#anyway we should know if alex is out tomorrow

[tyresdeg]

Oh god I think I’m behind on everything. What are the rumors these days as far as Logan to INDYCAR? Is this joining Rossi at McLaren? Rossi leaving McLaren??? Send help I don’t have twitter, I never know what’s happening

soooo logan has been talking to multiple indycar teams (rumored mostly with prema) alexander is not getting re-signed unless mclaren is adding a fourth car next year. which isn’t likely :) prema has said that they want an indy veteran and a rookie. alexander and logan fit the bill perfectly

[sunrizef1]

Here We Go

Pairing: Dad!Kylian Mbappe x Mom!Leclerc!Reader

Warnings: Cursing, real Madrid, Fabrizio Romano sneak diss

Authors Note: Technically a part 2 to baby baby but could also be read on its own

Requested: Yes/No

——

y/nmbappe

liked by lorenzotl kylianmbappe and 4,888,661 others

y/nmbappe weekends 🤍

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user1 I love them

user2 my favorite wag

user3 white hearts = Madrid????

user4 he’s so pretty 😭

user5 where’s the inaugural Charles comment

charles_leclerc he plays piano???

y/nmbappe better than you, probably

charles_leclerc 😒🖕

user6 Ahhh I love kylian dad content 🥹

user7 lmao when are these pictures from???

kylianmbappe 🫶

liked by y/nmbappe

user8 she’s his own personal photographer

user9 🤩

arthur_leclerc is this your account or his

y/nmbappe my bad I’m in a happy marriage

arthur_leclerc I accept your apology

user10 y/n can’t catch a break with her brothers lmfao

user11 my favssss

user12 baby nmbappe 🥹🫶

——

y/nmbappe

📍Italy

liked by champagnepapi rubendias and 15,008,997 others

y/nmbappe summer went away ☀️

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user12 SHES SO PRETTY 😭😭😭😭

user13 she posts kylian so much I forget she’s stunning

user14 I’m sensing a swimsuit-related breakdown from the Leclerc brothers

user15 oh my god it’s the rare post of herself, eating this up 🫶

user17 lmfao, Frankie de jong in the likes??? Ik he’s Barca but come on man 😭

champagnepapi 🤩

charles_leclerc boo 🍅🍅🍅

arthur_leclerc she’s married bro

lorenzotl no 👎

user18 LMAO YALL SEE THE DRAKE COMMENT??? 😭😭😭

user19 the leclerc replies in screaming 🤭

joeyb_9 😮‍💨

charles_leclerc 🫵🐅☠️

arthur_leclerc this is why you don't have a Superbowl

lorenzotl mahomes better

user20 Jesus these poor men 😭

user21 these comments are so entertaining 🤭

kylianmbappe belle fille 🤍

y/nmbappe mon amour 🤍

charles_leclerc anyways, put a shirt on

y/nmbappe im not gonna yell at you since you've been defending my honor under every comment

charles_leclerc you're welcome 🫡

y/nmbappe still not putting a shirt on though

arthur_leclerc 👎

lorenzotl where is your child

y/nmbappe with Charles

lorenzotl oh no

y/nmbappe dw, alex is there too

alexandrasaintmleux baby mbappe is lovely 🥹🫶

charles_leclerc baby leclerc*

user22 😭😭😭

——

y/nmbappe

liked by antoinegriezman pierregasly and 3,998,776 others

y/nnbappe happy euros 🐢🤕

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user23 VIVA LA FRANCE 🇫🇷

user24 poor kylian 😭

user25 the turtle in the caption????

kylianmbappe zizou??? 🤨

y/nmbappe you don't like zizou???

kylianmbappe you know I do, but you should be wearing out last name 😅

y/nmbappe i forgot the nmbappe one at home 🫶

kylianmbappe just wear one of mine 😗

y/nmbappe lol, ill wear urs tomorrow Ky 🤍

user26 lmao the zizou jersey

user27 kylian couldn't wear the France mask???

user28 thank god 🙏 that one was lowk ugly

charles_leclerc hows the face @|kylianmbappe

kylianmbappe still broken, thanks man

charles_leclerc 🫡

user29 my favourite brother-in-laws

lorenzotl at another international tournament without me 🤨

y/nmbappe get a job

user30 I love that kit

arthur_leclerc yay france 🇫🇷

liked by y/nmbappe

user31 awww the youngest leclerc are accepting the French nationality again 🫶

user32 did y'all see kylian with baby mbappe after the game?? 🥹

——

y/nmbappe

liked by kylianmbappe lorenzotl and 4,888,997 others

y/nmbappe happy Father’s Day to the love of my life and the best husband and father anyone could ever ask for 🤍

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user33 AWWWWWW

user34 🥹🥹🥹

user35 BABY MBAPPE IS BACK ON THE FEED 🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶

user36 wait this is so lovely 🥰

user37 how old is baby mbappe now???

user38 he's like 5 or 6 no one knows his exact birthday 🤷‍♀️

user39 they grow up so fast 😭

user40 🥰

charles_leclerc ill be nice to him just for today

kylianmbappe thanks man 🫡

charles_leclerc only because you're raising my nephew

y/nmbappe charles stop bullying my husband

charles_leclerc I'm not bullying him. If I was bullying him I wouldve used a turtle emoji by now

user41 happy fathers day!!!!

user42 my favourite football family

arthur_leclerc happy for you, sœur 🫶

y/nmbappe thank you Arthur, I appreciate the maturity

charles_leclerc this feels targeted

lorenzotl if the shoe fits bro

user43 🤍🤍🤍

kylianmbappe je t'aime mon coeur 🤍 im so grateful for you and our family 🤍🤍🤍

y/nmbappe ky 🥹🤍🤍

user44 awww this is so sweet I'm gonna melt 😭

——

y/nmbappe

📍Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya

liked by charles_leclerc kylianmbappe and 4,998,001 others

y/nmbappe then and now 🤍

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user45 OH MY GOD LOOK AT YOUNG CHARLES 😭😭😭

user46 he looks like a child 😭

user47 kylian looks pretty much the same meanwhile Charles is not that person at all anymore 😅

user48 if I was Charles I would not let someone repost those pictures 😔

charles_leclerc DELETE THIS

charles_leclerc REMOVE THIS NOW PLEASE

charles_leclerc I NEED THIS SCRUBBED FROM THE INTERNET

charles_leclerc IM NOT THAT PERSON ANYMORE DELETE DELETE DELETE

charles_leclerc YOURE GONNA RUIN MY IMAGE

user49 Charles 😭😭

kylianmbappe oh wow

y/nmbappe yeah, dont worry baby, you look great

charles_leclerc PICK UP THE PHONE AND DELETE THIS

user50 leclerc/mbappe meet-up 🫶

user51 ik carlos is freaking out somewhere about being so close to kylian

alexandrasaintmleux can you send me that first picture pls love 🫶

charles_leclerc DO NOT SEND HER THAT

y/nmbappe i sent it 🫶

charles_leclerc GOD DAMN IT Y/N

user52 lmao kylian looks so bored next to Fred

user53 oh my god Charles is losing his mind

charles_leclerc this is why baby leclerc likes me better than you

y/nmbappe if you keep yelling at me i am going to put that child in full red bull gear

charles_leclerc 🖕

——

y/nmbappe

liked by maxverstappen1 kylianmbappe and 6,008,981 others

y/nmbappe karting with uncle Maxie 🤍

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user54 oh… oh no

user55 Charles is gonna kill someone

user56 hey, baby mbappe looks sick though

lorenzotl hahahahaha

user57 I'm glad someone in that family finds this funny 😭

user58 I'm so scared

charles_leclerc ...😑

charles_leclerc you're kidding me

charles_leclerc I am going to kill max

charles_leclerc why would you do this to me

charles_leclerc I can't believe you'd do this

y/nmbappe this is not that surprising pls be fr

user59 😭

kylianmbappe I don't care what team he wears 🤷🏾‍♂️ did baby mbappe have fun?

y/nmbappe lmao, yeah he did. He loves Max sooo 🤷‍♀️

kylianmbappe 🤷🏾‍♂️

user60 I fear for Max’s car next race

maxverstappen1 I’m glad he had fun 😅😅😅

charles_leclerc drive safe next race “uncle Maxie” 😒

maxverstappen1 oh okay, love u 2 man 🫶

charles_leclerc 😒😒😒

user61 😭 free my man max

arthur_leclerc not that I’m thrilled about the Red Bull suit but I do feel like Charles deserves this in some way

charles_leclerc I hate all of you so much

user62 pfttt they’re so funny 😭😭😭

——

y/nmbappe

📍Monte Carlo, Monaco

liked by carlossainz arthur_leclerc and 7,000,111 others

y/nmbappe does anyone know who this man is??? He crashed our family dinner 🤦‍♀️

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user63 CARLOSSSSSSSS

user64 VAMOSSSSSS

user65 my love 😍🫶

user66 lmao the Madrid jersey, this man has a quest he’s trying to fulfill

user67 and when kylian goes to Madrid, yall will be thanking Carlos. Mark my words.

arthur_leclerc idk who he is but can you tell him to help me with bringing the plates out

y/nmbappe I sent him inside 🫡

user68 I would love to know kylians reaction to the jersey

charles_leclerc I would like everyone to know that before he got here, this was just leclercs and their partners

lorenzotl and then, in rolls a large Spanish man

y/nmbappe he brought wine, leave him alone

carlossainz you only like me because I brought alcohol??? 🤨

y/nmbappe ofc not carlito, we all 🫶 you

carlossainz good, because I love your husband

user69 lmfao Carlos is just here for the madridistas

user70 I bet their dinners are fun asf

carlossainz HALA MADRID!!! 🤍🤍🤍

y/nmbappe yeah, yeah, thank you Carlos

y/nmbappe maman needs your help with dinner

lorenzotl no she doesn't 🧐

y/nmbappe shut up lorenzo

user71 ahh I love them 🥰

kylianmbappe I'm not sure I'm allowed to publicly interact with Carlos unless he takes the jersey off

carlossainz come to Madrid hermano 🇪🇸

y/nmbappe hes not allowed to reply to that comment, carlos 😐

carlossainz 😢

——

y/nmbappe

📍 Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, Madrid, Spain

liked by judebellingham carlossainz and 12,008,661 others

y/nmbappe Hala Madrid 🤍

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user72 I can feel Carlos’ excitement through the screen

user73 wow I'm so glad that this transfer was revealed by the club yesterday!

user74 yeah! Isn't it so cool that none of the big journalists revealed this beforehand??! 🤩

user75 KYLIANNNNNNN 🇪🇸🇫🇷🇪🇸🇫🇷

kylianmbappe 🤍

y/nmbappe 🤍

user76 YAYYYY

charles_leclerc wait, come back to France, I'm gonna miss you and baby leclerc

carlossainz SHUT UP, ITS MY TURN NOW!!! VIVA LA ESPAÑA

charles_leclerc this is why Lewis is taking your seat

*This comment was deleted*

charles_leclerc I'm in pr jail 😔

carlossainz as you should be 🤨

user77 wait I'm gonna miss y/n being a psg wag

user78 but now she's a Madrid wag 🤩

judebellingham welcome! 🙌 🤍

y/nmbappe thanks Jude 🫶

user79 JUDE & BABY MBAPPE??? JUDE UNCLE CONTENT??!

user80 gonna need bestie camavinga back tysm

arthur_leclerc glad to see baby leclerc repping the kit I bought him 😗

y/nmbappe 😐 thank you, Arthur

arthur_leclerc some enthusiasm would be appreciated

y/nmbappe no

arthur_leclerc fair enough

lorenzotl as long as you come back to Monaco sometimes I'll be okay

y/nmbappe even if I don't, I'm sure you’ll all continue to spam comments on my Instagram posts even if I refuse to reply

lorenzotl we dont do that

y/nmbappe 🤨 @/arthur_leclerc @/charles_leclerc

arthur_leclerc …shes definitely right

charles_leclerc yeah that seems pretty accurate

charles_leclerc I love you guys… even if you are abandoning me

y/nmbappe we love you too, especially baby mbappe 🤍🤍🤍

charles_leclerc baby leclerc*

y/nmbappe shut up 🥰

——

Tags: @casperlikej @evie-119 @c-losur3 @llando4norris @lokideservesahug

[cumikering]

Alex Keller x plus-sized reader

.8k | fluff, body insecurities Even if you don’t love yourself, Alex will until you do

The door of your shared apartment slammed shut followed by a couple of thuds.

“Baby?” Alex called from the couch, looking over his shoulder.

When you rounded the corner with a frown, he rushed and wrapped an arm around you, noticing the wobble of your lower lip.

“Oh, sweetie, what is it? Did something happen?”

You’d jumped out of bed with a grin that morning at the thought of the shopping trip ahead. One of your girls had their birthday coming up and you were getting matching dresses.

“No… It’s just…” You sighed, fighting the brimming tears. “I couldn’t find anything.” The first tear fell anyway, which you wiped away immediately.

He led you to the couch.

“Each time they found something cute, I had to be the bearer of bad news and tell them they didn’t have it in my size, or that it looked horrible on me. We went through the whole mall, and I had to look at all these cute dresses that I’d never get to wear because nothing would fit right. I feel so left out.” You sniffled. “I… I was feeling good. Got to have a nice brunch and boba after, but now I just feel guilty about ruining the day! We spent the whole day out and we didn’t even get anything.”

“You didn’t ruin the day, sweetheart.” He gripped your hands. “You just haven’t found the perfect dress yet. It takes time, doesn’t it?”

“I couldn’t even find anything remotely flattering. How am I going to find the perfect one? I don’t… even want to go anymore.”

You still wouldn’t meet his eyes when he wiped your tears away. “How about this, you get a dress you like, and we’ll get it tailored? Then you’ll get to showcase all those gorgeous curves I love so much.”

“But… It’s not supposed to be tailored. It’s supposed to look good right away.”

“Clothes off the rack don’t usually fit everyone perfectly. My dress uniforms were tailored too.” He tilted your face towards him. “We’re living, breathing things. We don’t all look alike and that’s normal.”

After a long silence, you muttered, “Why are you with me, Alex?”

“Because there’s no one I want more than I want you, no one with a sweeter smile or a lovelier voice.” He kissed your knuckles. “Some days I wake up and I wonder what you are doing with me. You should be with someone who doesn’t have to leave you all alone for weeks, make you worry sick if he’s coming home. Someone who doesn’t have so many ugly scars.”

“Alex…”

“It’s the same reason you’re with me, isn’t it? It’s never about what I see, always about how you make me feel.” He kissed your forehead. “I don’t see these flaws you talk about, because to me they’re not. I wish you could see yourself how I see you, just 5 minutes,” he said, caressing your cheek.

“Your smile is what keeps me going in the field when things go sideways. This pretty face is my absolute favourite thing to come home to.” His hands slid down your arms. “Because there’s nowhere safer than your arms when you hold me tight, or when you stroke my hair with your gentle hands.”

He squeezed your waist. “This is a wonderful reminder that I keep you happy. What else am I supposed to grab when we spoon?” His gaze trailed further down. “I love when you jump into my arms, especially when those thighs wrap around me, or when you get on your tippy toes on to kiss me.” He gave you a once over before bringing your hand to his lips again. “Fuck, there’s nothing I don’t love about you. I can’t ask for anything more.”

Your lips wobbled again, but for a different reason now.

He pulled you to his chest, his strong arms around you as he kissed the side of your face repeatedly. “I know it’s hard sometimes. But I’m going nowhere, and I’ll love you even more the days you can’t.”

He brushed the new tears off your face with his thumb and peppered more kisses on your cheek as he held you.

“We have the whole day to shop tomorrow. We can go anywhere you want, maybe the matcha cafe you like too after?"

“You don’t mind?”

He shook his head, giving you one of his gorgeous smiles. “The best things take time, like finding you. But had I known it’s you, I’d have waited longer.”

Happy birthday to my C aka my April sis aka the one Alex Keller would literally be on his knees for aka the story itself @shadofireshinobi. Here’s to many more times I’m gonna slide into your DMs and rizz the hell out of you <3

[apomaro-mellow]

Hot for Teacher(s) 5

Part 4 / AO3 Link

"It's not even about what they say, I mean it is, it's more about how they say it", Eddie said over the phone. He was in the process of making himself dinner while Steve was on the line.

"Like what?", Steve asked, in the middle of making Shawn's lunch for the next day.

"Like, today Alex said 'barbecue is my favorite' and Brian was like 'your mom!' Like what? What does that even mean, Steve? I ask you, what does that mean?"

Steve laughed on the other end. "Well you know how memes work, right?"

"I'm offended you would ask that."

"I just mean it sounds like that. They're passing around a joke until it mutates and now just saying the phrase, regardless of context, is a joke."

"You're brilliant, you know that?"

"So I've been told~"

"Hey, you're making Shawn's lunch now, right? You know what would be funny?"

"Your sense of humor frightens me", Steve said.

"You tell me everything inside, and then I tell Shawn and act like I'm guessing. It'll blow his mind."

"You're ridiculous", Steve said with a shake of his head. But he ended up telling Eddie anyway.

When he went to bed that night, he dreamt of the day Shawn was born again. But this time it was less sights and smells and more sounds as an alpha rumbled close to his ear.

"You're doing great, beautiful."

"Bet your pup's gonna be the cutest..."

He woke up, feeling slightly disoriented as he remembered that he wasn't a new parent, that Shawn wasn't an infant, and that Billy wasn't sleeping beside him. He released a relieved sigh at that last part and got ready for the day.

Both he and Eddie got really busy as winter break began to near and Eddie wondered if it would be too forward to ask Steve out during the break. For all he knew, Steve might have plans to travel during it. But then again, that sounded like all the reason to ask him out before he went too long without seeing him again.

They talked just about every other night though. And try as they might, the conversation always veered to their students and the goings on of their work lives at school.

"Should you be telling me all of this? As a parent?", Steve asked one night. He was curled up on the couch, tv low in the background.

"As a parent, no", Eddie admitted. "But if you were my boyfriend.... then you'd have access to all the hot elementary gossip."

"....Did you just try and seduce me with student gossip?"

"Don't you wanna know which girl in my class has a crush on Shawn?", Eddie tempted.

