto and Mickey.

The day continued to press on and soon it was nightfall and everyone gathered at Cinderella’s castle to grab the best spot for the fireworks show that was about to happen in the next 7 minutes. Even with the crowd of people that were already sitting down, we still managed to get good enough seats to still see the castle’s full stature.

After waiting a few more minutes the lights went off and we all cheered as the castle first lite up a lightshow for us. Showing images and clips from various Disney films as ‘Circle of Life’ blared from the speakers. Chris and I looked at each other before leaning against one another watching the light show and seeing the kids stare in awe. Then the big event happened.

A giant red firework shot up and exploded into the sky. Everyone oohed and ahhed as more fireworks began to fly into the sky before exploding into various colors and sizes.

“Did you have a good time love?”

“This was the most wonderful time I’ve ever had at Disneyland. Even when I was a kid, it didn’t compare to this.”

“I think this might get a little more interesting.” He said. I was about to ask him what he meant by it but he pressed a finger to my lips and turned my chin back toward the sky. We continued to watch the fireworks but then something happened I had never seen happen at a Disney firework show.

One firework that went off created an image of Mjolnir, Thor’s famed hammer before three fireworks fired off immediately spelling out.

“YOU AR WORTHY TO ME.” My jaw slowly dropped and I felt my heart stop. Soon another phrase spelled across the sky, “WILL YOU LET ME BE WORTHY OF YOU?” I turned to Chris who now stood on one knee holding out a small ring. A spotlight came down onto us and I could hear everyone gasp and cry out around us.

“(Y/n), these past few years have been the best years of my life. I didn’t think I would be happy, until you came into my life. Will you make me the happiest man in the world, and marry me?” he opened the box revealing the ring sparkling under the spotlight’s bright light. I was in tears as I was covering my face with my hands.

Everyone around me, including my kids telling me to say yes. I nodded rapidly and kissed him with as much passion as I could muster while all around us, everyone was applauding and my kids cam around us and hugged us.

“Ladies and gentlemen we’d like to have the honor of introducing Thor himself, Chris Hemsworth and his new fiancée!” I cupped his cheeks and he kissed my forehead, down my cheek before reclaiming my lips with his.

#chris hemsworth #chris hemsworth x reader #chris hemsworth imagine #chris hemsworth imagines #marvel #marvel actor #marvel actors #actor imagine #actor x reader #actor imagines #actor fanfic #chris hemsworth fanfic #chris hemsworth fanfiction #actor fanfiction

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meggiejolly · 5 years ago

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Title: Cabin Life

Fandom: Assassin’s Creed

Pairing: Rebecca Crane & Shaun Hastings

Prompt: Cabin

Rating: General Audiences

Links: Fanfiction.net, AO3

Sumary: Shaun and Rebecca are stuck in a tiny cabin together, working on analyzing the latest Animus data. This is a little glimpse into their daily routine.

They had been sent to this tiny cabin in this forest in the middle of nowhere to analyse the data from a few crucial Animus sessions. The only problem was that there was literally nothing around, the power and satellite link that had been set up for them was more than basic and only worked with a lot of begging and possibly a few sacrifices, or at least that's what Shaun suspected. Rebecca, of course, told him it was just his bad aura around technology. It certainly only worked for one person at a time which was more than inconvenient.

Another part of the problem was that it was just the two of them, which spelled disaster. They didn't do well without some sort of buffer.

And Shaun couldn't even hide in his history books when he needed a break from Rebecca's constant nagging. (Mind you, she said if anyone was constantly nagging it was him, but what did she know?) Because he hadn't been able to bring a lot of material. He mostly had to rely on online archives which he could only access when Rebecca wasn't using the satellite link for her analysis. And of course, she was of the opinion that her work was a lot more vital.

"I'm looking for underlying programming, glitches, glyphs, strange code that could help us find more pieces of Eden. That's something we can only get through the animus. Your boring old history has been there for ages, so shut up and let me work."

"I will have you know that it has not been there for ages, new theories and discoveries are happening all the time. And with the Animus, we can prove what happened. It takes all the guesswork out. It is vital that I get our data bank as accurate as possible, so future animus users have the correct information at the correct time. A wrong date or name can spell disaster and cost us valuable time in the race against the templars."

"But that is both in the past and in the future. Finding more leads for pieces of Eden is right now and is much more important. So shut up and let me work."

"You already said that. And analysing what people say and do and how it differs from recorded history is just as likely to provide us with leads." He sighed and took his glasses off to clean them. "But fine, fine, I am the bigger man as usual, so I will let you work and cook some dinner. But you'll do the dishes after and I get to work then."

Rebecca just shrugged. "Fine, but you're not the bigger man and not the bigger person either."

“Yeah, yeah." He mumbled and went over to the tiny kitchen area of their one-room cabin to see what he could manage to make for dinner.

"We have a choice of baked beans on toast, canned pasta or an omelet with the last of our cheese. We need to make a supply run in the next two days."

Supply runs were always risky, they needed to stay hidden and as of the radar as possible. According to their contacts, Abstergo had been sighted to nose around this area.

Which meant he would probably have to wear that horrible fake beard again and Rebecca would be complaining about the too-tight wig she wore as a disguise. At least it was sunny so the base caps and sunglasses wouldn't be too strange.

"We had baked beans for breakfast. So make the pasta and we'll eat the omelet tomorrow morning. I'll check with the others if it's safe enough to go out tomorrow."

Shaun nodded and searched for the can opener, of course, it wasn't where it was supposed to be.

"Can you not just put the can opener back where it belongs, it's really not that hard, it's not like we have that much space."

"Sorry, look near the bread."

"Found it." He poured the contents into their pot and started heating it over the camping stove.

"At least it's not Ramen. If I never eat another packet of cheap Ramen it will be too soon."

"Don't be such a baby Shaun, Ramen is the stuff we survive on and you know it. College students, minimum wage workers and undercover people everywhere swear by it. Don't look down on them, you fancy-schmancy." She laughed and Shaun couldn't help but join.

"Fancy-schmancy am I? What an insult Rebecca, what an insult."

He gave the pasta a stir and grabbed the two bowls and spoons from beside the tiny sink, the only one in the entire cabin. Privacy was a foreign concept by now and so was showering.

"Food's almost done, so finish up what you're doing."

Rebecca nodded. "Alright. I'm just gonna let this handy little program search for abnormalities while we eat."

"As long as it's done so I can work after dinner."

As an answer, Rebecca just shrugged and Shaun sighed. He highly doubted he would get to work today. Well, maybe he could argue that it would be safer if only one of them went out tomorrow and use the time she was away to work.

Oh, who was he kidding, if he did that he would worry about her the whole time until she got back and barely get any work done. He would just have to get to the computer before her tomorrow. She wasn't a morning person anyway.

The sauce started to bubble and he gave it another stir before filing it into the bowls.

"Here you go Beccs, gourmet canned pasta with no cheese because we're saving that for the omelet. Enjoy."

Rebecca grinned and took the bowl. "Always impressive that they can make tomato sauce taste like nothing, but at least it’s somewhat filling."

Shaun just sighed full of resignation. "How much longer do we have to stay here?"

Rebecca shrugged. "Who knows. Two more weeks at least, but maybe longer. I guess it depends on Abstergo’s activity and what we find."

Shaun nodded. "I guess. Any new leads worth mentioning?"

"I don't know, there is something strange that I picked up on. But it's very different from all the first civilisation things we've found so far, so it might be unrelated. Maybe just a bug in the programming of the animus. Of course, fixing that would be a good thing, but that wouldn't be a lead. You?"

"Oh you mean did I find any leads twiddling my thumbs and flipping through old notes and the few things I was able to bring? No, not really. But I did work on editing a few minor database entries. Nothing big though. I really need access to our archive."

"Yeah, yeah my program will be done in 15 to 20 minutes tops and then I can print the results and you can use the computer. Stop whining."

"Whining, Rebecca? I never whine."

As a response, she just shoved him and nearly made him spill his pasta.

"Careful, I want to savour every bite of this tasteless sludge with vaguely noodle-like bits in it."

After they finished eating, Shaun, of course, ended up doing the dishes so Rebecca could finish up her work. But after, she did let him use the computer and started pouring over her printouts with a pen and a notepad.

Shaun plugged in his headphones and went through some of the recordings they took during the Animus sessions.

"It is truly fascinating to witness history like this. I wish my ancestors had led more exciting lives. But at least I get to meet some amazing historical figures this way. Too bad I'm not allowed to publish any of this. It would change so much. But the only people benefitting from my work are the Assassins and Abstergo when they once again somehow manage to get our data."

"Yeah, but we get their data even more often than they get ours. So who cares. As for publishing your work, I have helped design and update a machine that lets you relive memories from people that lived hundreds or thousands of years ago and I'm not allowed to tell anyone. Do you know how much that sucks? How much I wanna rub some assholes from college faces in it sometimes? But no, instead I eat canned pasta and baked beans in a tiny freezing cabin when I should be winning a Nobel prize or any number of prizes and grants for my work."

Shaun looked up at her. "I'm sorry. You are right. We both deserve more recognition and money. But we're saving the world, right?"

Rebecca sighed. "Right. Let's not forget that. But a thank you would be nice from time to time wouldn't it?"

"100 percent it would. But hey at least our lives aren't boring."

"No, but this cabin is."

Shaun chuckled at that and Rebecca joined him. After that, they worked in silence until it got too dark for them to work with the little light they dared to use. Both for stealth and power saving reasons.

Rebecca yawned. "Time for bed. Mind if I use the bathroom first?"

Shaun shook his head. Bathroom was a very generous term anyway, it was just an outhouse with no running water and almost no light. But at least it was better than a bucket in the corner, it wasn’t as if they hadn’t had to make do with that on other missions as well.

He used the time Rebecca was outside to wash himself as well as he could in the tiny sink. No pyjamas, in case they had to flee in the middle of the night and he couldn’t exactly take his shoes off before he went outside.

Once Rebecca returned it was his turn in the ‘bathroom’ and her turn at the sink.

She was already in her sleeping bag when he came back inside and he climbed into his one next to her. They slept pretty close together because it could get pretty cold at night.

“Night, Beccs.“

“Night, Shaun.“

#Assassin's Creed #shaun hastings #rebecca crane #cabin #oneshot #fanfiction #slice of life #cabin life #AO3 #fanfiction.net #mine #Assassins #Abstergo #Templars

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rason-rodd · 6 years ago

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Promising (Begging part 6) (Arkham Knight! Jason Todd x Reader)

Summary: Jason, Roy and yourself are following a lead to stop the crime boss hidden behind the weapon traffic in Qurac. Unfortunately, when you come out with a plan, Jason disapproves and tells you he wants you out of this mission. You won’t let him do that.

A/N: So there it is, the penultimate chapter of the “Begging” series. Sorry for the long wait. Hoping it was worth it.

Warning: Fluff, Smut, Angst (slightly), Language, Violence,

Tagged: I decided not to tag anyone since I’m not sure everyone would be interested in reading a fanfic that hasn’t been updated for months

PART 1 / PART 2 / PART 3 / PART 4 / PART 5

Jason Todd knew Gotham by heart. He knew her for everything she was. He knew the two sides of her, sides she couldn’t hide, sides she could embrace. He knew her darkness, her light, her beauty, and her monstrosity. He knew the gothic terrifying gargoyles and the menacing dark alleys as much as he knew her brand new modern architecture and the shining luxurious avenues. He knew the sound of Gothamites cheering on a Saturday night as well as the sound of ambulances on a Sunday morning and the silence of hearses on Monday. He knew her people as well. He knew how loud they could shout, laugh, love and fight. He knew how they could give life and how easily they could end it. Yes, even if she was twisted and flawed, Jason Todd learned to love Gotham for who she was. A microcosm of the world, his world. After, Gotham had brought him to the world, like a mother. And like any mother, she was unique.

That’s why he hated the place he was now. A bright dazzling sun, a thin warm golden sand, a freshly mowed green lawn, a perfectly blue swimming pool and a fancy hotel with a view on the Persian Gulf. A fake dishonest beauty made by rich men who believe that petrol and money give them power and the right to openly enjoy luxury and comfort while the rest of the country is starving and decaying.

“Can I ask you a question, Jaybird?” The never tired Roy Harper asked with a liveliness that had the superpower to annoy Jason. “One, don’t call me that. And two, I’m gonna say ‘no’ but I have the feeling you’ll ask anyway because ‘no’ is apparently a word that is not part of your limited vocabulary.” “ Still mad at me for booking a suite in this heavenly place I see.” Jason glowered through his black sunglasses, his face half hidden under a cap. “Oh come on! What is it with you batboys? Can’t you enjoy life a little and stop brooding over god knows what?” “ It was a waste of money.” He replied curtly. “ Oh really? Because the view right now is not worth millions to you?” Roy nodded towards you approaching the swimming pool wearing a backless black swimsuit that hugged all your curves in the most perfect way. “Damn. What a babe!” Jason’s glare intensified instantly but he didn’t say a word. He didn’t need to. Roy could perfectly understand his jealousy and his anger in his silence. “I can’t see your eyes behind those glasses but I’m definitely sure you’re looking daggers at me right now. It must me your jaw. It is more clenched than usual.” Jason grumbled and looked back at you entering the water slowly and wetting the nape of your neck. Roy was right. You were indeed very sexy but it wasn’t the word Jason wanted to use to describe you. To him, you were not just sexy. You were gorgeous, sublime and magnificent before all. Simply flawless. Unlike Roy, Jason couldn’t look at you and just think, “Damn! What a babe.” He could only gaze and worship every bit of yourself, admire every curve of your body, worship every inch of your skin. And even when the water was sliding between your breasts and suggesting him to stand up, lick it and do to you all the dirty things he has been repressing for days, he couldn’t help but keep on idolizing you as a goddess. “ Are you two …?” Roy started and Jason glowered again to warn him. Careful with your words, Roy Harper. “ Together or … something like that?” “ No.” He replied simply. “ But you used to, no?” Jason didn’t say anything. He didn’t want to talk about his personal life with a man he had met a few days ago and that he would never see again once the mission over. Plus, he didn’t want to remember the time he had spent with you because even the most beautiful memories can be the most painful. “ I take it as a yes. You’re not a talkative man, you know that?” New silence. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep my hands to myself, like Selena Gomez.” He joked but that wasn’t funny to Jason, like at all. “Okay, so: always complaining, quiet and humorless. What did that beautiful creature see in you?” “ Honestly, I don’t know.”

