#and i mean i had new years champagne as a kid but are we counting that

[mountttmase]

Still Be Mine

Note - happy new year babies 🩷 thank you so much for all your love this year I really do appreciate you and I hope you enjoy this 🙊 feedback would be appreciated as normal 😏

Pairing - Mason Mount × Reader

Word count - 5.9k

Warnings - angst, smut and fluff

You’d never been a fan of New Year’s Eve. Always wanting to skip the parties so you could stay in and usually due to Masons scheduling arrangements there was never time for a big party. But this year was different.

You were currently in the car on the way to Ben's house. His and Masons fixtures were a little earlier than usual meaning they had time to do what they wanted this year and Ben wanted to throw a party so that Mason could be reunited with all of his ex teammates for a good catch up.

You didn’t mind this at all, itching to see some of your old girlfriends for a catch up too but as you got closer the nerves started to settle in.

You knew what Bens house parties were usually like and you were pretty sure they weren’t the best place to be having kids running around but he’d assure you that Ollie and Tilly would be more than welcome and it wasn't like a normal party of his.

You hadn’t been in the mood for it though as soon as you set off that morning. Driving straight from Manchester to Cobham and quickly stopping to see uncle Lew so you could change and get ready to go straight to the party and also drop Nala off with him so he could take her down to Mason's parents where you would be spending tomorrow.

You were tired and cranky and your new outfit that you loved yesterday now felt uncomfortable and tight. Not sitting how you wanted it too but just one smile and a compliment from Mason made all your troubles disappear into thin air.

To your surprise, it wasn’t like one of Ben's usual parties. The music was at a respectable volume and even though it was busy with most of the players, many had their kids with them and even Ben's parents and family were all there.

Your babies loved uncle Benji like he was a real part of the family. Running straight into his arms as soon as they saw him and it made your heart melt at how happy he himself was to see them. You missed having him around so much now so you knew times like these were extra special.

‘I got you this specially’ Ben smiled after you’d all hugged, walking you over to the fridge and pulling out a giant bottle of appletiser. ‘I remembered it was your favourite. Thought you could drink it out of a champagne glass and then you’ll look like the rest of us’

‘Oh yeah Ben, that’ll look really classy’ you laughed, your hand falling to your swollen belly. ‘Can’t wait to start a rumour that the pregnant lady is still drinking’

‘Yeah maybe you’re right, normal glass for you’ he laughed, pulling one from the cupboard and pouring you a glass. ‘I’ve set all the food up in there too for when the kids are ready and I can pop the tv on if you want’

‘Thanks Ben, I might have to. Tilly will go nuts if she misses Pupstruction’

‘What the fuck is that’ he laughed, clearly not up to date on kids tv shows and you were actually a little bit jealous.

‘I wish I could tell you, all I know is they don’t make shows like when we kids anymore’

Ollie and Tilly were running in soon after, followed by Mason who had the biggest smile on his face and your heart burst at how happy he was. Mason was a person who found joy in being around other people and the delight on his face let you know his was over the moon at being here.

‘You good?’ He asked, wrapping an arm around your waist and kissing your forehead gently and you instantly felt more relaxed.

‘Yeah, everything in?’

‘Yeah, bags are all in the room so we’re good to go’

‘Thank you’ you smiled, feeling him position himself behind you so he could hold your bump in his hands and kiss your neck repeatedly.

‘God guys, not in the kitchen’ Ben mocked just as two girls walked in that you’d never seen before. They were both beautiful and had their eyes on Mason immediately but given your current emotional state you felt your heart sink however Mason appeared to be none the wiser. Still holding you just as before as he rested his cheek on the top of your head. ‘Oh perfect timing. Guys this is Miaya, the girl I was telling you about and this is her friend Josie’ he told you both. Pulling the one stood closest to him into his side and you couldn’t deny you felt a little relief at knowing at least one of them was with Ben. ‘Guys this this Mason and Y/n and these two little cuties are Ollie and Tilly’

Miaya seemed nice, sending you guys a quick wave and you could tell she was a little shy but it was Josie who was making you feel uneasy still. The way she looked you up and down made your skin itch and you almost lost it when she did the same to the kids but it was when her eyes landed on Mason you felt the worst.

You knew that look, and whilst you didn’t think you were a jealous woman when it came to Mason she wasn’t making it easy for you. Mason had never once given you any indication than he’d ever look to someone else but with how self conscious you were feeling tonight you wouldn’t blame him for looking elsewhere and the thought terrified you. Gripping onto Mason even tighter and he must have felt you stiffen as he placed a quick reassuring kiss to the side of your head.

‘Nice you meet you guys’ Mason smiled but before he could say anything else, Bettinelli’s booming voice was shouting for Mason so he reached for your hand. ‘I’ll catch you guys around, I better go see him’ he laughed. Picking up your glass before pulling you into the other room with the kids in tow. ‘That was oddly intense’ he laughed, turning to you with a silly smile but you didn't have a chance to react as Betts was pulling Mason into a hug as Nadia did the same with you.

‘Look at you! You're the most beautiful pregnant lady I’ve ever seen’ she laughed holding you at arms length. ‘You’ve got the cutest bump, I can’t’

‘Don’t I feel like a whale’ you laughed, slightly envious of the way she looked in her dress as it hugged all the right place.

‘Well you look gorgeous’ she smiled sincerely and you felt your eyes sting but thankfully her eyes were on Ollie and Tilly who were standing next to you hand in hand as they looked on at her shyly. ‘Hey guys, don’t you two look smart. All the other kids are in the play room if you wanna join them’ she told them, sending Ollie a reassuring smile as he led Tilly off to play with the other kids and you let them know you’d come and find them soon.

Mason had been stolen by the boys, spending his time catching up with them and sharing stories from Manchester whilst you went and sat with the girls. Being introduced to a few new faces as you laughed and spoke about how this pregnancy had been. Most of them either childless or only with one so they had many questions for you but you were more than happy to answer.

You weren’t sure how long you’d been there but your glass was now empty and you figured you better check on the kids and make sure they weren’t causing any mischief with the others.

Thankfully you could see them playing nicely with the other kids but as soon as Tilly caught sight of you she was up and running over to you. A bright smile on her face just like how she normally looked when you got her from nursery and it made your heart thud at how happy she was to see you.

‘Hungry, mummy’ she pouted, reaching for your hand and Ollie wasn’t far behind at this point, nodding in agreement so you took them to the kitchen. Grabbing the pair of them a drink first before sneaking back into the main room to find Mason.

‘I’m just gonna take the kiddies to get some food’ you told him quietly, touching him on the back of the shoulder before he turned to you with a smile.

‘I’ll come with you’

‘No it’s okay, I got it�� you told him with a smile. Not wanting to pull him away from his friends that he hadn’t seen in a while so with a kiss to his cheek you grabbed Tilly’s hand and ushered her and Ollie into Ben's sitting room where he’d laid out all their favourite snacks.

Much to your dismay, you saw Miaya and Joisie in there, Josie’s eyes lighting up at the sight of you and Miaya gave you a small tight smile but as soon as you heard some shrill giggles you knew it was directed at you.

You let Ollie grab his own food but you knew Tilly needed some help, trying to focus on what she was asking for but a voice, you were presuming belonged to Josie, was getting louder and seemed to be the only thing you could hear anymore. Your tummy sinking with every word she said.

‘I mean does she really think he’ll stick around much longer with her looking like… that’

‘Jo’ Miaya sighed, trying to get her to be quiet but she didn't make too much more of an effort to make Josie be quiet causing her to giggle. Trying to mask it with her hand but you still heard it loud and clear and you felt sick to your stomach. Wondering if you should leave to go and get Mason but you felt a bit silly over reacting to what this random girl had to say about you.

‘I mean I get she’s given him kids but he could have anyone he wants. Like honestly if I was him I’d be ashamed coming here tonight with her looking like that. And those kids too like what must they think? I’d be so embarrassed’

You’d never felt so awful before, tears stinging your eyes as you tried carrying on but it was difficult as she tore you apart bit by bit behind you. Not seeming to want to give up as she giggled away at you and as much as you tried to hold your emotions in you knew you were about to lose it.

‘I’m surprised she even managed to squash herself into those shoes. You just wouldn’t bother would you?’

It was getting too much for you. Your hands shaking as you passed Tilly what you’d got for her so far before you felt a little hand touch your arm and when you looked down, Ollie was looking at you with a concerned expression.

‘Shall we go out, mum?’

‘I think so baby, yes. We’ll go up to our room, yeah?’ you answered. Grabbing Tilly’s shoulder so you could steer her out and over to the stairs but she nearly threw a fit about not getting the snacks she wanted so you let her know she could have them upstairs, you just needed to get out and away from that horrible girl.

You always stayed in the same room when you visited Ben so you quickly shuffled the pair of them inside. Popping Tilly up on the bed and passing her her plate before Ollie took hold of your hand and you almost burst into tears at his expression.

‘Are you okay, mum?’ He questioned, letting you pull him in for a hug when your eyes filled with tears but you were determined not to show him how upset you were.

‘I fine baby, I promise’

‘But those girls-‘

‘It’s okay, it doesn’t matter, yeah?’ You told him. Ruffling his hair before pulling back. ‘Will you look after Tilly a sec? I just need the loo’ you told him and after he’d nodded you dropped a kiss on his forehead before shutting yourself in the en-suite.

You couldn’t even look at yourself in the mirror, knowing if you did you’d start ugly crying so you pulled the toilet lid down and sat on it. Trying to calm your strangled breaths but it was no use. You felt humiliated and their words were replaying in your head on a loop.

Is that what people really thought of you? That you should be ashamed of yourself? That Mason would leave you soon because of how you looked and that your babies were embarrassed of you?

It all got too much for you, covering your face with your hands so you could have a little cry but a knock on the door snapped you out of it.

‘Y/n? You in there?’ You heard Ben call. Quickly making yourself look presentable before letting him in but he saw the distraught look on your face straight away and closed the door behind him. ‘Hey, what’s going on?’

‘Nothing, sorry. Just my hormones playing up a bit I think I’m alright’

‘Don’t lie, y/n. I know somethings up’ he told you with a sad smile before placing a comforting hand on your shoulder. ‘I heard you talking to Ollie just now and he told me someone was mean to you. Who was he talking about?’

‘It’s nothing-‘

‘Please tell me who it is, even if you think I’ll be upset’ he asked and you had a funny feeling he knew what was going on. ‘You guys come before anyone okay? so I don’t care who it is, I’ll sort it’

You didn’t want to tell him and make things awkward but there was no way you were leaving this room if she was still in the house so you dropped your eyes to the floor and played with your fingers.

‘It was Josie, Miaya didn’t do anything but she didn’t exactly defend me either’ you laughed, rolling your eyes. ‘She was just saying some not very nice things about me and how I look’ you told him, trying to laugh it off before you let out a small sob. ‘Is Mase anywhere, I just-‘

‘Shh come here’ he told you, pulling you in for a quick hug and it took all your strength not to break down in his arms. ‘I’ll go get him okay?’

‘Thanks Benji’ you hiccuped, trying to wipe your eyes and not smudge your makeup but from the black marks all over your hands you knew it was ruined by now.

‘That’s alright. I’ll sort it all I promise’. He sighed before leading you out and back to the kids. Sitting yourself next to Ollie who popped his hand in yours before Tilly eventually crawled over to sit on your other side. Clearly feeling the mood had shifted and wanting to hold your hand too and you all sat mostly in silence with them both leaning on your arms until you finally heard Mason running up the stairs and bursting into the room.

‘Hey, you all alright in here?’

‘No, I wanted cake’ Tilly moaned, and you couldn’t help but laugh at her tantrum. She really was her mothers daughter and you couldn’t blame her for missing out on cake since you were quite peckish yourself.

‘Ollie mate, can you take Tilly to go get some cake and then Uncle Ben’s got some sparklers in the garden for you okay?’ Mason told them and they were both quick to get up and rush out of the room. The prospect of cake and sparklers being far too exciting for them but that meant you were left with just Mason and you knew he could read you like a book.

‘Hey, come here’ he whispered, reaching for your hand as you felt your face crumple again. You should have known seeing Mason would have only set you off but you let him pull you up and into his arms. ‘Shhhhh it’s okay gorgeous, she’s gone now’

‘Sorry Mase, I feel like such a wally-‘

Don’t be silly baby, are you alright?’ He asked but you just nodded into his neck. ‘Come here, what did she say?’ He whispered, pulling you over to the bed so you could sit on his lap and once you were comfortable he just about caged you in his arms. Thumb lightly stroking your back as the other held your thigh.

‘Nothing I-‘

‘Please tell me. It can’t be nothing if you’re this upset’ he reasoned and you figured you might as well tell him. Hoping he’d be able to reassure you a little bit as you were feeling the worst you had about yourself in a while.

‘She basically called me ugly, said you’ll leave me soon cause you should be ashamed of me and the kids are probably embarrassed to have me as their mum’ you told him steadily, your voice slightly cracking at the end even though you tried hard to keep calm.

Mason's body tensed and you could feel the anger ripping through him but he kept it inside and just pulled you closer to his body. Letting you sob into his neck before pulling away so he could look at you.

‘I’m so sorry she said that to you baby but it’s all bullshit, you know that don’t you?’ He told you softly. You couldn’t reply, just shrugging your shoulders as deep down you were unsure of yourself but when you felt him tuck your hair behind your ear you looked straight into his soft brown eyes. ‘You’re the love of my life, I could never be ashamed of you’

‘But I’m all fat’ you laughed, your hand on your bump to emphasise your point but he just looked at you lovingly.

‘You’re pregnant babe, not fat’ he chuckled, placing his hand on top of yours as he tried to link your fingers together. ‘You’re sexy as hell to me when you’re like this’

‘Stop it’

‘I’m serious’ he laughed. Pressing a kiss to your cheek. ‘You’re carrying my baby, like do you know how hard it is to keep my hands off you? Every time I look at you all I can think about is what we did to make this happen’

You remembered it too. Mason telling you he wanted a third baby on a family walk and after trying for a while you started to feel the familiar signs that it might be happening. He was so in tune with you and excited about it this time though he managed to predict you were pregnant even before you realised yourself and when it was confirmed and you counted back you were both surprised to find you’d managed to fall pregnant that first night you’d tried.

‘And those kids adore you. You’re their absolute world baby’ he followed on, doing anything he could to try and convince you. ‘I know it’s hard but please ignore that twat. She’s not worth your tears okay?’

‘Okay’

‘And we don’t have to leave this room until you’re ready, okay? I’ll sit with you-‘

‘No mase, I’m fine. You’re here to see your friends not sit with me’

‘Well I’m still gonna sit here’

‘Well then I’m ready to go’ you laughed, standing up and pulling him with you but he was quick to stop you in your tracks and cup your cheeks. Pressing delicate kisses to your face before finally kissing you properly and you felt any sense of stress leave your body as he delicately brushed his lips against yours.

‘No more tears, pretty girl, okay?’

‘Love you, Mase’ you whispered, thankful you had him to settle you back down again and your heart was racing as he smiled down at you.

‘Love you, too’

‘You go ahead, I think I’m gonna change into something else’ you told him just as he was about to pull you from the room but the disappointed look on his face made you squirm.

‘What? Why? Is it because of what she said?’

‘Well no I just…’

‘Sweetheart’ he huffed, placing his lips on your forehead gently. ‘You look perfect. And you know I’d tell you if you didn’t’ he teased. ‘Come on, let’s go back together’ he told you and after a quick wipe under your eyes he was helping you back down the stairs and into the room where everyone else was.

They all seemed to be none the wiser, chatting away with you like nothing happened and you slowly felt yourself start to relax again in everyone’s company.

Mason didn’t leave your side for the rest of the night. Making sure you always had a drink in your hand or grabbing you snacks when you needed them and before long it was almost midnight.

‘I’m just going to the loo’ you told Mason, trying to peel your hand out of his as he seemed insistent on going with you but eventually he gave in. Letting you go by yourself but as soon as you were done and went to leave you were confronted by the person you wanted to see least.

Miaya was standing outside the bathroom door, waiting for you it seemed, as she didn’t look shocked to see you there and barely gave you a second before she started to speak.

‘Hi y/n, sorry I was hoping to catch you. Can we talk?’

‘Oh i um-‘

‘Please, it’ll only be a second. I really want to apologise’ she told you, her face full of remorse so you nodded your head into Ben's utility room for a little privacy. Thankfully she followed but didn’t give you a chance to speak once you were alone. ‘I just wanted to say I’m so sorry for earlier. What she said was awful and I should have stopped her or stepped in and I’m just so sorry if I upset you’

You didn’t want to say it was okay because it wasn’t so you stood playing with your fingers as you weren’t quite sure what to do. You’d never been that confrontational so this situation right now was a tough one for you but thankfully she kept talking.

‘I’d hate for you to think I’m a horrible person, cause I’m really not. And I really care about Ben so much so this whole situation is just a bit shit cause I really wanted you to like me’ she laughed, but you could hear the tears in her voice and when you looked up you could see them burning in her eyes. ‘I don’t even know why I didn’t say anything. I know what she’s like so maybe I’m just used to it but that’s no excuse I’m so sorry y/n’

‘Come on, don’t get upset’ you reasoned, reaching out to hold her shoulder to let you know she’d be fine as in all honesty you didn’t think she was a bad person. She’d just got caught up in the moment but you could tell she was really sorry now. ‘We all make mistakes’

‘I’ll make it up to you I promise’

‘It’s fine let’s just move on yeah? Start fresh with the new year and all that’

‘I see why Mason loves you’ she laughed, wiping her eyes as she sent you a kind smile. ‘Thank you’

‘Come on, Mason will think I’m stuck on the loo if I’m any longer’ you laughed, both walking back into the main room where Mason's eyes found you immediately. Bundling you into his arms so he could kiss your head gently.

Your legs were tired and your back ached but Ben had arranged for some fireworks to go off as the clock struck 12 so Mason stuffed you into his coat and took you outside with everyone else. You were pleased to find Ollie and Tilly running around filled with excitement before sitting down with Ben and Miaya who sent the pair of you a wink. Letting you know he had them and to enjoy yourselves a bit and you smiled as Tilly sat with Miaya as they chatted away.

‘Any New Year’s resolutions?’ You asked Mason, resting your hands on his chest and he’s wrapped his around your waist and his cheeky smile let you know he wasn’t about to be serious.

‘A few, there’s one I really want to stick to’

‘Oh yeah, what’s that?’

‘Remind you how much I love you every single day’ he told you sincerely before pressing a kiss to your nose.

‘You already do that’ you laughed, hiding your face out of embarrassment but he just used this as an excuse to attack anywhere he could with kisses.

‘Well I wanna do it more. The fact that you actually believed what that twat said about you earlier proves to me I don't tell you enough. If I did then you would have never believed them’

‘It's just getting to that stage you know? I’m tired and I ache and I look like a beached whale-‘

‘Stop that’ he laughed, pressing a quick kiss to your forehead before you heard everyone start to count down from ten. Joining in as you looked into Masons eyes and after screaming happy new year into the air you reached up to plant your lips on Masons.

The fireworks in the sky were no match for the ones on your tummy. Both smiling onto each other's lips and you slowly brushed them together and it’s like you could feel his love filling you to the brim. Your fingers and toes curling as your skin tingled and it's like the whole world faded into the background. You couldn’t hear or see or feel anything other than your man and far too quickly he was pulling away from you. Resting his forehead on yours as you smiled at each other shyly.

‘Happy new year gorgeous’ he whispered but before you could reply, the sound of Tilly’s shouts as she bounded over to you broke you apart and Mason was just quick enough to grab her and pull her up into his arms.

‘Happy new year baby’ Mason told her, you both kissing her cheeks as she giggled adorably before you turned, looking out for Ollie. Watching him come over with a bright smile and you pulled him in for a big squeeze and your heart thudded as he reciprocated.

‘Happy new year, Ollie’

‘Happy new year mum’ he told you softly, pulling back so you could both cuddle back into the other two.

‘This time next year we’ll have someone else with us’ Mason smiled, reaching out to touch your bump carefully. ‘Maybe next year we’ll keep it to us six, yeah? Us, Nala and the new baby?’

‘Sounds perfect’ you laughed. Already picturing you all bundled up together in bed and the thought made your eyes sting.

Soon enough it was time to do the rounds, hugging everyone you could and wishing them a happy new year but you could tell Ollie and Tilly had crashed and were on the verge of falling asleep so you all snuck off to put them to bed before they passed out downstairs.

The pair of you weren’t up too much longer. Spending a little more time downstairs with everyone else but the party was dying out with everyone taking their kids home and your legs were killing you so Mason helped you up to your room for the night. Getting you ready for bed before sliding in next to you and with a soft and loving kiss to your lips you both fell asleep.

The next morning you woke up to an empty bed, no sign of the kids or Mason but before you could question it the latter walked back in the room. Hair messy from sleep and you could tell he hadn’t been awake long but the lazy smile he sent your way made your heart thud.

‘Good morning beautiful’ he yawned, pulling back the covers and sliding himself back in next to you before his hand made contact with your bump and you felt the baby kick ever so slightly. ‘Good morning to you too little one’

‘Morning Mase, where are the kids?’

‘Chilly’s taken them out for breakfast and a run about in the park with Miaya, said he’d give us a bit of a break this morning’

‘Oh that’s kind of them’

‘Yeah he comes in handy sometimes’ he laughed, pulling you as close as he could so he could rub his nose against yours and you smiled at how soft he was being with you. ‘You okay mumma?’

‘I’m okay, Mase’

‘You sure?’ He whispered, kissing your cheeks. ‘Cause I’d hate for you to be thinking about what that girl said yesterday still, and I know you are’

You cursed him internally for knowing you so well. Truth be told their words had been playing on your mind as much as you tried not to let it show they’d made you feel more insecure than you ever had.

‘Well it hurt’ you whispered, trying to keep your tone flat as you didn’t want to cry in front of him again but he could clearly read you like an open book.

‘I know baby, but you know they were talking absolute shite’ he whispered. ‘You’re absolutely everything to me, I mean it’ he told you and when you tried to laugh him off he tilted your face up so he could let you know he was serious. ‘Its true. You are the most important person in my life by far and I genuinely wouldn’t be able to carry on without you. And it’s not just because you’re the mother of my children and you take care of all of us but you’re my girl, you know? Even without all that you’d still be mine and I’d still love you just as much’

‘Oh Mase’ you sighed, tears welling in your eyes at his sweet words but he was shaking his head at you lightly.

‘No tears baby, we can’t start a new year with you blubbering’ he joked, causing you to roll your eyes as the tears fell faster down your face. ‘Your mine okay? And I’m so fucking proud to call you that so please don’t ever think any differently’

‘I know, I’m so sorry’

‘Stop saying sorry’ he laughed, rolling you onto your back slightly so he could hover over you a bit and you melted as he stroked your cheek gently. ‘You wanna just head straight home today? My parents will understand if you’re not up for it’

‘No not at all, I want to see them. And we need to get Nala anyway’

‘Well we’ll leave whenever you want’

‘Mase I’ll be fine’ you laughed, your hand touching his forearm that was resting on your chest as bright smiles lit up both your faces. ‘I love you so much’

‘I love you too’ he breathed, a shy smile taking over his face. ‘I can’t believe I was lucky enough to get to spend another whole year with you’

‘Play your cards right and I might let you have another’ you winked. Reaching up to cup the back of his neck so you could pull him down into a heated kiss.

‘We should use this alone time to our advantage’ he whispered against your lips, hooking his leg around yours so he could part them and you couldn't help but chuckle into his mouth.

‘You are so predictable Mr Mount’

‘Would you have me any other way?’

‘No, not at all’ you giggled, sighing in bliss as he trapped your bottom lip between his teeth and carefully moved your underwear to the side so he had access to you.

‘I’ll be careful, okay? And just tell me if you’re uncomfortable’

‘Okay’ you nodded, a breathy moan falling from your lips as his fingers made contact with your clit and the slow circles he was rubbing into you felt like heaven.

‘That alright sweetheart?’

‘Mhmmm’ you breathed, your whole body relaxing instantly at his touch as a shiver ran down your spine.

In the beginning when you were pregnant with Ollie, you weren’t sure how you felt about having sex with Mason while you were pregnant. Wondering if it would feel like there was another person in the room with you but with Mason struggling to keep his hands away from you and your hormones always sending you into a spiral you couldn’t resist. Loving how extra soft and gentle he was with you and right now was no different. Fingers lightly tracing your folds as he kissed you before pulling back to look in your eyes.

‘You’re so beautiful, you know that? All full of me’ he breathed. ‘Gonna make you feel so good’

‘Please Masey’ you begged, your need to feel him making every other thought leave your brain and when he flashed you his cheeky smile you wanted to kiss it off his face.

‘I got you love, it’s okay’ he told you, his hands moving to hold your hips and with a gentle push you knew exactly where he wanted you. ‘roll onto your side for me’

During your first pregnancy Mason turned into a very keen reader. Wanting to know the ins and outs of what the pair of you were about to go through and the most comfortable sex position was one of the first things he looked into. You’d tried a few but as you got bigger the only one that ever worked for you was when you laid on your side and he spooned you but the only issue was you couldn’t look at him as much as you would have liked to.

He made up for it though, pressing gentle kisses to every part of your skin he could access and when you finally felt him pressing against you you shuddered in delight.

‘That’s it baby’ he whispered, getting into a steady rhythm but not going too hard. ‘How’s that?’

‘So good’ you breathed. Hands fisting the sheets as his were all over you and you moaned louder when he hooked your leg up slightly to have more access to you. ‘Faster please, Mase’

You felt him speed up just a touch but you knew he didn’t want to go too overboard with you. In his eyes he needed to be gentle with you, to make love to you, and you couldn’t feel more taken care of if you tried.

You could feel your high building steadily, wanting nothing more than to look at him so you tipped your head back slightly. Yours eyes looking straight into his and the soft smile on his lips made you melt.

‘Mase I’m so close’

‘I am too gorgeous, let go for me’ he whispered into your hair and that was all it took for you to reach your high. The warmth of his body pressed against yours making it feel that much more intense and when you were both finally done you just laid there content in each other's arms. ‘Happy new year to us’ Mason laughed, tucking you side gently and you tried your best to turn so you could give him a quick peck on the lips.

‘Happy new year, Mase’

[leclsrc]

sweet pea ✴︎ cl16

genre: friends to lovers, dad charles/pregnancy au, fluff!, humor, super slight angst

word count: 4.6k

“I thought the puking was food poisoning,” he says. “Jesus, you know how many takeout places I’ve avoided lately?” “Well, it’s not Panda Express. It’s your alien sperm.”

Or: you finally reap what you sow after fooling around with your best friend. The reaping in question is a kid.

notes... some nsfw allusions, nothing too bad. if pregnancy isnt ur thing this is all about it so.

auds here... i hated this for a long time so i thought id never post it hahahah but i will now bec i just redid some scenes and its okay in my eyes... also this is a bit overdue. i hope u like it everyone! :) title from this

It’s an hour before the race and you’re absent from your usual spot greeting friends and guests along the paddock. Instead, you’re leaned against the wall of the tiny motorhome bathroom, silently digging your toes into your sandals. Charles knocks twice before trying to open the door and succeeding. He beams when he sees you, goes, “I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”

He offers a hand, but you let your eyes shut, refusing to take it. You fail to even make eye contact, holding up the plastic stick that’d been in your clammy grip for about twenty minutes. It’s an omen, a portent, a cursed thing, casting your best friend into silence.

