#at like 3am we left the club and got back and i was glad to finally go to sleep BUt my friend just had to mention that she had whiskey

[appalachy]

[magicalrocketships]

not me discovering this fine evening that you wrote other parts of Won’t Get To Space here on tumblr 0.o that fic is like *my fic*: i read it probably once a month, i like it that much (plus - me and liam may have something in common and this fic doesn't make me feel pathetic like i sometimes feel - even if i'm in my 30s) .. so, thanks to that anon for talking about this fic and for you to link the other snippets: you just made the (what was supposed to be an early) evening for an European <3 if you ever want to share anything else in that universe, please do <3 i wish you an amazing day / night and thank you *very much* for creating this AU

oh, thank you! I'm so glad <3 It's so lovely to hear that it resonated with you.

I went looking for the sequel file in the depths of my dropbox, it has a last modified date of 2015, it was created in 2013, I don't have the original program I wrote it in anymore so I don't know if any of the formatting is messed up as I really haven't looked it in years, but here's the contents of the file. There's no ending and it's just bits and pieces, but please know that of course they end up happily, and I don't think I ever posted it in its entirety here.

I hope you see this, anon!

won't get to space because I haven't got a rocket part 2 (harry/liam/louis)

(first part here)

Like the sky is blue (all the things that stop you dreaming)

Come to London this weekend, we miss you xx

Liam grins down at his phone. He's on his break, eating two ham salad sandwiches and a bag of cheese and onion crisps in the back of the garage, flicking through The Mirror.

Your both in the paperrrrrrrrr, he texts, once he hits the 3am pages. Did u rlly fall out of a clubbb??????

Shameless lies !!! Louis texts back. we stumbled gracefully !!!!

His phone beeps with a message from Harry. I fell out of the cab not the club. lou just fell over me.

Liam laughs at that. What u uptooo?

Hanging around the record company !! Meetings . Boring !! Louis this time. They must be together, and reading each other's texts. Liam sort of likes the idea of them both peering down at the same phone, together.

Maybe touching all the way down one side.

He really likes thinking about them touching.

Gud luck xxxxx Liam hasn't got long left of his lunch. Mums berthdaaay this fri so cant come down :( sozzzzzzz :(

He has to get back to work anyway, so he stuffs his phone into his pocket before the reply arrives, and heads back across the garage to get on with Mrs Holloway's oil change.

~*~

Liam spends Friday night in Garfunkel's with his mum and his dad and his sisters, eating dinner in honour of his mum's birthday. He orders the chicken even though he normally gets the scampi, just like his dad, but it's nice to spend time with his parents and his sisters and just eat together.

Nicola tries not to talk about her wedding, but it's hard, since there's such a lot to organise, and everyone wants it to be great. His mum has been fretting about what to wear since Nicola first came home with her engagement ring, and she's pushing Nicola to try and find out what Graham's mum's wearing so that they don't clash.

Liam's dad makes the same grimace of 'these Payne women, what are we supposed to do with them' that he's been making at Liam since he realised they could have a secret club of two, and Liam makes the same face of agreement he's been making since he realised he could join in.

"Stop it, you two," his mum says, flicking Liam in the arm with her serviette. "It might not matter to you if we both show up in salmon pink from Debenhams, but it'll be embarrassing for our Nicola. And me."

"I know," Liam says. "What if I showed up in salmon pink from Debenhams too, it'd be terrible. I might cry."

"Liam," his mum says reprovingly, but Nicola smacks him in the arm.

"You'll be dressed like all the other ushers," she says, and Liam is very quickly reminded that Nicola is fast losing her sense of humour when it comes to her big day.

"I was only joking."

Nicola rolls her eyes at him. "I'm turning into a proper little madam," she says. "I know, you'll be all calling me Bridezilla the moment my back's turned."

"Of course we won't," his mum says. She leans over and pats her on the hand as the waiter comes over with their food. "It'll be perfect."

It takes a couple of minutes for everything to get sorted, and his dad's already tucking into his scampi and chips before Nicola turns her attention to Liam, and his Peri Peri chicken. "Have you got your eye on anyone, our kid? Anyone you might want to bring to the wedding?"

Liam immediately thinks about Louis and Harry, Louis sprawled out naked on his bed, laughing, and Harry bringing them both cups of tea. He wants to bring them, but firstly, there's no point banking on a future where they're concerned, and secondly, how could he ever explain that he's bringing two boys to his big sister's wedding? He's not even sure he could tell them he was bringing one boy to the wedding, let alone two.

"Ooh," Nicola says. "There is someone, isn't there? I can see it on your face."

"Is there?" Ruth asks.

Liam tries to school his face into something that won't give anything away. He rather suspects he fails. "Nah," he says. "Nothing that'll come to anything. Single pringle, that's me."

Ruth makes a sad face at him. "You'll find someone. You're brilliant, Liam."

Those people on OK Cupid who ever bothered messaging him back didn't think he was brilliant, and neither did all of Andy's friends. Nobody had, really, until Louis and Harry, and Liam was half convinced that they'd be off again given the slightest chance. Why would boys like that settle for a trainee mechanic from the midlands when they could have anyone in London town? It just didn't make sense. He fakes a smile for Ruth, and one for Nicola and his parents, and tries to turn their attention back to his mum and her birthday.

He's not sure it works.

~*~

His mum does a roast chicken on Sunday, and Liam rocks up at half eleven with a bunch of flowers for her, because it's her birthday weekend and she deserves flowers. He's in a good mood; Louis had rung him up at half past one in the morning to tell him that they missed him and trying to have sex without him there was rubbish and boring.

Liam hadn't believed that for a second, but he likes to be remembered, and Harry and Louis just keep on remembering him, like he isn't invisible, or see-through at the edges, but like he's real.

(talking about Nicola's wedding and asking Liam if he's bringing anyone, and Liam wanting to say yes but not being able to. Texting Louis and Harry from in front of the telly and his family thinking there's a girlfriend) Birthday weekend.

~*~

"What time do you finish work?" Louis asks, as soon as Liam picks up, and Liam’s so used to Louis and Harry constantly using each other’s phones that it doesn’t bother him that it’s Harry’s name that flashed up on his screen. It’s a picture of all three of them that comes with it, anyway, Harry in the middle with Louis on his back with his arm in the air, Liam holding the camera out and pressing in so that he’s in shot. It’s one of Liam’s favourite pictures. 

"Half five, why?" Liam asks. He’s supposed to be seeing them at the weekend, but it’s only Thursday. They have half-arsed plans to go and see the new Captain America film, and Liam’s desperately trying to cover up his desire to see it sooner rather than later. 

"We’re coming to pick you up," Louis says. "We’ve got plans for you."

"It’s Thursday, though," Liam says, puzzled. He has plans for tonight that involve putting a load of washing on and eating beans on toast in front of the telly. It’s the part of his life he tries to hide from Louis and Harry, who are surely only here for the exciting bits. 

"We know," Louis says. "You’re not busy, are you?"

"Nope," Liam says, although he’ll have to figure out when to do the washing now, so he’ll have clean pants for work on Monday. He’s very much in love with Louis and Harry, but he does have a Monday to Friday job he has to work the two of them around, which they don’t. 

"Brilliant," Louis says. "We’ll see you at half five. Love you."

"Right," Liam says, still puzzled, but Louis has already hung up. 

Half five shows up, but Louis and Harry don’t. Liam sits outside the garage with his jacket zipped up, and passes his phone from hand to hand, waiting for them. He doesn’t want to ring in case they’re driving, so he sits outside and hopes that he hasn’t got the day wrong. 

They don’t show up until ten to six, by which point Liam is already about ready to leave to go home. Harry pulls his Range Rover up in front of the garage though, parking it totally skewiff, and Louis is already tumbling out of the passenger door even as Liam is standing up to meet them. 

"Hello," Louis says, bounding over and pushing Liam up against the wall. "Happy Captain America Day, Steve."

"What?" Liam says, but Louis is kissing him hello. Liam can’t quite bring himself to be bothered about who might see. 

"Captain America Day," Harry says, carefully pushing Louis out of the way and kissing Liam gently. "Here, we got you a t-shirt in honour of the occasion."

Louis pulls open his denim jacket to display a t-shirt with Captain America’s shield right there in the centre. Harry is wearing one with a giant Avengers A in the middle. The one they’re holding out for Liam is royal blue, with a white star in the middle and red and white stripes at the bottom. 

"What—"

"Suit up," Louis says. "Here, preferably. Where we can stare at how hot you are."

Liam swallows, and looks down at his t-shirt. “Why are you here?” he asks, because ninety-five per cent of the time, he has no idea why Louis and Harry even bother with him. 

"Because Steve’s your favourite, and because you’re our favourite, and because we wanted to take our boyfriend out," Harry says. "We’ve got tickets for the eight o’clock showing, we’ve got a table at that burger place near that bowling alley that we went to first, and then we’re all going to go back to yours afterwards and let you talk about how hot Captain America is whilst we fuck you."

"That last part’s my favourite," Louis says, leaning in. "That was my idea, that bit. You can talk about how you’d like Steve to fuck you, if you like. Whilst we jerk you off. Make you come all over yourself."

"Oh," Liam says. Luckily he works on a nice, quiet road. It’s good, that, because he’s sporting a semi. "Right. That’s good, then."

"Brilliant," Harry says. "Now, are you going to change your top, or what? It’s been a whole week since we’ve seen you topless, and we’re getting withdrawal symptoms."

"All right," Liam says softly, and pulls open his jacket. 

(weekend at Liam's)

~*~

MINI BREAK

Plan to go away for a mini break, rent a house for the bank holiday weekend – Frisbee and piggy in the middle on the beach, bacon sandwiches, watching dvds and fucking, joking about singing together, Liam thinks it's a silly joke, they're not joking.

"We should go away," Liam says, without really thinking about it. It's either late one night or early one morning, but his watch is too far away for him to check, and anyway, he doesn't care enough to move. It's dark outside and he's naked. Anything else is just details.

"We're away now," Harry points out, from where he's lying, cheek pressed to Liam's chest. He's playing with Liam's nipple, grazing his fingertips over Liam's skin, thumbnail catching. Liam slides his hand down Harry's side, down towards his hip. He's too sleepy to initiate sex again, but he's not tired enough to fall asleep right this instant. "Well, me and Louis are."

"Don't suppose many people actually holiday in Wolvo, Haz." Louis, for reasons known only to him and at best impenetrable to Liam, is standing by the side of Liam's bed, wearing one sock and steadily eating his way through a packet of chocolate HobNobs. "You are talking about a holiday, right?"

Liam shrugs. He hadn't exactly thought about options. He'd barely got as far as thinking through what he'd actually said. "It might be nice," he says, as carefully as he can. Holidays and mini-breaks are what couples do. People in relationships. He's still not entirely sure that this counts. He's half-convinced that every time he sees Harry and Louis, it's going to be the last.

~*~

LIAM WANTS TO TELL HIS PARENTS, he just wants people to be happy for him like he's happy with them. Is convinced they're going to take it well because they've always loved him and supported him and wanted him to be happy.

I told my mum and dad about the 3 of us, Liam texts, on Thursday night. He's careful with his spelling, for once. It takes him about three goes to get it right, and at least two and a half of those he can put down to his hands shaking.