“ Aren’t you boys tired of bickering?” You asked as you approached them to sit on the edge of Jason’s sun lounger. “ Bickering?” Jason harrumphed as he sat up straight, watching you above his glasses with an incredulous look. “Yes. You look like an old couple after their platinum anniversary.” “Awww. See Jaybird, we’re a couple. Inseparable and made for each other. Till death do us apart” Roy laughed before he received Jason’s towel in the face “Your death is gonna be very soon, Harper.” You rolled your eyes, exasperated by their childish behaviours though secretly amused. Those two had the real potential to be best friends. “Anyway, any news on the target?” “ Finally someone interested in doing the job.” Jason sighed of relief. “Well, according to the hotel registry …” “ That Roy hacked,” Roy added with a proud smile “ He is due to arrive tomorrow.” Jason continued, ignoring him. “He booked the entire penthouse and something tells me that taking that scumbag down won’t be a piece of cake. I went on reconnaissance this morning. It seems there are cameras in the every hotel corridors leading to the suite as well as in the elevator and cherry on top, a security code to access the floor.” “ Can’t we just hack all those things?” You looked at Roy since you knew he was certainly the best hacker among you three. “ I can hack the cameras for sure, yes. But even if I do, we will still have a bunch of gorillas protecting our dealer. He must expect us, or at least you ” He pointed at Jason. “ and we can’t enter without the code which I’m not sure I can hack if it’s digital. And if I can’t hack it none of your bat-toys will work. ” “ What about breaking in by the window?” You suggested. “ Thought about that. Impossible. Windows are armoured.” “ Damn! That dude is paranoid!” Roy’s eyes widened and the three of you remained silent to think of a solution. Luckily, you were the one to find one. “ Does your man have a buyer already?” You asked, genuinely curious “ Certainly. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have bothered coming here.” “ And how much does the cargo cost?” “Maybe 10 million dollars. Why?” Jason was a bit scared right now. You sounded too determined. “ Then maybe we should make an offer worth more than 10 Million, an offer he can’t refuse. That would be the best key to access his suite without breaking in.” “ Pretending to be potential buyers? I like that.” Roy smiled, definitely cheerful and already into the plan. “Please tell it will involve costumes and accent. I’m good at Mexican accent.” “ You won’t need an accent. I have a plan.”

It didn’t sound safe, at all. At least that was what Jason’s brain screamed to him as you explained how you thought you three should proceed. His brain screamed so loud he stopped listening at the “once in the suite” part of your suicide plan. “This is madness!” He growled as he took off his sunglasses for you to realise how much he disagreed with you. “This is gonna get us all killed, Y/N. This is gonna get you killed.” “ Thanks for worrying for me, I suppose,” Roy mumbled before Jason looked daggers at him. He never meant he didn’t care for Roy to get killed. He barely knew the guy but he was not selfish or heartless enough not to care about his safety. But he would not explain his words right now. “This is not Gotham. These men are not lowly street thugs. This is no batkids game.” “ I never considered it a game.” You managed to say as he briefly stopped in his lecture. “Then why are you acting like a child?” “ A child?” You harrumphed, stunned by the criticism. You never behaved like a child! “Reckless!” He clarified. “You don’t know shit about the man you want to deal with. You don’t fucking care about this mission. You got into it because of me. You have no selfless goal in this. All you want is to drag my ass back to Gotham quickly enough to solve the family drama. You don’t take all this seriously.” How could he talk you like that? You opened your mouth to retort, angry and embarrassed but he stood up and kept shouting the same way Bruce used to shout at you when you were Batgirl. “Honestly, Y/N. Just leave this place. Go home. We’ll see each other in Gotham.” “ No.” Your answer was that simple and it’s probably that simplicity that unsettled Jason. He stared at you with round eyes, mouth agape. You glowered back at him, letting an uncomfortable silence settled between you. “ You don’t get to decide for me, anymore.” You finally added with a coldness that froze this sunny paradisiac place. “ When did I ever get to decide for you?” He asked between his gritted teeth. “ When you left me.” You replied gravely and resentfully. The frown on Jason’s face slowly disappeared and soon guilt and sadness could be read in his young wounded eyes. You knew you had just dropped a bomb on him but you weren’t sure to regret it. After all, he could be such an ass sometimes. “See you both later.” You said as you left him to ponder over your words. “ Wow. I don’t know how you guys broke up, Jaybird, but she’s still not over it.”

Call it stubbornness or recklessness, you wouldn’t change your mind. You were too involved now. Plus your plan was enough tied together to work, you were sure of it. Jason just needed to open his eyes a little to realise it and stop with his overprotectiveness already. But he was way too much like you. He would never admit he was wrong or change his mind and, as you were alone in your room, you were getting ready for a new argument since you were certain he was currently establishing a list of undeniable reasons for you to abandon the mission.

When you heard footsteps from behind your door, you guessed you wouldn’t have to wait long. 1, 2, 3 … You started counting on your fingers and the door slammed open. “ What the hell was that?!” You sighed and stared at Jason whose face was now as red as his hood. “Me avoiding the conflict, I suppose.” You replied calmly. “Since arguing with you is impossible.” “ There was no reason to argue.” You rolled your hand with a sarcastic smile, waiting for him to go on, to lash out, to tell you everything he wanted to say to you. “I’m taking care of this. You’ve been involved enough.” “ Oh, so I have to leave but Roy can stay?” You frowned. “ Roy was working on this way before we met.” “ Oh sorry, I didn’t realize that there was a registration period.” Jason pinched the bridge of his nose to breathe in loudly, definitely annoyed. “ You don’t seem to evaluate the danger, Y/N” “ I evaluate the danger perfectly, Jason. I was trained to do so. Just like you. I’m not rushing into the lion’s hen without a plan.” “ It’s a bad plan! It won’t work!” He shouted with a trembling voice. “ Why don’t you trust me?” Jason stared at you. You were genuinely looking for his answer. He could see it in your saddened eyes. “I do trust you. It’s you who don’t trust me.” His tone was suddenly a lot calmer. He came to sit by your side on the bed. “I just want to protect you, like I always did. And you can find my attitude revolting and silly and have all the arguments in the world to try to make me change my mind or even tell me again that it’s me making choices for you, I won’t let you do this. There is too much risk I could lose you.”

Tiny tears had formed in his beautiful blue eyes but he didn’t let them flow. Instead, he just looked away and remained quiet and tensed, his hands gripping tightly at the bed sheets. You stared at him, not really knowing what to say. Perhaps there was nothing to say, just something to do. You took his hand in yours and he welcomed it by intertwining his fingers yours. But he still couldn’t even glimpse at you, apprehensive of what he would see. He breathed out. “Leaving you was the toughest choice of my life and I get you’re still mad at me. The thing is, seeing you in this bed, between life and death, because of me, was something I could not handle. I couldn’t live with myself and I didn’t want you to live with myself either. I was dangerous, to you, to everyone I loved and I was still broken because of Joker.” You let him talk, listening carefully to his grave confessions which, you knew, was something very hard for him to do. “I’m not broken anymore, not as much as I was when I met you. I picked myself up, accepted that Joker would always be a part of me. But today, it’s not about Joker anymore or about my state of mind, but it’s still about me. Y/N I cannot put you in danger again because … if something happens to you and it’s on me again, then, I don’t think I’ll survive it this time.” Jason looked down at his feet, terrified by his own words and by all the images of you dying on him passing in his head. He still had your hand in his and he was holding it tighter right now, refusing to let you go.

You knelt on the bed and cupped his face, forcing him to finally look at you. He did and accepted you seeing his fear, his weakness. You pressed your forehead against his. “ You will never lose me.” You declared. “But I don’t want to lose you either. You can’t leave again.” He stared right into your eyes; making you a silent promise only your eyes could catch. And he bound that promise with a soft kiss that eased the pain they had both kept during all these years. It was soft, pure, healing. Jason helped you press your body against his, deepening your kiss. He needed it. He needed that kiss, that embrace. He needed you and he was tired of keeping you away. He tightened his arms around you. So did you. Your hand on his neck, you pulled him even closer, as if it was even possible, and a soft moan resonated in both your throats. That was the signal Jason so longed to hear again. He nestled his face in your neck and started kissing you right there. You breathed in deeply, enjoying his expert mouth along with the sudden heat growing and rushing in your body. You lay down on the bed, pulling Jason onto you, and touched his chiseled muscular abs through his t-shirt with the tips of your fingers. How much you had missed his soft hot skin.

Jason pulled up your skirt and his hands venture from your thighs to what was between them. Instinctively, you spread your legs, welcoming Jason between them. He knelt and stared at you with awe and a desire that left you a bit uneasy for his lust was drawn in admiration. “You’re so perfect.” He whispered. You blushed and when you tried to tell him he was wrong, he caught your lips to kiss you again, this time more passionately than before. You grabbed the hem of his t-shirt to get rid of it. Jason helped you and threw the fabric away. You gazed at his magnificent chest, ignoring the tiny scars covering it. He was so dashing.

You pushed Jason on the mattress and straddled him. The call of his bare chest was too loud for you to resist your urges any longer. You slowly started planting humid tiny kisses down his body, using occasionally your tongue to lick his hot skin. You loved doing it, perhaps even more than him liking it. And you had missed it terribly. Jason hissed as you approached the V of his abs, your hands on the hem of his shorts. His jaw was clenched and his blue eyes were now dark with desire, begging you to do it. That made you grin and you pulled his shorts along with his boxers. His half-erect cock sprang free and you grabbed it to jerk him off a bit. Jason let a small growl escape his lips and sat up to pull off your little dress. How happy he was when he realised you were wearing no bra, and those breasts, gosh, he could gaze at them, at you, forever. He caressed your hair, moving it aside so that he could clearly see your beautiful face and you smiled before kissing the tip of his penis. He hissed again and you looked up at him before starting to suck his cock without breaking eye contact. Jason cursed. That was just divine. “Damn.” You looked divine too, with pleasure glowing on your face as you were genuinely enjoying him in your mouth. Jason began thrusting in you, holding you by your hair, occasionally and accidentally making her almost gag on him, but you didn’t mind. It reminded you good old times and he was still sweet and respectful. Jason’s head suddenly slammed against the mattress. His eyes closed and his jaw clenched as he gripped your hair harder. You knew what it meant but you didn’t stop. You bobbed your head more quickly and massaged his balls, moaning sensually with his throbbing cock still in your mouth, the way you remembered he liked. “No, please, not now, Y/N.” He moaned and you stopped, rather proud of yourself to see him like that. “Come here” Your eyes widened slightly when you understood he wanted you to sit on his face but shock moved on to arousal. You did as he said; your pussy already wet, and placed yourself upon his face. Jason caught your thighs and without forewarning began kissing your clit. Your legs instinctively almost closed and you grabbed his hair as his tongue was now playing with your bud. He was doing great, licking up and down, down and up, so great you eventually started moving your hips. “Jay” You whispered. He hummed against you and the vibration made you vibrate yourself, moaning louder than before. He had found the right spot apparently. “Oh, Jay. Ha” You were unable to talk properly now. “Yes right there.” Jason grabbed your thighs more strongly to keep you still as you were getting wetter in his mouth. You were close. So close. Only a few more licks and kisses. And that’s it. You caught his thick thighs not to fall and came loudly on his face. Your body trembled and shook under so much pleasure and Jason grabbed your waist, staring at you in admiration as you came undone on top of him. He sat up, held you against him and you nestled your face in his neck, exhausted. “You’re okay?” He asked as he kissed your shoulder. You nodded and he laid you down on the bed again. “Shall we keep going?” You nodded again and positioned himself between your legs. You felt him penetrate you softly and slowly. A sweet moan escaped your mouth and Jason started moving. He was so kind, so gentle, simply perfect. His moves were tender and loving. You loved it so much. You sighed, enjoying how sweet he was. “I love you, you know?” he said staring at you in the eye. “I love you too, Jay.” He kissed you softly, still moving in and out of you. He kept on that pace for a few minutes but then he felt the urge to come. You felt him and wrapped you legs around him. You wanted him to do it inside of you. He understood it and so he put weight on his arms and he deepened his thrusts. You dug your nails in his arms and watched his cock coming in and out of you more quickly and more roughly between your legs. Jason growled, loudly, and suddenly stopped moving. You felt his cock twitching and his seed spreading inside of you and dripping from your pussy as he pulled out.

Jason let himself fall by your side and breathed out deeply. He didn’t say anything. He simply took your hand in his. He’ll never let you go. So will you.

#Jason Todd #red hood #Red Hood And The Outlaws #jason todd fanfic #jason todd x reader #begging #promising

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rockofcalifa · 5 years ago

Text

Night at the IKEA

words: 8.7k | genre: action/comedy | warnings: non-graphic violence

He looks at his wrist, reads the time, and sighs.

Grigoriy is not, typically, a watch-wearing kind of man. He's not wealthy (or stupid) enough yet to purchase a watch he actually enjoys, and even so, he fully acknowledges that his phone already performs that function. But on the days he works, on days like this, he likes to have an easy, clandestine way to count down the slow eight hours of his misery.

Well. More like twelve, today. He's already worked his regular shift, but he's going to be stuck here until god-knows-when tonight...

"Stop sighing, Grisha."

Grigoriy startles slightly at the voice of Konstantin entering the room behind him. His friend, carrying an armful of items, walks around to deposit his haul onto the desk between them, careful not to disrupt the small potted plants sitting on the edge. During his tenure as manager, Konstantin and his horticultural tendencies have worked wonders for the appeal of the inherently unappealing office workspace, turning it into the sort fresh and modern room an IKEA office should be.

"You agreed, remember?" Konstantin says. He picks up a plain black umbrella from the top of the pile, turning it around in his hands before tossing it into the basket behind his desk. "I mean, I can still do it, if you don't want to."

No way is Konstantin staying late tonight. He's had a busy week and he deserves to rest. "No, no, I'm still doing it. I want the money. That doesn't mean I'm looking forward to being here all night, though."

A red and white baseball cap joins the umbrella in the basket. Konstantin then selects an Iron Man pencil case, unzipping it to look through the contents for a phone number or address, but only finding some cheap pens and a black USB flash drive. "Sure, but don't act so cranky you scare this kid away, Grisha. I really need more hands on deck right now, and she seems like a good find."

"Yeah, yeah."

A pair of bifocal reading glasses. A baby's pink pacifier clip. A stainless-steel water bottle. Sunglasses. Grigoriy watches with disinterest as Konstantin goes through the rest of the day's lost-and-found items.