It’s cold and sterile in the bathroom—a stark contrast to where other families might find out they’re pregnant for the first time. You imagine a lemon yellow room bathed in noon sunlight and a happy balding doctor going “It’s positive, mama!” You picture a white family SUV in the parking lot, a happy blonde couple jumping into each other’s arms with unadulterated happiness.

Instead, you get: “Do you have COVI—oh.”

“Yeah.” You say, pursing your lips. You swallow. “Oh.”

“I thought the puking was food poisoning,” he says. “Jesus, you know how many takeout places I’ve avoided lately?”

“Well, it’s not Panda Express. It’s your alien sperm,” you counter, lifting yourself from the wall and bumping past Charles on your way out and into his room. He follows, brows knitted together, muttering something French under his breath. 

“By that logic, that’d mean you’re an alien now, too. See, your kinks have finally met their match.”

You turn, effectively stopping him in his tracks. He almost collides with you, his eyes trained determinedly on the positive pregnancy test in his hand. You cross your arms and narrow your eyes, annoyed. “Seriously. Jokes? Right now?”

“I mean—”

“Whatever,” you say, waving him off. “Just go and drive. We can talk about this later.”

“I’ll dedicate the race to the little alien.” He giggles, mimicking a champagne spray, waving the invisible bottle back and forth toward your still-not-showing stomach. His accent switches to a measly English one when he goes, “Oh my Gawd! And there goes the alien Leclerc! Wins in first! From pole!”

“Get out. Or so help me God this baby is growing up without you.”

He ends up winning. (“Should I dedicate every race to the ali—” “Stop calling it that.”)

—

This is nothing but a final culmination of your very layered relationship with Charles. For years, you two had comfortably gone by the “best friends” label, with a hidden “with benefits” clause. You’d grown up together, separated only when you went to university in New York. Your re-arrival in Monaco, coupled with the both of you having grown older and more independent, marked the start of the sex.

It works like clockwork. To relieve stress, to celebrate, to cure boredom. At some point, both of you just inwardly admitted there was a certain weakness to it. A glass of wine, a stick of tobacco, and you’d give in to the temptation easily. Then, in the morning—sometimes in Monaco, other times in foreign countries where your body feels like it’s still three a.m.—you come to a mutual agreement to never do it again.

But you always do, laughing in between kisses, mumbling whispered nothings between the sheets (or in the bathtub, or against the wall, or—that one time—on the balcony.) And now there’s proof of it. Well, barely any yet, you realize, staring at yourself in the mirror of Charles’ hotel room. You turn and flop yourself onto the bed, but face-up. You inch yourself toward the headboard and lean against it in a half-seated position.

“I can’t believe I’m…” You sigh. Finally, the jokes fizzle. This is the real talk.

Charles burrows himself next to you, shirtless and in a stupid pair of boxers with red hearts all over them. You’d gotten them as a Valentine’s Day gag two years ago, but now you’re thinking of the future, of telling this kid their dad has a pair of heart-decorated boxers. Momentarily, and temptingly so, you weigh the options of telling Charles you were joking and running away before sunup.

“Penny for your thoughts?” He asks. He’d learned the phrase from some obscure American rom-com, if you recall correctly. He uses it constantly, and for many years, improperly.

“I’ll give you them for free,” you say, breathless with worry. “We’re having a kid.”

A hand places itself on your knee. You almost jerk away, but you relax. “What do you want to do?”

“With?” You ask, emptily. There’s so much to do. “The baby?”

“Well, I mean, yeah, but also us.”

“We’re not dating,” you say, a bit sharper than intended. 

“We could.” He pauses. “For its sake.” He pokes your abdomen.

“I don’t—” You inhale, trying to reorganize all your thoughts. “I don’t want people thinking we’re suddenly dating and engaged and happy just because I’m about to pop a Charles Jr. out. I mean, what are you going to do with your racing? With a kid on the way, how’s travel going to work? My job? My masters?” 

“I think… I think you and I are lucky enough,” he says slowly, “to be able to weigh all these options without losing too much time or resources. I will support you no matter what, and you know that. And really, who cares if people think we ‘date’ because of the baby? You and I have been ‘dating’ since we were eleven.” 

You don’t realize you’re crying until your laugh is mixed with a sob. You don’t know if you’re sad, pissed, overwhelmed, loved—or all four. “Okay? So… let’s both think about it. More you than me. And tomorrow, we can weigh this all over again. Let’s sleep on it. Remember? La nuit—”

“—porte conseil,” you finish tearily. “Okay.”

—

It’s two weeks later. Charles gets stuck in the paddock doing something or other for Sunday, so you’re left to your own devices in the parking lot. Five minutes of waiting turns to fifteen, then a half hour. That’s the catalyst for your mid-evening freakout—suddenly you’re thinking about all the times you and this weird thing inside you might be alone, left for work, by an athlete dad.

“Are you okay?” A voice asks when you’re heaving out another dry, panic-induced sigh. You turn, finding it familiar, and see Seb behind you. He may have been Charles’ teammate, but he’s a friend to you, too, and you find he’s always the most grounded in heated discussions.

“Seb,” you croak, caught off guard. “I’m fine.” Your voice breaks on the ine, and suddenly fat tears roll quietly down your face.

You tell him eventually, when he asks you again if you’re okay, making him the second person to know; still, the telling doesn’t get easier. You didn’t even tell Charles, you think. You merely shoved a Clearblue stick in his face and waited for the goofy reaction that would undoubtedly meet your ears.

“A baby,” he says softly. Happily. “Congratulations. This is a big step… but you don’t sound excited.”

“I mean,” you say in between waves of tears, “I am? I am. But—it happened so fast—we’re not even officially together—and Charles is—”

“Do I need to talk some sense into Charles?” Seb asks suddenly, concerned. 

“No. He’s—he’s being great. Really supportive.” You wipe the tears and fresh ones come. “He’s happy. You know him. I think I’m just overwhelmed. I mean I’m the one who’s toting this baby around.” 

“Take it one step at a time,” he muses. “See a doctor, work out non-race schedules with Mattia, get everything in order. If I know you, this baby will be in the best hands. And that’s not even counting Charles.” He pulls you in for a hug that lasts ages, one that says thank you and I love you better than words. You inhale, find the tears have stopped. You realize what comes after this—it’s telling everyone else. Lily, your best friend. Carlos. Charles’ family. Your family. The fans, oh God you’d forgotten about the fans. The social media announcements. 

Charles strolls into the parking lot—runs, more like, with apologies spouting out of him, just two minutes after Seb leaves. He presses a delicate, apologetic kiss to your forehead, a hand on your stomach. “Hey,” he says. Then, to your abdomen, covered by a sweatshirt, “Hey there, alien.” You wonder what this will be like in two months. In seven. In nine.

—

You tell your families over lunch on a lucky off day. There is little surprise—just tears from both your moms and Arthur teasingly asking you to recount the details of conception. You’re in a sundress serving crostini when Pascale pulls you aside to the back of the yard.

She presses a kiss to your cheek, one of conviction and faith. “I always knew,” she says. “You’re going to be a wonderful mom.”

—

The drivers all find out one way or another, news trickling through the grapevine like honey. You share it to Lily first, and of course she tells Alex. You tell Lewis, too, over spring rolls that he claims will power up the baby when it’s born. Charles tells Pierre, who tells Yuki, and Carlos, who tells Lando. You tell Mick, who hugs you and says, “Oh my god! I already knew, Seb told me. I kept wanting to say congratulations.” 

It’s a matter of two weeks before everybody knows. You know because you’ve barely taken a step into the dimly lit Ferrari motorhome when you halt and bolt back outside, harboring yourself a few metres away at a safe distance. Charles, who had been walking beside you, arm looped around your waist, turns, puzzled.

“What’s going on?” He asks.

“No. Nuh-uh. It smells in there.”

He sniffs the darkness, fumbles for the light switch. “No it doesn’t.”

“It smells like”—you grit your teeth, trying to identify the stench—“cheese. And champagne.”

��Why would it smell like che—”

He bangs the light open and illuminates a surprise party. The entire grid starts cheering, having unheard the entire conversation. There’s a huge banner that says CONGRATULATIONS PARENTS, and on a makeshift table in the centre, an assortment of cake slices, cheese, and flutes of champagne. Charles laughs with delight at the surprise, and then turns to find you squatting on the ground, trying to quell your stomach. 

“Give me five,” you say, waving him off.

He returns after ten to find you still trying to calm the waves of nausea. You hear his footsteps and heave yourself up, standing to face him. “I asked Esteban and Max to evacuate the place of cheese and champagne. It’s just coffee and cake now. I even got three fans going.”

“Desolée,” you say, miserable. He wraps two big arms around you, nestling his chin atop your head. “I feel like a high-maintenance monster.”

“Don’t be silly. You’re not the monster. The alien is.”

“I told you to stop calling it that,” you say, shutting your eyes and leaning into his touch. “Before it catches on.”

“Okay. E.T.? Spock? Open to suggestions.” Hand in yours, he walks you gently to the party, arising loud cheers again. In between sips of hot water, he says, “How about Chewy?”

—

The sense of smell proves to be useful in endeavours elsewhere.

“You never clean your car,” you say, lying horizontal on the leather seat and picking bits of dirt off. “I can smell month old Cheetos.”

Charles watches you obsessively nitpick at the detailing. “Last time you looked like this, I gave you a baby.”

“One more word,” you warn sharply. 

“But seriously, be careful. The alien might get stressed.”

You brace yourself for the stupid words that will indubitably follow.

“Don’t worry. If it falls out I’ll plop it in a race car and it’ll be the next Hamilton. Imagine how light it’ll be.”

There it is.

—

Your first trip to the doctor’s is interesting. Charles insists on wearing a wig because he’s so easily recognized in Monaco, so now you look like you’re conceiving a baby with Weird Al Yankovic.

The doctor wheels in a cart with a monitor and all the necessary equipment, and even if it suddenly feels all too real, Charles squeezes your hand and you’re calm again. “I’m back,” she says, sliding into a wheely chair beside you and gelling your stomach.

“Hi, Back,” Charles responds in a crude, twangy Texan accent. The dad humor starts early, you suppose.

You grit your teeth to try and excuse his embarrassing behavior, but suddenly the monitor clicks open and there it is. It looks like the ones in movies, print-outs from friends, but at the same time it doesn’t. It looks different. Special. Yours. You zero in on it, breathless. That’s yours. The doctor says a couple minor things—nothing worrisome—and when you turn to relay it to Charles in case he’d zoned out, you find his face splotchy.

“Are you crying?”

“That’s ours,” he says, dipping down to press a kiss to your forehead.

“It’s mine and Charles’, not mine and Bob Ross’,” you say, but you pull him closer anyway. 

You order two printouts. The week next, you discover that Charles snuck back in to order an extra eight and has mailed them out to friends and drivers. You find out because Kylian Mbappe messages you “Due in April? Make me godfather!” on Instagram.

—

Gradually, you fall into a pattern of being queasy constantly. You get nitpicky with meals, and not irrationally—Charles had fed you a spicy hotdog and you’d gone half a bite before hurling it, and your breakfast, into the nearest toilet. You find solace in your cravings—all of which happen to be the same everyday.

Chinese takeout from just about any restaurant ends up being your best friend. You somehow can’t stomach anything but that specific cuisine, much to your own surprise. You find new ways to combine them with each other. Rice paper wrappers with chow mein. Hotpot with fried rice. If you’re not eating Chinese, you reduce your appetite to crackers or hot tea to avoid becoming too nauseated.

It’s poetic almost, the way he sets out the food carefully, in the order you like them. He always presses a kiss to your forehead after. 

Around this time, you develop a crazy sex drive, waking Charles up at numerous points of the night, begging into his neck for something, anything. You last an hour before you’re asking again. This proves especially difficult before races, where Charles gives in a bit too easily and Carlos has to knock on the door, going “You have to finish somewhere else too, Charles!”

—

You insist Charles hold off on telling the fans, for a few months. It goes okay until your outfits on the paddock evolve into the variety of “Charles’ hoodies” to hide the increasingly evident bloat of pregnancy, and nosy fans start speculating all over Twitter. That’s when he sits you down and gently tells you he thinks it’s time you both announce it.

You’re sitting beside him in his hotel room, after two calls with his bosses, trying to formulate the proper announcement. You download PicsArt to make it pretty and clean and formatted—because the poor guy was about to post a Notes app screenshot—and then it’s on the Internet. 

“She’s truly MOTHER,” one fan comments. Despite yourself, you press the heart icon beside it. It’s your bit of comfort when you catch sight of the nastier comments under the post.

—

You’re ironically gifted an ancient 80s aerobic exercise DVD for mums by Lily and Alex. You’re sure it’s older than you. Charles, though, in his valiant effort to connect with you and Chewy, does the routine everyday. You wake up to the electronic synthpop and Charles doing booty squats in the living room.

The permed instructor smiles through the scratchy 80s quality and goes, “You are rocking it, momma!”

“You hear that?!” Charles pants. “I am rocking it!”

—

Your first parenting fight ends up being one over the baby’s name. Yeah. Of all things. You don’t know why you’re so worked up about it, considering you don’t even know the gender of the baby yet. You arrive in Monaco to mark the first of five off days and Charles makes some random, offhand joke about naming the baby Daryl, and you suddenly start rambling on and on about how it’s too ugly, even if you’d never thought about names before now.

“It’s not going to be Daryl. It won’t be Daryl,” Charles says, hands on your shoulders. You heave another sob. “Please stop crying. You never cry. I’m a bit freaked out.”

“It’s—just—that,” you hiccup, “I—don’t—want to name a—our—baby—Daryl.”

“Yeah, yep,” he says, soothingly. “I got you. It’s not going to be Daryl. Never. We don’t need to decide anything. You gonna calm down for me?”

“I can’t—stop—crying,” you snivel desperately, burying your face in your hands.

He presses a firm kiss to the corner of your quivering lips, and you tug him in for a real one. You calm down when you pull away, exhaling. You gaze at him with red-rimmed eyes. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be.”

“Blame the alien,” you sniff. 

He kisses your stomach, which shows signs of pregnancy more and more as the days pass. “Hear that?” He whispers into the skin. “She’s blaming you, Chewy.”

—

Your next trip to the doctor’s is with your appointed private physician, Dr. Davies. Two minutes before the doctor walks in, you make a serious and compelling order for Charles to remove the Weird Al wig, which he does—but stores in your bag, “just in case.” It’s also his opporunity to play teacher’s pet and showcase how involved he is in your pregnancy, which, judging by the amount of weird cultish pregnancy books he’s burned through, is very much so.

“It’s gonna be a boy,” you declare while you’re being gelled up. You’re past the point of denial and bloat, now showing way too obviously. “Mom’s intuition.”

“Well, all the books say it’s a girl,” he says proudly.

“Yeah, they also say drinking lemon juice while trying to conceive gives you a girl. I’m sure scientific accuracy was their greatest objective.”

“Girl.”

“Boy,” you say dismissively.

“Girl.”

“Boy.”

“Girl.” It’s not Charles this time, it’s the physician, with a small smile on his face.

You squeeze Charles’ hand so hard you’re half sure it’s chipped off and fallen to the tiled floor. You’re having a girl. Normally Charles would turn and make some petty statement about he’d been right, but—you’re having a girl. A pretty baby girl. You almost can’t believe it. He totally can’t, pressing kisses to your hair and face.

You let him buy pink paint later that day.

—

You predict it, but it comes—fights and squabbles over nothing at all.

First it’s about work, then housing, then his job, then the danger of his job. It’s petty, and usually you storm off in an emotional cloud of irrationality, brought down after a talk, a play-by-play, compromise, reassurance. It’s hard when you’re carrying around a human being, you want to say. Try being in my shoes.

“Can we talk?” Charles says, in the thick of another fight. You’re on the balcony of your flat, mulling over nothing at all. Your stomach is heavy, you’re always exhausted, you never feel pretty anymore even if Charles is always unfailing at telling you you are. 

“Okay,” you murmur, turning. You’ve already developed a habit of placing your hands on your bump always.

He inhales. “I’m scared.”

This is a first. And you realize—in these six months of being pregnant, Charles has been your rock, but has never expressed much fear until now. He’s always been good. Great. Supportive. “Of what?”

“Of—becoming a dad.” He pauses, as if to weigh his words. “I don’t have… a blueprint anymore.”

It dawns on you what he’s talking about. You accept the hug when it comes, holding the nape of his neck. He isn’t crying, but is close to it. His voice is shaky when he continues, whispers against your ear. “What if I don’t know what to do?” 

“Baby,” you say, weakly. You push him gently so he’s looking into your eyes. “If the way you’ve taken care of me the past how many months is any indication of how you’ll treat this alien, I know she’s in good hands. You’ve got so much of your dad in you. You’re caring, sweet, you even got a headstart on the dad jokes.” He laughs. “I want this. And the only reason I ever did was because I knew you’d be with me, being an amazing dad, and an even better…”

“Boyfriend,” he says. His eyes hold hesitance—but you quell it with a nod.

“Boyfriend,” you echo. “For now.”

—

The nursery looks like a nursery in February. It was a storage room in Charles’ flat that had really, at some point, become yours, too. Full of boxes and old suits and memories, it’d taken weeks to properly store everything and make way for the furniture. Charles, of course, insists on painting it himself, with the shade of pink he purchased especially for the room.

He hits his head twice and touches the wet paint. There’s a handprint embossed above the bassinet. (Yours is next to it, at his insistence.)

—

You’re a yoga ball by mid-March, having trouble sleeping and dealing with everything being swollen. Charles helps you through it all, turning the heating up and down every time you get even a bit scratchy with the temperature in the flat or motorhome. Your cravings also morph again at this point, into rigatoni that Charles cooked sometime over winter; he requests Ferrari add an induction stove to every race weekend motorhome that you can make it to so he can cook it at your beck and call.

The season begins. Every race is dedicated to Chewy, and every race is won.

—

It’s early morning in late March when Dr. Davies sends you an email with a one-liner that sounds firm enough to set you and Charles in place after two races that involve you being flown around.

Absolutely NO more air and long car travel for Mommy. 

“Can we manage?” You mope, rereading the email, genuinely distressed as you watch your boyfriend pack for Australia. It’s a long haul flight, with only one stopover in Zurich, and you’re filled with anxiety. There isn’t a compromise—until you’re popping the baby out, Charles needs to try and score the title.

“You know I can always drop out of races,” he says softly. “That’s what reserve drivers are for.”

“It’s not the same,” you argue. “I’m just worried.”

“You’re not due ’til the 12th,” he assures you. “I’ll be back then, even if it means dropping a race.”

He leans down and kisses you softly, rubbing your shoulders and ankles. “I’ll be back before you know it. Get some sleep first, okay?” He repeats the sentiment to your stomach, adding a kiss and a bye bye Chewy. You drift off to a sorrowful sleep when he departs, a slow ache in your lower back blooming that feels just like many of the other slow aches lately. 

You’re up after a half hour with discomfort. You suppose something is just up with your sleep position, and readjust yourself. The discomfort sharpens, then melts. You sigh with relief, a long whistley exhale, and sleep again.

Bliss lasts about three hours, then you’re up again, groaning. You’re not due for a prenatal yoga class until four in the afternoon, and your body isn’t used to being awake. Hell, it’s not used to being this pained. You shift once, twice, trying to sleep with fruitless and exhausting attempts. It takes a while, but in between shifting positions and trying to make yourself yawn, it registers.

“Chewy.” You groan, cupping your gigantic bump. “Seriously?”

—

The first person you call is Charles, naturally. He should be in Zurich, but maybe signal is spotty or something, because none of your texts or calls ping. So you move down the list to the person you know will be in Monaco and not off racing, like everybody you know is—and it just so happens to be Dr. Davies.

You always thought Charles would be nowhere but beside you when you went into labor. But you’re here clutching the straps of your overnight bag being driven to the hospital, exhale, inhale, try Charles, try Carlos. Exhale, inhale. Try Charles. Try Carlos. Your contractions don’t quell; they only grow in intensity and you wince the whole ride through.

“Looks like it’s going to be a fast labor,” Dr. Davies says when he’s done checking you in and making sure everything is in order. You nod, breathless and flushed. You’ve called your mum here and she’s on the way with Charles’ but—Charles is the issue.

“I will weld myself shut if it means I’m giving birth without the dad,” you beg. “Without Charles.”

Charles, who picks up after forty-five minutes of radio silence. He’s in the jet. Give him an hour. “I will pilot this plane myself if I have to. Don’t do anything—don’t make any decisions without me.”

“Too fucking late.” You say, wheezy with labor. “I’m putting N/A on the certificate.”

“You carry Chewy around for nine months and I don’t get to meet her first?” He asks, in a last-ditch effort to cheer you up. You tear up, splotchy and red all over.

“We can’t call her Chewy. We never discussed names. And oh God it can’t be Daryl,” you say, whimpers turning into half-sobs of overwhelm and yearning. You’re scared. You need Charles, who’s been with you for every week, every milestone, every kick, every rigatoni craving. But he’s not here. You have Dr. Davies, and in five minutes you’ll have your mum and Pascale, but they are not Charles. You breathe heavy into the phone.

“I love you,” you say finally. “Please, I love you.”

“I love you more,” he says gently. “I love you. I’ll be there, okay? Just—just wait for me.”

—

Lil 3s ago

does it hurt?

i know it does but i’m trying to make u feel better

love from houston. i will call you ASAP.

You 1s ago

yeah it hurts so bad

apparently they don’t do epidurals

fuck europe

—

In between quiet periods and intense ones, you finally reach your peak. A nurse takes one glance and nods and your bed is disengaged and wheeling around again. Pascale squeezes your left hand, your mum the other. “Wait!” You pant, voice spent, totally tired, flustered.

The nurses exchange a look. “Ma’am—”

“No, you don’t understand. The dad, my—the dad—he’s out—and I don’t.” You pause, the onset of a cry coming on. Pascale takes the lead, firm, asking for a few more moments of patience.

“I can’t do this,” you say hopelessly, throwing your flushed head back. “No. Not without Charles.”

“I’m here,” Charles says, bounding through the door. He’s in official Ferrari gear and his hair is disheveled and he's clearly been crying. Had Chewy not been wedging her way out, you would’ve kissed him right then. You feel nothing but love.

“You’re a sneaky fucker,” you say instead, and the rest is a blur.

—

It’s an hour before the race and Charles is absent from his usual spot greeting friends and guests along the paddock. Instead, he’s leaned against the wall of the motorhome, silently digging his toes into his shoes. You knock twice before trying to open the door and succeeding. You beam when you see him. “We’ve been looking for you everywhere.”

His two girls.

Julia stretches out a chubby hand, but he smiles teasingly, refusing to take it. He holds eye contact, holding up the ring that’d been in his clammy grip for about twenty minutes. It’s a symbol, a sign, a blessed thing, casting his girlfriend into silence.

It’s a bit dark—a stark contrast to where other guys might propose for the first time. He imagines a Caribbean beach bathed in sunset. He pictures a Jeep in the sand, a happy blonde couple jumping into each other’s arms with unadulterated happiness. He figures if you don’t like this, he’ll pay for that.

Instead, he gets: “You’re a doofus—oh.”

“Yeah.” He says, pursing his lips. He swallows, gives you the biggest smile of his life. “Oh.”

It’s perfect.

[darkhymns-fic]

Can I get a tiny umbrella to go with that?

So, a Princess of Hell walks into a bar…and the bartender isn't prepared for what she's asking. Luckily, Husk is a softie at heart.

Fandom: Hazbin Hotel Characters: Husk, Charlie Morningstar, Alastor Rating: T Word Count: 4342 Mirror: AO3 Notes: This is a nicer HH fic for once! Wanted to write both mine and @ms-notebook's favorite characters interacting. (There's also lovely art by her for this story!) Please forgive me for the dumb humor in this.

--

Husk heard the princess slump against the bar counter behind him. A small groan, followed by a thud. Then, followed by a plaintive “Oww…”

He sighed, turning around from setting up the shelves with new stock. “Tripped?”

Charlie had a hand pressed against her forehead, a little pout forming on her face. “No…I just wanted to lay my head down here.”

“Yeah, well, don’t exactly got pillows.” Husk gestured to the lobby. “The couch is right there if you want to relax.”

But he already guessed that was not what she came for. Still, he wasn’t going to pry unless she opened herself up. And he knew behind that usual bright, and sometimes manic smile of hers, there was a lot weighing on the girl’s mind.

Charlie took a deep breath, finally ignoring the little bump on her scalp. “Um, actually I wanted a different way to relax… You know?”

Husk raised a large eyebrow. “Do I know?”

“Y-yeah! Of course you do! Oops, sorry… I shouldn’t just assume.” Charlie brushed away a lock of her hair. She shifted nervously on the bar stool, her other hand tapping away the counter. “You just usually seem to know things…”

Yeah, he did. And he had a pretty good suspicion right now. “You here for a drink?”

Charlie looked left and right, now using her hands to twiddle her thumbs. Then, she nodded vigorously.

“Heh. Does Vaggie know you’re ‘partaking’ in some sin?”

“I mean! I just want a little sip! Or… unless you think I shouldn’t.” Charlie gave a small whine, hanging her head. “It’s just been so stressful lately with the Extermination being pushed up and we still haven’t gotten any new guests since Sir Pentious…”

Probably because they had Mr. Smiles as their marketing manager and a drunk manning the front desk/bar, but Husk wasn’t really about to point that out now.

“Hey, kid. No worries. I’ll fix you up something real nice then.” He leaned towards her, wings tucked in, feeling more awake than usual. “So, what do ya want? This your first drink?”

Charlie giggled nervously. “Ah, I’ve had champagne at this fancy dinner once… Like half a glass.”

Husk smirked. “So, you’re saying we should start you off strong. Got a couple of shots of vodka here in the back if you’re daring.”

Charlie’s eyes brightened in wonder. “Vodka… I always was curious…” Then shook her head. “Um, maybe not yet! It might be too strong for me…”

At that, Husk had to laugh a bit. His shoulders shook slightly, half-covering his mouth with his hand. “I was mostly joking. Look, we can start off small. You seem like you’d be into cocktails, so I can fix you up a dry martini, tequila sunrise, whatever sounds nice to you.”

Somehow, just listing off basic drink names was enough to get the princess’ face glowing, like she was a kid in a candy store. It was almost adorable, the way her already-blushed cheeks seemed to blush even more. “Tequila sunrise…that sounds so beautiful! You can make that?”

“Been making it for years. Known plenty of ladies who were into those. Though…” He tapped a finger against his chin, giving her another smile. “If I made you a piña colada instead, I can give it to you with a special garnish.” A pause, seeing Charlie wonder just what he meant before he finally said, “A tiny umbrella.”

Charlie stared open-mouthed. “No one ever told me drinks had tiny umbrellas in them!” She brought her hands to her face, awed by this knowledge. “That’s the cutest thing I’ve ever heard.”

Husk literally could not remember the last time someone got this excited over him making them a drink. (Well, maybe except Mimzy, and those weren’t pleasant memories). But Charlie’s excitement was infectious, and Husk had gotten a little soft for the princess. Even if he thought her redemption ideas were half-baked at best.

“You never knew what you were missing, huh?” he teased. “Just sit tight and I can whip you something up here—”

“Oh wait, I forgot!” Charlie straightened, hands pressed flat on the counter. “Alastor recommended me to get a certain drink from you!”

