#and they asked the businesses in that town to stay open later bc most of them close at like 3 on sundays

[golddustdyke]

my local small town movie theater is showing 4 international gay films in the next coming month and it's enough to make a grown golddustdyke cry. i would have LOVED to have something like this while growing up but i'm so happy that young lgbt adults have something like this in their small country town

[whispersofrot]

any ideas for life with the school lI's after graduation? Doesn't have to be domestic

This was so ridiculously fun to write ty anon. I tried to keep this more when they’re like 19-22ish. If anyone wants the LI’s in a more well established life later down the road lmk.

Putting my answer under the cut bc this ended up being roughly 1k words.

Robin The Orphan

True to their boy/girl next door personality, I think Robin would find a life befitting of that trope. They wait tables at the cafe during the week. They use whatever money they have leftover at the end of the week to help out the kids at the orphanage, but after their debt's payed off they make sure Bailey never sees a cent of it. Robin also shares a small house/apartment with a few of the other kids you grew up with. 

Low Love: Robin dreams of moving out of this shithole town, after a while their need to get out overpowers their want to help the orphans and they start saving for the big move. If you ask them not to they'll listen, they've always looked up to you after all, but with how little you speak to each other these days, is it worth putting Robin through the pain of staying?

High Love: Robin starts dividing up their savings into funds for the orphanage and funds for their own cafe, or taking over at Sam’s(but that might require pc’s help in convincing that selfish bastard to hand it over). They’ve found comfort in the simple routines involved in their work, and found that their regulars are completely unphased when they crossdress on the clock. 

(Love the idea of Robin owning a small cafe and sharing an apartment with the pc above it. Like that’s such a cute idea)

Whitney The Bully

Looking at the way Whitney operates in the game, I don’t think it’d ever be made too obvious what they do with their life. I could see them hopping from job to job a lot, because they can’t seem to keep one longer than six months. They still roam the alley’s, but you typically only find them at night.  

Low Love: When you go to the pub to visit Landry, you’ve got about a 50/50 chance of seeing Whitney. You don’t know exactly what they’re doing, but you do know Landry’s been complaining about a new contact of theirs. If you try to confront Whitney, they’d either tell you it’s none of your business (low dom) or pick a fight to shut you up (high dom).

High Love: Most of the above is still true, but they’re more open about their more questionable side gig. You don’t know the details, but you do know finances aren’t a thing Whitney’s concerned with despite their inability to keep a job. At high love if you ask them about it they’ll just smile and insist that their pretty little slut doesn’t need to worry about it. 

(I also like the idea of Whit working at the pub when they’re a bit older and have sorta ‘calmed down’ a touch)

Kylar The Loner

After school I think Kylar would either become more involved in whatever their parents are up to(which we don’t know anything about besides that they happen to be powerful/influential) or become self employed in one way or another. I think the rest of their routine would be pretty similar.

Low Love: Kylar becomes more of a genuine threat to your day to day life around town, street encounters happen regularly(among other things). I think they’d also interfere more with your work, spreading malicious rumors to keep people away from you and breaking into wherever you live on the regular to mess with your personal belongings. Kylar might also try to threaten anyone you do have high love with. I honestly think you’d have to dismiss them at low love just to be able to have a functional life in town.

High Love: Kylar’s trying to live out their domestic fantasy. Any debt you still owe to Bailey they’d get rid of as soon as possible, even if they have to use their parents' money to do it. Much more insistent in celebrating your relationship(marriage as soon as humanly possible, gift giving regularly, living together, etc..). Kylar would be much easier to manage/keep happy after high school, they’re easier to avoid while being easier to please. On the flip side, I think refusing to participate in more domestic tasks regularly might set them off, so while you can avoid raising jealousy when out and about, the moment you get home it can be all too easy to significantly increase their jealousy. 

(I also think at this point high love high jealousy Kylar would be more prone to genuine outbursts, they’ve lost any subtlety they’ve had before. Probably rambling about how they’d never dream of hurting you while doing exactly that.)

Sydney The Faithful/Fallen

Sydney’s involvement with the temple is much more passive now, with corrupt Sydney leaving it all together and pure Sydney getting too caught up in college/work to do much more than their monthly inspections. If they’re not in college I think you could find them at the school still, they’ve replaced the old librarian. They’ve found themselves more interested in the temple's history rather than its current practice; you can find them at the lake on the weekends. 

Low Love: Syd always flew under the radar so I don’t think you’d really run into them much. Other than at the lake you might run into them at Sirris’s shop on occasion, but other than those two options I honestly can’t see them doing much else around town. 

High Love: Your relationship hasn’t done much to change how busy Syd is, but now you can accompany them to the lake or to visit Sirris. If you’ve kept them pure you can choose to help them out at the temple when they have the time to volunteer. At the lake they might tell you about some old secrets of the temple, fidgeting with their pendant as they tell you about what lies beneath the lake’s surface. You can’t tell if they believe it or not.

[btsmosphere]

Crossing Paths - drabble from the Crossfire universe

request from @excusemyuwus -

I remember Tae said he had a crush on her while working on that project so now I kinda want to see his pov of that time and how he was holding being around his crush lol, not gonna lie gangster Tae all nervous bc he like someone is something want to see (also imagine how much the guys would tease him uwu)

tumblr ate your ask when I tried to answer it, sorry! this is the only part I had copied, but if it ever resurfaces, I shall answer there. for now it is still refusing to cooperate so I am posting like this! (update: the ask just returned, it is here)

~pairing: taehyung x reader ~word count: 1.4k ~pre-relationship, fluff, angst, slice of life, mafia au, college au ~rating: g ~warnings: vague mention of gang activity, this is a gang au after all, but it’s not particularly prominent

~a/n: thank you for your great request! this was so nice to come back to, I am so sentimental about this series as my first bts fic🥰takes me back to when I was just getting into bts… it felt hard to do it justice! because of this, sorry it took me a while to write, but I wanted to do it well, and again I kept the theme of making my ‘drabbles’ wayyy longer😅final big thanks to the site being frustrating and eating drafts and such🙃🙃but here it is, finally seeing the light of day! I hope you enjoy it x

“I can tell something’s on your mind, Tae.”

Jimin stared coolly at his friend. Looking over his shoulder guiltily as he unlocked the door, Tae found the other boy with his hands in his pockets, looking expectant.

All Tae could do was shrug as he elbowed the door open, heading to ditch his bag.

“Hey, Jimin’s right.”

A light flick on Tae’s forehead made him startle, looking up to find Hobi grinning, though his head was tilted to one side in question.

“What is it?”

Jimin’s shoulder nudged his own as they sunk into the sofa.

Tae checked his phone.

“It’s just a project for class, don’t worry about it,” he pocketed his phone, ignoring their gazes, “I gotta meet with my partner in an hour.”

“It’s okay, I wasn’t staying that long anyway,” Hobi slumped down too, having helped himself to a drink from the fridge, “I’m on watch with Yoongi across town.”

As the discussion turned to this week’s jobs and deals, Taehyung rested his head back against the sofa. The sounds of his friends’ conversation was like static. Instead, he was picturing the scene in class earlier, as the slideshow was flipped to show the project partners on the screen.

Tae hadn’t been too fussed, idly playing with his pen lid as he searched for his name. But when his eyes fell on it, he sat up straight.

Having only bumped into you a few times in class, he had never expected his heart to be hammering quite so hard as he quickly scanned the room for you. Sliding his things away, he had walked towards you as everyone began to file out, meeting you halfway as you did the same.

Leaning against a desk to keep his jittery hands occupied, he grinned at you.

Your returning smile, he noticed, was much more nervous, only flickering into existence for a wavering second. The two of you had only a brief conversation to sort out when you would meet, before you had practically scurried away.

His eyes had lingered on you as his smile slowly sank.

Unconsciously poking his tongue against his cheek, Tae wondered if you were afraid of him.

“Hey!”

A finger clicked sharply in front of his face. He blinked back at Hobi’s grin, Jimin bursting into laughter at his side.

“Just a project, my ass,” Hobi shook his head, dumping an empty bottle on the coffee table, “don’t wanna be late, do you?”

A radiant smile was tossed over his shoulder as Hobi left the room, front door clicking soon after.

Sending his best friend a knowing look, Jimin also gathered himself to stand.

“Have fun tonight, yeah?”

He winked. Tae protested, shooting up from the sofa with an affronted look.

“So it is a special someone?” Jimin giggled.

“You’re impossible,” Tae grumbled, trailing after him to the door, “it’s just a project, I told you.”

Jimin hummed in a way which made it very clear he didn’t believe him.

“Don’t scare them off, tiger,” he remarked, stepping outside.

Tae’s shoulders slumped. He was certain that was just what he had already done.

“I’m busy tonight. And my house isn’t free, so I can’t have anyone showing up here.”

Namjoon chuckled across the line.

“All this for a college project?” Clearly he had heard about this from the others. “If you could lend Kook some of your commitment to school, that would be great,” he teased.

Sighing, Tae spun around to survey the road outside his window, ruffling his own hair.

“You’re very funny, but I need to go. See you tomorrow.”

Tae was certain he would never hear the end of this from the others. It was true that he had firmly set aside time for your meeting today, even if it was only for a minor college presentation. But it was important to him.

He knew that this was the only time he would get together with you, and though it would end as soon as the presentation was given, he couldn’t help but want to make the most of it. At your last meeting, he had been largely distracted by the dizzying height of your apartment, leaving him shying back from any windows.

So this left you with his house today instead.

Arriving soon after Tae’s phone call, you were both soon seated on his floor. Though you mostly worked in quiet with occasional, quick conversation, it was not awkward. Your legs lay close together under the coffee table as you scribbled away diligently on its surface.

Glancing over the lid of his laptop as his fingers hung idly, Tae sighed. Watching as your pen swirled across your notebook, he let his eyes drift across your focussed features.

He swallowed as he did so, teeth tugging his lip. A light frown came over your features. He couldn’t take his eyes away from your lips as your pen lifted to your mouth, resting between your teeth as you mulled the work over, eyes flitting about the page.

Eventually, the lack of tapping at his keyboard must have got through to you. You raised your head.

Too late to divert his gaze, Taehyung cleared his throat and muttered a proposal for a break. Eager as well to put your work aside, you clambered from the floor to join him at his offer of a drink.

Moving through to the kitchen, he made casual conversation, asking after your dad. Last time there had only been a brief meeting, as he met Tae at the door before you hurried him away.

Picking up on his offer to chat, you teased Tae for his fear of heights, giggling over how he had screwed his eyes shut whenever he had come within sight of the view from your windows.

Of course, Tae tried his best to roll his eyes at you, but the smile dragging the corners of his mouth refused to be suppressed.

He poured your drinks. When he turned away to put the cartons back in the fridge, he took a breath, trying to settle himself. Why did he feel so flustered?

Squaring his shoulders a little more, he turned back, only for his hand to catch one of the glasses. It clattered against the surface, barely leaving time for him to jump back and avoid being splattered with its contents.

You hopped from your seat, ready to help.

Swallowing down his shock, Tae scratched at the back of his neck to hide his slightly trembling hand.

“Don’t worry,” he quickly muttered, flashing a nervous smile as he gathered towels and set to cleaning up.

Soft laughter followed from you. Still, you reached across to help.

Righting the glass and taking one of the cloths to clear up, your hand came concerningly close to Tae’s own. He kept his eyes firmly fixed on the countertop, his cheeks warm even as you finished and he was rooting in the fridge again for a refill.

You seemed miraculously unfazed by his flailing, though, he noticed as you finally settled beside each other sipping your drinks.

“So it went well?”

Jimin nudged a reluctant Tae, eyebrows wiggling all the time.

“Yes, fine,” Tae groaned, trying to shrug him off.

Jimin did stop, but only in favour of staring at his friend with doleful eyes.

“Don’t be like that. You’ll see her again. You literally share a class!”

“It’s nothing like that,” Tae refuted.

He even halfway believed it.

You had got on well together, but surely not more than could be expected of most classmates? He sighed a little as he thought of it. It had been fun, but there was no excuse to spend any more time with you.

Besides, sparing one night to work on a project was a little different to becoming friends, or even more…

There was a reason the bangtan boys stuck to themselves.

But as he reminisced, he knew he had a soft spot for you, even if it should come to nothing. The project was over, the presentation given, but he still remembered the way you bounced with excited relief after you had finished talking to the class. Your face was glowing as you high-fived him with a grin, the work having paid off.

There was still a hint of nervousness though, and you had only given a timid smile and a small ‘see you later’ before heading out of class.

And that was the end of it.

But Tae smiled to himself. It had been fun, and he knew he wouldn’t be sorry if you ever crossed paths again.

Thank you for reading! Reblogs and comments super appreciated always!!

Taglist: @aianloveseven​ @preciouschimine​ @un2-verse​ @ddaechwita​ @taegularities​ 

[arsenicxarcana]

m5(4?) helping you rehabilitate banished lucio

or rather reacting to “hey i brought this hobo home can we keep him”

(tending towards nadia’s/THD)

NADIA:

oh you poor sweet summer child, what have you done

may lock him up in the dungeons at first, to make sure he can’t try anything

hope you like loud goat wailing that can be heard across the palace because the absolute LAST thing he wants is to be isolated again

you have to convince her he’s in no state to answer for his crimes like this, not yet, let him recover a little first - all he wants right now is a warm bed and someone to care about him, not taking over vesuvia

(and if this changes you can put him right back in jail)

this does not change, he’s mostly interested in staying close to you

for the most part she remains hands-off, just authorizing various acquisitions for him like any other guest

he will sometimes try to give her little gifts, usually food/wine or little trinkets left outside her door like a cat bringing dead mice

she takes them when no one is around

she may catch him at this one day, and they have a little talk through the crack in the door because he’ll bolt if she opens it

“i’m sorry” “i know. i can’t forgive you” “i know”

this becomes a thing, usually late at night, sitting by her door and telling her things, bringing her more specific gifts based on any troubles she might have had, asking her for advice about making you happy

eventually, maybe, you might even be able to convince them to take lunch together, with you sitting between them as a trusted shield

JULIAN:

he WANTS to say absolutely not, not in a million years, he doesn’t deserve the kindness, especially not yours

he WANTS to send him right back to the realms himself, or call the guards, anything to keep him away from you

but he is a doctor, and helping is in his nature

and it’s obvious to anyone with eyes that this poor bastard needs help

and he knows what it’s like to be alone and uncertain of your future

lucio treats him as if they were already old friends, something that seems to endear and rankle him

at first he says he’ll only check him over to make sure he’s not hurt or sick, then you’re on your own, he washes his hands of this nonsense

then he says maybe bring him back around later for another check-up, just in case he missed something the first time

then he says that maybe you two could stick around for a little while, it looks like there’s a storm on the horizon

then he says the room above the clinic is open, most of the time, he’s much too busy to sleep as much as he should, if lucio needs somewhere to lie low for a bit

then he says actually there’s my place in south end, a bit more accommodating but no less abandoned, that might be a little more your speed

and then you find yourself all three coming back from a night on the town, crashing higgledy-piggledy in and around julian’s bedroom, a tangle of limbs and drunken laughter

julian attempts to cook breakfast for you afterwards, with mixed results

(just because lucio will eat it doesn’t mean it’s edible)

ASRA:

he trusts your judgment

usually

not this time, please put that thing back where it came from or so help me

i don’t care if he doesn’t want to go back he can’t stay here, not in this house, not after everything he’s done

there MAY be a fight and it MAY get ugly

either asra storms tf out or they kick both of you out for the night before he can do something stupid

they feel bad as hell, at least for you

if you’ve been kicked out, you take lucio down to the rowdy raven and set up together in the spare room above the bar (and he’s probably crying bc he’s about 75% sure you’re going to get rid of him for Causing Problems)

if asra left, you let lucio have the couch but you’re not about to sleep until asra comes back (crying less, still awkward as hell)

finally, either way, he comes to apologize

but he really, really doesn’t want you to keep the goat and pls think of an alternative? why does it have to be you?

“i’m the one that put him there in the first place”

you don’t! have to feel bad for that!! look at him he’s fine

(lucio currently all but hiding behind you and holding your hand tight, making the saddest little face)

“i can’t just abandon him again, asra. i couldn’t bear it”

oh, curse your good nature

they love that about you but right now it’s the bane of his existence

you tell asra he doesn’t have to forgive him, or even like him - just help me get him back on his feet, pls, just trust me

god. fine. but he sleeps on the couch. and the minute he’s no longer pathetic his ass is out the door

faust stop chilling on his shoulders i swear to god--

PORTIA:

she doesn’t have the old history, but she remembers the recent history (stealing your body and being a dick), so she’s still gonna be hostile

there will probably be at least one physical brawl

will probably definitely make him cry

feels bad about it

pepi seems to trust him for some reason (bc fuck you n*h) and she trusts pepi so it can’t be all bad??

gonna put his ass to work in the vegetable garden if he’s expected to stay in her cottage, which he might because it’s close to the palace (but far from people)

he might complain but honestly this is nothing compared to the realms

in return he gets good food, a warm bath, and a pillow pile shared with you, portia and pepi

portia will definitely help you socialize him, especially if you’re not that extroverted yourself, taking him on trips into the city

once he feels more comfortable around her they feed off each other’s energy until they’re one big mass of chaos

you regret your life choices

her cuddly, affectionate nature lines up nicely with his touch starvation and they often become inseparable at the bed time or other soft, quiet moments where you’re just in each other’s company

MURIEL:

lmao nah

unless this man finds the hobo first AND feels bad enough to not just leave his ass alone in the forest, good luck with getting him to help you with this

your memory privileges are absolutely revoked goodbye

[mediocre--writing]

hiiiiiii :D

i’m going to give you both a harringrove and a kegboys thing

harringrove: the mindflayer didn’t kill billy and billy spent months recovering. when he was let out he didn’t speak to people. but steve was the only one capable of holding onto the patience enough for billy to eventually start talking to him. billy gets a job at a slow business convenient store/gas station. and steve meets him to have lunch together outside in the back every day.

kegboys: steve had a pine tree at the front of his house with a yellow ribbon for barb. and one year billy cuts it down without knowing about its significance. steve eventually finds out what happened and tommy had to take him to the other room before telling billy what he’d done. they spend the day making steve feel better by getting a brand new tree and retying a ribbon even bigger than before.

oooooh these are both so good.

Harringrove: I think that, especially after Steve's whole fiasco with the Russians, he doesn't mind the quietness that comes with Billy. Doesn't mind waiting for him to speak because Steve himself does't really know what he would even say.

Steve's parents, after his 18th birthday, pretty much never came home. They had like seven other houses elsewhere and Steve was his own functioning adult, so they, frankly, didn't give two shits. So Billy stays with him. Plus, Steve's got no job after the mall burned down and his parents are still paying for the house and everything, it's not like it's much of an issue.

They bond in a silent way. Billy can't talk. Like physically, for the first three-ish months, can't get his voice to come out in any understandable fashion, as having a tentacle forced down his throat pretty much ripped at every bit of skin there.

But they communicate. Steve is used to his lonely life in a mansion and just appreciates another body being there that makes it not so lonely.

They function around each other. Whoever gets up first makes the coffee, whoever goes to sleep last turns the main lights off. Whoever opens the clean dishwasher has to empty it and whoever tracks the most snowy footprints in has to mop next.

The first time Billy really talks to Steve is after a nightmare. But not from Billy (he's become really good at controlling how loud his whimpers and crying can get, even asleep [fuk u neil🖕]). Steve is pretty much screaming bloody murder in his sleep and Billy can barely get up the tall staircase as it is, but mixed with sleep and his rush, he slips a few times trying to get to Steve, thinking something is really wrong.

By the time he bursts into Steve’s room, Steve is sitting straight up in bed staring at the blurry light while trying to catch his breath. Billy cautiously walks up to him, flips on a lamp light so there wouldn’t be any in-the-dark scares for Steve, and sits across from him on the edge of the bed. 

Steve ultimately just collapses into Billy’s chest and sobs and sobs and sobs until he’s got it all out and the only thing that can be heard are Steve’s unsteady breaths and Billy’s reassurances. It’s the softest Steve thinks he’s ever heard Billy speak to anyone. 

Steve starts sleeping in the guest room downstairs with Billy after another incident when he starts screaming occurs because it wears Billy down a lot to battle the stairs (his muscles are worn thin and he has very little strength these days). Steve stirs in his sleep but hasn’t panicked like that since he started cuddling with Billy. 