"I'll have dinner waiting for you when you get home," Konstantin offers, turning to shut down his laptop and disconnect it from his dual-monitor setup.

"As long as I don't also come home to a burning kitchen."

"Grisha. Do you think so poorly of me?" Konstantin pouts, barely holding back a smile. Cute. "I wasn't going to make it myself, obviously."

"Ah, okay. I understand." Grigoriy stands, Konstantin shoulders his laptop bag, and they exit the office. "Thank you, Kostya, I appreciate it."

Konstantin grins.

The IKEA warehouse always feels a little eerie at night. A little too vast, a little too vacant. Grigoriy and Konstantin are usually the last to leave at the end of the day, so he ought to be used to it by now, but he still feels the need to look behind himself, giving the huge shelves a critical, non-trusting look.

They approach the main entrance, and Konstantin unlocks the sliding door with one of the keys on his lanyard. "You'll remember to lock up after me, right? And when you leave?" Konstantin says, handing the blue and yellow lanyard to Grigoriy.

"I will."

The doors slide open, revealing a figure standing nearby, a person dressed in all black who hurriedly looks up from her phone at the sudden movement, eyes wide.

"Hi, Yevgenia Zakharovna," says Konstantin. "I'm glad you could make it out here tonight; I know it's kind of strange timing."

"Konstantin Afansievich! Absolutely! I'm glad I could be here!" Yevgenia squeaks, and Grigoriy tries not to chuckle. Konstantin often has this effect on people, but this one seems a bit more dazzled than most.

"This is my friend, Grigoriy Savelievich. He's going to be training you tonight."

"Hey," Grigoriy greets, sticking out his hand.

"It's nice to meet you, Grigoriy Savelievich." Yevgenia walks over to greet him, giving Grigoriy a strong, warm handshake and the full effect of her unfortunately attractive, albeit shy, smile. "Thank you for training me. I know you must be very busy."

"Oh yeah, no problem," Grigoriy says.

"Just call me if you guys run into any issues, okay?" Konstantin makes no move to actually leave, and Grigoriy sighs.

"Go home, Kostya, we'll be fine." He nudges Konstantin across the threshold of the door and reaches for the sliding pane to close it manually. "Bye."

Konstantin waves. Grigoriy locks the door.

"Let's go up, shall we?" Grigoriy motions towards the unmoving escalators, and Yevgenia follows him, twisting her hands in her oversized sweatshirt sleeves.

"So, IKEA, huh," Grigoriy says. Yevgenia gives a little nod. "What made you apply here? Did you just move into town?"

"Mm, no, I've lived here for a few years," Yevgenia replies. "I work at, um, my friend's business. Part time. But I wanted to earn some more money, so..."

"Cool, that's cool. Well, you've chosen a pretty good place to earn some extra bucks." They arrive at the second floor, and Grigoriy turns towards the furniture showrooms. "Tonight I'm going to show you around, tell you about some of our policies and procedures, let you in on all the dark IKEA secrets..." That manages to draw a laugh out of Yevgenia. "And then you'll get more specific training when you come to work. Sound good?"

"Yes, Grigoriy Savelievich."

They're standing by the first mockup living room, and Yevgenia is looking around, taking in everything with interest. "You have been to an IKEA before, right? To shop?" Yevgenia nods. "So you know how to use these to navigate around the showroom?" Grigoriy points to the blue and white sign hanging above them.

"Sure. The numbers are for the different zones, and the lines show what's connected to what and what shortcuts there are, right?"

"Exactly." Grigoriy gives a reassuring smile. "You're already an expert. We'll just quickly run through and I'll point out some things. I'm guessing Konstantin will have you working downstairs in warehouse and loading, because that's where we're short right now, but I want to make sure you know how to help people up here, just in case you have to."

"All right," Yevgenia says, ever-agreeable, and they start walking. "What's your job, Grigoriy Savelievich?"

"I'm a kitchen design consultant - well, that makes it sound classier than it really is. I help clueless people pick out the right sized countertops to match their tile, basically."

"You must have helped a lot of people," Yevgenia says politely.

"I guess. It's not the worst starving-artist job, by far. Much better than waiting tables."

Yevgenia perks up and stumbles against the side of a floral-print BRÅTHULT. "Artist? Are you an artist, Grigoriy Savelievich?"

Grigoriy scratches the back of his head, embarrassed that he'd somehow brought it up. "Ah, not really. I don't have any formal training, but I write music in my spare time. I guess you could call it a hobby..."

Yevgenia bounces back and forth on her feet, hands clasped earnestly in front of her. "No, Grigoriy Savelievich, just because you don't have training doesn't mean it can't be serious! I'm the same way, with film! I mean - " Yevgenia breaks off, self-consciousness catching up with her as well. "Well, it's not like I have the time or money to do that much, but, you know..."

"I get it," Grigoriy says. "Hey, we have struggling artist solidarity. It's good."

"It's good," Yevgenia repeats, smiling.

"Speaking of, uh, whatever we were talking about, this is where I'm usually working," Grigoriy says as they walk into the kitchen showroom. "Let me show you how to use one of these kiosks."

The exchange seems to have pulled Yevgenia out of her shell a little, because she talks more, laughs more, and even cracks a few jokes as Grigoriy shows her the employee equipment and walks her through the bedroom, storage, and children's sections of the showroom. Grigoriy is starting to understand what about this kid had Konstantin so enthused. Yevgenia is chill, her personality non-abrasive, the type who will probably work well with others. But she's also so attentive, listening to Grigoriy well and even asking questions of her own.

"So, that's all the furniture, right?" Exiting the seasonal collections, they end up on the same landing by the escalators.

"Yeah," Grigoriy answers. "And that's it for this floor. We'll go downstairs to see the decor and warehouse and stuff."

"But..." Yevgenia looks to the huge, unlit open space of tables and chairs to their left. "We aren't going over there?"

"I dunno, it's just the restaurant. I'm not sure there's anything interesting for us to see over there."

" Grigoriy Savelievich, I heard food from IKEA is famous. You're not going to show me? What if someone asks me questions about it?"

"Well -"

ONE's eyes get even bigger and she tilts her head to the side. Fuck.

"Okay, yes, we'll go over there." The extra minutes they'll spend wandering around the cafeteria and the kitchen are worth it for the pleased smile that breaks out across Yevgenia’s face. She and Grigoriy wade through the moonlit sea of tables, walking towards the back.

Grigoriy doesn't stop, though, pushing through a set of doors going into the kitchen. He's only ever been back here with Konstantin, but he hasn't ever been told not to come back here, either. Still, he's not the most familiar with the layout, and he squints around until he finds the light switch.

"Yevgenia Zakharovna, would you try to find where they keep the plates?"

"Plates?" Yevgenia stares at him. "What are we doing? Is this some kind of quiz?"

Grigoriy chuckles. "No quiz. We're going to eat meatballs. You said you were worried about customers asking you questions about IKEA's famous foods, right?"

"Holy shit!" Yevgenia exclaims before catching herself and slapping a hand over her mouth, which just makes Grigoriy laugh even more. " Grigoriy Savelievich, you're my favorite person!"

"Congratulations, you passed the quiz. I'll meet you at the walk-in fridge over there." Grigoriy points to a big stainless-steel door.

"Aye-aye, captain!" Yevgenia jumps to look for plates, and Grigoriy goes to where he thinks he remembers the serving spoons are.

It's a bit ridiculous that he's going to such lengths for the new employee he'd just met less than an hour ago. It'll easily add another half hour to the training time tonight, and Grigoriy already has dinner waiting for him at home (if Konstantin is to be trusted or believed). They'll have to wash all these dishes once they're done with them, too. But Grigoriy can't deny the lingering gratification of being called Yevgenia’s 'favorite person' a minute ago, nor can he deny that he and Yevgenia, for the past forty-five minutes, have been seriously vibing.

He walks into the chill of the fridge and starts peeking at the contents of the various plastic-wrapped metal trays of leftovers on the shelves. The meatballs are, luckily, not hard to find. Yevgenia walks in shortly with two plates in hand.

"You're not vegetarian, are you?" Grigoriy asks.

"Nuh-uh. Gimme your meatiest of meatballs."

"All right, meatiest meatballs, coming right up." Grigoriy opens the plastic wrap a bit in order to scoop a portion of meatballs for both of them, Yevgenia holding the plates steady.

"Why does this remind me of that one scene in Spirited Away?" Yevgenia suddenly remarks. "You know, when the parents turn into pigs?"

"That reminds you of this??" Grigoriy says incredulously. "There's literally no correlation. If this is any scene in Spirited Away it's when Haku gives Chihiro food from the spirit world so she doesn't fade away or whatever."

"Aww, Grigoriy Savelievich, look, we're speaking the same cultural language!" Yevgenia beams.

"Yeah, whatever." Grigoriy pushes the tray back to its spot and takes one of the plates from Yevgenia’s hand. "Now we just need to - wait - " He pauses and stares as Yevgenia takes a cold, dry meatball with her free hand and puts it in her mouth. "Seriously? We need to add sauce to these. And heat them up."

Chewing, Yevgenia shrugs.

Grigoriy laughs through his nose. "It's just that we're trying to give you the customer experience here... but, whatever floats your boat?"

"I'm just hungry. Sorry, I didn't mean to offend the flavor gods."

"Guy Fieri is going to come after you and kill you, so watch out," Grigoriy says, grabbing a jug of 'meatball gravy' and leaving the fridge.

"I don't believe it. Guy Fieri would never hurt anybody."

"Yeah, that's what he wants you to believe. You're buying into the propaganda." Grigoriy glances around and puts his plate down on the counter. "Ahh, we need some utensils. I'll grab them from outside."

Without looking back, he pushes the kitchen doors aside and stalks singlemindedly over to the silverware station at the end of the buffet. A few seconds later he hears quick footsteps trailing after him.

“Grigoriy Savelievich – in Flavortown they don’t call it ‘propaganda.’ It’s the ‘information menu.’”

“And instead of Big Brother watching you, it’s –“ Grigoriy freezes at the faint sound of something crashing. “Did you hear that?”

Yevgenia nods once, frowning, and tiptoes to stand next to Grigoriy. “It sounded like something shattering,” she murmurs. “Downstairs.”

“Yeah. It did.”

They stare at each other. Grigoriy is sure Yevgenia’s mind is racing as fast as his is. The sound is probably nothing. Stuff falls over sometimes. They sell plenty of ceramics and glassware – maybe a whole shelf became unstable, and they’re going to spend the rest of their night sweeping up shards of FÄRGRIK.

That – or, there’s an intruder. Grigoriy has never dealt with that before, and he’s not quite sure what he’s going to do in that case. Especially since he has a new employee with him whose safety he feels responsible for right now.

“It’s probably nothing,” Grigoriy whispers, reassuring himself. “Let’s check it out.”

“Mm.” Yevgenia’s serious gaze is fixed on the brightly lit landing outside of the cafeteria. Grigoriy takes it as assent. He walks, slowly, cautiously, towards the light, straining his ears to hear anything other than Yevgenia’s quiet footsteps behind him. He hears nothing, feeling more relieved with every step forward.

He’s just started down the stairs to the first-floor showrooms when he hears it.

Laughter.

Yevgenia’s hand lands on his shoulder as if to stop him, but he’s already frozen. Fuck. There really is somebody in here.

“Dude, Jens, stop. Somebody’s going to hear,” says a deep voice. From the sound of it this person is not that far away, probably just a few meters from the bottom of the stairs.

“With that spectacular fucking entrance of yours, there’s no way they haven’t heard us already,” retorts a second guy, maybe Jens. “I just think this situation is funny.”

Grigoriy reaches a cold hand into his pocket and takes out his phone. He’s not panicking, he’s still thinking clearly enough, and he needs to act quickly before something worse happens and he freaks out. He needs to call the police before anything else. He needs to get himself and Yevgenia out of here, and then he needs to call Konstantin.

“Just stay quiet and keep looking,” the first guy says.

He unlocks his phone and opens to his keypad.

“Cheer up, Sten, we just –“ Jens breaks off his sentence at the sound Grigoriy’s phone makes clattering down the stairs.

“What - fuck - I can’t fucking believe you -“ Grigoriy hisses, whirling his glare around to Yevgenia on the step above him, who’s just wrenched the phone from Grigoriy’s hand and tossed it away. Like Yevgenia is trying to keep him from calling anybody. Yevgenia shakes her head emphatically, eyes wide and lips pressed tight.

“Yevgenia Zakharovna?” Jens calls, tauntingly, still out of sight. “Is that you? We know you’re here, your car is in the parking lot…”

“Do you know these people?” Yevgenia shakes her head just as frantically as before at Grigoriy’s whispered accusation.

Grigoriy looks back down the stairs just in time to see two men come around the corner. He notes their fashionable all-black outfits right before seeing that both of them are carrying pistols.

He gasps. Yevgenia’s fingers dig into his shoulder.

“Hey, Genya, fancy seeing you here,” Jens says with a smirk. “I’m sure you know what we’re here for, so if you could just tell us where to find it, that would be a huge help.”

Grigoriy focuses on breathing steadily.

“I mean, it’s not like we expect you to help us, but it sure would make our lives easier. It’d make your life easier, too,” Sten adds.

“Yeah, I’m not telling you shit,” Yevgenia says, her voice right behind Grigoriy’s ear. There’s a clicking sound, and Yevgenia’s arm extends beside Grigoriy, and fuck, Yevgenia is armed, too. “You guys should get out of here while you still can.”

Yevgenia fires two shots into the air, vaguely above the other men’s heads, and Grigoriy flinches but lets himself be pulled up the last stairs and into the showroom.

Right. They need to get out of here, and to do that they need to shake Sten and Jens, who he can hear coming up the stairs. They need to hide.

“This way,” Grigoriy mutters, running in front of Yevgenia, a specific area in mind. They dash through the living rooms and the storage, and then he veers sharp-left through the shortcut to the bedroom furniture. A cursory glance at the options is all he needs before he’s dropping to the dusty floor and crawling under a queen-sized KVALFJORD draped with a long, patterned RÖDTOPPA. He scoots to the far side, and Yevgenia slides in next to him, facing the room, holding her gun at the ready.

And then, for a few seconds, they wait. Evidently, Sten and Jens failed to realize they’d taken the shortcut, because they run into the room from dining as opposed to storage. Grigoriy doesn’t even have the time to consider the possibility that they could be discovered before the two men are rushing into the kitchen showroom.