And suddenly, all the good mood in Husk’s heart went sinking right into the damn floor. Oh. So that’s why she was here.

“…The boss?” Husk blinked. “Recommended?”

Charlie nodded, still beaming her innocent smile. “I told him I’d been feeling a bit stressed lately and… that’s when he mentioned you! And your bar! And your special drink!”

Husk didn’t have a ‘special drink,’ unless one counted the cheap booze he kept underneath the counter for his own imbibing, but he didn’t deny it just yet.

“What did he say exactly?” Husk asked, trying to keep his tone normal. Maybe his boss was just actually being considerate of Charlie. For once. It’s not like Alastor didn’t come by and ask for a few fingers of rye on the rocks himself. And he and Charlie were basically business partners, in a sense.

Charlie clasped her hands together, smiling at Husk as if she was being the most perfect student, all attentive and eager. “Well, he said… Oh, actually he even instructed me on how I should say it! Since it’s a secret menu item and all!”

This was the first he ever heard of any secret menu item. Husk was waiting for the moment all hell would break loose, but he played along. “Okay, uh… go ahead?”

The princess’ expression then turned all serious. She cleared her throat, clenched one hand, and then slammed it on the bar counter. Or, at least her version of slamming a fist. The force of it was barely able to rattle one of the whiskey glasses that Husk was still in the middle of cleaning.

“Husk,” she started, her tone low, her eyes narrowed. “Give me your tallest glass of milk.”

He had to take a moment to be sure he heard that right. Charlie still gave her hard-set stare, which wavered to softness by each passing second.

Yeah, okay, she did just say that.

“…Are you asking me for regular milk?” He paused. “Or like a milk brandy?” There was no way she even knew what that was.

Charlie blinked. She shook the hand that she had slammed with, waving away the aches she must have given herself. “Uh, Alastor didn’t mention? He just said you had some very special milk! And that I should go and try it! Because I also like milk!”

“Special milk? The fuck did he—” Husk blinked. Then, he realized.

Then, he winced. Oh, that disgusting bastard.

Charlie was still in the dark and just kept talking, oblivious to the implications. “Alastor was really raving about your milk, too! How it’s the best out there, but that it’s rare to get? And that you only serve it when you’re in a good mood! He told me that even he can barely get it that much from you himself—”  

Husk pressed a hand to his face. He wanted to be buried alive, right now. “Charlie, please stop talking.”

“Oh.” Charlie hunched a little, noticing now the changed atmosphere in the room. “Did…did I say something wrong?”

That was such a loaded question but Husk didn’t have the energy to explain it all, nor did he think explaining would do any good except make Charlie give out a string of apologies that he would barely be able to handle. So instead, he gave another deep sigh and placed a hand on the princess’ shoulder.

“Here, just a piece of advice. If Alastor seems too excited about something, I’d take it with a big fuckton grain of salt. The guy does stuff for shits and giggles and you’re prime entertainment for that.”

Charlie’s eyes lowered, her perky energy from before looking all sapped away. “Oh, so he was just playing a prank on me…” She then looked to Husk again, with what little hope she had left. “You don’t have any milk at all?”

Husk really wished he could fucking kill Alastor this very second. Or at least kick him in the teeth if doing so wasn’t going to get his stomach sliced open for the Radio Demon’s buffet.

“I don’t got milk, kid,” he finalized with a pat on her shoulder. Then he looked to the side, muttering to himself. “At least, not as much anymore.”

“Huh?”

It almost physically hurt hearing his own slip-up coupled with Charlie’s curiosity. God dammit, this whole stupid thing from Alastor was now messing with his head! Husk stepped back. “Just— Don’t worry about it.” 

Ugh. He was already exhausted. It didn’t even make any sense to Husk. This wasn’t his boss’ usual style of humor. Did he pick it up from Angel? But he also remembered how Alastor didn’t even like Angel that much anyway, so that wasn’t it. Whatever. This wasn’t a mystery he needed to solve and didn’t fucking want to anyway.

By now though, Charlie looked deeply sadder than before—and also guilty. She knew she had made the air between them awkward, even as Husk tried to get past it. It's not like it was her fault that she was as naive as they come.

“Look, let me just make you something. Still want the umbrellas?”

But Charlie no longer looked as enthused, and shook her head. “Maybe…maybe another time. I should probably get back to work. I forgot, I have to set up the Pilates schedule for everyone! All, um, two of them..”

Ah, man. Husk mentally kicked himself for getting so worked up before. “Hey, Charlie, it’s–”

“No, no, don’t worry! I shouldn’t have bothered you while you were working anyway. I’ll just get out of your way!” And with that, she quickly got up from the stool, put on her great smile that was stretched just a little too wide, and looked a little too tight.

She wasn't as good at hiding things like his boss was, but he could see the similarities.

“I’ll see ya later okay bye!!” And then she hoofed it out of there, even before Husk could say another word. 

He leaned on the bar counter, chin placed in his hand and sighed. So much for always bitching to the bartender. Because Charlie just took up all her hurt and swallowed it away instead.

--

“Alright, everyone! Great job today!” Charlie gave a double-thumbs up, panting heavily as she wound down from the routine–and kept doing so, still wearing her long-sleeved coat and pants while doing stretches and jumping jacks just a few minutes ago. “We’ll pick it back up tomorrow with some pictionary later, alright? Oh, and, uh, sorry about before, Sir Pentious.”

He didn’t really hear her, because he was too busy crying into Vaggie’s shoulder, who had resigned to carrying him to his room. She struggled a bit, occasionally tripping over his long tail/body that kept wriggling in her hold.

Angel, meanwhile, was wiping away some yellow goop off his boots as he followed them out. “Ugh, I told him to not let his little Egg Boiz get near me! I can’t really pay attention to stuff when I’m in the zone!”

Eventually, all left the hotel lobby, leaving Charlie by her lonesome. She finally put down that smile of hers, and sighed, letting herself fall against the couch cushions.

She must have been really out of it, to not notice he was still around.

A quick tap on her left shoulder, and Charlie turned to her left, seeing no one there. Then a quick tap on her right shoulder, and she turned to her right, again seeing no one there. “Huh? Whuh?”

Husk was right in front of her, giving a small wave. “Hey.”

“WHOA WHAT THE HELL?!”

The yell was unexpected, making Husk lower his ears. The girl really did have a pair of lungs on her.

“Ah! Sorry, sorry! I, uh, just didn’t see you there!”

“I mean, I’ve been standing here for like ten minutes,” Husk explained, feeling awkward as he stood plainly right in the middle of the room, wings half-extended. “Watched the whole pilates exercise. And the death of Egg Boi number… four? Two?” He shrugged.

“Oh, right… I’m sorry, again. It’s just I’ve been… um…”

Trying to avoid him, he suspected. He could already see the guilt come back to her face, her fidgety hands playing in her lap, the flush of shame on her cheeks. The tension between them was already back.

Well, looks like he’d have to make the first move.

Husk then stepped over to the couch, sitting right next to Charlie, his wings folded in to avoid them bumping into her. He placed a hand into his pocket. “Hey Charlie,” he started to ask, eyes shifting to her. “You like magic tricks?”

Immediately, that got her.

Husk had never actually seen anyone vibrate from excitement before, but he swore he could feel it through the couch they both shared. Charlie had turned to him, eyes shining in wonder, her body thrumming like some sort of machinery. She was no longer just a kid at a candy store, she was a kid that got brought to the circus for the very first time.

“You mean the magic they do on Earth that looks like real magic but isn’t actually at all?! I love those!” Charlie had her feet tapping in excitement. “I didn’t know you did that type of magic!”

“Heh… yeah, it was a thing of mine back in the day.” Before all the real magic came into his afterlife, but he can’t help but love the classics. After a quick shuffling of his deck, he then held out several cards in his hand, their black foil surfaces gleaming in the lobby’s lamplight. “Pick a card. Any card.”

“Ooo, I know this one!” Charlie kept bouncing in her seat as she quickly picked the left-most card. “And then I memorize it, right? Oh, and I can’t tell you!”

Husk nodded. “Yep, you already know the rules. Now you know what happens next?”

Charlie, grasping the card in both hands, looked at Husk with that same wonder. Stars were literally in her eyes, making Husk blink at the brightness. “I give it back to you?”

Husk shook his head. He then took off his hat, revealing a bit of fur tuft that he never bothered to comb back anymore, and held the open end of it to Charlie. “Put the card in here.”

Charlie blinked, then blinked again. Then she vibrated again. “This is different!!”

“The key to magic is to keep them guessing,” Husk said with a proud smile. “Or would you rather hold onto that card as a keepsake?”

“Ah, no I want to see the trick!” Charlie then quickly deposited the card into the black abyss of the hat’s opening. It was so dark inside that no light seemed to be able to penetrate it.

Husk then lifted the hat to eye level, turning it over a few times for Charlie. Then he reached in and pulled it inside out. There was felt and lint, but no card to be found. “Nothing to see here.”

Charlie gasped loudly. “Where did it go?” Then, a haunted look in her eyes. “Wait, does this mean I lost your card? Oh no… I didn’t mean to…”

“Huh? No, this is fine!” Husk quickly answered her, already seeing the guilt come back again. Damn, she was the kind of girl to get weepy over stepping on a blade of grass too hard. He’d have to be careful. “This is how it goes. Relax, kid. We’re still not done with the trick.” 

“Oh, okay!” Charlie smiled brightly again, then clapped her hands. “This is so exciting!”

Husk couldn’t remember the last time he had a great audience like Charlie. It kinda made his chest feel warm at the thought. Clearing his throat, he pushed back the inside of the hat so that it was normal again. Then held it out to her. “Now go and get your card back.”

She blinked, looking at the hat, then pointed to herself. “But, I don’t see it in there?”

“Just humor an old man, why don’t ya?” Husk said, making sure his tone was as easy as they come.

Charlie only hesitated a second before putting her hand inside the hat. Husk had to do all he could to suppress the grin he was feeling at the edges of his mouth.

Because then he saw the look on Charlie, saw her mouth gape open as she pulled in her arm, and was now holding a certain cocktail drink in her hand, in a tall highball glass with orange and red colors, complete with a matching orange slice and–

“Oh my gosh there's even a little umbrella!! ” She gasped, looking at the drink even more. “How was it even in there!? You were moving your hat around and, and, oh wow is that fruit? I love fruit!”

“Yeah, figured you had a sweet tooth.” Husk chuckled, plopping the hat right back on his head. “Now, if you want something with a bit more kick to it, you can try the sunset version, but I think tequila sunrise suits you more.” 

The cocktail was one of the easiest he could make. It only took him a few minutes to make, and the presentation was worth the effort, giving a simple drink that little flair that Husk used to enjoy more before he became a certain Overlord’s minion.

Charlie kept looking at it like it was a piece of art, admiring the colors and poking at the umbrella that stuck to the orange slice, and had a pierced cherry right in the middle. “Can I, um, eat this? Or is that frowned upon?”

Husk snickered a bit. This princess was good to have around. “You can eat the cherry. The orange slice is for flavor, but if you wanna gobble that up too, feel free. I don’t suggest eating the umbrella unless you have a specific taste for it.”

With a happy squeal, Charlie picked up the umbrella to gulp the cherry. She was kicking her feet in excitement, once again looking to the drink, then back to Husk. Then back to the drink.

“Charlie, if you think you need my permission to take a sip, you don’t.” Still, he gestured to her with a furry hand, and that was apparently the last barrier for the princess to get through.

“Okay, well… bottoms up!” She took a sip–a big one, which maybe Husk should have warned her about. Because right after, Charlie coughed, the ice clinking together with her motion.

“Whoa, slow down,” Husk said. His wing had instinctively moved, the tip placed against her back as he helped her clear her throat. “Unless you’re having shots, drinking doesn’t have to be a race.”

Charlie straightened then, blinked at Husk. What followed was a wide grin, coupled with starry eyes that were even more radiant than before. “It’s…good! I mean, it’s a little burney in my throat, but I can deal with that. It’s really good!” She took another sip, only coughing a little bit this time. 

Damn, at this rate, he wondered if she’d get tipsy already. But nah, surely the Princess of Hell could handle it, even if she never drank before. It was in her makeup, wasn’t it?

But before she had her third sip, she stopped just in mid-tip to her mouth. She then lowered the glass, her brow furrowing.

Husk would have been lying to himself if he said he wasn’t worried. “What’s wrong? Something about it not agreeing with you?” He’d known people who got tired of a drink just a few sips in.

“Hm? Oh no! It’s great! But I’m just remembering the card… Where did it go? I saw it go in your hat…”

Ah. Charlie didn’t like leaving loose ends, he noticed.

Husk held out one finger, then pointed at the umbrella held between her fingers. “May I have that?”

“Uh, okay.” She did so, laying it gently in his palm. The little pink and violet colors that made up its tiny canopy was bright against his fur.

He then rolled the umbrella to hold between his claws by its wooden stem. Then, he closed the umbrella so it was thin, balancing it on his knuckles for a bit. Suddenly, with a flourish that was hard for the eye to catch, he was now holding the missing card in his hand. “Two of hearts, right, princess?”

If Charlie was already drunk by this point, maybe it would have explained a few things. How she gasped loudly, eyes getting so wide that he wondered just how she was able to do so without transforming into some demonic entity. “That’s amazing! It was the little umbrella this whole time!?” 

Or, maybe that was just how Charlie was. He flipped around the card in his hands once more before it vanished into thin air. “Can’t tell you all my secrets. Now come on, you still got a lot to chug down.”

Charlie, with a little giggle, went back to nursing her drink, now taking her time to enjoy it. Husk relaxed then. Maybe after this, he could have her try another mix, if she’d be up to it.

--

It really shouldn’t have been a surprise to Husk that Charlie would be a lightweight when it came to alcohol.

The fact that after her fourth sip and numerous giggles, she then promptly fell asleep on his shoulder, snoring loudly, was a bit of a dead giveaway.

Husk had to, carefully, take the half-empty glass from her hands in case she spilled it. Seriously, four sips? And then lights out just like that?

Occasionally, she giggled in her sleep, rubbing her face into his body with no shame. “Hehe, this pillow is furry…”

“...Kid, you’re lucky you’re cute,” Husk muttered. It wasn’t the first time he’d have a drunk fall asleep on him (or get angry with him, or flirt with him. There were many kinds of drunks in Hell), but he’d fight back or throw off the drunk for invading his personal space.

He could let it slide for Charlie.

But when a familiar shadow slid over them, he felt his fur stand on end. The result had Charlie giggling more, saying something about being ticklish.

“Well, Husker! Truly a compromising position I find you in.”

Husk rolled his eyes. In reflex, he started drinking Charlie’s cocktail for the familiar, pleasant buzz. It was the only way to deal with the constant buzzing that was Alastor’s voice. “I’m on break, so don’t get all uptight.”

With both hands on the top of his mic cane, the demon raised an eyebrow as looked over at Husk and Charlie. He then leaned forward, eyeing Husk in particular as Charlie snored open-mouthed, and a bit loudly.

“Now, my good man, I hope you’re not doing anything untoward to her. It certainly wouldn’t do any good for this hotel’s reputation.”

Husk could physically feel a vein pop in his forehead, as well as a growl leaving his throat.

“I’m gonna rip that mouth of yours if you don’t quit it with these stupid fucking jokes.”

“Jokes? I’m simply voicing a concern.”

“Bull shit. You just–” Husk tried to stand, then felt Charlie’s weight, which kept him locked in place. “Ah, fuck.” He didn’t want her to wake up to an argument.

Alastor placed a hand on his chin, his textured chuckles sounding even more obnoxious than before. “Are you now the princess’ pet as well?”

Husk made sure to keep his voice low, but he put all the annoyance right into his inflections. “I’m no one’s pet. And you know this isn’t actually anything. First you tell Charlie some weird fucking joke because you knew it would piss me off and now you try to make it sound like I’m being a creep. What is your damn problem? You’re the one that forced me to work at this hotel in the first place. Worried I’ll make friends here or something?”

And with that, he realized it. It was quick, but the twitch in Alastor’s right eye and the sharp little static that fizzed, Husk had been able to learn his boss’ tells.

Maybe Alastor just hadn’t expected Husk to change his ways.

But the Radio Demon simply shrugged, turning away as if he was suddenly bored with the situation. “I was brought here to keep an eye on the hotel, and all of its residents. I only want to make sure everything is in working order. Also,” he turned his neck completely around, the crack making Husk wince. Ugh. He always did that to weird him out. “I just like to have a bit of fun once in a while.”

His boss’ exits were the same as his entrances–quick and full of shadows, but this time leaving the lights in the lobby brighter than before. Husk sighed once he saw Alastor was gone. He didn’t know if that was another weird temper thing with his boss, another prank of his, or what. 

Charlie started to murmur in his sleep, sounding a little upset. “It’s dark…”

“Hey, it’s alright.” Husk wrapped his wing around her like a blanket, and Charlie instantly snuggled into it. She breathed more evenly, and the lines on her face were gone. “No more nightmares, ok?”

Huh, he wasn’t sure when he became a softie, but the princess did say how she wanted to redeem everyone…

Husk looked at the tequila sunrise in his hand, the ice mostly melted, the orange slice nearly slipping off the rim. Huh, what a weird hotel, he thought, before taking another sip. He’d stay here for as long as Charlie needed. He could use the rest, too.

“Sleep tight, princess,” he said, watching as she gently curled more into his wing to keep warm.

[ohdudedhesflirting]

The lady in the green dress

Pairing : Prince!TaeRae x fem!reader

Request n*2

Synopsis : Prince!TaeRae is teased by his friends due to his girl phobia. Forced by his friends he has to actually talk to a girl.

Warning : quick mention of death blink and you will miss it, champagne is mentionned. English is not my first language.

Word count : 3,2k

Notes : My dear Nina, thank you so much for supporting me to write, without you I would have never started to write again, I hope you will enjoy it <3

- - - - - - - - - - -

Slowly exhaling prince Tae Rae tried to keep his calm after his fellow friends, or nuisance depending on the day, were making fun of him.

He was swearing that he was trying his best to stay calm but when 5 hyper-energetic boys were jumping around everywhere and making fun of him altogether it was not easy to stay composed and worthy of his title.

At first it had started as a normal, drink party with friends. Duke Matthew, Archiduke Ricky, Count Jiwoong accompanied by fellow count Gyuvin. As well as the aide of the prince, Gunwook.

Simping on his drink, the man was watching, wordless, all of his fellow friends making fun of him.

Maybe inviting Matthew had been the mistake he should have not committed.

Matthew and Tae Rae had known each other for years, their familys being close. As they had grown up together, Matthew knew almost everything about his life. At a point which was somewhat insulting. The problem with Matthew and them having grown up together, were not the growing up part that was annoying for Tae Rae, but the fact that Matthew had absolutely no filter in what he was saying.

One could believe that as a member of nobility he would somehow have a bit of fliter into what he was saying, he had not.

And thats how it happened, the disaster.

All the boys were jokingly kidding together, giving each other the news and gossips of their own territories, in the kingdom and neighbouring kingdoms.

One of the most important news was that King Zhang Hao of the neighbouring kindgom was coming to pay a visit to Tae Rae’s kindgom and a ball would be hosted in his honor, inviting every royal house of the country and of King Zhang Hao’s country.

At this point everything had been fine, until Matthew dropped, intentionnnaly the bomb. "Maybe this way Tae Rae will finally talk to a girl"

Gasps had been heard around the room and all the boys had turned their heads around the prince. Questionning him.

"Finally talk to …? Does that mean you never talked to a girl ? A prince never talked to a girl ? We knew of your loser prince reputation but still… You turned 21 this year and you neveer talked to a girl in your life ?"

Once his little troublemakers friends had started it was impossible to stop them, the man was not even able to answer all of their questions as Matthew took on that part.

"No Tae Rae never talked to a girl in his life. The only girls he had been talking to were maids, his nanny, cousins and that was it. He in fact had turned 21 without ever talking to much girls in his life. Yes he is a loser."

Ever since then the room had been filled with laughter and teasing.

All of them really loved Tae Rae of course, but they loved to tease him even more.

After approximately 20 minutes of chaos, all the boys in the room had calmed down and were back onto their respective seats.

As the eldest Jiwoong was the first one to ,seriously this time, start talking "Tae Rae we all have been friends since mutliple years and its true that we had never even saw you once talking to a girl, but you never ever talked to one ?"

Slowly putting himself deeper onto his seat, Tae Rae just wanted to dissapear to never come back.

"What Matthew said was the truth, the only times I tried to talk to girls I always made a fool of myself"

All the boys were now slowly nodding their heads at each other, the residing flirt of the group was the next one to start talking "What happens exactly when you try to talk to a girl ?"

"I just blurts whatever is inside my head, I stutter, my hands get all wet, I absoluty can’t maintain eye contact, I become completely red all over"

Tae Rae was only feeling embarassed explaining to his friends, it was something he had always struggled with. He could not remember the day it had exactly started but he would forever remember the day he noticed it.

It was at his first real ball he was attending as the crown prince, he was introduced to the whole kingdom as the next king in line. He had been sixteen at the time and the King had wanted him to make friends, be social, show himself. Everything had been alright, he had chatted with people he knew (his troublemakers) and had made small chats with ministers and people in situation of power.

Resting at the buffet, a girl had approached him. She was a very pretty girl with big bubbly eyes. Tae Rae could not even remembered what he had said but all he could remember was seeing the girl with a disgusted look as she was looking at him and quickly excusing herself before him. He had never seen the pretty girl with big eyes after it happened.

Ever since that traumatizig event, every time he was trying to talk to a girl, he would get sweaty, red, uncomfortable, without being able to form even one correct sentence.

"You have a girl trauma"

All the boys turned around to look at Gunwook, he was the youngest but also the most clever of them all reunited.

" I saw you at balls, and meetings with girls, you just run away from them, you must have had a traumatic event and since then you developped a kind of phobia or trauma surrounding girls"

All the boys, including Tae Rae were nodding their heads, it  was making sense.

"Do you recall a particular moment with a girl which could have created a trauma for you ?"

Completely lying Tae Rae said he had no idea and could not remember a special event. He was mad enough at himself for making the girl so unconfortable she had to excuse herself, he would not have been able to stand the disgust of his closet friends upon learning what he did.

All the members were lost deep in thoughts, clever Gunwook was not buying what Tae Rae had said but as a good friend, he could not push him to tell him what happened if he wasn’t ready for it.

"There is only one solution, you have to be exposed to what you fear"

Jiwoong asked him what he meant exactly "Well if you do not want to be scared of something anymore you have to be exposed to it until you do not fear it anymore, so you will have to talk to girls until you are not scared of them anymore"

"Sorry, what ?!"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Tae Rae loved his friends, he really did, but having them by his side this way truly felt ridiculous.

The day of the ball in the honor of King Zhang Hao had come and now all of the boys together were waiting eagerly in the ballroom for the festivities to start.

All of them had made a deal : Tae Rae would have to talk to girls to get rid of his trauma, for that to happens he would have to talk to the first girl with a green dress that he would see.

Gunwook had been the one making the strategy, at each gathering they would pick a different dress color and Tae Rae would have to speak to the girl wearing it. Slowly exposing him to his fear should be effective after some time.

All the boys were looking at him with stress and anxiety, this whole treatment and fear of Tae Rae had started as a joke but the implications and consequences were quite evident.

As the crown prince, he had duties to follow. As he had turned 21 and his father was getting older and his health was declining, soon would come the time he would have to ascend the throne. And soon he would have to be married.

As a child, and an adolescent, Tae Rae knew of the pressure that was resting onto his shoulders, mainting the family line, being a good king, being a good husband. It was easier said than done.

The King kept on urging him to take a wife, to introduce a lady to him as the future queen. Before being a King, he was a father and he wanted his son to be happy, to be safe. He knew his time was reducing and soon he would have to leave Tae Rae. His mother had passed away a few years prior to a pneumonia, and as a father, the King had only one worry in mind : his son. He did not wanted him to be left all alone between the palace walls. He knew that he had great friends, but they all had their own duties, soon they would have their own families. How could he as a father leave bethind him a lonely son ?

Tae Rae was fidgeting with his outfit, it had been years since he had been feeling that anxious. At a distance he was looking at the dress of each lady coming inside the room,  there was every single color imaginable except one : green.

His friends were, too, getting fidgety next to him, they knew that if Tae Rae had too much time to think he could perfectly give up and just hide behind his affairs and duty as the crown prince and only talk to the aide, secretaries and ministers.

That was when she entered : the girl with the green dress.

Magnificent, head straight, long black hair tied in her back, a crown on her forehead, the top of her dress being black and the other half being green, elegant and gracious, she entered the room.

Seeing her all the boys nudged Tae Rae who was looking at her. It was her, the girl he would have to talk to. Feeling nervous all over, his mouth started to be dry again. Without leaving him the time to speak, all the boys pushed him towards the lady.

The girl in the green dress was making her way trhough the ballroom with quite difficulties, people were not letting her pass trough them and she had to struggle to just find her way up at the buffet.

Slowly, almost trying to dissapear she was looking at the amount of food in front of her.

A few meters away from her was a struggling Tae Rae who was trying to find the strength to introduce himself. He knew that it was not proper to not be introduced by someone else, so he would have to be clever about it and pretend that he bumped into her.

Yes he could make it, it wasn’t as if his whole reputation of crown prince could change right at this moment, and it wasn’t as if all of his friends were going to watch the interaction. Yes he would be fine.

Slowly he pretented to lose his balance, and he slowly bumped into the apparent shoulder of the lady at the green dress. Startled she turned her head over to look at him.

Tae Rae was looking at the speechless face he had in front of him. Big round eyes, plump lips, a beauty mark on her collarbone.

It was her.

The girl.

The girl he made run away 5 years ago.

Looking at him with big round eyes, the girl seemed to recognize him and before she could even say a word, Tae Rae deeply apologized before running away to his friends.

All of the boys welcomed him completely startled, he made the hardest step why would he back away now ?

"What happened ? It was going alright !"

Ashamed the man could not even explains himself, what happened years ago kept going back into his head, how she looked at him like she just had wished he could dissapear, the way she ran away from him. It was truly a nightmare, his worst nightmare.

"It’s for your own good, go back !"

"I can’t, please guys trust me when I say that I absolutely can not talk to this girl ever agin"

In his head Gunwook was trying to find a solution, as the only member with a working braincell he had been observing the situation but most importatnly he had been looking at the girl in green that had been left with a confused expression on her face and still looking over Tae Rae and his group. That girl was the solution to Tae Rae girl phobia he was sure of it.

"Listen, we will make a bet. If you can get this lady in green to dance with you tonight, Matthew will become your personnal maid for a month and do everything you want, deal ?"

"Wait, why me"

Tae Rae looked over at Matthew side, the man was laughing to himself, the close bond uniting them made them so close but also easier for them to bicker. If Matthew had not opened his mouth then none of this would have happened. In a pure spirit of petiness Tae Rae accepted.

Without even leaving him the time to say anything more, Gunwook urged him to go on the balcony to make himself ready to talk to the girl. Quickly obeying his friend order, the prince went on the balcony.

Arriving on the balconly, the prince felt the fresh air on his face, slowly approaching the terrace rail, he rested his champagne glass on it. Tae Rae had been scared of this moment for years.

Seeing the girl with whom everything started.

He did not know what he had done wrong, he never understood. Going back into the conversation in his head, he had only introduced himself and had asked about her name and if she was having a good time.. Why had she been so disgusted by him she had to run away ?