Joyce eventually pulls some strings and gets Billy a job at Melvald's (small town business start picking up after Starcourt burning down) where he can just sit in a chair at the front and check people out. Occasionally she’ll have him stock small things like keychains or the snacks at checkout. 

Steve visits most days during Billy’s break time. Brings take out from Benny’s or leftovers that Mrs. Henderson insisted on dropping off every other week because the boys “needed good, homemade food that they wouldn’t make for themselves.” 

Billy has never felt more taken care of in his life and enjoys the gentle breeze when he and Steve chat behind Melvald’s and eat, sharing what’s happened during the few hours they’d spent apart or discussing what their weekend plans would be. Maybe what they were hungry for for dinner that night. 

One day, when they’re eating a tuna casserole straight out of the Tupperware Mrs. Henderson had put it in, a stray cat comes and kneads gently at Billy’s thigh, over his jeans, and he puts a bit of the casserole on a napkin for the small kitty. 

It becomes a routine and eventually he brings out a can of cat food from the store to feed the cat when he takes his breaks. They call her Melly (after Melvald’s, of course) and eventually she finds a way to sneak into the Camaro and becomes a full-fledged, sassy, rude house cat that has to sleep in the bed with the boys every night or she will scream her little cat scream and scratch at the door until they let her in. 

Kegboys: (ok I tweaked this just a tad bc I couldn’t find a reason for billy to just chop down a random tree) Steve planted the tree after she’d passed away. He didn’t know how to feel about it. He felt awful, of course. He goaded her into drinking with them just because he wanted Nancy and look where that got him. He basically killed a girl and he lost his girlfriend.

He plants this tree, it’s thin and just taller than he is, but every year, after winter ends and plants bloom again, he ties a beautiful yellow bow around the thickest branch near the trunk. He looks at it every morning through the window, the small pine tree at the end of the driveway. 

Only Tommy was there that night, the night a few weeks after it had all “ended” (the first time) and Steve breaks down. Sobs like he never has before, talking in fragmented sentences about how he’s to blame, he killed Barb out of teenage ignorance and because he wanted to have sex with Nancy Wheeler. What a fuckin’ waste. 

Tommy is actually the one who suggests they plant the tree in the first place, a life now gone for a life yet to live. Steve takes care of that tree like if it died, he would too. 

Steve ties a ribbon on it the first year. Tommy adds a second the next year. 

Nobody else really cares. It’s a tree, not a giant portrait of the girl, for crying out loud. Nobody says anything about the bow that gets put on the tree because nobody would put together that the tree represented Barb, it’s just a tree to everyone else. 

Billy wasn’t around for the beginning. He knew that a girl close to Nancy and Steve had died, sure, but he hadn’t known that it was in Steve’s pool and he never knew about the pine tree that grew at the top of the driveway. 

There was a storm, a big one right at the tail end of summer, one that ripped up plants and trees and shingles off of houses, flooded the ditches and low points in the town. 

Billy takes it upon himself to try and fix the Harrington’s trashed yard once the storms let up. He rakes away all the pine straw that had descended and piles up all the large branches and debris. There’s a tree, the pine tree that usually stands tall at the end of the driveway, that was severed at the base, only a mere three or four feet still protruding from the ground, the rest split and resting, half connected, on the ground. 

Billy breaks off the part that was already off, puts it in the pile with the rest of the debris. 

The stump stays at the end of the driveway and Billy goes inside, walks up to Steve and Tommy in the living room after washing his hands and grabbing some water. Tells them that he straightened up the yard. 

“And that tree at the end was broken, so I picked off the part left hanging and put it on the fire pile. I figure we can find something else to plant in it later this week or--”

He’s cut off by Steve jumping off the couch and running out of the front door. He stands a few feet away from the stump left over and falls, bare knees hitting the still damp and muddy ground as he shows no other reaction. 

Tommy’s right behind him, holds his shoulders from behind as he stares at the tree. Billy, from behind Tommy, doesn’t ask a question but stares confusedly at the boys who seem distraught by the disappearance of a seemingly meaningless tree. 

Gentle coaxing, “C’mon, Steve. It’s alright, it’ll grow back and we can buy more ribbon, I promise, but you have to come inside, you’re all muddy,” from Tommy convinced Steve to come inside. 

With no care for how his mother would react to her perfectly white rug being ruined by the dirt, Steve trudges through and eventually lays on the couch, cradling a pillow to his chest while Tommy promises to make him something warm to drink. 

He beckons Billy into the kitchen with him as he puts the kettle on the burner, enough water for all three of them to have tea, and turns to Billy. 

“Why’s he so upset about a tree?” Billy didn’t mean for it to sound harsh or inconsiderate, he was just curious why Steve seemed so distraught over a pine tree that was nowhere near as tall as the ones that were around the house. 

“Ok, so, you know Barb, the girl that died here?”

“She died here!?”

“You didn’t know?”

“Well nobody talks about it, how was I supposed to know?” 

“You should--Nevermind, anyway, she died here because of the whole other-world-monster-guy and Steve blamed himself for it, for, like, ever,” Tommy rested his elbows on the counter, “So, when he finally told me about it, we wanted to do something for her, like a memorial thing, anyway, we decided on a tree and he always ties the yellow ribbon around it and he takes care of it like it’s a child, but it’s gone so--”

“--He feels like he let her die again. Like it was his fault,” Billy concludes. 

“Yeah,” Tommy assures before turning to the cupboards and pulling down three mugs, pouring the hot water in before placing tea bags in each. 

“I mean, is there anything we can do? I feel awful, but the tree was already snapped, I couldn’t have like mended it or anything. I swear it wasn’t intentional,”

“You wouldn’t have known, it’s not your fault. I think Steve just feel a little out of his own mind at the moment, like he lost the hold he had on her. I really don’t know,”

Billy and Tommy stayed on the couch with Steve that day, they just rested and drank tea, listen to soft music on the radio, and took care of the droopy brunet. 

They didn’t replace the tree. They let the old one stay and made sure to take excellent care of it. They’d tie three ribbons on the tree every year, made sure they were tied tightly, the tree growing faster and more prosperous than before, and Steve was better. 

He realized that sometimes you have to get cut down before you can really unveil your true potential, that a little extra love can do wonders. 

[sanktnikolais]

A Little Wicked

A/N: so here is your resident zoyalai writer again with another zoyalai fic (bc what’s new) for the @grishaversebigbang​ mini bang!!!! This had been a fun mini event before the actual big one, and I had the absolute honor to work with two very awesome and great artists @generalstarkov and @jjelliacee!!! I love these two sm they have awesome creations pls give them a follow and no i don’t take no for an answer HAHAHA

Check out their awesome creations in companion with this fic! 

@generalstarkov [x]

@jjelliacee [x]

Word count: 2320

Summary: A commotion at one of the Lantsov’s businesses in Kribirsk happens, and it is going to be a lot of paperwork and stress for the Consigliere to work on again. But when he gets there, he doesn’t expect who the main reason of his suffering is. 

To say that Zoya was utterly pissed off was an understatement. There was something about seeing the gray shade of the Brum associates's coats that ticked at her patience. 

          Their color looks dead, Nikolai’s unwanted and yet familiar voice echoed in her head. She wanted to strangle him even when he was not physically there. As if the Lantsov green was any better than gray. But she figured that maybe it was a bit better than the dull shade she was now seeing in front of her. 

          She had come—escaped—to the small pub downtown in Kribirsk to have some breather away from the fiasco that happened in Os Kervo. She’d already had enough shit from the Brums intercepting the Lantsovs’ arms shipments, and she had held back from going completely undiplomatic on them.

          But now, if the Brum lackeys continued their uncivilized talks with her, perhaps she wouldn’t hold back.

          “Are you sure you don’t want some company?” he asked for the third time, and the two other men with him laughed.

          Zoya suppressed an exasperated sigh as she raised the glass to her lips. She eyed the young man with a narrowed glance, then turned her attention to his cuffs. The embroidery around it looked new, a double black stripes of a newly promoted Soldier from an Associate. His companions had the same rank. So that explained the unawareness of who she really was, and the common principle between the families.

          They didn’t have an explicit rule that members of a Family weren’t allowed in another’s business, but all seemed to have an unspoken agreement to stay away from a rival territory unless invited. Out of respect, she figured, and they did maintain it most of the time. Maybe these morons hadn’t been briefed about it yet. 

          An idea suddenly came to her mind. A mad, trouble-worthy idea that she was sure Nikolai would have enabled if it wasn’t about to give him a headache later. He was her literal headache anyway, so it was only fair if she paid back in kindness. Besides, she could use a bit of stretching today. 

          Zoya smiled menacingly. “Come closer, and I’ll tell you,” she said in a rather sensual tone, and it earned a grin from the man in the middle. He did as he was told, leaning forward on the table and inching closer to her face. When he was finally near enough, she let out a light chuckle. 

          Then she swiped the bottle of whiskey from the table and struck it to the man’s head.

          He recoiled with a scream of pain, and she didn’t give time for his companions to react and kicked the table to them, causing it to flip over and hit them on their faces. They toppled on the floor in a heap.

          “Saints,” Zoya sighed as she stood and opened the top two buttons of her top. She was mad and exhausted and drunk. She needed a breather. 

          The man who had annoyed her since earlier tried to stand up, but she put her heel to his face and kept him on the floor. His two other companions looked up at her, bewildered. She gave them a pointed glance that had them frozen in their places.

          “Who do you think you are, woman?” the man underneath her heel shouted. He tried to twist off from her foot, but she drove her toe further down to his cheek. Another pained groan came from him.

          Zoya slowly rolled up the sleeve, showing the dragon tattoo that twisted around the expanse of her forearm. 

          “Oh, shit,” one of the men said. “It’s the Lantsovs.” 

          She smirked in return and braced an elbow to her knee, leaning closer to the man. “Allow me to introduce myself, then.”

***

          The first thing Nikolai thought of when he saw the state of the building were the paperworks, and it only became worse when he finally got inside and saw more of the mess. When he received a call regarding some ruckus in one of their businesses, he thought it was a prank. Even businesses as small as this still had a lot of records that needed to be taken care of, and it was his job to handle those paperworks. He almost wanted to cry. Couldn’t the people choose any other location than this?

          “Nikolai.”

          He was startled out of his lamenting when he heard his name called, and he turned to see Tamar with a pitiful expression. “I know, I know,” he said, looking back at the sight in front of him.

          Toppled tables and chairs along with broken bottles of expensive drinks littered the floor, and the smell of alcohol filled the pub with a bracing odor. Nikolai looked down to his feet, seeing what he could tell was what was left of a Hennessy bottle lying on the floor. There was a slight twinge in his chest. Such a sad, sad waste.

          “I’ve talked to some of the witnesses,” said Tamar after a moment, her voice thoughtful. "I think it was the Brums." 

          "Dearest saints in the heavens, give me more patience," muttered Nikolai with a wince. Today's news about their shipment getting intercepted had been bad enough. Driving almost two hours to this saintsforsaken town just to know that the same family had caused them another trouble? Atrocious. He could already feel a headache coming at him. "Were the police involved?"

          "Yeah, they've arrested four people. Three men, and apparently one woman." 

          Nikolai put a hand to his forehead, rubbing it gently as if doing so would keep the headache from coming. But when his temple started to pound, he figured the attempt was futile. 

          Then a thought struck him, and he turned to the Lantsov caporegime with a frown. "There's a woman?" He didn’t know why, but there was an uneasy feeling in his gut. "Arrested?" 

          "Apparently, yes. It's quite a surprise too."

          "Oh, dear me." 

          The headache finally came to hit him full force, and Nikolai had to wince. His migraine was nasty, but he knew Zoya's anger was nastier if she knew about this ruckus later. 

          But speaking of that woman…. 

          "Wait, where is Zoya again?" he asked Tamar in genuine wonder. He hadn't heard from her since she reported about the shipments this morning. "And Tolya? Why wasn't she alerted first about this mess?" 

          The Lantsov caporegime visibly paled, and dread washed over Nikolai. His mind started to come up with the worst scenarios, making the pounding on his temple worse than it already was. 

          "About that…."

          "Tamar," he said, voice hard. Something was definitely not right, and Nikolai narrowed his eyes. Zoya was supposed to be the one handling this matter. Where was she when she was needed? "What is it?" 

          Tamar sighed, and with a quiet voice, she said, “Tolya is trying to find Zoya.”

          “He’s doing what now?”

          “He said that Zoya just suddenly got up and drove off after the mess in Os Kervo. He hadn’t seen her since.”

          “Where is she? Had he found her?”

          As if on cue, a ring tone blared, making the both of them jump. They both scramble for their own phones. It wasn't his phone, so it only meant it was Tamar's. 

          Tamar winced when she stared at the phone screen. "It's Tolya." 

          Nikolai snatched the phone from the woman's hands and answered it. "Tolya," he said. 

          The other line was silent for a moment, and then a slightly panicked, "I can explain." 

          "Don't mind that. Where is she?" 

          There was a short pause before the line disconnected. Nikolai frowned. 

          "What—" 

          A sharp ting sounded, signaling that a text message had just arrived. He narrowed his eyes at it. 

          It was an address, and it looked familiar. 

-

          Nikolai waited at the front desk of the precinct, with his fingers massaging at his temple to soothe the throbbing away. So this was why he felt a strange dread in his stomach when Tamar mentioned about a woman who got arrested. 

          Because it was Zoya all along. 

          The woman on the deks finally returned, and she turned her attention to Nikolai. "Yes?" 

          He straightened up and fixed his tie. "I'm here for Zoya Nazyalensky," he said, a little unsure if he was speaking coherently. "Attorney Nikolai Lan—"

          "Oh, are you her lawyer and husband?" 

          "Yes, I—" Nikolai blinked. It took a minute for the words to sink in. What? "I'm sorry, can you repeat that?" 

          "Her lawyer husband, or who she says is the one to get her out," the woman said. A shadow of fear flashed across her face. "She and those three other guys caused quite a damage in a bar though." 

          He raised an eyebrow and turned to the direction where the woman was pointing. There were three men sitting by the bench on the side, huddled up so closely they looked like they were practically glued to each other. The bruises on their faces only proved that they were involved with the mess in the bar. Caused by Zoya. Nikolai narrowed his eyes, noticing the shade of their coats to be ash gray. He scoffed. Brums, indeed. Now he quite understood the anger his boss had.

          They finally noticed Nikolai, and, if it was still possible, became paler than they already were. The three of them shrunk back further into their seats.

          “They were too afraid to be in the same cell with the woman that got arrested with them and they preferred to stay here in the waiting lounge," the woman said grimly, making him turn back to her. "Scary looking woman, your wife is. Are you here to get her out on bail?"

          That is a good question, Nikolai thought. Should he get her out right away? Or let her stay for a few more hours so she could reflect on her mistakes? But knowing Zoya, it's the mistakes that would need to reflect on themselves. "Yes, but can I see my, uh, " he said, "my wife first?"

          “Of course. Give me a moment, sir.”

          She disappeared from the desk again and made her way to the maze of desks behind her. A few minutes later, she reappeared, but with Zoya Nazyalensky trailing behind her this time. Apparently, his boss didn’t look like she was just arrested—she still walked with deadly grace, with her hand braced on her shoulder where her coat was slung, and a downturned sneer on her lips. But what caught his attention was the bottle in her other hand.

          A new wave of pain hit Nikolai’s temple, and he had to sigh in exasperation. How was she able to bring alcohol to the precinct? And they didn’t even take it from her?

          Zoya caught his gaze, and her expression quickly melted into a cheery one that terrified Nikolai. She never smiled like that. “Darling,” she said, her voice mocking honey-sweet, “it’s so good to see you.”

          “Of course, sweetheart,” he replied with the same tone, and it only brought back her dark glare. He winced as he approached her, his hand enclosing around the exposed tattoo on her arm. “Zoya, what the hell. Isn’t it supposed to be me you’re helping to get out of trouble? Why had the tables turned?”

          “Questions after questions, dear Consigliere. One at a time. But to not answer anything, I needed a drink, and the Brums pissed me off twice today. I only gave the favor back,” she muttered before she leaned back and laughed lightly, continuing the act of a ‘loving wife’ who was glad to see her husband. Then a glare appeared in her eyes as she looked over the three men on the bench. They visibly shook in fear. “Let’s just get out of here before I decide to completely make them unidentifiable.” 

          “That doesn’t even help—” He stopped when Zoya gave him a glare. With another sigh, he said, “Fine. But let’s keep it cool until we step out of here, alright?

          She just rolled her eyes and put the bottle back to her lips. Nikolai turned back to the front desk with a smile that he was sure looked like a grimace. Then after a few minutes of handling the ordeal, with the amount of bail surely hurting their coffers, they were finally ready to walk freely from the precinct. He sighed as he shoved his wallet back to his coat, and was about to call for Zoya when he heard the sound of a glass breaking.

          “If I see you three near our property again—”

          Nikolai’s eyes widened when he saw Zoya pointing a half-broken whiskey bottle at the three men, and he scrambled to her side. He put a hand on her shoulder, trying to hold her back but her stance was unrelenting. “Zoya, dear, what did I say about keeping it cool?” he mumbled in her ear all the while keeping a smile to his face as he looked around the alarmed people in the precinct. 

          The three Brum associates only nodded in understanding as if Zoya had completed her sentence, and it seemed to sate her because she finally let Nikolai drag her out of the building. When they got out of the doors, they both dropped the act and immediately stepped away from each other as if they had just burned. Tolya and Tamar were already waiting for them by the car across the street.

          “Free at last,” muttered Zoya.

          “Why didn’t you text or call me right away?” Nikolai asked incredulously. “Would have gotten some medicine for the headache as precaution.”

          Zoya turned to him with a frown. “You speak as if you’re not a headache yourself.” Then she let out an annoyed breath, averted her eyes, and lowly added, “I forgot your number.”

          He raised an eyebrow, amusement suddenly overpowering his headache. “Zoya Nazyalensky forgetting something? So unheard of,” he said. Then a smile crept up to his lips. This woman was really something else. “And you dare to forget your husband’s number?”

          Nikolai barely had the time to dodge the broken bottle flying towards him. 

[janetbrown711]

My headcanons about Sir William the Good

This is like my Angelina II post, so be sure to check that one out too

Oh! And be sure to check out this fic, because it talks about a few of these situations ^^

As always, if you have any questions/requests about them, my ask box is always open :)

Buckle up, because I have a lot of thoughts

Early life: 

His mother died not long after he was born, so he has no memory of her

His father’s name was Alan, and he loved William dearly, and William loved him too

His best friend growing up was Heloise Nerz (more better known as Hello Nurse)

They ran around Acme Falls like little rascals and were mostly adored by the town

She was always a lot smarter than him though, so whenever they got into trouble she’d have to usually get them out of it, though William was always very apologetic and felt very guilty when he did something wrong

Despite what the townspeople whispered and joked about, William never had a crush on her and vice versa. They were both just really good friends

His father got sick of a mysterious illness when he was eight, and died in less than a year, and William missed him terribly

He wandered around Acme Falls for jobs, and while most folks were willing to give him work, he felt unfulfilled and tried to search for the perfect job

No less than a year of searching, a royal knight came into town looking for a squire, and William jumped at the opportunity

He was young for a squire (he wasn’t even 10 yet) but the good natured knight liked his spark and took him under his wing. 

It was hard for William to leave Acme, but he promised to write to the town when he could, and so he left. 

For the first few years he did more of chores than actual knight training- but William never complained. He looked up to the knight quite a lot, to the point where he was basically a second father figure

However, once he turned 12, the real training began, and it was intense.

William never really complained though, knowing what he had signed up for

He was best at sword fighting, though he was a terrible equestrian

When he was 15, he was taken to the royal palace for further knighthood training, and he met Angelina on his first day by making an utter fool of himself (tripping over a bucket of water)

To his surprise, this didn’t push Angelina away, and William fell in love instantly. 

Often, she’d watch him during his horseback riding lessons and would laugh when he screwed up and cheer for him when he succeeded, which made him work harder and harder for her. 

Sometimes they even rode together, which was fun (though she beat him every time, but William was a very good sport about it- which Angelina greatly appreciated)

However, their favorite activity to do was to stroll and plant in the garden. Often the two were busy with their lessons, but they’d try their darnedest to squeeze in the time together

The queen, Angelina the First, strongly disapproved of him, but since William hadn’t really done anything wrong, he couldn’t find good reason to send him away, so he remained at the castle. 