Steve let out a long drawn out sigh. "You know I do. But I also think that we should have more dates under our belt before we start calling ourselves boyfriends."

"What have all these calls been?"

"Just talks?"

"Stevie, I call you more than anyone. I think in the past few weeks I've called you more than the rest of my phone contacts all year."

"...Are you busy tomorrow?"

"Nope."

Steve chewed his lip a little before going on. "Come over for dinner. Just you and me, I'll send Shawn over to Robin's."

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

Shawn was more than happy to go over to Robin's for the night. She let him put whatever he want on his pizza and let him watch pg-13 movies sometimes. Steve was aware of this, but always warned Robin that she couldn't come crying to him when he got an upset stomach or had nightmares.

Eddie came over just a few minutes after he saw Shawn off and together they put the finishing touches on the dinner Steve had started.

"So this is going to sound weird...", Steve began as they sat down to eat. "But, have we met before?"

Eddie swallowed his mouthful before grinning. "What a line. I'm already in your house, baby. You don't need to use cheesy pick up lines on me."

"I'm serious", Steve said with a roll of his eyes. "Do you think it might be possible?"

"I think I'd remember running into someone like you. Why do you ask?"

Steve picked at his food. "Sometimes you smell familiar. Like, I know I've said you smell safe, but it's like I've smelled it somewhere before."

Eddie swallowed. "...What did your ex smell like?", he ventured.

"Nothing like you", Steve replied quickly. "Even when he wasn't upset I...I just started associating his scent with bad things."

"Well, maybe you just had a very formative experience in a candle shop. They're getting really expressive with fragrances nowadays. Remember that one from a while back? The mountain lodge scent craze?"

"God, how could I forget?", Steve laughed as the conversation changed to candle scents, perfumes, and colognes, and how some brands seemed to be going a bit far trying to imitate certain smells.

After dinner, Eddie offered to help with the dishes so that Steve didn't have to worry about them later.

"You really didn't have to", he said as Eddie handed him a dish to dry.

"Can I be corny for a sec? I've kinda always imagined doing the dishes with someone special. Boring stuff like that."

Steve felt his heart stop and he grabbed Eddie's face to bring him in for a kiss. When they finished, Eddie started perusing the shelf in the living room and immediately found Shawn's baby book.

"Didn't realize you had such a soft spot for him", Steve teased.

"Oh I'm sure he was a cute baby. But I wanna see new parent Stevie", Eddie said, holding it up, asking permission.

Steve sat down on the couch, patting the space next to him. Eddie hopped on like an excited puppy and they started flipping through it. The first few pages showed the ultrasounds and Steve's growing belly.

"I think the weirdest craving I had was turkey sandwiches with crunchy peanut butter. But besides that, it was pretty normal."

"You can't say 'normal' after prefacing it with turkey and peanut butter sandwiches", Eddie said with a grimace.

Steve shrugged. "The only other thing I craved was broccoli for a whole month."

"That explains why Shawn shovels it down during lunch."

There were a couple of appearances by Billy, but Steve didn't talk about him much. It wasn't all bad of course. It rarely is. But when Billy got unpleasant it was really bad. Enough to sour most of the good memories they had made together. The only thing untainted by Billy was Shawn himself, innocent in it all.

Then they got to the day Shawn had been born and the first few were of his teeny wrinkled red face, swaddled up. But after turning the page, Eddie froze on the couch. In the center of the page was Steve lying on a hospital bed, Shawn in his arms. There was a person standing by the bed, arm under the newborn pup, helping Steve support him.

The photo cut off the person's upper body and head, but Eddie knew it was Billy standing there. Steve felt him stiffen up and looked at him confused.

"What's wrong?"

Eddie was gazing at him like he was seeing Steve for the first time. Steve's brow furrowed even more and he took a look at the picture again, wondering what it was. Sure his hair was a mess and his face was pretty red, sweaty, and swollen, but did he really look all that different?

Then he caught the arm helping to hold Shawn, caught the rings on the hand, most different but at least one that was undeniably the same. And if that wasn't enough, caught the tattoos that were visible on the arm.

The same arm that was wrapped around his shoulders right now.

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

"Billy", Steve breathed into the phone, trying to pace himself. "Billy, my water broke. Please call me back. I'll be at Hawkins General Hospital."

Steve hung up and looked to his overnight bag sitting by the door. Even if Billy got his message, Steve wasn't very confident in him getting here on time to drive him to the hospital. And he was pretty sure most rideshares wouldn't want an omega in labor in their backseat. Steve was literally debating whether he should clean up the spill from his water breaking now or just leave it for later.

He wanted to make Billy clean it, the fucking asshole but he also didn't want an argument the moment they returned from the hospital. Mind made up, he leaned over with great difficulty to get the bag and then grabbed his keys.

Steve was never more grateful than now that he lived in a small town and was able to get to the hospital in less than 10 minutes. But it was a very long ten minutes in which he imagined every sort of car accident imaginable.

When he parked, he called Billy again and got his voicemail again. Billy had left the apartment about two hours ago, to do god knows what. He called again after checking in while he was still lucid. As his contractions got closer, he could feel that he was losing himself and his instincts were taking over.

An omega giving birth could be dangerous nowadays. In earlier times, when babies were born in the home, this wasn't much of a problem. An omega would be surrounded by family and familiar scents. But in the sterile, nearly scentless environment of a hospital, they had a tendency to lash out at the hands of strangers trying to help deliver the baby.

If the omega's partner was present, or someone else close to them, this made things go a lot more smoothly. But Steve had arrived completely alone. No one to speak for but himself and the pup inside of him. When asked if anyone was coming, he admitted to calling his alpha several times but not getting a reply.

The nurse stroked his sweaty forehead, giving him a pitying look.

"You poor thing. But you're going to have to start pushing soon. Your pup's about ready to meet the world."

Steve shook his head. "Can't. I can't. It's not time yet."

The doctor gave him an appraising look. "I'm afraid to say that it is, alpha or no. This is what happens when you get pupped up without a bite."

And that was a sore spot for Steve, who had asked for Billy's bite more than once. Even more when he found out he was pregnant. His eyes glassed over with tears from both the pain and the oncoming sensation that he had feared.

"Doctor, watch what you say. I think he's succumbing to rejection sickness", the nurse said, nose catching a hint of it through her mask.

What was worse than Steve snapping at the hands trying to assist would be him feeling too weak to even do anything.

The doctor cursed under her breath. "Nurse, go find a volunteer alpha. No need to make this more difficult than it needs to be."

The nurse scurried out, Steve couldn't tell how long she'd been gone but was deep in a flurry of sensations. Billy didn't want him, he never wanted him, not seriously. Not even to officially mate him. He didn't want this pup either. His baby was coming into the world unloved and it was Steve's fault for being such a failure and-

"Found someone", the nurse rushed in.

"'Someone'?", the doctor raised a brow at the man she brought in.

"He's not official but all the other volunteers are busy."

"This is highly unprofessional, you understand that?"

"I think losing a pup and possibly a patient would be even worse. Do you know what to do, sweetie?"

"Yeah", a third voice said.

Steve rubbed at his eyes, trying to get them to clear but the tears kept coming and the pain was never ending. He felt a hand grab his and wanted to snap but the rumble of an alpha's voice got him to pause. It wasn't Billy, didn't smell like him at all, yet somehow that was better.

"You're doing great, beautiful." The alpha held his hand on one and stroked his hair with the other.

"The pup...", Steve whimpered as the doctor and nurse got to work between his legs.

"Doc's gonna help you out. Bet your pup's gonna be the cutest in the ward. But I think you gotta help push him out."

Steve was panting as he started to push. He had to do this. He owed it to his pup to try. He had been so excited from the moment the test showed positive. He couldn't give up now. He thought about the ten toes and ten fingers and their ruddy face and their wisps of hair and he couldn't wait anymore to see them for himself.

All through it, the alpha gave him words of encouragement, projected a comforting scent, and kept both hands on him, grounding him to the moment. With a big final push, tiny cries filled the room and Steve collapsed onto the bed.

He felt like he dizzy, to say the least and while his pup was cleaned up, he was given a heavy dose of painkillers. Finally, his baby was given to him, all swaddled up and there was that itty-bitty pink face. Steve immediately started to cry again, but this time in joy.

"Gorgeous baby, just like their dame."

"Thank you", Steve breathed out. He put his nose to his pup's forehead. He smelled just a bit of Steve but besides that was scentless. His inner omega longed for the scent of himself and his alpha to cover their babe, marking them as their own and protecting them. Unknowingly, he let out a cooing call and the alpha beside him answered it, reaching out to rub his wrist against the blanket.

"What are you gonna call him?"

"Shawn...", Steve had decided long ago. He let out a very long yawn, which his pup then mirrored.

The alpha stayed with them for at least an hour, covering them both in his scent, turning away respectfully when the nurse came to help Steve nurse for the first time. Steve had still been too out of it to appreciate it but had been grateful later. The alpha had to go soon after, and truly it was perfect timing.

Billy finally arrived about five minutes later, looking relieved at first to see Steve and the baby were fine, but then his nostrils flared when he smelled an unfamiliar alpha on what he deemed to be his omega and his pup. Steve had been tired to fight, just kept his eyes open so that Billy could said his piece before handing Shawn over and closing his eyes.

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

"....That alpha was you", Steve whispered.

"And that omega was you", Eddie replied.

Part 6

Tag Team

@anne-bennett-cosplayer @aol19 @lololol-1234 @hippieg1rl420 @gregre369 @attic-cat-blog

[bqstqnbruin]

The Party's Over, Go Home

Hello hello here I am with my fic for @wyattjohnston's winter fic exchange!

I had the pleasure of writing for @sc0tters I hope you like it!

Shoutout to @kat-hearts @matthewtkachuk and @raysofcrosby for reading through this and getting mad at me :)

This is inspired by Intrusive Thoughts by Natalie Jane, Deserve by Jake Clark, and the Gilmore Girl's episode from season 5 called The Party's Over

Warnings: swearing, alcohol, family financial issues, this is angst, the spacebar on my computer is starting to break so typos (I tried)

WC: 11k

__________________________________

“We should do something tonight.”

“I was going to go to bed early, actually.”

“You do that every night.”

“What, are you stalking me now?”

“No,” Kendyl draws out. “You stop texting me by like, 8:30 every night. Your phone is on do not disturb half an hour later. Either you’re asleep early, or you’re ignoring everyone by then.”

Ellie narrows her eyes at her coworker. They still weren’t close enough that she felt she could comfortably hang out with the people she worked with outside of the workday. She had only been at her new job for a month, still getting the hang of things, trying to get to know people and figure everything out. Spending time outside her apartment with people who were practically strangers when she could be in her warm bed with her flannel sheets that she loved more than anything on this planet? “I don’t like that you picked up on that.” 

“Well, too bad,” Kendyl says, sitting down on Ellie’s desk. “A bunch of us are going out tonight, so why not?” Ellie hesitates to answer. “If it sucks, you can go home at ten. You’ll be in bed by 10:30, two hours later than normal. And it’s Friday, we don’t have work tomorrow for you to use that as an excuse as to why you have to get up early, and you already told me that the only thing you planned on doing this weekend was laundry and cleaning.”

Ellie let out a long sigh. Maybe Kendyl did know her well enough to be able to call her out on her shit already. “God.”

“I don’t know if you’re religious or not to know if that’s a yes.”

“Fine,” she says, shuddering at Kendyl’s squeal of excitement. “But you’re buying at least one round and I get to leave at 9:30 if I want to.” 

“Deal.” 

Ellie’s day was full of dread, from spending the rest of work distracted about having to go out with seemingly everyone at her job, so the stress involved with getting ready and trying to look like someone who was actually 24, not the ‘1980’s power boss bitch without the hair and shoulder pads’ as Kendyl had described her multiple times, even down to walking to the bar that Kendyl had picked that felt way too conveniently down the street from her apartment. 

“I’m surprised you even had someone convince you to go out,” her younger brother, Alex, says on the other end of their phone call. As soon as he saw Ellie leaving her apartment on Find My Friends, he called her panicked that something was wrong. “You never went out in college. I had to beg you to go to that one party the time I visited you.”

“That’s because you were still seventeen and Mom would have killed me if she found out you went.”

“She knew I was going to try anyway.”

“I’m going out because I was promised free drinks and the prospect of going home early if I want to. It’s not like I’m being forced to go out against my will.” 

“I promised you free drinks.” 

“Alexander.”

“Eleanor. Just be safe, ok? Let me know when you get home.”

“You sound like Mom.”

“If I were Mom, I would be yelling at you for not wearing a jacket.”

“How do you know I’m not wearing a jacket?”

“You never wear a jacket. Mom has been yelling at you about that since you were five.” 

Ellie lets out a laugh, a sudden chill coursing through her when she realizes she can see her breath. “How is Mom, have you checked in on her?’

“Yes, Ellie.”

“In person?”

“Yes, Ellie. She’s good. At least, she says she is.” 

The two of them stay on the phone in silence for a moment, knowing what he really means. Ellie and Alex hated the topic of how their mom was doing, but if they didn’t talk about it with each other, who else did they have? Their mom and Alex still live in the same area even if Alex was away at college and living in a dorm rather than with her. Ellie was on the other side of the continent now, for a job that she barely had any friends at, in a city she still barely knew, surrounded by things she wasn’t used to. 

“Hey, I’m outside the bar now, I’ll talk to you later?” she ends the call, taking in one last deep breath before heading into what she was sure was going to be 

“You came!” Kendyl yells once Ellie finally manages to get into the bar. “Here’s the first drink.”

Before Ellie could even tell Kendyl she wasn’t ready yet to start drinking, the drink was pressed to her chest and nearly spilled down the front of her. Despite it being early enough in the night that no one should be drunk by now, Kendyl and the rest of her coworkers seemed to be well on their way with Ellie needing more drinks than she could count to catch up. 

The night goes by slowly, the drinks going away fast, and Ellie sitting in the corner while her coworkers, who are obviously close, talk about a bunch of inside jokes from before she was hired that Ellie was unable to participate in.

“Remember when he ordered the wrong cake?” Wesley slurs, punching Doug in the shoulder.

“I swear she told me to say, ‘Happy Retirement,’” Douglas defends himself.

“It was my 28th birthday, not my retirement?” Hazel says, everyone except Ellie bursting into a fit of laughter.

“What about when Sammy dialed 911 during the meeting?” Kendyl adds through wheezes, the remains of her drink nearly spilling on Ellie’s shirt, again.

“It fell out of my pocket and bounced weird!”

“How does a bouncing phone dial 911?”

“That’s the set up to a bad pick up line.”

“More like the setup to a story that makes no sense,” Ellie mutters, thankful that her coworker's howling laughter was too loud to hear her.

She gets up from the table, draining her drink on her way to the bar. It was only 9:15. She promised Kendyl 15 more minutes. The least she could do was down another drink in that time before pulling her classic Irish exit to go home and get in bed. 

“Rum and coke?” she asks once she gets up to the bar, the sticky wooden counter acting as anything but inviting for her to lean on. 

“Me, too, and put it on my tab,” someone says behind her, Ellie’s face immediately turning sour at the thought of some guy buying her a drink to probably get her to hook up with him.

“My friend is paying for it, actually,” she turns to him, surprised to find a seemingly innocent-looking guy around her age and not the middle-aged gross man she thought he would be. Anything was possible, and looks can be deceiving.

“Which friend, the one who almost spilled her drink on you or the one of the ones who have been ignoring you the entire night and letting you sit in silence while they have a good time around you?”

“I already don’t like you.” 

“My friends pointed you out and said you were me when they drag me out to bars.”

“So you’re the friend who they barely know and who they only invited out of pity?”

“That’s dark. But also, kinda hot,” he says, the pink rushing to his cheeks as he turns away out of embarrassment. “Sorry, um. I’m going to go sit down now.”

“You haven’t gotten your drink yet,” Ellie points out, his sudden bashfulness making Ellie soften for him. “I just moved here. I don’t really know any of them too well.”

“I know what that’s like,” he tells her, leaning against the bar. 

“You’re not from here, either?”

He shakes his head. “Born in Orlando, moved to Boston, then moved to Toronto, and kept going from there.” 

“That sounds unstable,” she says, passing one of the newly appeared glasses of alcohol to the guy in front of her.

He shrugs, lifting the drink to his lips. “Well, they say you are a product of your environment.” 

Ellie lets out a laugh, the first one that she had let out all night. “That’s dark. But also, kinda hot,” she repeats, the pink returning to his cheeks again.

“I’m never gonna live that down, am I?”

“Depends on how long we keep talking.”

“Hopefully it lasts past tonight.”

“It can’t if you don’t tell me your name. I’m Ellie.”

“I’m Quinn.”

Ellie loses count of how many drinks Quinn gets her, how long they’re talking, and when all of her coworkers leave the bar, not even telling her that they were leaving without her. 

She could feel the warmth of the alcohol coursing through her body, the bar getting busier the longer she and Quinn stood there. Someone shoves in between Ellie and whoever is behind her, pushing her into Quinn’s arms without her being able to catch her balance. His hand falls to the small of her back, spreading out to hold her steady. They stood there in silence, the rest of the bar a world away from them. 

“Are you ok?” Quinn whispers in her ear, his breath tickling her skin. 

Ellie stammers for a second, trying to process what just happened. The alcohol was making everything foggy, and the room starting to spin slightly around her as if Quinn was rocking her back and forth. “Um, I, yes?”

His eyes flickered down to her lips, the distance between them closing with each additional person, he was so close to kissing her. 

“I should go home,” Ellie says before he can, knowing that kissing him now would not be a good idea for either of them. 

His grip on her doesn’t relax, the disappointment Ellie expected to show up on his face not there at all. “I’m walking you home,” he tells her, slipping his hand into hers before she can protest. 

“You don’t have to do that.” 

“I want to.” 

The difference in temperature between the bar and outside hit Ellie faster than she could process it, her lack of jacket her brother had scolded her for earlier biting her in the ass harder than the cold was in the moment.

Ellie didn’t even process Quinn taking off his own coat, the one she didn’t even realize he had been wearing the entire time, and putting it around her shoulders before wrapping his arm around her and pulling her close. 