It's about thirteen seconds until his phone rings.

"You all right?" Louis demands, as soon as Liam answers.

Liam lets out a ragged breath. "No?"

"God," Louis says. "You idiot. Why didn't you tell us? We could have, I don’t know, been there. We're like, two and a half hours away. Harry's gone to the shop for a Cornetto and a banana."

Liam tries, desperately, to get a handle on his breathing. "You don't have to—" he says, but then everything he's been trying to keep inside just comes rushing out, and he doesn't mean it to, he really doesn't, but he's crying. He's crying down the phone because his mum and dad don't want him. They don't want him, and they're everything to him, and he really, really thought they'd understand. "They don't want me," he manages, after a while. "Lou, they don't want me."

Louis' breath catches. "Oh, baby," he says. "Sweetheart."

"What am I going to do?" Liam can't think. He can't do anything. He's already been sitting here for the best part of an hour.

"Wait for us to get there," Louis tells him. Liam can hear him moving around. "We'll drive up as soon as Harry gets back from the shop. I'm so sorry. Liam, I'm so sorry."

Liam hates crying. He knows it's weak, and he should be past this, but he can't. It's so hard. "Haven't you got stuff tonight? You're going out. You said."

"Fuck that," Louis tells him. "I'm putting stuff in a bag. You're more important than any stupid party."

"I'm not."

"Oh god," Louis sounds like he's going to cry himself. "Liam, sweetheart. Please. Don't say that. We're two and a half hours away."

"Sorry," Liam says, automatically.

"No—" Louis lets out a breath. "Look, are you going to be okay for two minutes? I'm going to phone Harry, get him to get his arse back here. I'll call you straight back, I promise. Please don't cry, baby. It's going to be okay. I promise. It's going to be fine. Your parents are going to come round, I swear."

His parents had asked him to leave the house so that they could 'think about what he'd told them'. They'd used words like weird and disgusting and ashamed.

Liam's always had a lot of feelings, but right this second, he wishes he could tear his heart right out of his chest, just so that it would stop hurting, if only for a minute. "All right," he says, softly, and when Louis hangs up, he buries his face in his sleeve and lets himself cry.

Andy's there when Louis and Harry pull up outside in the car, looking awkward and a bit useless in Liam's kitchen. Liam has to send him to answer the door because he's on the phone when they bell goes; his mum is crying down the phone at him, and Liam's having enough trouble trying to figure out what she's saying in amongst the tears without having to worry about whether Louis' going to lamp Andy when he's not looking.

Liam can't think about that. He squeezes his eyes shut. "Mum—" he says. "Mum."

"I don't understand," his mum's saying. "We don't understand, me and your dad. How can there be three of you?"

"There just is," Liam says, over the sob in his throat. He hates crying in front of Andy. He knows what Andy thinks about lads crying, but Andy's been good enough not to say any of that in the hour he's been here. He'd given in and texted him whilst he was waiting for Louis to phone him back, a garbled evryyhgings gon 2 shit can u cumm overrrr plese.

This is why Andy's his best mate; he'd turned up forty minutes later with two portions of chips from the chippy and a four pack of Heineken.

Once he'd seen Liam's face, he'd dumped them all on the counter by the Baby Belling and punched Liam in the arm, before pulling him into a one-armed hug.

Andy still looks shell-shocked, and it's an hour later. He might not understand Liam and Louis and Harry either—and he doesn't, because Liam's had the questions to prove it—but at least he's still here. He's grown up with Liam, and he's grown up with Liam's family, and he doesn't know what to make of it either.

He's still here, though. His best mate.

He feels Louis and Harry

~*~

wakes up to find Ruth in the kitchen talking to Louis

When Liam wakes up, he can hear the soft burr of voices coming from the kitchen. He doesn't open his eyes, staying curled up on the couch instead, Harry's hand in his hair. It's Ruth's voice, and Louis', and Liam can feel himself freezing up all over.

"—I just don't get why," Ruth's saying, over the rumble of the kettle boiling. "You're both—you're in the newspapers. What are you doing here?"

"Because we both love Liam," Louis tells her. "Because it might be weird, and no one might get it but us, but he makes us happy and I think we make him happy too."

"But what are you doing here? You must have a proper posh place in London. What are you doing in my brother's shit flat?"

It's a question Liam asks himself a million times a day.

"Because this is Liam's life, and we love him, and we want to be a part of it. And his life is here, and in this flat, so yeah, we're going to be here. With him."

Ruth's quiet at that, and Liam stays where he is on the couch, his heart thumping. Harry's hand in his hair has stilled.

~*~

Liam is sad and alone; his parents want to try, and they all go for a barbecue at Liam's parents.

Louis comes to find Liam in his mum and dad's kitchen after a while, coming right on in and wrapping his arms around Liam's shoulders, pressing a kiss to Liam's neck. "You've been gone a while," he says, not loosening his hold.

"I'm making more salad," Liam tells him, chopping a tomato into eighths. "You lot have eaten all the rest."

"More salad's always good," Louis agrees, but he doesn't let go of Liam, and Liam's grateful because he feels like he's about to explode.

"Where's Harry?"

"Turning on the charm," Louis says.

"It won't work," Liam says, and he doesn't want his voice to catch, but it does nevertheless. His knife skitters over the tomato and down onto the chopping board. "They won't ever understand."

"It'll take time. To everyone who isn't us, this is probably really weird."

Liam shakes his head. "It's not weird," he says stubbornly. "I love you and I love Harry. I don't understand why that's not easy."

Louis lets out a breath, and drops another kiss to Liam's shoulder. "I think you're probably the most honest person I've ever met," he says, which is a lie. Liam lies to people all the time. Louis and Harry don't even know that Liam failed at the X Factor. One day they'll find out that he's lied to them all this time and that will be the end. He lies about how much he needs them and how much this means to him and how much he's desperate for them to love him like he loves them. He lies all of the time, every day, and one day it'll catch up with him and it'll all be over.

"I'm not."

Louis ignores him. "I see you, and you're always just—whatever you feel, you just—you're the most brilliant person I've ever met. You and Harry, but you differently. God, I'm crap at this. I'm trying to tell you that you're so open, and so honest, and that means you get hurt sometimes. If I could, I'd make sure you never got hurt again."

Liam's chest aches. "Louis—"

"People disappoint us," Louis goes on. "Sometimes people we love, they disappoint us. But that doesn't mean they don't love us."

Liam drops the knife. "I want them to love you like I love you," he says, and he sounds all choked up. He tries not to, but he can't help it. "It's not weird, and it's not wrong. We fit."

"I know," Louis says. He shifts, hooking his chin over Liam's shoulder, and wrapping his arms around Liam's waist. "You're fucking marvellous, Liam Payne. Like, fucking brilliant. Me and Harry are going to keep on telling you and telling you until you just know, okay?"

Liam nods, but he doesn't believe it.

When they get back to Liam's flat after the disastrous barbecue at his mum and dad's, Harry and Louis lead him wordlessly into the bedroom, and pull him into a hug. Harry presses his mouth to the corner of Liam's.

"You're brilliant," he says softly, sliding his hand into Liam's hair. "And when we met your mum and dad, we could see just where you get that from."

"They were rude," Liam stumbles over his words. "They barely spoke to you."

Louis slides his hands around Liam's waist, and under his t-shirt to rest his palms against Liam's stomach. "What do you say to the two guys who are having sex with your son, exactly? It's weird for them."

"I wanted them to love you," Liam admits. Louis keeps stroking his fingertips over Liam's tummy, and Liam wants to stay like this forever, in their arms.

"We'll make them love us," Harry says. "Just you wait. You've not seen our long term attack yet. We're excellent winners-over. We've got, like, plans and strategies."

"Just you wait," Louis agrees, mouthing at the sensitive skin beneath Liam's left ear.

Liam tells his parents that his relationship isn't going awawy and then Louis and Harry take him back home and look after him, but they have to leave to go back to London

Liam has to be by himself and Louis and harry are meeting together with Simon Cowell about singing in a group. Liam doesn't think they're serious.

~*~

Liam has never, ever been prouder of his sister than he is when he watches her say her vows at the front of the room. He stands there in his charcoal suit with his fuchsia buttonhole, being her usher, and he cries as she says I do. He can see Ruth doing the exact same thing from her pride of place as maid of honour, but he can't help but glance back over his shoulder, gaze going straight to Louis and Harry, half way back on the bride's side. They're probably holding hands, and Liam wants that so much it hurts, but he's promised Nicola and his mum and dad that he'll keep it quiet, this threesome he's in and trying to call a relationship.

It isn't like he doesn't know how weird it is, but he wishes the people he loved accepted him like Louis and Harry do.

Harry gives him a little half-wave, and that catches Louis' attention. He winks at Liam, bumping his shoulder into Harry's.

Liam turns back to the front. His heart is full.

Nicola comes over later. She's drunk and plump and beaming and beautiful. "I'm so proud of you, little brother," she says, leaning over to wrap her arm around his shoulders. Her wedding dress is the size of about three people. She looks gorgeous, and like she's had the best day ever. Liam only wanted that from today, so he can't help but consider it a job well done. "And I'm really pleased you're so happy."

Liam goes a bit red, but he risks a glance at Harry and Louis anyway. They're all sitting out of the way of the dancing, because if they can't be openly together then sitting in the corner together and tangling their feet under the table is enough of an alternative to capture their affection.

Louis winks at him, and Harry just grins. They've got matching button holes, the three of them, Louis biting his lip and swapping Liam's fuchsia one for a cream rose once the dinner and the speeches and the photographs were all done. Liam had wanted something that marked them out as a threesome, a trio, even if he couldn't offer them both more.

"Seriously," Nicola says, her arm still round Liam's shoulders. "I've never seen you so happy."

Liam knows he's blushing more. He wants to reach over and curl his fingers into Louis', and have Harry come over and wrap his arms around him. "Well," he says, only a little awkwardly. "I am."

"It's been a good day, hasn't it?" Nicola goes on. She waves her arm in the air. "Everything's gone right."

"It's been perfect," Harry says. "And you look beautiful. Thank you for inviting us."

Nicola leans over and takes Louis' hand. "You are being good to him, aren't you?"

"Nicola," Liam hisses, but he can't do anything; it's her wedding day, she can hold whoever's hand she wants to. "Stop that. Put him down."

"Shush," Nicola says. "I'm talking to your boyfriend. One of your boyfriends." She giggles. "I never thought you'd have more than one boyfriend, Lee. Never thought you'd have a boyfriend, come to that."

"Well, I do, and they're perfect," Liam tells her. "But will you put him down and stop embarrassing me for two seconds?"

"No, but seriously." Nicola lets go of Louis' hand and reaches for Harry's. Harry lets her take it, and flushes in what Liam can only think of as a ridiculously cute kind of a way. "This is my little brother," she says, not letting go of Harry's hand. "Like—me and Ruth are really protective of him. Cos he's our little brother. And it's like you are too. Not like Andy."

"Nicola," Liam warns.

"Seriously. I'm trying to tell you something, so shush, Liam." She shakes her head, and turns her attention back to Louis and Harry. "If you hurt him, either of you, then I will personally hunt you down and kill you, and Ruth will help me."