William knew how much Angelina hated the suitors and would always try to get the next day off to spend it with her to help her feel better

When he saw the bruise Salazar had left on Angelina he nearly cried out of empathy for her and her situation, and swore that he would never let anything like that happen to her ever again

(That was when Angelina realized she was in love with him too)

They began their secret relationship when he was 19 and she was 18. 

He proposed two years later, right before gaining his knighthood, and Angelina didn’t hesitate to say yes

William was prepared to stay engaged as long as it took, but luckily for them, Queen Angelina the First died a month after he proposed and they were married shortly thereafter. 

Yakko: 

William had always wanted to have children, as he was an only child and loved the idea of raising and having children, and when Angelina told him she was pregnant he was over the moon

However, he was a bit nervous when he realized that his father died when he was eight, and he had few memories of how he was raised, so he studied and read up on every parenting book he could find and studied like a madman before Yakko was born

William fell in love with Yakko instantly

He was really nervous to hold him though, as he was terrified he’d drop him (which was odd, because being a knight made him very strong)

However, he did relax and eventually he was able to hold him without being nervous, and it soon became his favorite thing

He loved to read bedtime stories to Yakko when Angelina was too exhausted to sing a lullaby, and Yakko seemed to really like them, especially as he got older

Angelina said he got his talkativeness from William, and William couldn’t help but agree, he did have a tendency to ramble (especially when he was nervous)

He wanted Yakko to learn how to horseback ride, but Angelina forced him to promise to wait until he was at least eight because of how dangerous it could be

However, she didn’t stop him from getting Yakko a wooden sword, and William proceeded to try and teach him to sword fight, though it clearly wasn’t his forte. Still, Yakko seemed to have fun, and liked to act out the bedtime stories of William’s knighthood to Angelina, who also seemed to find it adorable. 

Wakko:

William had been utterly delighted to find out that Angelina was pregnant again, loving the idea of a big happy family, which Angelina liked too, as she was also an only child

Yakko was curious about what being an older brother would be like, so this time both Yakko and William were studying to prepare themselves

When Wakko wasn’t born crying or breathing, William nearly had a heart attack and died right there

However, the doctor quickly fixed it, and he cried tears of relief and joy

William noticed Wakko had a lot of similar features to his own father, and so made his middle name Alan

It was really hard to get Angelina to let go of Wakko to let him get a chance to hold him (not that he blamed her in the slightest) so he had to wait until she fell asleep to hold him

Again, he fell in love instantly

He was really nervous whenever Wakko was out of his sight, but recognizing that someone had to be the sane one (as Angelina was having terrible separation anxiety) he stayed strong and reminded Angelina that they had done this before and that it was gonna be okay

Helping her helped him a lot, and soon enough their worries were down to a normal level

Wakko was a lot more energetic and wild than Yakko, which reminded William of himself when he was younger, running around Acme Falls. 

William often had to chase Wakko around countless halls of the castle because of how much he loved to run and toddle around

Wakko had less patience for William’s stories- often interrupting with questions or little comments, much to Yakko’s annoyance. William didn’t mind though, as that was when Wakko was the most talkative with him

Dot: 

Again, William was ecstatic upon hearing Angelina was pregnant again

However, his confidence and optimism wavered a bit when King Salazar started causing problems on purpose

He was determined to protect Angelina from him though, intent on keeping the promise he made as a teen

He was determined to not let Angelina worry herself to death though, remaining optimistic about having a little girl (hopefully) and how great it would be when they could all relax with the new baby after this Salazar nonsense ended

He often had to watch the boys as Angelina went to diplomatic meetings and so when he found out that he had actually gone into labor during one and continued to the end anyway he was both in awe and amazement at how strong Angelina was (though he also did have a fairly short lived freak out about how dumb of an idea that was)

When Dot was eventually born though, they were both so tired that they both cried, especially because of how cute she was

William had been in love with the idea of giving her Angelina’s name, and was happy she agreed to it, as he never thought of her name as her mother’s name

He did also like the name Dot (Lena’s suggestion), so he suggested that they call her that for short, and Angelina agreed. 

However, he did panic momentarily as he realized he had no idea how to raise a girl, until Angelina said “just raise her like any other kid- being a girl hardly makes a difference” and William realized he was being stupid, and relaxed.

Since she was born in the spring around the time all the flowers in the gardens went in bloom, William loved to dress her in flower patterned clothes and hair pieces. 

He loved dressing her up (perhaps even more than Angelina did)

He also helped Wakko with advice on what to do as a big brother, and watched him as he watched Dot, finding his curiosity and newfound tameness around her adorable and admirable. 

However, as tensions were rising and Angelina being too exhausted and busy to go to meeting, it soon became William’s job to attend the meetings. William decided it was a good idea to bring Yakko along to help prepare him for when he’d be king, but he realized his mistake when he noticed how nervous he looked as they started discussing war. William promised he wouldn’t let that happen though, which helped Yakko to relax. 

However, Salazar and his army invaded the castle that night, and William wished that he just had more time with his kids, having never wanted them to be orphans like he was, but unfortunately he had no say in the matter and he was killed

Misc. (bc that’s a depressing end)

Hello Nurse was the “best man” at his and Angelina’s wedding

He didn’t realize Lena was only a nickname special people got to call her until after they were married, and he said “it was his greatest honor” when she pointed it out. 

“William, we’re married” “You could’ve married anyone you wanted, but you let me call you Lena”

He’s just... a big ol’ softie. A big teddy bear. He loves cuddling, hugs, crying, and just- he’s impossible to hate

However, like a bear, he gets very protective of his family, and died honorably while trying to protect them

The knight who practically raised him died before Yakko was born, and William held a huge funeral in his honor

He nearly cried when Yakko told him that his favorite story was the story of how he and Angelina met

He taught Yakko how to read and do math, as well as how to sword fight (though it was a slow process since he was only 8 when he died and all)

He grew a mustache bc he thought it made him look more like a king

He loved to just sit and think about all of his and and Angelina’s traits that he could see in the boys (like his optimism in Wakko, Lena’s love of reading and learning in Yakko, etc.)

He loved his children and Angelina with everything he had in him

[headcanonthings]

Zukka Hockey AU

(with a hint of Social Media AU bc why not?)

Sokka and Zuko meet in the later years of college due to mutual friends

Sokka is an engineering student with a full ride hockey scholarship; Zuko entered as a business major but by the end of his first term he realized he was doing that because it’s what was always expected of him, he then changes to a double Lit & Theater Major (he decides to minor in business so he can help Uncle with the shop)

Neither of them are really looking for a relationship with being so busy with school, sports and jobs but thanks to their mutual friends they start hanging out and become pretty good friends

After college Sokka gets recruited to the pros and quickly becomes a fan favorite; Zuko becomes a moderately successful screen actor

They don’t lose touch so much as they just don’t stay close, they’ll message each other every now and then but mostly through social media like congratulating through tweets or instagram

But then Aang and Katara finally set the date for their marriage and Sokka is Aang’s Best Man and Zuko is invited as one of their dear friends which leads the two of them reconnecting

Zuko’s been out as gay since college and has been vocal in his career about his sexuality and mental health; Sokka on the other hand, while comfortable with his bisexuality, hasn’t been as open due to the heteronormative culture of sports, plus he’s always leaned more towards women then men so he never feels like he’s really hiding anything (the important people like his family, Aang, and Suki all know)

But during the Kataang wedding the two realize how much they’ve really missed each other and something really clicks between them over the few days they spend together

Before heading back to Caldera Zuko decides to shoot his shot (after a prep talk from Mai and Ty Lee) Sokka hesitates which has Zuko going from some what suave to his usual awkward turtleduck self as he quickly tries to backpedal, Sokka immediately jumps in to calm him down saying he’d love to but he’s not out publicly and sports as a whole ain’t that open let alone hockey and Sokka knows Zuko’s been out and doesn’t want him to like go back in the closet or anything

Zuko says he understands, but he really likes Sokka and Sokka has mentioned a few times over the past couple days that his hockey career isn’t a forever thing and Zuko’s willing to keep it on the downlow if it means giving them a try; neither of them are that big of celebrity that’ll be hard, they just need to be careful

It actually goes really well; they have to deal with virtual dates at first with Zuko in Caldera and Sokka on a southern Earth Kingdom island where his Southern Water Tribe team is located

About two months in Zuko’s between acting projects and he’s been wanting to try his hand at writing (he’s had a few short stories published under a pseudonym) so he rents a place on the southern earth island

(it’s a complete accident on Zuko’s part but very intentional on Mai’s part that the place happens to be only a few blocks away from the hockey training arena)

Being so close makes everything easier; being together is so easy in a way neither of them expected; their close friendship in college means they already know a lot about each other like Sokka losing his mom and Yue and Zuko’s entire family situation

By the end of Zuko’s first month on the island Sokka’s pretty sure he’s gonna ask Zukos to marry him someday; by month four of the relationship they agree it’s time to start telling their friends and family

Their six month anniversary hits and Sokka being RomanticTM sets up this huge display at his house I’m talking roses everywhere and fairy lights strung up on his back patio with specially ordered food and drink from the most romantic restaurant in town and a lit candle on the table and soft music playing from a little BT speaker and Zuko almost cries because he is also a RomanticTM but no ones ever done anything like this for him before

And the night is wonderful and there is absolutely nothing wrong but Sokka can’t help but think about how he really wishes he could have taken Zuko out to the restaurant and maybe done some kind of activity before hand and he’s got some really cute selfies with Zuko that he wishes he could share with the world instead of just spamming the gAang group chat

A few days later he’s scrolling social media after practice and realizes that it’s National Coming Out Day and he sees all of these cute and inspiring messages and he wants so badly to be apart of that

Later while he’s laying in bed with Zuko he can’t get those posts out of his head and he’s looking at Zuko curled up into his side and thinks Fuck It

He tells Zuko what he wants to do cause he’s going to come out but if Zuko doesn’t want to be part of it he’s not going to make him but all Zuko does is ask if he’s sure and Sokka is so he snaps a quick pic of them curled up together gets Zuko’s approval of the pic and posts it with a little message (including a bi and pride flag emojis)

Zuko in solidarity makes his own post using one of the photos they took during their anniversary

Sokka gets a call first thing in the morning from his coach and the PR guy asking him to come in; Sokka’s a little worried he’s about to get sacked but reminds himself that he’s still fairly young and he’s been smart enough to get his masters online during the off seasons

To Sokka’s minor surprise everyone is pretty ok with it; the PR guy is a little annoyed they didn’t have a heads up to help cut off the a-holes on the internet but they’re like the only statement we’re gonna put out is one that says the team supports all sexualities but they don’t want to make a big big deal out of it if Sokka’s not comfortable with that

All of Sokka’s teammates flood his mentions with support messages and follow Zuko’s account as another sign of support

The GAang are also quick to share a lot of pics and messages supporting the couple; Katara is super happy to share some of the mushier and embarrassing texts Sokka’s sent her like a whole paragraph about how pretty Sokka thinks Zuko’s eyes are

Bonus:

Mai is Zuko’s best friend since childhood, she went to school for something like Poli Sci and somehow in the process of helping him move to Caldera she ended up moving to; she helped him with his theater classes like running lines and studying and actually picked up a lot of the behind he scenes info so before she knows it she’s helping Zuko get auditions and PR and when someone asks if she’s his manager she only hesitates for a second before saying yes; she asks a family friend to help write up a contact that Zuko barely looks over because he trusts her

Once the initial fervor calms down, Sokka agrees to do an interview but specifically requests a little known journalist (Korra? A different Krew member?) he picks them based off of Zuko’s recommendation, Zuko remembers how kind and easy it was to speak with them; when Sokka tells the interviewer that they nearly faint

 Sokka loves Twitter but Zuko is more of an Instagram guy

Sokka and Zuko eventually end up having two weddings, a small personal one that is mostly family and really close friends and then a much larger event type one where they invite Sokka’s full team and the many celeb friends Zuko’s made like other actors and directors

[unprofessional-bard]

Chapter 4 - The Grown-Ups

Losing My Religion Series Masterlist

Unprofessional Bard's Masterlist

Previous Chapter • Next Chapter

Pairing: Joel Miller x Female!Reader/OC

Warnings: Fluff and angst on equal amounts // mentions of depression.

Summary: The long awaited confrontation finally happens between Joel and the reader, Ellie not so completely oblivious to what happened between them. The reader sorts things out with the older Miller and Walt but things don't go as expected.

Word Count: 5.263

Author's Note: The chapter name is from the 12th episode of Mad Men's third season... most of my chapter names are already named after Mad Men episodes bc why not? I also feel like I couldn't write this chapter very well so I'm sorry if you're confused about some stuff but I'm currently working to fix those in the next chapter!

Enjoy!

"Holy shit," you gasped lightly, then quickly looked through your rifle's scope to make sure that those people were actually who you thought they were: "Open the gates! They're friendlies!"

"You know them?" Walt asked while you ran down the stairs and greeted your visitors who were none other than Joel and Ellie.

"Of course!" You replied and watched as Ellie's smile stretched to her ears.

"(Y/N)!" Ellie exclaimed and quickly walked over to you. You opened your arms with a soft Oh, Ellie and caught her in your embrace. "Aw man, it's good to see you."

"You too, darling, you too," You smiled, relief washing over you like a whole tsunami. "It is so good to see you Ellie."

You heard the door close after Joel walked over to the both of you. As glad as you were to have them back in Jackson, you hadn't forgotten about Joel's behaviour before he had left.

"(Y/N)," Joel cleared his throat. His voice, oh how you'd missed that voice of his, made you look up as Walt approached you all.

"Joel," You greeted him in a less excited tone, which made Joel look away with slight guilt on his face.

"I'm sensing some history here..." Walt commented quietly, which you ignored.

"I'm gonna take them to Tommy, I'll be right back," You spoke and turned around, holding a confused Ellie's hand and walking away. Joel gave Walt an ugly glare, then began tailing you.

You'd be lying if you said you'd forgotten about Joel - you thought of him when you thought of Ellie. Here he was now- here they both were, in the flesh, which made you incredibly happy. You knew you couldn't stay mad at him for too long, you had unintentionally grown a soft spot for the man, who saved you and gave you his water. You'd be forever grateful for him, even though he was an ex-Hunter. You remember the day Tommy had revealed it to you: Both of you were chatting and patrolling around town back in February and the topic was why the brothers had disagreed. You had stopped walking when he mentioned Joel was a Hunter before he became a Smuggler.

"You probably noticed the way he fights, he's good at killin' people in many brutal ways... The way he handled things? It just didn't sit right with me. After the Fireflies, I didn't look for him. Came here instead, you know the rest."

You couldn't belive you'd been travelling with a Hunter - you should've known, like Tommy had said, he was too brutal.

You had a few awful days after that, not leaving your house and bed. You had cried, slept and thought about everything, but eventually moved on, thinking you were never going to see him again anyway, that it was pointless to be upset about it any longer. Yet here he was, walking behind you.

Ellie talked all the way to Tommy's office, tried involving Joel from time to time but gave up eventually. Your mood improved instantly thanks to her though, you'd really missed the little rascal.

"Tommy, look who I have here," you spoke when you entered his office. Maria was there too and greetings were exchanged as you waited by the door.

"I have a house saved for y'all," Tommy said, his mood also better than it had been in a while. "Dolly, will you take them there?"

"Dolly?" Joel raised a brow as you threw daggers at the younger Miller with your glare.

"She'll tell you about it on the way," Tommy smirked as you led them out of the office. Ellie asked why he called you Dolly the moment you stepped out.

"I, uh..." you sighed. "I sung 'Jolene' at the diner one night-"

"Dolly, as in Dolly Parton?" Joel chuckled but you just rolled your eyes.

"Apparently I sung a little too well, they didn't take an ex-spec-ops for a singer," you ran your fingers through your hair.

"You should sing again sometime, maybe Joel will play the guitar-"

"Ellie." you hissed and Joel growled at the same time, which only caused her to smile wider.

Ellie requested to stay at the empty shed behind Joel's house instead of staying in with him, which you didn't understand but didn't ask about either. You showed Joel to his house and as he looked around you waited at the front door.

"Home sweet home..."

"Right," Joel hummed awkwardly.

"Well, I'll leave you to it," you sighed and turned to leave but Joel stopped you.

"Wait, uh... I-"

"Dolly!" Walt suddenly appeared out of nowhere. "You lucky gal, they ended your shift early for today. I was looking for you but if you're busy..."

Godfuckingdammit. You pinched the bridge of your nose and sighed, exasperated: "No, no, I was just leaving."

Walt was a bastard and knew better, of course: "No worries Doll, come to my place later eh?"

And just like that he skipped away with a grin on his face. You closed your eyes and pinched the bridge of your nose again when Joel spoke: "Seems like you fit here just fine-"

"What do you want?" You groaned, already unnerved by his poor attempts at making conversation, but regretted it.

"Look I just wanted to... I was being an ass that day and-" he slowly got closer to you, but you took a step back. "I'm sorry, is what I was tryin' to say. I was just- It wasn't my place to say those things and uh, I hope I can make it up to you somehow... Some day."

You were impressed. Quite impressed as you weren't expecting to get an actual apology out of him. You looked him up and down, pissed at him a little but mostly feeling awkward, then sighed after a few nerve wracking seconds: "You're an asshole alright," you looked away and hugged your waist. "And damn right it wasn't your place to say those things..."

"Well, uh," After giving him a look in the eye, you saw that he was actually looking quite guilty. It made your soft spot act up, his hazel eyes boring into yours apologetically; for a few more torturous seconds, whatever pride you had left crashed with all the good he's done for you, eventually making you say: "Look. The moment you left I thought I'd never see you again, a part of me disagreed but here you are. You could say I'm over it but... Eh, nevermind... I'll see you at dinner, I guess?"

Joel was dumbfounded for a moment, but he immediately cleared his throat and nodded: "Yeah, alright..."

Instead of going over to Walt's, you immediately found Maria, who was still with Tommy at his office. You thanked them for giving you the day off when Tommy smirked and leaned on the table.

"What?" You gave him an annoyed look.

"He's not going to leave your tail until you smile the tiniest smile to his face." He said, crossing his arms.

Dinner was awkward. You gladly gave all your attention to Ellie, ignoring the men at the table; Joel was sat on Ellie's left, you were on her right and Walt was on yours. You were tense and Ellie could clearly see it on your face.

"Dolly-" Walt attempted to whisper, but you cut him off immediately.

"Please stop calling me that," Only Ellie seemed to have heard the exchange as the chatter around the table continued.

"(Y/N)?" Ellie suddenly intervened, not sure about what to say.

"Yeah, Ells?" You put a smile on your face before turning to her.

"Uhh- when can I see your house?" Ellie blurted out.

"Now if you're done with your dinner- Or tomorrow, if you're too tired of course." You said while practically begging her to pick 'now' with your eyes.

"Let's go!" Ellie smiled awkwardly and got up, drawing attention.

"Where are you going?" Joel inquired the moment she got up.

"(Y/N)'s going to show me her house," Ellie pushed her chair in and grabbed her empty plate, practically running off to the kitchen while you slowly got up.

"The energy she has," You shook your head and forced a smile when people gave you a quizzical look, then walked off to the kitchen with your plate.

"Thanks for that Ellie," You sighed the moment you two stepped outside the house.

"You were squirming on your seat - that Walt guy was making you uncomfortable so I thought-"

"Oh," You interrupted her, beginning to walk. "He wasn't actually. We- I mean I had an awkward moment and I'm kind of struggling to look him in the eyes now."

"... So you're uncomfortable?"

"Well, yeah but- it's just so awkward?" You struggled to find the right words, eventually giving up and telling her what had happened between you and him while going over to your place. Ellie grinned and listened and when you finally got to your doorsteps, she turned to you and said:

"What I got out from all of this, is that you say Walt, but your eyes are on someone else..."

"What the hell does that supposed to mean?" You looked at her in disbelief. How on earth was she coming up with these lines?

"I think you know who I mean," Ellie just smirked and walked in through the door. You just stared at her, dumbfounded, then followed her inside. She liked your house and asked if she could stop by from time to time, to which you replied Of course, I'd like nothing more, but your garden stole the show for her.