She was on autopilot, unsure how she managed to navigate her way to her apartment when her mind was on Quinn’s body pressed against hers. She just met him. She didn’t know much about him. She didn’t even know what he did for work and only knew that he had two brothers who lived in New Jersey even though that wasn’t one of the places that he mentioned living before. 

“Here,” Ellie barely gets out, surprised with herself for managing to get back to the right place. 

“Do you want me to walk you to your door?” Quinn asks, shoving his hands in his pockets when he finally lets go of her. 

“No, it’s fine.” 

Ellie goes to take off the jacket and give it back to him, the warmth something her drunk self quickly realized she was going to miss. “No, keep it. It looks better on you anyway,” Quinn tells her, pulling his things out of his pockets before turning away to head off.

She stands there for a few seconds, trying to process what had happened that night. 

“Wait, no,” Quinn says, appearing again in front of her. “I can’t leave without getting your number first.” 

“I couldn’t even tell you what my number is right now,” she admits, handing him her phone instead.

Quinn laughs, putting his number in. “I want to see you again, Ellie.”

She smirks at him. “We’ll see, Quinn.” 

___________________

“What do you mean you’re not bringing anyone?”

“No one said I had to bring anyone.” 

“Everyone brings someone. You have to bring a date to the holiday party.”

“Then why was one of the options on the RSVP ‘no’ to the question ‘will a guest be accompanying you?’”

Kendyl whines, earning a cringy look from Ellie. “You have no one you can bring?” 

Ellie rolls her eyes, leaning back in her desk chair. “Let’s see, I’ve been here for like, what, two months? I knew no one when I got here, I hate going out and don’t have anywhere to meet anyone, and somehow none of you here know anyone either. Who would I bring?”

“What about that guy you met at the bar that one time? I see his name popping up on your phone all the time.”

Ellie snatches her phone from her desk and holds it against her chest as Kendyl cranes her neck to see that her statement is actually fact, three messages from Quinn, a fourth appearing while they were talking. “You need to learn what a boundary is.”

“And you need to learn what the Focus feature is on your phone when you’re showing me things because his name always shows up.” 

She couldn’t invite Quinn to the party. She barely knew him, she couldn’t throw him into the party with a bunch of her coworkers who she also barely knew, putting her phone back on the desk without thinking. “He’s probably busy.”

Kendyl rolls her eyes, snatching Ellie’s phone from her desk before she can protest, fiddling with it while Ellie tries to process what could possibly be happening in front of her. “He’s not.”

“What?”

“He’s not busy.” 

“Ken, what did you do?” Kendyl hands Ellie back her phone, a quick conversation with Quinn on her screen, ‘Ellie’ asks him what he was doing the night of the holiday party and he immediately answers that he is free. “Why are you like this?” 

Kendyl shrugs, slowly backing away from Ellie’s desk. “You had fun talking to him at the bar, enough fun that he responded to you within seconds of being asked if he was free.” 

Ellie looks back at her phone as Kendyl finally leaves her alone. The whole idea of having to bring a date seemed archaic in a way that Ellie couldn’t quite put her finger on. Why did she have to bring someone she barely knew to a party with more people she barely knew?

But she really did know Quinn better than she was letting on. She still didn’t know what he did with his life, him weirdly making her promise not to look him up, which made Ellie immediately question if he was a serial killer. He wasn’t, allegedly, but that still didn’t make sense. 

She knew that he was from the States, went to school there until he left early for whatever job he had. He has two younger brothers, and apparently is known amongst his friends for looking like he was having a nonstop existential crisis, while also being nicknamed ‘Huggy Bear.’ She also knew that he was sweet, and listened to her when she went off on a tangent about something, him following right along and matching the energy she had. She knew that she wanted to see him again every night since she had met him that first time, and that he wanted the same thing.

His name came up on her phone, a call from him. “Hi, sorry, it’s easier to talk than text right now.”

“Why are you out of breath?”

“Workout.” Must be nice to have a job where he can just go and work out in the middle of the day, Ellie thinks to herself. “So, the 18th?”

“Yeah,” Ellie lets out, suddenly nervous. It felt like she was asking him for something much more serious than just going with her to an office party. “It’s the holiday party for my company, and apparently everyone needs to bring a date.”

“And you want me to find you one?”

Ellie’s jaw drops at his comment. “No, idiot, I wanted to bring you.” 

“Oh, thank god. I was running through my friends who would go and none of them are good enough for you.”

Ellie could feel the heat rushing to her cheeks at his comment. Did he consider this a date? Was it a date? Was it bad if she considered it a date and he didn’t? What if he didn’t? Why was her mind running at a mile a minute while Quinn was there on the other end of her phone waiting for her to say something else? “So that’s a yes?”

“Of course, it’s a yes. It’s one of the few nights I have off, I want to spend it with you.”

The next days went by in a blur, Ellie freaking out over everything from what she was going to wear, texting and calling Quinn even more, wishing that they could see each other sooner.

“It’s not obsessive, is it?” she asks Kendyl, staring at herself in the mirror. Kendyl insisted on coming over to Ellie’s place to get ready, telling her that her roommate had their partner over that night and the last thing she needed to do was try to use the bathroom to get rid when they had a habit of taking it over for more than a few hours.

“No, El, you just like him. I think it becomes obsessive when you start to stalk him and you show up to where he works unprovoked.” 

“Why do you say that like you’ve either done that or you’ve had that happen to you?”

“I’ll let you decide which one is better. What time is Quinn coming?”

“He’s supposed to get here in ten minutes.” 

“Just breathe, El. You’re going to have fun.” Kendyl left her to finish getting herself ready, her date already waiting outside to take her to the party. They could have all gone together, as pointed out by Kendyl, but it was better to not throw Quinn directly into the fire that was her closest coworker. 

Ellie’s phone starts ringing, not checking but expecting it to be Quinn calling to tell her he was early. She pops out of her seat to head to the door, picking up the phone and answering with an excited “Hi!”

“Eleanor?” 

Ellie stops in her tracks, her mom’s voice coming over her phone speaker. “Mom?”

“Sweetie, can you do me a favor?” 

Ellie felt her heart drop to her stomach, already knowing what her mom was going to ask her. It was the same thing that her mom always asked since she first got a job when she was in high school, every time she answered the phone while she was getting her degree, no matter where Ellie was in her life, it was never a call that a mother should have to make to one of her children this often. “Mom,” she lets out, knowing that she couldn’t say no.

“Please, Eleanor. I need the money. I, I-” 

“Mom, you promised,” Ellie cuts her off, not wanting to hear anymore even though she knew her mom would keep going.

“I thought I would get a raise before they sent the eviction notice this time.”

“Mom,” Ellie says, more exasperated this time. “You have to stop doing this. You do this to me every time.” 

“Alexander can’t help this time.”

Ellie heard a knock at her door, not even processing the fact that she should be looking through the peephole to make sure it wasn’t a murderer, opening it, and letting whoever it was in. Thankfully, it was Quinn, waving him in and motioning to give her a moment.

“Alex is still in college, already struggling because you’re no help. He shouldn’t have to give you anything in the first place.”

Quinn stands there, clearly uneasy at listening to only Ellie’s end of the conversation but following Ellie into her room regardless. He stands in the doorway, leaning against the frame with his arms crossed while he watches Ellie continue to get ready. 

“But you said last time that I couldn’t ask you again.”

“I didn’t mean for you to ask my little brother.”

“Eleanor, please. He’ll have nowhere to come home to. I’ll have nowhere to go home to.”

“What happened to everything you had last time I asked you?”

“It went towards all of the other bills, I promise. I’ll send you every confirmation for every bill I have.” 

“You’re not lying to me this time?”

“I’m not, I swear!”

“How many months did Alex cover?”

“Only half of one month.”

“How many months are you behind?”

“I swear I used everything I had to pay-”

“Mom, how many months are you behind?” Ellie knew she was raising her voice, forgetting that Quinn was even behind her. She stopped putting her makeup on at this point, knowing that the tears that were about to fall were going to ruin what she had already on, anyway. 

“Four.”

“Fuck, Mom.”

“Please?” her mom’s voice comes through, small and on the brink of breaking. “I know I’m still paying you back from last time. But what else am I supposed to do?’

“I’m sending it now,” she tells her, hanging up before her mother could say anything else. Ellie forgot Quinn was standing there in her doorway, putting her phone down on her vanity and putting her face in her hands. This couldn’t be happening again. Not again.

Quinn clears his throat, causing Ellie to jump. “Should I go?” he asks, creeping into her room.

Ellie wipes the tears from her cheeks, cursing herself mentally for now having to redo the makeup she already took too long to do the first time. “Uh,” she stammers, “No, no. I’ll be ready in a second.”

“Ellie,” Quinn kneels on the floor next to her, gently placing his hand on her thigh. “We don’t have to go to this.” 

“No, it’s fine, I’m fine.”

“El.” 

Ellie finally turned to him, the genuine concern on his face causing her to burst into tears. He reached up and pulled her close to him, his one hand on her back, the other holding her head on his shoulder, letting her cry on his white shirt. She hears him let out a quiet shushing noise, trying to comfort her in the way she had needed for so long. She cried for so long that she didn’t know how much time passed. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,” he whispers when she finally stops crying, not moving from their position. “Do you want to talk about it?”

She never told anyone about the stuff with her mom. Ellie had been holding it in for years, going from friend to friend, place to place, never letting this out with anyone who wasn’t her younger brother, the one person who would understand and who she knew also understood what it was like. 

But there was something about Quinn. She thought she could trust him, for whatever reason. She never told her ex-boyfriends in college or high school, despite the fact that this had been going on since then. 

Ellie takes in a deep breath. “The only people who know this are me, my mom, and my brother, do you understand?” she asks him, watching him nod. “It started, I think, when my dad left. I was probably 10? Alex was 6, maybe?  I don’t even remember, honestly. This probably started before Dad left, Alex and I think it’s why he left. But our mother is absolutely shit when it comes to money. Like, put us in debt every few months that then somehow fell to us as her children to bail her out.” 

“God,” Quinn lets out, Ellie continuing over him.

“I think we realized it was getting bad when she told us we were moving somewhere smaller right before I was starting high school, out of the blue, when we had already moved to ‘somewhere smaller’ three times in four years. Normally she said she had been planning it because we, of course, needed somewhere to live, and she didn’t like where we were, but that was weird. I didn’t realize it was because we had been evicted every single time until I found the seven eviction notices my second year of high school from the last three times and a notice that we were getting evicted that year, too.”

“Ellie, I’m so sorry,” he tells her, pulling her back in for a hug. 

She sighed, knowing that there was nothing more he could say. “At this point it’s normal, it’s just still frustrating when she tells me and Alex that she’s fine and that she has the money for everything, and then out of nowhere, tells us she hasn’t paid the rent for her current place in four months. Like, do you know what it’s like to have your mother owe you nearly a hundred thousand dollars because of how much she keeps needing?”

“I can’t even imagine.” The two of them sit in silence for a moment, neither of them sure what to do next. 

“I’m glad you can’t. It fucking sucks,” she says, turning back to her vanity mirror. “God, I don’t even want to go to this stupid party anymore.” 

“Hey, we don’t have to go if you don’t want to. We can stay here, we can go to my place, we can go somewhere else, we can do anything.”

“We?”

“I don’t want to leave you, Ellie. I came tonight because I wanted to spend time with you,” Quinn tells her, taking her hand in his. “If you’ll let me, I’ll take you wherever you want.” 

“You don’t have to.”

“Ellie, I want to be with you.” 

___________________

“Kendyl, I told you, I’m hanging out with Quinn and the rest of the guys tonight.” 

“Can I please come?”

“Absolutely not.” 

“But you’re dating the captain of the fucking Vancouver Canucks. You have to bring your best friend along with you.” 

“Alexander can’t come tonight either.”

“Ok, rude.”

Ellie was already nervous about meeting Quinn's teammates. It had taken a while for her to wrap her head around that he was not only a hockey player, but a professional one, and the actual captain of the team. Honestly, she didn’t see it coming. She had heard so much about Elias and Brock that she felt like she knew them at this point. She hadn’t even met them. As close as she had gotten to Kendyl in the last six months she spent at her job, and as much time as they spent together outside of work when she wasn’t with Quinn, she didn’t need Kendyl mixed into the group. 

“Let me meet them first, then we can talk about you meeting them, ok?” she tries to assure her, hearing a knock at her door. “I’ve gotta go, Quinn is here.”

She hangs up on Kendyl before she can protest, slightly worried that she would use the ‘Find my friends’ feature to just stalk the house they were going to and end up on the doorstep uninvited. 

“Hi,” she opens the door, stopping for a second to take him in. God, she hated how hard she fell for him in a short amount of time. He was perfect to her at that moment. 

He pulled her in for a kiss, one that made her wish they were staying in rather than heading to spend time with his friends. “Hi,” he whispers, kissing her again before pulling away. “You look amazing, as always.”

“I’m wearing jeans and a sweater,” she counters.

“And?” He could say anything to her with that stupid smile on his face and make her swoon. “Ready?”

They head out to his car, Ellie’s heart racing as they get closer and closer to Thatcher’s house. She wasn’t great with meeting large groups of people all at once, despite being in a new school nearly every year of her awkward teenage years and being forced to interact with new people every time. 

“Hey,” Quinn says, resting his hand on her thigh as he drives down the highway, giving her a gentle squeeze to try to calm her down. “You’re going to like the guys. And they’re going to love you.”

“Yeah?” she says, her voice shaking slightly. 

“How could they not?” he asks, taking her hand and bringing to his lips, his eyes glued to the road in front of them so he couldn’t see her melting at his words and his touch. “You’ll get along great with Elias.”

“He’s the one from Sweden?”

“Yeah,” Quinn tells her, pulling into the driveway of a house so massive Ellie wasn’t sure people could actually live in it. It was certainly bigger than anything she could have ever dreamed of being near, let alone being invited to. “He’s got kind of a dry humor. You’ll like him.”

Ellie takes in a deep breath, feeling incredibly inadequate just getting out of his car and standing on the pavement of a place like Thatcher’s house. Maybe she should have invited Kendyl. 

Quinn takes her hand, pulling her along to the door when everything inside her was telling her to turn around and just run. There was no way she was good enough to be in this house, not with everything in her life, not when Quinn and his teammates had everything they could possibly want at the tips of their fingers. 

He stops at the door, pulling her close to him, dropping her hand, and cupping her face to kiss her again, calming her immediately. “Hi,” he breathes when he pulls away.

“Hi again. What was that for?” she asked, his hands slipping down to her waist, sending a shiver through her entire body as he traced her sides. 

“I’m going to want to do that so many times tonight, but I know the guys will tease us for it. I’ve gotta do what I can now.” 

That shouldn’t have made her feel the way it did. He could say or do anything at this point and she would melt. 

They go inside, the house loud and full of people despite Quinn telling her that it was just supposed to be a ‘small get-together.’ Everything in the house looked expensive, Ellie’s anxiety immediately spiking. She followed Quinn blindly through the house, all of his teammates talking to him and him introducing her to all of them while she stood there nearly mute over the sheer stimulus overload that was all around her. She barely noticed the drinks that found their way in hers and Quinn's hands, drinking once she saw Quinn drinking it, as well. 

“Elias is right over here,” he whispers in her ear, his hand still in hers and giving her a reassuring squeeze as he leads her off into one of the side rooms. The room was quieter, the lights dimmer, and had a lot less people than any of the other rooms. 

“You got here half an hour ago and you’re just making it in here?” one of the guys asks as she and Quinn sit next to each other on the couch. “Ellie, you have to get him to go faster through the greetings next time. I cannot be left alone with Brock for this long.”

She looks at Quinn, confused as to how they already know her name. 

“You know I have to say hi to everyone, I’m captain.”

“As captain, you should be able to do one big greeting and let that be it so you can seclude yourself in a separate room where you don’t have to talk to everyone else,” one of the other guys said.

“Every time you talk, Brock, you add more to the long list of why you would make a horrible captain.”

“I would be a great captain.” 

“Elias, Brock, jeez.” 

“You know you can’t leave us alone for too long.” 

Ellie gets lost in their conversation, not even being able to contribute to what they were saying because their verbal sparring is so fast and so specific to their history with each other, she wouldn’t even know where to begin. Quinn puts his arm around her, pulling her closer to him by her waist. He looks at her while Brock and Elias continue bickering, smiling at her and giving her a soft kiss on her forehead. 

The guys interrupt them, jeering and teasing them to the point where Ellie has her face buried in Quinn’s shoulder, trying to hide from the embarrassment. “So, Ellie, what do you see in El Capitan here?” Brock asks, giving the most obnoxious facial expression possible.

“You do not have to answer that,” Elias tells her. “Brock has no idea how to interact with anyone, just ignore him.”

“That’s not true.” 

“You thought a good pick up line to use on a girl was ‘you dropped something, my jaw,’ the other night and then were shocked when she just turned and walked away,” Elias says, earning a laugh from Ellie and Quinn.

“You have definitely taken a girl out on a date and then talked about yourself the entire time,” Quinn adds, Brock shrinking further into his seat. 

“You look like the kind of guy that would go to a bookstore and pretend to look lost to see if a girl would talk to you,” Ellie adds, sending the guys into a frenzy. 

“He wouldn’t have to pretend to be lost,” Elias says, poking a pouting Brock in the leg. “You should come around more, Ellie.”

“She’s spent too much time with Quinn already,” Brock whines, Quinn pulling her so she’s practically in his lap, kissing her cheek.

“I told you,” he whispers, just loud enough for only her to hear. “I need you to come around more, too.” Ellie turns to him, her cheeks burning before they both burst out laughing. “That sounded horrible.”

The four of them fall into an easy conversation, the three boys doing everything they can to make Ellie feel included, not shying away from teasing her like they were each other earlier. She felt comfortable. 

Ellie eventually excused herself to go to the bathroom and get more drinks for her and Quinn, the alcohol finally hitting her. She barely finds her way back to the room the guys were in, Thatcher’s house seeming much bigger now that she wasn’t sober and much harder to navigate without Quinn taking her around.

She didn’t mean to listen to their conversation, standing on other side of the opening without them seeing her.

“Brock, I swear, if brains were dynamite, you wouldn’t be able to blow your fucking nose,” she hears Elias say, stiffling a laugh as Brock mumbles something about not meaning to spill his drink on Elias.