They lie in silence for another minute, listening, before Yevgenia rolls onto her back and exhales.

“Grigoriy Savelievich, I’m really sorry about that,” she says quietly. “I’m so –“

“Call me Grisha,” Grigoriy interjects.

“Hm?”

“We just got chased through an IKEA by men with guns. I think we’ve reached that point.”

It draws a small smile from Yevgenia that quickly disappears. “Okay, Grisha. I’m sorry this is happening tonight. It’s my fault.”

“I appreciate the apology, but I’d prefer an explanation.”

“Yeah,” Yevgenia sighs. “Let me call someone first. Then I’ll explain.”

Grigoriy lay listening and watching as Yevgenia pulls up the recent calls on her phone, calls the number at the top of the list, and proceeds to have a short conversation.

“Alyosha?… Yeah, I have a situation… Jens Angström and Sten Blomstedt are here. They broke in… Yeah, the IKEA… No, we’re fine, but I don’t know how to get them to leave… I don’t – no, that’s the problem. I don’t know where it is either… The garage? Okay, tell me when you get close… Okay. Yeah.”

The call ends. Yevgenia turns to face Grigoriy.

“Some backup is coming to help us with get rid of those guys,” Yevgenia says. “My boss and probably someone else. We just need to not get discovered before then.”

“Okay… So, what are they here for? Jens and Sten? They’re looking for something?”

“They’re looking for some information that I hid -” she gestures around. “- around here. I don’t know how they found out, but, well, they’re here now. But the problem is, I hid it in one of the desks in the showroom, but it’s not in there anymore. I don’t know where it went, but they think I know where it is.”

“What was it? Some kind of file?”

“It’s a flash drive. Encrypted. It has important information about some certain business stuff – “

“From your other job? Your friend’s business?”

Yevgenia nods.

“Is this some sort of…” Grigoriy hesitates to bring it up. “Crime thing?”

“Uhh. Yes,” Yevgenia admits. “The thing I called my friend’s business is definitely not a legitimate business. And those two guys are from a rival syndicate. The Swedes.”

Syndicate. Grigoriy gulps. That sounds pretty serious.

“First, I somehow let them find out what my plan was, and then I lost the thumb drive, and then I dragged you into this mess. So, basically, I’ve been doing a great fucking job proving myself on this assignment.”

“Let’s focus on how to resolve the situation as harmlessly as possible,” Grigoriy advises. “The self-critical post-op can come after the fact.”

“Okay, mister therapist.” Yevgenia glances at her phone. “They’re going to get here in a few minutes, and I said I’d meet them in the parking garage under the building. But we’ll have to be careful not to bump into the others.”

“The quickest way is to go back down those front escalators and to the left. There’s another set of stairs that goes down to the parking garage, and since it’s in an open area – well, I don’t know if that’d be safer or not.”

“It should be.” Yevgenia turns and raises the bedspread a bit to glance around the room. “I’ll go first. They aren’t targeting you, so you should be safe.”

“Okay. Let’s go.”

Yevgenia quietly rolls out from under the bed; Grigoriy extricates himself with a bit more noise. It’s all silent as they navigate through the showroom, Yevgenia creeping out ahead to survey the territory and Grigoriy coming along carefully behind. He’s feeling the suspense, sure, but now that there’s no apparent danger he can’t help but feel like he’s watching his own personal action movie. It’s kind of exciting. And Yevgenia makes for quite the dashing action hero, if one takes the whole criminal element out of it.

They make it down to the garage without incident, avoiding glass shards from the window Sten and Jens had broken. “If they’re looking for a tiny little object, the first-floor showroom and the warehouse are probably the most time consuming to look through,” Grigoriy rationalizes.

“That’s good, because I really don’t think it’s in either of those places,” Yevgenia answers. She identifies a strategic place to stand, somewhere next to a column they could hide behind but with a wide range of visibility. “And now, we wait. Or – I’m staying and waiting.” She shrugs. “Obviously you can do whatever you think is best.”

“Right.” Grigoriy hasn’t considered that he could leave. Certainly it would be safer to do so, but what would Konstantin do? He certainly wouldn’t feel comfortable leaving the fate of his IKEA to some unsupervised gang members. If Grigoriy stays, he can give Yevgenia’s side an advantage that’ll surely resolve the situation with less damage to the store.

“You aren’t going anywhere,” Yevgenia observes. “Is my company that enjoyable?”

“Something like that.”

“I’m flattered.” Yevgenia doesn’t look away from the entrance to the garage. “I thought you’d want nothing to do with me after you saw what I’m really here for.”

“I’m more concerned than anything else.”’

“Aren’t you afraid of me? I just shot at the ceiling of your IKEA.”

“I don’t mean to condone crime or offend your sensibilities,” Grigoriy says. “But in retrospect that was kind of hot.”

Yevgenia snorts. “In retrospect.”

“Well, at that moment I was busy freaking out.”

Yevgenia leans over, giggling. “That’s too cute.”

It’s only a few moments before a car pulls into the garage. Grigoriy assumes this is the vehicle they are expecting, because Yevgenia waves at it, and it blinks its headlights.

The car parks close to the store entrance, and they walk over to meet the two men who step out of it.

“Guys!” Yevgenia calls, and she tugs on Grigoriy’s sleeve. “This is Grigoriy Savelievich. He works here and he’s been helping me. Grisha,” she continues. “This is Aleksei Fyodorovich, my boss, and Timofey Timurovich, my coworker.”

“Nice to meet you, Grigoriy Savelievich,” Aleksei says. “Thanks for tolerating all this nonsense. I hope we haven’t caused you too much trouble.”

“I’ve had an interesting night,” Grigoriy says. It’s not a lie.

“Hey Grigoriy Savelievich,” Timofey acknowledges. “So, Genya, what exactly are we doing here?”

“I just want to get the guys out of the building,” Yevgenia says. “Then I’ll quickly track down the thumb drive and get out of here.”

“You think you can find it?” Aleksei asks.

“Yeah, I know what I’m looking for. I bet it won’t take more than an hour.”

“But – wait,” Grigoriy interjects. “Wouldn’t those guys just come back with more people?”

Timofey gives him a weird look, but Aleksei nods like he made a valid point. “The key is that they think I know where it is,” Yevgenia answers. “They’ll probably assume that we’ll be gone with it by the time they get back.”

“How does Grigoriy Savelievich factor into this?” Aleksei asks. “Is he going home?”

“Uh, no, I don’t think so…” Yevgenia looks at Grigoriy expectantly.

“I’m staying until the situation is resolved,” Grigoriy says. “My knowledge can give you the home field advantage, and the sooner you finish this and leave my store, the better.”

“All right. I appreciate that attitude,” Aleksei says. “Genya, make sure he doesn’t die, okay?”

They walk back into the store entrance, and Grigoriy dashes to the guard’s station nearby. The others watch as he pulls a view of all the store’s surveillance cameras, Yevgenia’s hand landing on his shoulder again as they crowd around. Two fuzzy figures are visible moving around one of the rooms.

“That’s certainly handy,” Aleksei remarks.

“They’re on this floor,” Grigoriy explains. “They’re in the ‘home organization’ section, probably looking in through all the storage units.”

Aleksei hums in acknowledgement. “How do we get there?”

“Well, there are three ways to get in and out of this room.” Grigoriy points at different views on the monitor to illustrate his point. “There’s a shortcut from the textiles section as well as the section before it, which is bathroom stuff, and the section after it, which is lighting.”

“We can split up,” Aleksei says. “Let’s all take different exits to keep them from getting away. We’ll have to be quiet. Grigoriy can show us where to go, and then we’ll all take them by surprise and hopefully avoid too much of a confrontation. Okay?”

“Okay,” Yevgenia replies. Timofey nods as well.

Grigoriy cranes his neck to look back at Yevgenia. “I’d like to go pick up my phone from where you dropped it, though.”

“Oh, right,” Yevgenia says sheepishly, dropping her eyes to the floor. “Yeah. Sorry about that. It’s my fault, so… yeah. I’ll cover any damage.”

“I appreciate that.” Grigoriy catches a questioning look from Timofey and the frown Aleksei has directed at Yevgenia. “Don’t worry about it, it was just a little chaotic before you guys arrived. It’s no big deal.”

“Okay,” Aleksei says, glancing between Yevgenia and Grigoriy before turning away. “If you say so. Let’s get going.”

“Thank you, Grisha,” Yevgenia whispers once the other two are out of earshot. “I don’t deserve you being so nice to me.”

Grigoriy just smiles before following the others.

Luckily, his phone hasn’t incurred any apparent damage, having only fallen a couple of steps. He pockets it and returns to his companions at the bottom of the stairs, continuing past them to the entrance to the marketplace.

They creep through tableware and the cooking implements. He’s tense, but not so focused on the task at hand that he doesn’t notice that the shelves are a bit of a mess. Sten and Jens have clearly swept through this area in search of the USB drive, not caring if they leave some chaos in their wake.

It’ll be a bitch to clean everything up before tomorrow. He tries not to think about it too much.

They enter the textile section. The shortcut is on the far side of the room, and Grigoriy can hear Sten and Jens shuffling about on the other side, which means that the reciprocal is true as well.

Grigoriy doesn’t say a word; he just points at Aleksei and then points at the doorway next to the curtain samples. Aleksei nods and, gun drawn, walks to the entrance impressively silently. He nods to the other three, and they continue.

“This is the lamest way I’ve spent a Thursday night in five years,” Sten remarks. Grigoriy, startled, gasps and freezes, but Yevgenia nudges him to keep walking to the next room.

“Really?” Jens says. “What did you do last week?”

“Last Thursday night I baked bread from scratch,” Sten says. “It was infinitely less lame than looking through stacks of fifty of, like, whatever the fuck this is.”

Their voices fade as Grigoriy, Yevgenia, and Timofey walk into a second room of textiles, and then through the rugs.

“I think those are file folder organizers,” Jens remarks.

“They’re FJÄLLA, Jens. Obviously.”

“Right, of course that’s what they are.”

In the bathroom organization section, Grigoriy repeats what he did before, gesturing for Timofey to stand by the correct door, over next to the patterned towels. Grigoriy and Yevgenia creep through the shortcut to home decor.

“I’ve finished with these, anyway,” Sten says.

“Did you check thoroughly?”

“Of course I did, Jens.”

“I just can’t help but think it’s in this room,” Jens continues. “Since there are so many compartments.”

“Right. Well, I’ll start on these over here.”

Grigoriy and Yevgenia pass through the quietly ticking maze of clocks that is wall decor and finally arrive at lighting. The room is dark, all the sample light fixtures having been turned off for the day. Yevgenia points at the entrance to home organization and tilts her head questioningly. Grigoriy nods, then points to himself, silently asking if he should follow. Yevgenia points at the floor, telling him to wait here, before taking off towards the home organization room at a fast walk.

Grigoriy can’t see what happens next. He stands in place, holding his breath, glancing between the way Yevgenia went and the way he’d run if he needed to escape, and listening.

“Everybody freeze!” he hears Yevgenia bark. Jens yelps. Something falls to the floor with a muted thud.

“Drop your weapons,” Aleksei commands. “I want to see them on the ground.”

“Timofey Timurovich?” Sten says.

“Sten Blomstedt,” Timofey answers. “Hurry up and cooperate, okay?”

All Grigoriy hears for the next few moments are some quiet shuffling noises. It doesn’t sound bad, and he starts to breathe again.

“Good,” Aleksei says. “Keep your hands where I can see them. Timofey Timurovich will collect your belongings, and Grigoriy Savelievich will show us the way out.”

Grigoriy figures that this is his cue. He walks to the doorway and peeks into the room. Sten and Jens are standing in the center of the space, hands slightly raised, and Timofey is walking between them, picking up their guns from the ground.

“We’ll walk you to the parking lot, and then you’re going to leave, okay?” Aleksei continues. “Surely you can find a more entertaining way to spend a Thursday night.”

“I can think of several,” Sten replies.

Aleksei and Yevgenia keep their guns trained on Sten and Jens as they move forward and start to guide them to the door where Grigoriy is waiting.

“We’ll go out through the warehouse.” Grigoriy turns back into the lighting room and walks towards wall decor. “That’s the fastest way to get to the parking lot.”

“We’re sorry for messing up your store, Grigoriy Savelievich,” Jens says. Grigoriy doesn’t respond. While he does appreciate that Jens understands the trouble they’ve caused, he’s not about to pardon it.

“Well, we wouldn’t have ‘messed up the store’ if dear Yevgenia Zakharovna hadn’t been so stubborn,” Sten adds with a small smirk.

“You broke a window to get in here,” Grigoriy points out, a bit annoyed by Sten’s attitude. “And it’s no one’s fault but your own. You could have stayed home and made more bread.”

“Oh, come on,” says Sten. They’re stepping into the unsettling darkness of the warehouse. “We had to at least try to stop that information from getting out.”

“Sure,” Aleksei says. “But – forgive me for asking – how did you two know about this?”

“You know we can’t tell you about that,” Jens says, looking around at the shelving.

“I swear the only people who knew I was coming here today were you and Tima,” says Yevgenia. “Like, I could be wrong, but I was pretty careful about it.”

“So it could have been any one of the three of us who let something slip,” Aleksei reasons. “Tima, you don’t think you could have accidentally let some information slip, do you?”

“Um. Me? No,” Timofey answers, trailing the group, looking uncomfortable holding three pistols awkwardly in his hands. Grigoriy is walking to the side, quietly observing. It seems to him like the conversation is high-stakes, but his companions are trying to approach the sensitive topic of leaking information rather casually.

“I’m curious about how you know Sten Blomstedt here,” Aleksei says. It doesn’t sound like an accusation.

“Oh…” Sten, frowning, turns to look as Timofey answers. “We’ve met before… personally. Not through work.”

Grigoriy physically startles at the sound of a box being disturbed high on a shelf, to the right side in front of the group. He looks up, but it’s much too dark to make out the silhouettes of the items up above. He thinks, maybe, that he sees a brief flash of red light, but that’s probably the blink of a smoke detector –

“Fuck, look out!” Yevgenia shouts, and she lunges towards Aleksei, who staggers as Yevgenia pulls him to the side. Grigoriy has just enough time to realize he doesn’t know what to do before a loud bang sounds and reverberates through the vastness of the warehouse. Grigoriy jumps, and he hears someone else yell, maybe Jens. There’s now a messy hole in the floor behind where Aleksei was just standing.