"Wait until you see it in the morning," you smiled as she looked around as best as she could with the streetlights illuminating the garden. You two talked a little more, which made you feel like her age again. Talking to Ellie without feeling awkward came to you naturally and it was obvious that she appreciated how you were attentive toward her. Around ten minutes later, there was a knock on your door.

"I'll get it," you chuckled when she huffed. It was Joel.

"Uh, hi," He muttered awkwardly.

"Hi..."

"It got a bit suffocating in there." Joel explained. "Went out for some fresh air and decided to take a walk around when I heard Ellie's voice..."

"Wanna come in?" You asked, opening the door wider.

"Don't let me interrupt-"

"Nonsense." You opened the door fully, internally cursing at yourself: What the fuck are you doing? "It is suffocating in there, we thought we could escape for awhile."

Joel stood at the doorway: "It's better if we go back actually."

"You're right, it'll be rude." You nodded and called Ellie.

"Your boyfriend doesn't like me very much." Joel offered a small smile as you both waited for Ellie to grab her backpack.

"He's not my boyfriend," You sighed, exasperated.

"Right, sorry... he just gets a little too involved when the topic is you."

You gave him a look, confused: "Involved how? Were you talking about m-"

"Do we have to go?" Ellie interrupted you, looking at Joel.

"Just this one night kiddo," Joel patted her shoulder as she passed through the door. The both of you shared a final look -Joel's was unsure and yours was suspicious- before you closed the door.

That's pretty much how everything began again. You begged asked Maria to change your patrol partner for awhile, not really wanting to deal with this new, curious side of Walt when you were too embarrassed to look him in the eye because of your rejection. What he didn't know was you became more and more torn between him and Joel every day. You could say your soft spot went wild as Joel did exactly as Tommy said he'd do: He tried to be around you as much as possible. He took advantage of your closeness with Ellie to take a better look at how you viewed him. Were you hostile, netural or actually good with him? He definitely could see your behaviour toward him and only him had changed as you treated Ellie the same as before.

He was curious about you - even if Tommy had told him a little of you. He wondered how you were, how you had been and what you did in Jackson and he wanted to hear them from you.

After patrolling for a whole week and avoiding people as best as you can while you cleared your mind, you finally approached Joel and Walt - on different occasions, of course.

You came across Joel first. Walking past his place while on your way to Walt's, you decided you should get it out of the way while you were at it. You knocked on his door and waited patiently. He was really surprised when he saw you.

"Hey," It was you who offered a smile this time.

"Hey," Joel, quite shocked. "Uh, Ellie's not in-"

"I know," You quickly interrupted him. "I'm here for you, actually."

"Me?"

"Yeah... I wanted to see you." You smacked your forehead mentally but kept your composure, immediately adding: "We, uh- couldn't really talk ever since you two came back, so... I figured I should stop by."

You don't think you could ever get Joel to look this surprised if you tried: "Yeah," he cleared his throat and put an arm on the door frame, leaning on it. "Yeah, uh, sure."

"I need to do something right now, but if you're not busy, why don't you come over to my place?" You asked, expression soft.

"Uh, I dunno, I-"

"I've got some coffee," You smiled. "The weather is nice- the sunset particularly favours my garden in exactly half an hour."

Joel looked down, bit his lip as if he was thinking about his options, then smiled shyly: "How can I say no to that?"

You chuckled and nodded before walking away: "I'll be waiting, cowboy."

Joel's cheeks were dusted pink, but fortunately for him, you didn't see it. He just stared, still dumbfounded at what happened, but he didn't complain - even if it took a torturous week, he finally knew you were good with him.

Your cheeks were no different, glowing red under the sun as you walked over to Walt's place. You knocked on the door and called his name, but he wasn't there. Just as you turned around, you saw Bonnie and Walt approaching, holding each other's hands. You pursed your lips at the sight, shoving your hands into the back pockets of your jeans. Walt froze when he saw you, letting Bonnie's hand go: "(Y/N)?"

"Hey," the edges of your lips turned up, still pursed. "I- I wanted to talk to you, but if you're busy-"

"Oh, no it's fine," Walt climbed up to the porch with Bonnie, letting her in: "It won't take too long, just wait for me okay?"

"Okay," Bonnie nodded, giving the both of you an odd look before going in.

"I don't wanna take up your time-" You stood across him.

"No, no-" Walt reassured you with his hands doing a stop motion. "We couldn't talk properly- I don't blame you. I never apologized for calling you Dolly and-"

"No, it wasn't about that." You interrupted him this time. "I needed some time to collect my thoughts about- stuff- and I was paired up with Eugene this week so, I wanted to apologise for not sparing time for you."

Walt's cheeks reddened lightly at your words: "Oh- no it's totally fine. Nothing to apologise for, really. You- You're lost in work again eh?"

You sighed, relieved, then smiled and nodded: "Yeah, you could say that..."

"Listen," Walt straightened his posture a little. "How 'bout we make it up to each other, huh? Come over tonight and we'll talk over dinner- you can tell me about this Joel guy and everything else I've missed?"

Your expression morphed into a partly angry one as you crossed your arms: "Why are you so interested in Joel all of a sudden? What do you care about our 'history'? I told you everything I went through with him already- no more, no less."

"I- well- I'm not?" Walt took a step back but you stood your ground.

"Don't." You said in a stern tone. "Did you really think he wouldn't tell me about how you had been acting towards him?"

"Even if we did have a history, it wouldn't have been your concern." You added, frowning when he stayed silent.

"We tell each other everything, why are you so squeamish about this all of a sudden?" Walt blurted out defensively.

You stared at him, then scrunched up your face: "You don't even tell me you've got a thing with Bonnie, blame me for not taking notice and you think you have a right to know what happened between him and I? Please..."

You immediately began walking down the porch: "(Y/N), I'm sorry! I didn't mean it like-"

"Of course you didn't," You growled and turned around. "Just- let's not talk for awhile, okay?"

You heard him call your name but you didn't mind, walking away, fists clenched. What is wrong with him?

You felt like beating the shit out of slapping him - it was the first time you two had an argument. You had indeed told him everything there was to tell about your time with Joel, leaving out certain details like that time in the cabin, because he wasn't as curious about Joel as he was now. You didn't think those details were necessary either, you were developing a crush on Walt at that time and the thought of Joel distracted you from that. But you forced yourself to move on as you were convinced that you'd seen the last of the smuggler and that you'd never have a chance with him. Little had you known...

When you reached your house and checked the time, you saw that there was still some time before Joel arrived: The thought calmed you down a little, so you decided to clean up the tiny mess in your room and wash your face to cool off. You changed into a thin, off-the-shoulder sweater once you were done with the cleaning around. You really liked the color and it was ideal for a weather like this. Just as you started making the coffee, there was a loud knock on your door. You tensed and listened, trying to figure out who it was when the person behind the door announced who they were: "(Y/N)? It's Joel."

You walked over to the door and with a deep breath, opened to see him in his brown jacket, which looked like it was made for him: "Hey."

"Hey," You gave him a genuine smile and stepped back after a moment of staring into his eyes: "Come on in."

Joel walked in, heart beating faster than he'd like to admit. He quietly observed his surroundings as you closed the door and led him to your kitchen: "You're in a good mood."

"I always am," You said jokingly, suddenly feeling bad for giving him the cold shoulder for a whole week. "It'll be ready in a few minutes, follow me."

He nodded and followed you out of the kitchen, through your bedroom to the balcony. His eyes got caught on the picture of you and Kurt (which was now framed and stood on your nightstand) before he walked out. Joel's brows raised as he saw the scenery before him: Your garden was almost as big as your house itself and it truly looked gorgeous with the sun shining down on it. You waited for him to sit down, him not being able to take his eyes off the piece of heaven as he did.

"You like it?" You asked shyly.

"You were right," he nodded, appreciative. "A beautiful garden you have here."

You simply smiled and looked at his hands on the table before speaking: "I really don't know where to start."

Joel chuckled: "Well then, let me start with a how are you? and continue with how are things?"

You smiled, a little embarrassed, then put your arms on the table, hands right across his. You thought on the conversation you had with Walt a few minutes back, which made you want to scream because the difference between him and Joel was just-

"I'm fine," You nodded. "I've been better but I've also been much worse. I'm not complaining. Things are... complicated on the side, but mainly good. Better now that you two are here." Joel smiled slightly before you continued: "What about you? My goodness, there are so many things I wanna ask. Didn't want to ask Ellie about them, her mood changed when I tried talking about it this one time..."

"Yeah, well," Joel shifted in his seat, pulled one arm down onto his lap. It reminded you of the time when you two first met in the tower: "She went through a lot."

"From the way you speak, so have you." Your smile slowly disappeared.

"It wasn't a pleasant journey," Joel sighed, looking away.

You gulped, feeling a little guilty but also very upset. You couldn't even begin to imagine the trauma they had to endure on their journey: "Look, we don't gotta talk about it. You can tell me whenever you're ready, okay?"

Joel gave you a sad but surprised look: "Okay."

You suddenly got up, went to the kitchen, leaving Joel confused; coming back with two mugs of coffee a minute later: "I know this'll cheer you up."

Joel almost melted away when the smell of coffee filled his lungs: "It sure will."

You sat across him as he brought the cup to his lips and blew on the liquid: "God, I'd gladly kill for this. Thank you."

You giggled and watched him take a sip, face twisting when his tongue burned. The butterflies in your stomach changed colours as your attraction and soft spot for Joel settled somewhere in your chest. After how Walt acted today- you didn't want to jump to conclusions on an impulse, but he offended you and since he had a girlfriend now: You knew that even if you have a chance with him it was going to be much later. You didn't know how long him and Bonnie were going to last, but now with Joel taking back his place in your thoughts, you noticed how you worried a little less about your her and Walt. Plus, who's to say he wouldn't pull off some stupid shit like that whenever you were around Joel? You felt like you had perceived him in a wrong way, as if he had more to him than it seemed.

Joel, on the other hand, seemed so natural. You knew there was also more to him than he showed - but in a good way. Someone had to melt the ice around his heart to bring out the soft side. Other than that, he was just... Joel. Grumpy, protective guy with an awful past, which had shaped him as a person throughout the years. You knew of those awful events, you also mostly knew what to say to him, but more of what not to say. He appeared as though he had lost his humanity a long time ago like many other people, but you knew that his wasn't lost, just buried beneath layers of walls. However, you were sure that Jackson was going to see to the destruction of those walls and bring out the human in him. He already showed hints of that soft side you thought so much about by the smallest gestures, you were certain there was more to come.

"So," Joel leaned back on his chair, mood significantly improved. "How is everything? How do you get along in Jackson?"

"Pretty good, I'd say." You nodded. "It's hard to adapt to at first, but the people are decent. They accept you when they see that your intentions are good and that you just wanna help... Plus, they feed you until you can't breathe, which I think is nice for Ellie."

"Yeah," Joel chuckled.

"Other kids gave her odd looks when she saw all the food standing there and stuffed it in her backpack, but, I think this girl called Cat likes her already."

Joel smirked and took another sip of his 'medicine'. He had no doubts that the kids around Jackson were a big help for you to complete your healing process and settle down. He saw from time to time how the kids enjoyed being around you and even admired you.

"Miss (Y/N)?" A boy named Jesse had approached you and Ellie two days ago.

"Hey Jesse," you smiled warmly, moving your rifle from your chest to your back. "Have you met Ellie?"

"Hi," Ellie smiled awkwardly and extended her hand over to him.

"Hi," Jesse smiled back shyly and shook her hand. Ellie then saw Joel and went over to his side while you slightly kneeled in front of Jesse.

"Could you do me a favour?" You smiled and Jesse nodded eagerly. "Will you and the others include Ellie whenever you're hanging out? She may seem reluctant but she'll come around once she gets used to this place."

Just then, another girl named Cat approached you both: "I like her, she seems nice."

You smiled and fixed your posture, then thanked them both before they ran off to some place, looking after them a moment too long. When you turned around, eyes searching for Ellie, your eyes locked with Joel's. Your smile stayed on your lips as you stared at each other for a moment, then you walked away. Joel absolutely admired the way you were with children, he could almost say you were more comfortable with them comparing to adults.

You sat in silence for awhile, enjoying each other's company, but it got ruined with another knock on your door. You flinched, anxiety going up once more as you got up, leaving Joel confused once more.

"(Y/N)? Please answer the door, let's sort this out?" It was Walt.

You stayed silent and listened to him knock on the door loudly. You really weren't in the mood to deal with him even though you agreed that it had to be sorted out.

"What's going on?" Joel asked, voice deep and laced with worry and confusion. He slowly walked towards you from the bedroom as you turned around to face him, leaning your back on the door. What the hell were you supposed to do now?

"Go back to the garden, I've got thi-"

"(Y/N)? Come on, don't act like this..."

You closed your eyes and sighed, cursing at your situation: "Please, Joel." You whispered. "Just wait in there and let me handle this real quick."

He did as you told and stepped inside the living room before you opened the door: "Look, I told you to not talk to me for awhile. It's a part of the 'sorting out' process if you didn't understand. I need to cool my head-"

"But I feel terrible," Walt insisted. "You're not busy right now, let's just sort this o-"

"She is busy," You heard Joel's southern drawl call out from behind you. "She has guests over."

Thank god, you thought. You didn't know if he said guests on purpose, but it clearly made Walt think that Joel wasn't the only person there.

You froze as Walt's eyes moved up to Joel's, then back to yours: "Well, don't let me interrupt."

"Damn right," You growled, getting angry at his attitude. "Get your goddamn priorities straight and go back. We'll talk when it's time."

You shut the door and let out and exasperated sigh, leaning your back on the door once more. Joel put his hands on his hips and stared at you, a soft smile playing on his lips: "Leaves his girlfriend at home after we fight and I tell him to leave me alone just so he can come 'n talk to me..."

Joel chortled in amusement, his voice filling your ears like a bucket of water on a small fire: "Glad you find this so entertaining!"

"No, nothing like that," Joel gave you a charming smile. "You wanna talk about it?"

Your eyes slightly widened as Joel chuckled quietly, following you back to the balcony. You quickly explained what happened before he got here and he nodded but eventually asked:

"Why exactly were you avoiding him?"

You took a big, long sip of your coffee to hide the redness of your cheeks: "Something happened which made me feel real embarrassed. He was unaware of course. I couldn't face him; but then you arrived a day later and he got a little too curious about you."

"Why?" Joel gave you a displeased look.

"He thought that we had some sort of history, if you get my meaning." Joel sighed and you rubbed your temples. "I don't know why he's so interested all of a sudden. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was jealous."

"Maybe he is," Joel hummed and crossed his arms. "I saw the way he looks at you- and me. He adores you, but despises me."

"What?" You giggled as if you were saying are you out of your mind? "I mean, we're good friends, nothing more. He's with Bonnie."

Joel raised his brows and pursed his lips: "Well, we'll see I guess."

"What are you saying?" You said after a moment of silence, leaning forward a little, voice hushed as you gazed into his hazel orbs.

"I'm saying," Joel sat up and leaned forward as well. "You won't see much more of them if we keep this up."

"Keep what up? Having coffee and catching up?" You licked your lips and shook your head. "You saved my life all those months ago, Joel..."

"I know," He nodded, voice low and husky.

"You're an important person to me whether Walt likes it or not- I don't really care what he thinks, in fact. I'm grateful for everything you've done for me."

Shut up! What is wrong with you?!

"(Y/N)..." Joel blinked, blushing lightly. The sun had disappeared and the sky was turning a dark shade of blue.

"I don't-" You leaned back. "I was supposed to die in that building. I wasn't supposed to survive, come here and start again. But you and Ellie saved me and Tommy and Maria helped me get better. How can I not be grateful for any of you?"

Joel gazed at you, a meaningful look on his face, full of emotion. He was grateful that he'd found you and saved you too: If it weren't for you, he or -more importantly-Ellie would've been dead on many occasions. You cared for and took care of both of them like a guardian angel. You may not be aware, but you helped Joel keep calm on many occasions, even when he didn't trust you completely. You always kept your head up and saw to everyone's survival - didn't matter if it cost you an arm or a leg. You were loyal and caring- human. Tommy had told him of your health conditions and everything you've done to get better, which gave Joel a heads up when approaching you... knowing what and what not to say to you.

Maybe he was supposed to find you in that building. Maybe you were meant to survive and be a part of their lives- his life.

Maybe it was meant to be.

[rainbowrider1290]

My take on a Genshin Impact Circus AU Part 4 with Noelle as a strongwoman and Amber as a death-defying archery stuntwoman. Their backstories are under the cut!

Noelle:

First off I have a very self-indulgent headcanon that she is ridiculously strong. Like. Can benchpress people. Canonverse or AU.

She used to help out around the circus and she was kind of indifferent to the fact that she was likely going to be a maid. It's a respectable profession. And helping out at her childhood friends' (Kaeya and Diluc) manor as she'd been born into doing seemed like a good job.

How she got into the circus life requires a bit of backstory. Back when they were kids, Kaeya, Diluc, and Noelle would mess around (as kids do) and have little challenges for themselves. Who can run the fastest, who can do the best cartwheel, who can jump the highest, and the like.

Noelle got a little hesitant as she got into her early teens bc she was always told to be ladylike, so she spent one or two of their hangout sessions watching Kaeya and Diluc and talking. One day, however, Kaeya and Diluc are being Teenage Boys and lifting heavy things trying to outlift each other. Noelle has lifted furniture when cleaning up after these two so she figures this one unladylike thing would be okay.

She comes up behind them and just. Picks them both up. On top of the things they were lifting already. Kaeya and Diluc have to take a second and just look at her like "yeah no you are never sitting out of our competitions again"

And so they try other things like cartwheels and tests of courage like who can climb the highest on a tree and things are back to normal.

Skip forward a few years and Crepus dies. There's a huge mystery around it that not even his son's attendants are privy to. The only thing people know is that the sons have been sent away to boarding school. The whole manor is abandoned, all the workers fired.

Noelle for the next few years spends her time working at laundromats, and other odd jobs, but eventually she runs out of luck and suddenly there's too many people and not enough opportunities.

One of her friends from one of her old jobs invites her to go out and see this new circus that happens to be in town. She goes because why not. And wouldn't you know it one of the acts is her childhood friends doing these death-defying stunts that hit her with a wave of nostalgia bc their entire act consists of essentially the song "anything you can do" but with more and more dangerous stunts.

Noelle of course has to say hi, so they catch up and Noelle's lack of work comes up and would you look at that Aether and Lumine happen to have an opening for a maid.

So Noelle settles in, continuing to lift heavy shit to clean under it (Bennett swears up and down he saw her lift a fridge once but he might've been sleep-deprived). She also got into helping Chongyun with the techy stuff so sometimes she'll be at tech rehearsals moving things around and one time a rope holding up a person breaks near Noelle and she. catches it.

Now, one night. One of the acts drops out at the last moment bc injury or last-minute commitment or the like. And it leaves a gap in the show. Everyone else is busy. And panicking bc the circus is still relatively new and they really need to build their rep rn.

They start wondering what kind of last-minute acts they can put together like "what about the gymnasts??" "They all have group routines" "do they have old routines??" "Not polished enough for what we need" and someone somewhere pipes up "man I wish we had a strongman or something" and Diluc and Kaeya immediately whip their heads around to look at each other for like half a second before Kaeya bolts. He finds Noelle doing her usual rounds she's been doing for like a month now and Bennett was right, she is currently under a mini-fridge that she is lifting over her head whilst leaning it against a wall.

Kaeya takes Noelle by the shoulders and just zooms her over to where the commotion is happening and pitches the idea to Aether and Lumine. They're hesitant as hECK bc this is a huge risk they're taking since Noelle isn't even a performer but Diluc pitches that they could literally just scatter really heavy items and have Noelle clean under them and as long as she looks at the audience every once in a while it can be played off as a bit.

Noelle with qUITE the stammer says that she'll try her best but at this time is in need of a moment. She has never performed before. Kaeya and Diluc have to go perform so they leave her with a shoulder squeeze and a thumbs up.

She gets on-stage. She flinches under the lights for a second. She takes a deep breath and focuses on the first thing before her with her best "oh heavens, it's filthy in here", and she gets through the entire act by doing that for every object. So the audience is seeing this seemingly petite young girl lift the equivalent of a hecking car in order to clean under it.