"Excuse me.. Your royal highness .. ?"

Slowly turning back after being called, Tae Rae looked at at the girl that just came onto the balcony, having as well a champagne glass in her hands.

Looking at her this way she was shining, he could see perfectly her features. She was a pretty lady and had just gotten prettier over the years.

"Your friends told me you wanted to talk to me .. ?"

Questionning her with his eyes, Tae Rae had not made such a request. Quickly he walked toward the lady in green, and after her, trying to open the doors of the balcony. Both were closed.

Slowly gulping, the man realised what his friends had done, they trapped them together in a short place.

The lady in green looked at him, and looked behind him and her too, understood the situation. She slolwly laughed at the ridiculous of the situation.

Looking down at his hands Tae Rae started "I think my friends locked us, I am very sorry for their behavior"

Slowly laughing at his reactions, the lady looked at him. She too had not forgotten about him.

"It is quite alright, I should have known when they approached me that something was weird, but since I wanted to talk to you I guess I was quite imprudent"

Tae Rae looked at her with questions in his eyes, she wanted to talk to him ? Quickly realising that he was directly looking at her he went back to looking at his hands.

Finding him endearing she laughed slowly at his reactions.

"You probably do not remember but we met years ago, in this very ballroom.."

Hearing her, Tae Rae affirmed that he in fact, remembered their first encounter.

"I have been wanting to apologise for years, but I have not been able to come visit your country since it happened, so you can understand it had been quite complicated"

"You wanted to apologise… ?"

Now it was Tae Rae turn to be perplexed, why would, she, in her right mind, want to apologise to him ? He was the one that had made her uncomfortable all those years ago.

"When we met, I ran away before even telling you my name and you must have found my behavior quite rude, she bowed to him, I present to you all of my most sincre apologises your royal highness"

Feeling a sudden sprout of braveness, Tae Rae approached her and made her stand up again.

"I should be the one apologizing, I ignore what I have said all those years ago that made you so uncomfortable you had to leave but for that I apologise"

It was his turn to bow before her, before, she, too pulled him up.

"It was not your fault your highness, my brother was behind you and he was the one that made me so uncomfortable that I had to leave"

"Your brother.. ?"

"Yes King Zhang Hao, I am his sister, Zhang YN, even if at that time he was not the king yet."

What YN was not telling him, was that her, so dear brother, was the one that had pushed her towards him. Knowing how shy her sister was as well as her little crush on prince Tae Rae after having seen his portrait. And then, seeing them interact he had been mimicking kisses.

"So I did not make you uncomfortable ?"

"No you did not your royal highness, it was the opposite, I thought that you were actually very kind and polite"

She also thought he was very pretty, and that his dimples were to die for. She had been dreaming about those for years, hoping to one day seeing them again.

Finally exhaling, Tae Rae passed a hand through his hair and realised how dumb he had been. It had been years he was mad at himself for making an honest lady uncomfortable when it had never ever been his fault to begin with. How naive he had been…

Abruptly the doors opened on the two young adults, revealing King Zhang Hao and one of his aide, Sung Hanbin. Hurriedly the King went to his sister side and went to verify everything was alright with her.

"I was worried"

"Sorry Hao"

Giving her a nudge on the shoulder, he looked over to see Tae Rae that was showing to him his dimples, trying to make a good impression. The King looked over at his sister and repressing a smile introduced himself. Catching a clue he also apologised for disturbing them.

Tae Rae assured him that it was quite alright.

Not wanting his sister to make a fool out of herself, the King started to pull her away.

From the corner of his eye, Tae Rae saw his friends urging him to not leave her side, forcing himself to be brave the man spoke up.

"Actually, if you’d allow me I would like to make myself forgiven, and ask YN to a dance ?"

The lady in green looked over at her brother which accepted and gave him the gloved hand of his sister.

Watching the two young persons leaving the balcony, Gunwook was satisfied with himself. Not even needing to talk to Tae Rae he knew that his phobia would be quickly forgotten.

Request- Taglist

Taglist : @jiaant11 @seok02

[whatstruthgottodowithit]

Wrapped Around My Finger

Fandom: American Actor, Elvis Presley Musician, Elvis Movie RPF, RPF

Pairing: Elvis Presley x Female Reader

Characters: Elvis Presley, Female Reader, Lisa Marie Presley, Priscilla Presley, Vernon Presley, Dee Presley, Jesse Presley, Baby

Word Count: 3492 // Rating: Teen & Up

Summary: Reader has some news that will bring some changes to Graceland

Tags/ Warnings: Babies, Pregnancies, Pregnancy Announcements, Christmas, Christmas at Graceland, Graceland, Step Parents, Reader and Cilla are good friends, Co-Parenting, Insecurities, Kissing, Hugs, Fluff, Worries, Established Relationship, Marriage, Married Couple, Mentions of Illness, Baby Presley, We’re In Big Daddy Elvis territory, Or DILF era

Notes: im clinging onto christmas and the idea that Cilla and a new wife would be besties lol

‘‘Daddy no!’ Lisa squealed as Elvis held her doll above her head. She jumped, reaching for it as Elvis chuckled, holding it just out of reach. He lowered it a little, allowing her to have a hint of hope before he pulled it back dashing her chances.

‘Oh stop being mean,’ Priscilla said with a giggle. Elvis made an exaggerated roll of his eyes before he put the doll within her reach and allowed Lisa to grab it out of his hands. As soon as she did he enveloped his arms around her pulling her towards him and kissing her cheeks as he tickled her. ‘Daddy!’ she giggled struggling to get away.

I watched them from the doorway, a smile on my face. It was the day after Christmas and while our holiday had been filled with family and friends it was now only a few of us. A fact I was happy for. I loved Christmas at Graceland, truly, but it was exhausting. From the moment we woke up to the moment we went to sleep it was all systems go and that was on a normal holiday. This year was a little different, not that anyone knew that yet. No, at the moment it was just me fatigued and plagued by the secret I was keeping from view.

A secret which meant that as I watched them I could feel my heart hammering a little in my chest and tears prick at my eyes. I moved away from the living room, heading into the kitchen to get a soda from the fridge as I tried to calm myself down. Though as I shut the fridge door I heard a cough from beside me which almost made me jump out of my skin, standing there, watching me closely was Priscilla.

‘Jeez, Cilla you scared the crap outta me!’ I said holding my chest. ‘Sorry,’ she giggled, ‘just came to check you were alright.’ ‘I’m fine,’ I lied. ‘Are you sure?’ she asked, raising an eyebrow, ‘because you seem lost in your thoughts today…and I couldn’t help but notice that you’ve not touched a drop of champagne all day.’ ‘You clocked that huh?’ I said with a sigh as I rested against the counter. ‘You forget in a house full of guys that women notice more,’ she chuckled, coming to stand beside me. ‘Yeah,’ I said nervously, my hand instinctively resting on my stomach. ‘So…how long?’ she said. ‘I don’t know,’ I said, biting my lip, ‘we’ve been so busy I’ve not really paid much attention.’ ‘Are you excited?’ she said. I looked at her, peering into her kind eyes as they looked back at me with no expectation just awaiting my answer. ‘Honestly? I don’t know,’ I said. ‘How come?’ ‘Our life?’ I smirked, ‘he’s done this before and I’ve not? I mean what if we have this baby and he-‘

I paused, realizing the words I was going to say were harsher than I intended them to be. He had done this before and whilst he loved Lisa and Priscilla it hadn’t been enough to keep them together. What if I was destined to be the next ex-wife? Our future Christmases split between three families instead of the two they were already?

‘He loses all interest?’ Priscilla said. I dropped my gaze shyly, ‘honey we didn’t split up because we had kids.’ ‘I know that,’ I said. ‘So you know having Lisa wasn’t some horrible thing. He just wasn’t ready,’ she said softly. ‘That’s what I’m scared of. What if he’s never ready? What if he decides we’re not what he wants either?’ ‘I can’t speak for him. But he’s a good dad to Lisa. And on the whole, he’s a good man. In fact, he’s better than he was. You make him better.’ ‘Cilla,’ I said quietly, feeling my cheeks getting warmer. ‘I mean it. He’s different with you. He’s a better husband. Like this time was meant to be.’ ‘But didn’t you think that?’ I asked, biting my lip. She smiled softly. ‘Yeah, but we thought a lot of things. You never know what’s gonna happen before it does. I can’t promise this will work out but I can tell you it’s better than before. For all of us. I mean not many women want to hang out with their husband’s new wife,’ she chuckled, ‘and even if we weren’t friends I wouldn’t be able to fault the way you are with Lisa. You’re so important to her.’ ‘She’s a credit to the pair of you,’ I said with a smile. ‘Thank you,’ she said, ‘but you’re just as involved… so I don’t know why you’re worrying. You’re already a mother. Have been for a while.’ ‘I assume you mean Lisa but with Elvis and the boys I can’t be too sure,’ I smiled. Priscilla chuckled and threw her arm around me, ‘you’re right. You’ve been parenting twenty grown men for a good few years now you’re sure to be an old hat.’ ‘Speaking of its awful quiet in there should we be worried?’ I said pulling out of her grasp and heading to the door with her trailing behind, ‘oh definitely.’

When we came back into the living room fortunately not much had changed. Elvis was sitting on the floor with Lisa in between his legs, laying against him looking distinctly more tired than before as she twirled her hair between her fingers. They were watching TV now, all quiet and observant. Priscilla slipped into the armchair by the door whilst I sat down behind Elvis on the sofa, smiling as he placed his hand on my knee. We stayed like that for a couple more hours, the evening accepting its natural plateau as the past couple of days started catching up on us all.

‘Gosh,’ Priscilla said with a yawn, ‘I think it’s time to hit the hay.’ ‘Yeah you might be right,’ Vernon said, shuffling out of his seat. Elvis manoeuvred Lisa, who was now asleep, onto my lap for a moment whilst he stood and saw his Daddy and Dee out. When he returned Lisa stirred. ‘Come on baby,’ Priscilla said, coming to lean down in front of me, ‘time for bed.’ ‘I’ll give you a hand,’ Elvis said, picking her up and popping her on his hip. ‘It’s okay. I got her,’ she said, throwing me a look. I dropped my gaze to my lap. ‘You sure? She ain’t as light as she used to be,’ Elvis chuckled shuffling Lisa into her arms. Priscilla buckled a little under Lisa’s weight but she smiled through it. ‘Let him take her up,’ I said, ‘you’ll do yourself a mischief.’

Priscilla nodded and allowed Elvis to take her back into his arms and I watched as the pair of them headed to the staircase. As he disappeared up the stairs Priscilla threw me another ‘tell him’ look and I nodded. Once everyone was gone I tidied away some of the plates and glasses that littered the surfaces of the room. I straightened up the couch and grabbed the box of three pregnancy tests I had stashed in my purse just as he was coming down the stairs. I sat back down on the sofa, acting as casually as I could, as he came into the room and sat down beside me.

‘She go down alright?’ I asked as he settled beside me, placing his hand on my thigh. ‘Fine,’ he smiled, ‘all tuckered out.’ ‘Yeah from all your teasin’,’ I giggled. ‘Hey it’s like a right of passage as a dad,’ he chuckled leaning in to place a kiss on my cheek, ‘are you okay?’ ‘Fine,’ I said with a small smile. ‘You sure?’ he asked, raising an eyebrow, ‘because I don’t know if it’s my imagination but you and Cilla seemed het up about something.’ ‘It’s nothing,’ I said, making his eyes narrow, ‘it’s…girl stuff.’ ‘Should I be worried?’ he chuckled, squeezing my thigh. ‘Nah, we were just comparing notes,’ I said giggling as he leaned in and kissed me, moving his lips down my neck. ‘Oh yeah?’ he smirked. ‘Yeah, I’m a lot more complimentary by the way,’ I giggled. ‘Good to know,’ he chuckled, pulling away. I sighed and looked at his adoring blue eyes.

‘You sure you’re okay?’ he asked. ‘Yeah…it’s just complicated, ‘I said. ‘Well whatever it is we can figure it out,’ he said, placing his thumb and forefinger on my chin and tilting my face towards him. ‘I have something to tell you,’ I said, pulling back and biting my lip. He didn’t say anything, instead, he just peered at me with those gorgeous baby blue eyes as if he was waiting for me to continue, ‘oh God I don’t know how to say this.’ ‘Doll you’re kinda scaring me,’ he said with a furrow in his brow. ‘It’s nothing bad,’ I said quickly, ‘well at least I hope it’s not.’

As he looked at me perplexed I shuffled so I could pull the box of tests out from under me. I passed it to him and he took it, eyeing the plain box curiously for a moment before he unlatched the end and tipped the contents into his hand. Three white plastic sticks fell into his large palm and I watched as his face went from confused to a beaming smile as he clocked the two lines on each of them.

‘Doll,’ he said in barely more than a breath. He looked at me as if waiting for me to confirm which I did with a tiny nod. Then he dropped the sticks into his lap and pulled me in for a bear hug, pressing me against his warm body for a moment before he leant down to kiss me. When he pulled away I spoke.

‘Are you okay with this?’ I asked, biting the inside of my cheek. ‘Darlin’ I’m thrilled!’ ‘You’re sure?’ I said the nerves from before were still bouncing around in my mind. ‘Why wouldn’t I be? Hell, is this what you’ve been chatting about with Cilla?’ he asked. I nodded trying to ignore the hurt behind his eyes as I did. ‘I didn’t mean to,’ I said, biting my lip, ‘she just sorta noticed I wasn’t myself and put two and two together.’ ‘Not yourself? Wait, were you scared to tell me?’ he asked. ‘No! Not scared, just a little… nervous,’ I said truthfully. ‘Why? Honey this is the best Christmas present I could’ve got,’ he smiled. ‘I guess I was just worried,’ I said meekly, ‘I mean you’ve done this before.’ ‘That doesn’t make it any less special,’ he said. ‘I know I guess I was just worried…you’ve told me how much having Lisa changed everything,’ I admitted. ‘And you think that’s gonna happen to us?’ he asked. ‘No,’ I said quickly before I dropped my gaze and said, ‘maybe.’

‘I won’t pretend that having Lisa didn’t change our marriage but it didn’t make it worse. And I’m happy I have her,’ he said, earning a nod from me in return, ‘I just…I wasn’t ready. For any of it. I was happy with Cilla as it was but then people started getting preoccupied with how it looked. More than how we felt about it, so, we got married and Lisa came along and it just spiralled into something I hadn’t planned for. I wasn’t ready for that. In fact, I only knew I was ready when…well the day I met you.’ ‘E,’ I said shyly. ‘I mean it,’ he said, holding my hand to his lips and kissing my knuckles gently, ‘I was just off the back of a divorce. I didn’t know how I was gonna handle my half of raisin’ Lisa and then you come along. Perfect and just what I needed. I told Joe the day we met I was gonna marry ya.’ ‘He tell you you were crazy?’ I giggled. ‘Amongst other things,’ Elvis smiled, ‘I was right though.’ ‘And babies?’ I said quietly. ‘I figured we’d head down that road at some point,’ he shrugged, ‘you’re already such a good mama I thought it was inevitable.’ ‘I guess we’ve just been content with how life’s been going recently, we’ve not had to think about it,’ I said. ‘And now we have? Are you excited?’ he said, watching me closely. ‘Yeah I think I am,’ I said. He smiled and placed his hand on my belly.

‘I am too,’ he said quietly before adding, ‘I can’t believe there’s a baby in there.’ ‘Me either,’ I sighed happily. ‘Do you think it’s a boy or a girl?’ he said excitedly, his eyes lighting up as he looked at me. ‘I don’t know. I guess I don’t mind either way. I love Lisa, I do, I guess this one just feels a little different you know. Like it’s our first,’ I said. ‘I know what you mean,’ he smiled, ‘I think I’d like a boy.’ ‘Oh yeah?’ I giggled as he pulled me into him, his arm slipping around my waist as we snuggled together watching the fire crackle in front of us. ‘Yeah,’ he said, ‘I mean I know I got the guys but let’s face it I’m drowning in women here.’ ‘You and your daddy are outnumbered,’ I smiled. ‘Yeah you gotta give me a boy,’ he smirked, ‘even the playing field. Or at least someone who can’t wrap me around their little finger.’ ‘You wouldn’t have it any other way,’ I giggled, placing my hand on his chest. He took a hold of it but didn’t move it off so I could feel his heart beating underneath my palm, his warm hand over mine. ‘Not at all,’ he sighed.

✵✵✵

‘I get to open it!’ Lisa squealed, running to the present in front of her Daddy. ‘Hey, you’ve got your own. This is for Jess,’ Elvis said. ‘Daddy Jesse can’t open his presents yet,’ she said, rolling her eyes. I chuckled to myself as I watched her, determined not to go without opening her brother’s presents. She sat in front of the neatly wrapped present, Elvis on its other side watching her as if in a standoff. ‘Well what if I wanna open it for him,’ he challenged, making her pout as she geared up to retaliate. ‘I think Jess would love it if his big sister open his presents for him,’ I said looking at the baby beside me in his bouncy chair who seemed unphased by this family squabble. She smiled at me and then stuck her tongue out at her Daddy before she started tearing the wrapping paper off. Elvis rolled his eyes and looked at me mouthing, ‘push over.’

I smiled back at him and then I went back to watching Lisa tear her way through the present. Maybe I was a bit of a pushover. Maybe he was just a big kid.

‘What is it Lis?’ I asked, peering at the box she was holding up. ‘A walker,’ she said, showing me and then showing Jesse who ogled his big sister with a one-toothed grin. ‘Who’s it off?’ Elvis said, fishing the tag out of the pile of wrapping, ‘Dodger.’ ‘Well I’m sure he’ll love it,’ I said as Lisa placed it down in front of his bounce chair and moved to open another one of his. We stayed like that for another twenty minutes or so. We’d all opened our presents and then realised there were several parcels left under the tree which, much to Lisa’s disappointment, belonged to her baby brother.

Once everything was unwrapped I started collecting bits of paper for a trash bag whilst Lisa and Elvis started putting together some of her toys. She played for all of five minutes and then I felt her come up beside me, her arms wrapping around my hips as she waited for my attention to fall on her 

‘Yeah, baby?’ I asked looking down on her.

‘Can I call mama yet?’ she asked with pleading eyes. I glanced at Elvis and found him looking at me too, with glee that he didn’t have to be the party pooper. Priscilla wasn’t here for Christmas this year. Her mother had taken ill and she hadn’t wanted Lisa to have to spend the holiday away from us and her new baby brother so had sent her to us alone. ‘Not yet it’s only,’ I said checking my watch, ‘six thirty. Your mama won’t be up for at least another hour or so.’ ‘Yeah buttonhead, your mama is on west coast time remember,’ Elvis said watching her fallen face. ‘How about you take your toys upstairs, we’ll have some breakfast and then we’ll give your mama a call?’ I said stroking her hair gently. Though she seemed disappointed she smiled and nodded before she dropped her arms from around me and grabbed her things so she could head upstairs. I watched her go with a sad smile.

Then Jesse started to fuss so I sat down beside him, leaning over and unlatching him from his bouncy chair so I could cuddle him to me. He settled almost immediately, seemingly just feeling left out of the action.

‘Ah, you’re just feeling left out huh bud? How about we get you that new teething ring?’ I said fishing around on the floor for one of his discarded presents. I pulled it out of the packaging and held it up to him, allowing him to take it in his chubby little fist. I pressed a kiss to his forehead as he took it off me, immediately sticking it in his mouth. When I looked up Elvis was watching me with a small smile.

'What?’ I asked bashfully. 'Nuthin’,’ he smiled, 'you’re a good mom you know that right?’ 'Why because I remembered to buy him something to chew on instead of letting him chew on Lisa’s doll heads again?’ I giggled making Elvis laugh. He moved closer to me, so he was sitting inches from me, as he stroked Jesse’s cheek gently. 'I mean it,’ he said looking into my eyes, 'the way you handled Lisa just then. The way you are with Jess. You’re amazing.’ 'You’re pretty good yourself handsome,’ I said with a smile before it faded a little. Elvis noted the change in my face and frowned, 'what is it?’ 'Nothing,’ I said, an unsure feeling coming into the pit of my stomach. Elvis raised an eyebrow, 'I was gonna wait until after Christmas.’ 'Wait for what honey?’ he asked. 'Well, you know how you said I’m a good mom?’ I asked, receiving a nod in return, 'well I’m gonna need to be…if I’m gonna have three to contend with.’

Elvis looked at me, the words processing in his mind before his mouth fell into a perfect O shape. I bit my lip as I waited for him to say something. This year had been amazing. He’d been so helpful and kind throughout my pregnancy and now we had a beautiful six-month-old that he was so good with. The last thing on my mind had been another baby. Which explained why we hadn’t really given birth control much thought.

'You mean?’ he said after a long pause. I nodded. 'I’ve only done one test,’ I said, 'there weren’t a lot of options on Christmas Eve but-’ he cut me off as he buried us both in a hug before moving back so he could kiss me. I melted into him so much that when I pulled back I was breathless. He smirked at me, a twinkle in his blue eyes. 'So you’re happy I take it?’ I asked with a giggle. 'Baby I’m more than happy,’ he said with a smile, 'it might not be what we planned…’ 'We didn’t plan for Jess,’ I giggled. 'True,’ he chuckled looking at Jesse who was watching us both as he quietly slobbered all over his teething ring, 'but that worked out pretty well wouldn’t you say?' 'The best,’ I said with a smile. He moved my hair off my face and leaned in to give me another kiss.

'I will say one thing though,’ he said as he pulled back. 'What’s that baby?’ I asked. 'You’ve repeated your gift for two Christmases on the trot now,’ he chuckled. 'Oh don’t worry, I’ve got next year’s present sorted,’ I said. 'Yeah?’ he said with a puzzled look. 'Yeah,’ I said, 'you’re booking in for a vasectomy.’ 'Like hell,’ he said with a laugh. Jesse giggled along with him. Elvis took him off me and tucked him into his arms where he sat happily.

'It’s only fair,’ I said, 'I got you what you wanted for Christmas, you should do the same for me.’ 'You hear this Jess?’ he said, nudging Jesse’s plump cheek with his knuckle, 'your Mama’s ganging up on me.’ 'And here you were thinking you’d get your way with another boy in the house,’ I giggled, kissing his cheek. 'Nah I knew I never had a hope with you,’ he said with a soft smile, 'you’ve all got me wrapped around your little fingers.’ 'You love it,’ I smiled. 'More than anything,’ he nodded.

[lexxlouuu]

How you get the Girl

Chapter 8: Anti-Hero Part 2

Warnings: none that I can really think of at the moment

Did you hear my covert narcissism I disguise as altruism

Like some kind of congressman? (Tale as old as time)

I wake up screaming from dreaming

One day I'll watch as you're leaving

And life will lose all its meaning

(For the last time)

Winning the first race of the season was not something I could have expected, even in my wildest dreams. Yes the car felt good, and was not too hard to drive. As well as it being compared to a rocket ship by not just other teams but Addie and Lucy as well. The feeling of winning this time had felt different, maybe it was because of it being a new track and new competition, but I liked it. Yes, I had won podiums in Indy Car, F3, and F2 but being a female driver in Formula 1 winning the first race of the season just hit different. Having my dad here with me to cheer me on from the RedBull garage was just indescribable emotionally. I could not help but skip everyone else and run straight to him. It’s been my dream for so long and he supported me endlessly for years. Even when it was hard with him in the states and me in Europe for F3 and F2. Having him there just helped make the haters and internet trolls disappear, as well as making the victory champagne sweeter.

Smiling to myself, I get up from the hotel bed. Checking to see if I had everything one last time before grabbing my phone, the bag filled with daisies, and luggage. Walking to the door and opening it I am greeted with the sight of my dad mid text. With a smile he asks “you ready to go kiddo?” Laughing I respond back “yeah, just a little tired and hoping I don’t have to get rid of these pretty daisies when I board the plane.” Still not knowing who had left them at my door. It had to be someone who knew what hotel room was mine. Possibly someone on the grid maybe.. That was a question I could think of later. For now it was time to get to the lobby and head to the airport.

It's me, hi, I'm the problem, it's me (I'm the problem, it's me)

At tea time, everybody agrees

I'll stare directly at the sun but never in the mirror

It must be exhausting always rooting for the anti-hero

Hearing the elevator open dad and I step out. Making our way towards the lobby and to the desk to drop off the hotel room cards. Reaching the front desk. I reach into my jacket pocket and pulling out the key cards and laying them on the desk. Looking over my shoulder to say something to my dad I notice he’s not there with me. Glancing around the lobby trying to find him before hearing laughter. Found him, he’s surrounded by a couple guys laughing and clearing talking about something passionately. Probably cars knowing dad. With a sigh and a shake of my head I start walking over to him.

“Hey dad, all checked out and ready to go.” I tell him with a smile. Only now realizing it was Max, Lando Norris, and Charles Leclerc. Smiling at them in greeting but silently wanting to just leave so I could sleep.

“Yeah, just waiting on you kiddo.” He smiles back at me. Feeling a tap on the shoulder I look to my right seeing Max before he tells me “Hey congrats again on the win, Lily”

“Thank you, I still can’t believe it. Winning the race.” I respond back shyly

“Yeah, you were amazing out there, you deserve it” Charles pipes in. Before Lando speaks up

“I guess Addie wasn’t kidding about how good of a driver you are.”

“Gee thanks, I’ll have to tell her thanks for the compliments” telling him while laughing it off awkwardly. I hadn’t really talked to anyone else other than Max. The press conferences and drivers brief meetings didn’t really count in my book. Both Charles and Lando seemed nice, just with the combination of exhaustion of the race and just wanting to go home had me feeling a bit anti-social.

“Well, we better head out, have to catch our flight and then help set this one’s apartment up fully. It was nice meeting you boys, hope to see more of you three this season.” My dad tells them snapping me out of my internal thoughts.

“Yeah, it’s about time you get that set up Lily.” Max says laughing

“Oh hush, I’ve just been very busy” I retort back with roll of my eyes. Which Max easily baits back with“Yeah with what?” And with a grin I tell him“Oh you know, being a single cat mom.”

Earnhardt_Lily

when they let you keep the flowers 🌺

Liked by addie_stewart95, lucejohnson, and 4,500 others

addie_stewart95: 😊 pretty, is that a somewhat put together bedroom I see 🧐

Earnhardt_Lily: yeah dad helped me out when he came over for Bahrain 😆

User1: is that a PlayStation controller I spy 🧐

User2: @user1 you’d spy correctly, Lily, Addie, and Luce are really into gaming. They also have a podcast that is everything Motorsport related.

lucejohnson: elder scrolls online later ? 🥺

Earnhardt_Lily: you bet @addie_stewart95 you in?

addie_stewart95: just gotta put the boys to bed and I’m in 😎

patriciooward: @addie_stewart95 @lucejohnson @Earnhardt_Lily you guys literally have a group chat called nascar girl squad to talk to each other 🫣

lucejohnson: patriciooward your just jealous your not in it

landonorris: patriciooward we can start our own group chat called the papaya boys or something 😅

I have this dream my daughter in-law kills me for the money

She thinks I left them in the will

The family gathers 'round and reads it and then someone screams out

"She's laughing up at us from hell"

It's me, hi, I'm the problem, it's me

It's me, hi, I'm the problem, it's me

It's me, hi, everybody agrees, everybody agrees

[gauthist]

top 10 grocery store chains in my area and why

1 MARKET BASKET BABY i fucks with you babe because you got the best goya selection in the game especially with the champagne cola sodas and you got ketchup chips you are so vital to me man. my ignorant ass still thinks you treat your workers well because i saw good articles about u in the valley breeze like 6 years ago so i’ll just trust on that too. ur good to me im good to u

2 big y. they sell la fin du monde here which is my favorite beer but i dont have beer ebt so i very rarely get it. they have cute stuff here and by cute i mean like cheddar sausages im gonna try this week and also they got like those meatball sub places in there i want to try.