“Alyosha, are you okay?” Yevgenia asks, eyes wide, gripping Aleksei’s jacket tightly with one hand.

“I’m fine, Genya. It’s Lavro.” Aleksei recovers quickly from the surprise, raising his weapon to fire three times at the top of the shelf. “Cover Grisha and, everyone, keep moving.”

Yevgenia rushes over to Grigoriy and grabs his shoulders, still looking a bit shocked. “Stay behind me, okay, Grisha? I won’t let you get hurt.”

“I will,” Grigoriy assures him. “Now come on, let’s keep up.” Sten, Jens, Timofey, and Aleksei have moved ahead, using the mid-aisles displays as a bit of cover. Aleksei is still firing intermittently on the invisible enemy, who perhaps because of this hasn’t yet had the opportunity to return fire. Timofey looks conflicted, unable to help Aleksei while his hands are full.

“Tima,” Grigoriy hears Sten say. “Now is the right time.”

“Tima? What’s going on?” Aleksei asks, darting from behind one stack of boxes to another. He doesn’t look back, so he doesn’t see Timofey handing Sten and Jens’ guns back to them. A second shot from above hits the boxes Aleksei is hiding behind, and Grigoriy grasps the back of Yevgenia’s hoodie with both hands as they duck behind the closest stack next to Timofey’s.

“They’re going to help us ward off Lavro,” Timofey calls.

“Don’t!” Aleksei protests. “Shit, Timofey, did you already – now they’re –“

“Stop worrying, boss man,” Jens says, returning fire on so-called Lavro. “We’re here to help.”

“Who is Lavro?” Grigoriy whispers.

“Lavro is a sniper who’s under one of Aleksei’s rivals within our syndicate.” Timofey moves to the next display, and Yevgenia, with Grigoriy still firmly attached, darts to occupy the vacated space. “They’ve tried to assassinate him a couple of times.”

“Damn.” So. There are three armed, warring mafia factions engaging in a shootout in Grigoriy’s warehouse. Konstantin’s warehouse. Konstantin might have been able to find some clever way to resolve this situation, but Grigoriy is still glad he’s not here tonight. He recalls the conversation they had in Konstantin’s office not even two hours ago. He pictures Konstantin sorting through the day’s lost-and-found items, both of them blissfully ignorant of the criminal shenanigans planned for their poor, innocent IKEA.

He sees Konstantin holding a black umbrella, a red and white baseball cap, and an Iron Man pencil case.

He sees Konstantin unzip the pencil case.

He sees the USB drive.

“Genya!” He tugs hard on Yevgenia’s hoodie. “Fuck! Fuck, I know where it is.”

“What?”

Grigoriy bangs his head against Yevgenia’s back. “The fucking flash drive. I just remembered. I saw it right before you got here tonight. It’s back in the manager’s office.”

“Where? Where’s the office?”

“It’s back –“ Grigoriy lets go with one hand to point to the front of the warehouse. “It’s near the checkout. We can get there by going through the rest of the warehouse or by doubling back and going around.”

“Let’s go around,” Yevgenia says. “The rest can hold their own against Lavro. He’s only going for Aleksei anyway, so he shouldn’t bother us… right?”

“Yeah.” Grigoriy has lost track of the positions of the others; he looks up and sees that they’ve managed to move ahead by several aisles. “Let’s go.”

They keep low to the ground and scurry back the way they came. Grigoriy feels safer as they increase their distance from the action. When they get out of the warehouse, he leads Yevgenia through the convoluted tangle of IKEA showroom space for the nth time that night.

Back into the lobby, passing the stairs and cart escalator that lead down to the parking area; ducking low as they run through the lanes for checkout, so they won’t be seen by the five that are still engaged in the gunfight next door; past the little area they maintain for clearance or damage-discounted items; and, with the help of Konstantin’s set of keys, into Konstantin’s office down the ‘employees only’ hallway.

“God, finally.” Grigoriy sighs and falls to his knees in front of the blessed box Konstantin’s desk. He sticks a hand in and rummages around a little before pulling the Iron Man pencil case out of the pile.

“The whole thing is yours?” he asks, turning on his heels to face Yevgenia, and she nods and reaches out with one hand.

A wave of sudden fear washes over Grigoriy. Because, yes, Konstantin has a high opinion of Yevgenia, and that has helped to influence Grigoriy’s trust of her thus far. But Yevgenia works for and with criminals, and that much, Grigoriy has no reason to trust. He wants to help Yevgenia, his new friend, but he really doesn’t want to be responsible for the harvesting of organs or the extortion of small business owners or whatever a crime syndicate does. He doesn’t want to help something bad.

Grigoriy retracts his arm, pulling the pencil case to his chest.

“I know you could take it from me if you wanted –“

“I wouldn’t,” Yevgenia quickly interjects.

“- but even so,” Grigoriy continues, gaze fixed on Yevgenia’s face for any sign of guilt or conniving. “Before I give this to you willingly I need you to tell me this information won’t be used to hurt people.”

Yevgenia nods. “I get it, Grisha. But you can’t tell anyone about it, or you’ll put yourself in danger.”

“Tell me.”

“We collected a bunch of dirt on one of our most powerful enemies,” Yevgenia explains, maintaining Grigoriy’s eye contact, giving the perfect impression of honesty. “The big boss of Sten and Jens’ organization. And we were trying to pass it along to a journalist in a way where their identity would remain a secret.”

Grigoriy tilts his head as he considers the story. It certainly seems plausible, but it’s also the perfect fib to get him to hand the thing over.

“Please, Grisha, you can look at the files if you want. I swear it’s the truth.”

“Fine, fine, fine.” Grigoriy all but throws the pencil case into Yevgenia’s hands. “If I find out you’re tricking me, I’ll be very disappointed, but for now, let’s just go.”

“Thank you, Grisha.” Yevgenia cradles the pencil case like an ancient relic, removing the drive and pocketing it. Grigoriy stands and follows Yevgenia to the door. “I won’t let you down… Tima? What are you doing here?”

Grigoriy steps into the hallway next to Yevgenia and sees Timofey standing a few steps ahead, one hand outstretched.

“I hate to interrupt this touching heart-to-heart between new friends,” he says, “but I need the contents of that pencil case. Hand it over.”

“What? Tima, no. It’s mine and I’ll hold onto it until we get back.”

Grigoriy looks back and forth between the two coworkers. Yevgenia’s tone is carelessly friendly; doesn’t she feel the same trepidation Grigoriy does? Doesn’t she see the steely resolve in Timofey’s expression? She has to see it now, now that Timofey is extending his other arm too, the one with the gun in it.

“It wasn’t a request,” Timofey says, harshly, like spitting out the words is painful.

“Tima? Why are you pointing that thing at us?”

“Give the thumb drive to me and you won’t have to find out.”

Obviously, it’s a warning. Yevgenia just seems confused. “What are you talking about? You’d never shoot me; aren’t I your friend?”

“Yes, we’re friends,” Timofey says, and he removes the safety. “But it’s not personal.”

“It is personal,” Yevgenia insists.

“I can’t believe this. Do you think so little of me?” Timofey says, and Grigoriy gulps, because now the issue does seem personal, like now Timofey has something to prove. “I’ll give you to the count of three. One.”

“Genya,” Grigoriy croaks.

“He won’t do it,” Yevgenia replies.

“Two.”

“He is going to, God, Yevgenia!” Grigoriy cries, desperate, because how does she not see it? How doesn’t she understand that in just a second she’s going to get hurt?

If Yevgenia isn’t going to do anything to protect herself, then Grigoriy has to do it. He doesn’t give himself a moment to think about it; as Timofey counts ‘three’ he charges forward, dashing in front of Yevgenia, trying to reach Timofey at tackle him, disarm him, do something.

“No!” Yevgenia shrieks, and after some loud noise and a confusing moment where Grigoriy doesn’t know what he’s seeing or what his body is doing – oh, he’s falling, he must be falling backwards – he’s caught and held up from behind, and it hurts, what the hell, he’s never felt pain exactly like this before. It’s all he can sense for an indeterminate amount of time, before his hearing and vision suddenly pop back into comprehension. Timofey is backing away, Yevgenia yelling at him to leave, her voice close to Grigoriy’s ears, too loud. But whatever she says gets Timofey to turn and run away, out of sight.

“Grisha, Grisha, Grisha,” Yevgenia chants, voice quieter, more bearable. “Are you okay? Grisha?”

“Fucking – hurts –“ Grigoriy rasps, and he yelps when Yevgenia’s arms tighten around him. “Christ!”

“Sorry, sorry, I’m sorry.” Yevgenia loosens her grip a little, lowering Grigoriy’s upper body a few inches to the ground. “It hurts because you got shot – which is my fault. I think he just got you in the shoulder but I need you to tell me if you feel like you’re dying for real or if it’s like it’s just your shoulder and that’s all.” Yevgenia speaks so frantically quickly that trying to follow her train of thought distracts Grigoriy from his pain for a moment, until Yevgenia’s question makes him turn his attention inward once again. He isn’t confident that he can differentiate between getting shot nonfatally and “dying for real,” but thankfully he feels more of the former than the latter.

“Not dying,” Grigoriy replies.

“Oh, thank God.” Yevgenia’s relieved head hangs over Grigoriy as her posture deflates a little. “I was so worried – but!” Yevgenia’s eyes snap back open and she sits up abruptly. Grigoriy wants to laugh but doesn’t because it would probably disturb his shoulder. “It’s still my fault that you’re hurt. As if I haven’t caused you enough hardship tonight already…”

“I’m the one who jumped out in front of you,” Grigoriy points out, voice weaker than he’d like. “And Timofey’s the one who fired the gun.”

“I didn’t believe he would do it,” Yevgenia says, looking off into space. “Stupidly. I trusted him, or mis-estimated him. Stupid. You had to jump in and save me.”

“Whatever. Now it’s your turn to save me and get me out of here before I really do bleed to death.”

“Right.” Yevgenia smooths her hand down the leg of her pants, seeming to come back to herself. “You’re right. But I’ll make this all up to you, one day, okay?”

“I believe you.” Although, Grigoriy isn’t sure what kind of relationship or contact, if any, they’ll have after tonight is over. “So, to get out of here…”

“I’d like to avoid the warehouse as much as possible,” Yevgenia says. “It’ll be dangerous out there.”

“I agree. If you look at the end of the hall, you’ll see an emergency exit. See it?”

Yevgenia twists around to look. “Yeah. But won’t it raise an alarm?”

“You can turn it off with Konstantin’s keys. Take the lanyard over there and try the key with the blue tape on it. It should work.”

“And leave you lying here?” Yevgenia looks down with concern. “What if someone else comes by?”

“Just go do it.” Yevgenia nods and stands. There are dark patches of Grigoriy’s blood on her clothes.

While she’s fiddling with the door, Grigoriy lies there, feeling bad. He feels bad for whoever’s going to have to clean up his blood from the floor, he feels bad that Konstantin will need to find some way to fix all of this damage, and of course he takes some time to feel bad for himself. If only he were training some normal, boring kid starting a new seasonal retail job at IKEA, they would have had their leftover meatballs, finished the tour, and gone home by now. He’d be eating takeout for dinner with Konstantin right now, not lying in partial agony, bleeding all over the floor, probably a long night of medical procedures still ahead of him.

“I got it,” Yevgenia calls, walking back to Grigoriy. She crouches down and gently tucks the lanyard around Grigoriy’s neck. “Do you think you can walk?”

“I can try.”

Yevgenia positions herself in front of Grigoriy and holds out a hand for Grigoriy to grab, on his uninjured side. She pulls Grigoriy into a sitting position, and it’s excruciating. Yevgenia tries to lift him up to stand, but Grigoriy’s legs give out and he falls back down, panting and blinking tears out of his eyes.

“I don’t think I can do it.”

“It’s fine. I’ll carry you.” Yevgenia crouches back down to look him in the eye. “It’ll still hurt, okay? The other thing I can do is go get help and come back, but I don’t want to leave you alone, and it would take longer.”

“Just carry me. I’ll be fine.”

“Okay.” Yevgenia weaves one arm under Grigoriy’s knees and the other around his torso. “Hold on with your good arm. I’m sorry, this is going to hurt. I’ll lift you in three, two, one.”

“Hhh – aahhhh.” Grigoriy groans through his teeth as he’s lifted into the air. Yevgenia doesn’t seem to struggle with his weight.

“Sorry, I’m sorry, Grisha,” Yevgenia says as she shifts Grigoriy a bit in his arms, triggering another wave of pain. “I’m going to carry you down to the garage. Don’t pass out.”

Grigoriy can’t bring himself to reply. His head flops against Yevgenia’s shoulder and as they walk, he focuses on breathing steadily. Underneath the metallic scent of blood, he can pick out the comforting laundry smell of Yevgenia’s hoodie. He concentrates on it, closing his eyes. He hears the emergency exit door open in front of them and then close behind them. He hears Yevgenia walking over gravel before reaching smooth pavement. He thinks he can hear gunfire being exchanged somewhere in the distance.

“Are you still with me?” Yevgenia’s voice comes out shakily.

“I am.” Maybe Yevgenia will feel reassured if he keeps his eyes open. “Genya – are you crying?” He’s not sure why he asks; Yevgenia’s eyes in the moonlight are very wet, her face a little wet too.

“No… maybe. Maybe not.”

“I don’t want you to cry. I’ll be okay. We’ll both be okay.”

“I know,” Yevgenia replies. “I’m just so upset that this happened to you. And I hate that you’re in pain.”

Grigoriy sighs and closes his eyes again. There’s not much he can do about all that.

The gunshots get louder as they advance further into the garage. Eventually Grigoriy opens his eyes to assess what’s going on, and he sees a few busy, confusing human figures battling it out by the checkout escalators. Somebody – he thinks it’s Aleksei – has made a shield out of a rectangular section of oak tabletop (LANEBERG, his brain oh so helpfully supplies).

Yevgenia runs up to a car – he recalls that it’s the one Aleksei and Timofey arrived in, parked close to the front – and she opens the door to the backseat using the hand that’s also supporting Grigoriy’s legs. She sets Grigoriy down so he’s lying across the seats, apologizing again for the movements that put stress on the injured shoulder. Then Yevgenia is hopping into the driver’s seat, starting the car, and – nothing.

“Why aren’t we going?” Grigoriy asks from the back.