“Anyway,” Quinn grunts, sounding like he was getting off the floor.

“Ellie is awesome, by the way,” Elias says, Ellie sure she missed some sort of segue that could have led the conversation from Brock to Ellie.

“She’s snarky,” Brock adds, Ellie hearing a smack and Brock letting out a cough. “That’s not a bad thing.” 

“I met her by accident but I cannot think about what it would be like without her now,” she hears Quinn say, Ellie trying to figure out if she actually heard him right. That sounded like he was much more serious about her than she thought he was. 

“Woah, Quinn,” Elias says. “You met her a few months ago.”

“God, I know,” she hears Quinn let out. “But you know how you just know sometimes? You run into this person one day and they just make your life better?”

“You guys made my life worse since I met you,” Brock mutters. “I say goodnight to her every night and I can’t wait until I can say good morning to her the next day.” 

“You’re a simp.”

“Can you blame me? She’s perfect.”

Ellie finally enters the room, trying her best to pretend that she didn’t just hear everything Quinn told his friends, the ones he told her he would trust with anything. It had to mean something that they already knew who she was before coming and that he could tell them those things unprovoked.

Quinn lights up at the sight of her, giving her another kiss and wrapping his arms around her when she sits down. “You took a bit,” he comments. 

“This house is confusing,” she lies.

Elias and Brock continue to bicker while ignoring Ellie and Quinn. Ellie eventually finishes her drink, along with the third one that Brock had managed to hand off to her at some point, sinking down so her head was in Quinn’s lap.

“How often do you think about the future?”

“I mean, I’m normally thinking about what I’m making for my next meal once I finish the one I’m eating.”

Ellie groans, their hands intertwined and in constant movement, suddenly regretting how much they had both had to drink. She looks up at him, a smile on her face despite the look on his that told her he had absolutely no thoughts behind those eyes. “Like, us in the future. Our future.”

“Huh,” Quinn starts, “I don’t know. I like us right now where we are.” 

Ellie nods, trying to hide the disappointment that she felt. Why could he tell Elias and Brock what he thought about her, but not tell her? He hadn’t even called her his girlfriend to her face, yet. Were they even boyfriend and girlfriend yet? Was it too early to even ask, or should she even ask at all?

They were staying over at Thatcher’s house at this point, neither of them in the position to drive, Elias and Brock electing to stay on the couches. Quinn pulls her up and kisses her, a yawn escaping her after he pulls away. “Want to head to bed? Thatch said we can snag one of the guest rooms.”

Ellie nodded, Quinns hand in hers as he lead her down the hallway. She should be nervous, the first night they were spending together completely unplanned and in one of his teammates house instead of somewhere special. 

But it was with Quinn.

She was fine.  

___________________

“When are you going to be ready?” 

“When I am.”

“You’re taking way too long.” 

“I am not taking too long, you got ready too quickly.”

“Kendyl, I took an hour to get ready to meet Quinn and his friends, and you started getting ready before I got here,” Ellie groans, lying down on Kendyl’s bed. The group chat Ellie had with Quinn and the guys was blowing up, asking where Ellie and Kendyl were. After meeting Kendyl a while back, Quinn was convinced she would be the person to set Brock straight. Ellie wasn’t convinced, but what was the harm of introducing them?

“I’m meeting a Canuck, tonight, El, I have to look good.”

Ellie sits up, looking at Kendyl in her mirror. She knew her friend was nervous. No matter what she could say, nothing would change. “I promise you, you could wear nothing more than a trash bag and Brock would be drooling over you.” 

Kendyl took a deep breath. “Are you sure?”

“Ken, you’re beautiful. You’re funny. You can verbally spar with anyone to get what you want at any time. If you decide you want something to happen with Brock, there’s no way he wouldn’t agree to it.”

Kendyl nods, finally getting up and grabbing Ellie’s hand and her coat to drag her out the door. 

“Are we sure we’re going to have fun?” Kendyl asks, the shaking in her voice something Ellie had never heard before.

“You sound like me now.” It was still winter in Vancouver, the below freezing temperatures combined with the warmest bar appropriate outfits they had not enough to actually keep them warm as they walked through the city to meet all of the guys. 

“What are they like? I only know Quinn.”

Ellie has to stop and think for a moment. How did she even begin to describe them? “I think you just have to wait and see. Quinn is nothing like them.” 

“Oh, my god, you hate your boyfriend's friends.”

“No, what?” Ellie asks, unable to hide her laughter. “I really like his friends. I’m getting closer with Elias and Brock is definitely good for a laugh when you need it.” 

Kendyl nods, both of them shivering as they walk. Quinn had such a warm jacket, Ellie thought back to the night the two of them met. She wouldn’t have been able to see herlife with Quinn coming. She thought Kendyl was just an annoying coworker, Quinn would be just a hook up, and that she would end up having to move home because of her mom and Alex. She never thought it would be this. 

They get to the bar after feeling like they were walking forever, Quinn making a beeline to Ellie as soon as they made eye contact. “God, I’m happy you’re here,” he slurs, planting a sloppy kiss on her cheek.

“Wow, you’re already drunk,” she points out, trying to push him away slightly. Quinn had told her they were going into a break in the season, so getting drunk was necessary. She had seen him a little drunk, more tipsy than anything, but never like this, and never in public. “Let’s get you some water, babe.”

Quinn lets out a giggle, slinging his arm around Ellie while she focuses on him instead of getting Kendyl over to Brock. She looks around the bar for her friend, or at least one of the guys to hopefully help her make sure he doesn’t go much farther than he already was with the alcohol. 

“Ellie, right?” she hears from behind her as she sets Quinn down at the booth in the back where the rest of the guys were seated. She turns around, one of the new guys in the office standing behind her, glass of beer in hand. 

“Uh, yeah, hey. Dylan, right?”

“Declan, actually,” he corrects her, a quick apology escaping her lips. “Sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt, I just saw Kendyl over by the bar and she mentioned you were here. I wanted to say hi.”

Even though it was darker in the bar, Ellie swears she saw him blushing, fidgeting and acting nervous in front of her. The guys didn’t seem to notice she was even standing there, but Declan seemed to be trying to take in everything about her. 

“Are you here with anyone?” she asks, feeling Quinn pull her into his lap, Ellie falling without an ounce of grace down towards him. “Sorry, this is my boyfriend, Quinn, and some of his friends.”

“Uh, hi,” he says, Ellie feeling Quinns arms wrap tighter around her as Declan talks, “I’m here with my roommate, but I lost him about half an hour ago.” 

“You should join us then,” Quinn says, moving him and Ellie further into the booth to make room for Declan. The tone in his voice told her he really didn’t want to do that. 

Kendyl finally comes back with drinks, Quinn taking the beer that was meant for Ellie and downing it much faster than he should have. Brock was already captivated by Kendyl as soon as she sat down, Elias rolling his eyes as he was making a fool of himself, Kendyl finding it weirdly endearing.

“So, Deacon,” Quinn starts, much louder than he should have been. “How do you know my girlfriend?”

“Uh,” Declan says, as caught off guard by Quinn’s sudden shift in mood as Ellie is, “I work with her. Just started about a month ago.”

Quinn nods. “What did you do before this?”

“I was a nurse in the ICU at Vancouver General.” 

“Couldn’t handle it, Derek?” 

“Quinn, what?” Ellie scoffs. 

Declan coughs, clearly getting uncomfortable fast. “It was a lot, so no. I liked helping people, but seeing traumatic thing after traumatic thing takes a toll on you really fast. So I went back to school and ended up with Ellie and Kendyl.” 

“Ah, a college degree.” 

“Quinn,” Ellie hissed. She didn’t like where this was going, Quinn holding on to Ellie like he was marking his territory. 

“I actually don’t have my degree, yet.”

“Interesting thing to brag about?” Declan says, nervously sipping on his beer. 

“Well, it’s hard to finish when you get called up to play with the Canucks, you know?”

Declan shrugs. “Is that the CFL team? I don’t follow sports.”

Ellie gets off Quinns lap, pushing Declan aside and dragging Quinn along with her. She didn’t need to hear what Quinn was going to say next. He was starting to act like a jackass and she didn’t want to see more. 

The two of them end up outside, the cold hitting Ellie like a slap in face. “What is wrong with you? He wasn’t doing anything for you to act like that to him.”

“I don’t like him,” Quinn pouts.

“You just met him.”

“I don’t like people who are trying to take my girl.”

Ellie can’t help but scoff. “‘Take your girl?’ What, am I your property? Did you get a good dowry? How many sheep did you have to give my family in exchange for your hand?”

Quinn rolls his eyes. “Come on, Ellie.”

“No, Quinn, you come on. He wasn’t hitting on me. He doesn’t even know me to like me.”

“Of course he likes you, Ellie, look at you.” Quinn takes a step closer to her, suddenly getting softer towards her. “You’re so pretty. You’re so smart. You know what to do with everything.” 

“If he likes me, that doesn’t matter,” Ellie snaps, still annoyed with him. “I don’t like him. I like you. I’m dating you. That should be enough for you to not act like an asshole towards him.”

Quinn hangs his head. “I’m sorry.” 

“You should be saying that to him.”

The two of them stand there in the cold in silence, Ellie not wanting to budge and Quinn wanting her to go with him. “Come with me?”

Ellie bites her lip, her mood ruined because of him in just a short amount of time. “I think I’m going to go home. I’m tired, anyway.”

“Let me walk you?” Just like the night they met.

“No, it’s fine. I’ll let you know when I’m back.”

They stand there for another moment, Quinn making the first move to pull Ellie in for a kiss. “I love you, Ellie.”

Ellie hadn’t been thinking about love with him yet. She wasn’t there yet. “Goodnight, Quinn,” she told him, turning and walking away, leaving him there on the sidewalk.

___________________

“Have you ever loved anyone?” 

“Uh, you.”

“Not that kind of love, idiot.”

“Oh, um. I was in love with Tess Virtue for a while there.”

“While I get that, I still don’t mean that kind of love, Alex.” 

Alex laughs on the other end of the call, Ellie getting ready for work while he got ready for class. “El, you’re the older sister here, aren’t I supposed to be asking you this?”

Ellie and Quinn were in a weird place since Ellie left that night. She had hoped that Quinn was too drunk to remember that he had told her loved her and Ellie’s response was just to walk away. She didn’t know if she was in love with him. She knew she wanted to be with him. She didn’t know if she loved him.

“I mean,” Ellie starts, not sure where to go. 

“Are you and Quinn ok?” Ellie tells her brother everything that happened, Alex staying silent for a few seconds after she finished. “Ellie, you did this last time.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Not to go psychology major on you,” Alex says, earning a groan from his sister, “But I think you’re more messed up from Dad leaving than you like to admit you are. You have what sounds like a solid relationship with this guy but you’re afraid that if you let him love you and you let yourself love him, that he’s going to leave just like Dad did. He left us with Mom and we never got that love back.” 

Ellie takes a deep breath. “Jesus. At least I know your degree is worth it.” 

“I could be wrong. I’m only six semesters into this degree, after all.”

“I hate you.” 

“I love you, too, El.” 

Everything goes back to her parents. There’s no reason she couldn’t love Quinn. 

She was in a daze on her commute to the office. Does she love him? Regardless of Alex’s psychoanalysis, even if their dad leaving them with their mom made her think anyone who would love her would leave, is she able to love him?

She wanted to be with him, but she didn’t know what it was like to love him.

“You look horrible,” Kendyl says, Declan trying not to make eye contact with her at their little desk clump, probably trying to not agree. 

“Thank you, for that,” Ellie huffs, dropping her bag on the floor before she falls into her chair. “I just had a weird morning. Don’t really want to talk about it.” 

The morning passes by in a blur, the menial tasks of her job at least giving Ellie something to take her mind off Quinn. Anytime her mind would start to wander, anytime she thought about him in any way, she would just switch back to work mode and force herself to do whatever it is she needed to do.

“Hey,” Ellie thinks she hears from behind her, someone sounding just like Quinn. She ignored it, figuring it was just her imagination and her officially losing her mind over what was going on in her relationship. “Babe?”

Ellie jumps, thoroughly surprised that Quinn was actually standing behind her. “I thought you were leaving for Florida today.”

Quinn pulls her up, kissing her hello, a soft look on his face that told Ellie that everything was ok. “We leave in a few hours, so I wanted to come by and surprise you. Do you have a minute?”

Ellie nods, following Quinn down to the lobby of the building. She knew that if she went somewhere in the office, Kendyl would probably have her ear glued to the other side of the wall of whatever room they were in to try to listen to their conversation. 

“So, you don’t love me,” Quinn lets out slowly, pausing a little between each word, breaking Ellie’s heart each time.

“God,” she lets out.

“It’s ok.” They stand in silence, what they had with each other when they first met already somehow dying off between them. “I’m ok.”

“I want to love you. You know I have other things going on that are messing with my mind. You know me.” 

Quinn rolls his eyes, Ellie taking a step back. “What, the stuff with your mom?” Ellie gives him a small nod. “You can’t keep using that as an excuse, Ellie,” he snaps.

Ellie recoils at his words, the person in front of her not the same one who told her would always be there for her when she needed him, that he would help if she would let him and that he wanted to be there, for her and with her, for everything. This was someone who wouldn’t do any of that. “It’s not an excuse. It’s my life, Quinn. You grew up never having to worry about coming home from school and learning that the lights were turned off, or getting scared that the heat would get cut off in the middle of the winter, or that you were two days away from living in a car,” she nearly yells at him, catching him off guard. “I’m sorry that it messed me up and I’m trying to fix it and at least be honest with you about it because I want to be with you.” 

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, you idiot. I want to be with you. But I don’t know what it’s like to be loved by someone who stays. I don’t know what it’s like to love someone who wants to stay. I think I love you, but I don’t think that my work is the place to figure it out.” 

Quinn smiles at her, hugging her and holding her tight, every part of her relaxing as he does so. “That’s all I need. That’s all I want.” 

___________________

“Ok, if we have to stay all night, then we’re ordering food.” 

“I never agreed to staying all night.” 

“Ellie, we have to get this done before we go home.”

“Yeah, but I have plans tonight. I’m not staying all night, extra pay or not.”

Declan groans, a stupid smile on his face. “Are you driving to these plans tonight?”

Ellie gets a bad feeling in her stomach, one that puts a smile on her face regardless. This project had forced them together much more often than Quinn probably would have liked if he found out. The client was demanding it be done three weeks faster than anticipated,which meant they had to get it done before Monday. “Nope. Why?” Declan gets up from the table the two of them and Kendyl are sitting at in the conference room to give them more space to spread out, running over to his desk and yanking one of the drawers open. “Dex, what are you doing?” Ellie calls.

The three of them had already been in the office much longer than everyone else, the rest of their colleagues having left early for the weekend while the three of them stayed behind.

Ellie had plans with Quinn that night for the first time in a while.

“Getting this,” Declan says, pulling her out of the spiraling thoughts she was having about her relationship.

He holds up three plastic red cups and a bottle of rum, the one alcohol that Ellie could stomach without any mixer, a sociopathic tendency as Kendyl would call it. “Why is that there?” Kendyl asks.

Declan shrugs, popping open the bottle with ease and pouring way more than a single shot into each of the cups. “One of the clients gave it to me as a thank you.”

“We never get alcohol as a thank you,” Ellie scoffs, Kendyl agreeing.

“Men,” Kendyl rolls her eyes.

Declan laughs, raising his cup to Ellie and clinking it against hers, downing it in a few seconds as he watches Ellie do the same. Both of them cough, the liquid burning down their throats much more than they were expecting, neither of them breaking eye contact with each other while forgetting Kendyl was there with them. “Alright, we work until we’re done. We refill when we need to.”

Ellie smiles at him, the warmth of the alcohol already coursing through her. Her phone starts buzzing, a call coming in from someone whose contact she can’t quite make out. “No phones.”

The three of them get to work, the sun setting without them realizing it as their phones keep buzzing over and over again. They weren’t even entirely sure what the project was that their boss was asking of them, but then again, when were they ever?

They had to have been working for at least two hours straight without moving, feeling like they hadn’t even made a dent in the amount of tasks they had for the project. “I need to go home,” Kendyl groans, rubbing her hands over her face.

“We need to finish this,” Ellie points out.

“We need more alcohol.” Declan gets up, already somehow emptying the bottle into their three cups. He winks at Ellie, yet again ignoring Kendyl and sending a chill down Ellie’s spine before heading back out of the conference room without another word. 

Kendyl squeals once he’s out of earshot, shaking Ellie’s arm. “Oh, my god, he is so obsessed with you.”

“He is not,” Ellie insists, the heat running to her cheeks at the thought of her coworker liking her. She’s dating Quinn. Dating a coworker is out of the question. Dating Delcan isn’t even a thought.

“Ellie, I’m not even here when he’s around. You two are flirting so much.”

“I’m not sure you know what flirting is.”

“What about Quinn?”

Ellie’s stomach churned at his name. “Quinn and I are fine,” she tells Kendyl, trying to ignore how high her voice got involuntarily. 

“El.”

“Ken.”

“You’re lying to me.” Ellie bites her lip, hating that Kendyl knew her well enough to tell. “What’s going on with you two? You were off last time I saw you together.”

Ellie sees Declan out of the corner of her eye shifting around the desks outside the conference room. “I have no idea.” Kendyl stays silent, Ellie feeling like she has to fill the space. “We see each other less and less now, part of it because of both our jobs right now.”

“Well, that makes sense, that happens.”

“But when we do spend time together, we don’t say anything. We barely talk anymore at all. It’s like we ran out of things to say.”

“Who has nothing to say?” Declan interrupts, plopping down in his chair with another bottle of rum.

“Ellie and Quinn. Why do you have another bottle?” Kendyl asks.

“I have many bottles. Who’s Quinn?” 

“Ellie’s boyfriend.” 

Declan just nods, giving Ellie an uneasy feeling as they both take a sip of their drinks again, the eye contact between them mixed with the alcohol making her mind spin. “We’re just going through a weird phase right now. We’ll get through it.”

Kendyl recaps what Ellie told her, unprompted, to Declan, who infuriatingly just sits there, the alcohol making him look way too attractive for Ellie’s liking. “You don’t want my opinion, do you?” he asks.

“Kendyl gives me hers all the time when I don’t want it, you might as well give yours.”