Needless to say, there's roaring applause the second Noelle leaves (which she hears from far away because holy shit I just cleaned for people and they liked it)

This was a bit of a one-time thing and she goes back to her regular maid duties until the circus gets a new strongman by the name "Zhongli".

His style is more about lifting exTREMELY LARGE ROCKS, and breaking them in half whilst giving a history/geology lesson on them.

He quietly observes the maid who he hears fantastical stories of That One Time She Charmed An Audience By Cleaning. He was bewildered at first but saw the merit of it while watching her clean. He immediately decides that this girl has sO MUCH. POTENTIAL that is being wasted by having her work as a maid. He has nothing against maids or their profession, but he invites her to train with him.

Noelle gets hELLA stronger and they come to a conclusion. Noelle performs part-time and is a maid part-time. She doesn't have a particular performance style. She'll sometimes play catch with Zhongli and his big rocks, other times she'll be in the background of performers like Amber in the art lifting some hEAVY SHIT.

She gets along with Chongyun super well bc Chongyun has to make less trips to move his equipment since he's worked with her. She's a blessing for when they have to pack up and move.

Amber:

Amber's story is a little more straightforward. She started out engaged to a suitor. Amber was the kid in kindergarten who was learning about dragons and "idk what everyone else was doing". She's known what she wants for a long time, and what she wants at the moment, is not a relationship.

Throughout her childhood she was a very lonely child. Her family exposed her to lots of academic or ladylike things (do not ask me when this au is set, it's the 1800s and the 1990s at the same time or a suspendes steampunk time) to get her away from the thing she liked most: archery. She'd been exposed to it as a kid and latched on.

This drove a bunch of suitors away, so her family got more desperate and exposed her to more classes and activities to get her away from it. She went "that's easy, I'll just practice at night"

So she does that. She practices at night and underperforms in the coming weeks. It is during this time that her parents (high class ppl) find her a man to marry for some business deal idk.

The man's nice enough. It's just obvious he can only take Amber in small doses, and Amber takes full advantage of this to practice and stay in shape.

How Amber gets into the circus life was essentially running away. She bonds with Eula over this.

So because of all the attempts to make her fit into the ideal lady description, her rebellious streak said "yeah we're going to go as far away from that as possible" and she goes "I'm going to run away with the circus" bc that's what the books she's read say is the most rebellious thing you can do.

She finds THE FIRST circus she sees and begs to be let in. This is the shadiest most sketchy place but Amber sees it as the key to her freedom. She signs a contract.

They treat her like the US treats their students. She barely gets time to practice for performances and she's mostly doing dirty work. When they ask her what she can do she's like "I'm really good at archery" and they go "cool, you're going to be doing that while everything is on fire now. Can you do a handstand"

Essentially they push her and push her and push her to do more and more hazardous things she has to pick up on under the threat of being kicked to the curb.

After a while of this Amber is extremely burned out (pun intended) and as she's packing up after one of her shows, covered in burns but proud bc she hit all her targets without killing anyone, she's approached by a blond foreigner.

Tbh for all she's read, Amber really doesn't consider leaving and this time she can't run away since she's now bound by a contract (not Zhongli's btw in case anyone was wondering).

This foreigner tells her that there's so many ways to improve her situation and that he runs a circus looking for members.

Amber refuses since she's not getting tangled up in another legal mess, but she takes his advice on how to take care of her burns, and improve safety while she's performing.

Skip a few months. She hears word of this mysterious new circus around. Her encounter with who she'll later know as Aether stuck with her, and so she goes. To see whether she could really shoot her arrows without being burned alive.

After a show one night, she tries to get past security and fails repeatedly. She turns to leave and wouldn't you know it there's Aether. And Lumine. Waiting for her once she turns the corner. Amber's biggest concern is her existing contract and when Aether and Lumine say they have a nICE lawyer, Amber sees her next step to freedom.

Aether and Lumine essentially gain custody of Amber (but like for adults) and Amber is. Shocked. She's walked through her new contract of employment clearly and essentially treated like a human being.

And now that she knows things and has more freedom (though still under the watchful eyes of Aether and Lumine to see how she does) her creativity and competitive streak flourish. She decides she actually doesn't hate fire, she just doesn't like when she doesn't know when or where it's coming. And she makes fast friends with the gymnasts, so she ends up incorporating that into her routines. Now she uses her canon goggles to protect her from the burning eyes of prolonged smoke exposure when she uses fire.

When she meets a little pyromanic girl named Klee, she's thrilled that someone this chaotic and sure of herself exists.

[sanchoyo]

danny phantom, season 3 episodes 3-6 thoughts!

see prev episode thoughts in this tag <3

-johnny was actually pretty civil with danny and left when he asked! thats nice. also, SKULKER?? HAD A FRAMED PICTURE OF EMBER?? oooo fuck wait had they established they were a Thing Before?? I dont think so. thats weird. its like that country boy/goth girl meme lmfao. I think i am going to choose to ignore this new info and pretend I didnt hear it. 100% unrelated to the jazz/ember fanart I already drew and posted....😳

-LADIES NIGHT EPISODE THIS IS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT. wish it didnt really center around the guys or them being pissed at them, but. willing to bet this was written by men lol

-THEY ERASED ALL THE MEN??? meanwhile, jack and danny are fishing at. silent hill or something. im glad jack is trying to read a parenting book and making an Attempt. (theyre at lake erie, but, they made it actually eerie...thats fun)

-the girls alt outfits...cute. EMBER MADE A NEW SONG TOO!!! kinda. jazz being one of the backup singers and being AWFUL. NOOOO

-'how are we going to get kitty to blow a kiss?' 'she'll have to think there are still some males in town!' ...i dont know how to break it to you, but I dont know that a 100% het girl would wish for all men to Begone. I think. I mean im not a het or a girl so I dont really know for sure. she Is probably Bi tho. esp having the other ladies in town chanting NO MEN!!! excitedly............(then again, the kiss is to get Rid of men, so, she probably would have blown it at the ladies only if they were actively trying to attack/stop them, so...I MEAN. THE DRESSING LIKE DANNY BIT WAS SO EXTRA)

-I feel like an all female cast ep couldve been way way way way cooler than that was. like. why was it still somehow all about Men. ...anyway. (where was valerie...)

-next ep opens with the observants, and, way way more of them than I expected...existed? I mean I guess them being a council/jury of some kind is what I expected from their first appearance (bc at that time they were basically TELLING clockwork to kill danny, not asking,, so I figured they had SOME kind of authority) but. there were so many. anyway, here goes vlad! letting his own hubris go brrrr. releasing a weather ghost for political gain! #justvladthings

-okay say what you will about him (he IS an asshole) but having an umbrella with his own face on it and more prepared to share is SUPER FUNNY. and him being fanned by huge wads of money by his bodyguards. SO ineffective but so Dramatic. He UNDERSTANDS that if youre rich you need to be. you know. obnoxious and kinda eccentric about it! fuckign hate when rich people are boring about it. I would trust vlad with nothing except to not be a boring rich asshole who wears...fucking khaki or some shit. man knows his Presentation Skills. and that 'V' chair in his mayoral office. is that fucking embroidered?

-maddie get your MAN PLEEEEASSSE. IM SO EMBARRASSED FOR HER. the way jack stays simping for this man. in FRONT OF HIS WIFE!!!! ...my god its like a love triangle. jack clearly loves vlad, who loves maddie, who loves jack. jack fenton is at the very least bi, right................. this is an OBSESSION . 'THE V MAN COMETH'???? i...my god. (also, on a serious note, to have a friend THIS SUPPORTIVE...and still be SUCH A DICK TO HIM (TRYING TO KILL HIM AND STEAL HIS WIFE??) NOT COOL VLAD. JACK IS YOUR 1 AND /ONLY/ HYPE MAN. if someone loved and supported me THIS HARD...LIKE. CMON DUDE.

-STOMP the fucking GAS, JACK

-this would make a great shirt design, looks like a metal band design! we love The Maelstrom

-oh, so vlad did in fact get a mansion in amity park. and its purple! good color choice! not as flashy as a CASTLE or MURDER CABIN, but still pretty eccentric, which I appreciate.

-...vlad knows the difference between picasso and da vinci? in the ep last post where we were watching him fail at conquering every historical time ever he didnt seem to know history well enough to like. be effective...was vlad taking art history at college?? (was he an art MAJOR??? we never DID KNOW WHAT HE WENT TO SCHOOL FOR. I kinda assumed business because in the masters of time ep he was still rich without ghost powers so he had to have..known something about business or something, right...but also, art and or theater FITS HIS PERSONALITY. possibly also something science-y, I guess, but I always felt like he got roped into that, esp how pessimistic he was about the ghost portal in the flashbacks to college, like, i felt like he was just there for maddie and was uninterested/un-invested at the time...)

-THIS GHOST JUST ELECTROCUTED MADDIE (THE CAT) BITCH!! THATS MY FAVORITE MADDIE!!! vlad going after vortex and being ~shocked~ .....WHEN. WHEN WILL YOU LEARN. THAT YOUR ACTIONS. HAVE CONSEQUENCES!!!

-the way this random man with a camera sees the mayor laying in an alley covered in TRASH AND DECIDES TO TAKE A PICTURE HAHAH

*snap* this ones going in my cringe compilation!

-vlad 'if we're going to defeat vortex, we're going to have to do it together!' *immediately dips after dropping danny off in front of vortex* JKASDFHKJHJKN

-DANNY CAN DUPLICATE!!! ...he couldnt even attack with it, but he DID IT!!! INTO (4) OF HIMSELF!!! SO PROUD!!!!!!!!!!

-'THE ROLLER COASTER EMOTIONS OF A TEENAGER THREATEN MY PLANS!' ...0 self awareness of his own dramatic moodiness. incredible, how dumb this man is. its very close to circling around to endearing, if he was less of an asshole. at least its very very funny to see danny shooting him with tiny lightning bolts anytime he's even slightly irritated! vlad you should be nice to danny anyway. this is what you GET

-...making sandwiches and ice cream and playing video games with your nephew is a totally normal thing. WHY is vlad acting like this is the end of the world. if you were a GOOD UNCLE YOU WOULD ALREADY BE DOING THESE THINGS!!! bitch I make my nephew food all the time and dont forget what he does and doesnt like. if u didnt know danny didnt want tomatoes, thats on u. if u, a grown adult, are gonna piss of the 14 yr old by not letting him win, u deserve to have to pay for the arcade machines he ruins because he now has uncontrollable storm powers because YOU THREW HIM INTO A FIGHT WITH THE STORM GHOST. fuck u vlad. paypal me $400,000 while ur at it tho. (also, gamer vlad confirmed)

-VLAD CAN COOK THOUGH???! I assumed he had...people working for him that did that. I mean. billionaires usually dont do that. then again, we've only seen those vultures working for him (and I guess the dairy king was AT his old mansion, but it was never really clarified if he worked there...I think he probably just Hung Out and they Enjoyed Cheeses Together. thats what I think, I dont think a KING would be working for anyone and also the dairy king was nice <3) but then again he would be a private person and we cant have anyone accidentally finding Ghostly Things, so...still, that's hilarious. pour one out for that really cute banana split that got ruined 2 seconds later

-vlad just fucking picking danny up and THROWING HIM AT VORTEX TWICE WITHIN LIKE A MINUTE. JUST ABSOLUTELY LAUNCHING HIM. BITCH THATS MY SON BE CAREFUL!!! HES GOT ORGANS AND THINGS!!!!

-danny seeing those animal commercials and feeling sad is the biggest 2000s throwback so far. i legitimately had to change the channel or walk out of the room when those came on bc id CRY AND BE SAD ABOUT THEM FOR DAYS AFTER. fuck those commercials and fuck that IN THE ARMMMS OF AN ANGELLLL song 😭

-'vlads ego almost got the town destroyed!' yes danny thats the entire episode. the entire series anytime vlad shows up honestly. this episode was just him being really embarrassing the entire time, and, me laughing about it. 10/10 would laugh at him again

-NEXT EP WE HAVE A SHAPESHIFTING GHOST?? I've said it before but shapeshifting is the power I would want when asked those 'what superpower do you want' questions...its the Best power! this guy looks like a homestuck character. ive never read homestuck but thats the vibe

-I love every time we see tuckers family, they are by far the most functional family. and dash has a lil chihuahua!!! named pookie!!! i am crying (I've had 3 chihuahuas, so I am very biased, but...) AND HE WATCHES THE ROMANCE CHANNEL WITH POOKIE. POOKIE I WILL DIE FOR YOU YOU SWEET LITTLE BABY.

-danny can lift a bus! I shouldn't be surprised, but i am proud of my son. hes got lil kid fans. i am going to cry about this

-JAZZ KEEPS A SCRAPBOOK WITH DANNY'S LIL HEROICS AND NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS!!! we've actually seen it on her floor before, but I didnt realize it was a scrapbook!! thats sooo cute.

-...and danny has to stand there listening to his parents saying danny phantom sucks and is a 'filthy ghost' and calling him egotistical...i am once again stealing their kids!

-THIS GHOST RIPPING JAZZ'S SCRAPBOOK!!! ILL KILL YOU. SHE WORKED HARD ON THAT!!! BITCH

-yes, maddie, the one with red eyes is For Sure Actually Your Son. ignore the, red eyes... (CLEARLY she hasnt watched the other 2 eps where danny has been evil, she doesnt know red eyes= evil!!!)

-'billy fenton'.......................

-danny being stuck as phantom in his own house, no way out is a fucking NIGHTMARE. his parents pointing giant weapons against him and SHOOTING AT HIM. THIS IS A HORROR MOVIE.

-NINE INCH NAILS POSTER.

-this is the most screenshot of all time

-amorpho turning into mr. lancer because hes 'someone no one will want to be around' BUT HES WRONG, I WOULD BEFRIEND AND HANG OUT WITH MR LANCER SO FAST.

-tucker dressing as danny, now I have the full Tucker set of him being sam and also being danny. also saying 'the ghost...uh...RIPPED MY FACE OFF.' and then running. SMOOTH. NOT AT ALL CONCERNING TO ANY PARENTS.

-sam accepts the toast from jack. and then 2 seconds later is like 'why am i eating this.' THIS SHOWS HUMOR IS SO UNEXPECTED SOMETIMES ITS REALLY GOOD. and then the scene after, mr lancer running into his ghost doppelganger and being like 'YOURE GORGOUS' THEN FAINTING. I AM CRYING. AND DASH FAINTING TOO.

-sam disguising herself as danny again to help tucker run from the fentons. but leaving him shirtless in the streets. incredible. 'plEASE DOnt NOTice MY FACELessNESS I MUST LIVE IN EXILE' this episode is destroying me the humor in this show is exactly my brand of corny and cheesy

-the impromtu story made up by danny and amorpho to explain stuff to the fentons. my god they are both such bad liars. but amorpho is a good egg. wish danny wouldnt have said he didnt wanna see him in town again!! I want him to be reoccurring. not that thats gonna matter since I'm almost done with the series, but the idea of this being the Only Time We See him is :(

-NEXT EP SAYS STARRING MARK HAMILL??????!!! hello ! mr . joker....mr. star wars.... I feel like I should be. idk. taking off a hat im not wearing in respect. I shouldnt be surprised tho bc hes in a lot of cartoons as a very good voice actor, and dp has already had a lot of talented ones so I've been looking out for ones I might know, but....mr. hamill....

-sam has her own greenhouse, names all the plants, and says thank you to them (in the languages from where the plants are from) whenever she harvests from them. thats SO cute. and her lil gothy lunch box...

-and danny's lil red fuzzy lined jacket!!! ive said it before but every time the characters get alt outfits im like :D

-danny has ice powers now!!! THATS WHAT FROSTBITE MEANT. HE KNEW SOMEHOW WAY BACK THEN

-THIS SHOW NEVER LETS YOU FORGET VLAD IS A BILLIONAIRE, HUH.

-danny's lil 'holy hibiscus!' first off the 50s batman swearing is hilarious. 2nd. my username is from the flower sanchoyo hibiscus, so, shoutout to ME this ep. hi :)

-EURGH UNDERGROWTH MAKING EVERYONE PLANT ZOMBIES. HIVEMIND PLOTS SCARE THE SHIT OUT OF ME. and this dude made the city SO overtaken so quickly like how long was danny asleep?? oh god

-evil fucked up sam! now the whole trio has gone evil at some point! the voice actress did a really, really good job with making her sound like a zombie...

-frostbite's paws are so so so big compared to danny. oh my god. i want to hug the snow dog...

-the far frozen has an advanced medical stuff!!! very cool. very smart snow dogs

-im so glad danny has a friendly ghost snow dad to explain this new power and teach him!!! this is so sweet. DANNY'S GHOST SENSE WAS A PART OF HIS ICE POWER?? OOOH. COOL. we love a training montage!!!

-danny saying if he cant defeat overgrowth, that he'd want to stay with frostbite...oh my god...do you think this is the first real supportive adult figure in his life (I am NOT counting his parents because they threaten him on the daily even if they dont realize it.) I mean mr lancer is a Teacher, but he was also nice but this is different, but this is a GHOST WHO IS WILLING TO HELP HIM with his powers and also will help him when hes injured and is so so nice and comparatively so much more mature than 90% of the adults in this show!!!! god. dad frostbite is my everything.

-the framing and lighting this episode, and all the angles...they went all OUT and it looks really really good. this is my nightmare scenario, tho. like, FUCK zombies and dead city zones and hivemind shit. and using the humans as 'nutrients for the children' i am going to THROW UP.

-MALEFICENT VIBES WITH THE HORNS AND GREEN EYES! this costume kicks so much ass. sam is now mark hamills daughter, I guess.

-danny's ice powers making his eyes blue!!! thats neat. and him going for the roots underground was SO SMART. i will not stand for danny ever thinking hes stupid, hes SO smart.

almost done with the show... :"( thats a sad thought!!!

[conniecaserole]

Hank and Larry hcs

ok so hank says be first met larry at a party he and his wife came into town for

-the party is a retirement party of an old colleague of hank (math teacher hank 🥺)

-his wife is a dolled up and excited bc they left the kids at home with her mother and they booked a hotel in the city so they could have a nice night

-larry’s mother knows the colleague maybe the wife of the colleague and they mention needing someone to take photos at the party so she volunteers larry

-larry initially is like nahh bc he mainly does fashion photography not party photos but he decides to do it for the money and he figures he might find someone to hook up with at the party

-hank notices larry bc how could you not he is wearing the skinniest pants ever

-his wife mentions how cute larry is and hank is like shit she knows i was looking but she doesn’t say anything else so he is like cool

-he feels bad for looking at a guy while his wife is right next to him but he also wishes she hadn’t come bc maybe he would have been able to talk to the guy

-larry comes up to their table to take pictures, hank can’t talk bc larry is so beautiful, larry teases him, they introduce themselves and then larry moves on

-hank watches him go to another table where larry bends down to pick something up aka showing his ass and then turns around to give hank a wink

-larry figures hank is a closet case and has fun messing with him but doesn’t think hank has the nerve to flirt/make a move directly

-party is nearing the end and hank’s wife has gone back to the hotel bc she wasn’t feeling good (hank is secretly thrilled) he tells her he needs to talk to people or something so he stays

-most people have left when hank goes up to larry while he is packing up

-they talk blah blah

-larry asks where hank’s wife is

-larry tells hank he needs to get something in the backroom and indicates hank should follow him

-hank waits a few seconds and then follows him

-larry figures that hank is super inexperienced and nervous so he thinks he is going to have to show him the ropes

-hank tho had been hooking up with guys prior to meeting larry so he knew his stuff

-they get down to business

-larry is shocked at how good hank is

-they banter

-they then finish. blah blah. its a bit awkward as they get redressed

-larry decides to give hank his card if he is ever back in the city, which is something larry never does. he usually is a one time type of guy maybe if he sees them again he’ll do it but he has never gone out seeking a second time with someone directly

-he figures that it’s not a big deal (it is) bc hank probs won’t ever call him but he secretly hopes he will bc damn hank is fine

-hank goes back to the hotel, takes shower, his wife is thankfully is asleep

-hank goes to bed planning another trip back into the city

-ok so a few weeks past from the first meeting, hank has to go into the city for something (idk what a math teacher has to do in the city but there is something)

-he tells his wife he is going in on friday and staying until saturday so he books a hotel

-hank is nervous to call larry but he does

-larry senses that hank is nervous so he teases him a bit

“why are you calling me, hank?”