Liam isn't so sure of that, since Ruth is still not quite on board with the Liam-has-two-boyfriends part of proceedings. This is still the most embarrassing experience he can quite remember, so he leaves the Ruth part of things to one side for now.

"You don’t need to worry," Louis says, shooting a glance at Liam. "We're the last people you need to worry about when it comes to Liam. I'm pretty sure we're committed to making sure everybody in the world realises how great Liam is."

"Yeah," Harry echoes. "We think he's brilliant, and we love him."

Liam knows he's doing his best impression of a bright red, on fire tomato but he can't look up. If he looks up he'll do something stupid like kiss both of them, and he'd promised. He'd promised.

"Do you three want to dance?" Nicola says suddenly.

Liam looks up. "With you?"

"Well, I suppose. I just meant—I meant do you three want to dance, together."

Liam looks over at the dance floor. "But everybody will know," he says. "I promised you and Mum and Dad."

Nicola raises her shoulders in an inelegant shrug. "I haven't seen you this happy, like, ever. It's like—I don't think it's very nice of us to be like, come to my wedding, but pretend you're not totally in love for the sake of Auntie Dora and all the cousins and the neighbours or whatever. So I think maybe that you should dance. All three of you."

"But Mum and Dad—"

"Leave them to me," Nicola says. "Anyway, whose wedding is this? It's bloody mine, so you three, get up there and do something romantic for me, all right?" She kisses the top of Liam's head. "Go on, scram. I'm going to find Ed and get him to dance with me too. We'll make a right show of it, us Paynes on that dance floor. Where's Ruth?"

"You're not a Payne anymore, Nic."

"Once a Payne, always a Payne," Nicola tells him, winking at Louis and Harry. "Go on. Up you go." Liam watches as she threads her way through the tables and her wedding guests in pursuit of her new—and quite remarkably drunk—husband.

"Well," Louis says. He smiles at Liam. "What do you want to do?"

Liam smiles at that. "I want to do what I always want to do. Be with you guys."

Harry blinks at that, looking away. "God, " he says. "Fuck, stop making me cry."

"So," Simon Cowell says, when all five of them are in his office, sitting in deceptively low cushioned chairs in front of his desk, "What have you got to say for yourselves."

"This is Liam Payne," Louis says, pointing at Liam, "and he's fantastic. And we think we want to record as a band—"

"I know who Liam Payne is." Simon cuts him off, sitting back in his chair, tapping his pen against the arm. "Long time, no see, Liam."

Liam can't bear to look to either side of him. "I didn't think you'd remember me."

"I'm good with names and faces," Simon says. "It's part of what got me to where I am now. That, and I looked you up."

"What's he mean?" Louis hisses, kicking Liam in the ankle.

Liam shakes his head, and doesn't say anything. This is what the end feels like: this. So close to his dreams, and yet so endlessly far away.

"Didn't I tell you to come back when you'd grown up a bit? Done your GCSEs?"

Liam juts his chin out. "I couldn't afford to," he says. "I needed to work."

"I literally have no idea what's going on right now," Niall says, from Liam's other side.

"I auditioned for the X Factor," Liam sits on his hands. "Two years before you did, when I was fourteen. I went to Barbados with Simon. I didn't get through."

There is no silence like a horrified, wounded silence, and Liam can read this one like a book.

"God," Niall says.

"Shit," Louis breathes, next to him. When Liam looks, Harry just looks horrified. "Why didn't you tell us?"

Liam draws his shoulders up. "Dunno," he says. "Didn't want to tell you I'd failed where you'd all passed. Didn't make any difference anyway, not back then. Then it got too late to tell you. I didn't think Simon would remember me."

"I remembered you," Simon says. He's still tapping his pen against the arm of his chair.

AND THEN: happy ending of course.

[thickness-protection-program]

It was Pride weekend. I (gay cis man) was single and out with friends. Bars/clubs close at 2:30am here, and we drank and danced all night. I headed home….and got a text from my ex who was in town and wanted to meet up for a booty call. We agreed to walk from where we were to meet each other in a nearby park. This must’ve been around 3am. We met up and then for some reason decided it would be a good idea to fuck on a nearby secluded bike path. I went in raw, no lube just spit, brokeback mountain style 🤠. We were having a great time….till we heard someone clear their throat somewhere nearby in the dark. We left very quickly back to my place, a bit freaked out but also laughing our asses off. Great memory!

Lmao that person was watching I just know it. Until they got off and with post nut clarity were like lemme now stop these two whores 😅 I'm glad you had fun though!

[nationalharryleague]

Acts of Service

Pairing: Harry Styles x Reader

Genre: FLUFF

Word count: 2K

A/N: This is a fluffy love letter to Harry’s love language definitely being acts of service. Feedback is always appreciated and loved! More of my work can be found in my masterlist! 

***

You hadn’t wanted to go out in the first place.

The club was hot and sticky and the pounding of the music was giving you a headache between your eyes. Blisters had begun to form from the rubbing of your heels and your boob prison of a push up bra was beginning to pinch in all the wrong places. You wanted to go home.

At home, you knew the green-eyed, curly-haired god of a man you had somehow trapped in your own spell was waiting up for you. You pictured him curled up on your couch in your apartment, where you had begged him to stay so he would be there whenever you were released from Girls Night. You smiled at the thought of him fighting off sleep with your dog burrowed into his side and your kitten curled up on his chest. A smile pulled it’s way to your lips thinking of how you would collapse next to him and be enveloped by the smell that could be described only as Harry that filled your apartment whenever he was there. You hadn’t been with him for long, but you knew you never wanted to be without him again.

Miss you. Be home soon :), you typed out to him and pressed send before your phone was ripped out of your hands by familiarly manicured fingertips. Your objections were met with laughter and playful scolding from your friend, Sarah.

“No more phone!” she giggled, slipping your device into her own back pocket. “More dancing and drinking,” she insisted, grabbing your arm and pulling you from the depths of the red velvet booth. She held her iron grip on your hand as you were dragged through the cramped dance floor to the long bar. Soon shots were placed in your hands of some clear foul smelling liquid that Sarah assured you ‘didn’t burn too bad.’ On the count of three, you found out your friend was a dirty good-for-nothing liar and the fiery alcohol slid it’s way down your throat, feeling it’s intoxicating effects only minutes later.

Dancing didn’t sound too bad anymore. Dancing actually sounded great. And dance you did. You felt your normally self conscious and slightly awkward self melt away as it always did when you had a couple drinks in you and you had the time of your life. When the club turned its lights up, the universal sign of ‘get the fuck out,’ your friends piled into the back of your designated driver’s car. You were usually DD, but you were glad you passed up the opportunity for once.

“There’s my man!” you shouted out the back window as you pulled up to the apartment building, finding Harry waiting for you, leaning against the front doors. He loved it when you called him ‘your man;’ letting out a light chuckle but fighting a blush from finding its way to his face in front of the gaggle of girls. He looked sleepy, understandable since it was nearly 3am, but a smile didn’t leave his lips as he gently rubbed his eyes.

“Hi my girl,” his voice graveled back, thick with the sound of sleep. Clumsily climbing out of the back seat, you wobbled your way to his waiting arms, finally feeling steady supported by his firm hold on your waist.

“I missed you,” you whispered, only stumbling over your words a little and puckering your lips slightly, silently asking for a kiss. You watched his eyes flicker quickly up at the watching car full of your closest friends before giving into your request. When your lips met, you were cheered on by a chorus of ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs,’ your girlfriends determined to embarrass you both. You pressed your now pink cheek to his chest as you waved your friends off into the night, saying your goodbyes and feeling a light peck to the top of your head.

“Come on, let's get you upstairs party girl,” Harry spoke softly, his hand securely wrapped around you and a finger hooked into your jeans’ belt loop, steadying your slightly swaying body. The elevator ride up to your apartment was short, filled with your drunken blabbering about whatever came to mind; topics varying from how soft your kitten was to how bad you wanted to eat the tub of cookie dough in the back of your fridge. Your thoughts were met with sleepy chuckles and his adoring gaze.

Walking inside your home, after a considerable fight with your key, you surveyed the sleeping animals curled up into their beds and raised their heads for only a moment before they deemed sleep more important than their mother. Looking around your cramped living room, you were greeted with a spotless apartment, far cleaner than when you left it for your night of mayhem. “Oh, you didn’t,” you accused as your shocked face met his smug one.

“I got a little bored and I thought it would be nice for you to come home to a clean house,” he smiled. Throw pillows were set on the couch in perfect alignment, tops and bottoms of potential outfits you had chosen from had long been folded and put away, and your carpet looked fluffier like it was freshly vacuumed. “There's also something for you in the kitchen.��

A whisper of ‘oh my goodness’ left your lips when you saw the plate of chocolate chip cookies sitting on your counter in the tiny kitchen. You were an emotional drunk and you didn’t even know you were crying until Harry wiped your tears away.

“You didn't have to do all of this for me,” you whimpered as he pulled you into another hug, leaning up against his warm frame to balance your own.

“I wanted too,” he assured you tenderly. “You know my love language is acts of service, or at least that’s what you told me it was,” he said, your head vibrating from the laugher in his chest.

Harry made you feel loved more than anything else in your relationship. You had only been together for a few months and they had been some of the happiest of your life. You two had met in a bookstore, however chiche it was, and had gotten coffee together. It was your treat (gift giving was your own love language) and very soon after you decided you never wanted to live a life without him in it. You loved him and you knew it, but you had not reached the point in your relationship where you were ready to tell him that. You hoped the gifts you brought nearly every time you saw him were already doing that for you.

You had never been in a relationship that you saw a clear future in. Sure, there were a few people here and there but you had always been known as the single friend. The friend that would always lend an ear, give unfounded relationship advice, and curse exes until they evenvitabily got back together.

Everything about Harry was different. You had met your match. You could spend days on end curled in each other's arms, only leaving your bed to grab snacks, and never run out of topics to discuss or want some time apart. You talked about your careers (he was a middle school music teacher and you were a law student), the meaning of life, childhood memories, your favorite colors, and so on. It was all just so easy with him.

He was also the first man you had ever been fully comfortable with. Overtime, your walls came down (or he knocked out a couple bricks and stuck in), and your usually self conscious demeanor began to twist into this new and improved version of yourself. Even if down the line you and Harry went your separate ways, you knew you would be better for knowing him.

You were brought out of your adoring haze when Harry asked if you needed help getting into pajamas. You agreed, knowing that getting you out of those jeans was going to be a two person job.  

Soon you were laying back on your (now perfectly made) bed, naked from the waist up; both of you fighting with the skin tight fabric, your inebriated hands being absolutely no help to the efforts. Your body shook with giggles watching your saint of a boyfriend tug on each leg of your pants, willing them to move, as he swore about how he was going to have to cut you out of them.

“Your neighbors are going to think we're going to town on each other,” he grumbled as he inched them down your legs.

“Nothing out of the ordinary then,” you laughed and wiggled your legs when you were finally free from their hold.

“I’m assuming you want this?” he asked, moving to take off his large tshirt, revealing first his ferns, then his butterfly, and then your favorite little swallows. After a feverish nod, you lifted your hands up and he slipped his shirt onto your smaller frame, enveloping you in the soft fabric and your favorite smell in the world.

“Smells like home,” you mumble while burying your nose in the fabric, unsure if he heard you.