“You’re both busy. That happens.”

“See?” Ellie prods Kendyl. 

“But,” Declan starts again, Kendyl sticking her tongue out at Ellie like a child, “Being busy could also mean not being willing to make time for each other.” 

Ellie took in a deep breath, hating what he was saying. It wasn’t like he said that much, but he said enough. The room suddenly felt too small, the work too overwhelming, the alcohol hitting her all at once. “I’m going to go to the bathroom,” she says, practically running out of the room. 

Are she and Quinn not making enough time for each other? Are they just ending their relationship without saying that it’s over? She didn’t think she wanted to break up with him, but at this point, what was staying with him doing for her? 

Ellie looks at herself in the mirror. She didn’t know if it was the alcohol distorting her perception of herself or if it was the mirror that probably hadn’t been cleaned in a while, but she didn’t look like herself. She looked off. She had felt off for a while, but she had no idea why. 

Was it because of Quinn? Ellie had heard that to be loved was to be changed, but what happens when you don’t like how you’ve changed? How much should she fight to get things back to the way there were when they first started seeing each other? What has to happen for her to just give up instead?

“Hey, sorry,” Declan startles Ellie, causing her to lose her balance and stumble against the sink. “I’m sorry that I upset you.”

“No, uh,” Ellie starts, wiping a tear from her cheek she didn’t even know had fallen, “You didn’t upset me.”

“Can I ask you something?” Declan’s voice is gentle as he takes a step closer to you, waiting for her to nod. “If you aren’t happy, why are you still with him?”

Ellie shrugs, not wanting to look at him. If she looks, she’ll fall apart. “I love him. I do. He knows me better than anyone. I’ve told him things I haven’t told anyone outside of my family, not even Kendyl. But sometimes,” she takes in a breath, her voice shaking. “Sometimes I wonder if it was all for nothing. We have no time for each other anymore. I see Kendyl more than I see him.”

“Ellie,” he says, his voice low as he steps closer to her. She was sure he could hear her heart racing. 

She was dating Quinn.

Quinn.

“Oh, fuck,” Ellie practically yells. “What time is it?”

“Uh, 8:30.”

“Quinn was picking me up at 8:15.” Ellie runs from the bathroom, leaving Declan calling after her. She grabs her stuff from the conference room without saying a word to Kendyl. 

She hears Declan in the background, calling after her as she runs down the stairs, dropping things in the stairwell that she doesn’t bother to pick up. She was rattled, Quinn already waiting for what had now become twenty minutes without her so much as texting him back the entire time.

Declan catches up to her, everything she’s dropped in his hands when she bursts through the front door of the building, Quinn’s car at the curb with him leaning against it scrolling on his phone. He looks up, his eyes going between his disheveled girlfriend and the one guy that she talked to that he was worried about, equally out of breath and carrying her things, both of them looking panicked.

He could tell Ellie was drunk. He knew she was drinking with him.

“What is this, Ellie?” he asks, trying to keep a calm tone in his voice as best as he can.

Ellie starts stammering, the alcohol not helping her at all. “We were doing that project I told you about, we lost track of time. I know I’m late but I wasn’t looking at my phone so we could finish as fast as possible.”

Quinn takes in a deep breath, looking up to the sky so he didn’t have to see her reaction to what he was about to say. “Ellie, I know he likes you. I told you likes you the night I met him. And, I know you like him, even if you don’t realize it yet. What am I doing here?”

Ellie steps toward him, her legs starting to shake as she tried to process what he was saying. “Quinn, you’re taking me out. You said we were meeting the guys tonight.”

“No, Ellie. I am. You’re gonna stay here.You’re gonna finish the project. You’re going to spend the night with Declan. You should be with someone who has time for you.”

“Quinn.” 

“We’ve both been busy. We’ve both had way too many things going on to focus on each other. We deserve better. You deserve better.”

“Quinn,” she repeats, standing right in front of him. She reaches up to his cheek, him leaning into her touch as he finally looks at her. “What are you saying?”

“You know, Ellie.” 

They stand there, forgetting Declan behind them and ignoring the world around them. Quinn cups her cheeks, kissing her like he did the very first time. “Bye, Eleanor.”

“Bye, Quinn,” Ellie whispers, not wanting to let go. 

Everything happened so fast. Ellie stood on the curb, wanting to drop her things right on the sidewalk and chase after him as he got in his car and drove away. She didn’t move as Declan came up behind her, gently putting his arm around her to try to comfort her. She didn’t hear him say that he wanted to get her back inside so that Kendyl could be with her, so that she’d have someone she trusted to talk to after what just happened.

She just stood there. 

___________________

Quinn was miserable. The guys were all with their partners, while Quinn sat in the middle with no one by his side. All he had was the beer in front of him that he didn’t even want to drink. 

He should be happy. They were already having a great season. They had already secured a playoff spot. The team was playing to have fun and winning was coming because of it. 

Brock comes up to him with Kendyl, the two of them still going strong. Quinn liked Kendyl, but seeing her still reminded him of Ellie, even if the two of them didn’t work together anymore. 

“Come on, buck up. There are plenty of girls here that you could at least talk to,” Brock tries to encourage him.

Quinn just shrugs him off, slowly turning the glass of beer around on the table. He wasn’t in the mood to be there, but there was no way the guys would let him leave this early. 

Brock leaves to get another round of drinks, Kendyl staying behind. “She’s doing ok, you know,” she says, barely above a whisper. 

Quinn sighs. “I miss her.” 

Kendyl puts her hand on his shoulder, giving him a sympathetic smile. “I know.”

They sit for a moment, both of them unsure what to say next. What do you say to someone who was still broken over something that should have never shattered in the first place?

“Hey, isn’t that that Dexter guy you work with?” Elias comes over and asks, pointing to the other side of the bar. 

Quinn feels the air escape his lungs, Ellie and Declan together, Declan holding on to her as a guy moved past them, pressing their bodies against each other. She didn’t hesitate to take the opportunity to drape her arms on his shoulders, getting up on her toes to kiss him, their foreheads pressed together when they pull away while they looked at each other like they were the only people in the world. 

“She’s happy,” Kendyl says. 

“She’s happier,” Quinn corrects her, his heart breaking at the fact that he couldn’t do that for her. 

[evilgaygothgf]

I Know What I Said Pt. 2

(a/n: I lost the request for this but here you go anon!)

Quackity x reader (reader is referred to as “girlfriend”)

“Hey, I miss you.”

“Alex, how can you already miss me? I JUST saw you,” you couldn’t help but laugh into the phone. He had just dropped you off at your front door and barely let you make your way inside your house before he was calling you already.

“You don’t miss me?” You could envision his fake hurt facial expression just by the amount of dramatics he was putting into his voice on the other line. “My car still smells like you. It’s almost,” he started fake sniffling on the other line, “it’s almost like you’re still here with me.”

You rolled your eyes and made a loud sigh, hoping he could hear it through the phone. “You are so dramatic”

“And you love it.”

“You know me oh so well.” You couldn’t deny it. His playful side is what drew you in to him in the first place. “Oh, also, I meant to ask you earlier, but do you have plans tomorrow?” You started making your way to your room to get ready for bed while he responded.

“Umm, I know I’m supposed to talk to a few people about doing a stream together this week, but other than that I should be free. What about you?”

You put your phone on speaker and threw it onto your bed while you changed into some sweats and a tshirt. “Hmm, well I was thinking about hanging out with my boyfriend and maybe going on a real first date with him. Do you think he’d want to do that?”

“You know, it’s funny because I was actually thinking about how much I’d want to take my girlfriend on a date tomorrow. Maybe we can go on a double date?”

You laughed to yourself as you flopped onto your bed. “Sounds like a plan. I’ll text you the details and you can meet me there?”

“Wherever you go, I go.”

“Okie dokie. I’ll see you tomorrow. Goodniiigghhht Alexxx,”you said in a singsong voice.

“Goodnight, gorgeous.”

As soon as he hung up the phone, you were blushing and kicking your blankets like a madman. A date? Him calling you gorgeous? Boyfriend? Girlfriend? You woke up pining for your best friend and ended the night with a confession, a kiss, and a date for tomorrow with your best friend turned boyfriend. The days events kept playing over and over in your mind as your stared up at the ceiling.

———————————————————————

You walked into the the front entrance of the art museum and looked around for your boyfriend. You spot him standing near the main entrance to the exhibit and he locks eyes with you, immediately grinning from ear to ear. You can’t help but to start smiling right back at him as you walk across the room to where he was standing.

“So your date didn’t show either?” You were confused at first what he was talking about until your remembered your playful convo from the night before.

“Nope. Looks like we both got stood up,” you joked back. “I guess our double date is cancelled. What should we do now?”

Alex crossed his arms over his chest. “You know what? The two of us will just go on this date without them. They don’t deserve us anyway.” He leaned over closer to your ear. “Besides, as soon as I saw how cute you look today, I wouldn’t want to be on this date with anyone else.”

You felt the heat rushing up to your cheeks at his comment and hated how easy he could make you blush. It really wasn’t fair. The two of you started heading into the art exhibit and slowly made your way through each room.

You eventually stopped in front of a Maxfield Parrish painting that caught your attention.

As Alex stood next to you looking at the painting, you began telling him all that you remembered about the piece. “This is one of my favorites by Parrish. No matter how many times I see it, I’m still amazed by how a two dimensional painting can look like it’s actually glowing. Oh, and my teacher was explaining to us how this artist used blue so much that-“ you cut your sentence short at the feeling of warmth in your hand. You looked down to your hand to see he had grabbed a hold of it with his own hand and began intertwining his fingers with yours.

“Oh, is this- is this not okay with you cause I can-“ he began spouting out, but you cut him short.

“No, no I promise it’s okay,” you grinned, “I was just surprised. I wasn’t expecting it.” You both turned your gaze back to the painting and stood in the silence of the moment. Even with the exhibit being filled with other people circling from sculpture, to painting, to installation, it felt like it was just the two of you in this moment.

Alex broke the silence with a soft voice, “I like the way your hand fits in mine. My little puzzle piece.”

“I swear that is the gushiest thing I’ve ever heard you say. Keep saying that stuff and you’ve got yourself a second date,” you said without averting your gaze from the painting.

“Oh there’s definitely more where that came from.”

[bad268]

Liam lawson

but

I remember there one dtm video(red bull) being where alex and lily were in it and that was rlly cute

so hoow bout the reader coming to watch liam and they juts being cute throughout :)

Compilations (Liam Lawson X Reader)

Fandom: RPF/Formula 2/3

Requested: Clearly (bruh I strayed so far but I think this is cute too. I rewatched all of the DTM videos and I was like *compilation*), (italics are clips from the video)

Warnings: Language haha

Pronouns: I/me/they/them

W.C. 3428

Summary: Liam and his significant other take a trip down memory lane for a video.

As always, my requests are OPEN

MASTERLIST // HITLIST

~~(^Google/RedBull Content Pool)

It was two in the morning. My phone should not be ringing. Rolling over and answering it without looking at the ID, “Well, someone better be dying.”

“I’m dying,” the voice, who I was able to recognize as Liam, laughed on the other end. “Okay, I’m not dying.”

“Could’ve had me fooled,” I mumbled, burying my face into my pillow while keeping the phone to my ear. “Not that I’m upset that you called, well kind of actually, but what do you want?”

“Oh, do you not want me to call you?” He teased back.

“I do just not at two in the fucking morning, Liam,” I complained, “Especially when I had an alarm set at three for my flight. I’m not going back to sleep now, so I hope you’re happy with yourself.”

“I’ll keep you company,” He chuckled. “I was mainly calling because I wanted to make sure you were still coming this week.”

“You couldn’t have called me a couple of days ago?” I accused. I didn’t let him respond as I continued ranting, getting increasingly louder as I progressed. “Or yesterday? Or last night? Or fucking texted me because it is two in the morning?!”

“I mean, a reasonable time to call you would’ve been mid-day or something for me and I was doing car stuff,” He explained calmly, knowing that I was just moody because he woke me up too early. “I’m sorry.”

“You’re lucky you’re cute,” I grumbled, immediately switching the call to a FaceTime. “There, if you’re going to make me stay awake, the least you could do is let me look at you.”

“Glad you find my looks good enough to keep you awake,” He joked.

“Anyways,” I switched topics as I propped my phone up against the headboard, so I could use my hands to hold my head up, “I know you did not just call me to ask if I was still coming. What’s up?”

“Just wanted to make sure because the Red Bull media team wants us to do a video for YouTube,” He explained as he moved on his end to a corner of the trailer after being given the go-ahead to chill out until they went back to the hotel.

“But I’m not a driver?” I asked, confused as to why they would want me in the video.

“Never said you were, love,” He chuckled again. “They want us to react to some videos.”

“That makes me nervous,” I replied with a nervous laugh. “Do I get to know what videos?”

“I don’t even know,” Liam started.

“You are not going to break him that easily, Y/n!” Alex cut in from the background. Just then, Alex‘s head appears in the corner of the frame with an enthusiastic wave, “Hi, by the way.”

“Hello, Alex,” I giggled, waving back, “Do you know what we’re doing?”

“Do I look like I’m in Red Bull? No,” He laughed in response. “But hey, I need to steal your boyfriend. We need to do a final debrief before heading back to the hotel. I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?”

“Yeah, I’ll be there tomorrow afternoon,” I said, shaking my head at his nonsense. “Do I at least get a moment to say goodbye to my boyfriend?”

“Don’t keep him too long,” Alex says, leaving the frame and walking away, “The faster we do the debrief, the faster we go to sleep!”

“Huh, funny how you guys get to have uninterrupted sleep tonight, and I’m here bickering back and forth with my boyfriend and his teammate at two in the fucking morning!” I said sarcastically before dissolving into shouts toward the end.

“There’s no way it’s still two there,” Liam quipped back.

“Ah, you’re right,” I replied sarcastically after I checked the time before yelling, “It is three in the fucking morning now!” I stopped, taking a deep breath and calming down before saying, “I need to finish packing. I leave for my flight in a couple of hours, and I need to get ready and take a shower. I’ll text you before I take off, not call you because I value your beauty sleep. You need it.”

“Hey!” He objected. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means I love you, and I’m hanging up now,” I smiled into the camera, pretending to not see his shocked expression.

“This isn’t over, but I’ll let you go,” He said while pointing at the camera. He put his finger down and just smiled at the camera, “I love you too, call me when you land please?”

“Of course,” I reassured, “I’ll see you tomorrow. Wait, today technically. I’ll be there by dinner.”

“Good, I’ll take you out,” He responded.

“I don’t know if that’s supposed to be a threat or an invite, and I’m not sure if I want to stick around to find out,” I joked quickly before saying bye and hanging up just as fast.

~~

Landing in Italy was crazy because of the time change. Initially, I thought I would land in the late afternoon/early evening time frame but due to the difference, I was already getting to the hotel before lunch. Part of me just wanted to pass out from jet lag, but the other half wanted to go to the track to see Liam. Come to find out, they had free practice, so I wouldn’t even be able to see Liam until afterward anyway. Thus, I just decided to chill out, nap, and unpack a few things while I had nothing else to do.

At around two, I got a text from Liam, asking me to meet him in the lobby, so we could do the mysterious video.

“Do you know anything now?” I asked as soon as I sat in the car.

“Well, hello to you too,” he joked, waiting for me to greet him, and when I did, he continued. “No, all I know is they want you and me to do it.”

“That is definitely not suspicious at all,” I replied sarcastically before we pulled up to the track. We walked hand-in-hand to the AF Course trailer where we would be filming, and they already had the cameras and lights set for us. “Do we get to know what we are reacting to, now?”

“Yes,” one of them laughed. “Fans have been sending us these compilation videos of you two around the paddock, so you’re both going to watch it. Make it cute.”

“Oh, no pressure there,” Liam jested, taking a seat on the couch while I follow to sit beside him. They signaled that the cameras were rolling and that we could start the intro at any point. I decided to let Liam take the lead from the beginning since I wasn’t a driver and wasn’t social media trained. “Hi guys, welcome to the Youtube channel. Today, we brought in my significant other, Y/n, and we are going to react to the compilations you sent us.”

“Yeah, what he said,” I contributed quietly, causing him to laugh at my shyness.

~

It was the first race of the DTM season. Everyone’s nerves were through the roof, but it seemed like Liam’s were through the stratosphere. It was a new season, in a new car, and it was with a new teammate. It was safe to say that he needed all the support he could get, so I decided to surprise him.

With a little help from the crew, I was able to get an extra key to his hotel room and sneak in while he was doing media. I decided I would make myself comfortable, taking one of Liam’s shirts out of his suitcase and changing into it before pulling out my laptop to get some work done while I had the time.

I had my music playing, and I was in a groove, getting a huge chunk of my essay drafted. I took a little dance break when I spun around, and immediately started screaming, not expecting Liam or a camera to be in front of me. “Hey! There’s this new thing! It’s called knocking!”

“Didn't think I needed to knock for my own room,” Liam responded in shock. He slowly approached me as I caught my break before he wrapped an arm around my waist and grabbed my hand. “What are you doing here? You said you have an essay due.”

“Surprise?” I said while shrugging my shoulders, ”I have wifi here, so it’s fine.”

“Happily surprised, yes” He chucked back.

~ “I remember that,” Liam laughed as he paused the video. “I didn’t even realize you were wearing my shirt until just now.”

“Wait, actually?” I looked over at him in confusion. “I thought that was the first thing you noticed.”

“No, the first thing I noticed was my significant other singing and dancing in my hotel room,” He deadpanned before sarcastically adding, “Forgive me for not noticing what you were wearing.”

“Oh, what’s next?” I joked, “You gonna tell me that you didn't notice I cut my hair there either?”

“You cut your hair?” He asked genuinely, rewinding the video to see your hair.

“Oh, brother,” I rolled my eyes.

~

This was a bad idea. The worst actually. Why and how did I let Liam convince me to get in the car with him? I already hate seeing him race at these high speeds. I did not need to experience it, yet here we are. And he is fucking laughing.

“Stop laughing at my pain,” I shouted at him as we took the corner faster than I would have liked. My arm shot out to grab him out reflex as I begged him to slow down. “Liam, my love, apple of my eye, future husband, please slow the fuck down. I’m going to die.”