“um, i’m going to be in new york this friday. you said i could call you if i ever came back?”

“what hotel?”

-hank gives larry the hotel name and a time

-blah blah its friday, they both get to the hotel, blah blah

-they banter, they get down to it

-larry has a rule abt never staying over for anyone he hooks up with so after they finish he gets up to leave

-hank is a bit upset but its not like he has any experience with this type of things, he mainly would go to clubs or something to hook up with guys. he never did the hotel thing until larry

-larry leaves

-they get a routine of this with hank coming in on the weekend, larry coming over but never staying the night

-at first it was just physical, right when larry would come over they’d do it

-but then they started to prolong it with larry asking hank abt his week and hank asking him abt his photography. never super deep stuff

-one weekend when hank arrives at the hotel, he gets a call from larry saying he woke up feeling sick and he cant come

-hank is bummed bc he was of course looking forward to seeing larry but he decides to bring larry some soup

-he knows where larry lives bc one night it was raining super bad and since larry still didn’t want to spend the night, hank drove him home

-hank gets soup and heads to the apt

-he is worried that larry might be lying and that he could be with another guy

-hank knows larry is not exclusive with him

-he notices all the marks on larry’s skin, marks he didn’t make

-hank doesn’t like it but he likes larry

-when he knocks, larry opens up the door and defo looks sick

-he is shocked that hank came

“what are you doing here?”

“i brought you soup”

-larry invites hank in and takes the soup

-larry reminds him that he is sick and cant do any sexual stuff and hank is like ok?? thats not why im here

-larry is confused, he hasn’t ever just hung out(no sex) with someone he was sleeping with. it was too couple like

-they end up talking (abt their past and family) and watching tv and its nice

-larry falls asleep on hank’s shoulder

-it gets late and hank wants to respect larry’s choice not to ever sleep over so he wakes him up and gets ready to leave

-larry tho asks him if he wanted to stay (this is big for him but he tries to ignore it)

-hank does

-from then on, hank stops booking hotels and instead heads straight to larry’s apt and stays over

-larry’s apt is your typical artist shithole but it works

-sometimes larry makes hank dinner (he tells himself that its just bc hank might be hungry from the drive)

-sometimes they just talk and not have sex

-larry stops going to the baths/clubs the days leading up to hank’s visits (he still goes but not on those days). he knows hank doesn’t like seeing other guys’ marks on larry’s skin so he tries to not to do it

-and if he lets hank give him marks well its bc hank wants to (and larry likes it but he would never admit that to anyone)

-this is the longest larry has slept with the same person and its not a big deal (it is)

-after a few more months of this larry forgets that it is harold’s birthday on the day hank was supposed to come

-he doesn’t want to miss the birthday party but he also doesn’t want to cancel on hank (hank’s wife has been a bit more suspicious so they had to cut down on the number of visits)

-larry decides to fuck it and takes hank to the birthday party

-emory, michael, bernard, harold and some other friends are there

-they are lowkey shook bc they know that larry  has never stayed with the same guy

-they are also shook that hank is married

-michael drinks and decides to confront hank and tells him abt larry, that he will never settle, that he will always want more, and that he is sleeping with other guys behind hank’s back

-hank knows all of this but it still hurts

-emory flirts with hank while larry is talking to someone else

-larry notices this and finds himself getting jealous. its not like emory and hank are making out or anything but emory has his hand on hank’s arm and hank is laughing

-larry walks over and asks hank if he wants to go home (yes larry has started to refer to his home as just home for him and hank)

-emory doesn’t miss this interaction and will later tease larry the next time he sees him

-everyone likes hank (and hank likes them, he feels comfortable with them) and larry begins to invite hank over when he is hanging out with them

[onceuponastory]

Coming Back Home - Chapter Five: The Time of My Life

“So I'll tell you something This could be love, because I've had the time of my life No, I never felt this way before Yes I swear, it's the truth And I owe it all to you” - (i’ve had) the time of my life: bill medley and jennifer warnes (aka the song from dirty dancing)

Plot: Six years ago, Y/N left her hometown and all its bad memories behind, and never looked back. But now, she’s come back to be the maid of honour in her sister’s wedding. Returning ‘home’ means she has to confront her past, the last thing she wants to do. When she meets the handsome best man Nick, she feels more comfortable…until her sister asks her to show Nick around town…a town that Y/N fell out of love with a long time ago.

Can Y/N fall back in love with the town she left behind, and maybe find love of her own along the way? (based on prompt by @orphicodysseywrites​)

Tag List: @shinydixon​, @baker151910​ and @thesundrop​. Let me know if you want to be added!

Warnings: Some mentions of alcohol

Note: I’m so sorry this chapter took so long! I’ve been super busy during Christmas because I work retail, and when I got home, I was so drained and unmotivated to write something, but here we are! I hope y’all enjoy the emotional roller coaster this chapter will take you on ;) Also, this chapter has some parts told in Nick’s POV for the first and definitely not the last time

Read the other parts / Read this story on Wattpad!

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Nick or his character! I just used Nick bc he’s the only character of Dacre’s that fits this prompt. Aside from Nick being in this, this fic has NOTHING to do with The Broken Hearts Gallery. But you should all see the movie if you can, because it’s adorable!

Later That Day

“How about this one?” Nick suggests. I scrunch my nose up. We were both trying to figure out what song to dance to at the wedding. Yes, we’ve left it late, but given everything that’s happened since we got here, can you blame us?

“Absolutely not.” Nick sighs. “What?”

"It’s a fun song! It’ll get people dancing.”

“Nick, even though we both look good, I don’t think dancing to Sexy and I Know It will be a good idea. Unless we want to give our great aunts a heart attack.” Sighing, Nick nods, crossing it off his list. “Now, I have made a playlist for this very occasion, so let me put it on...” I announce, crossing over to my phone.

“Of course you have. Katie’s told me about how many playlists you have Y/N. How many do you have now? Fifty?” Nick teases. Ignoring him, I hit play. Soon, the sounds of Waterloo by ABBA fills the room. Nick gives me a look. “ABBA? Seriously?”

“What do you mean, ‘seriously’ ?!” I ask. “They’re iconic! This song won them Eurovision!”

“That’s true, but no. No ABBA." I roll my eyes.

“No taste.” I shake my head. Ignoring me, Nick hits skip. The Time of My Life from Dirty Dancing starts playing. Nick and I look at each other. My mouth drops open, and he raises an eyebrow. “What?! This song is iconic! This scene is iconic! Patrick Swayze is an incredible dancer in this scene!”

“That’s true. He’s a great dancer. But I’m not that good.” 

“I can’t judge that Nick, I’ve never seen you dance.” Nick laughs.

“That’s a good thing. You’ll see at the wedding.”

“Come on! Get some practice! Dance with me.” I urge, holding out my hands. “Please?!”

“Oh, no. Did you hear what I just said?” Ignoring him, I take his hand, gently leading him into the centre of the room. “Y/N. I’d only ever do something like this for you, but I’m telling you that I’m going to stand on your feet and you will regret ever asking me to dance with you.” He sighs, taking my other hand. I start dancing, whilst Nick stands there, awkwardly moving. 

“See! This isn’t so bad!” I smile. “I’ve had...the time of my life....” I start singing. Nick laughs. “I get to endure your dancing, and you get to endure my singing. It’s only fair.”

“Guess that’s true. In that case, I should dance properly.” Nick moves closer, places his hand around my waist, and takes my other hand in his. I gasp. Did not expect him to be so close. Nick twirls me under his arm. 

“I’veeee, had the time of my lifeeee...” I sing to myself. Nick laughs. “What? I know I’m not that good at singing, but this song is SO good, can you blame me?!”

“You’re not that bad.” Nick smiles, continuing to twirl and dance with me around the room. “Do you even remember the dance from this film?” He asks.

“Kinda? To be honest, all I remember is the lift. You don’t have to lift me by the way.” Nick frowns.

“I think...he dips her like this.” Nick mumbles, and before I can even do anything, he gently but effortlessly dips me. I let out a little squeal, and he quickly pulls me up, asking if I’m okay. Still breathless, I can’t even reply.

“For someone who says he can’t dance, you’re...really good.” I gasp eventually.

“Guess I’m full of surprises.” He grins. As the song draws to a close, Nick continues to hold me close. It was nice...really nice. I could stay like this forever. The music changes in the background behind us, but neither of us notice. “So...” Nick begins. “Which song do you think we should choose?”

“Well, if we pick this one, everyone will expect you to lift me.” He nods. 

“We could try if you want?” He asks, dropping his hands to my waist.

“No, no, no, no, no, NICK!” I squeal as he lifts me off of my feet. “I’m ticklish! No!” I start giggling and squirming, so much so that Nick drops me. As I fall, so does he, and he lands on top of me.

“You okay?” He asks, his voice husky. I nod, breathless. He moves some hair out of my face, gazing into my eyes. “Good.” He smiles. His face has never been so close to mine before. I can see little flecks of gold in his eyes. They’re beautiful...like he is. Nick sits up and gently helps me up onto my knees. “Sure you’re okay?” He asks, and I nod again. 

“Nick, it’s okay. Honestly. Thanks for today, though.” I smile, scooting over and hugging him. “Sorry you had to endure my singing though.”

“Sorry you had to endure my horrible dancing.” Nick replies. The two of us sit there for what feels like forever, but is probably just a few minutes, holding each other. Reluctantly, I pull apart.

“I better go. Katie wanted me to help finish up some of the stuff for the bachelorette party.” I announce, getting up and picking up my phone. “Bye, Nick.” I give him a small wave before walking out of the room. As soon as I’m out of his eyeshot, I lean against the wall and sigh. What is it with me these days? I had suddenly started to feel an intense desire to stay close to Nick, and spend as much time with him as possible...but gotten way more awkward at the same time. Sighing, I walk upstairs to meet Katie.

It’s probably nothing...right?

~~~

A Few Days Later: The First Night of the Bachelorette Party Weekend - 6 Days til the wedding.

“Okay, so this is the number for the hotel, even though you’re not meant to be texting or calling me....but I won’t tell!” Katie talks to Adam as I carry my suitcase towards the stairs. It’s finally here: the bachelorette party. Katie, the rest of the bridesmaids and I were travelling to a nearby town to go drinking and dancing. To save driving back to Saint Chase in the middle of the night, we were all staying in a local hotel. Sighing, I pull my suitcase towards the stairs, ready to walk down them one step at a time, whilst also trying to keep a hold on my other bags. I stifle a yawn. Since Katie and I were going down early to set up the hotel rooms, it meant we all had to get up super early, and I was nowhere near close to functioning. Not that I was usually, but today was worse.

“Need some help?” Nick asks suddenly, popping up behind me, causing me to jump and almost lose my balance. My suitcase is close to tumbling down the stairs, nearly taking me with it. But Nick holds his hands out and catches it as best as he can.

“Shit, Nick! You need to stop sneaking up on me like that!” I scold. Even though I liked seeing him, I did not like it if it meant a heart attack came along with it.

“Sorry, I just saw you were struggling, and I saw those stairs, so I thought I could help.” He shrugs. I sigh. I mean, he was right. I did need help.

“...Yeah, you’re right.” I nod. “Can you take these?” I ask, passing him most of my bags.

“God, what is IN these things?” Nick asks as he gets increasingly more laden down. “I thought you girls were only going away for the weekend?”

“Yup.” I nod, popping the p. “These bags have our sashes, some balloons, other accessories like the mini veil and tiara, headbands....the photo booth props....” I trail off when I notice Nick looking at me like I’ve grown an extra head. “Yeah, bachelorettes are intense. And Katie and I are going down early to set up, so I have to bring everything now. Hence...all this.” I gesture around with my free hand. “And this suitcase has our makeup, outfit changes, and spares, just in case.” Nick still looks horrified. 

“We’re just gonna stay here, play some video games and drink some beers.” He states, making me laugh.

“Welcome to the world of the bachelorette party, Nick. Trust me, I was the same when I first started planning. Now...I am the master.” I strike a pose, and Nick laughs. “And besides, if you think this is bad, wait till you see our stuff for the day of the wedding.” Nick’s eyes go wide again, making me laugh. Nick helps me down the stairs with everything, and he and Adam help Katie and I pack the car full of our things.

“Okay, that’s us all loaded up! Bye, handsome.” Katie tells Adam, pulling him into a kiss, whilst Nick and I stand around slightly awkwardly. 

“Well, uh...have fun. Be sure to...show me pictures?” 

“Only if you show me some from the bachelor party too.” Nick nods. “Well...bye Nick.” I smile, giving him a small wave and walking towards the car. 

“Y/N, wait!” He calls, and I turn around. He walks up to me and gently takes my hands in his. I immediately feel shivers up my arms. Nick speaks again, his voice now hushed. “If you have a nightmare again, or if you need someone to talk to, give me a call, alright? Doesn’t matter how early or late it is. I want you to know I’ll always be there for you.” I feel tears rising in my eyes all over again.

“Nick...are you sure?”

“Positive.” He pulls me into a hug before I can even react. “Have a fun weekend.” He whispers, squeezing me so tightly that I swear my heart stops. In a good way, though. Nick and I pull apart, and as I gaze into his blue eyes, I realise that I don’t want to go. Even though I knew I had to support my sister, and I knew I did want to go....a stronger part of me just wanted to stay and hang out with Nick.

“Come on, Y/N!” Katie orders. “We need to go if we’re going to have any chance of setting up before the girls arrive!” Blushing slightly, I turn back to Nick. 

“Bye Nick.” I smile. He wishes me goodbye, and I get into the car besides Katie. The two of us wave as we pull out of the driveway, Nick and Adam waving us goodbye as we go. As the house fades out of view, the feeling from before, the desire to stay, returns. I try and ignore it, but it’s intense. “What is wrong with me?!” I think to myself. Whatever it is, I better forget it soon, or I’ll be thinking about Nick for the whole night.

~~~

That Night

Pushing open the door to the karaoke bar, the six of us walk in. 

“YAAAAAY! KARAOKE!” Katie calls, slightly tipsy already.

“I cannot believe you’ve talked me into this. I’m not even that drunk or a good singer!” I hiss. I know I’ve already sung in front of Nick, but this was different. I was comfortable with Nick, but there were people here. People who could hear me. People who I don’t know.

“Come on, Y/N! It’ll be fun! And don’t you worry, once you get some more shots in you, you’ll be right up on that stage.” Sam grins. Sam was another member of Katie’s bridal party. Altogether, there was me, Caroline, Sam, Sam’s wife Vanessa, and Katie’s college roommate Brooke. I was so thankful that Katie has such a small bridal party. It makes my life so much easier. 

“And besides, you don’t have to be a good singer...to be honest, most people aren’t.” Brooke smiles.

“If you say so....” I mumble. The group of us sit in a booth and order some drinks to get started. I’m going to need a lot more of these to get through this karaoke. If they think I’ll be up on that stage, they have another thing coming.

~~~

Two Hours Later

“Cause tonight for the first time....just about half-past ten....for the first time, in HISTORY....it’s gonna start raining meeeeeen!” I sing into the microphone. The girls cheer from the table. “IT’S RAINING MEN!” Brooke and I both sing/shout into the microphone, our arms around each other.

“I mean we’re gay but yessss!!! Love that!” Vanessa and Sam shout. It turns out it only takes a few more wines to get me up on the stage. Who knew? Brooke and I continue the song and finish to thunderous applause, mostly from the rest of the girls. 

“You’re right!! That was so fun!!!!” I grin, jumping up and down. “I’m sorry for doubting youuuuu.” I pull Brooke into a hug, which she returns. The two of us sit back down at the table. “Katie! Katie! Did you see me?!” I ask. “Wasn’t I good?! Can you believe....Nick had the cheek to say I wasn’t that bad. I’m a star in the making.”

“Who’s Nick?” Sam asks. 

“Well. He’s Adam’s best man. And he is cute as hell.” I grin. Fumbling with my phone, I open instagram to Nick’s profile. “SEE?!” I exclaim, showing them my phone screen. 

“Babeeee, your thumb’s in the way.” Katie tells me, trying to swat it out of the way. I move it, and soon a chorus of ‘awwws’ and ‘wows’ fills the air. 

“You’re right, he’s gorgeous!” Brooke nods. 

“Right? I wish he could see me now. I’m so hot.” The girls agree. “Wait. Katie...I have an idea.”

~~~

A Few Hours Later

Nick’s POV

Yawning, I put my phone on charge and place it on the nightstand. The boys and I had had a fun night together, but I was exhausted, so I decided to go to bed. As I close the curtains, I hear my phone start buzzing on the nightstand. I pick it up, and a bunch of text notifications from Katie pop up on the screen. Chuckling to myself, I open the texts. If I know anything about Katie, I know she’ll most likely be drunk by this point. A picture of Y/N flashes up on the screen, accompanied by a text saying: 

“LOOK HOW GORGEOUSSSSS MY SISTER LOOKS!!!!!!! BET YOU MISS HER, HUH?!” and about a million emojis. I tap on the picture of Y/N, enlarging it. Katie obviously took it whilst she was getting ready, unbeknownst to Y/N. She’s smiling as she applies her makeup, and is looking over at one of the bridesmaids, probably laughing at a joke or something. I smile. She looks so...natural? I’ve been so used to seeing Y/N being fake happy to appease either myself or her sister, and seeing her naturally, with a big smile on her face, not knowing anybody’s watching or taking her photo...she looks beautiful. I mean, she always looks gorgeous, but this time...she looked even more gorgeous. Radiant even. I didn’t even know that was possible. And Katie was right. I do miss her. It was crazy, I’ve only known her for two weeks at this point, but she was quickly becoming someone I cared about, and someone I wanted to see after the wedding. I mean, we had almost kissed...which I initiated...and I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t wished that we had kissed. I don’t think I’ll be forgetting her that quickly. 

I scroll down, and notice a video, which Katie has helpfully captioned with “4 u ;)” I hit play. Y/N Is standing by a karaoke machine, wearing a black sequined jumpsuit, a pink maid of honour sash, and a tiara. She looks great.

“This is for youuuu Nick!” She calls, sounding pretty drunk, pointing directly into the camera. The music starts playing, and I start laughing as soon as I recognise it. It’s Dancing Queen by ABBA. Of course. Y/N immediately starts singing and dancing around the stage. She told me earlier on she couldn’t sing, but she was actually pretty good. I find myself softly singing along as she sings. Soon, the song ends, and she takes a bow to thunderous applause from the bar. She comes running up to Katie’s phone. “Were you filmin?” She asks, before looking right into the camera. “NICK! I hope you enjoyed that, even though you have NO TASTE!!! See you on Sunday!” She blows a kiss to the camera, making me smile. “...Oooh is that more champagne?” She asks, immediately walking away, making me laugh. I type out a text to Katie:

“You’re right. She does look gorgeous. Tell her I enjoyed the song. Enjoy the rest of your night girls x” I put my phone back on the nightstand and get into bed. Sighing, I look up at the ceiling. What is it with me? Y/N has been occupying my thoughts ever since she and Katie left, and I have no idea why. “You know why, you idiot.” Part of me tells myself. “It’s because you like her.” No, that can’t be it...can it? I mean, I had almost kissed her. Oh shit. Maybe I did like her. I prop myself up on my elbow and pick up my phone again. I start scrolling through my photos from the past two weeks. Y/N’s in almost every one. I feel butterflies within as I see her face smiling back at me. Oh god. I think I do like her. But there’s no way she feels the same. 

~~~

The Next Morning

Y/N’s POV

Groaning, I sit up in bed. My head is starting to pound. Getting out of bed, worming my way around the pairs of heels and accessories left on the floor, I walk into the bathroom, gasping when I see myself in the mirror. My mascara is running, my eyeshadow is smudged, and there is glitter all over my face. Sighing, I get undressed and hop in the shower, letting everything wash away with all the soapy water. Once I’m out, I hear Katie’s voice from the other side of the door, and she frantically knocks. 

“Y/N! Y/N! Are you in there?!” She asks. I open the door and see her shocked face on the other side. 

“What? Do you need to puke?” I ask, standing aside.

“NO! LOOK!” She thrusts her phone at me. I take it and look down at it. It’s displaying her texts to Nick. 

“You sent him the video of me singing karaoke?!” I exclaim. Katie frowns. 

“You told me to? And no! I don’t mean that!!” She snatches her phone back and scrolls down. “Look what Nick sent!” She orders. Taking the phone back, I read the message.

“You’re right. She does look gorgeous.” I immediately block out the rest of the message. Those words replay in my mind. Nick....thinks I look gorgeous? Katie is staring at me, clearly waiting on my response...but I can’t think of anything to say. My mind and my heart feel like they’re racing at 100 miles per hour. I mean, it’s not like he outright admitted he was in love with me or anything...but in a way...he kind of did? Holy shit. I don’t even know how I feel about him. I mean, we have almost kissed already, but that doesn’t mean anything, does it? Who am I kidding, of course it means something. It means that I must like him too, or I wouldn’t have almost kissed him. My mind immediately flashes back to the times people thought Nick and I were boyfriend and girlfriend, or telling us we would make a cute couple, how I didn’t want to leave Nick for this weekend...and realisation dawns on me. The reason why I liked being told that, and why I enjoyed being with Nick...is because I wanted it. Do I...like Nick? As in...like, like? ...I think I might?

“Y/N...are you okay?” Katie asks. “You’re kinda spaced out.”

“Yeah, I’m wonderful.” I lie. I feel like my world has been turned upside down, or like the rug has been pulled out from under me, and I might collapse at any moment. Katie raises an eyebrow.

“Y/N...you promised me that if something’s going on, you’d tell me what it was. I can tell something’s up, and I want to know what. Please? You’re my sister. I want to know if something’s bothering you.” She reminds me, and I sigh.

“Fine. We’ll go for some coffee before brunch, and I’ll tell you. Now, will you PLEASE let me get dressed in peace?!”