3 dave’s fresh marketplace. purely because it feels good to get red strips even though they aren’t anything anyone normally eats but its fuckin rhodey babes.not sure if cuz i liev in farm country but everyone in there is old as fuck too

4 hannaford. good meat and it reminds me of a camping trip i had in new hampshire with my brother before he got radicalized by internet nazis and being unmarried in his 40s. good meat sometimes and it looks cute as hell inside

5  park n shop was my local supermarket and had 2 other locations in massachusetts and it was used in a very famous pinkie pie x rainbow dash fig newton meme on the internet which blew my mind as a kid cuz it meant a brony was literally in my hometown and i never found him which was ok. also its closed permanently now so we have no grocery store

6 ocean state job lot. doesnt really count as a grocery store but what else am i gonna put here. fuckin eataly? i wish dude. they have insanely good pizza sauce somehow but all in all not everything is a super good deal even though its a discount store. at least theres never anyoen in there so i can fuck around dancing in the aisles

7 shaws/star market. pretty much only ever went to the one near babcock street as a student like 4 times but my friends liked it evne though the fried chicken there was bad. they had jarritos i liked in there.

8 wegmans. went here once in natick i think. didnt buy anything. thats on them, not me. they had an interesting looking food court thing but like. i didnt have any money so i’ll give them a a chance in the future

9  stop n shop. fucking garbage produce and they hired those expensive as fuck camera robots that i want to kick every time i’m in the store. the only good thing ever is that they mislabel steaks as ground beef one time. also the one i go to the most

10 brigido’s fresh market. says they take ebt but employs crackheads who cant figure it out so we have to put all our shit back

[fatedwithmbc]

My “flu” was a bad reaction to my 4th COVID vaccination. They’re tryna kill us immunocompromised under the guise of protection! <- Just kidding, I’m not an anti-vaxxer- but damn, did I feel awful. Luckily I had a quick bought of the reaction and was able to resume day-to-day after one more day of rest.

I saw “E” on NYE- watched Michigan lose, much to his disappointment. Watched Georgia win, much to his glee (because he can’t stand Ohio). We were in bed before midnight, didn’t make use of our champagne and shared a cute little “Happy New Year Kiss” before snuggling in for the rest of the night. I wouldn’t have it any other way. At 37, I’m content to act like 60 year olds on MYE.

The puppy took over my blanket and snuggled between us which simultaneously warms my heart and frustrates me as that means it will be a very platonic night They said my drive for intimacy would decrease- I think it’s increased. What do doctors really know?

We woke up around 9am and I promptly fell back to sleep after being lulled by “E” giving me a light back rub (which I begged for when I was sick). He pays attention to what I say and shows me the little physical affections I crave for for reassurance. After waking up later in the morning, we dressed and began our inevitable dance around saying goodbye.

He put the Eagles emblem on my car for me. We chatted - seriously - about where we stand. He said the word “boyfriend” is difficult for him and not because of me or lack of caring about me, because he does— just doesn’t like the pressure and after things were so rough with his ex-wife, I get it (to an extent). I desperately want to call this amazingly kind and caring man mine. But I need to exercise the patience he deserves from me and keep “enjoying each others’ company,” which is the phrase he uses to describe our situation.

I left, very reluctantly and full of uncertainty after that serious conversation. To his credit, he listens and has empathy and understands - but we need to do this as it’s right for BOTH of us, not just what I want.

Things are normal so I know our conversation didn’t shake him. And I think he knows we need the touch of sincerity around it as a check in every so often.

Enough about me and “E” - I could go on all day.

I got to Oreland and watched the first half of the game with Danny and Brian. I noticed a picture of Dad at Danny’s I hadn’t seen before and tried not to be too obvious scouring it into my memory. At the half, I headed home for a nap. I’m so tired of sleeping, but my body CRAVES it.

I really don’t know how I’ll go back to work on a normal basis. I’ll need a modified schedule for sure and for who knows how long. I miss my job. But doubt my ability to perform the way I used to and as needed moving forward. I’ll have to be honest with Dr. Fidler about my exhaustion and nausea which also seems constant. I’m down to 158. I started this journey at 182 (my heaviest ever). I don’t think it’s too noticeable— but I can tell by my clothes. My major symptoms continue to be pain, exhaustion and nausea. The hot flashes are also in full effect. We’ll see how my Jan 9th appointment goes. We’ll also see if my pain management MD refills my pain meds. We’ll also see if my blood counts do anything good on Jan 6th— that’s a lot of “We’ll see’s”.

In absolute “this is some fuckery” news- my bank account was hacked. Almost $800. $800 for 1-800 Pet Meds. Hope Fido enjoys his insulin. The bank filed a claim, closed my card, is sending a new one and should reimburse all of my money. I was amazed there was someone to answer the fraud line after midnight but also extremely thankful. I guess the hormones are responsible for my laughing about it versus crying or frustration. Thankfully, I have a back up account/card I can use until my replacement comes through.

Now, I’m just laying here— not sure what else is worth getting into or if I’m done. So— I gather I’m done. Hope you’ve enjoyed the love saga, cancer update and fuckery.

XOXO

[munsonhoneybaby]

The Next Step | Peter Parker X F!Reader

Summary: you and peter decide to leave his birthday party early, heading to your empty apartment for some time alone instead.

Word Count: 3.7k

Warnings: 18+ mdni, a couple mentions of technically underage drinking, smut, masturbation (m), oral (f receiving), fingering, squirting, inappropriate use of peter’s webs (bondage/suspension), manhandling/spidey-strength(??), a ridiculous amount of dirty talking from peter, a bit of tooth-rotting fluff towards the end

A/N: both peter and the reader are of age, peter is either 19 or 20 but it isn’t specified. got re-inspired to write for peter after seeing nwh in theatres. you can really tell how high i am while writing something based on how filthy it is lmao

A party thrown by Tony Stark was never lacking in any department; the loud music, colorful lights, and copious amounts of alcohol made that very clear. Shiny black and gold confetti littered the floor, reflecting back tinted lights and shadows. You and your boyfriend had arrived together, you having requested to drive and he having agreed easily in order to take control of your radio. From the beginning, the plan had been for the two of you to go back to your apartment afterward, the apartment you planned to ask him to move into tonight.

Natasha had slipped Peter a couple of shots of vodka in celebration of his birthday, despite the technical illegality. You contented yourself with a glass of champagne, wanting to be stone-cold sober by the time you had to drive home with him later that evening. Now you were perched lightly on his knee, his arms around your waist and his face buried bashfully in your shoulder.

“I’m just saying that you can’t baby him,” Nat continued, “He’s not a kid anymore. I mean, think about what you were doing when you were his age.”

“Kid, if you ever get caught doing the things I did when I was your age, your aunt May’ll disown you.” Tony looked pointedly at Peter who flushed profusely. “That just means ‘don’t get caught’.”

“Understood, Mr. Stark,” He muttered sheepishly.

Conversation carried on around the two of you, moving on to some new topic that he hadn’t caught. “Can we head out soon?” He asked you in a whisper.

“Petey, it’s your birthday party. Don’t you think we should stick around a while longer?” Your hand found one of his where it was resting in your lap, your fingers lacing through his. “We’ve got all night to spend together. I think we should at least stay for another hour or two.”

“Fine,” he agreed solemnly, “One hour, but after that, I wanna get out of here.”

“What’s got you in such a hurry to leave, hm?” You asked in a teasing tone. “Got special plans or something, Peter Parker?”

“Well, it is my birthday,” He mumbled pointedly.

“Really?” You replied, looking around at the grandiose party unfolding around you. “I hadn’t noticed.”

“Mm-hm,” He answered, ignoring your sarcasm. “And people usually get what they want on their birthdays.”

“Did you have something in mind, birthday boy?” You teased. “‘Cause I can’t do anything if you don’t tell me what you want.”

“I wanna taste you,” He murmured almost silently in your ear.

Your eyes widened slightly and you looked back over your shoulder at him. “Peter!” You hissed quietly.

“You asked, babe,” He replied in a casual manner, “And I’m not waiting longer than an hour to do it.”

Recovering your composure, you simply muttered, “Spoiled.”

After that, making conversation with the other Avengers became incomprehensibly difficult. Luckily, it took very little prompting to have them rambling on about the years’ worth of battle stories each individual had, which meant that you didn’t have to do much talking or pay much attention. Realistically, you probably wouldn’t have been able to accomplish doing either very successfully whether you had to or not; the next hour consisted mostly of unsubtle glances exchanged between you and Peter. His confident promise of an enticing evening at your apartment had thoroughly distracted both of you. Perhaps if you weren’t so stubborn you would have already taken him home by now.

Without consciously deciding to do so, Peter checked his watch at least twice each minute. He couldn’t help himself. Of course, it only made the time drag on even slower.

“You know,” Wanda drawled, catching your attention after a moment’s silence, “You two aren’t doing anybody any favors.”

“Hm?” You frowned in confusion, meeting her eyes.

“You’re not exactly subtle,” She teased. “If you want to get out of here early, no one will blame you. It’s his birthday and he clearly has other things in mind.”

You sigh, dropping your cover completely since you’d obviously been caught ogling your boyfriend. “I don’t know. We’re supposed to be hosting, I’d feel bad leaving so early.”

“Sweetie, you’ve clearly already checked out,” She chuckled. “You’ve hardly spoken to anyone in the last twenty minutes. How can you host when you’re busy undressing Peter with your eyes?” You opened your mouth to protest, but the look she gave you told you that your lies wouldn’t sell. “Just go home. Celebrate. Besides, Tony is always eager to take over the spotlight.”

With a small laugh, you shook your head and stood from your seat. You approached Peter, gently touching his lower back so as not to interrupt his conversation. When he turned to you, you gave him a sheepish smile. “Would you wanna get out of here sometime soon? I know it’s still kind of early and it’s your birthday party and all, but I’m exhausted.”

“Yeah, of course,” He nodded. The amount of faked concern and sympathy he looked at you with definitely gave the two of you away; Peter never was the greatest actor. However, the odds that you wouldn’t care by the end of the night were certainly in your favor. You both made your way through the groups that had formed at the party, saying your goodbyes as quickly as you could inconspicuously manage and heading for your car.

“They all knew,” You said as you both sat down and the car doors thudded closed. “Wanda noticed and I’m guessing that she’s not the only one.”

“Oh, come on, they couldn’t have all known,” Peter mumbled bashfully. Honestly, you couldn’t tell if he was trying to convince you or himself.

“Well, you don’t exactly deserve an Oscar for the performance you gave back there,” You jested.

He huffed as his hands clutched his seatbelt, fumbling only slightly as he clicked it into place. “It’s my birthday, you’re not supposed to be mean to me.”

“Don’t worry, baby,” You hummed coyly. “I promise I’ll make it up to you.” Your hand created a constant warmth on his thigh as you drove, fingertips occasionally grazing against the shape of his hard length in his jeans.

“Don’t tease me,” He grunted impatiently. “You’re driving anyways, you shouldn’t be distracted.”

“I’ll remember that the next time I think about giving you roadhead,” You teased. The button of Peter’s dark Levi’s opened silently, but the unmistakable sound of his zipper momentarily pulled your attention from the road before you. Before the question of what he was doing managed to slip past your lips, he had already pulled his length from the confines of his boxers. His head tilted back against the headrest, a relieved sigh leaving his soft lips as he slowly stroked his cock from base to tip. You scoffed half-heartedly, “So much for not distracting me while I’m driving.”

“Eyes on the road, babe,” He hummed simply. And despite the fact that your eyes were already, in fact, back on the road, you could feel that his eyes were locked on you. “God, you look so fuckin’ beautiful tonight, you know that? You look amazing. And it’s all for me, right? My big day?” You glanced over to see his hand tightening around the base of his length as though he was already trying not to cum. “‘S a good thing we’re almost back to your apartment, or I’d be making you pull over.” His hand had slowly resumed stroking the length of his cock, smearing pre-cum down his shaft with his thumb. “I’m gonna make you feel so good when we get home, baby. Pay you back for the perfect birthday you’ve given me.”

“Just a few more minutes,” You mumbled.

“Are you reminding me, or yourself?” He smirked arrogantly; it was rare for Peter Parker to get cocky, but it was something you’d seen dozens of times before. You simply huffed in response and attempted to dedicate all of your attention to driving; not that it was particularly easy with Peter jerking off in the passenger seat of your car.

“I’m so fucking hard for you,” He groaned from beside you. “I can’t wait to have you home, get my hands on you, hear the noises you make when I’m inside you. Your pussy’s heaven, baby.”

“Peter,” You all but whined. “I’m trying to drive, stop talking.” He chuckled slightly in response but was quiet– excepting his breathy pants and moans– the last few minutes of the ride to your place. He had tucked himself back into the confines of his jeans and boxers by the time you’d pulled into the parking lot of your apartment complex. Peter was out of the car and closing his door before you’d even turned the engine off.

After he’d pulled open your car door and all but dragged you into the building, the two of you impatiently walked the short distance to the elevator. The moment the slow-moving doors slid closed, Peter had you pinned to the wall behind you. His lips collided haphazardly with yours, teeth clashing briefly before they softly bit your lower lip. You gasped into his mouth as his hand snuck beneath the hem of your skirt, his fingers easily pushing the lacy material of your underwear to the side in order to stroke slowly over your clit. “Look at how wet you are for me,” He hummed out appreciatively. “Do you like it when I touch you like that?”

“Yes Peter, I-” A soft chime filled the elevator as its doors slid open again. Peter hastily pulled his hand from between your legs, forcefully (albeit unintentionally) rubbing your clit in the process and causing a loud moan to burst from your lips. He shushed you, once again grabbing your wrist and making a beeline for your door. Using the keys that he’d taken from your hand, he unlocked the door and led you inside as if he owned the place. You closed the door behind you, locking the chain, then the deadbolt, then the lock on the knob itself– according to Peter, you could never be too safe. Once you’d turned around, Peter was quick to pull your shirt over your head, tossing it somewhere on the floor behind him. He unclasped your bra and had its straps down your arms in record time, immediately pressing you back against the door and pinning your hands above your head. What truly surprised you, however, was the sudden and unmistakable sensation of your boyfriend webbing your hands to the door. “Peter?”

“Shh, baby,” He pressed a soft, loving kiss to your lips. “‘M gonna make you feel good now. I want you to be nice and loud for me though, okay? I want you to scream for me.” You nodded eagerly, feeling a slight pressure being applied where his fingers cradled your jaw and throat. He gave you one last deep kiss before sinking to his knees in front of you, tugging on the waistband of your skirt until it dropped to the floor around your ankles. Warm, open-mouthed kisses were peppered across your thighs as he carefully took off your shoes. Without their added height you were left to stand practically on your tiptoes, still suspended by Peter’s webs, in nothing but a sheer pair of lacy panties. Finally, he slipped a single finger into their waistband, dragging them painstakingly slowly down your legs.

Despite knowing that Peter’s webs were more than strong enough to hold your weight, your stomach still dropped as he lifted your legs over his shoulders and left your weight solely within the grip of the webs; not acknowledging your soft gasp of superficial fear which he most definitely heard, he buried his head between your thighs, dragging a firm lick from your entrance to your clit. He hummed and pulled away ever so slightly. “Swear I can taste that champagne you were drinkin’ earlier, sweetheart. Pussy tastes so sweet, baby. I think I’d rather have her than a birthday cake.”

He easily bent your legs further back towards your chest, succeeding in spreading your legs wider and opening you up for him. After giving your cunt another broad lick, he flattened his tongue against your clit and fervently shook his head from side to side. If it weren’t for the way he effortlessly held them apart, your thighs would’ve squeezed shut against the sudden intense stimulation. “Peter, shit! It’s so good, don’t stop!” Your moans tapered to a squeal as he slid his middle finger through your wetness before sinking it knuckle deep into you. The rapid flicking of his tongue against your clit never ceased and it wasn’t long before his ring finger slipped in beside the first to curl deep inside you. Your legs trembled against him and you desperately wished you could clutch at his soft brown curls. “‘Fuck, ‘m gonna cum, Peter!”

“Go on baby, cum.” You’d been right to expect your orgasm to be overwhelming, wracking through your entire body in mind-shattering waves– what you hadn’t expected was the way it soaked through parts of his shirt and pants and pooled on the hardwood floor beneath you. Peter braced his free hand against your lower back, aiding you in grinding your hips slowly against his face as you rode out your high. He grinned as you slowed to a stop, gently withdrawing his fingers from you and wiping his mouth– or really the entire lower half of his face– with his shirtsleeve. He stood to tentatively tear the webs from your hands. You all but collapsed into his chest, his arms cradling you as he kissed the top of your head. “That was perfect, baby. You did so good. You’re such a good girl.”

“It’s your birthday, Peter. I’m supposed to be making you feel good,” You cooed. Tucking your head into the crook of his neck, you peppered the skin there with kisses.

“That,” He began, abruptly picking you up bridal style, “is exactly why we’re going to the bedroom. I figured you’d want a few minutes first to uh– recuperate?”

You giggled, admittedly already fuckdrunk, wrapping your arms loosely around his neck as he carried you to your bedroom. “I appreciate the thought, Petey, but I think I can handle it.”

“You say that now,” He scoffed playfully and nudged the door open with his shoulder, kicking it closed behind him after he stepped inside with you in his arms. “You might change your mind later though.” You yelped when he all but tossed you on the bed but quickly scrambled to your knees so you could reach the buttons of his shirt. Peter worked his shirt open from the top as you worked from the bottom, hands meeting in the middle to push the tight material from his shoulders much more forcefully than necessary. As soon as his button-up was off, he grabbed the collar of his undershirt and pulled it over his head. Your hands were already working on his belt, fumbling as you unfastened the buckle and pulled the leather from his hips. “Already so desperate for me again,” He teased, although a genuine smile lined his pretty lips now. “I love that you want me so bad, baby.”

As you spoke, you unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans; “I always want you, Peter. I can’t help it.” Just when your fingers slipped beneath the soft waistband of his boxers, his hand wound into the hair at the back of your head, tilting your head up for a forceful kiss. You moaned into each others’ mouths, your fingers grazing his length and making his hips buck in response. “Looks like I’m not the only desperate one though, huh?”

The way Peter sometimes manhandled you never failed to catch you off-guard; with startling ease, he had you on your hands and knees facing away from him in a matter of seconds. His hands drew slowly up your sides before pulling you flush to his chest. “Don’t tease, sweetheart. After all–” You felt the denim of his jeans against you as he pushed them down, then the hot length of his cock was between your thighs. “–you’re supposed to be making me feel good, right?” Your boyfriend’s smirk pressed against the side of your neck as he quoted your earlier words back to you. Smartass.

“Then let me,” You whined as you reached back to lace your fingers through his hair. “Put it in, Peter, fuck me. Let me make you feel good.”

He groaned, his hands finding your hips and squeezing. “I’m gonna fuck you, baby, don’t you worry.” One of his hands left your hips to grasp the base of his cock, tapping the head against your clit and making you whine again. Frankly, you were surprised he had the patience to tease you the way he was now after he was in such a hurry to get away from the party.

Your breath hitched in your throat as he slowly slid into you, not stopping until his hips were pressed flush to your ass. “Shit, how are you always so tight?” You moaned breathily at the wrecked state of his voice, your head rolling back against his shoulder. Peter’s hand found your breast, kneading it as he pulled out and slowly pushed back in. “Feels like I have to stretch you out all over again every time,” He grunted in awe. “‘S a good thing you’re always so wet for me, huh, sweetheart? Think I can make you squirt on my dick the way you did all over my mouth?”

Peter thrust into you harder with every couple words, one arm tightening around you. The opposite hand slid down, rubbing tight circles over your clit. Had you been a bit more coherent, the cry you let out would have had you worried about a noise complaint from the neighbors. He mouthed along your jaw, occasionally pausing to mutter things that had your legs trembling. “C’mon, baby. Cum ‘round my cock. Make me cum.” His words came out in breathless grunts that were slowly becoming soft gasps. “I know you’re close, ‘can feel it. Fuckin’ cum.”

The moment his hand began to press harder against your clit, you were done for. Just like he wanted, you made a mess of his thighs and the bedding below you. You all but wailed his name before he grasped your jaw and forcefully pressed his lips to yours. A few more thrusts and Peter came deep inside you, clutching you tighter to his chest than you thought possible.

There was a brief moment of still silence, albeit not an uncomfortable one; he simply held you, his forehead resting against yours. Eventually, you just smiled against his lips. “Move in with me, Petey.”

His eyes snapped open and he pulled back enough that the two of you could look at each other clearly. He murmured your name soberly, “Are you sure that’s something you want? I mean, I’d be around all the time. And y’know I’m not always the cleanest, and I’m really bad at cooking, and with the whole Spider-Man thing–” Before you could interrupt him yourself, he hissed and clenched his jaw. “I can’t talk about this when I’m still inside you.”

You laughed softly, kissing his cheek before he slowly pulled out, frowning slightly when you winced. “Did I hurt you? I didn’t mean to get too rough–”

“Peter, relax, honey. You weren’t too rough and you didn’t hurt me.” Glancing at the sodden sheets, you grabbed the throw blanket from the foot of your bed and guided your anxiety-ridden boyfriend to the loveseat in the corner of the room. He slumped into his seat tiredly, opening his arms for you to curl into his chest as you settled the blanket around the two of you. “And I am sure. I want you around all the time. I wanna wake up next to you every morning and make coffee with you before classes. And I wanna cuddle with you every night and fall asleep watching sci-fi movies. ”

Those sweet brown eyes made your heart melt as he looked at you. “I really love you, y’know.”

“I love you too, Peter Parker.” There was a short pause and you looked at him questioningly. “So?”

“Oh! Yeah- yes- of course, I’ll move in with you.” He buried his face in your hair, pressing a few kisses to the top of your head. For a few minutes, you both just sat and appreciated the feeling of peace; in a way, this was your first moment of domesticity together.

Then Peter broke the silence. “Okay, you should probably use the bathroom. How about you run a bath? I’ll take care of the bedding, grab a couple’a water bottles, and then meet you back in the bathroom to get cleaned up?”

You just smiled and pecked him on the lips, “Sounds good to me, Spider-Man.” He grinned and watched as you wriggled your way out of his lap before walking to the bathroom. Slipping on a pair of boxers for the time being, he stripped the bedding and replaced it with the spare sheets he knew you had tucked away in the closet. He made his way to the kitchen, grabbing two cold water bottles from the refrigerator when he suddenly chuckled to himself– he’d been walking around this apartment, treating it like a home of his own, for months now. Quite realistically, his moving in had only been a matter of time.

With a content smile on his face, he ambled to your now-shared bathroom. There he found you– his new roommate, his best friend, his girlfriend, his lover, his constant– beautiful bare body half-submerged in bergamot scented bubble bath, a smile lining your lips to match his own. Candles flickered rosily throughout the room, the flames reflecting off the ripples in the visible patches of water.

He was certain he’d never been more in love.

“Happy birthday, Peter.”

[ragingbookdragon]

I Saw It Coming When You Threw The First Punch

Batmom x Batfamily One-Shot

Word Count: 1.7K Warnings: Explicit Language, Mentions of Violence

Author's Note: I honestly feel like I get my irritation from people out by writing stories where the characters punch people. I live vicariously through my characters. Enjoy! -Thorne

Getting the call that his wife had been taken into GCPD custody was not one that Bruce had ever expected to receive. Not in a million years. And yet, low and behold, Gordon had called sounding apologetic that she’d been detained after a physical altercation at the gala she’d hosted earlier that evening.

Which was absolutely baffling to him, because the only person more anal retentive about screwing up at a gala than Alfred, was his wife. So, something must’ve seriously set her off if she’d hauled off on somebody. And Gordon had made it quite clear that it was his wife that threw the first punch, though beyond that, he didn’t know what else had occurred because she’d invoked her rights to the company lawyer and to remain silent, simply staring at the wall while the other officers tried to get a story out of her—Bruce knew she wouldn’t crack. Other than him, his wife had a reserve that no man, alien, or god could break. He’d never say it, but he was envious of his wife’s willpower.

He arrived rather quickly with all four sons in tow, knowing that the sight of the entire family would probably help her chances of getting out and they waited patiently to be escorted to where she was being held.

When they arrived at the interrogation room, they saw her sitting there with crossed legs, hands placed palm down on the table. Her eyes were closed in what Bruce recognized as her deep meditative state; the one she used to fight off telepathic control from enemies—she was probably recounting what happened that night.

“What are the charges?” he asked Gordon and the older man sighed.

“Simple battery and public disturbance.”

Bruce hummed lowly in his throat and gazed at his wife. “How do you see this playing out for her?”

“If the woman she keelhauled doesn’t press charges, there’s possibility of probation with community service.”

He had to play naïve. “And if she does?”

Gordon met his gaze. “Then you’re looking at your wife going into lockup for a year.”

Bruce let out a sigh. “I’ll call our lawyer then.”

“I’ll give you and your wife some privacy,” he replied, hitting a button on the keypad beside the door, and the glass went dark while the glowing red button recording the room turned off.

“Thank you, Gordon,” he said, and the detective waved as he walked off, closing the door to the interrogation room behind him. Bruce looked at his sons. “Let’s go see what set your mom off tonight.”

***

The door to the room opened but she didn’t open her eyes, still under the cold water in her retreat.

“(Y/N),” someone murmured and though the voice was familiar, she didn’t come to yet.

“(Y/N),” they repeated a bit firmer. “Come back up.”

Ever so slowly, she allowed her mind to come back from the deep waters and she opened her eyes, smiling at her husband and sons.

“Good evening family.” Damian immediately sprinted to her and buried his face in her neck, and she laughed, running a hand through his short dark hair. “What’s wrong, baby?”

“You are in trouble,” he murmured and pulled away to look into her eyes. “We will do whatever you need, Umi.”

(Y/N) snorted. “Don’t worry about me baby. Knowing Little Miss Martha May, she’s not going to press charges over our spat.”

“I think simple battery is bit more than a spat, mom,” Dick worried, brows furrowing in concern. “What did you two even start fighting about?”

Her eyes darted to the glass then to Bruce and he said, “Gordon turned off the cameras.”

“Mom,” Tim started, and she looked at him; he held up his phone screen. “I just assured that you’re protected here.”

She nodded and let out a sigh. “I knew I should’ve just walked away but I couldn’t help it. She just set me off like a match to gunpowder.”

“What’d you guys even duke it out over,” Jason questioned, and she sighed again, recounting the night.

***

“You’ve thrown another wonderful party, Miss Wayne,” Lucius murmured, handing her a champagne glass.

She grinned widely, thanking him. “Thank you, Lucius, I try.”

“Clan couldn’t come tonight?”

“You’ve always been perceptive about us, haven’t you?”

“To use your words, I try,” he laughed, and she nodded.

“Patrol started early tonight,” she said inconspicuously, eyes shifting around to glance at who was walking near them. “Besides, most of them only come to these to appease the crowd.”