He just laughs in response, slowing down slightly, but not enough to make me let go of his arm. “If I slow down too much, I’ll get a penalty.”

“What do you mean a penalty?” I shouted at him, “There’s no fucking race!”

“That you know of,” he joked, slowing down even more so he could let go of the steering wheel momentarily to pry my hands off his arm. Once he gets them off his bicep, he just holds one of my hands in his. “Here, you can hold my hand, and I’ll go slower.”

“Not on my watch, mister. You put that hand right back on the steering wheel,” I protested, pulling my hand from his and pushing it toward the steering wheel. He kept laughing at my outbursts while glancing over at me from time to time. “Keep those hands on the wheel, eyes on the road, and get me back to the garage pronto.”

“Damn, so bossy,” he chuckled, proceeding carefully around the circuit, “Y’know, the fans are gonna love this.”

“Well, I’m glad they find my pain amusing,” I groaned, throwing my head back. Liam just laughed in response before I lifted my head, making eye contact with the camera on the dash, “You know what guys, just for my pain, I’m gonna need you to like and subscribe to the channel. Like this is horrifying. I will never do this again, so the least you can do is like and subscribe. Please.”

“Shameless promo, we love to see it.”

~

“And I never did it again,” I smiled at the camera. “I don’t trust him anymore, actually.”

“Hey, I got you back safely, right?” Liam asked, leaning into my side as he wrapped his arms around my waist and laid his head on my shoulder. I turned my head to nod and place a kiss on his forehead. “I haven’t pressured you to do it again either.”

“Maybe I’ll let you do it at the next race,” I whispered to him.

“Really?” he perked up.

“Fuck no!” I exclaimed. “You scared me half to death last time. Why would I willing do it again?”

~

We were in the Hitech trailer with Juri, filming something for their Youtube channel. I was behind the camera just minding my own business while Liam and Juri were arguing, like always, about something I didn’t care to figure out.

“Y/n/n, tell him I’m right,” Liam complained, pulling my attention away from the book I was reading. I look up at them, seeing Juri shaking his head ‘no’ while Liam’s eyes are pleading with me to side with him.

“I think you two can settle this on your own,” I sighed, going back to my book.

“Aren’t you supposed to love me?” Liam groaned, sliding down the chair he was sitting in just to be dramatic. “How can you go against me like that?”

“You’re teammates. Work it out,” I pressed, pointing between the two.

“Alright everyone, it’s official,” Juri starts, looking straight into the camera, “Y/n and Liam are breaking up. Sorry guys.”

“Cool, I’m single now,” I jested, “I’m gonna call Oscar.”

“You better not!” Liam shouted running over to me, grabbing my phone and throwing it to the side.

“Way to go dumbass,” I grumbled, watching my phone shatter against the wall.

“I’ll buy you a new one, just don’t joke about that,” He whispered, pulling me into his chest.

“You know I would never leave you, definitely not with Oscar of all people,” I whispered back, playing with his hair. I decided to tease him even more, “You’ve got hotter friends.”

“Hey you’re messing it up,” He whined as he pulled away to fix his hair. “And I’m gonna pretend I didn't hear you just call my friends hot.”

“You’ll live. Now, finish filming because we are going to get a new phone today,” I said as I pushed him toward Juri.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Ew, don’t ever call me that again.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he responded as he turned away from me, walking to Juri before turning back around to face me once Juri burst out laughing at my glare. “Wait, sorry. Won’t happen again.”

“It better not, Lawson.”

“No, not Lawson,” He whispered with a light chuckle, hanging his head to hide his smile.

“They resorted to your last name,” Juri wheezed but I didn’t hear either of them, “you’re in the doghouse.”

~

I wiped tears away from my eyes from how hard I was laughing, “You guys actually said that? I couldn’t even hear you!”

“Clearly the microphones did,” He laughed at my reaction. “Did you ever end up finishing that book?”

“I don’t think so,” I responded after a second of thinking. “I don’t even remember what book that was, to be honest. I was more focused on my shattered phone.”

“I said I was sorry!” He defended.

“Sorry doesn’t bring back my phone!” I retorted.

“I bought you a new one!”

“But my old one was red. This one is silver,” I complained with a pout.

“There’s a red case on it!”

“Doesn’t mean it’s the same.”

“You are unbelievable,” He rolled his eyes, jokingly before looking straight into the camera, “I can never win.”

“Nope,” I smiled as I popped the ‘p’ and moved to press play on the video, “Now, onto the next clip!”

~

Wet races always gave me anxiety, but they seemed to bring a lot of excitement among the drivers. Originally, it was only expected to rain lightly for the last couple of laps, but that was thrown out the window when the first drops started falling on lap 23 of 28 and the downpour began on lap 26. It felt and looked horrible, yet the stewards did not red-flag the race.

I couldn’t even watch the last laps. Last I checked, Liam was leading with Oscar right behind him, but the rain was making it difficult to see who was winning. It wasn’t until the team started cheering that I was able to let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding. Juri had an engine problem earlier in the race, so I knew that Liam finished the race safely.

Completely disregarding the torrential downpour, I ran out of the garage toward parc ferme where Liam had just parked his car and jumped out. I didn’t give him much of a chance to regain his surroundings before I jumped into his arms, hiding my face in his neck as I wrapped my legs around his torso and his arms held me close. I couldn’t stop the tears from collecting in my eyes, but no one could tell due to the rain.

“You did amazing, Liam,” I whispered after I pulled back just enough to look him in the eyes. “I’m so proud of you.”

“I thought you hated PDA,” he chuckled as he leaned his forehead against mine. “For once, I didn’t initiate this.”

“Shut up and kiss me.”

~

“That was our first public kiss,” I laughed, facing Liam who was still leaning on my shoulder. I leaned forward to place a light kiss on his lips then. “Now, I have no problem with kissing you in front of the cameras.”

“You were a lot more shy back then,” He pointed out, moving to kiss all around my face.

“You say that like it was so long ago. It was maybe a year or two ago,” I giggled, pulling away slightly.

“Actually, that clip was almost three years ago now,” one of the team members spoke up, making us remember that we were not alone.

“You’re kidding!” We both exclaimed.

“Wait, that actually makes sense,” Liam says after a moment of thought, “We’ve been together for almost four years now.”

“God, that makes me feel old,” I sighed.

“Old? We’re 21!”

“And your point?”

~

“You should be out celebrating your birthday,” I cried into Liam’s chest as we laid in his hotel bed. Liam had to travel to the Red Bull factory during the off-season for simulator work, and he brought me with him since it was over his birthday weekend. However, a bug had been going around the factory, and I was its latest victim. So much for celebrating his 21st. “You don’t need to take care of me.”

“What if I want to?” He comforted me, rubbing up and down my back in an attempt to calm me down. “Spending the day cuddling with you in bed doesn’t seem too bad.”

“But you’ll get sick,” I complained. “Then Christian will get made cuz you can’t do the simulator, and you’ll be upset cuz you’re a baby when you’re sick-”

“I am not,” He cut me off, offended.

“Are too.”

“Am not.”

“Are too.”

“Are too.”

“Are not,” I replied quickly before realizing what he did and immediately backtracked. “No, you can’t do that. My brain is running at 900 ping right now.”

“Nope, you admitted I’m not a baby when I’m sick. Which I’m not,” He pointed out as he pulled back a little to check my fever, feeling no change since the last time he checked. “Why don’t we just chill out and watch a movie?”

“That sounds fun,” I mumbled, moving around to get comfy again as Liam laid back on the pillows. “But you pick the movie, birthday boy.”

“Oh, I was already planning on it,” He chuckled, smoothing out my hair that was all over the place. “I don’t think you’ll last 30 minutes.”

“That’s offensive,” I pouted, burying my face in his chest. I was going to complain more before a yawn cut me off, “Ok, you might be right.”

“Of course I am,” He joked lightly. My eyes were already shutting when he looked down at me, kissing my forehead one last time and pulling me in tighter as I fell asleep. “Sleep well, my love.”

~

“I didn’t even know this was recorded,” I said, eyeing the team that stood behind the camera. Conveniently, none of them made eye contact with me. “Huh, wonder how that happened.”

“You have to admit, we’re pretty cute though,” Liam chuckled.

“I wasn’t saying we weren’t,” I argued back. “We are always cute. I mean have you seen us?”

“I think this is a good place to end the video,” He laughed. “This has been my significant other and I reacting to compilations of us.”

“If you want to see more of me, like, comment, and subscribe,” I plugged. Liam and the crew started laughing as I once again promoted the channel. “Maybe I’ll come back for a part two of this.”

“That would be interesting,” Liam said, pointing at the camera. “Anyways, see you next time!”