~~~

Later

I take a sip of my coffee, letting it soothe me and my slowly developing hangover. Katie sits across from me, looking expectantly as she waits on me admitting what’s been going on with me...that I think I have a crush on Nick. Sighing, I meet her gaze...and start telling her everything. How close we’ve grown, how everyone we’ve met thinks we’d be cute together, our almost kiss, how excited I was to see him again, and...how I think I’m falling for him. When I’ve stopped, Katie stares at me silently for what feels like an eternity. I knew she’d need some time to process this...but not this long. “Uh...Katie?” I start, and she immediately cuts me off.

“I KNEW IT!” She gasps, letting out a squeal that makes some of the people in the coffee shop stare. I flush pink, but she doesn’t even notice. “God Y/N, I thought it was going to be something worse than this.” She admits. She sees my pink face and continues. “Y/N. A few days ago, I told you that I’ve seen how happy he makes you, and how it’s like when Adam and I first met. It’s SO OBVIOUS that you like him. Actually...” She giggles, stopping only to take a drink of her coffee. “I didn’t tell you, but last night you were talking about him all the time. Like for the whole night. I think the rest of the girls were too drunk to notice, but I wasn’t. Every five minutes, it was ‘do you think Nick would like this?’ ‘Nick said this...’ ‘Nick said that...’ ‘He’s so cute!’ ‘I want Nick to know how cute I look tonight!’ And now, he does! All thanks to me.” She grins triumphantly. “But seriously Y/N. It’s so obvious. To be honest, I knew that you probably liked him from that first meal in the diner, when you kicked me in the shin.”

“Sorry about that by the way.”

“No, no, don’t be silly! It’s fine. You did that every time I almost spilled your crushes to Grandma. I know you too well. BUT, I did NOT know about this almost kiss though!!!” She squeals again, thankfully quieter this time. “My sister’s getting with the best man!” I quickly shush her.

“No! Nick cannot know. At least, not yet.” She frowns at me. “For one, I have no idea if he even likes me in that way, and second, I am not doing anything to jeopardise your wedding.” Katie scoffs.

“Who cares about my wedding?! My big sister’s finally found the one!” 

“Okay, that’s a bit much, I don’t even know if-”

“Oh, please. I have a feeling that he likes you too, and that you two will be happy for many years to come.” She taps the side of her head as if she’s made a breakthrough, before going back to her coffee. “So...when are you gonna tell him?”

“Katie, did you not hear what I just said? I’m not going to. At least not yet. I do want to know if he likes me back, but I don’t want to take away from your wedding.” She reaches over and takes my hand. 

“Y/N. As your little sister and the bride, you have my blessing to declare your feelings to Nick before my wedding. Seriously. It’s okay. I just want you to be happy.” I smile.

“Thanks sis.” I sigh. She gets down off her seat and hugs me.

“I love you.” She whispers.

“I love you too.”

“...Oh by the way, when I said ‘who cares about my wedding?’ Yeah, well I still care about it. Even though you have my blessing, please don’t let anything go wrong.” I chuckle.