“Oi, you’re going to stain it with your makeup,” he scolded. “Let’s get all that off.”

Sitting you down on the edge of the tub, you watched as he shuffled around the bathroom, frequently looking back to your face to examine his task. He looked at you like your face of makeup was a puzzle to be solved or a mountain to scale.

“I can just sleep in it and deal with it in the morning,” you said in between bites of the chocolate chip cookie you had stolen off the kitchen counter.

“We both know I’ll get in trouble if I let you sleep in it.”

“Probably,” you shrugged without paying much attention to him, mainly enamored by the cookie that was beginning to disappear.

Kneeling down in front of you, wielding a wash cloth soaked in makeup remover, Harry began to softly rub at your makeup. His touch was delicate and tender, careful not to get any in your eyes or hair line. He took his time, moving in soft circles, cleaning away the mask you had put on for the occasion. His breath handed softly on your face and you scanned his face, appreciating this time to take him in.

He was so beautiful. His eyebrows were gently brought together and his tongue would swipe over his lips every so often in focus. His eyes were deep and green, flecked with brown and blue, and framed by long black eyelashes you would kill for. Your eyes swiped around his face connecting his constellation of freckles and you reached up to brush your hands against the light stubble that had begun to show against his jaw line. You let your hand fall to his bare shoulder, stabilizing yourself against his strong build. His skin was soft and tan and perfect.

Your lips had a mind of your own when you said it. A verbalized moment of sheer honesty and adoration. You didn’t mean to say it. It just slipped out.

“I love you, H.”

You could take it back, but that would be lying and probably hurt his feelings. You could double down and keep talking, but your hazy thoughts couldn’t come up with anything else to say at the moment. Your third option was saying nothing. You picked the third.

He paused for a moment when he processed what you said, his eyebrows shooting up and giving you an amused look. A closed lipped grin played on his lips and he continued on with his task, wringing out the towel over the tub and going back in to dry your face.

If you had been sober, you would have absolutely panicked. You would have run out of the bathroom and buried yourself under your sheets, embarrassed of what you just did. But you were hanging on for dear life to your buzz, pretending like everything was perfectly peachy and you didn’t just accidentally tell your boyfriend of only a few months that you loved him.

“That’s good. Because I love you too,” he beamed, all exhaustion gone from his voice.

Hope you liked it as much as I loved writing it :) My ask box is open with any feedback you may have! 

[asociallyawkwardteen]

FACE - Woosung/Sammy Kim - Drabble

Kim Woosung/Sammy Kim x Reader

Genre: Fluff, Friends to Lovers

Word count: 2,5k

Summary: After a long semester of uni finally comes to an end, y/n and her friends are able to go out again and have fun. A fun night out turns into something very beautiful.

(Also I would like to apologize for any errors, english is not my first langugae so please have mercy on me ^^’)

~Hope you like it!

„Finally!!! We are done with all those stupid exams!!!” your friend Coco shouted once you got back to your apartment from Uni after having your last exam for this semester today.

“Hey, you do know that we have neighbors, right?” you giggled, hitting her in a playful way.

“Yeah, yeah, but aren’t you glad that we finally can relax?? We should celebrate it!”

“Of course I am glad, silly. So how do you want to celebrate surviving another semester?”

“Hmm, I’m not sure yet but I want to do it tonight! Otherwise it’s not as much of an celebration.”

“Sounds a lot like you want to go drinking, huh?”

She smiled at you sheepishly, “Maybe…”

“Okay so a girls night out it is?”

“Eeeeh…” she started hesitatingly, blushing a little

“what do you mean ‘eeeh’?”

“How about…”

“Wait! You want to ask the cute guy from our history class out, don’t you??” you said wiggling your eyebrows at her

“Heyy!” she punched your arm, “what I was going to say was: we could gather a few of our friends… and maaaaybe also hajoon…” she got quieter during the end mumbling the last word.

You grinned. “Well you can invite some people I guess, still don’t have a lot of friends that aren’t also yours here” you smiled a little embarrassed at yourself hearing that coming out of your mouth after being here for already one and a half year.

“Oh just not too many please… I’d like to still keep the circle small tonight.” you added

“Sure thing she said, sitting down on the couch and already looking through her phone for the right people”

Some time passed and you used it well by taking a nap, seemed like the best idea since you’re probably gonna be out the whole night. However, your peaceful slumber was rudely interrupted by Coco barging in your room exclaiming that she finally had the perfect selection of people.

You mumbled a half awake “Shoot” and nuzzled your head back into your pillow.

“Okay so, since we want a rather small group this time, I made sure that I selected them very carefully!” She listed a few of your friend group to which you just nodded to, still half asleep.

“And-I-also-might-have-asked-Hajoon-if-he-was-free-and-he-is-joining-us!!” She quickly spat out hiding her face in her hands squealing like a little kid.

You grinned at her, “glad you finally had the guts to ask him out!”

“That’s not all thought, I thought that since I would be a little occupied with hajoon tonight I though I would invite someone for you too! BUT- Please don’t hit me now okay!”

You slowly opened your eyes looking at her kinda pissed already. “And who would that someone be?”

“Sammy…” she mumbled

“HUH?!?!” now it was really over with your beauty sleep, you shot up in your bed looking at her in disbelief. “Sammy?, you… mean Sammy Kim?? Your freind from highschool, who I had nothing but awkward interaction with since I met him last year?” 

“Awkward Interactions?” she giggled, “ if that’s what you call love at first sight but no clue how to handle it, yeah sure you guys had some AwKwArD InTeRaCtIoNs. And now don’t act like I didn’t realize how you two were looking at each other that night, plus how often you too hung out to sTuDy.”

“No No No, he really helped me out with my photography project back then, and you promised me that we would never speak of that night again!” Just as you finished your sentence Coco’s phone made a ding. She opened it and grinned once again.

“Oh come on you both have the hots for each other but your are both to scared to admit it and I like the effect you have on each other, you both are like creative chargers for one another. I’ve yet to see you procrastinate when he is around and you have heard his music improving yourself, do you think that comes just out of nowhere? Huh? Whatever he just texted that he is coming tonight so this discussion is over!”

You looked at her with wide eyes and your heart skipping a beat. You definitely have a crush on Sammy and yeah maybe that happened the first time you met him BUT you were just never really the relationship type of girl, plus you didn’t plan on staying in Korea after Uni so you didn’t want to get to attached to something/someone plus you liked things the way they were up until said night. New Years Eve Party to be exact. You and Coco had a party at the Apartment and most of your friends were wasted at 1am already and Sammy and You also had quite a bit to drink, one thing led to another and you only remember waking up next to him in your bed, all cuddled up together with and hunch of what could have happened. Luckily you two were up before everyone else thinking nobody noticed but of course Coco knew the second she looked at you once she woke up. Sammy had to leave quickly that day because of some issues with brother, who wanted to visit him on New Year’s. Ever since than you two tried to keep it casual by not addressing it at all and kind of ignoring each other and your feelings for one another a bit. Until now apparently.

You sighed falling back into your cozy bed once Coco left your room.

~Time skip~

You pushed the thoughts of the night ahead to the side -mostly for Coco since she was worried that you were actually mad at her.

To proof her wrong you put on a smile and you two started to get ready together while blasting music and starting to pre drink a bit. It felt so good though to finally have the time to go out with some friends again after all that studying and stress with exams, just getting ready with your roommate was already so much fun.

Soon your uber came and you were on your way to the club where Coco told the others to meet you. You saw Sammy already when from the car, and your heart stopped a beat. He was just leaning against the wall, headphones in and on his phone. You took a second to admire him before the car came to a spot where you guys could get out. Coco saw him as well form where you two were and tried to scare him since he wasn’t aware of his surroundings, but she failed.

You greeted Sammy with a warm hug, thinking that he would probably feel your fast heartbeat but you always hugged him to say hello and you didn’t want to make things more weird. To your surprise you could feel his heartbeat as well, which weirdly calmed you down a bit.

You too still kept a bit of a distance for now just making things seem “casual”, clearly aware of the tension between the two of you. You got a table at your favorite club and soon drinks started to flow. Your group had an awesome time dancing, drinking, catching up and just enjoying your freedom for now

The DJ was great and constantly playing what you wanted, a couple hours went by and your friend group started to get smaller, one after the other leaving with someone they flirted with for about half an hour. Oh and Coco was all tangled up with Hajoon just as you both expected. You didn’t care about all of that too much just enjoying yourself on the dance floor and chatting a bit with Sammy while still continuously ordering drinks.

Of course some dudes tried to hit on you especially while you were dancing, overflowing with confidence but you just told them to get lost, you were really not interested in any of them. You were really just here to have fun but as you caught a glimpse of the way Sammy was watching your every move you smiled a bit to yourself.

You both were a bit buzzed by now, it being around 1:30am and most of your friends, well actually all of them already gone. The club was still buzzing and you were in no way ready to leave yet, neither was Sammy. It may seem a bit boring to just stand at a table watching a girl dance for hours, only taking breaks to pee or take another shot, not for him tho. Watching your body float over that dancefloor, never missing a single beat, smiling with closed eyes. And every time you were sick of a song you made your way over to him smiling with sparkling eyes in which he could get lost in forever. Every time you would come over you two had a shot or two and every time you went back on the dancefloor you tried to convince him to come with you. He came with once or twice, wanting to stay there with you the whole night just being weightless together but he knew that if he kept dancing with you and already being a bit drunk, he would want more and he wasn’t sure if you were okay with that so he stayed at the table.

At around 3am your feet started to hurt from all the dancing in your heels and you were feeling pretty dizzy, still not wanting to stop dirinking. Sammy knew by the way you came back to him that you were ready to leave and get some food somewhere.

“Sammy…! Wanna grab a bite somewhere?!” you shouted in his ear hoping he would understand with all the loud music and people talking.

To be completely honest he didn’t understand anything over the loud music and his own spinning head but he knew what you wanted so he just nodded and you two left. Once you stepped out of the club you both took a deep breath an looked at each other for a second. In this moment the only thing you wanted to do was kiss him, get lost in his touch and never wake up from it again but instead you just smiled at him and repeatedly said that you were hungry.

Sammy was in the same position, he knew that soon he would not be able to contain himself if you keep looking at him with those intense eyes of yours. He laughed at you being a whiny baby and took your hand to lead you to your guys’ favorite 4am drunk-food place. You both knew that he initially just wanted to yank you a bit in the direction you had to go yet you kept walking hands interlocked up until you got to the food place. It just felt so natural that none of you wanted to let go, so you kept it that way for a few moments longer.

You two kept chatting a bit while enjoying your food. For the few other people in the restaurant you two just looked like a regular couple acting all cute together, feeding each other and giggling while still ordering a few drinks. The owner of the restaurant actually thought you two were so cute that she gave you another soju-bottle for free, “For the lovebirds” she said as she put a the bottle down and winked at you.

You looked at each other with big eyes and you started to giggle since you were still pretty drunk. You took the soju with you and left the restaurant after paying. You were not ready to leave one another yet but you remember that Sammy had that great view from his apartment rooftop so you went there, on the way your hands found each other again and you just walked in silence, enjoying each other’s company.

You set up everything and settled down on the roof with your soju and a blanket just starring into nothing. Soon the two of you were cuddled up listening to each other’s breath.