“I need to get Alyosha.” Yevgenia watches intently out the window, monitoring the fight. “If Timofey betrayed us, then he’s alone fighting against maybe four guys. He could have gotten hurt.”

It made sense, or was good, even, that Yevgenia would think of her boss and try to ensure his safety even with another guy bleeding all over the car. Grigoriy can’t help but feel a little impatient, nevertheless. “I think I saw him a second ago. He looked fine.”

“Good,” Yevgenia replies. She rolls down is window a little, to yell ‘Alyosha!’ out of it. “He’s coming here now.”

Sure enough, a few moments later, Aleksei jumps into the passenger’s seat, slamming the door behind himself. “Let’s go,” he says, and Yevgenia pulls out of the parking spot and races out of the garage. A last gunshot follows their trajectory and misses.

“Grisha is with us,” Yevgenia says. “He got shot by Tima.”

“Oh!” Aleksei turns in his seat, evidently surprised to see him. “Grigoriy Savelievich! I’m so sorry about that.”

“Me too,” Grigoriy says. “Where are we going?”

“We’re heading back to our base,” Aleksei explains. “I can get someone experienced there to patch you up. It’ll be faster and safer than visiting a hospital and waiting around with a bunch of sick people, but I will take you there if you insist.”

“Whatever you think is best.” He’s too tired to feel trepidation over visiting their lair. “I need to call Kostya and let him know.”

Aleksei squints. “Who?”

“The IKEA manager,” Yevgenia supplies.

“Yeah. He’s my roommate, and he’s waiting for me to get home.” Grigoriy wiggles his good hand into his pants pocket and pulls his phone out, unlocking it with one of his thumbs. Aleksei tugs it out of his hand and opens to the keypad.

“What’s the number?” he asks. Grigoriy recites it.

Konstantin picks up after only a few rings. “Grisha?” he asks, but his voice through speakerphone is jarring and Grigoriy doesn’t know what to say.

“Kostya –“ he starts, and doesn’t continue.

“Are you done with the training?” Konstantin asks cheerfully. “It wasn’t so bad, was it?”

“Well.” Grigoriy’s chuckle comes out as more of a cough. “It was pretty bad, actually.”

“Aw, really?” Konstantin sighs. “That’s so depressing. Yevgenia Zakharovna and I hit it off really well. I was certain –“

“No, no, Genya is great. She’s amazing,” Grigoriy says, making brief, slightly awkward eye contact with Yevgenia through the rear-view mirror. “We could have had a perfectly nice night at the IKEA. It’s just that – please don’t freak out – I got shot.”

“You got WHAT?”

#my writing #Night at the IKEA #ok so for clarification the setting is somewhere in russia bc why not #this story is just for fun but its a little less self indulgent than the last one hehehe #im thinking of this as a callback to my middle school writing #where it was just unapologetically silly but there were still emotional moments #please enjoy!!!

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how-to-survive-a-factory-tour · 6 years ago

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How to Survive a Factory Tour - Chapter 5

A Sanders Sides / Charlie and the Chocolate Factory FanFiction

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I am so fucking exhausted. And hungry. Well, I always am, but recently I’ve been more so than usual.

For the past few days, a lot of my co-workers have been off for Christmas. This meant little old me had to pick up god knows how many extra shifts. For the past few days, I’ve had to skip out on proper meals, only having a quick snack when I got home.

And, no, by snack, I do not mean the Wonka bar. Still haven’t eaten it. No one has.

Two days after Roman Prince won a ticket, I expect Remy to say the fourth ticket’s been won. You know, since there’s been a pattern of them being found every two days. However, when Remy comes in, he simply orders his drink, chats a bit and leaves. It’s honestly surprising, especially with the tour being in five days.

Anyway, I continue working for the next few hours, praying the tips at the end will be worth it. Then, finally, my manager comes out and dismisses me, but not before dividing my share of the money in the tip jar. I hang up my apron, pull on my hoodie and leave the shop.

If there’s one good thing about being poor in Florida, it’s that you never have to worry about freezing. With winters of 75°F, it doesn’t matter that my thin, patched-up hoodie is the warmest thing I own.

It doesn’t mean the walk home is perfect, however. My stomach’s being as loud as an earthquake. Shut up, will you. Just wait until Mom comes home and hopefully she brings some dinner.

I soon arrive at our little shack, gently opening the front door and stepping inside. “Thomas, I’m home!”

I pause, waiting for my brother to reply. There’s no response. “Thomas? Hello?” Nothing. “Thomathy? Thomas the dank engine?”

Still nothing. I feel my heart rate picking up. Oh god, what if part of the ceiling collapsed on him... o-or the lack of food in the house caught up on him and he starved...

All the worst possibilities come to mind. Thomas is supposed to be here, he always is when I come home. Something’s wrong, he’s hurt, I just know it. I can’t breathe. Everything’s going blurry. My heart’s thudding too hard.

Suddenly, everything’s black.

...

”Virgil! Virgil, wake up!”

I come back to my senses to find myself led on our lumpy couch, and someone leaning over me.

”Th-Thomas...? You’re okay?”

”Virge! Thank god you’re awake! I was so worried... What happened?”

I sit up, Thomas helping me adjust. “I... You weren’t home. I got scared something had happened, and...”

”Panic attack, huh?” Thomas asks. I nod. “I’m really sorry, Virge, I should’ve left a note so you knew I was heading out...”

It was only then I notice a shopping bag at Thomas’ feet. “What’s that?”

Thomas takes a deep breath. “I have a confession. While I have put most of the money you earned for me towards college, I’ve also been saving up for something else.” He reaches down into the bag and pulls out...

”A video camera? What do you need a camera for?”

”I felt bad that you and Mom were doing so much for me but I wasn’t doing anything in return. I’ve wanted to get a job for a while, but I didn’t know how to get one that fit around my school schedule. I decided I needed to do something where I can organise my own hours and I didn’t need to get a whole lot, so I figured maybe...I could do YouTube. I’ve got the camera, and Remy said I could record at his and edit and upload on his computer. Hopefully, I’ll get enough viewers to monetize and get some money to help us, all the while making fun content.”

”Thomas... that is fucking brilliant.”

Thomas smiles. “Thanks. But none of that matters right now. You literally just passed out, you need to get your strength back.” He gets up and leaves the room, heading to the kitchen. A few moments later, he comes back and pushes something into my hand. “Eat.”

I look down at the bar. “I... I can’t.”

”Why not?”

”The money was meant to be for you...”

Thomas rolls his eyes. “It’s okay! It was only a dollar or so for this. You deserve a reward for everything you’ve done for me. Now, open it and eat.”

I sigh, knowing Thomas won’t give in. He can be really stubborn if he needs to be. I start peeling back the wrapper.

HO. LY. SHIT.

GOLD. FUCKING GOLD.

Thomas and I both stare at the ticket. He breaks the silence.

”This is gonna make a great first video.”

I pause before holding it out to him. “You have it.”

”What?! No way in hell! You won it and bought it with your own money. And as I said, you deserve a reward.” Thomas pushes the ticket back into my hands. “Virgil, you’re going to Willy Wonka’s factory.”

”FOURTH TICKET!”

I practically slide into the room upon hearing Emile’s yell. I plop next to him on the sofa and watch the TV screen.

There are three guys there, and I can’t tell which the winner is. One is wearing sunglasses, a white t-shirt, a black jacket, black jeans, and has an arm around the shoulders of the person in the middle.

The one in the middle has brown hair, and is wearing a purple shirt, ripped black skinny jeans and a patched black and purple hoodie. He looks pretty uncomfortable at all the attention.

The third looks identical to the second. He looks more comfortable on camera than who I presume is his twin brother. He was wearing a grey shirt, an old brown jacket, and jeans.

As I watch, they’re revealed to be called Remy Sleep, and Virgil and Thomas Sanders. Virgil’s the one who won the ticket. He seems so shy! Well, I’ll make sure to make him feel welcome during the tour.

Speaking of the tour, Virgil lives in Florida, and in the same town as the Wonka factory! That’s awesome! He’s sooooo lucky. Imagine being able to buy Wonka bars nice and fresh. I bet they’d be even more delicious then.

Oh boy, four out of five tickets have already been won with five days to go! I can’t wait to find out who wins the last one!

It seems my predictions have been proven right yet again. The next ticket was found in Florida. Just the one in Australia left now.

There’s not much else to say about the ticket being won, really. Nothing worth saying. Robert still blames me, so some things never change.

Joan and Talyn have been trying to find a way to hide a camera on my person so they can see the factory for themselves. It’s rather funny to hear their extravagant ideas, though I doubt I’ll try any. They’ll have to settle with my explanation.

They’re going to be coming with me to Florida, though. Of course my family aren’t, but Joan and Talyn didn’t want me to be alone, so got tickets for the flight too.

I totally didn’t beg them to come because I have a fear of flying...

Okay, I watch Air Crash Investigation too much. It’s educational and very intriguing, if slightly anxiety inducing.

But the point is, they’re coming with me. We’re arriving the day before the tour and leaving the day after. Joan and Talyn are going to be heading up to Orlando the day of the tour to go to Universal Studios. They’re going to meet up with me once the tour’s over. Everything’s arranged, and I’ve even written up schedules for us all so no one will be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Some may call it excessive, I call it efficient.

But I digress. The point is I’m fully ready and prepared...

To wipe this in my brother’s face.

Oh, how perfect! An emo nightmare just won the final ticket and is coming with us on the tour! How wonderful!

That was sarcasm, in case you couldn’t tell.

Call me quick to judge, but I’m not too fond of those edgy, melodramatic, dark emo types. They just seem to always bring down the mood. I’d rather my time at the greatest factory in the entire world didn’t be ruined by some moody, angsty, and by the looks of it, very socially awkward guy.

But I guess it’s too late now. He’s got a ticket, he’s going. Fun.

However, lets brush that aside for now. There’s more interesting stuff than ‘Virgil’ or whatever his name was winning a ticket.

The day after I’d won my ticket, my dads were out so I hosted a party at my place to celebrate my victory. It was great. We played spin the bottle and I got to kiss none other than school heartthrob Nate Christopher. It was probably one of the greatest moments of my life. Valerie even took a picture and sent it to me so I could “treasure the moment I could pretend Nate was gay and into me”.

Why are all the best guys straight? Let’s hope I’ll find the one in Florida and he’ll actually be gay, or bi, or pan, or just likes dudes in general.

Anyway, in the middle of the party, I got a call from Pa. He said he and dad had arranged, not just flights and hotels, but a two-week holiday in America. First, a week and two days in Florida, two days in the town with the factory, then the morning after the tour we’ll drive up to Orlando to go to Disney World. Then, we’ll fly up to New York, which is where we’ll spend the rest pf the two weeks, because Dad managed to get us all tickets to see Be More Chill on Broadway! I’m so excited, it’s going to be the best two weeks of my life.

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Tags: @clone-number-1, @pumpkinminette, @i-have-n0-idea-what-im-d0ing

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astarlightmonbebe · 7 years ago

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Summary: Jisung enters the festival wanting a blue raspberry snow cone, and leaves it with a crush and a date.

“You drive like an old man.” Hyunjin grumbled from the backseat, kicking Jisung’s seat with his overly long legs. Seungmin frowned at him in the rearview mirror.

“It’s better than your insane driving skills.” He retorted, taking a sharp left. Hyunjin slammed against the mirror, Jisung grabbing the dashboard to keep his balance. Felix screeched.

“Geez, Seungmin!” Hyunjin yelped, settling back down and putting in his earbuds. “And you said I had the insane driving skills.” He added under his breath. “Insanely good maybe.” He smiled to himself.

“Felix, kick him for me.” Seungmin ordered, and Felix gave Hyunjin the lightest kick possible, sticking out his tongue. Hyunjin glared at him, burrowing down even more into his jacket-it was impossibly hot, Jisung had no idea why he was wearing that-and turning up his music.

“Jisung, help me find a space.” Seungmin snapped, anxiously clenching and unclenching his hands on the wheel. The grass field was bumpy under the wheels, tires slogging through the mud caused by rain the previous night. A family crossed in front of them, a dog trotting along and a kid with grubby hands clutching at his parents.

“There’s one there if you want to be close.” Jisung rolled down the window to point, regretting it as a blast of hot air smelling like smoke and fried food hit him in the face.

“I got it.” Seungmin muttered, navigating into the tight space, no easy feat in the minivan Chan had lent them. There was a collective sigh of relief when he parked, Felix bouncing up and out the door barely a second after the wheels had stopped.

Hyunjin scrambled to grab the door before it closed. “Yah, wait up!” He yelled, splashing into a puddle of mud and shrieking as it splashed over his pants leg. Seungmin snickered, taking the keys out of the ignition and pocketing them. Jisung handed him his sunglasses, opening his door carefully to avoid grazing the side of the car beside them.

The heat hit Jisung like a truck, his clothes instantly starting to stick to him. Cringing, he brushed his bangs up and strode forward, the sun beating down on his head. The grass was scratchy against his ankles, his socked toe peeking out of a hole in his sneaker.

“Watch out for the truck!” Felix yelped, and Jisung stumbled back as a truck zoomed in front of him, mud splashing up and over him. He tried to leap back and avoid the damage, but ended up with the ends of his shirt and shorts splattered in the dark stuff.

Great. He thought to himself bitterly as Hyunjin howled with laughter and Seungmin tutted sympathetically. He stalked across the rest of the grass, trying to brush the mud away, but only ending up with his hands getting muddy as well.

As Jisung passed through the entrance to the festival, he noticed the snow cone station outside. It had a long line, mothers and their restless kids, groups of giggling teenagers. The decor was bright, but it wasn’t that or the people that attracted his eyes. Rather, the good looking male manning the counter.

He was very good looking, in a dark blonde dyed hair, white graphic t-shirt and frayed jean shorts, silver feather earrings, tan and bright eyes sort of way. Coincidentally, Jisung found the combination extremely attractive.

“You’re making heart eyes.” Felix sang as he skipped past, looping his elbow through Jisung’s and tugging him along. He covered his mouth with his hand, giggling. Jisung scrunched his nose up, pulling himself free and rubbing his arm.

“You’re not five anymore.” He said disgustedly, but Felix only laughed and ran over to Hyunjin, sure to tell him all about Jisung’s ‘crush’. Jisung had the urge to yell after them that looking at someone for longer than two seconds did not mean you were in love, but it would only fuel their annoyingness.