“I won’t. I promise.”

~~~

The Next Day: Sunday - 5 Days til the Wedding

Nick’s POV

Adam’s practically bouncing on his heels as the two of us wait on Katie and Y/N coming back from the bachelorette party. It was cute, though. I had seen his relationship with Katie grow over the years, and was honoured they asked me to be part of their special day. It was so clear how much they loved each other. 

“Dude, calm down.” I smile. “They’ll be here soon.”

“Sorry.” He blushes. “I’ve just been missing Katie, and it’s so close to the wedding now, I’m just...I’m excited to be her husband! I’ll try and calm down.” I smile.

“It’s okay. I just don’t want Katie to come home and find out her fiancé got so excited I had to scrape his body off of the ceiling.” Adam and I laugh.

“So...how about you and Y/N, huh? You excited to see her again?” I nod. Of course I was. “And then you two can finally have that talk.” I frown, looking at him. Did he...did he know? “Oh please, Nick. I’ve seen the way you talk about her. You don’t make it very subtle. You like her, don’t you?” He raises his eyebrows suggestively.

“Well, yeah, but-”

“Not as a friend, as in...that way.” 

“How did you know?” I ask, not even trying to deny it. He chuckles. 

“It’s pretty obvious dude. Both Katie and I have noticed.” Before I can even say anything, he holds his hands up, stopping me. “Don’t worry. Katie and I don’t mind if you and Y/N get together. We just want you both to be happy.” I stand there in silence for a while, not knowing what to say. I mean, he was right, of course...and he gave me his blessing to be with Y/N if it came to that, so what was the issue? Well, of course, she might not like me back...but it was worth a try. “Are you going to talk to her?” Adam asks, looking at me expectantly. 

“...I guess?” I say before even thinking about it. Adam grins and pulls me into a hug. 

“Good luck.” He smiles. Yeah, what could possibly go wrong? Oh right, everything. Soon after, we hear a car pulling up to the house, and we open the door to see the girls getting out and unloading their suitcases and bags. My stomach twists into knots. Katie and Adam spot each other and immediately run into each other’s arms. Walking past them, Y/N walks into the house, standing in the doorway. 

“Hey, Nick.” She smiles softly. The sun behind her illuminates her hair, backlighting her in a golden glow. God, she’s gorgeous. 

“Uh...Hi!” I gasp, quickly realising I hadn’t replied to her. The two of us stand awkwardly silent for a few moments.

“WELL uh, I think I’m going to take these upstairs.” Y/N suddenly announces, making her way towards the stairs. 

“Need a hand?” 

“No! I mean uh...no, I’ll be fine. Thanks Nick.” She walks upstairs, leaving me frowning in the hallway. Why is she being so weird? You don’t think she...oh no. Does she know? Does she know that I think I like her? Does she not feel the same? Oh god, she doesn’t. That’s why she’s so awkward around me. Well, more so than usual. Katie walks into the house and gives me a hug. She winks at me as she also heads upstairs, confusing me even more. What is going on with those two? Sighing, I decide to make us all some tea. As I sit in the living room, drinking my cup, Y/N comes and sits beside me on the couch. “Oh! Thanks, Nick.” She smiles, taking a cup of tea. “So...did you have a nice weekend without us?” She asks. No. I missed you too much. I want to say, but instead, I say:

“Yeah! It was good. We just played some video games.” I immediately curse myself for saying I had a good weekend without her. Now she’ll think I hate her. However, Y/N smiles at that.

“That’s good. Katie told me you saw my karaoke video. Did you like it?” 

“Yeah, I did. You know, you told me you couldn’t sing, but you’re good.” She laughs.

“I don’t think so, but thanks Nick.” She smiles. She glances up as Katie and Adam walk into the room. “I need to talk to you later.” She whispers, before greeting them both. My stomach starts twisting again. Oh god, she’s going to tell me that she doesn’t feel the same, isn’t she? Dammit. Why do I always fall too hard for a girl then end up disappointed? Katie and Adam continue talking to us both, too caught up in the excitement of seeing each other again even to notice how silent Y/N and I are. The atmosphere is shattered by the sound of a car pulling up outside. The four of us look at each other, clearly confused. Nobody else is meant to be staying here now, just us four...so who’s that?

“Did one of your groomsmen forget something?” Y/N asks. Adam and I shake our heads. “And it’s not one of us, because they’re staying in the local hotel, right, Katie?” Katie huffs. 

“It better not be one of them, because I TOLD THEM this house didn’t have enough room for anyone other than us.” A knock sounds at the door. Huffing again, Katie gets up. “Let me handle this.” She sighs. “If it’s our flower vendors, I swear to god, I told them to deliver stuff to the VENUE, NOT HERE.” We hear her voice disappearing down the hallway, and the three of us go back to our tea, expecting Katie to reappear moments later with a quick explanation. Sure enough, we soon hear: “What are YOU doing here?!” Y/N places her cup down and gets up.

“I’ll help her deal with this. Don’t want any issues, like last time.” She gives me a knowing look, and I chuckle lightly. Adam and I go back to scrolling through our phones and drinking tea, until the sound of “Oh, my GOD!” cuts through the air. Frowning, Adam and I look at each other. That was Y/N’s voice. The two of us get up and walk towards the front door. A man stands in the doorway, looking at Y/N and Katie. He hasn’t noticed us yet. Y/N is holding Katie’s hand, clearly squeezing it for dear life, but neither of them says anything. Either to us, the man or each other. Their faces are pale. The man looks over at Adam and I. 

“Ah! Hello there! Now, which of you is the groom?” He asks. 

“Um, I am?” Adam frowns. The man smiles.

“I see! Wonderful to meet you!”

“I’m sorry, sir, but who are you? Can we help you?” I ask. The man chuckles.

“Of course! Where are my manners?!” He asks. “I’m Robert Miller.” He gestures over at the girls, still ghostly pale. “And these two lovely ladies...are my daughters.”

[moadvx]

Don’t lie to me - J.J. Maybank.

JJ maybank x reader

Word count: 2.124

Warnings: None, I don’t write smut :)

Request: not a request but my requests are open :)

You are one of Kie’s only kook friends. You are Toppers sister, but everyone knew you are nothing like him. That’s why Kie and you became friends. She knew you were nothing like the kooks. You loved to travel and you had an internship for this company that worked on climate change and how to stop it. You are also friends with Sarah but after she stopped hanging out with Kie you kind of lost contact because you would hang out with Kie a lot. But after she started dating Topper you two got in contact again. You were good friends and she told you in secret dat she didn’t like Topper that much anymore. You saw how she changed when he was around and how he would treat her.

You were also very smart, that’s why you skipped a grade and why this summer you graduated high school. So this summer you wouldn’t actually be in the outer banks, you would be going to New York to work for your summer job and after summer you would go to school there. Then the hurricane happened and when you got the news you went back home. You would help them with building the town back up in a sustainable way. So that’s why you are on a ferry back home right now.

You send a message to Kie and Sarah too. To make sure they were okay. They are both fine and you told them that you are arriving soon. They were both excited that you were coming back. Topper and his friend Rafe would pick you up from the dock even tough you told them not to. You didn’t really like Rafe because he would hit on you sometimes. Which you found very uncomfortable but he wouldn’t stop so you ignored it.

When you arrived you walked to them, you gave Topper a hug and when you turned to Rafe you just walked to the car. “Don’t you think you are forgetting something sweetheart?” Rafe said to you. You kept walking and said “I’m not giving you a hug Rafe, so pop that bubble in your head. Also stop calling me sweetheart it really creepy.” He just looked at you annoyed. You sat in the back of Toppers car and Rafe sat in the front.

When you arrived you unpacked your stuff and send a text to Kie asking if she could hang out. She replied with and okay but that the pogues were with her too. They were just chilling at the beach. So you grabbed your  longboard that you hadn’t ridden in a couple weeks and went to the beach. It felt weird to be back home. Nothing really changed just more stuff was destroyed. You took the long road to the beach to look at what the storm had destroyed. You’ve met the pogues before and they think you're cool but you wouldn’t consider them close friends. You saw the group on the beach but without Pope. “Hey guys, how are y’all doing?” You said to them. Kie stood up and gave you a big hug. “Hey, I missed you but they kept me company.” JJ and John B just waved at you and John B said teasingly “We’re bored around here but you probably wouldn’t have that problem.” You just laughed and said “Nope I’ve been really busy lately. Even here I won’t have that much free time I guess.”

JJ looked at you curiously and asked “Why not?” “I came here to help the town with more sustainable homes. So yeah im basically going to give advice on how to do that.” You answered him “So during the day I’m probably going to be running around town.” He smiled at you. He had a beautiful smile. You’ve always found JJ attractive but you were never the type of girl to go after a boy. Also you really focused on school and work so you really had no time.

They were curious about what New York was like and you told them what had happened and Pope also joined you all. He asked you a lot of questions but not about your work more about college and the way universities would accept him. So you helped him a bit and after that you went back home.

————————

A couple of days later you were invited to the boneyard party. You were kind of tired but Sarah and Kie insisted you needed to go. So you arrived with Sarah, Topper and Rafe but they all left you when the party started. Rafe went after some tourist girl and Topper and Sarah just went somewhere together. You looked for Kie but couldn’t find her. So when you saw JJ and John B giving out drinks you walked up to them. “Hey has one of you seen Kie?” You asked them. “No maybe she just went to the toilet or something but you can stay here. Do you want a drink?” JJ answered you. You nodded and he gave you a drink. “So this is just like how it used to be huh, just parties on the beach, getting really drunk.” You said, John B looked at you and said “yeah this is the most fun we can do around here, New York probably has better parties than this.” You thought about it and said “Well the thing is I worked a lot in New York so I was tired most of the time and when I went out it ended in a disappointment. So I much rather enjoy these kinds of parties.” They looked at you very surprised but JJ asked and laughed “Why? they have better beer and more drugs.”  “Oh come one JJ you know that doesn’t make the party better. At least these parties don’t make me want to cut off my feet from dancing and I can just chill on the beach.”

After the conversation ended and you had a couple more beers you walked to the water. You took of your shoes and walked into the water. You sighed because you were actually really tired and you kind of wanted to go home but also not. They would just ask more questions at home. Then you heard footsteps approaching you. “Hey what are you doing here all alone.” JJ asked. You were kind of surprised he even noticed you bc it was very dark. “Oh you know just thinking about stuff.” You said to him. “Like what kind, the good or the bad thoughts?” He asked curiously. Why was he even interested you thought to yourself but answered him anyway because of the alcohol in your blood. “The kind that makes you wanna run away and never come back.” You said, which surprised him because you are so happy all the time and this was a different side of you. “Why? Did something happen?” “Well there’s just a lot of pressure on me right now because my parents don’t know if what I'm pursuing is a real job so if I fuck this project up they will send me to a different school.” You said JJ looked at you in admiration and said “Well Y/N if you ever need help with anything just ask me or the pogues. We would love to help you.” You looked him smiling and said “Thanks JJ. I just hoped that after I moved to New York they would change their opinion you know.” He put his arm around you and suddenly your heart sped up and you blushed. You immediately stood up and said you would go home. “Is everything okay y/n/n?” He asks you. “yeah, yeah, I just want to go home. I really thank you for the conversation JJ, it was nice.” You say and he looks confused at you. So you put your shoes back on and walk back home.

————————

The next day you woke up with a massive headache and you immediately wanted to swim. This was one of your free days so why not. You grabbed your longboard and went to the beach. You laid down in the sand and thought about yesterday and the conversation with JJ. You wished you weren’t so awkward around him. You texted Kie and told her about it yesterday when you came home. She found it funny because you’ve never been like this. You went for a swim and when you came back out you decided to longboard around town a little.

You ended up at John B’s house and when you walked up the steps to enter the house you saw a black SUV arriving so you call John’s name. “we’re here in the office.” He said “Hey John do you know someone with a back SUV.” You say while entering the room and he looks through the window and immediately starts looking for another way out. But when the guys came into the office you all left and went into the chicken coup. But the chickens wouldn’t shut up so when it got too loud JJ killed the chicken and it was quiet. It kind of shocked you and he saw that and looked at you with an apologising look. You mouthed “its okay” because if he wouldn’t have done that maybe you would be dead.

When the weird guys in black left, you all came out. You let out a breath that you didn’t know you were holding. Kie gave you a hug and then asked you “I’m sorry y/n, but what are you doing here?” You looked at the group and said “ I was just riding through town with my longboard and I was bored and guessed that you would probably be at John Bs house.” They nodded and went back inside again. They sat down on the couch and Kie patted the spot next to her with a smile. Because JJ was siting on the other side. But you sat down anyway because where else would you sit. JJ put his arm on the armrest behind you. You looked down at your lap and played with you hands. They started talking about something but you didn’t understand. JJ looked at you and whispered in your ear “hey did I do something yesterday?” You looked at him surprised and whispered back “No like I said I just wanted to go home JJ.” “but you said home was where you didn’t want to go when we talked yesterday y/n.” He said “its okay JJ could be way worse.” And you looked at the rest of the group. He also looked at the group and after a couple minutes you stood up and said “Hey I’m gonna go home chill a little. Are you doing anything tonight?” They shrugged and you left “bye y/n” you heard JJ say. You smiled and went back home.

——————

You get a text that night at a weird time from an unknown number.

Unknown: hey its JJ, I really wanna talk and I know its a weird time but I could also be at another time I just wanna talk.

You: hey JJ, yeah I can hang out for a bit rn. I won’t be sleeping anyway but where?

JJ: Uhh we could go to the beach I could be there in about 15 minutes.

You: Okay I will be there too.

JJ: see ya then

——————

You sneak out of the house and go to the beach. You see him sitting on the hood of his car. “hey JJ, what’s up.” You said he looks ay you and sticks his hand out for you to climb up his car as well. “Okay so I know that was a lie yesterday and today too and you know it too. Why won’t you tell me why you left?” He says and you sigh “JJ its has nothing to do with you.” You sigh again and decide to just tell him “but when you put your arm around me yesterday my heart did something and it made me realize something. I have a crush on you JJ” “Wait what… are you serious?” You nod and he looks at you with a smile “So to assure you I have a crush on you as well.” You looked at him so surprised and smiled. “Can I kiss you?” He asks “only if you want to y/n I don’t wanna force-“ you shut him up by kissing him. He kisses you back and you move to his lap. You pull back and say “just promise me that im not just a hookup JJ.” “I swear on my damn life that you're not just a hookup. We are gonna rule the world together.” You smile and that night you end up watching the sunrise together.

[lvanter]

note: :(( hi :(( i accidentally deleted the first one so :(( repost :(( also like disclaimer i’m not assuming felix’s sexuality schsjs this is pure fiction :] okay hope u enjoy it :] bc i really like it

warnings: coming out, kissing,

wc: 2.9k

years in between. fl

felix is 10 when he first meet you.

chris, felix’s older brother, came home from school later than expected.

another thing that wasn’t expected was you walking into the house with him, holding your backpack tightly. felix was sat at the dinner table with his dad doing some homework.

“chris? you’re home late,” his dad looked up from the work laying on the table. “who’s this?”

chris proudly introduced you as the new kid in his class and his new best friend.

felix’s eyes widened when he looked at you. you had a yellow raincoat on and a pair of worn out black sneakers, and you were slight wet from the rain. chris, on the other hand, was drenched.

“i fell into a puddle,“ chris admitted, his cheeks growing hot. nobody asked, but he knew they were going to.

his father nodded, a smile finding its way onto his lips, “you two should get dry. i’ll get some towels,“

as their father left to get towels, chris gestured for you to take your shoes and jacket off, while he did the same. he walked over to felix and ruffled his hair, “hey, lix,”

“hi,” felix smiled happily at his older brother.

“(name), this is my little brother felix,” chris introduced, his hand on felix’s shoulder

“hi, felix,“

you shot him a smile. a smile that would be engraved into his mind for a very long time.

felix is 12 when he comes to the conclusion that he’s bisexual.

he comes to the conclusion when he imagines kissing lee minho, his neighbor, for the nth time, after having a yet another daydream about how lovely it would be to date yoo jeongyeon, his math tutor.

tears were streaming down his face that night. he was supposed to like girls! and girls only! this could not be happening. he tried to stay quiet as he cried, to no avail. within a few minutes chris was hugging him tightly and running his hand up and down felix’s back to soothe and comfort him.

felix remembers stuttering and stammering what was wrong through the tears running down his face at a rapid speed. he remembers chan pulling him closer and telling him that it was okay and that he was still felix.

“but…” felix sniffled, “but aren’t i supposed to only like girls?”

chris gave him a resecuring and yet sad smile, “you can like whoever you want, lix,”

“really?”

“yeah!” chris gave him another smile, this time happier, “whoever you want! as long as they’re a nice person,“ he teased, pointing a finger at his younger brother.

(name) is a nice person, was the first thought that came to mind, but felix didn’t dare say it out loud, in fear of what chris would say.

chris ended up sleeping in felix’ bed, holding him tight.

the next day felix told his best friends, kim seungmin and han jisung. the pessimistic part of felix was sure they were gonna hate him and never talk to him again. but the response he got was far from that; they ended up cuddling on the couch in seungmin’s living room. seungmin busy wiping felix’ tears away and calming him down, while jisung made a fort and found all their favorite movies.

telling his parents was the hardest and chris knew that, so he made sure he was holding felix’s hand as tightly as he could, to give the younger one more comfort. chris was positive their parents would accept their youngest child’s sexuality.

felix, however, was not. he had made the mistake of telling chris he was fine, and therefore had to sleep alone the night before, leaving room to overthink.

the room got uncomfortably hot for felix, as soon as their parents sat down at the dining table, like he had asked them to.

“mom, dad,” felix began, tightening his grip on chris’ hand. “i’m...” he gulped, “i’m...”

felix closed his eyes forcefully. the words ‘i can’t’ repeated in his head, ‘they’re gonna hate me’

“i’m……..” the words kept getting stuck in throat.

“you’re what, sweetheart?” his mom asked, in the tone she usually had when she spoke to her youngest child.

“i’m bi,” he whispered so lowly only chris heard him.

“what?” it was their dads turn to speak, “felix, you know how we feel about mumbling,”

chris leaned closer to felix so he could whisper into his ear, “do you want me to say it?”

felix nodded without saying anything.

chris took a deep breath before speaking,“felix is bisexual,”

the silence that fell over the room made felix want to hide away and cry. he closed his eyes, not wanting to see his parents disgusted faces (and to stop the tears, that were threatening to fall). before he could stop himself the tears began to fall. the words ‘they hate me’ repeated themselves over and over again in his head.

he felt someone wipe his tears away. at first he thought i was chris, but the hands felt rougher. dad?

felix opened his his eyes, and through the tears he could make out his dads kind face.

“it’s okay, felix,” his dad rubbed his back to comfort him (the same way chris had done it when he first found out).

“you…you don’t hate me?” felix managed to get out, tears still falling.

“oh, lixie,” his mom stood up and walked over to the boys, “we could never hate you, okay.” she said, taking her sons hands.

that night felix and chris slept on the couches in the living room (their parent went to sleep in their bed, and didn’t want to wake their sons up), after a long evening of watching felix’ favorite movies and eating take out.

“chris?” felix whispered, twenty minutes after midnight.

“hmm?” chris on hummed in response. he was very close to falling asleep.

“thank you,”

“it’s nothing, lixie, i’ve got you,”

felix cuddle closer into his big brother, and fell asleep quickly. he couldn’t remember the last time he slept that well.

felix is 14 when he’s sure he’s in love with you.

felix didn’t know much about love.

he had never been in love. sure, he’s had crushes (like the ones he had on yoo jeongyeon and lee minho), but they never lasted longer than a few months. the one he’s had on you, however, has lasted for 4 years…but he wasn’t sure if it was love or if he just found you cool and good looking.

he became sure that day a carnival was in town, and his parents had taken him and chris. after trying a bunch of rides and eating very overpriced and unhealthy foods, chris had spotted you and waved you over.

you were with your dads family, felix learned. you had ruffled his hair and given chris the usual hug.

“hi, chrissy,“ you said, hugging your best friend, before ruffling felix’ hair, “hi, lix,“

lix… you only called him lix, never felix, or fefe like jisung did when he wanted to tease him. it made his heart beat faster than it should, and usually left him kinda dizzy.

“h-hi, (name),“ he stuttered, silently cursing at himself afterwards. why did he have to stutter? why couldn’t he talk normally around you?

your dad’s family and their parents had begun to talk, leaving you, chris and felix to go on rides by yourselves. you ended up in a ‘coffee cup ride’, where you sit in a coffee cup and spin around.

felix gulped slightly as he sat down in front you. you gave him a smile, the one that always made his heart pound.

“you nervous?” you asked him.

“on-only a little,”

why did i have to stutter? felix groaned inwardly at himself.

“it’s okay, lix, i am too,”

felix gave you a shy smile and the ride started. felix felt the wind run through his hair, it felt nice. he could barely open his eyes, as the ride continued. he was well aware that he was gonna get dizzier because he closed his eyes, so he forced them open.

the first thing he saw was you. your smile was wide and your eyes curled up, as you held on tight on the table in the middle. you looked so happy and free. felix was sure everything seemed to slow down, as you laughed happily.

the sight was the most beautiful felix had ever seen.

his hands began began to move closer to grab yours unconsciously. before he could realize it he had grabbed it and you had given it a squeeze in return, without looking at him.felix felt himself begin to sweat a little at your touch.

you had held his hand before, but that was when he was a kid and still needed to hold somebody’s hand when he crossed the street.

now he was a grown up….okay, no, he wasn’t, but like every 14 year-old he liked to think he was.

is this what love feels like? he asked himself, as he kept watching you laugh and smile as the ride kept going. his heart was pounding, his cheeks was red and hot, and his stomach was filled with butterflies.

felix didn’t know much about love, but from what he’s read and seen in movies, this is what it feels like.

felix is 16 when he gets his heart broken for the first time.

felix wasn’t hungry, but chris was. and felix being the younger one of the two had been forced to go get the food.

chris had given felix the address to a small chinese restaurant, around 15 minutes away from their home.

felix actually didn’t mind getting the food. he liked going for walks, they cleared his head. his head that was filled with thoughts about you (and maybe the homework he had gotten).

the door to the restaurant dinged quietly as it opened. felix stood and scanned the restaurant for a moment. a family of five sitting, two girls, an old couple, a couple of friends, nothing too exciting. the foods scent got to felix, making his stomach grumble. okay, maybe he was hungry after all.

he went up to the counter, got the food and paid. he was happily on his was out when a guy—a couple of years older than him, if felix were to guess—walked through the door, slightly bumping into felix on the way.

“oh, sorry,” the guy gave felix an apologetic smile, to which felix just gave him a nod and a, “it’s fine,”

felix walked out the door, when his phone vibrated. he pulled it out of his back pocket as he stood outside the restaurant.

from chris: can u get some soda too uwu

felix made a grimace at his brothers use of uwu.

to chris: only if u promise me that ure never gonna say uwu again

from chris: fine :(

from chris: btw do u see (name)??? they should be on a date there right now w their boyfie

felix’s heart sank as he read the text. a date? you were on a date? felix quickly looked into the restaurant, through the big windows. his eyes found you easily. he found you just in time to see you pull the same guy that bumped into felix in for a kiss; the kind of kiss felix wished he could give you.

felix felt sick. while he didn’t have any real hope you liked him, he still wished you did. he tried to tear his eyes away from you, to no avail. you saw him and waved, but the only thing he wanted to do was cry. he waved back unenthusiastically, and gripped the bag with the food tighter. he ran home. felix hated running.

when he got home he threw the bag on the couch beside chris, and went to his room, ignoring chris asking how much he owed.

felix threw himself onto his bed. he had no expectations and was still let down. of course you didn’t like him, he was just your best friends’ younger brother. he tried to distract himself—both from you and his grumbling stomach. it didn’t work all to well.

felix went the bed early that day, hungry and heartbroken.

felix is 18 when he has his first kiss.

it was with hwang hyunjin, his best friend (seungmin left to study in america and jisung malaysia).

felix didn’t feel embarrassed over the fact that he didn’t have it before. if he was being completely honest, he thought it was overrated (and kinda gross).

hyunjin had kissed people before, but it was something that only lasted 5 seconds. he approached felix nervously, asking if said boy could help him get better at kissing only for felix to tell him that he hadn’t even had his first kiss yet.

this shocked hyunjin probably more than it should. felix was very popular with both girls and boys, and had been on plenty of dates throughout his life, so the fact that he have never kissed somebody came as a shock.

“really?”

“yeah,” felix shrugged, laying down on hyunjins bed. he wasn’t sure why hyunjin looked so shocked.

“really?” hyunjins mouth opened and closed resembling a fish.

“yes, hyunjin,” felix repeated, “i’ve never kissed someone before,”

hyunjin thought for a bit before talking again, “can i kiss you?”

felix choked on his spit, “what?” he coughed, as hyunjin hit him on his back.

“can i kiss you? like can i be your first kiss?”

“w-why?”

hyunjins eyebrows furrowed, “what do you mean why? i wanna get better at kissing and i’m sure you wanna know what it’s like to kiss,”

“but..but we’re best friends?” felix sputtered.

“yes, meaning we trust each other,” the older boy rolled his eyes, “you don’t have to if you don’t want to obviously,”

“no, we can do it,”

“are you sure, lix?”

“yes, hyunjin, we can kiss,” felix rolled his eyes, but his heart was full of love. he knew hyunjin wanted to be completely sure he wasn’t doing anything felix didn’t want to do.

“okay then,” hyunjin nodded, slowly connecting their lips.

it was a short kiss…actually it was more of a peck. just a quick touch of their lips.

“was that okay?” hyunjin asked nervously, he really didn’t want felix to feel uncomfortable.

felix nodded. he didn’t feel anything, just hyunjin’s lips on his.

“wanna go again?” hyunjin asked.

felix shrugged, “sure,”

this time, the kiss was different. it was deeper, and felix is pretty sure some tongue was involved.

kissing is overrated, felix thought. he was following hyunjin, letting the slightly older boy take control. this time, felix pulled away first.

“how was that?” hyunjin ran a hand through his hair, messing it up.

felix shrugged again.

“don’t shrug,” hyunjin whined, making felix chuckled at his friend. “was it nice? was it too much? was it not enough? was it—“

felix cut hyunjin off, “it was fine, overrated, but fine,”

hyunjin giggled, “overrated?”

“yeah, i mean it’s nice, but i don’t get all the rage,”

“thanks, lix,” hyunjin giggled again, leaning in for a hug.

felix happily responded to the hug, “it’s nothing, jinnie,”

felix is 20 when he learns that kissing is nice, but only if it’s with you.

kissing you was something felix had always wanted to try, and after 10 years—it felt like 50—he got the chance.

you weren’t his first kiss, nor were you his second (he kissed park siyeon for a dare during a party), but you were the most memorable one.

he hesitantly pulled away, the feeling of your lips on his lingering. he let out a sigh of content, “that was…”

“that was something,” you giggled.

your giggle made felix feel warm inside, the same kind of warmth you’ve always given him. “i like you,” he blurted out before he could stop himself.

“i know,”

felix’s eyes widened, “you know?”

“yeah, you’re not very good at keeping secrets,” you shrugged with your usual smile.

“but…but that means…that chris knows as well?”

“yes, he knows,”

felix could feel his face get hot. not only did you know about his crush on you, but chris did as well, “i’m...i’m sorry,” he faced the floor ashamed.

“lix, you have nothing to apologize for,”

he put his hands over his face “i made you feel uncomfortable,” his whine was muffled by his hands.

you furrowed your brows, “who told you that?”

“what?”

“who told you that your crush on me made me uncomfortable?”

felix’ held shut up, “n-no one, i just thought...”

“felix,” you sighed, grabbing his head and titling it so he face facing you, “it doesn’t make me uncomfortable. at all!”

“it..it doesn’t?”

“no!” you shook your head, “in fact….it makes me very happy,”

the look on felix’ face me you laugh; he looked, lost and hopeful, “w-what?”

“i like you too, lix,” you giggled, hands still on his cheeks.

“what?!”

“i like you,” you said, squeezing his cheeks with every word.

“you do?” felix was over the moon, he felt like he could do anything and everything. “please don’t play with me.”

“i promise you, i’m not,”

the smile that broke out on his face was heartwarming. his eyes curled up and nose scrunched. he leaned in to kissed you, trying to contain his smile.

kissing you was better than he could’ve ever imagined. he could feel you smile into the kiss, and it made his heart pound faster than it ever had.

in felix’s eyes kissing is overrated, but not if it’s with you.

[albarivas]

ana de armas, cis female, she/her    —    whenever i see alba rivas meandering down agnes street la escalera by pablo alborán starts to play inside my head. maybe it is the vibe they give off. bullet journals, colorful dresses, hairstyles with bandanas ;   you know ? artistic impressions is what keeps them interested in agnes. i heard they are a thirty-three year old teacher at bright future. they look like the kind of person who would make you do a vision board. 

hi again, it’s ella again. okay so i had cameron (the lily james) but tbh she’s a new muse and right now i don’t have the brain to develop a muse from scratch but i still want to write and that’s why i decided to bring alba, one of my oldest muses. i’m so happy to give her a new home and i can’t wait for her to meet all of your characters.

basics

NAME: alba carolina rivas borges

NICKNAME: al, albie

GENDER: cis female

PLACE OF BIRTH: boca raton, florida

DATE OF BIRTH: april 19, 1988

AGE: thirty-thirty

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: bisexual

OCCUPATION: teacher at bright future

background

tw: illness, cheating

CHILDHOOD

her story starts between cuba and spain. her mother, carolina, fled from cuba and her father immigrated from spain with no friends or family and only with a few dollars. the two newcomers were matched by fate and just a year later they welcomed their daughter, alba.

two years later, a son completed the rivas family. they didn’t have much and often had to deal with homesickness and many times they considered moving to spain, but eventually they decided to stay.

it was a big change for both julián and carolina. he used to work as a lawyer back in spain and carolina had almost graduated from med school. now in the united states they both had to start from zero.

her mother traveled an hour from boca raton to palm spring every day where she worked cleaning those luxurious houses.  her father got his credentials to become a spanish teacher and taught in the local high school.

alba always knew she didn’t have much. she grew up going with her mom to those huge houses and from a young age she understood what wealth could buy. however, alba never envied those who had a lot more than her. in fact, her childhood best friend was the girl that lived in the house her mother cleaned. the two were inseparable.

ADOLESCENCE AND COLLEGE YEARS

alba excelled as a student. education was something her parents always deemed as important and so she made it her goal to make them proud. 

she earned a spot in a prestigious public high school. as a teenager, she was the model child. always listening to her parents, rarely giving them problems. she had an active social life, she went on a couple of dates and she was part of several groups.

these qualities eventually earned her a place at nyu. moving to new york was something she’d never considered. she liked florida, and her family were there but her parents convinced her that this would be a great opportunity and that she could comeback.

becoming a teacher was her ambition. she admired her father for doing it and she knew from a young age that she wanted to teach children. 

to make ends meet, she got a job as a waitress and she really didn’t have a social life as she worked and studied full time. there was no time for friendship and even less time for dating.

it was during one day at work that she met someone that changed her life. she met another student while she was working who asked her out but she refused, however, he came back and did the same thing every night until one day she finally accepted.

one date turned into two and then three until soon people couldn’t see one without the other. most people thought they wouldn’t last, their personalities and values were too different. he came from a wealthy family, the typical spoiled kid that was set to inherit his parents’ fortune someday, the one that always featured on page six with a different woman every night. meanwhile, alba came from a working-class family, daughter of immigrants who always had to work to get what she had in life. despite the skepticism, they proved everyone wrong.

at twenty-two, alba graduated with a degree in early childhood education and began working as a teacher.

ADULTHOOD

her relationship with this guy (i dont have a name for him lmao) was better than ever and after dating for three years, he proposed and alba said yes as she was convinced she’d found her other half.

however, not everything was perfect. his family didn’t like her and things only got worse after they got engaged. the couple married only a year later. they left new york and moved to florida where they bought one of those houses alba always had dreamed to have and the best part is that they were neighbors with her childhood best friend.

but all good things must come to an end, and soon her fairytale turned into a nightmare. the relationship with her in-laws was awful which eventually caused tension in their marriage. they began to fight more often and he started to spend more time at his office than at home. however, she was determined to make their marriage work, a love like theirs couldn’t end like this, she wouldn’t allow it.

tw cheating: one day, alba returned to their home early and what she saw was heartbreaking. there he was, in bed with none other but her childhood best friend. heartbroken, alba refused to accept any of his excuses and immediately filed for divorce, to the joy of her in-laws. end of tw.

after her divorce, alba moved to california where she started a year course at stanford. she planned to stay there but that when she received news from home.

tw illness: her father was very sick, and her parents had decided to move to islebury, rhode island. without anything holding her back, she packed up her stuff and moved here as well so she could help her mother with her dad. end of tw.

she’s been living here for three years now and works as a teacher at bright future.

personality

She has the ability to see the good in almost anyone or anything and tends to sympathize with even the most unfriendly person. She often hides the extreme depth of feelings from her, even from herself, until circumstances elicit a passionate response. 

She has a deep sense of idealism that comes from a strong personal sense of right and wrong. She sees the world as a place full of possibilities and potentials and is governed by her intuition. She is quite reserved and is not easily manipulated.

She is a good listener and considerate, they try to care for and understand others in a deep way. She can be very calm and intuitive with the people around her, being able to search for hidden meanings in the actions and words of others.

Of course, all of life is not rosy and Alba is not exempt from suffering the same disappointments and frustrations that are common to others. She tends to be a perfectionist and often strives for personal ideals that can be exhausting or very difficult to obtain.

headcanons

she’s a bookworm. her favorite book is the persuasion by jane austen

she speaks fluent spanish

alba has a beautiful white persian cat named nube

she loves wearing bandanas in her hair

claims she’s allergic to strawberries, she’s not. she just hates them and that’s easier than explaining why

connections

Younger brother: I’m gonna make a wanted connection because I love this dynamic. He is two years younger than her and she adores him. She tries to stay in touch with him and in general, they are close.

Ex-best friend: they met as children and grew up together, they knew everything about the other. alba’s mother worked as a housekeeper and she used to go with her sometimes, that’s how they met. this person came from a different background, she lived in one of those expensive houses alba could only dream to own. their friendship was so strong that they even applied to the same university (although her friend was not accepted). alba considered this person as the sister she never had, but then she did the worst thing in the world, she slept with alba’s husband. they haven’t spoken since she found out.

Ex-husband: They divorced two years ago, after alba found out he had been cheating on her with her best friend. they met while she was a student at NYU and were together for three years before getting engaged and married. he comes from a wealthy family, the typical perfect american family. their relationship was never approved by his parents. she hasn’t spoken to him since the divorce.

Best Friendish: Okay, so this is a tricky one because her actual best friend turned into Judas and slept with her husband, but maybe this person is the closest she has to a best friend. she trusts this person and since her divorce, this is the only person that she has been able to speak without limitations.

Bad influence: Alba has never been one to go to many parties or even to drink, but this person is the only one that can convince her to have a good time.

Co-workers/Parents: She works as a teacher at bright future, maybe your character works there or their kids go/went there.

Neighbor: self-explanatory

Unlikely friendship: The two have different personalities, but somehow, both have managed to get along and form a weird friendship.

Hook ups: She’s not really the relationship kind bc she’s always busy but once in a while she hooks up with people ghdghdhgd (open to everyone)

Flirtationship: they act like friends, but cannot help to throw flirty looks or comments at each other.

Unrequited: It could go either way, I’m fine to plot it out. I’m an angst hoe sooo

Bad tinder date: after her divorce, her friends tried to set her up with someone but it didn’t go well. There was nothing wrong about her date, but she wasn’t ready and in the end it was a very uncomfortable situation for them.

One night stand: she was drunk, he/she was drunk too. They didn’t plan it but happened and now whenever they see each other in town it’s a bit awkward.