“Bye!” We said in sync as we waved to the camera.

~~~~~

© BAD268 2023. DO NOT REPOST WITHOUT PERMISSION.

[madebysimblr]

Rowan: Alright, I'm ready to open. Where's Sorella?

Brittani: Uhh, cleaning the bathrooms I think.

Rowan: [sighs] Drag her out of there, we've got a pub to run.

-

Brittani: [knock knock] Els? It's time to open, no more hiding in the bathroom.

Sorella: [inhaling and exhaling deliberately] Yeah, be right out.

Brittani: You alright?

Sorella: Fine. Just been feeling a little sick.

Brittani: Like actually sick? Because girl, no puking in patrons food. We can manage without you.

Sorella: No I'm fine. [phone vibrates, Sorella sighs]

Text Message from: Alex 😘😎 Alex 😘😎: Hey, now a good time to call you? Sorella: No. At work.

Brittani: You haven't blocked his number yet? Really?

Sorella: I can't bring myself to.

Brittani: Hand me the phone, I'll do it for you!

Kai: Do what?

Brittani: She still hasn't blocked that asshole's number!

Kai: [tsk] Cortes, you happy to remain the other woman?

Sorella: Of course not! [phone vibrates]

Kai: Lemme see this.

Sorella: Hey give that back!

Kai: Well at least you're just giving him minimal answers back. You should at least change his contact name. He doesn't deserve any kissy emojis from you.

Name Change: Alex 😘😎 → Rat Bastard

Sorella sighs

Kai: There. A more appropriate name. I also threw in my number. Send me all the kissy emojis you'd like. Now come on, we've got tips to earn.

Sorella: You know, I think you'd really get along with my roommate.

Kai: The hot singer? Oh feel FREE to set me up.

Sorella laughs, a small but genuine one.

-

Envy: Damn, Sorella! Why didn't you tell me about Kai sooner?? Look at the size of his- Oh shit. Sorry kid, forgot you were here.

Charlotte: [laughs] It's ok. I've heard it all.

Sorella: She really has. Opal's parents can be so explicit. Hell so can Opal.

Charlotte: It's true!

Envy: What did I interrupt out here? Looks like a sleepover or something.

Sorella: Or something. Just talking about nothing really.

Envy: What kind of nothing?

Charlotte: [shrugs] Just future plans. I'm thinking I will go to SMPA. It'd be fun to get out of the Valley for a little while. Although, I don't think my mom will like it.

Sorella: Probably not. Aunt Grace would be on your side though.

Charlotte: She would be! I'll ask her about it when I see her tomorrow. She asked if you were coming with, by the way. I think she knows.

Sorella: [sighs heavily] I'm sure she does. Unfortunately I'm busy tomorrow. [phone vibrates, ringing]

Envy: Someone called Rat Bastard is calling?

Sorella: Let it go to voicemail. It's him.

Envy: Oh good you changed his name?

Sorella: Kai changed it.

Envy: Kai is such a catch. I'm hitting him up tomorrow, unless you want first dibs?

Sorella: [laughs] He's all yours.

Envy: You're a gem!

-

Voicemail from Rat Bastard: Hey Els, uh. Surprised to get your voicemail honestly! Usually this is a good time to call you… Anyway. I just have missed your voice. I got pretty used to waking up to you every morning. Can't wait to get back to that. I'll try to call again later. I miss you. I love you.

Sorella looking sad, but not crying. Deletes the voicemail.

[bellaturner]

Perfect Sense

Not proof read, please let me know if there are any errors

Summary: you are pregnant with Alex's baby.

No warnings (there is the use of the words whore and gold digger once, and the mention of a 10 years age gap tho)

Basically fluff ✨

900 words

Masterlist

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

You were 30 weeks pregnant when you decided it was time to share the news with the world. Of course, close friends and family already knew, but the general public was unaware. Whenever you went out, you always wore baggy shirts and tight high-waisted pants to conceal your growing belly and shield your little girl from the prying eyes of paparazzi. However, with only 10 weeks to go, it was becoming increasingly challenging to hide your pregnancy.

To make matters worse, the guys were in the midst of a world tour, and the gossip magazines had their focus on the Arctic Monkeys' members and their significant others. Your engagement to Alex had already provided them with plenty to gossip about when it was announced last year.

They feasted on it, relishing in highlighting the ten-year age gap between you and Alex, and making derogatory remarks, calling you a whore and a gold digger. It was tough initially, but you had learned to cope. Most of the fans supported you anyways, and you always had the guys standing up for you.

So, the day before the gig in Sheffield, you decided to have a conversation with your fiancé.

"Al, baby, I'm tired of hiding my belly," you said softly while cuddling with him in bed, resting your head on his chest as he stroked your hair. It was one of those lazy nights when you both stayed at home, watching movies. "Chloe will be here soon, and we haven't announced it yet."

His free hand moved to the base of your stomach, gently caressing it and eliciting kicks from your daughter. "Oh, hi there, love," Al chuckled. "Don't kick your mum like that," he scolded playfully.

"It's okay, it doesn't hurt me," you laughed, placing your hand on top of his. You knew Chloe would be a daddy's girl; she already adored him so much. Whenever you played his music, she would celebrate with a tiny dance inside you, and when he returned home from work, she would kick until he came over and spoke to her.

"Do you think we should go public, princess?" he interrupted your little daydream.

"I do, baby," you replied.

"Then we'll do it tomorrow," he said with a mischievous grin. "But in a special way."

"What do you mean?"

"You'll see, doll," he whispered. "Now let's finish watching this and get some sleep. I have to be up early tomorrow for the final rehearsal," he added, nuzzling your hair.

You adored those moments, when he buried his nose in your hair. His big nose and how he sometimes used it to bring you pleasure were just some of the things you loved about him. In your eyes, everything about this man was perfect. That's why he was yours, and you reveled in displaying your love, even when the media labeled you a gold digger. You were deeply in love with him, and nothing else mattered.

"I love you, Alex" you said placing kisses all over his chest.

"I love you too, darling," he replied, his voice sounding sleepy.

The following day was filled with anticipation. Alex got up early and left for the venue, and you joined him and the rest of the band for lunch. You wore a loose shirt, finally relieved to ditch the pants you despised. During the afternoon, you decided to read a book in the band's private room while the guys joked around and played music.

"You're glowing, babe," Alex said with a smile.

"I'm just so happy that we're finally going public with the pregnancy," you replied. "And curious about how we're gonna do it," you teased, but he remained silent.

He was about to say something when a voice called them over, announcing that they would be on stage in five minutes.

"I have to go, doll," he kissed your lips and joined the rest of the band at the side of the stage.

You watched them perform from the backstage area, reveling in the experience. Seeing them live always brought you immense joy. Around the fourth song, you noticed a change in the setlist, making you even more excited.

It was during the last song before the encore when Alex began to speak, causing the crowd to erupt in cheers.

"I don't usually do this, but since we're back to where it all began, I want to dedicate the next song to someone special," he said, searching for your eyes on the side of the stage.

The cameras quickly captured your face as you locked eyes with Alex and blew him a kiss.

"This next one is for my amazing wife and the mother of my child," he declared, and the crowd erupted in a frenzy, mirroring your own emotions.

You hadn't expected this. But as the realization sunk in, tears of joy welled up in your eyes. Not only had he referred to you as his wife in front of thousands of people, but he also announced your pregnancy, allowing you to proudly showcase your baby bump to the world.

The band proceeded to play "Perfect Sense," and at the end of the song, Alex sprinted over to you, passionately kissing you while whispering, "I love you, princess," and of course Chloe kicked until he kissed your bump as well.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

IT'S BEEN A WHILE BUT I'M BACK!

I've been trying to write something for almost a month, but I'm stuck at it, so I decided to write this short little story to kinda reset my mind, if that makes any sense.

Hope you guys enjoy this one ᵖˡᵉᵃˢᵉ ˡᵉᵃᵛᵉ ᵃ ⁿⁱᶜᵉ ᶜᵒᵐᵐᵉⁿᵗ ⁱ ᵗʰʳⁱᵛᵉ ᵒⁿ ᵗʰᵒˢᵉ I really liked writing it.

OH, I almost forgot, this is a suuuper old request by @dietmtndew777, I hope you like it, babe 💕 (and sorry for taking forever to write it)

Anywayyyys, love yall 💕

~ Bella

[inmymagnetoera]

Requested by @undead-vendetta

I think that the one bed trope is my food? My air?!? MY ONLY REASON TO LIVE?

Anyway, here is it for you!

___________________________________

Just in Erik's style

"You must be kidding me." Erik sighed as he saw the room where he and Charles would spend the night. The room itself wasn't bad: clean, or at least, clean by American standards, the windows looked out onto the road they had come from and, fortunately, onto their car parked just outside the motel. To the side was a small wooden desk with a chair and opposite it was a small bathroom that Charles was inspecting.

"Oh, come on, it's not the end of the world." Charles said as he walked out of the small room with only a shower and toilet. He placed his backpack on the side of the only bed in the room and sat on it.

"It's not the end of the world? Charles, you woke me up once when you moved around in your sleep and we weren't even in the same bed! You'll push me down as soon as you close your eyes." He crossed his arms and looked out the window, unable to see much further from the parking lot given the late hour and the low light.

"How dramatic of you, Erik. We should call you Dramneto instead of Magneto." He laughed at his own joke and rolled onto his side.

"Really? Dramneto? Is that the best thing you could find?" He turned his torso to look at his friend, but looked back out the window when he saw that the other was undressing to go to sleep.

"Stop babbling and come to sleep, tomorrow we have to get up early to go visit that mutant in prison. Alex? Right?" He put on an old white short-sleeved t-shirt and remained in his boxers.

“I could sleep on the floor.” He proposed, although the idea of ​​sleeping on the cold wood didn't appeal much to him.

"Don't talk nonsense, Erik. Come here."

Erik realized there was no way out and prepared to join Charles.

They stood side by side and Erik turned off the light with his powers. The two mutants stood still for a few seconds looking at the ceiling in the darkness, both wondering who made them do this.

"Uh, okay, maybe I should-"

"No no, wait, I'll-"

After various movements worthy of an Olympic gymnast, the two lay back to back on the small bed and remained silent, listening to each other's breathing. Erik felt Charles' spine crushing his back muscles and, with that feeling, he fell asleep.

The next morning, the situation was worse than before.

When Erik woke up, he felt a strange presence on him, like a weight on his chest. He ran a hand over his eyes before opening them and being blinded by the sunlight. When his brain realized where he was, Erik thought he was still dreaming.

Charles Xavier was leaning on him, his face was resting just above Erik's sternum, his arms were wrapped around the other's body and, at this moment, a light thread of drool was dripping and dirtying Erik's shirt .

What to do? What to do in this situation? Erik wishes he had his own phone to look up "what to do when your crush your friend falls asleep on you" but he was afraid that just one small move would wake Charles. As he thought about it, the body next to him began to move.

Charles lifted his head briefly from Erik's chest and stood with his eyes half closed, he began to move his hands over Erik's belly and, when he connected the dots, he pulled his hands back as if he had been electrocuted and looked at the man next to him, now both much more awake than before.

"I think I'll... go to the bathroom." Charles said after a few seconds, running a hand through his sleep-disheveled hair and standing up, without looking at Erik, locking himself in the other room. Erik got up and got dressed, going to look in the parking lot to see if the car was still intact, while his head continued to spin.

"Did you sleep well?" The woman behind the counter asked with a small smile when she saw Erik coming down the stairs.

"Yes, very good." He replied with a hint of a smile.

"Oh, good! You know, your friend had requested a single room and when the two of you arrived here, I told him that we also had double rooms available but he didn't want to change." The woman continued to smile and shrugged.

Erik stared at her and nodded, heading towards the car and thinking about asking the woman about nice places to eat nearby. Maybe asking Charles on a date right after getting a teenager out of prison wasn't the best, but it was just Erik's style.

[blueeyedgrlwrites]

SKINNY DIPPING IN THE SEA FIRSTPRINCE PLEASE MEG I AM BEGGING YOU

I know this is almost a week late, but life decided to life this week. Anyway, here you are lovely. Also available on AO3

Henry stares up at the ceiling as moonlight filters into the room through the open window. Trees rustling as a light breeze gusts through them, crickets chirping, and, if he listens closely enough, the quiet babbling of the lake are the only sounds he hears. The rest of the house is silent; calm before the storm of chaos that will be his and Alex’s wedding day. 

He knows he should be sleeping. He’s lost track of the number of times he’s been told that weddings are exhausting and he’ll need the rest. And it isn’t like he hasn’t tried any of his usual methods of trying to sleep, just none of them have worked. Henry turns his head, sees the empty space next to him, and knows the only thing that will help him sleep is Alex-shaped. 

Henry grows more and more restless, knowing the only reason he’s sleeping alone tonight is because Alex’s parents, and his mother, insisted they sleep apart. For tradition’s sake. 

“Oh, this is bloody absurd,” Henry mutters to himself as he gets out of bed and starts to pace, twisting his engagement ring around his finger. He pictures Alex in his room just down the hall, either laying awake or pacing around, all while making mental and physical lists of things he still needs to do before the ceremony. 

Henry stops abruptly and looks out the window, just barely able to see the moonlight shining on the surface of the lake. The entire week had been full of last minute wedding things pulling him and Alex in different directions. He realizes as he stands there that he and Alex won’t have a single moment to themselves, just the two of them, until long after the reception has ended tomorrow night. 

Before he can think too hard about it and find some reason to talk himself out of it, Henry’s sliding on a pair of sandals, slipping out of his room quietly, and tiptoeing down the hallway toward Alex’s. There’s no light filtering out from under the door, so Henry opens the door as noiselessly as possible and ducks inside, deciding to leave the door open just a crack. 

He peeks around the wall and sees Alex laying on his side, back to him, and pads over to the bed, stopping just shy of standing right next to it.

“Are you asleep?” he whispers. Even in the darkness he can see the moment the corner of Alex’s mouth tips up into a grin. 

“You know I’m not.” Alex turns his head and looks at him over his shoulder with a grin, and that’s all it takes for Henry to close the distance and climb onto the bed with Alex, straddling his hips as Alex shifts onto his back. “This is a far better way to spend our last night as bachelors.”

“It is,” Henry nods, goosebumps popping up on his skin when Alex runs his hands along his thighs. He leans down, bracing his hands on the bed just above Alex’s shoulders. “But I was thinking we could do something absolutely mad instead, and I promise you won’t be disappointed.”

“I’m listening,” Alex grins up at him, brow raised.

Henry gives no further explanation or indication of what he’s thinking. Alex will figure it out soon enough. He gives Alex a quick peck on the lips, sits up, and climbs off of him just to go in search of a couple towels. 

Alex pushes himself to sit up and Henry just catches the curious furrow of his brow as he tucks two towels beneath one arm. Alex’s eyes dart between him and the closet, and Henry sees the moment of realization cross his face. 

“Are you crazy?” Alex hisses, but stands up and crosses over to where Henry’s already standing with one foot in and one foot out of the sliding glass door that opens up to the back of the house. Henry offers his free hand and Alex takes it, letting Henry pull him outside. 

Once clear of the house, they break out into a sprint down to the dock, neither of them able to keep from laughing as they run. Henry tries to hold it in, tries to shush Alex as they go. He fails, but he’s too happy at this moment to care. 

“You know, the last time we did this you ran away from me,” Alex reminds him when they get to the dock and start stripping out of their clothes as quickly as they can. 

“Well, then tonight is a good night to replace that memory with a new one, isn’t it, love?” Henry grins, his boxer briefs the last bit of clothing to come off before he dives into the lake. He shakes his hair out of his face when he surfaces a moment later. “Christ, you’re slow.”

He doesn’t try to hide the way his mouth spreads into a grin or the way his eyes rake over Alex’s body appreciatively, taking in every single inch of naked bronze skin.

“Pft,” Alex scoffs and finishes stripping down to nothing. He dives in after Henry, shakes his curls out of his face when he comes to the surface, and grins. “It’s not my fault your thighs and ass are fucking perfect and make me unable to do anything but stare.”

“Years of riding will do that,” Henry smirks and treads water.

“Are you referring strictly to horses?” Alex asks, and swims toward the middle of the lake 

Henry shrugs innocently. “I’ll leave that for you to decide.”

He watches Alex stop mid-stroke, his eyes going wide and his jaw going a little bit slack. The best way Henry can describe it is to liken it to a computer glitch. He swims out, meeting Alex where he is, and a satisfied grin spreads out on his face when Alex seems to come back online. 

“You’re damn lucky, you know that?” Alex asks, turning in the water as Henry swims in a circle around him. 

“Mm, and why is that?” Henry stops and begins to tread water. After a beat, his legs kick out and lock around Alex’s hips to pull him in close, and Alex goes willingly. 

“Because I won’t press charges for attempted murder.” Alex circles his arms around Henry’s neck, kicking his feet below the surface to keep them afloat. 

“You would never dare,” Henry says with certainty, his fingers dancing along Alex’s spine beneath the surface. 

“And why wouldn’t I?”

“Because you would find that I would simply withhold.”

“You would never!” Alex gasps and pushes at Henry’s chest. He splashes water in Henry’s direction, and Henry only just turns his head to keep from getting a mouthful of it. 

They splash and play and swim, filling the night with laughter. They float lazily on their backs, gazing up at the sky, and it’s Alex that points up to the sky when he spots Orion. He reaches over and takes Alex’s hand when he lowers it, threading their fingers together and kissing the back of it. 

It all feels like minutes to Henry, but the various dark blues and purples that start to give way to light tell him it’s been hours, and eventually someone will come looking for them. Alex seems to sense it, too. 

“We should get back and try to sleep at least a little before we can’t anymore,” he laughs softly. 

They swim back toward the dock in comfortable silence until Henry stops them in the shallows, pulling Alex back into him and wrapping him up in his arms. Alex looks at him curiously, but Henry just rests a hand against Alex’s cheek, thumb stroking back and forth slowly. The small sliver of moonlight that still glitters on the lake’s surface is reflected in Alex’s eyes. 

“I love you.”

Summer holiday/vacation activities prompts

[autumn816]

❤️ first kiss / realization + chalex hehe 🫶🏻

Hiii Lourdes!!! I hope you enjoy this😊

—

Alex shrieks as Charles bursts into his room.

“Mate, you can’t just barge in like that.” Alex holds his t-shirt over his naked torso as if Charles has never seen him topless before. Good thing he wore his sweatpants first. “How did you come in?”

“Your maman let me in.” Charles sits on the bed, criss-crossing his legs. “I have a date tomorrow.”

Alex ignores the sudden pit in his stomach and opts to pull his t-shirt over his head. “Congratulations?”

“We are going to the arcade right after school so do not wait for me.”

“Okay.” Alex draws out the second syllable.

“It is my first date. Aren’t you gonna ask who it is with?”

Alex really isn’t sure if he wants to know.

“You’re gonna tell me anyway.”

“It’s Max.”

“Max Verstappen!?” Alex exclaims. “What the fuck!?”

Charles lays back on the bed, avoiding Alex’s gaze. “He asked me out.”

“And you thought what, you’ll say yes? You don’t even like him.”

“I do not not like him.”

It makes Alex pause. “Do you… like him?”

“I don’t know. I guess I will figure out tomorrow,” Charles says.

It’s silent for a few minutes, both too busy in their own thoughts until Charles breaks it.

“Alex.”

“Yeah?”

“How are first dates supposed to go? Should we hold hands? When do we know we should hold hands?

Alex smiles. It’s the first smile he lets out since Charles came. There is something so endearing watching Charles ramble.

“Or if he kisses me?”

The smile wipes off his face. The pit in his stomach worsens, like it’s bouncing off his insides and wants to claw its way out of him.

“I have never kissed anyone before. What if I do not know how to kiss?” Charles gnaws his lower lip.

Alex involuntarily snorts. “You’re 14. I don’t think you should be worried if you know how to kiss or not.”

Charles glares at Alex. “You knew how to kiss when you were my age.” The clench in Charles’ jaw captures Alex’s attention for a second. “I heard stories going around the school.”

There is an undertone in Charles’ voice. Alex can’t really tell what it is.

“Exactly.” Alex points at Charles. “Stories.”

“So you did not know how to kiss?”

“I didn’t say that.”

Charles sits up again, playing with his hands on his laps.

Alex sighs. “What are you so worried about, Charlie?”

“I do not want anyone to make fun of me if I cannot kiss.”

The words are out of his mouth before Alex could even think upon them. “How about I teach you?”

“Teach me?”

It’s too late to backtrack now. Charles won’t let it go until he tells him so Alex saves the waste of time and energy. “Show you around a bit. How to kiss. What to do and not to do. All that jazz.”

“You will do that for me?” Charles asks.

I will do anything for you. And yeah okay, Alex doesn’t know where that came from.

“Yeah, Charlie, I would do that for you.” Alex walks up to the bed and sits next to Charles, their knees knocking together. “So, kiss me,” Alex says.

“Non,” Charles says, “you kiss me.”

Alex shakes his head at Charles’ antics and cups his cheek. “Still good?”

“Yes. Kiss me, please.”

Alex leans forward, his lips brushing against Charles.

Charles wraps his hands around Alex’s wrists.

Alex captures Charles’ upper lip between his own, swiping his tongue at the bottom one.

“Open your mouth, Charlie,” he says when Charles doesn’t take the hint.

Charles drops his jaw as wide as he can.

Alex giggles into Charles’ mouth. “Not that much.” He grabs Charles by the chin and closes his mouth until there is barely enough space left. “Just enough to let me slip my tongue in.” He does exactly that. Charles tastes like apple and peanut butter.

Charles snakes his hands into Alex’s hair, scraping his nails at the nape. A noise that he didn’t even know he was capable of making escapes him.

Alex strokes his thumb onto the dip between Charles’ lips and chin.

Charles pulls away first, their noses bumping. Their breaths fan onto each other’s faces.

Alex places his forehead against Charles’ or more so against Charles’ hair because the Monagasque refuses to do something about his hairstyle.

“Was that good?”

“I might need more proof before I come to a conclusion,” Alex selfishly says. He doesn’t wanna stop kissing Charles right now.

This time Charles is the one that initiates the kiss.

Alex kisses him and kisses him and kisses him until their mouths are red and bruised. Charles lets him.

He loops his arms underneath Alex’s and hides his face in Alex’s neck, nuzzling his nose against his skin.

And oh.

Oh.

Everything makes sense. His stomach fluttering, his heart racing, him looking forward to school. It’s because of Charles. It’s always been Charles. Since the day he knew him.

“I think you are a very good kisser. Everyone at school was right.” Charles mumbles into his jaw, placing a kiss right at the edge.

The spot tingles. It burns. Alex turns red. Hearing Charles call him a good kisser makes him feel all kinds of warm.