⧭ ⧭ ⧭ ⧭ ⧭

Chan’s booth was in a shady corner, where he and Woojin were sipping lemonade and chatting as a boy browsed the shelves of art and music. Art and music was putting it nicely, it was really a hodgepodge of stuff Chan had made and didn’t want to keep. Therefore; he was trying to rip people off by selling it as if it was even worth money.

“Kids!” Chan cried, standing up and ushering them over. “Kids.” Woojin repeated in a monotone voice, putting down his lemonade with a sigh. “You couldn’t have come when we were closing?”

Hyunjin frowned at him. “You make it sound like you don’t want us around.” Woojin blew out a breath, his hair fanning upward.

“Must I remind you that last time you came you ended up knocking over our whole booth...and then fleeing...leaving us to wreckage and rain...” He blinked tearfully.

Felix huffed. “You make it sound so much more dramatic than it was.” Woojin rolled his eyes, muttering something under his breath.

“Do you guys need money?” Chan asked, rummaging in his pocket. Seungmin stopped him.

“Hyung, we have plenty of money. We’re going to go walk around and get food, then we’ll come back and take over the booth for a while.” He said gently. Woojin looked over at him suspiciously.

“I only trust you to take over the booth.” He declared, and Hyunjin and Felix fell against each other, hands to their heart in mock hurt. “Jeongin’s coming over to help as well, a little bit later.” He added, folding his magazine closed.

Felix looked slyly over at Jisung. “We’re also going to go check out the guy that Jisung was looking at~” He half sang, and Jisung slammed his foot down on Felix’s, smiling in satisfaction when Felix yelped in pain and nearly fell over. He loved his friend, but he really wanted him to just die at times.

“What’s this about a boy?” Chan started to ask, but Jisung looped his arms around his friends and dragged them away; yelling a cheerful; “Bye!” as they left.

When he was out of view, he kicked them all in turn. “You need to shut up! I looked at him for one second longer than usual, sure, but you don’t have to be all ‘Jisung has a crush’.” He spat, but he felt kind of flushed and embarrassed inside. That boy had been very, very cute after all.

“Fine.” Felix said with a huff, but his eyes were glinting with the promise of mischief to come. Jisung’s friends would never just leave him alone, no, they had to bother him constantly.

“You know, I kind of want a snow cone now.” Hyunjin said after a moment, gazing out across the grass to the truck parked by the entrance.

“You can’t be serious.” Jisung said. “You just want to mess with me.” He narrowed his eyes in what he hoped was a threatening way.”

“I want one too.” Seungmin said, looking completely serious. Jisung groaned loudly, to let his friends know exactly how annoying they were.

“Fine. Let’s go.” He said crossly, dragging his feet through the dust after them. His heart had started to beat faster at the thought of getting a close up view, though. Screw Felix for being right about a maybe crush.

⧭ ⧭ ⧭ ⧭ ⧭

The truck’s line had started to dissipate a little bit, so Jisung and his friends stood off to the side to look at and decide on flavors. The boy was still serving, yelling out to his fellow friend in the back, who occasionally stuck his head out to pass out straws. He looked scary, with piercings and an undercut.

“He’s hot.” Felix muttered under his breath, barely audible, but Jisung nudged him anyways.

“And here you were accusing me of having a crush.” He hissed, Felix jamming him in the side with his pointy elbow.

“Hey, are you guys in line?” The guy was leaning out the window, golden hair rippling in the light breeze.

He was talking to them. Jisung might have momentarily stopped breathing, just for a little bit, just to suck in a big breath and try not to explode. He was just that good looking, and his voice was like...honey. Warm honey, like his hair.

“Um yeah!” Hyunjin said awkwardly, shoving them forward. Seungmin pulled out his wallet, grabbing a ten dollar bill.

“I’ll pay.” He said, stepping in front and beginning to order. “I’d like a raspberry small, a lemon lime and bubblegum small-” He looked at Felix and Jisung, gesturing for them to input their orders.

“A small pink lemonade, cotton candy, and caramel small.” Felix said proudly, Jisung making a gagging gesture at his sickeningly sweet combination. Then he realized everyone was looking at him, waiting for him to order.

“Small blue raspberry.” He said in a hurry, the words trailing off into a bare whisper as he met eyes with the boy. He had really nice, really really nice eyes. They were a hazel brown, dark chocolate flecked with lighter brown. As if he wasn’t already beautiful enough.

“It’ll be ready in a moment.” The boy said, calling back the order to the mysterious Changbin in the back. He was wearing a name tag, Jisung noticed now, and it said Lee Minho, he discerned after a moment of head turning and squinting to catch the hangul.

He felt his cheeks, cringing when he discovered how hot they felt. He wondered if Minho had seen how red his cheeks had been when ordering, if he found it amusing.

“You are whipped, tm.” Felix said in a whisper, grinning widely. “And you’ve only said an exact total of three words to him, stared at him for much, much longer.”

“Nobody asked for your opinion, Felix.” Jisung replied, mopping the sweat off his forehead. Geez, it was really hot outside. He felt like a cracked egg, slowly frying.

“Small lemon lime bubblegum, small raspberry, and a small pink lemonade, cotton candy, and caramel!” Minho called, and Felix, Hyunjin, and Seungmin darted over to grab their orders. Jisung shifted awkwardly.

“Your order will be out in a moment.” Minho called over to him, and Jisung managed to nod, drawing in the dry dirt. He was getting his shoes dusty, but it wasn’t any use. They were always some sort of muddy.

“Small blue raspberry!” Minho’s sweet voice startled him out of his drawing. Jisung speed walked over, wondering if he looked extremely awkward, or maybe a mix of macho cool.

“Thanks.” He said, reaching forward for it. Minho pushed it towards him as Jisung pulled it towards him, and the result was the snow cone tipping over and spilling all over his white t-shirt, cold and very blue.

Jisung stared at it for a moment, watching the crushed ice drip down onto his jeans. It was very cold, freezing against his bare skin.

“I’m so sorry, let me get you napkins, do I need to pay for that? I’ll pay for it, hear, use these, I’m sure I can find a spare top for you-” Minho was rambling.

“Go on a date with me.” Jisung interrupted, more surprised than Minho and his friends were.

“Um.” Minho said, pausing with his hand full of napkins, outstretched in preparation to give to Jisung. “I don’t even know your name.”

“It’s Jisung. Han Jisung. I think you’re cute, and I want to know if you want to try going on a date with me.” Jisung added, aware of how stupid he sounded. He wanted to disappear, but he couldn’t exactly with the blue slush all over him.

Minho smiled. “Well, it wasn’t like I was planning on saying no.”

Fin.

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believerindaydreams · 4 years ago

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Is this part 7? Will I ever stop writing?

Into the fire. Etc.

"Arcade!"

He's honestly not sure he's ever seen Julie look so pleased, and it makes him glad and melancholic at once, to think he's saying goodbye to this stage of his life. "It's me, yes. Long story, but obviously I survived-"

She's not the hugging type and he isn't either, so they draw to an awkward halt staring at each other. Arcade tucks his hands in his pockets, feeling sheepish.

"And, uh, we need to talk. A lot happened out there. Some of which is relevant to the Followers."

"All the time you want," Julie says; and considering her hectic schedule, that's saying quite a lot.

They retreat into her spartan office, ancient timbers creaking around them, where they can have tea and not be overheard. He fills her in quickly and efficiently, leaving out the more incriminating details- but the main points, about their small nucleus fleeing the Mojave for whatever they'll find in DC. Farther west than the Followers have ever been.

"Not that I'm necessarily the correct person to start a new chapter, but I know how overstretched we are already here, and we have next to no idea what we'll confront there regardless. So call it reconnaissance. I'll take meticulous notes, obviously. And if there's any way of staying in touch...well, that's up to the Brotherhood really, but I'll do my best."

"Good plans all. You'll need a new coat," Julie says.

"I admit it would be nice, but you'll never find one in my size in time."

She shakes her head, opens a locked cabinet.

"I ordered this from the Boneyard the day they took you. Not because I knew- but because I hoped."

It's perfect. Crisp and pristine, the right size, reassuringly deep pockets as ever. He slips it over his fatigues with a sense of warm relief.

"Julie, you're a blessing."

"And you're better than you give yourself credit for. Wear it in good health. You'll do us proud."

For a moment, he finds himself regretting the chain of events that has him tearing off into the blue, instead of amicably carrying on here with his indifferent research and emergency medicine.

Then he remembers that if it wasn't for that, it would have been Julie dragged to the Legion camp, Julie at the Sierra Madre, the hive of the Old Mormon Fort undoubtedly thrown into chaos without its meticulous queen; and all the self-doubt in the world can't make him second guess this particular accomplishment. Whatever happens to him next, he's already made a difference here.

He lets her get back to her multifarious crises, doesn't hurry his walk back home. Familiar faces offering congratulations or surprise, new refugees looking around with tired disbelief. The familiar herbal scent of his own tent-

"Emily?"

"Uh, hello? I'm not really a medical doctor, sorry-"

He can't help the edge of sarcasm trickling into his voice. "Arcade Gannon. You know, the stimpak researcher? Prior occupant of this tent?"

"Oh, sweet rads- sorry! Really sorry. I am so completely face blind," Emily confesses, nervously adjusting her glasses. "Julie moved me in here when you, uh..."

"Was kidnapped by the Legion, yes. I got over it, clearly, but where did you put my belongings?"

"Oh," Emily says, obviously relieved. "The footlocker behind the cot there.

More or less what he expected. The sourdough is indeed gone, but his plasma defender and caps are untouched, and no moisture has contaminated the seed packets he stored to restart work elsewhere if need be. He spares a moment of gratitude towards Judah for drilling that particular precaution into him.

Not much else to weigh him down. That's Enclave training too.

"If they ever bother you too much," Arcade says, and pauses. "Just close the flap and tie it shut from the inside. If they want you enough to get in regardless, it's probably important."

Emily cracks her ready smile, but only for a moment. "You're not coming back, I take it? Leaving me in possession of the good chair and your herb garden?"

"I seem to have got entangled in a four way poly relationship with a Great Khan, a First Recon, and a Vault Dweller, and I just can't stay on here now my personal life's become so complicated."

She howls until he actually starts to worry for her, clutching the table as she gasps for air. "You're hilarious. Keep well, Arcade, I'm going to miss your jokes."

It seems to be an ongoing constant in his life that perfectly straightforward statements of fact never get taken seriously.

Considering his background, maybe that's for the better.

*****

"You want to see the Strip one more time, Carla?"

"I would," she admits, giving Cow a final pat as she's led off- the Followers will pasture Brahmin for a small fee plus milking rights. "Westside shuffle, anyone?"

She means the hike down to McCarran. Takes a while, but the monorail isn't like anything you've ever seen. There's soldiers who spend a whole leave just riding back and forth on it, and count it time well spent.

"Yeah, sounds good. We can drop by First Recon, catch up while we're at it." Wouldn't feel right leaving without one more check-in.

"Hate to break it to you, but these aren't the good old days," Manny says. "There's a new gang out there called the Fiends, and they're giving both the militia and the NCR a run for their money. There's not even a safe way to get in these days."

"Shame," Carla says unhappily. "I suppose we could skip it."

"On the other hand," Manny says. "I know a guy."

He's staring me down as he says it, not Carla, and I know why. There's always been a line drawn between us, between him and his past, and that didn't matter when we were serving. Wouldn't matter if we were staying in Novac.

But we're turned loose now, and it's not just about the fake passport or whatever he'll suggest- it's how far I agree he can go. Snipers don't play clean, that's not how we operate. But Manny knows more dirty tricks than I do.

If I even thought I might go back, I'd stop him; but it's already too late. "Whatever doesn't get Carla shot at sounds best."

"I hooked up a guy called Dixon with our suppliers," Manny says. "Anyone in town can get us in, he's our man."

"Okay then."

Carla's eyes widen; but this time, she keeps her thoughts to herself.

*****

He's really gonna let me do this, huh.

You have to understand, Boone and I go way back, turning up at the Mojave Outpost for the same recruitment drive. Two Brahmin steaks and a hundred caps as a sign-up bonus. Some of my friends joined for that and ran off the same day, and some of them were shot at Bitter Springs.

Me, I knew I couldn't do that, not until someone figured out what I'd done to my head. And I could see the kid sitting across from me, empty-handed and crammed into jeans a size too small, couldn't afford to wash out either.

Did wonders for his ass, though. Not that I got around to mentioning that for a while.

Point is, though, he never had a chance to blow off a little steam, learn who buys and sells, drink Nuka laced with Jet or try out a whore. First it was the service, then it was Carla, and when she vanished he was too much of a mess for anything but the guard routine.

So this, here? Cutting me loose to stack the deck? Not the old Boone. Looks like I finally got through to that kid.

Doesn't feel as good as I figured it would.

Damn it.

Carla's little squeal when we walk on the Strip, though, that makes it worth it.

*****

You're home.

Well, you are and you aren't. Music's right, the neon glimmer is brighter than ever; but you can't stay. None of you have the kind of caps it costs to live here, it's just as simple as that.

You can dream, though.

One night, to catch up with Sarah and surprise your vendor contract with the last batch of commissions you'll ever do for him, half payment on delivery as agreed. One night to eat Brahmin Wellington at the Ultra-Luxe, with Manny ordering pre-war wine and Boone glaring at anyone who second-guesses his sunglasses. One night, to take in the terrible show at the Tops and wander out again, buy snack cakes from the vendor and imagine a world where it was always like this, everywhere.

One night to have a honeymoon suite at the Ultra-Luxe and fall asleep in a tangle of limbs and contentment, stretched across a ridiculous, sloshing water bed.

One night for everything, because who knows if you'll see it again?

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justanoutlawfic · 7 years ago

Text

Scrabble Chapt. 3

Story Summary: Mary Margaret and David are two best friends who desperately want a baby. One night, over a game of Scrabble, she suggests they have one together.

Chapter Summary: Mary Margaret and David land on a choice on how to have a baby. Mary Margaret later gets some honest advice from Regina.

Also on AO3/FF

Mary Margaret and David agreed to keep it a secret between the two of them. Well, Gold knew, but as he pointed out he wasn’t going to tell anyone. Ruby knew that Mary Margaret had considered her idea, not that they were going through with it. They wanted to wait, just in case something went wrong. The last thing they needed was pressure over the whole situation.