You sighed “I missed this, you know?”

“Missed what?” he tried playing dumb

“This.. you… us..” you mumbled into his chest trying to hide your blushing

“Me too” he said while running his hands through your hair.

You lifted your head to look at him in the dim light just taking in his features bit by bit. He just smiled at you, slowly closing his eyes, like a cat would do. Carefully you sat up a bit and firmly pressed your lips on his. He smiled into the kiss. It was a very sweet delicate kiss, maybe even innocent, savoring every little moment of a innocent yet so powerful love. You two dragged the kiss as long as your lungs would allow it, after that you quickly nuzzled your head into his warm chest again.

“We should head inside it’s really getting cold and I don’t want you to get sick…” he softly whispered

You nodded and you packed your things to move into the apartment. It was so much warmer and just as cozy as you remembered it. You let out a yawn, stretching your body, Sammy saw his chance and wrapped his arms around you from behind burring his head in your neck. “Tired?” he asked softly.

“yeah… a bit…”

“then let’s go to bed then, shall we?” he asked while already heading towards the bedroom. He gave you his favorite shirt and shorts to sleep in, knowing you would have asked for them sooner or later, also he loved the way they looked on you. You excused yourself to the bathroom to change.

Once you locked the door behind you, you started to freak out silently a bit but on the other hand, everything just felt so right, Your bodies and minds just fit perfectly together and you were kind of mad at yourself for wanting to cut this awesome connection after it got a bit more serious. You washed you face, changed into the clothes he gave you and took a deep breath before heading back to the bedroom.

Sammy was already all cuddled up and his room looked even more comfortable with the delicate fairy-lights you gifted him last Christmas. You crawled next to him getting comfortable. He gave you another soft kiss, but you wanted more. You started to intensify it to which he gave in, you were hungry for him the whole night already so you were more than eager letting your hand slowly travel over his body an to the hem of his boxers but suddenly he grabbed your hand. A bit perplex you broke the kiss and looked at him confused.

“did... did I do something wrong?” you asked quietly “Do you not want to?”

“you didn’t do anything wrong y/n…” he gave you a peck “It’s just, the last time we did it too quickly and lost each other for a few months… And I don’t want to lose you… this... us again... is… is it okay if we just fall asleep in each other’s arms for now?”

You started to tear up a bit at his words, this was the first time he actually told you how he really felt -probably a bit because of the alcohol too but you didn’t mind that- and it made you realize how you felt as well, so you nodded stealing one last kiss before cuddling up with him and slowly drifting of to sleep while listening to his heartbeat.

~To be continued~

[lyn-rambles]

Did you know? || Yaku Morisuke x Reader ||

Hello again my fellows

Ok so this one shot is part of the Haikyuu Headquarters server collab  we all very happy to show our works, so please check out other works and give all the writers and artists a look uwu. If you want to see more of this type of content please use this.

I hope this time it gets posted because tumblr has been eating this thing ;-;

Pairing: Yaku x reader

Prompt: You woke me up at 3am for this?

Altern Universe: N/A

                                                                 PoV: Second person 

Warnings: None

Word count: 2.5 K

Yaku had a rough day, practice with the Japan National Team had exhausted him, he could barely walk to his shower to get off all the sweat from his body. He had been staying at the Japan's volleyball Association’s Dorms while he got arrangements done to stay in a more comfortable place. The cool water felt great against his sore body, they practically cleaned the gym floor that day doing drills and receives most of it. He was amazed to see that Hinata had gotten better at them and also was glad to see some old friends and known faces, he was also happy to see Kuroo again but he wasn’t going to tell him that out loud… He had a reputation to keep.

He closed the water and stepped out fresh, and feeling better, maybe not less tired but a bit more comfortable with his body. Yaku slipped on his pajamas and looked at his phone. The little LED had twinkled the whole afternoon, the color red immediately made him think that he must be out of battery and as he unlocked it he found your message. A smile grew in his lips. After his graduation you both had tried to keep contact. At the time you were still a second year but you got to be acquainted quickly. You had lived near each other, yet, you didn’t attend the same middle school it wasn’t like you an Yaku had talked too much, until you became a first year at Nekoma.

“I don’t know if you’ll see this before training but I wanted to show you this” and then showed a photo of the new samples you had prepared for your bio class. You worked as a teacher on a Junior High School, and had talked him about your plans on using plant samples to teach about the common tissues on them. He smiled at how proudly you had shown him the images from the microscope. He replied to you congratulating on the quality of them. He remembered how fascinating you found the world around and how happy you were on telling others about it. You had always rambled facts about animals, space, plants, the solar systems, name it you probably had a fun fact about it. It was that hunger for knowledge and the love of spreading it was what drawn him to you on first place. You were part of the science club. Professor Murakama, the bio teacher was in charge of your club, and Morisuke hadn’t talked with him outside from classes but Kuroo had insisted on him to help him getting some works they had delivered and he wanted a revision even though he almost got a perfect mark.

“Hello there!” he greeted them. He had lifted his safety glasses. And the small circle of students that surrounded him turned to them. Morisuke didn’t know most of the people there, since most of them were first years, but he waved at you. You returned it. Of course you knew Yaku, he had lived next to your house since forever but you had never actually been close. Kuroo got to the professor and he just stood awkwardly on the door frame as everyone returned to the working tables.

The professor muttered something to himself. As he checked on Kuroo’s worksheet. “Yaku, why don’t you join our experimentation while I go to the teacher’s lounge with Kuroo?” he asked him. “You can use my lab coat and safety glasses while you are at it.”

Morisuke put on the equipment as he reminded everyone to be mindful of the lab rules pasted on a cardboard on the wall behind Yaku. The students divided on partners and you sat on a work table alone.

“What is it (Y/LN)? Why aren’t you working with anybody?” Yaku asked as he sat down next to you.

“We are an odd number of students, so today is my turn to work alone.” He turned to see one of her classmates mouthing to her that he was sorry. “You are free if you only want to watch, since you don’t have rubber gloves.”

That day seemed so long ago, he had watched as she prepared the acidic solution in a beaker and added drops of phenolphthalein before adding a strong base and watched in awe how the liquid started to get a hot pink color.

“Wha- Whe- How?!” he had asked you.

Since then, it was history. He had sometimes went at lunch time to see how were you doing, being a first year was tough. And you sometimes met him at the cafeteria before getting back to your friends. Then he got your number and that’s when the rambling about random science facts became constant. He always had at least one image and a new fact, such as “Hey! Did you knew that elephants are the only species with 4 knees?” He always had a smile at that and he didn’t notice when he started to look at them with fondness until his teammates pointed it out. And then it happened, one day he just didn’t get the random fact of the day as you two had started to call it, by your second year, even he had started to send you those kind of things or whenever he found out about some new exhibit. His friend urged him to already ask you out as he clearly had signs of endorphin rush whenever they mentioned her or Talk saw her. Up to this day he never knew why he didn’t do it, even more when he got so concerned that you didn’t even saw his text, since you always answered quite fast. He walked outside of the VB team staff room and walked to the entrance alone. And he rose his gaze and you were there under a tree, with your head between your arms. He rushed at your side, without knowing what to do, he put his hand on your shoulder.

You shot your head up only to see his face. He looked as your face was tainted with tears.

“Hey, (Y/N),” his voice wavered. “What happened?”

You only cleaned your eyes with the corner pf ypur jumper. And used a napkin to clean your runny nose. “Nothing… I am fine, Morisuke.” You managed a constrained smile, he stood up and offered his hand.

“Come on, let me walk you home.” You took his hand.

That day you were supposed to tell your feelings to your crush. You had been harboring feelings for him since you met him on your first year and today, you (with Yaku’s help) had worked enough courage to tell him. You had crafted a love letter to cite him on your classroom and tell him there after school. He had also helped you (he almost did it all) to bake some small cookies to gift him.

There you stood with your crush in front of you, you had told him. You had done it, this is the moment where he accepts and-

“I like you, as a friend, your intelligence is quiet intimidating and I can’t see you as more than a friend because of it.”

Morisuke had heard your story, as you started to sob again. You were sitting on the sidewalk in front of your house as he took out a napkin and scooted near to you as you kept crying, his left arm grabbed you by the shoulder and he embraced you. Your violent breaths calmed and he let you go. His uniform now had moisted with what you called “nose tears” (“Morisuke! Did you knew that when you cry some of your tears go down on your nose and that’s why you have a runny nose every time you cry?”) but he could wash it later. Right now the only important thing was you.

“Morisuke, you are my friend, right?” He nodded. “is my-“

“No” he had answered right away.

“But you didn’t even let me finish” you pushed him with a playful manner.

“I knew what you where gonna ask and my answer is no.” He searched on the paper bag and handed you a chocolate filled bread. “I know your favorites are caramel ones, but right now you need something to raise your serotonin levels.” You took it and looked at him, you had sent him that fact when you had suggested to make the cookies. “Besides if he feels intimidated by something as petty as that, he doesn’t deserve a the time of day, he doesn’t deserve you.” He grumbled. You had stared at him wide eyed as his face started to get pink and bid you farewell as he slammed his house door. You smiled as you clenched the bread.

And then his graduation came. You had sneaked from cleaning duty thanks to your best friend (“Go get him, (Y/N)!”) He had also been encouraged by his friends this might be the last time he could tell you about his feelings. His family was throwing a small dinner and they had invited you since you had started to spend more and more time with Morisuke. His mom had made Stir-fried vegetables with other dishes. All his family gathered inside as you two talked on the same sidewalk, you both had been sharing some good old laughs.

You still held your stomach with your arms at Yakkun as he rubbed his leg after slapping it while he laughed. He had the sting of tears of laughing and of pain on leg, but he kept going. Until both of you had calmed and the small faint dread of bursting out laughing again came back.

“Ok, now in all seriousness, (Y/N)” he tried to regain his composure and you snorted at him as he bit his lip to suppress another laugh. “I have something to tell you- please breathe… slowly” His gaze was heavy with feigned disdain as he turned around to not laugh at your violent rapid breathing caused by another burst of laughs. You inhaled deeply trying to calm yourself.

“So?”

“Yeah,” he chuckled. “Have I told you the reason why I never accepted the two confessions I ever received?”

You gasped. You had been pestering him, one of your best friends into telling you but nothing had worked. “No! But please do tell me! I can’t believe it is finally happening!” you grinned at his question.

He breathed in slowly, as he started the word vomit, he saw your grin slowly disappear. As your eyes slowly went down. His heart his head started spinning. His face was becoming red, he wanted to turn back and get inside his home like that afternoon all those months ago. His whole being felt as if he had his guts stolen.

“And I didn’t worked up the courage up until now to tell you.” He sighed, for the first time, defeated. “I like you more than a friend, I-”

His eyes went wide when you hugged him by the neck and kept pressing pecks to his cheek. Then that hollowness became a party of elephants dancing on his gut. He finally turned to you, on your face shined the biggest smile you could manage.

“Yakkun, I was supposed to confess to you today, you stole my idea.” If he could have turned an even deeper shade of red he would have, he worked his hands up to your face and kissed your temple and smiled through his embarrassment.