“Ah, yes, I forgot that you’re the only one who actually enjoys these.”

“Only when Bruce and the kids are here,” she corrected. “It’s easier to bullshit when they’re here to pick up the slack.”

He barked a laugh and she chuckled in return when someone walked up to them. She turned and immediately grimaced at the old classmate of hers.

“(Y/N), such a beautiful party you’ve thrown tonight,” the woman greeted, though it was laced with cheerful fakeness.

She plastered a smile on her face. “Good evening, Marianne. I didn’t expect to see you tonight.”

“Oh, you know me, I’m always up for a party.” Her eyes drifted around. “Where is your husband? I wanted to thank him for the gift basket he sent after my operation.” Marianne gave her a sarcastic smile. “Isn’t it rather off for a host to avoid his own party?”

Note to self, yell at Bruce for sending her a gift.

“He had to work late tonight. So did the boys.” (Y/N) matched her smile. “I’m sure they’d be delighted to know that you thought of them though.”

Something shifted in Marianne’s eyes. “Oh yes, the children you have.” She leaned in close and murmured, “You know I’ve been hearing some rather negative rumors about yours and Bruce’s decision to adopt orphans rather than have some of your own.��

(Y/N) blinked, not sure if she should be shocked or unimpressed. “Really? Care to enlighten me?”

Marianne waved a hand. “The major one is that you simply took pity on the strays because you were barren.” She felt like she’d been slapped across the face and her jaw dropped as she gaped at the woman.

Apparently, that was all the ammunition that Marianne needed because she offered a sympathetic smile an placed a hand on (Y/N)’s arm. “Oh, you poor dear.” She patted her arm again. “You should’ve come to me instead of adopting orphans. I would’ve been happy to be a surrogate for you.”

(Y/N) shrugged the hand off her arm and reached up, pulling the silver teardrop earrings from her ears. “Yeah, those orphans aren’t mine, not biologically.”

She pulled off her diamond wedding rings and handed them and the earrings over to Lucius who took them and stepped back.

“But you know what they are?” she glowered at Marianne and seethed, “They’re my sons.”

The next thing anyone knew, the two women were rolling on the floor, their hostess throwing punches that seemed to make everyone wince when they connected to the woman’s face.

***

“And all I remember was being escorted down here,” she finalized, eyes drifting to Bruce’s.

He simply stared at her for a moment before he let out a heavy sigh and put his face in his hands. “I’m proud that you defended our family, but at the same time, I’m disappointed that you let Marianne set you off.”

(Y/N) crossed her arms over her chest. “Oh, so you’re taking her side?”

“That’s not what I mean, and you know it,” Bruce shot back. “If she decides to press charges, you’re going to be in lockup for a year.”

“She’s not.”

“You don’t know that, (Y/N).”

“No, I do,” she blinked and leaned forward. “If Marianne doesn’t want me to ruin her image with shit she did when she was a teenager, she’ll keep her mouth shut and take the blame for this.”

“What’d she do, Ma?” Jason questioned curiously and she turned her attention to him.

“Enough that’ll disgrace her image amongst every elite this side of the globe if she tries me anymore.”

Before anyone could say anything, the door opened and they turned, seeing Gordon walking in. “Good evening, Miss Wayne,” he greeted, and she smiled.

“Good evening, Jim. How’s your night so far?”

He chuckled. “Not too bad. I got to detain my favorite socialite and listen to all my officers speculate what she did.”

(Y/N) lifted her hands palm up beside her shoulders. “I live to please, Jim, you know that.”

“I do.” He walked over and handed her a few papers. “When asked if she wanted to press charges, Marianne Walters declined. She instead gave a rather detailed statement that she instigated the fight and threw the first punch.” He stared at the busted lip she had. “Does that match what happened?”

She quickly looked over the papers and nodded. “Yes, that’s true.”

Gordon sighed. “Do you wish to press charges?”

(Y/N) shook her head. “No,” she smiled. “There’s no reason to make a fuss about this.”

“…Miss Wayne, you and Miss Walters are all over the news.”

She shrugged. “And people have very short memories. They’ll forget about this.” She handed back the papers. “Send this to my lawyer and she’ll handle it with the prosecutors.”

“You think they won’t press charges despite Walters?” Gordon asked and she nodded.

“Oh, they won’t,” she said then looked at the clock. “Am I free to leave? It’s been a long night.”

Gordon let out a heavy sigh and nodded. “Yes Miss Wayne, you’re free to leave now.”

(Y/N) rose. “Wonderful.” She looked at her sons. “Boys, let’s go.”

They followed her and Bruce stood from the table, standing beside Gordon. “Thank you, Jim.”

Gordon grunted. “I know (Y/N) threw the first punch.”

“You do?”

“Of course, I do.” He huffed. “And I don’t blame her either.” He watched (Y/N) laugh at something Dick said while the others groaned around him. “You’ve got a good woman, Bruce. Good wife. Even better mother.”

Bruce looked at his wife and let an easy smile cross his lips as she pulled them all into hugs. “Yeah…yeah, I do, don’t I.”

[shemarmooresfedora]

Protective of the Princess

Summary: Jo comes home with some unexpected news and Spencer isn’t a fan. (This is a stand-alone one-shot of my completed ‘Rebuilding Family’ series)

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader

Content/Warnings: mentions of little kids kissing, spencer freaking out, fluff

Word Count: 1.3k

A/N: based on this ask from @reidsbookclub and this ask from @samuel-de-champagne-problems

Masterlist

Spencer made it clear to Jo she could be anything she wanted to be growing up.

She would change her mind about her career path quite often but Spencer was always supportive. When she wanted to be a vet, she had a bunch of different stuffed animals to practice on. When she wanted to be an astronaut, you all built a rocket ship out of a cardboard box. When she wanted to be a scientist, Spencer got her a book set of kid’s science books.

One afternoon after school, Jo hopped up on the kitchen counter as Spencer was making her a snack and you were playing with the twins on the floor.

“Daddy, I can’t go to work any more,” Jo stated.

“Why not, Princess?” Spencer asked, sliding apple slices and peanut butter in front of her.

“I have a baby and husband now,” Jo explained.

“You got a baby and husband in one day?” you questioned.

“Thomas kissed me and then we got married under the slide at recess and now we have a baby. I don’t have time for work, Daddy,” Jo sounded exasperated.

“Thomas did WHAT?” Spencer gaped.

“He kissed me like you kiss Mommy every morning before work,” she demonstrated the little peck on her baby doll.

Spencer’s eyes widened, “Y/N, please help.”

You stood from the blanket where the twins were having tummy time.

“Jo, how about you wait until you’re a little older to start kissing people? A hug or high five can show love to. You can try that next time,” you suggested.

“Daddy says kissing is safer than handshakes though,” Jo reminded you.

“Nope! I lied! Kissing is very dangerous,” Spencer shook his head empathically, “Don’t kiss.”

“But we have a baby together,” Jo held up her baby doll.

“I see that. What’s their name?” you asked.

“This is Derek,” she informed you.

“You named him after your uncle? That’s very sweet,” you smiled.

“I want a real one so I can name it Penelope. I want to have a big belly like Mommy used to have. How are babies made?” she questioned.

Spencer grasped your hand, looking very pale, “Y/N, I need to lie down.”

“One second, love,” you squeezed his hand before turning back to Jo, “You can’t have a baby until you’re much older. Then, I’ll explain it to you, okay?”

Jo nodded.

“I need to take Daddy to bed. He’s feeling a little sick,” you told her, “You can play with the twins.”

“Actually,” Spencer slipped his hand out of yours, “I’m going to go for a drive. I’ll be back in a bit.”

You looked at him curiously as he leaned in for a kiss but then retreated under the watchful eyes of Jo.

You followed him into the entryway as he laced his converse up, “Where are you going?”

“I’ve never heard of a Thomas before until now. I need Penelope to check this kid out.”

“Check this kid out?” you laughed, “What are you expecting to find? A nine year old with a criminal record?”

“I need to make sure my daughter is safe,” he looked up at you seriously.

“Okay,” you relented, “You’re a great dad albeit very protective,” you kissed him goodbye.

“Are we going to start having to only kiss in private now?” you smirked.

“I don’t want her seeing and copying it at school,” Spencer sighed, “The last thing I want is to get a phone call from her teacher that our daughter needs to stop kissing people.”

“Okay, sneaking around could be fun anyways,” you smiled, giving him another kiss, “Tell the team I say hi.”

-

“Who does this Thomas kid think he is?” Spencer grumbled to himself as he was in the elevator, “Kissing my sweet little precious daughter. I should have him arrested. Maybe I don’t have the grounds for an arrest but I can show him my badge and scare him off.”

His ranting stopped as he knocked on Penelope’s door.

“Who is it?” she chirped.

“Spencer,” he replied, “I brought you a croissant.”

“It’s open!”

Spencer opened the door and handed her the paper bag.

“And it’s still warm!” she squealed, “You must really love me.”

“I do but I also need a favor,” he spoke.

“Name it, boy wonder,” she readied herself at her keyboard.

“I need you to look up a boy named Thomas in Jo’s class.”

“Is this kid bullying her?” she gritted her teeth, “I swear to god, I will reign hell down on this kid if he is.”

“No, it’s the opposite actually. He kissed her,” Spencer sighed.

“She already got her first kiss?” Penelope gasped.

“I know! I didn’t even have mine until 25,” Spencer replied.

Penelope clicked away at her keys, “We’ve got two Thomases in her class but according to the attendance record, Thomas Jacobson was out sick today meaning Thomas Bennett is our guy.”

“What do we know about him?” Spencer asked, crouching down to look at Penelope’s screen.

“Plays on the town soccer team, has an allergy to shellfish, good report card,” Penelope stated.

“Anything else? Any visits to the principals? Sketchy friends?” he questioned.

“I guess the sketchiest friend he has would be his imaginary friend named Robby the cowboy according to his mom’s facebook. He’s got a squeaky clean school record.”

“Let me see what this kid looks like,” Spencer desperately demanded.

Penelope gave him a look.

“Please,” he added.

The group class pictures of the past 3 years popped up on to Penelope’s screen. Each year, Jo and Thomas were standing next to each other smiling and laughing in various poses.

“He doesn’t look like much of a threat to me,” Penelope stated.

“Why hasn’t she ever asked for him to come over on a playdate?” he asked.

“She was probably scared her dad was going to embarrass her,” Penelope chuckled.

“She’s in 3rd grade! No boys!” Spencer crossed his arms.

“That rule is setting you up for a rebellious stage later in life,” Penelope rolled her eyes.

“So I just let this happen?” Spencer sighed, dropping into the chair next to Penelope.

“Yes, you’re supposed to protect her but not from nice boys who make her happy.”

“But she’s just my sweet little girl,” Spencer started to tear up.

“And she always will be but you need to let her live her life,” Penelope explained.

“I know. Thanks Penelope.”

-

You heard the car pull in while you were making dinner. You lowered the setting on the stove and made your way over to the door.

“Hey,” you greeted him, wrapping your arms around him.

“Hi,” he snuggled into the crook of your nest.

“Did you find Thomas on the FBI’s most wanted list?” you joked.

“No, he’s a good kid,” Spencer sighed in defeat, “I just don’t like the thought of her growing up. Then, she’ll eventually have to leave us.”

“That’s what being a parent is,” you whispered, “You love them, care for them, and prepare them for the world as best you can but then you have to set them free. But, I have good news for you,” you smiled.

“What?”

“You’re stuck with me forever,” you grinned.

“Thank god,” Spencer squeezed you tighter.

“Daddy!” Jo ran into the room, “Lion King is playing in theaters tonight! We need to go!”

“Okay, Princess,” he looked to you for support and you squeezed his hand, “Do you think Thomas would want to come?”

“Yes! He loves Lion King!” Jo exclaimed, running to go get ready.

“You’re a great dad,” you reminded him once again.

“I’m still going to be watching this kid like a hawk,” Spencer admitted.

“As you should,” you grinned, kissing him.

Soon enough, Jo came home next week saying she wanted to be a congresswoman and they were back to their old adventures.

main taglist (just ask to be added/removed): @samuel-de-champagne-problems @ssacalumsg0lden @spencerreid9 @averyhotchner @coldlilheart @k-k0129 @ickleronniekinsemotionalrange @harrystylesandthegoobs @cmily @jswessie187 @hoodpankow @mochionly @spencerreid-187 @babymetaldoll @fics4arainyday @ssavanessa22 @all-tings-diego @idonotexiste @beepbooptoop @tvandfanfic @mggsprettygirl @big-galaxy-chaos @navs-bhat @spencerreidsmommy @this-is-doctor-and-its-calm @mggs-sidehoe @rexit-mo @hufflepuffhaze @thisismynerdyself @xoxospencerreid @wifeyprentiss @reidsbookclub @spencersrose @pinkdiamond1016 @muffin-cup @a-little-bit-of-everything19

one-shot only taglist: @strawberryspence @fbivestreid

[ohara-n-brown]

The Cat and The Birdie Next Door | Peter Parker x Felicia Hardy + BestFriend!Kate Bishop | Prologue

Summary: After the arrest of her mother, Kate Bishop moves in with her best friend, Felicia Hardy, and together the pair discover that there may be more than meets the eye when it comes to their new neighbor, Peter Parker.

And maybe a little Spider can help Kate and Felicia solve Hell’s Kitchen’s biggest problem.

//AN: My idea for this series is to blend some OC elements with classic Felicia Hardy. As a New Yorker, I really wanted her to feel like someone I might know, so in this, she's a black girl from Harlem! But she's still the Black Cat we know and love.//

Peter Parker x Felicia Hardy + BestFriend!Kate Bishop (Warning for NWH and Hawkeye spoilers)

--Check out CHP.1 and more on my AO3!--

Word count: 2.5k

Prologue - Chp 1

PROLOGUE ------------------------------------------------------------

“5, 4, 3, 2, 1! Happy New Year!”

There was nothing more depressing than spending New Years alone.

If anything, Peter Parker should have felt relief. Thats what he told himself, at least. Over and over again. He was closing the book on what was easily the worst year of his life. - If anything, he should have felt blessed for it to be over.

He didn’t feel blessed at all.

As Peter watched the crystal ball above Time Square drop on his boxy television set, the crowd on the screen erupting in a boom of confetti and cheers, he felt alone. Utterly alone in the world.

‘Welcome to 2025!’ the screen read. A new year. A year without May. A year without MJ, or Ned, or even Doctor Strange.

A year without Peter Parker.

The walls in Peter’s shitty apartment were thin, covered in chipped and yellowing paint. And in the lonely emptiness of his apartment, he could almost hear the chatter next door, the sound of an excited girl’s voice, crystal glasses being touched in a cheers.

May had always loved New Years. The apple cider had always been her favorite.

The thought alone stung, like most memories of May did, and Peter recoiled without meaning to.

“Tonights for you, May.” Peter whispered to himself, collecting his mask from his bedside table. There was nothing more than he wanted to do than curl up in bed, to close his eyes, to stop existing. But he couldn’t. That’s not what heroes did. Instead, he held the mask in his gloved hands, watching as the new azure fabric gleamed in the low light. “Great power..” he reminded himself.

Peter Parker technically didn’t exist anymore. But that didn’t mean Spider-Man didn’t either.

“Great responsibility.” And as Peter shut off the TV, the silence in his place deafening now, Spider-Man slipped on his mask and out onto his fire escape, the window slamming shut behind him.

__________________________________________________________

“Hurry up, we’re gonna miss it!”

“Shut up, we’re not gonna miss it!”

“Yes, we are, now hurry up!” Kate Bishop urged, turning on the couch to watch Felicia fumble with the glasses. The champagne in her hands fizzled with carbonation, and as Felicia Hardy set the champagne flutes down on her coffee table, Kate slipped a pair of gaudy ‘2025’ shades on her friend’s face.

“Did you get the grapes?” Felicia asked, watching as Anderson Cooper did the opening speech for the ball drop.

“The grapes!” Kate said, springing up from her seat on the couch. “Shit, the grapes!”

Felicia scoffed. “You were the one who wanted to go all superstitious. I mean yellow panties and eating grapes on New Years? Who even does that?” she asked, crossing her arms as Kate made a ran dash to her fridge.

Life with Kate was always like this - hectic, always fun, never boring. Ever since Elanor’s arrest (and the fact Kate’s place had been burnt to smithereens), Felicia’s place had become their place - not that either of them were complaining.

“Are you kidding, you haven’t heard about eating 12 grapes for good luck? 12 grapes, 12 months!” Kate said from the fridge, as if it should have been obvious.

“Kate!” Felicia warned, as the hosts started the countdown.

“5, 4, 3, 2, 1!”

“Happy New Year!” the pair exclaimed, clinking glasses and throwing back a gulp of champagne as the clock hit zero.

“To new beginnings!” Kate grinned, popping a grape into her mouth.

Felicia nodded, sinking into her thick old couch, a satisfied smile on her face. “To new beginnings, Miss Hawkeye.” she said, holding out her glass for another cheers.

Kate leaned forward, glass poised to clink. And then the window next door slammed.

Kate yelped, the two of their glasses crashing and shattering between the pair of them, sending champagne across their laps.

“Jesus Christ,” Felicia hissed, jumping up from the couch to go for the paper towels.

“Hey, uh, not my fault- ” Kate said, quick to defense, but Felicia waved her off. Lucky, the Pizza Dog, watched the two of them worriedly from his place on the loveseat, but made no move to intervene.

“I know, I know. It’s my fucking neighbor. New kid moves in next door and starts slamming windows all time of the fucking night. It’s like every night, once at 12 then another at like 3.” she said irritably, as Kate began to pick shards of glass out of the fabric. “Don’t know what the hell is up with him.”

Kate couldn’t help but watch Felicia, eyes filled with amusement, and already Felicia knew exactly what Kate would say.

“Have you uhh- Have you maybe tried talking to him about it?” Kate asked, a grin spreading over her face. As if the suggestion alone was a joke. To her, it kind of was. Because Kate knew for a fact that Felicia hadn’t. Kate had known Felicia for years, and Felicia, to put it simply, was no-where near the extrovert Kate was. If Kate was a warm, personable, golden retriever, Felicia was a prissy, pissed, black cat.

“Well- No.” Felicia said, as she crossed her arms. Of course she hadn’t. “He’s nice and all..very talky-talky.”

Kate bit back a laugh. “Have you considered he’s trying to be a good neighbor? That’s that neighbors do, ya’know. They talk.” Kate told her, taking the roll of paper towels from Felicia.

“Kate, this is New York. The one time I spoke to the last neighbor that lived in that apartment was to tell him I set fire to my kitchen and that we were evacuating.” Felicia told her, the idea of talking to her neighbor bordering somewhere between uncomfortable and horrific.

“Besides, you’re here now. Why don’t you talk to him? I’m sure he’ll listen to you.” she went on.

Kate scoffed, more amused than shocked. “I don’t even live here.” she reminded Felicia.

“Yeah, but you will,” Felicia reminded her right back. “We just gotta more your stuff in, then you can be as friendly with the neighbors as you want.” she said, waving the older girl off.

Kate simply shook her head, amazed at her best friend’s stubbornness. “I mean, I just don’t get why you’re so opposed to talking to him. It wouldn’t kill you to be a more personable, Fe’, I’m like your only friend.”

“That is a lie!” Felicia insisted. It wasn’t a lie.

Felicia Hardy had known Kate Bishop for nearly ten years now, from years together in Tae Kwon Do and Karate lessons, to freshmen at the same college. In the beginning, they hadn’t even been friends. They had been opposed to each other, convinced they were opposites, back when Kate went to private school and Felicia went to Midtown. Kate had thought Felicia abrasive, Felicia thought her prissy, but in the end, they had a lot in common, even if it wasn’t apparent at first.

For one, they were both unbelievably stubborn, no matter how much either of them denied it.

And secondly, they were both utterly, completely, super-hero obsessed.

“Besides, he can’t be that bad. Did you even talk to him?” Kate asked finally sinking into the salvaged couch.

“I didn’t say he was that bad, just that he can’t stop slamming the damn window. He’s fine. Saw him when I was coming in from work. Said his name was Peter or something. I mean, I don’t hate the kid, it’s just that every time he thinks you’re not looking at him, he just looks so sad. Like super sad.” And Felicia wasn’t good with sad. Or with any heavy emotions. In fact, Kate hadn’t seen Felicia cry in years.

“Even more reason to talk to him,” Kate said, poking at Felicia’s side. “Besides, if it was Spider-Man I’d bet you’d be dying to talk to him.”

That at least got Felicia’s attention. For a moment their eyes met, and a beat of silence passed before the both of them burst into laughter.

“Hell fucking yeah, I would! Every straight woman in New York would.” Felicia snickered, watching as Kate laughed at her own joke. “And if Clint knew how much you still fangirl over him-”

“Oh, he does.” Kate assured her, once again returning to her New Year’s grapes. “He knows. Groans every time.”

Felicia sank into the couch next to her. “Yeah, yeah, Miss Avenger. Tell you what, you have Clint go and dig in some government files to get me a date with Spider-Man or whatever, and then maybe I’ll have a play date with the boy next door.” she said, crossing her legs over Kate.

“As if.” Kate snickered. “And that’s not how being Hawkeye works, by the way.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Felicia told her, stealing a grape.

____________________________________________

Felicia and Kate’s lives had always been very, very different.

In fact, the first time Felicia had saw Kate’s childhood home, she had went in the polished, porcelain bathroom and cried. Not that Kate had known that at the time. But the marble walls, the penthouse skylights, the private swimming pool. The first time around, it had been hard to swallow.

It got easier over time. It had taken three years before Felicia had trusted Kate enough to invite her over. But Kate never seemed to mind that the apartment Felicia had grown up in was the size of her mother’s walk-in-closet, or that the metallic pangs coming from the radiators were supposedly normal.

And she didn’t care now that Felicia’s apartment was a shitty, drafty hole in the wall. Over time Kate had gotten used to the aesthetic. Sure, it wasn’t as picturesque as her place above the pizza shop. But it had character. Like the slamming windows.

‘Thunk!’

The slam was loud enough to shake the glass pane next door, and it rattled so loud Kate thought it might break.

“Bro, Oh my God !” Felicia hissed, sitting up in bed as she blindly fished for her phone. Her cracked screen blinked to life, the display reading 4:23am. “Is he out of his goddamn mind?”

The two of them hadn’t gotten around to getting Kate an actual mattress, and so the brunette sat up on from her place on the air mattress they’d manage to find in a old luggage. She was groggy, hair a mess, and Felicia barely understood her when she mumbled “He’s probably just coming back in from a party or something. Look, why don’t we go talk to him, and politely ask him not to. I’m sure that’ll solve all of this.”

The look of unbridled irritation on Felicia’s face was clear.

“Fe.” Kate bargained.

“Fine. Fine,” Felicia caved. “We can do it your way. But if he says something slick to me..I’m gluing the window shut.” she said, throwing back her covers. “You do the talking.”

“Don’t I always?” Kate asked.

The hallway of their building was worse than the studios, a draft running through all the corridors and up the stairs, and Felicia propped a shoe in the door to keep the deadbolt from slamming on them.

Peter had heard them the moment they’d turned their lock. That was the worst part of thin walls, his ‘Peter tingle’ affording him too much hearing for his own good. Peter froze, still half in his Spidey suit, as he waited for their footsteps to disappear down the stairs, like he expected them to. What he didn’t expect were the footsteps coming here .

“Shit!” Peter cursed under his breath before the knock even came, and Kate passed a sidelong glance at Felicia. Felicia knocked, hard.

“Geez, you don’t wanna scare him-” Kate whispered, just as the door swung open, and in the crack of the doorway, a face appeared from the neck-up.

The girls stared at him. Felicia had been right, he wasn’t that bad.

“Are you okay?” Kate asked him.

“Yeah, yeah.” Peter smiled, shaking his head. “Yeah, I’m okay.”

“You’re sweating.” Felicia pointed out.

“Heats coming up real high-”

“No, it’s not? My apartment is literally freezing.” Felicia said, eyes narrowed at him. For a moment, none of them said anything, and Peter watched as the two of their faces morph into curious focus. And here he was, on the other side of the door, in his suit.

“C-can I help you?” Peter asked, after the silence felt like it might crush him.

Kate looked between the two of them, and then she shook her head. “Let’s..start over, shall we? Hi, we’re your neighbors, Kate and…”

“Felicia.” Felicia said, as Kate held out her hand.

Peter looked down at it, his face almost sympathetic as he made no move to shake it, his hands sweating behind the door in his Spidey gloves. Kate seemed to get the message.

“We just-”

“Yeah, can you stop slamming that window. The springs broken and even time you don’t pull it down, it slams shut really fucking loud and we can hear it. Every time.” Felicia said, simple as that.

Kate shrugged. “What she said.”

The look on Peter’s face could only be described as dumbfounded. He didn’t know where to even start.

“Oh, uh. Yeah..sure, no problem. I guess I didn’t realize.” he chuckled, almost going to scratch his head before stopping himself. “I’m Peter by the way. Nice to meet you.”

For Kate, that was enough. He looked terrified, as if he’d seen a ghost, but at the very least he was willing to talk. “Well, nice to meet you too, Peter. If you wanna hang out, we’re like always here to hang.” she offered, giving Peter two thumbs up.

“Not always. But.. you’re still welcome or whatever.” Felicia said, already heading back to her apartment to get out of the cold.

Still, Kate lingered in the hall. “Don’t worry about her, she’s just a little..catty. She’ll warm up to you.” she assured him, leaning in closer. “And one question: Are you naked behind this door?” Kate said, narrowing her blue eyes at him.

And it hadn’t occurred to Peter until right that moment that that was exactly what this looked like. Way to make an impression.

“No, I just..don’t wanna let the draft in, y’know.” he wagered, hoping she’d buy it.

Kate nodded. “Uh-huh.” she said, not entirely convinced. “See ya around, Peter!” she called, as the door to Felicia’s apartment slammed shut behind them.

__________________________________________________

If you made it this far, thank you! I've been gone a bit, but this is just a indulgence piece I'd had in mind that I needed to get out. 

Plus I just love some Kate. Hope you liked it! If you’d like to read more or subscribe so you can catch the next installment, you can read CHP.1 here on my AO3!

And if you’d like I’d really love to hear what you think in the replies. Thanks :)

[fics-n-stuff]

Affluenza | Pt2

Pairing: JJ × Kook!Reader

Summary: Y/N celebrates her birthday with a party that she didn't want to throw and finds out a sad truth about the boy that's not quite her boyfriend, but being in each other's company makes things at least a little better.

Warnings: Mentions of abuse and descriptions of injury, reference to drugs

Word Count: 3.5k

A/N: I'm so happy that so many people liked pt1!! It means the absolute world to me that people are reading and enjoying my work 🥰 Pt3 might take a little longer to get out, but I'll try to post it asap.

Taglist: @alotbnouf @fairypitou @305weasley @thecraziestcrayon @sofamochi @arvinrussellseggplant

Thanks for reading guys ❤

Pt1 here | Pt3 here

“Why didn’t you tell me it’s your birthday on Saturday!?” JJ exclaimed, letting go of your hand and sitting up from where you had both been lying on the deck of your boat.

“I didn’t think it was that big a deal.” You replied with a laugh. “I kinda just forgot to mention it.”

“But what if I wanted to buy you a present?”

“I don’t need a present from you JJ.” You smiled, reaching up to cup his cheek and pulling him down for a kiss.