“You’re too. A natural talent.” Alex teases, trying to diffuse the tension. He turns his head, pressing a kiss to Charles’ forehead.

“I should go. I have homework,” Charles says.

“You should. I need to finish my assignment too.”

Charles pulls away, taking all the warmth away with him. “Sorry, I did not mean to disturb you.”

Alex tugs at a lock of Charles’ hair. “You could never.”

“See you tomorrow?” Charles gets up and walks to the door.

“Yeah.”

“Bye, Alex.”

The first thing Alex does once Charles leaves is grabs his phone. Usually, he would just go to his best mate’s place but, of course, George had to be on a Mathalon trip this weekend.

George picks up on the third ring. The familiarity of his best mate’s voice calms him down a bit. “Alex, it’s bloody 2 am. You better be dying in a ditch.”

“I think I might be in love with Charles.”

—

Heart ask game

[thatonebirdwrites]

This chapter fought me quite a bit, but we're getting closer to when Lena finally caves and just kisses Kara senseless. She's almost there. She's just being stubborn. Kara, of course, is waiting on Lena's lead.

oh, and I guess other plot things are happening.

EXCERPT:

Lena grudgingly goes with Kara to the DEO meeting room using her portal. As the meeting drones on, she learns how utterly annoying and highly inefficient the DEO's meetings are. Alex presides with J’onn as advisor while Brainy gives the run down of what they currently know. Lena taps her pen against her notebook, her eyes narrowed at Brainy’s report of the last few days. 

Specifically the dinosaur attacks. 

“So,” Lena interjects, “You’re saying that an unknown individual is turning animatronics into living creatures?” She can’t help the incredulity in her voice. 

“Yes, indeed that is exactly what I am saying,” Brainy concurs. He tilts his head to study Lena, thoughtfully. “Has your Ireland escapades provided you with the necessary knowledge to utilize your magical ability?” 

“Yes.” If she’s being honest, not really, but between her mother’s grimoire, her newly regained memories, and maybe consulting with Florence, she’s sure she’ll find her footing soon. But no way in hell is she saying that out loud to anyone. 

“Perhaps you’d like to review the remains? If magic is being used, you should be able to detect it.” 

Lena shrugs. "Sure. Tomorrow perhaps." She's far too tired today.

Sam leans forward, her elbows on the table. “Oh my god, yes, please, I can punch it out, but honestly, that doesn’t help stop the dude. Where is he getting all these animatronics anyway?”

J’onn sighs. “I’ve been talking with my networks, and some of them seem to be from the grey market. It would be easier to track had it gone through black market channels. We have more contacts in those.”

“Grey market?” Kara asks. She is wearing the Supergirl suit Lena made her and stands next to Lena’s chair, her injured arm in a sling.

Lena has to admit the pants outfit looks fantastic on her, especially the way it hugs her muscles. No one needs to know how much she appreciates the look, and how half her brain is narrowed in on the movement of Kara’s muscles rather than listening. Nor does anyone need to know how she tailored this outfit specifically to bring out the best of Kara's assets, while still giving her the pants she so needed.

“Grey market is legal items being sold or bartered from one individual to another, where neither hold a selling license,” Brainy defines. “Common in low income areas and among the houseless.”

“Oh. So okay, do you have any other leads?” She frowns. Her uninjured hand hooks her thumb on her belt, and heavens, does that make her look even hotter. 

[babygirl-diaz]

My Emotions Are Naked Chapter 2 (Buddie Fanfic)

“It’s a queer club,” Eddie grumbled leaning against the door and resting his head on the cold window. “That’s what Nick called it.” 

“Who the hell is Nick now?” Buck asked 

“The bartender,” Eddie replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world. He rolled his head to rest it on the headrest and watched Buck. Buck was so beautiful. Eddie had a strong urge to lean in and kiss his adorable birthmark. 

“Eddie,” Buck sighed. “You still haven’t told me what you were doing at this queer club.” 

“I was getting drunk and hanging out with Alex,” Eddie replied. 

“Alex. Right.” There it was—that tone of voice again. “Have you met Alex before?” 

Eddie reached out to play with the radio. “No, I met him today but it feels like I’ve known him forever.” He stopped when he heard a station playing “I Want It That Way” and smiled. “Hey! That’s Alex’s song!” 

Eddie heard Buck sigh again and he didn’t ask anything else. “How did you know what type of a club it was?” Eddie asked. 

“I’ve been there before,” Buck replied. 

“Oooooh… You have?” Eddie asked grinning. 

“Yes, I came here with Hen and Chimney once during Pride Month,” Buck told him. “We sang karaoke.” 

“Oh.” Eddie couldn’t hide the disappointment from his voice. He really thought Buck wasn’t necessarily straight and that’s how he found himself at this club. 

They soon reached Eddie’s house and Buck helped Eddie again, taking him inside. Once in his bedroom, Buck let Eddie lie down and took off his shoes and belt. “Oof, buy me dinner first,” Eddie chuckled when Buck started pulling his jeans down. 

“I always buy you dinner,” Buck simply told him and helped Eddie into his sweats. He knew Eddie so well. Eddie hated sleeping in jeans. 

“That you do, my friend,” Eddie giggled and wiggled around to pull his blanket close to himself. “Stay,” he said reaching for Buck’s hand when Buck started to leave. 

“I was gonna go pick up your truck and bring it back here,” Buck told him. “Wouldn’t want it to get broken into overnight.” 

“We can do that tomorrow morning,” Eddie whined. 

“I won’t be long,” Buck promised. 

Eddie pouted as he watched Buck leave. He tried to stay awake for his return and picked up his phone from the nightstand. He was starting to sober up so he managed to unlock it and saw a message from Alex. 

-Hope you got home okay- 

Eddie smiled when he saw the message and replied -Yeah, I did. What about you?-

-Oh hey! You replied! I didn’t think you would- Alex replied and then sent a second message. -I’m just waiting for my Uber-

-Well I’m glad you’re being responsible, Dr. Williams (;-

 A few minutes passed before Eddie got another message. -The funniest thing just happened. The Uber that picked me up dropped off your friend Buck here. I don’t think Buck likes me very much ):-

-He’s like that with new people. You should have seen how he reacted to me when we first met- Eddie replied. 

-Well, that does make me feel a little better- Alex texted back. -Anyway, are we still up for this Saturday?- 

-I thought you wouldn’t want to after I called you Buck earlier- 

-You remember that?- Alex asked -And no, you’re good. I can see why you’re so hung up over him. The guy is cute-

-Are you hitting on Buck?- Eddie couldn’t help but feel a little jealous. 

-No, no, of course not- Alex replied. -I was just being observant.- Before Eddie could reply, there was another text. -So, Saturday?-

-Saturday sounds perfect- Eddie replied. -Are you home yet?- 

Instead of a text reply, Eddie got a photo this time with Alex standing in front of a door. -Just got home- the caption read. 

Eddie smiled at the picture, and his eyes started to close when he heard his truck outside. Soon the front door opened and closed. A minute or two later, Buck was in the room with a water bottle. 

“You’re still awake?” Buck asked. 

“Yeah, was just waiting up for you,” Eddie replied and offered him a smile. 

Buck came over and set the water bottle on the nightstand before taking a seat next to Eddie. “Feeling better?”

“Well, my head has stopped spinning like a helicopter blade so that’s good,” Eddie joked. 

“Here, have some water.” Buck helped Eddie sit up and gave him the water bottle. 

Eddie drank the water before lying back down. “Thanks, Buck.” 

“Of course. I’ll be in the living room if you need anything,” Buck told him and got up. 

Eddie caught Buck’s wrist. “Don’t leave. You can sleep in here.” 

“It’s okay, Eds, I can sleep on the sofa,” Buck told him. 

“Buck, come on, it’s not like we’ve never shared a bed before,” Eddie pointed out. 

Buck looked like he wanted to protest again but then he sighed and nodded. “Okay.” He took off his shoes and got into bed. 

Read the rest on AO3

(A special thanks to @sarastars for helping me out with this fic)

[interestinglittlerelationship]

We Should Kiss Like Real People Do

It’s finally time! This was so much fun! @jatpfebfanfest

This is for @princessmuk

“Wait, wait, wait, explain this to me again?” Julie says, tilting her head at him in confusion.

“Aragagh,” Alex groans, “I’ve explained it twice already,” he tilts his head at her, “Shouldn’t you know all about this, already? Willie is basically your brother.”  

Julie flings herself down next to him, “I know about the stupid family reunion thing, yeah, but why are you going?”

“Because Willie doesn’t want to go alone,” Alex supplies.

“Right, but…” and then she seems to stop herself, “You know what? Never mind. So, Willie asked you to be his fake boyfriend, and you said yes?”

Alex face plants into Julie’s pile of pillows, “Yes,” he mutters. This does nothing to block out the sound of Julie’s giggles, “I hate you,” he adds, rolling over and hugging a pillow to his chest.

After a moment he feels Julie’s arm press up against his side, “I’m sorry, Lexi,” she says seriously, “this is just a situation so ridiculous only you could have managed to end up in it.”

“Thanks, that just make me feel loads better.” 

Julie sighs, “It’s really going to be okay, Alex.”

“You think? Because I think I’m gonna get my heart broken.”

“I’m fairly confident that’s not going to happen, besides you already said yes,” she points out.

“I know,” he whispers.

“So, what are you going to do?”

And that’s the thing, isn’t it? There’s nothing he can do. Willie is his best friend and he needs help. Alex has to do this even if it destroys him, “I’m going to be Willie’s fake boyfriend.”

The time of his demise is delayed slightly by the fact this “favor” Willie asked him for is actually a week away. For someone with a normally functioning brain that might be a good thing, but Alex is far too anxious, and simply comes up with ten new ways it could go horribly wrong with each passing day.

His friends are unsurprisingly the opposite of helpful. Bobby straight up laughs in his face when he finds out, pats him on the shoulder, and says, “Good luck with that.” Reggie gets really excited and insists that this is the start of Alex’s very own rom-com, and then goes on a long-winded tangent about movies where the two main characters start fake dating and end up falling in actual love. Luke, at least, seems properly sympathetic but offers exactly zero practical advice.

Willie, for his part seems remarkably unconcerned about the many possible ramifications of this deal of theirs. Then again, Willie seems remarkably unconcerned about most things. It’s part of the reason Alex likes him so much, Willie balances him out somehow. Calms the whirlwind in his brain.

Willie is holding his hand.

Honestly, he’s having a hard time focusing on anything other than that fact. And he knows it��s for show, that they’re walking up Willie’s uncle’s driveway and someone might see, but none of that matters because Willie is holding his hand.

“This is going to be easy. You already know everything about me and they know practically nothing. You probably won’t even have to lie that much,” Willie is saying and Alex is nodding like a bobble head even though he’s only half listening, “Besides,” Willie adds, “it’s only for the day anyway.”

And that snaps Alex right back to reality. Because tomorrow he’s going to have to go back to pretending like he isn’t in love with his best friend. And he’s going to have to pretend like that fact isn’t slowly killing him. And none of this is real and Alex sort of wants to cry.

Instead, he says, “Right, no big deal.”

Willie yanks them to a stop on the bottom step, tugging his lip between his teeth for a second, “Seriously, Lexi, thank you for doing this.” And then he does the most unbelievable thing and reaches up to tuck a strand of hair behind Alex’s ear. It does absolutely nothing since his hair is not actually long enough to stay put, but Alex melts anyway.

“Hey,” he says, squeezing Willie’s hand, “anytime.”

Willie blushes, “Yeah,” he breathes, turning away, “um, ready to do this?”

Alex shrugs, “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

As Willie introduces him around, Alex starts to relax. Really, pretending to be Willie’s boyfriend is not nearly as hard as he thought it would be. They hold hands and when anyone asks how they met, they tell the truth, “We were friends first.” Willie calls him truly ridiculous pet names like, “Hotdog” and “Honeyboo” which make some of his aunts coo at them.

Willie had basically said that he didn’t want to go to this party alone because all his relatives were awful, but that he’d only be allowed to bring someone if they were dating.

And yeah, Willie’s aunts and uncles are all a little distant and awkward, but seems mostly unbothered by their snubs.

His cousins, on the other hand are admittedly sort of awful, the kind of spoiled rich kids who think their money entitles them to look down on everyone else, but they pretty much leave the two of them alone too.

Willie’s mom had been the black sheep of the family, a free-spirit artist, who had run off with Willie’s dad right out of high school. Willie had never seen his mom’s family growing up, but after she and his dad died in a car accident, his attendance at these yearly reunions had become mandatory out of some twisted sense of duty or something. The rest of the year, Willie lives with his dad’s best friend, Ray, who is apparently not allowed to attend either.

Alex isn’t quite sure how to help, but Willie never once lets go of his hand, so maybe just being there is enough.

It’s a long afternoon, but only slightly painful, and then suddenly they’re climbing back into the car.

It takes a few seconds for Alex to realize that Willie hasn’t actually put the key into the ignition, or for that matter, let go of Alex’s hand.

“Hey,” Alex murmurs, “you okay?”

Willie drops his head onto Alex’s shoulder, “It’s just so exhausting, you know?”

Alex hums, because he doesn’t really.

“They’re all so fake, being all polite, and acting like they want to know me, but they didn’t fucking want me.”

Alex realizes then that Willie is crying, and he tries to shift so he can pull him into a hug, but Willie won’t let go of his hand.

“And I love Ray, I do, and it’s not like I want to live with them, but they spent my whole childhood pretending I didn’t exist and then when they were forced to acknowledge me, they still didn’t want me. And I lied to you. Ray usually goes with me and they wouldn’t have cared if I’d brought a friend as long as they could put on their little ‘happy family show,’ but I wanted you, and I wanted to be able to hold your hand, and now I don’t want to let go because I love you so much, but you probably don’t want me either.”

And Alex is, well, Alex is trying to wrap his head around the fact that his whole entire world just got rewritten. Because even if that was a bunch of heartbreaking word salad, he’s pretty sure Willie just said he loved him.

And this is why he doesn’t respond nearly fast enough, giving Willie the time to realize what he just said and freak out about it. Honestly, it’s all very Alex of him.

He tries to pull away, but this time, it’s Alex who won’t let go.

“Hey,” he says softly, and when Willie just keeps fighting against him, he says it louder, “Hey!” Willie freezes, staring at him, wide-eyed, “I’m, like, stupid in love with you too.”

Willie blinks, and Alex has a feeling his whole world is rewriting itself too.

“Oh,” he says, “Well, that’s convenient.”

Alex smiles at him, “Yeah, it is, isn’t it?”

The sit there smiling at each other, and they’re both crying still too, but none of that matters because Willie loves him.

“So, um, I’m gonna kiss you now,” Willie whispers.

“Okay,” Alex whispers back.

[canirove]

Rice, Rice, baby | Chapter 7

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Masterlist

“Olga, do I really have to go with you? I want to go home, I'm shattered.”

“It'll be just a minute. I'll check if I left my wallet in the kitchen and then we can go” she says. “And stop complaining, Liv. You are turning 25 tomorrow, not 80.”

“Feels like it” I sigh. Because today has been chaotic. 

There was a double training session and some meetings going on, which means that I've spent most part of my day making coffees for everyone, going up and down the stairs to deliver them to the offices, and taking meal orders since one of the waiters called in sick and Olga needed help. And as if that wasn't enough, since the game at the Emirates I've been sleeping like shit, constantly having nightmares where my dad finds out about me and Declan and kills him. Literally. In last night's dream he used an axe to do it. 

“I promise I'll be quick” Olga says, opening the cafeteria’s door.

“You better” I reply, following her. 

“Happy birthday!” everyone screams as I walk in.

“Bloody hell!” I yell, my heart on my throat. “What the fuck?”

“Language, Olivia” Madders says. “This is a birthday party!”

“A what?”

“Surprise!” Olga says while hugging me.

“You… you… what?”

“I know your dad said that you don't like celebrating your birthdays, but you only turn a quarter of a century once!”

“Wow, those are some big words for you, Maddison” I laugh.

“So funny, Liv” he replies, rolling his eyes. “Everyone is dying to wish you happy birthday, you know? Sonny made you a card, and I think a certain Spaniard even got you a present…”

“You all seriously need to stop with that.”

“I was talking about Bryan, Liv” Madders smirks. 

“You… Idiot” I say, hitting him in the arm.

“It's not my fault Spanish dudes love you!” he laughs. “Though you prefer them half Irish, don't you?”

“Shut up!”

“Half Irish? What did I miss here?” Olga asks.

“Nothing. James is talking shit as always.”

“Yes, I am” he laughs again. “Anyway, are you coming or not? I can't wait to try the cake. Alex told me it is your favourite, and knowing how obsessed you are with anything with chocolate, I'm sure it'll be amazing.”

“Wait, Alex is here too?” I ask.

“Yep.”

For the past few weeks he's been behaving super weird around me, basically ignoring me, and I still don't know why.

We've known each other our whole lives since my dad and his are best friends and  we live close by, and even though we've had our ups and downs (especially because of my dating life and him not liking any guy I did), he had never been like this. 

“C'mon, Liv. Let's go say hello to your guests” Olga says, linking her arm with mine and walking towards where everyone is. 

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

“Happy birthday, dear Olivia… Happy birthday to you!”

“Don't forget about making a wish!” my mum says.

“Done” I smile.

For my actual birthday I'm having a small gathering with my parents, Alex's and him, the usual every year. After partying way past midnight with everyone at work, it is what I needed. Something chill and at home where I can wear my pyjamas, have crazy hair, and where no one will give me a weird look. Though this year my mum forced me to actually look nice since it is a special number.

“I can't believe my baby is 25 already” she says while hugging me. Or while squeezing me against her. “Where has time gone?”

“She was a tiny loud baby not that long ago, and now look at her. My darling is a beautiful, intelligent and wonderful woman I'm very proud of” my dad says.

“Oh, stop it” I say, trying not to get emotional. 

“Should we start with the presents before everyone starts crying?” Alex's mum chuckles.

“I told you I didn't need anything, guys.” 

“This is just a little detail” she smiles.

After opening a few more presents, it's time for my dad to give me his.

“I'm a bit nervous about this” he laughs, giving me a small box. “Hope you like it, darling.”

“Thank you” I say, slowly opening it. Inside it there is a car key, one that obviously has a Tottenham keychain. And under it, there is a note. “Look out the window? What does it mean?”

“It means exactly that. Look out the window” my dad says, nodding towards the big one in our living room.

“Ok…” I say, walking towards it. And then, I see it. It can't be. “Dad, is that… Oh my God, is that a Mini?” 

“It is, darling. Your Mini.”

“What?”

“It's yours, Olivia” my mum says.

“But I… you… how?” I mumble, looking from the car to the key in my hand.

“You've always been obsessed with that car for some reason. So much, that when you got your driving licence, I bought you a small replica of it” my dad says.

“You did, yes” I chuckle. “I still have it in my room.”

“Do you remember what I told you when I gave it to you?” 

“That one day… Oh, dad!” I say, running towards him and hugging him.

“I told you that one day I would buy you the real one, not just a toy. And that day has come” he says, hugging me back. “It isn't new, we couldn't afford it. But it is better than that thing from the Pleistocene you were driving.”

“It is perfect. The Mini, I mean” I say, moving to look at him. “It seriously is. I love you so much, dad. You too, mum.”

“Oh, Olivia” she says, joining our hug. 

“Did you film all that?” I hear Alex's dad say.

“I did” he replies. 

“I probably look so stupid” I laugh.

“You look beautiful, Liv” Alex says. And that was… odd. But whatever. 

“Why don't you kids take the car for a spin?” my dad suggests.

“Now? What about the cake?”

“You and your cakes, Olivia” my mum replies, rolling her eyes. “It will be here when you come back. Just be careful, ok?”

“Ok” I smile. “Thank you. Again” I say, giving my parents another hug. “I love you.”

“And we love you too. Now go, darling” my dad says.

“And Alex, don't let her go too fast.”

“I won't, Mrs. Chapman” he chuckles.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

“Liv, what did your mum say?” 

“Shhh” I reply, speeding up a bit more. 

“If you crash your car on the first day…” Alex laughs.

“That won't happen. I'm gonna take care of him as if he was my son.”

“Is it a boy?”

“It is a boy” I smile. “The most beautiful one.”

“You'll have to give him a name, then.”

“Urgh, I suck at choosing boys names.”

“Is that why all your pets growing up were girls even if they actually weren't?”

“Yep.”

“Then you better not have a son in the future” he laughs again. 

“Yeah” I smile. “I've missed hearing you laugh. Are you ok?” I ask him, slowing down now that we are back in our neighborhood. 

“Uh?”

“You've been avoiding me, Alex.”

“No, I just… I've had a lot going on and to like… Organise my feelings and thoughts.”

“Oh, I see. But is everything ok?”

“Yeah, don't worry. Park over there, I want to give you my present.”

“Ok” I say, doing as he has asked me.

“So… ummm… Liv” Alex says, nervously playing with the small box in his hands. “There is something I have to tell you.”

“I'm all ears.” 

“I… You… We…”

“C'mon, Alex” I say, playfully hitting his arm. “It's me.”

“Yeah, I know. That's why saying this is so difficult. Because it's you.”

“I don't understand.” Why does he look so nervous? I think the last time I saw him like this was when he dared to ask out the hottest girl in our class and she… No. No, no, no, no. He isn't going to…

“I love you, Liv.”

He is. Oh, my God, he is doing it.

“And not like the way you love your dad or a friend. I love you like something else.”

“Alex, I…”

“When I told you that I was trying to like organise my feelings and thoughts, I was talking about you. About what I feel for you. Because I… because I've realized that I've always been in love with you, Liv. That if I've been a prick and disliked all the boys you've dated or been around, it's because I was jealous. Because I wanted to be them. Because I love you.”

“Alex, listen…”

“This is for you” he says, opening the little box and showing me what is inside. A ring. He got me a freaking ring, and one that doesn't look cheap. 

“I can't accept it.”

“It is just a birthday gift, Liv. Nothing else.”

“Nothing else?” I laugh. “You just told me that you love me and now are giving me a ring, Alex. This totally looks like some kind of proposal.”

“Well, if you think about it like that… Then yes. It is a proposal. Liv, do you want to be my girlfriend?”

This can't be real. This has to be another of my nightmares. They all start the same, with something really good happening, and then boom! The killing starts. 

“Alex… I… No.” 

Have you seen that episode of "The Simpsons" where Lisa is dating Ralph, she breaks up with him while being live on tv, and when they are watching it again Bart says something like, look, if you slow it down you can see the exact moment where you break his heart? Well, that is happening right in front of me. 

“I'm very sorry, Alex. But I don't love you. I just like you as a friend.”

Wow, Olivia. Wow. You just delivered the most cliché line ever. 

“I see…” he says, closing the small box and putting it back in his pocket.

“I'm sorry.”

“I heard you the first time, Liv.”

“Ok, umm… I should drive us back home.”

“Is there someone else?”

“What?”

“Are you seeing someone?”

“Maybe...” I say, biting my lower lip. 

“Is it the Spanish guy? The one everyone keeps talking about at work.”

“Who, Pedro?”

“Yeah, him.”

“He isn't anyone from work or related to it.” Which is a lie, but it is best if he doesn't know.

“Oh, ok.” And those are the last words he says to me for the rest of the day.