Months passed by fast, as he had made the arrangements to move to Russia and play on the Super League. Lev had been helping him to make the contacts. You were currently on your third year, and whenever you could go home early you helped him studying Russian, you helped him craft flash cards and as you said the word in Japanese he answered always making a different grin. Much tp your laugh. You also helped him on his writing… you both sadly sucked at it. You tried to have non-study-dates-because-you-also-need-to-stop-worrying-about-me-and-school. Yakkun also helped whenever you found problem in a class… which wasn’t really often, but he was glad whenever you asked him for advice. Days after you got your college acceptance letter from college, he left Japan.

Yakkun had fallen asleep remembering the times you had stayed awake studying as he made you company over a video call or he had stayed awake after a particularly rough training just to have a “meal” with you.

His phone buzzed, once, twice, and the third time he picked it up. A pool of drool had formed under his face. He squinted his eyes at bright screen.

“(Y/N)?” he asked with a groan.

“Salutations, Mori!” over the speaker he heard the car engine.

“What is it?” He yawned as he stretched his arms and some of his joints cracked.

“I-” you hesitated before answering. “I found something really cool, I was wondering if you could join me.”

He rubbed his eyes, before turning to see his phone screen.

3:00 AM

He sighed with defeat. “Sure, just let me put a shirt on.”

You drived off, he took the copilot seat and dozed off yet again. You felt guilty of waking him in the middle of the night, but you had been waiting for this the whole week. Earlier you had called Kuroo just make sure the team had a free day before resuming their training. You side eyed him as how he curled on the seat breathing softly. The light of the city were getting behind as you approached your destination. The small lights of the highway and your car illuminated the way.

“Mori, we are here.” You gently shaked him. You were parked on a resting spot. In front it had a small hill covered with grass. The moon cleared the way. Mori had just woken up again and was getting out as you unloaded the trunk. You got some small snacks in a bag and a blanket.

“You woke me up at 3 AM… For this?” he was ired. And his expression showed clear dissatisfaction. “Listen, (Y/N) I know it is- Are you even listening?”

You had turned your face up and a teeth smile crept on your face. You lowered your face and moved your hand up so he could see. A meteor shower painted the sky as he looked up in awe and the it hit him, you had been mentioning this the whole week.

“You forgot, didn’t you?” He looked at you his face had softened as he approached you.

“I’m sorry (Y/N).” he murmured grabbing taking the bag. You turned your head side to side.

“You’ve been working to the bone lately.” You took a step nearer and cupped his face with your free hand. Your eyes locked with his soft gaze as he smiled fondly. His forehead rested on yours and then he pushed his lips to yours, your skin started to get goose bumps as you exhaled , you had been yearning for this.

“Did you know it was worth to get up at this time?”

[httpsfelicity]

“In a black dress, she’s such an actress” - Harry Styles × Model Reader AU (Part 2/?)

Summary - Harry meets a model downtown and falls for her quickly, leading the public to think that it’s a pr stunt. Unsure of what to think, the reader plays along, not knowing that Harry is unaware of the rumours.

For @cruizmanadu, @stephaniemalvie!, @kissessfordraco Xx

A/N - Part two! Thank you sooo much for the feedback on part one, I never expected it! Glad you guys like it so far. If you haven’t read part one, click here x Once again, if you’d like a part 3 / have suggestions / ect, just send a DM or ask! Here you go babessss :) 

Harry Styles: Hi

Y/n <3: Hi

Harry Styles: Why are you awake, it’s 3am?

Y/n <3: I could ask you the same thing, you messaged me first!

Harry Styles: You’re right. What’s up?

Y/n <3: Watching TV, you?

Harry Styles: Not much. Listening to The Beatles, y’know, normal night things.

Y/n <3: Never really got around to listening to them personally

Harry Styles: Omg reported and BLOCKED.

Y/n <3: Omg noooooo come back 

Harry Styles: Kiddinggggggg, but I have to make you listen to one of their albums sometime

Harry Styles: Are you free tomorrow?

Y/n <3: I have a shoot all day. I’m free the next day tho

Harry Styles: We could maybe do something then? The park?

Harry Styles: Unless you have a better idea, of course

Y/n <3: No that sounds great! What time?

Harry Styles: 7?

Y/n <3: Sure! :)

Harry Styles: Now, GO TO SLEEP!

Y/n <3: Only if you do!

Harry Styles: Okayyyy, goodnight!

Y/n <3: Goodnight!

Seen: 3:14am

As you crawled into bed, a feeling of satisfaction spread through you. He wanted to spend more time with you - that ought to be a good sign, right? “Maybe this could work out, after all,” was the last thing you thought before you fell asleep.

The next day was the usual whirlwind of events that occurred every shoot day - wake up early, take a cab over to the location (That particular day’s mystery place happened to be an old art studio), take another cab with some assigned lady to get you ready, another cab back to the location, then a whole day of photos. It was all a blur to you, so when the head of the whole operation thanked you at the end of the day, you were glad it was all over. Of course you adored your job, but considering the amount of sleep you’d gotten last night (Which, by the way, you did not regret one bit) you were thankful that in 45 minutes you’d be fast asleep.

What you did not expect, however, was for that little power nap to turn into a full 14 hours. By the time you woke up the next day, it was the crack of 11am. You sat up frantically, taking in your surroundings. You were still wearing your street clothes - jeans and a blouse - and a quick glance in the mirror revealed you hadn’t taken off your extravagant makeup, either. Trust me, it was not a pretty sight. You scrambled for your phone, and aside from all of the usual twitter notifications, DM requests, and messages from Ella and Harry (Which you were over the moon about), you noticed that you had 4 missed calls. From, none other than Harry.

You quickly clicked on his contact and dialed up his number. After a few rings, he picked up.

“Hi!” He said cheerfully.

“Hey,” you laughed. “Why did you call me? Four times, to be exact?”

“Just wanted to make sure we were still on for tonight. But then I got worried when you didn’t answer, so I called again to make sure everything was alright.”

“And again, and again.”

“Correct,” he laughed.

“Rough photoshoot. I was exhausted, and it wasn’t all that exciting. By the time I got home, I was asleep. Literally. I slept for 14 hours straight.”

Harry laughed so hard on the other end that you had to move your phone away from your ear for a couple of seconds so he could calm down. “Oh, wow, I... well, I guess it’s not that funny. That’s awful. You should’ve gotten more sleep the night before!”

“I would’ve, but somebody just had to message me at 3am!”

Cue another round of laughter. “Oh my god... look, I’m sorry, I really am! I didn’t know you had to wake up so early. I won’t message you so late into the night anymore, I promise.”

“Don’t promise that! I quite liked it. Besides, all of those shoots are the same. Nothing worth remembering, if you ask me.”

“Alright, alright, fine. But are we still on for later? If you’re still tired, we can reschedule...”

“No! After twice the amount of sleep I usually get, I feel like I could run a marathon. Seven?”

“Yup.”

“Okay. Gives me enough time to adjust myself to reality.”

This sent both of them into bouts of laughter.

“Alright, well, I’ve gotta go, but I’ll see you then?”

“You’ve got it! Bye!”

“Bye! And for the love of god try not to fall asleep this time, yeah?” He cracked himself up.

“I’ll try!” You replied as you hung up. You sighed, smiled, and then leaned against your headboard, though not for long. You had things to do - number one, get a shower.

Flash forward a few hours, and you were all set. You were wearing a pair of jeans and a blouse, similar to yesterday’s outfits, just with less smeared makeup and bedhead. You had even managed to listen to a few albums while you were doing your hair. You quickly ate a salad for supper, confirmed the meeting spot with Harry, then headed out the door.

You arrived 10 minutes early, and to your surprise, Harry was already there again. 

“How did you get here before me?” You laughed as you walked up to him. “I left even earlier than last time, specifically to race you!”

“Oh, I have my ways,” he grinned. “So, would you like to know what I have planned?” 

“Enlighten me,” you prompted as you began walking past the bushes and flowerbeds with him, admiring his bold, light purple flared pants and white top.

“Well, first we walk through the park. Then, I have a reservation booked for La Sedbe Hyudge. If that sounds okay to you, that is.”

La Sedbe Hyudge was one of the most exclusive clubs in New York. Reservations were crazy expensive, and that’s not including the price of the food and drinks.

“Oh, Harry, you really didn’t ha-”

“No, no, don’t worry about it. The reservation’s already made; there’s no turning back now,” he laughed.

You laughed along with him. “Well, we can just split the final bill.”

“No,”

“But-”

“Don’t worry about it!” 

You sighed. “Okay,” you finally agreed. “Well, anyways, tonight sounds like it will be great fun. Thank you.”

Harry nodded, looking around. You had to admit it, the scenery of the park was very nice. The gardener(s) here must be paid awfully well.

“So, I listened to Fine Line.”

Harry perked up. “Oh?”

“It was - and I’m not just saying this because I li- we’re friends - but it was incredible. I’ve never heard anything like it.”

Harry was trying to hide his smile, but he was failing miserably. “Well, that’s good,” he concluded nonchalantly. 

“No, really! I have Golden stuck in my head. It’s beautiful. And don’t even get me started on Lights Up.”

“You didn’t see the music video, did you?”

“..Yeah?”

“Oh, wow.”

“It was ARTSY!” You laughed, Harry clearly getting embarrassed. “No, in all honestly, it was great.”

“Well, I’m glad you think that,” he smiled. “I wish I could say the same to you, but you don’t sing, obviously.”

“Not my forte, honestly. I was in choir in elementary, but that’s pretty much it. Never really had any interest in the preforming arts. No offense.”

“None taken. I’ve always liked singing, but I didn’t think I’d pursue it as a career. I was very happy at my old job, thank you very much.”

“What was your old job?”

“...”

“...”

“I used to work in a bakery.”

“No way!” “That’s adorable,” you thought as the two of you rounded a corner of the path.

“Yes way! Not to brag, but I was very good at making cinnamon rolls.”

“Now, isn’t that something.”

“That’s not all - macaroons.”

“Oh my god, marry me.”

You continued goofing off for the rest of the walk. You talked about Netflix shows and whether Summer or Winter was the superior season in the taxi, and the best way to make Kraft dinner on the sidewalk. By the time you walked into the restaurant and sat down, you were discussing the importance of a good facemask.

“I don’t know. I just can’t believe you do them.”

“I can’t believe you don’t.”

“Why should I?”

“Do you want me to go over the health benefits again?”

You sighed. “No. I just do not have the patience.”

“For me to explain it again or facemasks in general?”

You smiled. “Both.”

Harry laughed rather loudly, gaining a few odd looks from some stuck-up diners. “You’re lucky you’re cute, y/n.”

Before you could respond, a waiter walked over to your table. “And what could I get for the couple this evening?” He asked.

You and Harry looked at eachother and tried to supress laughter.

“Well, I don’t know about my husband here,” you start, looking over at Harry with a grin. He’s staring back at you and you are positive that he’s gonna blow it at any second, but you decide to keep going, “But I’ll have a glass of red wine.”

“Whatever you want, dear, so I guess I’m driving,” Harry shrugged. “I will have water, please.”

The waiter nodded. “I’ll be right back.”

 As soon as he was out of earshot, the two of you burst out laughing.

“That.. was.... amazing!” Said Harry between laughs.

“I know right!” You agreed. “We have to keep it going all night.”

“YES,” he nodded as a group of teenage girls walked past the table, also laughing uncontrollably.