The two of you had been dating for a couple of months now, and although you very much considered yourselves to be together neither of you had said the words ‘boyfriend’ or ‘girlfriend’ yet. The time you spent together was private, you kept it a secret from everyone; you didn’t want your family to know and he was hesitant to tell his friends, exactly why you weren’t sure but you didn’t want to pry. It wasn’t as if you were sneaking around, you were just being careful.

“I have plenty things already, your company is enough.” You said, pulling away from the kiss and sitting up yourself. “But unfortunately I won’t be able to see you on my actual birthday. Mom’s making me throw a party and every teenager on Figure Eight will be there, so I doubt you’d want to come.”

“I wouldn’t be welcome even if I did want to.” JJ chuckled. You hummed in agreement.

“That’s why I wanted to celebrate today.” You chirped, getting up to retrieve a cooler that you had brought with you.

“What’s in there?”

“A special birthday picnic.”

“Oh, I see.” He grinned as you took your seat opposite him again. “And what does that consist of?”

“Well, let’s have a look.” You opened up the cooler and looked in at what you had packed with a smile. “Of course the standard picnic items; sandwiches, fruit, some baked sweets.” You listed as you took them out of the cooler. “And then, as I learned from my mother, a young lady cannot celebrate her birthday without a bottle of champagne.”

“Fancy.” JJ nodded, taking the bottle from you.

“Not as fancy as these.” You said, taking the glasses out. “Crystal champagne flutes. I snuck them out of the cabinet. We only use them for the most special of occasions and my mom loves them so we have to be careful.”

“I can be careful.” JJ poured the champagne, and you clinked your glasses with a smile. “Happy early birthday.”

“This is a much better celebration than my party will be.” You sighed, finishing your sip and setting your glass down. “I don’t understand why my mom insists that I have to have one, I’m not actually friends with anyone that’s coming.”

“But I thought you said every kid on Figure Eight was going? You’re not friends with anybody?”

“No, not really. They’re all just so fake, I can’t stand it. I genuinely don’t think that any of them are really friends with each other and they’re just constantly pretending, but I can’t be bothered to pretend.” You rolled your eyes and JJ laughed.

“Sounds exhausting.” He smiled.

“What are your friends like, J?” You asked, genuinely just curious. He told you a bit about them, stories of the crazy stuff they had done, but you never got in depth about it. You felt like it was probably because he wasn’t ready to integrate the two parts of his life.

“They’re good.” He nodded. “I mean, we’re basically family. They’re just not the biggest fans of Kooks.”

“Well, neither are you.” You giggled.

“You know what I mean. I think you’d like them, I’m just worried that they wouldn’t want to give you chance.”

“How much do you bet I could win them over just like I did you?”

“I wouldn’t love it if you won them over exactly the same way as me.” He smirked, gently taking hold of your chin and pulling you in for a kiss, which you both laughed into. “I'm gonna get you a birthday present. What if I come by on Saturday just for a minute to deliver it?”

“You know I’ll be happy to see you, but nobody else at the party will.”

“Eh, who cares.” He shrugged, and you grinned broadly.

“Okay, if you insist.” You conceded. “Now let’s eat this picnic that I so painstakingly curated.”

+ + +

Your birthday party was in full swing, the ground floor of your house teeming with teenagers. People were drinking, dancing and jumping in the pool and you weren’t enjoying any of it.

Your mother had gifted you a particularly ugly necklace that was basically just a tangle of gold chain, and Nicholas had openly bad mouthed your father for only getting you a few books, even though that’s what you had asked for. The detest that you felt for him was justified. Your dad was actually supposed to have arrived back on the island the day before, but it wasn’t unusual for him to get held up with work.

You pushed past a group of boys having some loud conversation on your way into the kitchen and poured yourself a strong drink. You threw the drink back in one gulp and slammed the plastic cup back down onto the countertop with a loud sigh.

“What’s wrong, birthday girl?” Topper asked over the music, his arm slung around Sarah’s shoulders as they came up beside you.

“I’m fine.” You shrugged.

“Did your dad get you a good present this year?” Sarah asked with a smile. “A new car maybe?”

“I already have a car.” You replied with a flat chuckle. “He got me some books that I asked for.”

“That’s kinda boring.” Topper commented. You rolled your eyes and Sarah smacked him in the side.

“I think that’s sweet. What kind if books?”

You told Sarah about the books you had gotten, actually kind if enjoying the conversation. Sarah was actually pretty easy to talk to, you felt like the fact that you weren’t putting on an act made her kind of drop hers, and it was a refreshing break from the way that the rest of the teens on Figure Eight were constantly pretending to be the perfect versions of themselves.

Your explanation of the premise of one of your books was interrupted when you felt your phone ringing in your pocket. You took it out and saw that it was your dad, and you smiled.

“I gotta take this.” You excused quickly before rushing outside to get away from the music. You answered the call excitedly, greeting your dad with a bright tone.

“Hey, Pumpkin, happy birthday!” He exclaimed. “I’m sorry I didn’t call this morning, I got caught up in meetings. You know how it is.”

“I know, dad. It’s okay, you’re calling now. Are you done with work? Do you think you’ll get here tonight?” You questioned eagerly. You heard him let out a sigh, and your smile fell.

“About that, sweetheart, I’ve had a few bumps in the road.” He began. You felt your heart sink and you were already scolding yourself for getting your hopes up before he could even tell you what the reason for missing your birthday was. “My meetings haven’t gone as well as I’d hoped and it looks like I’m going to be held up for a few more days.”

“Oh, right, okay.” You nodded, keeping your voice steady even as your eyes welled with tears. “Hope things get better then.”

“I’m sorry, Y/N, I really did want to be there. I promise I’ll make it up to you when I get back; we can have a movie marathon night, completely your pick.” You let out a chuckle despite yourself. He might not be around much but he still knew you well, and movie marathon nights were one of your favourite things to do with him.

“Sounds great, dad. I can’t wait.”

“I hope you’ve had a good day, at least. What have you been getting up to?”

“I’m having a party, actually.” You replied. You didn’t need to tell him that you didn’t want to have the party and weren’t actually really enjoying it.

“Right now? I’ll let you get back to it then.” Your dad smiled down the phone. “Have fun.”

“Thanks, dad.”

“Love you, Pumpkin.”

“Love you too.”

You said your goodbyes and ended the call, and you tucked your phone back into the pocket of your shorts. You just stood there for a few moments, the loud music and whooping of partying teenagers emanating from the house, before tears began to fall. You shook with a silent sob and had to take a seat on the concrete of your driveway.

You sat there, with your legs pulled up to your chest and your head in your knees, for a few minutes. You sniffed, wiping your tears away on the back of your hand, when you heard a shuffle of footsteps and looked up quickly.

“JJ.” You acknowledged quickly, furiously wiping at your eyes as he walked up the driveway.

“What’s wrong? Why are you crying?” He asked, his voice edged with concern. You were ready to brush away his concerns, but as he got closer you saw the bruising on his face and suddenly you had some worries of your own.

“What happened to you?”

“I asked first.” JJ countered. You watched him as he came to sit down next to you, lifting your hand and softly placing it just below his purpled cheekbone, inspecting the fresh bruising around his eye and the split in his lip, then noticing the discolouration around his collarbone. He took the hand away gently, intertwining your fingers, and you saw that there was no bruising on his knuckles; these weren’t injuries earned in a fair fight. “Why are you crying?” He repeated.

“No, that doesn’t matter.” You shook your head. You weren’t trying to downplay your upset anymore, you just knew that whatever had happened to JJ was more important. “Who did this to you, JJ?”

“I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours.” He smiled, but there was no joy or amusement behind it. You hesitated for a moment before conceding.

“My dad missed my birthday again.” You told him. “The last time he actually made it home for my actual birthday was when I turned eleven, and yet somehow I still get my hopes up every year. I hate this party, there are at least three different types of club drugs being taken in my house right now, I’m sad. You’re turn.”

JJ sighed. He looked down at your joined hands, pausing to think for a moment before looking back up at you. He let out a short breath of soft laughter, lifting his free hand and smoothing his thumb over the crease that had formed on your brow.

“Promise not to freak out?” He asked.

“Okay.” You replied shakily. You could try to limit your reaction at least. “But you have to tell me the truth, J.”

“My dad hits me.” JJ said quickly, and you felt your lips part in shock. “I stay with John B most of the time, I try to stay out of his way when I’m home, but it’s not like I can avoid him completely.”

“Wha- Why don’t you tell somebody?” You stuttered. “Call the police or protective services or-?”

“I don’t want to.” He interrupted. “I’m happy here with my friends and if I get protective services involved then they’ll ship me off to the mainland. I can deal with my dad.”

“This doesn’t look like dealing.” You muttered softly, pushing the collar of his t-shirt to the side to get a better look at the bruise that it was partially covering. “When is this from?”

“Yesterday. I went home to get some money so I could buy you this.” JJ shifted to reach into his pocket and pulled out a small, flat box. “It’s not much but it’s all I could afford.”

You took the box from him curiously, unlinking your hand from his so that you could pull off the lid. Inside was a small silver necklace, a thin chain with a small circular pendant. When you lifted it up you saw that the pendant had a map of the world etched into it. The necklace was simple and sweet, and you felt a big smile take over your face.

“You didn’t have to get me this, J.” You simpered.

“I told you I wanted to.” He smiled back. You handed the box back to him and turned to face away, and JJ eagerly fastened the chain around your neck. He struggled a little with the tiny clasp, making you giggle. His hands ran over your shoulders before he dropped them, and you turned back to him with the smile gone from your face.

“You went through that just so you could buy this for me?” You murmured. JJ's smile faltered but didn’t fall, and he nodded slightly.

“It’s not your fault, Y/N. It’s just what happens.”

You sat silently for a little while, but your peaceful moment was interrupted by a loud round of cheering from inside. You looked over your shoulder towards the house with a groan, but then lightened up when you got an idea.

“You wanna get away from this bullshit?” You asked, gesturing towards the party.

“You wanna leave your own birthday party?” He asked with a chuckle. You shrugged.

“Nobody will notice that I’m gone. I’ll just have to come back at, like, midnight to kick everybody out.”

“Okay, then let’s go.” JJ smiled.

“Alright. Give me one minute.” You giggled, getting up quickly. “Just wait here a sec.”

You ran back into the house and pushed past all of the people to the stairs, heading up to your bedroom. You had kept the door locked to keep out horny couples. You rooted through one of your drawers until you found a set of keys, switched out of your party sandals to a pair of converse, and grabbed your car key off of your vanity before heading back out, making sure to lock your door behind you again.

You paused on the stairs to scan the crowd until you spotted Sarah, and pushed past the bodies towards her.

“Y/N! Where’d you go?” She shouted over the music.

“Just outside. I’m gonna disappear from the party for the bit, can you call me if something major happens?” You asked. Sarah frowned.

“But this is your birthday party.”

“I know it’s weird, but I’ve got some other stuff going on right now and I just need to get away for a bit.”

“Okay, I guess that makes sense. I’ll call you if anything happens.” She nodded, though the confusion was still clear on her face.

“Thanks. I’ll see you later.” You smiled, before heading back out.

JJ was stood at the side of the driveway waiting for you when you came back out, slamming the front door shut after yourself. You grabbed his hand and pulled him after you to your car with a smile.

“Where are we going?” He questioned as you started the engine and began backing out.

“My other house.” You answered.

“Sorry, did you say ‘other house’?”

“My dad’s house. He hasn’t been home in eight months and I haven’t been there in about five, but a cleaner comes by every two weeks to maintain it.” You explained.

“Jesus you’re rich.” JJ mumbled. He had a teasing smile on his face but the comment made you feel a little guilty.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to show off or anything. We don’t have to go to my dad’s if you don't want-"

“Y/N, it’s fine.” He laughed. “You didn’t choose to be born into a rich family the same way I didn’t choose to be born into a poor one.”

“I know, I just don’t want to be... insensitive isn’t the right word. I just don’t want to seem like I take it for granted; I don’t want you think that I’m that kind of person.”

“I don’t.” He assured you. “You don’t treat me like I’m any different for being poor, so I don’t care that you’re rich.”

It wasn’t long until you were pulling into the driveway of your dad’s house. It was grand and expensive looking, but it was still smaller than your mom’s; she had kept the house after the divorce and since your dad wasn’t even home most of the time he’d decided that he didn’t need quote so much space.

The inside was modestly decorated, no elaborate sculptures or outlandish wall decorations like so many of the other houses on Figure Eight. The furniture was very nice, and the few paintings and things that were on the walls were expensive, but your father was a man of simple taste. He didn’t even have any fancy chandeliers.

“I expected something more opulent for the richest man in the Outer Banks.” JJ commented as he looked around.

“Since when was opulent a word in your vocabulary?” You questioned with a giggle. JJ gasped, and pinched you in the side with a frown.

“I’m not completely dumb.” He objected.

You laughed, grabbing his hand and dragging him after you into the living room. You flicked on the light before dropping yourself onto the sofa and pulling JJ down with you.

“What kind of movies do you like?” You asked him as you picked up the remote and switched on the TV.

“Uh, I don’t know, action and horror.” He shrugged.

“What kind of horror? Slasher? Psychological? Paranormal?”

“I don’t know.” He chuckled. You gave an exaggerated sigh, going into the horror section on Netflix.

“Fine, I guess I’ll pick.”

You ended up putting on The Blair Witch Project after discovering that JJ had never seen it, and the two of you settled down. You were thankful to be away from the crowded mess of your birthday party and just have a quiet night with JJ.

“But I don’t understand how they managed to make it scary, basically nothing happened.” JJ perplexed after the movie ended.

“Yeah, that’s why it’s genius.” You grinned up at him. Throughout the course of the film you had ended up lying across the sofa with your head resting on his lap. “All of the horror is in the fact that you know that something this out there but you never see it. Modern horror movies could never.”

“That’s crazy bro.” He said, making you laugh. He looked down at you with an amused smile and a sparkle in his eye that made your heart jump.

“Do you wanna stay here for the night?” You offered once your laughter subsided. “I’m sure my dad has some stuff in his closet that you can sleep in.”

“Are you sure? I mean, don’t you have to go home?”

“Nah, my mom and Nicholas are staying at a hotel tonight so that I can have my party so they won’t know that I’m not there.” You shrugged. “You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to.”

“No, I’d like to stay.” He smiled. You let out a relieved breath that you didn’t realise you’d been holding.

“Cool. I need to go and kick everyone out of my house but we can watch another movie when I get back if you want?”

“Sounds good to me. Do you want me to come with you?”

“Probably best if you don’t, you know, with the whole ‘every Kook on the island is there’ thing.” JJ laughed lightly at that.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” He nodded. “Can I have a shower while you’re gone.”

“Sure.” You chuckled as you sat up. “You can use my en suite and I’ll get you something to change into.”

You took him upstairs, grabbing a t-shirt and a pair of gym shorts from one of your dad’s drawers before showing him into your room. It was plainly decorated like the rest of the house, but you had posters and photos tacked up and covering almost every inch of the walls.

“This is nice.” JJ smiled, looking around.

“Don’t go snooping around while I’m gone, a person’s bedroom is their kingdom.”

“I’ll mind my own business.” He agreed with a salute that made you grin.

“And make sure you dry off properly, I don’t want you dripping all over my nice carpet.”

“Jeeze, any more rules?”

“Uh, nope. I think that’s it.” You chirped. “I should be back in, like, half an hour. I’m pretty sure I left some chicken nuggets in the freezer last time I was here, you can have those if you get hungry. Or maybe I’ll get takeout on my way back?”

“Takeout sounds good.” JJ nodded, beaming, and pulled you in for a kiss before you left.

[abbatoirablaze]

Good Girl's Club, Chapter 31

Word Count: 1.9k

Warnings: violence, angst, mentions of abortion and blackmail.

“Ni, you’re getting too involved.”

“No, Bucky, I’m not,” she growled, ripping her hand from his grip. Bucky frowned as he plucked the plastic champagne flute from her hands, “what the hell, James?”

“You don’t need to be drinking, Ni.”

“It’s New Year’s Eve.”

“I know,” he replied softly, trying to calm his girlfriend down, “and how many have you had?”

“Just because you can’t get drunk doesn’t mean you need to stop my party.”

Bucky frowned yet again as his girlfriend walked off in a huff. He downed the booze before heading over to where Cami was talking to Britt. His hand went to the small of her back as she saw Britt glaring in Sasha and Nia’s general direction, “you girls, okay?”

“Yeah daddy.”

“She didn’t tell him,” Britt growled, barely taking the moment to look at Bucky, “we told her that she had until Christmas…and she called my bluff.”

“What are you girls going to do?”

“Gonna talk about it at our next girl’s night in, that’s for sure!” Cami replied, looking to her dad. Bucky gave her a side smile, “sorry Nia’s being a bitch about this…”

“Nia’s entitled to her opinion, Cami…”

“No…she got really pissed off at me, because I made some comments about it,” Cami admitted, looking towards her father. She paled at the thought of seeing him longingly look over at his girlfriend, “dad?”

“Things will work themselves out…how it’s always worked. Right pumpkin?”

“Yeah,” she said solemnly, feeling like her father wasn’t at all talking about what she was. She gave her father a small frown, but didn’t fight him on his statement, “so…”

“Who else is unaware?”

“Just them,” Cami admitted sadly, looking over to Britt, “Steve and Andy.”

“Just figured it’s probably for the best if Cami’s boyfriend doesn’t murder my dad,” Britt sighed, biting her lip.

Bucky nodded, knowing that Steve would rain hellfire down whenever he found out that Andy knocked up his little girl.

“Well look who I found outside,” Steve smirked, leading Maddie, Jake, Em, and Lee into the house, “Was setting up the fireworks and-“

“Steve, we don’t need fireworks!” Cami giggled trying to let go of the tense conversation by running up to her boyfriend. He wrapped his arms around her, and she braced herself against his chest, “Steve.”

“I want everything to be perfect tonight, bunny.” Steve smiled sweetly. She cooed at him before pulling him down to meet her lips.

“If they’re making out in front of everyone, can we?” Maddie smirked, looking at Jake. He blushed and quickly shook his head. She gave him a playful nudge, “am I at least still getting a kiss at midnight.”

“Oh, you’re getting kissed somewhere.”

Maddie smiled happily and kissed Jake on the cheek, before going to greet Sasha who’d just walked in. Nia was quick to join them.

“Hey Em,” Britt smiled, greeting her friend, pulling her into a hug. The two girls chatted for a second and then Steve and Cami separated. Jake, Lee, and Bucky caught the little glare she’d sent towards the other half of the girls, “think we could all talk while the guys are getting the party set up?”

“We can try,” Em shrugged. Cami went to get the other girls, and Em looked back to Lee, giving him a heavy kiss, “I guess I’ll see ya later.”

“Yeah,” Lee smiled dreamily. The guys watched the two until the girls walked upstairs, and then they crowded around him, “What? Why are all of y’all staring at me?”

“Thought Em was dating that kid in her grade?”

“What happened, Bodecker?”

“Me an Em worked it out,” Lee smiled simply, putting his hands on his waist as he looked back towards the stairs where the girls disappeared, “after Thanksgiving…we talked, and well I hadn’t exactly been fair to her…she dumped the boy, and she’s my girl now…moved back into my room and everything. Things are good as new, boys.”

“You fuck her?”

Lee blushed, “gentlemen don’t kiss n tell, boys.”

“Since when are you a gentleman?” Jake asked, causing Lee’s blush to darken across his cheeks, “you did…didn’t you?”

“Listen, I-I had to, alright?” Lee asked, “She didn’t think I was serious and i-“

“Had to stick it to her?” Jake was the only one to laugh at his own joke. The rest just sort of looked at him blankly, “come on…it was funny!”

“Only you, Jensen,” Andy sighed, putting a hand on his shoulder as a few more of the men chuckled, “Only you.”

“I’ll tell you what though, she’s insistent,” Lee smirked, crossing his arms, “ever since she found out your girl’s pregnant, Barber, she’s been working night and day trying to get me to do the same to her.”

“What?”

“What?”

Bucky and Ari looked at each other nervously as Steve and Andy’s questions lit up their faces. Both having quite opposite reactions.

But Lee continued on clueless to the disaster he just created, “yeah. Says she’s not going to college, asking why we can’t get a jump start on it. I told her that she can’t cuz she’s not 18, but you know how Em is…if one of the other girls can do it, why can’t she. Surprised you and Sash are trying especially since she’s going to MIT, but hey, to each their own.”

Andy was in shock. Complete and utter shock at Lee’s words.

Steve, on the other hand, looked murderous. In just the few seconds that Lee had spoken Steve went from happy go lucky to completely unhinged. His gaze shot to Andy, “What the hell is Bodecker talking about, Barber?”

“I-I don’t know!”

There was the slightest movement on the stairs. Steve shot around to see the girls all standing there. It was obvious that they were aware of the secret being spilled, “Sasha! What is going on?”

Sasha stepped off the landing and walked into the living room, “Daddy, I-“

“NO!” Steve yelled firmly. His jaw set and he glared at his daughter, “You tell me right now. Are. You. Pregnant?”

Tears welled up in Sasha’s eyes as she looked to Andy, before nodding, “yes.”

“Sas-“

“YOU SON OF A BITCH!” Steve roared, turning to Andy. The guys were quick to reach him, but not quick enough to stop Steve from landing a punch, knocking Andy to the ground. Bucky and Jake held Steve back, “YOU SON OF A BITCH! YOU KNOCKED MY LITTLE GIRL UP? SHE WAS FUCKING SEVENTEEN!”

“Steve! Calm down man!”

“CALM DOWN? CALM DOWN-“

“STEVE!” Steve stopped screaming as he looked at his own girlfriend. Cami had put a hand on his chest and was staring at him, “I need you to calm down!”

“Cami, it’s Sash…”

He sounded broken. Jensen and Bucky let him go, as he wrapped himself around his girlfriend’s small frame, tears now falling down his own cheeks. Cami pulled him into her arms and encouraged him to come upstairs with her so that he could process everything.

Meanwhile, Sasha was standing beside Andy, her hand on his back to try and keep him steady. He looked up at her through glassy eyes, “Sash…”

“I don’t want to talk about it right now, Andy,” she warned sadly. Andy stared at his girlfriend, the rest of his friends seeming like they didn’t matter at all. Everything and everyone was blurred except for her. It all went in slow motion as he watched. He reached out and took one of her hands, and she knew that he wanted to sort it out, and now, “we can talk outside. Come on.”

“How long have you known?”

Sasha didn’t answer him. She didn’t even look Andy in the eyes. Andy looked at her, “Sasha…will you please jus-“

“It doesn’t matter,” she snipped, finally getting the courage to look at him, “I-I’m getting an abortion, so you won’t have to even worry about it!”

Andy’s expression shifted from one concern to one of shock, “y-you want to get rid of our baby?”

“Ten minutes ago, you didn’t even know I was pregnant,” she replied, her hands instinctively going to her stomach. Andy looked at her stomach sadly and she dropped her hands, catching his gaze, “w-would you stop looking at me like that?”

“Like what?” he asked, “like a man who’s not being given a choice?”

“Well, what do you want me to do, Andy?”

“Keep it,” he begged, “keep our baby. That’s what I want, Sash.”

“No!”

“Sasha-“

“I said, no, Andrew!”

“Why not?”

“WHY NOT?” she all but yelled, “Andy, I just turned eighteen. I’m going to MIT after I graduate. I do not need a kid!”

“Not even if it’s with me?”

“ANDREW, I DON’T WANT KIDS!” Andy felt a pang in his chest. He hadn’t expected Sasha to react like that in the slightest. She pushed herself off the side of the house, and Andy copied her actions. He grabbed her by the wrist before she could reach for the door, and she turned to him, “what?”

“Sasha…this conversation isn’t over.”

“Yes, it is,” she scoffed, ripping her arm from his grasp, “matter of fact, we’re over…I-I was stupid to get involved with you…I should be worrying about MIT, not a pregnancy. We-we can’t do this, Andy. I’ve got the appointment to get the abortion tomorrow…”

“W-we’re over?”

“Yeah,” she nodded, “listen…I just…it’s clear we don’t want the same things…and I let myself get caught up in the fantasy of being with you. You want what I don’t. I don’t want to be like Em and pop babies out. I want to focus on my career. And the truth is, being with you, isn’t what I thought it would be…so maybe we should just call it what it is, and move on.”

“I-I don’t want to move on, Sash. I love you. I want a future with you,” he tried, suddenly feeling the control slip away from him, “I want to talk about this, Sasha. Really talk about it. I’m sure there’s something we can agree on-“

“Andy don’t try to lawyer your way out of our breakup,” she muttered, biting her lip. He went to reach out to her, but she shook her head, keeping his hands at bay, “I already feel bad enough about it…”

“Then don’t do it,” he tried to reason, “don’t do any of it. Sasha, I can do better. Just tell me what to do, and I’ll do it. For you. For us. For the baby.”

“There is no us. And there’s definitely not going to be a baby in a few days-“

“Wait…just before you go making a rash dec-“

���Andrew, drop it,” she hissed, grabbing the door, “We’re done, and I’m going to do it. Stop trying to stop me.”

“But Sash-“

“Go ahead, Andy,” she growled, her hand falling away from the door, “pressure me a little bit more…I dare you.”

“Sash?”

His brow furrowed in confusion at the young woman, and she crossed her arms, “here’s how it’s gonna play out. You drop it. Let it go. All of it. And we both go our separate ways. I go to MIT, and I don’t care what you do. But if you don’t, I’m going to the cops. I’ll tell them about how you and I had a relationship while I was still seventeen.”

“Sasha…”

“Who do you think they’ll believe, Andy?” she asked, “I’m pregnant right now…with your kid. They’ll see that I’m too far along for it to legal…what do you think happens then, Andy? What do you think will happen to you? To your little life?”

Andy looked at Sasha in disbelief. He couldn’t believe that she was threatening him, “Sash.”

“Grow up Andrew,” she hissed, walking away from him, “I’m doing what’s best. For the both of us.”

Chapter 32

Tag List: @cjand10

[mayyourshipsbewithyou]

Things I loved about In the Heights

-The sounds of the city are part of the music of the opening song

-The frame story is the only way this story should be told; the story only works if it shows the results of Usnavi's decision to stay

-Anthony and Lin shaking hands

-Yay to random mixed race couple asking for directions

-“I hope you’re writing this down I’m gonna test you later” only makes sense with kids

-Showing different residents of Washington Heights provides scale

-I’m not sure about the decision to cut Camila, but if it means less Nina drama, then I love it

-I love how Usnavi has his friends’ orders all ready to go

-LOVE how Usnavi announces Benny’s entrance

-Everything about Vanessa in this movie is perfect=> she’s given so much more depth, her beauty is downplayed, she’s kind of a nerd, but has a beautiful smile

-Nina’s heels=> metaphor for her reaching for the stars

-I love the actress that plays Nina; she’s the right age and her singing voice is so sweet

-Nina’s hair is straight when she’s at school; as soon as she comes home, it’s curly=>she can be herself at home

-When Nina turns around and sees the crowd of people counting on her=> I felt that

-I love seeing Nina get her acceptance letter; I remember what that was like for my brother

-Camila must have died while Nina was at college in this version; Nina lost her mother recently which helps explain her different reason for dropping out; she feels lost

-I don’t know why Sonny is using this deep voice, but I love it!