The conversation over how to have the baby turned out to be a short one. As much as they both loved and respected the adoption process, it was too complicated. Even going in it together, they knew not many prospective birth mothers were going to find their situation acceptable. Plus, it would still take a few years and they weren’t willing to wait. Surrogacy was not only pricey, but not something Mary Margaret was interested in looking into. She wanted to be the one to carry the baby. Both knew it was time to see a specialist on the subject.

The following week, they went to the doctor to have some tests run and found themselves sitting in front of his desk. Dr. John Seward was one of the most regarded doctors in Maine. He had helped many couples get pregnant and was more than willing to assist Mary Margaret and David.

“Well, I am pleased to tell you that you’re both in perfect health,” Seward said as he settled across from them. “Mary Margaret, there is no reason as to why you wouldn’t be able to get pregnant. And David, your sperm would have no trouble fertilizing an egg.”

Mary Margaret beamed. She hadn’t had many doubts on the subject, they were both young and healthy, but there was still that lingering thought. “That’s great. So, what’s the next step? IVF?”

“IVF is actually more geared towards people who are having trouble conceiving,” Seward explained. “What I am going to recommend for the two of you, since you’re not romantically involved, is intrauterine insemination. You’ve probably heard it referred to as artificial insemination.” They nodded. “What we’ll do is have David give us some sperm and then we will insert it into your uterus.”

“And how is this different than IVF?” David asked, scratching the back of his neck. “In human terms, please.”

Seward chuckled. “With invitro, the egg and sperm are fertilized by the doctor, then they’re implanted back into the uterus, with the hope that one or more will take. With this process, it’ll be up to Mary Margaret’s eggs to fertilize the sperm on her own. It’d basically be as though you two had unprotected sex.”

Mary Margaret nodded, shifting a bit in her seat. “A little pressure there, doc.”

“I’m going to be honest with you, this procedure will probably not work on your first shot,” he explained. “There’s about a 20% success rate per cycle.”

David’s eyes widened. “Seriously?”

“Yes. This is why we wait to do the procedure until we are sure the woman is ovulating. Even then, though, there are risks.”

Mary Margaret and David exchanged a look. They had always seemed to be able to communicate without saying many words, it was just a talent they uncovered. The truth was, Mary Margaret had some money left to her by Eva. It wasn’t a grand sum, Leopold was the one with all them money, but it was a good chunk. She had set it aside for an emergency. David had agreed to split costs with her and her insurance would partially cover some of it. The procedure seemed to be around $750 a pop. They had more than enough to keep trying for awhile, but she did want to be able to save that money for when the baby came, in case any unnecessary expenses popped up.

She came up with a backup plan, pushing it to the back of her head. It was September. If by February she wasn’t pregnant, she’d take a leap and suggest they just try the old fashioned way. It could be awkward, it could drive David away from the plan all together, but she wanted a baby.

Besides, she thought to herself, that was months of trying. Surely, one of the cycles would take before then.

“That sounds good,” Mary Margaret and David replied in near synch after a few minutes.

Seward nodded with a smile. “Very well. From what you told me, your period is pretty consistent. Your ovulation should start next Monday. David, I’ll need you to come in and give a sample before then. Mary Margaret, I know you’re a teacher, will you be able to come in for an appointment that day?”

She quickly nodded. “Of course. I can take a half day off.”

The two made an appointment with the secretary and headed out to their cars. David let out a deep breath.

“This is all more involved than I thought it would be.”

Mary Margaret’s heart skipped a beat. “Are you having second thoughts.”

“No, no!” He put a hand on her shoulder. “Of course not. I just…I don’t know what I was expecting.”

“I know, it’s weird and formal. I never pictured I’d be having a baby in this way.” She smiled a little. “But it’ll be worth it.”

David smiled in return. “It definitely will. This time next year, we’ll have a baby of our own.”

“We will.” She gave him a quick hug. “So, you’ll go before Monday to deposit your sample?” She smirked, which just made him laugh.

“Yes, I’ll make sure to get my best boys on the job.”

David had been joking when he told that to Mary Margaret, but as he sat in the room that Friday, expected to jack off into a cup…it was harder than expected.

He wasn’t sure if it was the pressure…or the weird room…or the gruff hands of Nurse Ratchet as she thrust the cup into his hands…but he wasn’t exactly feeling in the mood.

There were some dirty magazines, but that had never really been his thing. The women were beautiful, but too airbrushed for his taste. He preferred the real thing. Not that he had actually had sex since Kathryn…

Oh come on, Kathryn isn’t going to help you…

David let out a deep breath and shifted his mind elsewhere. Suddenly, he started thinking about that previous summer. Since they were the only four childfree at the time, Ruby, Dorothy, Mary Margaret and David had all gone to Dorothy’s beach house in Rhode Island. Ruby had convinced Mary Margaret to wear a bikini. It was pink with little white seashells over it.

It wasn’t skimpy by any means, but Mary Margaret had filled it out quite nicely. The minute she had removed her towel, he felt different about her. In that moment, it was as if she was the only person on that beach. The way she just lounged there on the chaise, her sunglasses on, rubbing suntan lotion all over her body…He had suddenly challenged Dorothy to a volleyball competition to keep his mind off of her. Mary Margaret was his best friend! He couldn’t think about her that way!

It was different in that moment, he had to think of her that way. He thought of how beautiful she had looked that day, how beautiful she looked every day. She could wear a paper sack and be drop dead gorgeous. He hated every time she tore herself down on her looks, because she was one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen.

Before he realized it, he had fulfilled his duty. Staring down at the cup, he wondered if he had an attraction for Mary Margaret. She was kind, funny, sweet, not to mention hot to boot…

No, you needed to get a sample. You got it. She helped you. That’s all there is to it.

He couldn’t fall for her, it wasn’t an option. They were doing it just as friends, she had made that quite clear.

After giving Nurse Ratchet his sample, he texted Mary Margaret.

All set to go for Monday.

It really wasn’t how she expected getting pregnant, not by a long shot. She always thought she’d be tangled up in nice, comfortable sheets. The man would be leaning against her and she’d feel as though she was on Cloud 9. There’d be some cheesy romantic song playing on the radio and they’d discuss baby names for hours.

Instead, she laid back on a cot, her feet in stirrups. She was wearing an itchy hospital gown, her southern region exposed for all to see. Well, not all, just whoever walked in the room. Next to the cot was a mixture of different medical tools and David’s sample. They all looked uncomfortable and sharp.

It’s all for motherhood. You’re doing this for motherhood.

Dr. Steward walked in, pulling on gloves. “Are we ready?”

“As I’ll ever be,” Mary Margaret let out a deep breath.

“Then let’s get started.”

The process was less involved than she thought, almost like a less invasive gynecological visit. When the doctor was done, he pulled off his gloves and Mary Margaret slowly sat up.

“Is there anything I can do to make sure it works?”

Dr. Steward smiled. “This is all in nature’s hands now. There’s nothing definitive you can do. I know you don’t smoke, but I’d suggest not drinking or doing anything too strenuous. Work is fine, but no bungee jumping or something.”

She lightly laughed. “I’m not exactly that type, anyway.”

Having the rest of the day off, Mary Margaret didn’t know what to do with herself. Ashley and Ruby were busy with their babies. David and Belle would both be at work. She somehow found herself, driving over to the Mills mansion. Henry and Regina were up front, playing in the dirt. Mary Margaret smiled warmly as she walked over to them.

Regina Mills was the daughter of one of the most prominent members in Storybrooke. Everyone knew about Cora Mills’ rags to riches story. Unfortunately, not everyone knew that she wasn’t the kindest to her child. Regina had a leg up due to her mother and had done quite well for herself, but outside that, kept a large distance between her and her mother. Regina was a little older than Mary Margaret, but their parents ran in similar circles, so they had grown up knowing each other. They didn’t become friends until the younger one was out of college and helped Regina run for mayor. They were so different, yet alike at the same time.

Henry grinned when he saw Mary Margaret. “Hi!” He exclaimed excitedly. “We’re making mud pies.”

Henry Daniel Mills was the light of Regina’s life. Named for her late father and the boyfriend that died in the war, he had big green eyes and a mess of brown hair. He was getting bigger by the second, now 4-years-old. He definitely gave Regina a run for her money, but it was clear she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Well, they look very cool,” Mary Margaret said, settling down in the one part of the yard that wasn’t a mess.

“Mommy is playing um…a hook?” Henry looked over at his mother for confirmation.

Regina chuckled softly. “Hooky, sweetheart, hooky.”

“Ohhh…”

She looked over at her friend and could see something was up. “Hey, Henry. Why don’t you go wash up and play with your Legos inside?”

“But…”

“You can watch Paw Patrol.”

That had his attention. He was off like a shot into the house, listening to his mother’s instructions to leave his muddy sneakers on the porch. Regina raised an eyebrow, looking back over at Mary Margaret once he was safely inside.

“What’s up?” She asked.

Mary Margaret tried to play stupid. “What?”

“Mary Margaret, I’ve known you since you were 10 years old, I know when something’s up. Now, spill it.”

She sighed. David had told Gold, she supposed she could allow herself one confidant in the situation. “I just got back from the doctor…”

“Are you okay? What’s wrong? Are you sick? We can get a second opinion….

Mary Margaret rolled her eyes. “You’re the worst pseudo sister ever, you know that?”

“Forgive me for caring,” Regina scoffed.

She smiled a bit at that. “I do appreciate it, really. But I’m not sick, quite the opposite actually. I just um, had an IUI round.”

Regina was quiet for a moment. “You’re trying to have a baby?”

“I am.”

“By yourself?”

“No…with David.”

That changed the worry to confused. “The sheriff?”

“Yeah.”

“But…why?”

“You tried IUI before you did adoption.”

“Yeah, by myself, with an anonymous donor.” Regina shook her head. “I’m just confused. I can get trying this on your own, that’s not the weird part. But David? You two aren’t even together.”

“I’m aware. However, we both want a family more than anything. I’m getting to the point where I don’t care about finding a husband, I just want a child. I still want a co-parent, he feels the same way. It just makes sense.”

Regina continued to stare at her. It wasn’t like her to be quiet, Mary Margaret also knew her way too well. She wanted to say something.

“Go on with it,” she said. “Say what you want to.”

Regina sighed. “Look, I think you being a mother is great. You’re annoyingly kind with every kid you come into contact with, Henry included. You’ve got the whole rainbow and unicorn sticker thing going for you…any child would be lucky to be yours.”

“But…”

“But I think you need to be careful having a child with a man you’re not involved with,” she completed. “I know you think I think David is an idiot…”

“Because you do.”

“Well, you know, he’s not the brightest of the bunch.” Regina rolled her eyes. “But that’s besides the point. I do think no matter what, he’d be a good dad, he really would. Even so, you’re not together.”

“So, you keep pointing out. He’s my best friend.”

“Exactly. Friends. Friendships are great, but what if something happens? What if one of you catches feelings or you get into a huge fight? What then?”

She shook her head. “David and I have argued in the past, but nothing that would make us stop being friends. Nothing could ever stop us from being that way. You know him, you know how loyal he is.”

“True.” Regina bit her lip. “I just don’t wan to see you getting hurt. This whole thing…it’s very complicated. I don’t want you walking in blindly.”

Mary Margaret smiled a bit. Most would call Regina abrasive, not caring. They thought of her like her mother. While Regina did have bits of Cora (just as every child had aspects of their parents they wished they didn’t), she was caring and protective of those she loved. She liked David, but she loved Mary Margaret. She felt like her unofficial older sister of sorts. She had watched her get her heartbroken by Whale, she wasn’t going to let the same happen with David.

“I appreciate it, I do. The truth is, of course I’m nervous about all of this. There is a chance this could all go belly up and ruin our friendship. But…” She trailed off and the smile appeared on her face again. “What if it doesn’t? What if we’re both happier than we ever have been? What if all our dreams come true?”

Regina sighed once more. “There you go with that same optimistic hope you had when I was trying to adopt.”

She giggled. “I was right then.”

“And I hope you are now, I really do. I want you to be happy, Mary Margaret. Know that.”

“I do.” She squeezed her friend’s hand. “Thank you.”

“Anytime. If he hurts you, can I kill him?”

Mary Margaret rolled her eyes. “Yes, sure. I give you full permission. Only because he won’t. Plus, as I’ve said, we’re not even together.”

“Right. For now.”

“We’re just…”

“Friends. Yeah. Okay. I so believe you.”

Before Mary Margaret could argue further, Henry appeared in the doorway, reporting that the T.V wasn’t working. Regina pushed herself up and headed inside, leaving her with her thoughts.

She and David were just friends. Nothing more.

She had to repeat that to herself enough in order to believe it.

Halloween in Storybrooke was a lather large affair, decorations everywhere. There was even a giant jack-o-lantern carved in the square. Nearly every house in Storybrooke gave out candy and those who didn’t, were at some party or another. David was always on duty, ready to check candy if any parent wanted him to. When he got off his shift, he decided to swing by Mary Margaret’s and see if she had anything leftover. She always gave out the best treats.

However, when he was arrived, he was surprised to the lights shut off. Scanning the apartment sheet’s list, he realized that she had crossed her name off the tenant’s list giving out candy. Mary Margaret went all out for every single holiday. How could she be turning down one of her favorites?

Heading up to the loft, he used his key to get inside. The entire loft was pitch dark, no sign of Mary Margaret at all. Then he noticed the door on the second floor that lead up to the roof open. Quickly going up the stairs, he got out there and found her sitting there, holding a bottle of wine. There were no glasses, she was just drinking straight from it. Peanut butter cup wrappers were scattered about nearby her.

David didn’t even have to ask. She had been avoiding alcohol every day for that past month. They were due to test for pregnancy the next day. He sat down beside her without a word.

“You know after I broke up with Victor,” she whispered after a few minutes of them sitting there in silence. “I was late. It was the scariest few days of my life. I didn’t want a baby then.” She bit her lip. “Then the one time I want it, the one time I try…my period is fucking three day’s early.”

“Oh Mary Margaret,” he whispered. He knew the pain she was feeling, he felt it too. He wanted a baby, just as much as she did. “I am so sorry.”

A tear fell down her face, followed by another. Soon, she was full out sobbing. David gently pried the bottle out of her hands and set it down beside her. He wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly. She sobbed into his shoulder, clinging tightly to his flannel shirt. He felt the tears fall down his face. He knew there was a chance it couldn’t happen, but he still got his hopes up.

Maybe October really wasn’t meant to be their month.

#snowing #snowing au #charming family #charming family au #mama snow #mama snow au #daddy charming #daddy charming au

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