Then, the waiter returned. “For the lady,” he said as he placed down a glass of  wine. You immediately picked it up and took a sip. 

“For the main course, I’ll have the steak, please,” said Harry in his very-best fancy voice.

“I too,” you said, giggling and taking another sip.

The waiter nodded and headed back to the kitchen. The two of you laughed again. 

Just then, you felt your phone buzz in your purse. “It’s probably nothing,” you thought, choosing to ignore it. But then it went off again. And again. And again.

“You should probably get that,” said Harry, looking at your bag.

“Nah, it’s probably nothing.”

“Alright. I gotta run to he bathroom, and then I’m gonna order a drink for myself, okay?”

“Okay,” you said as you watched him get up. “Bring me back a glass too!”

You watched him walk over to the mens room. Your phone buzzed. He pushed open the door. Your phone buzzed. The door shut behind him. You reached down and pulled out your phone.

Ella: Oh my god

Ella: Y/n

Ella: Where are you right now

Ella: Are you with anybody?

Ella: ?????

Ella: Y/N

Ella: CHECK UR PHONE

You quickly typed up a response, although you were confused as to why she was so worried all of a sudden.

Y/n: I’m at the Sedbe Hyudge with Harry, why?

Ella: *Sent a set of photos*

Ella: Check twitter for more.

You clicked on the photos. The first was a screenshot of an update account, saying that you and Harry were in the park. Then, another tweet from the same account, saying you were at this restaurant. Then, photos of you in the park. And then, photos of you at the restaurant. Under that were screenshots of twitter users.

@Cocopopstyles: I just want Harry to take me on a date like he does with y/n, is that TOO MUCH TO ASK. They’re TOO CUTE.

@Y/nxxxxstyles: ANOTHER WIN FOR THE SHIPPERS THEY’RE AT THE SEDBE HYUDGE DHHHVDHBDCHUDB YES

@HSDaily: Ew lmfao she’s so ugly PLS 

@Stylessssmaple: “I ain’t saying she’s a golddigger, but she ain’t messing with no broke....”

@LaylaHoran: I heard that they were talking to the waiter like they’re an actual couple. A few girls overheard it, idk their @’s tho.

@LarryStylinsonobvs replying to @LaylaHoran: Really?? Omg that’s pretty quick tbh. Weren’t they first seen together days ago?

@LaylaHoran replying to @LarryStylisonobvs: Yeah apparently. Idk what’s going on. Is she a PR stunt or not???

@LarryStylinsonobvs replying to @LaylaHoran: Not to be a bluegreener but she could be a beard... we’ve gotten so much content from them in the past 72 hours like.... are u gonna tell me there’s no contract in there at all?????

@Y/nsflowers: Y/n looks so good in the new pap photos pLEASE MARRY ME MA’AM.

@Y/L/Nsummertime: Y/n is over lmfao can she please cut the bullshit. Wbk she’s in it for the money. The job, the PR stunts, the boyfriend...

@TheDailyPoolsideNews: Model y/n and ex-boyband star spotted out in the town! Will this be the next Hollywood snoozefest?

There was more, but Harry was already back at the table, carrying two glasses and setting them down, smiling. All of a sudden, you had this really sick feeling. You couldn’t look him in the eyes. You took your drink as he sat down. Not wanting to say anything in case it ruined the night, you took a sip and put your phone back in your purse.

“Everything alright?”

You looked up. “Yeah.”

Harry stared at you. You stared back jokingly, trying to break the tension. Harry’s phone started ringing. “Oops,” he frowned, “thought I turned this off...”

“You can take it, it’s okay. I checked my phone before. Plus, I need to use the washroom.”

“Okay,” he smiled as you stood up, smiling back. As you were walking away, you heard him talking to whoever was on the other end of the line. “Hey, Nial- what? No, I am, why-”

You pushed into the womens room and locked yourself in a stall. “What the hell is going on?”

You sit there for a few minutes, trying to collect your thoughts and give Harry some time to finish his conversation. Someone had seen the two of you at the park and in the restaurant, so what? Some people liked you, and some people didn’t. Okay, that’s understandable. Some people hated you. That’s fine, you don’t care. But people still think you and Harry are a PR stunt. This is only your second date! And it’s not eve a date! It’s just a... you put your head in your hands, then sit up, not wanting to smudge your mascara. You reach for your phone, only to remember you left it in your purse, which was currently on the floor next to your chair next to Harry. God.

And, to make matters worse, he had gotten a phonecall and from what you had heard when you were walking away, he sounded worried. Perfect! That was probably his management. Or, better yet, one of his friends doing the same thing Ella had done to you. Suddenly, you jumped up and walked back out to the table. He was fiddling around with his napkin. When he saw you, his face lit up. You didn’t buy it.

“Hi, sorry, it was just one of my friends. He wanted to t-”

“Oh, it’s fine,” you said, politely cutting him off.

Harry was taken back by this, but not for long. He wasn’t fazed easily. “Oh, okay. That’s good. Sorry for taking so long. Oh, and I don’t want this anymore, so if you want it, you can fill yours up. Otherwise, I’m just gonna give it to the waiter when he comes back.”

You never drank too much. You knew three glasses would be awful for you. But you took his and filled yours up, because “I don’t want to waste anything. This place is so expensive.”

Soon after, the waiter dropped off your meals. Harry was speaking less, more unsure of himself than before, but you didn’t notice. You made polite small talk, but it wasn’t like your antics from before. Yet when you were leaving, you did not split the bill. Harry still paid.

When you walked outside, it was dark. You hadn’t expected it. You laughed. Harry laughed. “Let’s wait over here for a taxi, yeah?”

You nodded and followed him. You sat on a bench. Harry messaged somebody. You swung your feet a little. Harry took a call. You stayed seated, watching people walk by. Harry came back over and helped you walk to the taxi, arm around your back. You tried to tell him you didn’t need his help, but he didn’t listen. 

Harry gave the taxi driver his address. You gave him yours, but he didn’t listen. You spoke up again, but Harry told you not to worry; you could spend the night with him. You nodded.

Harry helped you out of the taxi. You didn’t fight back. You tried to pay for the taxi, but he wouldn’t take your money. You held his hand as you walked through the doors of his apartment building, got in the elevator, got to his apartment. He sat you down on the couch and went off to his room. He came back shortly after.

“I don’t have any pyjamas for you.”

“Why would I need pyjamas?” You laughed a little, and then a lot.

Harry smiled. He went back to his room and came back with a shirt still wrapped in plastic and a bag.

“Here. The bathroom is over there. There’s makeup wipes on the counter.” He helped you up and you walked over. 

“Why do you have makeup wipes? Do you wear makeup?”

“Yep!” Said Harry. “Just turn the lock to the left. It’s tricky sometimes, try it a few times if it doesn’t work, yeah?”

“That’s so cool, can you show me your makeup sometime?”

“Yep! Maybe after you get your pyjamas on.”

“Really?”

“Mmhm!”

You shut the door and turned the lock, though you doubted you’d need it. You took off your fancy clothes and put on a pair of brand new too-big black sweatpants and a too-big pink t-shirt. Why did you need pyjamas again? Harry hadn’t answered. He wasn’t sending you home in pyjamas, was he? Uh oh.

You walked out. Harry was in the kitchen. “Do you need anything?”

“A drink.”

“Water?”

“Wine, dummy.” You cracked up at this.

“You’ve already had more than enough. C’mon, let’s go to the living room.” He grinned. 

“Whyyyyyy?”

Harry smiled patiently. “C’mon, y/n. We can watch a movie or something.”

“Okay. Wait - can I just have orange juice instead?”

“Of course.” He grabbed a can of juice and then walked into the living room. You followed. There were pillows and blankets on the couch, and Disney+ was set up.

“Ooou, fancy,” you laughed.

Harry crawled under the blankets. You did too. He laughed. So did you. Why were you even upset with him in the first place? You couldn’t remember. Harry grabbed the remote and turned on some show you’ve never heard of before. The Mandalorian, whatever that was. You leaned your head on Harry’s shoulder. It wasn’t even boring - why were you falling asleep? 

Harry closed his eyes - he was tired, too, but for different reasons. You listened to his breathing get slower. You held him tightly. You held him back. 

“Friends don’t hold friends that way,” you thought to yourself. “But who cares?”

You fell asleep. So did he.

You forgot about the stunt rumours. So did he.

He forgot about how his friend called him in a panic, not wanting this relationship to get ruined for him like the last one, and the one before that, and the one before that. About how he really, really liked you, but couldn’t act on it. He wanted to give you the world. Yes, he fell too quickly, too easily, but who could blame him?

And you forgot about Ella in the same panic. She didn’t want this to get ruined for you, of course, because this was your first shot, your first love (Although not that she’d know - you had to admit you had been a bit distant with her since you met Harry.) She didn’t want you to fall into the hands of the public eye. She wanted to make sure you were safe. She wasn’t sure if you should trust Harry, so of course she should be worried.

But you trusted him.

And he trusted you.

And everything is okay.

Until 3am.

A/N PT 2 - While you’re waiting for part 3 (which is definitely coming btw!) check out my other fics through this masterlist HERE!

[middlingthebest]

That’s not how walkie talkies work

So the sides definitely have walkie talkies, right? Like, they must.

Word count: c.1400

When asked, Roman would maintain that he hadn’t fully understood how walkie talkies worked when he made them, he just knew that he wanted them. The moment he learned about them he became absolutely enamoured in a way that he usually reserved for upgrading his sword or armour. They were just. So. Cool!

He made them for him and Patton first, the two sides giggling to themselves from separate rooms, sometimes still close enough to hear each other without the devices, and would whisper secrets, mission plans, or just nonsense back and forth. When Patton wanted to share his with Logan, Roman made another one and all three could choose who they wanted to talk to. Talking as a group from their separate rooms was popular for late-night ramblings, or for just confirming who was eating dinner at the table that night. “Goodnight”s would be chimed through them in the evenings, even if two of them decided to stay up for hushed conversations late into the night.

When Virgil first showed up, naturally he didn’t know about the light sides’ love for their walkie talkies so when Patton thrust his into his hands, insisting he take it with him before he sunk out, he stared down at it, bemused, before raising an eyebrow at the bubbly side. “Why would I take this?”

“So you can still talk to us, silly!” Patton chimed back with a laugh, reaching over to press the button on the side a couple of times to show how it worked. “You just hold that in and talk and whoever you want to talk to will hear it in theirs!”

Virgil paused for a long moment, staring at the father figure like he’d lost his mind. “Why don’t you just use phones? Or… talk to each other? You do know that this isn’t how walkie talkies work, right? And why would you even want to talk to me, you all seem to be quite happy to see me go most of the time.” He questioned, his shadowed eyes flicking from Patton’s eager expression to Roman who looked like he was physically biting his tongue to keep himself quiet about the situation.

“It’s just more fun this way!” Patton insisted. “I’m sure Roman won’t mind making me another one so if you keep that it means we can talk when we’re not all here. Please take it, I like talking to you and this’ll mean we can all talk more!” Patton then hit him with the biggest weapon in his arsenal: he went in hard with the puppy eyes.