-Whoever decided to have 96,000 take place at the pool is a genius

-The graphics at the beginning of 96,000 are good for helping regular people understand the rap

-Pete just put his arm around Sonny=> are they dating?

-Sonny yelling 96,000 as he enters the pool=> the sound design

-Pete nodding along to Usnavi=> sucking up to the family

-Usnavi is such a proud cousin-uncle during Sonny’s part in 96,000

-Vanessa making her “I'll be downtown” walk down a ramp

-The dancer doing flips is now a diver doing spins into the pool

-On stage, the lighting was dark; in the movie, it’s underwater

-The circles of people in the pool reflect the zeros in 96,000

-Lin and Chris being rivals is perfect; their bromance is everything

-Nina and Benny being together before the events of the movie means they are the beta couple and have less drama than Usnavi/Vanessa which is how it should be

-Benny joins in during “on that fire escape”=> like West Side Story

-Benny’s “Let me in” against the fence is hilarious

-Nina and Benny are FUN, not angsty like in the original

-Nina following the little girl=> following herself, following her dreams which eventually lead her to the sea; all of this is done while she’s talking about her past

-Nina and Benny instrumental™ part 1 in the middle of “When You’re Home”, Benny interrupts=> their story isn't complete yet

-Benny says he believes in her without discounting her feelings

-Everyone loving Nina=> I finally get it

-Nina is home geographically and with people who love her

-Benny is Nina’s home

-In the Heights is about how dreams are great, but the life you have now can be so beautiful

-Nina’s hair during the dinner/club scene is great

-Usnavi is wearing his dad’s hat for his date with Vanessa; he knows that she is to him what his mom was for his dad

-Family dinners are the same in every culture

-Awkwardness of long-time friends going on a date

-Vanessa offers Usnavi his first drink of the night; he thinks that’s what she wants; because why would she want him and only him?

-Usnavi whispering in Vanessa’s ear is so sexy

-Love that Benny is on Nina’s side instead of being mad at her

-I wonder if they thought 5 years of Benny working for Kevin was too much or too little since they changed that line to "all these years"

-Benny’s reactions to Vanessa dancing at the club are hilarious

-Vanessa laughing at Usnavi dancing with someone else

-Nina is always smiling and laughing at the things going on around her; not as self centered

-Nina and Benny dancing at the club=> all of the yeses

-Usnavi is too nervous about being alone with Vanessa that he un-dated himself; he wasn’t quite ready

-Love that they consciously cut all the “Usnavi, help me” parts=> Vanessa is not a victim

-Fireworks are a romantic setting for Sonny and Pete, just saying

-Usnavi/Benny/Nina talking about the fourth member of their square gives me feelings; I need more of these four in fanfic, my dreams

-“I got to wait for Vanessa”=> the stuff dreams are made of

-Benny is such a good person; he’s even better than the original which is what he deserves

-Usnavi is relieved to have Vanessa call his name

-“Don’t walk away from us tonight”=> great addition

-To give Usnavi and Vanessa some of Nina and Benny’s original lines is to see the face of God

-The first time I saw this, I’m ashamed to admit, I thought Benny was going to steal money from the dispatch; I was a fool

-Dancer with fireworks on his shoes

-Benny is smart and good; he isn’t doing this for Kevin or Nina but for the people of New York

-Abuela was able to see stars again on the last night of her life

-I’m sad Blackout isn’t exactly the same but the orchestral parts that cover up what is unsaid is so beautiful it makes up for it

-Abuela’s family is her “fireworks”; they are what light up the Heights

-Sonny came to Usnavi instead of being with his dad during the blackout; his real family

-Abuela’s smile as she looks at her family while reflecting on her childhood is the most beautiful thing there will ever be

-Paciencia y Fe as a dream sequence is how it was meant to be

-The transition on the subway from reality to memory

-Paciencia y Fe is a mixture of cultures; like Abuela’s memories

-“Wide awake”=> stepping off the subway

-The same actress played Abuela on Broadway and in the movie

-Abuela may be in a musical, but she’s still an old woman

-“As I feed these birds”=> back to the present

-Calor means heat in Spanish but in English it sounds like color

-Abuela dying during the night of the blackout is perfect

-Usnavi saying “she was just here” twice: when she was literally just there and many years, maybe a decade, after the fact

-Usnavi’s daughter is the life that goes on after Abuela is gone

-Usnavi and Nina crying together

-Those closest to Abuela are inside and everyone else is outside

-Iris was sitting on the outside and now she’s in the middle; needed comfort from her friends

-“Should we take a break?”=> we’re past the point of an intermission

-“No daddy, keep going”=> does this look like a stage production to you? It’s a fucking movie

-There isn’t a clear point for an intermission; the action stays strong over where the intermission should be; this is a movie, not a play, and movies don’t have intermissions

-Everyone’s holding candles; like the stars Abuela loved so much

-Iris called Usnavi Daddy for the first time because that was the point in the story where he needed to hear that the most

-“I thought about the people I care about the most, I thought about you”

-Anthony makes Usnavi sexy in a way Lin never could

-So many people love Vanessa, but no one better than Usnavi

-Abuela paid to have Camila's napkins cleaned after all

-Usnavi is the kind of parent that doesn’t sugarcoat life

-Vanessa listed no emergency contacts even though she had people

-“That’s senorita to you”=> yes girl, get it

-Love Daniela for getting everyone out of their asses

-“Tonteria” means foolishness=> the more you know

-How fast Carla says no to “ask me why” shows how quickly she wants to please her love

-Usnavi’s Nueva York t-shirt=> I need it

-Daniela’s first effect being on a woman whose hair is terrible

-Carla pushing that man away from her woman with a bullshit excuse

-My friend was laughing at the parts that were meant to be jokes

-Usnavi’s entrance being announced in Carnaval del Barrio; just like Benny in the opening song

-“There’s nothing holding me down”=> assuming he was rejected

-The different communities dancing with their flags

-Nina being part of Carnaval del Barrio is great

-Even Kevin, kind of an old man, can get down

-Since Nina and Benny sex scene wasn’t shown on screen (praise Jesus), I have to assume Nina told Daniela even though she knows she’s a huge gossip

-Everyone stops because Sonny, a kid, starts singing

-Vanessa and Sonny are so powerful together

-Vanessa’s hand on Sonny’s shoulder

-A kid providing Usnavi with the “flag I’ve got in my hand”

-Usnavi and Vanessa dancing together is muy romantico

-Everything about Nina’s appearance in “When the Sun Goes Down”

-“Let me just listen to my block”=> peak Nina

-Abuela wrote “for Usnavi” on her lotto ticket 😭

-They cut so many songs but kept Champagne=>I love their priorities

-The pause before “you outta stay”

-Everyone has such great chemistry; especially Usnavi and Vanessa

-The choreography in Champagne is what I’ve always imagined

-Usnavi didn’t have time to cash in because Vanessa came over

-Vanessa and Pete friendship for the win

-“Best days of my life” is said thrice=> good things come in threes

-Usnavi staring at the room where Vanessa kissed him

-Iris knows he stayed; she loves her dad so much

-Usnavi looking out his window in Washington Heights and seeing his friends on his dad’s beach

-When Usnavi talks about Kevin at the dispatch, the camera flashes to an abandoned building

-“Vanessa at the salon”=> Usnavi sheds a tear

-Vanessa being front and center during Usnavi’s decision to stay

-Hearing the sounds of the beach during the unveiling

-It’s all about Vanessa=> perfection

-Lin being at the ending is perfect no matter the context

-“Say it so it doesn’t disappear”=> the sad reality is your neighborhood probably will disappear

-Usnavi telling his daughter “you’re it” is everything

-Iris understanding all of the little details of her father’s store now that she knows his story

-Iris is the goddess of the rainbow like the light that appears when water appears on a sunlit day

-“Man, you talk forever”=> that’s so “How I Met Your Mother”

-Iris has a necklace of seashells, like the islands

-Vanessa would sooner get wet than let go of Usnavi’s hand

[alloftheimaginesblog]

Life Without Colour {PART TWO}

Soulmate AU: Your vision is in black and white until you meet your soulmate. You and your boyfriend, Steve Rogers, aren’t each others soulmates but you love each other. He introduces you to his friends, the Avengers, and a very odd thing happens.

Characters: Steve Rogers x Plus Size Female Reader, Bucky Barnes x Plus Size Female Reader

PART ONE

PART TWO

PART THREE

PART FOUR

PART FIVE

PART SIX

taglist: @domainoflostsouls​  forgetthisbull  handon-h-art  yourspecialcrush  giulsgotmusic

As morning crept in through the blinds, you opened your eyes. It had been a horrendous night. You’d slept for a couple of hours, if that, all in and every time you woke up, you felt like crying. You opened your eyes to see wonderous colour, everything was so colourful and it shocked you but my god, you wished that your vision was still black and white. If your vision had been black and white everything would’ve been fine and you would be happy. You would’ve given up anything to have black and white vision back. Black and white vision wasn’t so bad, I mean, it always felt like you were trapped inside a 50s sitcom but that was pretty cool! Though now with colour you could easily see what your clothes looked like...

Steve was still sound asleep beside you. His alarm would go off in an hour or so. Carefully, you got out of bed trying not to wake him as you went to wander through Steve’s apartment. You were grateful that Steve’s décor was darker and more muted colours; dark blues and browns (and you knew what colours they all were because during the night, you’d found some YouTube Kids videos telling you all the different types of colour. You liked red and you really liked yellow). You spend a while walking around the apartment and looking out the window, watching the sun come up. Your stomach flips and you feel sick as you see a photo of Steve and Bucky; the same photo that you’d seen so many times before except now it’s in colour and you can see Bucky’s dark eyes and Steve’s bright eyes. Taking a breath, trying to push the nausea away, you wish it had been Steve’s eyes that you saw. You wish Steve’s bright blue eyes had been the first ones you saw in colour.

Your mind refuses to stop picturing Bucky and that first moment of seeing colour crashing over you like a wave. The guilt hits you like a train as you stare at the photo. How could you love Steve Rogers and yet have Bucky Barnes be your soulmate? You needed help; you needed some form of guidance, someone to talk to that wasn’t Bucky Barnes. 

Steve finds you sitting on the couch, staring at the photo of the pair, fifteen minutes later. He pads over to you, realising that you’re in a daydream of sorts, “Sweetheart?” He says softly sitting on the couch beside you.

You tore your eyes from the picture and stared at him, once again the colour of his eyes surprising you. Quickly, you set the photo down and pull him onto the couch, “Steve, I have to tell you something.”

Steve brushes your hair out of your face, frowning in concern. He could tell something was eating away at you, he noticed it last night at the party. He’d hoped it had just been the migraine but now, seeing the fear in your eyes, he wondered if it was something else entirely. He asks if you’re okay, asks what’s wrong and you open your mouth and then shut it. You need to tell him. A relationship shouldn’t have secrets or lies and you had always been honest with Steve. Steve valued honesty and truth among all else, he valued loyalty and yet, here you were, keeping the biggest secret of your life from him.

He repeats the question, “What’s going on?”

You shake your head and plaster a smile on your face, “I was just thinking that I’d go see Nat today,” you told him, “She was telling me about her and Bruce yesterday but never got to hear much of the story before my migraine kicked in.” It wasn’t a lie, you were waiting to hear more of Nat and Bruce’s story but that wasn’t the only reason you wanted to go and see her. You wanted Nat’s opinion on everything; you wanted her to tell you what you were supposed to do.

Steve nodded his head slowly, “Are you okay, (y/n)? You’ve not seemed quite right since last night at the party.” No, I’m not right at all, Steve! My soulmate is your best friend! How do I tell you that? How am I meant to tell you that without destroying you?

“Yeah, everything’s fine, love,” you smile at him, “The migraine’s away but I barely slept.” He looks at you with that stare, the one where he’s trying to figure out if you’re telling him the truth, “Honestly, Steve, I’m okay. I’m absolutely exhausted but I’ll have a cup of coffee and go see Nat and I’ll be fine. Must’ve been the champagne last night, I only had one glass but you know I’m not a big drinker and you know Stark buys the expensive stuff.”

Steve relents with a sigh, he’s unsure but you seem to be talking a little more, “Okay, just remember that I’m here for you if you need me...” He stands up, stretching and you smile as you look at him. He is one fine specimen. He notices you admiring his muscles, “You think these are impressive?” He chuckles, “You should’ve seen me before the serum.”

You laugh, a real genuine laugh, and for a few seconds, you forget about everything. Things were just so real and easy with Steve, “I would’ve loved to have met you back then you know.”

Steve scoffs, “Yeah right. You’re way out of my league right now never mind back then.”

“I’m serious,” you say as you follow him into the kitchen, “Steve, you’re the best person I’ve ever met. I would love you in every lifetime and every size or shape. Skinny, pre serum Steve would’ve been just as perfect. The serum changed the way you look but it never changed the way you act or the way you think. That’s all you and what do I always tell you?”

Steve smiles as he makes the coffee, “You love the way I think.” He looks up at you and you smile at him. Everything was always easy with Steve; it always had been, even on that very first day.

The rain poured down, splashing onto the sidewalk. You pulled your jacket tighter around you as you tried to back further into the wall. You’d been waiting outside a café for over thirty minutes waiting for your date to show up. So far, nothing. You’d text and left a voicemail asking if he was on his way but no answer. You huffed as you shook your head, “Bloody men.”

You go to turn and walk away, knowing that you’d been stood up and didn’t want to hang around for nothing, when you almost bump into something or rather someone, “Sorry, I was going to ask if you wanted my umbrella.” He asked with a smile, “But you started cursing out men and honestly, it’s a little intimidating.”

You looked up at him and smiled, well he wasn’t your soulmate but that was okay, you didn’t need colour to know that he was ridiculously good looking,  “Sorry, I, uh, I got stood up so I’ve been standing in the rain for nearly forty minutes. I even went to the effort of putting on a whole new outfit and curling my hair!”

The man sighs, “I’m sorry to hear that, how about I buy you a cup of coffee?” He holds his hands up when you look at him concerned, “I just wanna be nice, that’s all. If you hate me, you never have to see me again.”

You find yourself laughing and shrugging, “Oh, what the hell- sure... I’m (y/n).”

“Steve, Steve Rogers.”

It hits you then. Of course, “You’re Captain America!”

Steve nods, “I hope that’s not an issue?”

You shake your head, “Not at all but... why does someone like you want to go on a date with someone like me? I mean you look like that and I look like...” you look down at your soaked outfit, “a drowned rat.”

His laugh is lovely, you realise as it comes booming out of him, “Someone like me? I look like this now but before the war, I was a scrawny five foot four kid with too many health issues to count and someone like you? You mean someone beautiful with a gorgeous smile?” He opens the café door, “Shall we?”

A cup of coffee with Captain America, you muse in your head as you sit at the table in the small café waiting for him to bring you back your drinks, your mom would have a field day with this one. You shrug your jacket off and hang it over the back of the chair, thankful that your jacket had kept the rain from soaking you straight to the bone.

Steve appeared a minute later, two coffees and two muffins, “I wasn’t sure if you wanted something to eat so I got us muffins.”

“Thanks,” you smile, happily taking a bite out of it. Steve sits down and you suddenly feel rather awkward as he smiles at you. You’re not soulmates. Your vision is still black and white so... what was the point?

Steve seems to read your mind, “We’re not soulmates... It’s okay.” You breathe a sigh of relief and Steve can see you visibly relax.

“Yours is still black and white?”

He shakes his head, taking a sip of the coffee, “No, I... I met my soulmate a long time ago.”

“Oh?” you pause and he can see your eyebrows furrow in confusion.

“It was during the war we met,” he goes onto explain, “Things couldn’t really go anywhere since I woke up in the twenty first century... She died a couple of years ago.”

Well, shit. “Oh god, Steve, I’m so sorry. That’s... That’s horrible.”

Steve smiles, appreciating your genuine sympathy, “It’s okay,” he shrugs, “besides, I like to think I can make my own destiny; that there’s more than one person in the world that could be a match for me.”

A smile spreads onto your face. He was like a breath of fresh air, the way he spoke about things with such hope... it was inspiring. No wonder he was Captain America; everything America should have been, “I like the way your mind works.” And it’s true. You’d never met anyone who was so hopeful. Everyone you met followed the rules and stuck by them but Steve, despite his past and despite his definite trauma, he remained hopeful for a better future.

He asks about you and your situation, “Still black and white,” you tell him, “I have to send pictures of my outfits to my sister who met her soulmate years ago just to see if the colours go well together.” He laughs, “I’m in no rush to find my soulmate, if I ever find them. I don’t believe too much in it either.”

The pair of you look across the table at one another and smile and it’s an unspoken agreement of ‘are we going to do this?’. Steve takes a sip of coffee, hiding a bashful smile from behind the mug, “You know, I’m real glad your date stood you up.”

His kiss on your temple as he slides your mug of coffee over to you breaks you out of your trance, “Penny for your thoughts?”

“I’m real glad my date stood me up,” you murmur with a smile.

A slow grin spreads on his face, “Yeah, me too...”

Once you’ve eaten breakfast, gotten dressed and ready for the day ahead, you text Nat and ask her if you can come over. She responds right away telling you to come by whenever. You get ready to leave and say bye to Steve, who’s using a laptop looking up something else that Sam told him about.

“I’ll be home soon,” you say, kissing his hair, “Text me if you’re wanting me to pick up anything while I’m out.”

“I love you,” Steve calls as you’re pulling on your sneakers.

A pang of guilt hits you and you take a deep breath, “I love you too, Steve.”

You leave.

The drive to Natasha’s apartment is a short one and it helps that you’re breaking most of the traffic laws to get there. You need to tell someone. Honestly, at this rate, you’ll be having stomach ulcers with the stress. Maybe you were overreacting, maybe this wasn’t such a big deal... Maybe you would tell Nat and she would roll her eyes and tell you that it would be fine, to tell Steve and don’t talk to Bucky again. You hoped that it could be that easy but really... would it be?

Natasha immediately knew something was wrong, “Have you slept?” She asked, noting the dark circles under your eyes and your stressed appearance.

“Couple of hours.”

“What’s going on?”

“Coffee and then we’ll talk.” Nat nods and goes to the kitchen so prepare the coffee. Her apartment is bare but stylish. It’s not very personable but she wasn’t very personable so it makes sense. Nat always told you that she was ready to up and leave if she needed to. You follow her into the kitchen to see her lifting down two blue mugs, “Actually, can I get that red mug that’s on the top shelf?”

Nat nods and reaches up. Then she realises what you just said, “No fucking way.” You sigh, sitting at the kitchen island as she stares at you, throwing question after question at you, “You can see colour? When? How? Who?!”

“Coffee first, please.”

Natasha Romanoff has never moved faster in her life as she makes that cup of coffee and has it sitting in front of you within thirty seconds. She demands to know everything, “When?!”

“Last night at Stark’s party.”

Natasha snaps her fingers, “I knew something wasn’t right! You left so early and didn’t even say goodbye, by the way. Tony said you had a migraine but I thought something was off.”

You nodded, “Yeah, the colour was overwhelming and it gave me a migraine. It’s still pretty overwhelming, to be honest.”

Natasha leaned forwards, elbows propped onto the kitchen counter, “Is it...”

You shake your head, looking at your hands, “No... It’s not Steve.”

She curses under her breath, “Damn... I’m sorry, I can’t imagine how difficult that is but... doesn’t mean everything’s doomed. Who is it?”

All of a sudden, you can’t say anything; all you can do is stare at the coffee. Natasha begins to list of names, “Stark? Thor? Galactica man? Fury? Parker-”

“Nat, he’s seventeen!”

She holds up her hands, “Wanda? Strange? Sam? Maria Hill? Oh my god, is it me?” You roll your eyes at her and then she says it, “Bucky?” Your bottom lip trembles and Natasha’s jaw drops, “Bucky?! Bucky Barnes?” A nod is all you can muster, “Holy shit! I knew the universe is fucked but I didn’t realise it’s this fucked!”

“You said it doesn’t mean everything’s doomed, tell me it’s not doomed, Nat.”

“What did Steve say?! Holy shit, I can’t believe that. No wonder you didn’t sleep.” She sees your eyes lower, “You have told him, haven’t you?”

“I tried,” you whisper, “I tried, Nat. I-I couldn’t.” She sighs heavily, “It’s bad, isn’t it? It’s real bad.”

She nods, “Yeah, it’s gonna be bad.” The two of you are silent as you sip at the coffee, trying to figure out what the next move is. It feels good to talk about it with someone; feels much better to share the load with someone who isn’t Bucky.

“I don’t know how to tell him,” you say eventually, voice cracking with emotion, “I mean, how do you tell your boyfriend that his best friend is your soulmate?” Nat doesn’t have the answers and you know she doesn’t. She can’t tell you what to do. Bucky couldn’t tell you what to do either. You have to figure it out by yourself.

“Tell me everything.”

So you tell her everything. You tell her about seeing him, about going to get air, about Bucky finding you and having a secret conversation with him, about the migraine and about going home with Steve, “The worst part of it is... Bucky’s eyes were the first pair I saw in colour. How many times have I said to you even if Steve wasn’t my soulmate, how many times have I said I wanted his eyes to be the first ones I look into with colour vision? I feel like I’ve betrayed him.”

Nat’s hand reached out, clasping yours from across the table, “This isn’t your fault. I know that if you had your way, you would’ve seen colour with Steve from that very first glance. If not Steve, you would’ve picked me, obviously.” You laugh slightly, “Steve will understand that you didn’t want or mean for this to happen. His soulmate is someone else as well.”

“But his is dead. My soulmate is another Super Soldier who has a freaking metal arm and used to be an assassin!”

“Don’t knock assassins,” she scolds with a smile, “I’ve seen the way you and Steve are together and I know that you’re the real deal, soulmate or not. You know that too. Your talk with Bucky seems like you two are pretty okay with nothing happening between the pair of you and that’s a good first step.”

“What do I do?”

She squeezed your hand and gave you a small smile, “You know what to do.”

You let out a long breath and nodded slightly, “I have to tell Steve.”

Natasha smiled. She was one of your closest friends, she seemed to understand you pretty well. She understood your anguish and your pain and she would always listen to your problems. Steve was close with Nat for the exact same reasons. She helped and she listened. Natasha had welcomed you practically with open arms (except she hated hugs) when Steve introduced you to her. Straightaway she knew that you two were made for each other, even if the universe didn’t think it. She made a comment that stuck with you to this day,  ‘You both make each other a better person. You share the load and take turns of carrying the burdens. It’s not common that happens.’

To distract you, she updated you on her and Bruce Banner saying that he’d finally asked her out and their date was tonight, “I’m sorry. I know the last thing you want to deal with is my relationship problems,” you apologised as she told you.

“Don’t be silly, I’d rather help you than worry about what I’m meant to say on this date! I’ve not been on a date in years!”

“You’ll be fine,” you laughed, draining the last of your coffee, “You know that the pair of you are soulmates just... no work talk.”

Natasha looked like a deer caught in the headlights, “No work talk? What am I meant to talk about?!”

“I don’t know... the weather?”

The redhead rolled her eyes, “I’m not taking advice from someone who’s dating their soulmate’s best friend.”

“Low blow,” you said laughing. She did always know how to lighten the mood, “You’ll be fine, Nat.” As if on cue, you get a text, “It’s Steve... asking when I’m coming home. Can’t put it off any longer.” Standing, Nat tells you that she’s proud of you.

“It won’t be easy but... it’s the right thing to do.”

In the car ride over, you had rehearsed what you’d say to Steve. You would tell him everything that happened, you’d tell him about Bucky, about the conversation you had with him, about the real reason why you had a migraine and you’d apologise for not telling him as soon as it happened. You were scared but fear isn’t a real excuse to not do the right thing. You hoped that he wouldn’t hate you. You hoped that he would forgive you for not saying something sooner.

As you open Steve’s apartment door, you hear laughter... You frown as you close the door behind you, “Steve?” You call out.

“(y/n), you’re home,” Steve replies, “We’re in here.”

“Who’s we?” You ask, kicking off your shoes and peering around the corner,  “Oh.” You don’t look at the figure sitting next to Steve. You can’t. You’ll lose your composure and everything will be a mess again.

Steve grinned, “Bucky thought he’d stop by, isn’t that great?”

You force a smile, “Amazing! I’m going to go make myself some lunch.” Quickly, you rush into the kitchen, trying to slow your heartrate. What the fuck is he doing here?!

That’s when someone clear their throat from behind you, “I brought the coffee mugs we used back...” Bucky Barnes was the last person you wanted to see right now and now, here he was, standing in your kitchen trying to make conversation with you?! Universe, you and I need to have a good long chat.

“Why are you here?” Your voice is harsher than it should be but you’re annoyed. You’d agreed to only see each other when necessary not randomly! You thought that you’d be able to tell Steve yourself without unwelcome guests such as Bucky.

“Steve said you were out and I thought I’d be okay to see him for a few hours!” Bucky’s just as annoyed apparently not wanting to see you much more than you wanted to see him. He’s annoyed that you’re annoyed. You turn to him, glaring into those blue eyes, “Look, I know you hate me for fucking things up but... I needed to see you.”

“Why?!” You’re whisper shouting at each other and you were so glad that Steve didn’t have super hearing.

“Because I- I can’t stop thinking about you!” He hisses, arms flailing as his eyes bore into your soul, “I never slept because I couldn’t get you out of my head!”

You’re breathing hard as you look at him. He couldn’t sleep because he was too busy thinking of you? “You couldn’t sleep either?” Bucky cocks his head in confusion, “Every time I closed my eyes, all I saw were yours.” You explained and you give a bitter laugh, “Forgive me for being annoyed but I wanted the first colour I saw to be Steve’s eyes, not yours so yeah, I’m a little pissed.”

Bucky rolls his eyes, “Oh, I’m sorry, princess,” he scoffs, “If I had it my way, I wouldn’t have picked you to be my soulmate. Plenty more people better.” The comment stings. You don’t know Bucky at all, all you know is what Steve told you of him but so far, he had made a terrible impression. Though to be fair, you’d said similar things to him so... Immediately, he groans and realises how big of a dick he looks, “I’m sorry. I- I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just- It’s-”

“Complicated. I know... I’m sorry that I’ve been a bit of a bitch. I never thought that this would happen. I’m stressed and I feel like I’m going to get a stomach ulcer from the stress.”

Bucky nods, “I’m sorry too... I’m sorry for showing up here too. Steve said you’d be out but I was hoping to see you again. I couldn’t sleep last night because I couldn’t stop thinking about what would’ve happened if I’d met you first.”

“Bucky...” Your voice is a warning. A warning to not break over that threshold because once you break it, there’s absolutely no fixing it. It’s a warning that nothing will happen between the two of you. 

He realises and quickly straightens, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. Just... Just don’t go there,” you say with a nod as you turn around and open the fridge. You pull out some leftovers from your dinner the night before and go to the microwave to reheat it. The pair of you are quiet; the only noise to be heard is the hum of the microwave, “We should tell him,” you say eventually.

Bucky sighs. He too felt terrible for lying to Steve but he thought that hiding it was the easier thing to do, “Are you sure that’s what you want to do?”

You nod as the microwave beeps, “We have to tell Steve.”

“Tell me what?” Steve asks, walking into the kitchen and placing some dirty dishes on the counter, “What’s going on? You okay?” Your eyes fleet between Steve who remains happy yet confused and Bucky who won’t stop staring at you with the deep stare. 

Oh, fuck.