Virgil was floored. He’d never seen Patton when he really wanted something before, never mind had it directed at him. Even Roman, looking spectacularly unhappy about it, seemed to give in and accept that Virgil had been made a part of their walkie talkie club because there was no way that Virgil was giving it back. Not with those eyes staring at him. He wished he could have been more prepared, until now the worst that had been thrown at him was Remus who was significantly more unpleasant but much less effective. He didn’t stand a chance.

“Fine.” He grumbled, a little flustered and desperate to ignore Patton’s immediate switch to cheering. “I’ll take the stupid thing. I still don’t understand why you don’t just use phones…”

That night when the first “goodnight Anxiety!” sang through the box, he kind of got it… but he wasn’t admitting that to anyone.

---

It took a long time for Virgil to actually join in on the conversations with the others through the walkie talkies. He was included a lot more often than he’d though he’d be and he couldn’t be entirely sure that wasn’t just because Patton, for whatever reason, seemed to want him there. Usually he would wear his headphones covering just the one ear, the other free to listen to the little box which would start to rattle off in the evening or late morning as the others chatted amongst themselves in their rooms. It was the night after his debate with Logan that he finally felt confident enough to enter in to the lull in conversation. Having two of the three sides somewhat accepting of his presence filled him with something that felt like confidence’s weird cousin; there was a family resemblance, sure, but the fact you couldn’t deny it was related to confidence was the only thing that stopped it from getting kicked out of family gatherings.

His face and hands heated uncomfortably but his voice was cool as he responded to something Logan had said, his heart seizing with every beat that went by until Patton’s squealing came crackling through the device.

“YOU KEPT IT!” He screeched, some of the notes he was hitting unable to make it through the old speakers.

“Well, yeah.” Virgil mumbled, his face red, and he was glad the others were so far away. “You asked me to, so…”

“Well, you would agree with the nerd, Surly Temple.” Roman griped after a moment, gingerly bringing them all back into the conversation and Virgil was honestly kind of amazed that it really was easier, it was fun, to talk with these stupid little boxes.

---

Telling Remus was a mistake. Honestly, Virgil didn’t know what he’d been thinking, and judging by the look on Janus’s face he didn’t know why he’d done it either. It was an unmitigated disaster. Remus loved the idea but he didn’t just grab and run with it, no: he may as well have javelined it into a crowd of pigeons. The “dark sides” had walkie talkies before the day was out and they worked a lot like Roman’s in the fact that they didn’t follow the standard rules of walkie talkies in who you could talk to and when, but Virgil was also pretty sure they were sentient. For the first design Remus trialled they had had faces. You spoke into their ears, their mouth’s would talk back, and they were utterly horrifying. Remus, of course, had loved them and Janus had been surprisingly ok with it, but when Virgil had woken up that first night to his standing upright on his bedside table staring at him he had demanded that they be changed.

After many, many redesigns they had all settled on a nice, boring, normal looking walkie talkie. Sometimes it would glitch out and channel what Remus with achingly loving tenderness referred to as The Void, and sometimes it would be wet, but beyond that it was perfectly normal. The Void would occasionally whisper hauntingly in the night but would generally stop if asked, and the box had only ever sparked a little when wet so really, out of all of Remus’s creations, this one was surprisingly easy to live alongside.

The only truly unfortunate feature of Remus’s walkie talkies was that they picked up on the light side’s frequencies. No-one was really sure why, but then again, it was only the Creativities who knew how they worked in the first place. Everyone had become painfully aware of this feature when Roman’s screams had pierced through each of their devices, followed immediately by the ungodly combination of Remus’s shrieking cackle over distorted sounds of unseen creatures creeping through the room. Virgil had nearly had his confiscated for allowing the infiltration from the dark sides but both Patton and Logan successfully argued the fact that the other sides were there anyway and taking Virgil’s walkie talkie away was hardly going to change that.

The others soon became roped into the conversations. Usually the light sides (and Virgil) would just stick to themselves, and the dark sides (and Virgil) would do the same, but after a few “goodnight”s and questions thrown their way, Remus and Janus would on occasion interrupt a debate among the others with their own suggestions or distractions and the chiming in soon became the new norm.

When Virgil officially left for the light sides, he took both walkie talkies with him. He’d gotten used to the gentle mutterings of The Void through the night, and the other sides were great but nothing could beat a giggle-fest with Remus at 3am. Being across the mindscape meant that now, more than ever, there was gossip to be had, and Virgil would sooner cut off his arm than give that up with Janus.

It was sheer childish nonsense. It was hard sometimes to understand the light sides enjoying them so much when they were all so close together but for bridging a gap, especially a tense one like the distance between the light and the dark sides, they were perfect.

[blackcoffeeandblankpagess]

NOLA marathon recap!

-now that it’s over I know it all worked out but in retrospect new orleans was a horrible place to pick to run a marathon lol the race itself was great but it’s definitely a party city and especially because jared’s parents are here with us (and not running) it kinda felt like we were missing out on the full experience (for instance last night we were at a jazz club but had to leave early and didn’t get drinks, etc. but we still have 24 hours of fun!)

-I was STRESSIN about what to eat yesterday/this morning because I really did not practice that while training because I just wanted to live my life and not worry about eating a certain way for a long run every weekend (plus on a normal run its no biggie to stop to use the bathroom) so I was feeling very ahhhhh!!!! yesterday, again, also because jared’s parents were here and don’t understand my running related insanity like jared does lol

-so yesterday I ate: bagel w/ cc and strawberries, pineapple

-oyster/shrimp po boy (I mean we are in new orleans) with fries

-a glass of white wine, shared fancy brussel sprouts with the table, cacio e pepe pasta (which was basically like less creamy mac and cheese and I was worried might be a bad decision but oh well) and a couple bites of a dessert we all shared (only recording this for future marathon reference)

-generally I don’t eat before morning runs but when I have all the time in the world (aka over winter break) I like to eat breakfast, poop, and then run and that was always when I had my best runs, I felt conflicted over whether or not to get up early to eat before the race because even though technically I have eaten breakfast before runs I have never intentionally woken up early with the explicit goal of eating before a long run PLUS when I ate (5am) here it was 3am my (CA) time and I was v worried about not being able to poop and then having to run feeling bloated and bleh

-but I decided to eat oatmeal and I DID poop (aren’t you all glad to know?) and that was well and good

-I had been wavering between my race plan because half of me was like “find the 4 hour pacer and just run a little bit faster at the end and you will break four” since my nyc time was 4:12 and my main goal was to break 4 but THEN my ego jumped in (that’s always good!) and was like nah nah nah nah nah but I want to go FASTER. Honestly I had NO idea what pace I could maintain for 26.2. I have been running most of my runs VERY slowly (for me) at like 10-12min pace but then I also have runs where I’ve run 6-7-8 pace (although short distance) and felt good so I was like uh uh uh because I didn’t want to finish feeling like I had more in me but I DEFINITELY didn’t want to burn out SO I decided I would find the 3:50 pacer and run the first half with them and then reassess (also, I generally run a race pace about 30 seconds faster than my usual pace comfortably because adrenaline so even though I thought the 3:50 aka 8:46 pace might be a little bit pushing it I was like welp I can always pull back if it feels like too much in the beginning)

-anyway! got to the start, found the 3:50 pacer, decided I would glue myself to her hip forever.

-THE HIGHLIGHT OF MY DAY: I don’t know how many of you have heard but last week in oklahoma a driver hit a group of runners from a highschool xc team while they were on a run and killed 2 of them and injured 4 others, I read that headline the other day and was like holy shit. THEN! In the starting corral I was next to this guy and he asked me if I had heard about that and I was like actually yes and HE IS A RUNNER ON THAT XC TEAM AND HE SAID HE WAS THERE TODAY TO RUN IN MEMORY OF HIS TEAMMATES WHO WERE KILLED and I was like holy shit you are incredible and that’s amazing and also I’m so sorry that that reason for being here exists in the first place but like WHAT! small world

-anyway! the pacer’s name was kim and she was from new orleans and we talked a bunch and kinda formed a little 3:50 squad and all got to know eachother and it was GREAT I 100% plan to run with a pacer in the future it was a game changer and I honestly believe I owe my race to it. It forced me to hold back in the beginning and hang on at the end and took all of the thinking and calculations out of it because I knew if I just hung onto her I would get there in time

-the first half of the race was nice and in the downtown area but the second half was ROUGH. It was along the lake and it was WINDY AS SHIT! And there were a bunch of bridges and even though the rest of the course was flat they were...tough. Around 18 I was like ok starting to enter the pain cave and then at 20 I was like ahhhhhh

-But I had mentally prepared myself for the mental battle of the race *see alexi pappas quote on hand* and I told myself to just stop thinking and keep moving forward, before the race even started I knew my biggest challenge in this race would be my brain, not my fitness level

-But then at 21 I started to think about dropping off the pace group because another 5 miles at that pace just seemed so. hard. But I hung on

-And then at 22 I was like ok no I need to walk for a sec my stomach did NOT feel good, so I stopped to walk on a WINDY FKING BRIDGE and then I started dry heaving into the wind but had basically nothing in my stomach I guess and I was like well this is bad but I feel validated in my need to walk for a sec!

-Miles 22-24 were just fucking hard. I had a super bad cramp and was in the pain cave and honestly walked a fair bit and the whole time I was like bitch we are not having an nyc repeat!

-I knew that I had run the first 22 miles fast enough that if I just kept. moving. I would finish under 4. Even though my sub 3:50 ship had sailed I was like YOU HAVE COME TOO FAR TO LET THIS GET AWAY FROM YOU.

-I SHUFFLED mile 25 but I was like if you can just run, even your slowest possible pace, you will make it.

-And then there was a HUGE BRIDGE HILL that I had forgotten about just past 25 and I was like holy shitTtTtTt

-But then I had .7 to go and I KNEW I was going to make it

-And the whole time I was just like “Danielle just keep fucking moving. Just get there under 4 hours. You can take 500 years off of running after this. You can get a fancy drink with dinner tonight. Just keep fucking moving.”

-And I did just that

-As I approached the finish I looked at the seconds on my watch because I honestly felt like I had NOTHING left to give so I was like ok how close am I to the next minute and I was at like 3.52:20 or something and I was like oh we HAVE this

And then it was over! And I am so happy with the result! And I found jared and his parents and it was the best I could have asked for and honestly, I respect the marathon so much more. I feel like after nyc because my pacing screwed me over I was like pft I can run a WAY faster marathon if I’m just smart! I just didn’t run that one intelligently! (which like yes true BUT) but today I was like fuck no marathons are just HARD. That’s the tea!

So! 3:52. 20 minute PR. Honestly not the best training cycle. Can’t wait to see what I’m capable of when I really give it my all.

[httpswwwtbhkcom]

Killing Spree

Chapter 2- Rivalry 

... Pairing: Momo Yaoyorozu x Reader, Some  Isetaki Nahiko x Reader

[@httpswwwtbhkcom’s masterlist] [Killing Spree Navi] 

Summary: Momo is working at a Yakuza her parents’ owned. She had killed multiple people called her ‘targets’ since she was going to be the next Oyabun. After her last killing spree, her new target was named Y/n L/n. A beautiful young lady, the same age as Momo. She unexpectedly saw you on a dark alleyway surrounded by another Yakuza. She had saved you, then both became friends. She had liked you every second she has with you. Her parents had noticed her sneaking out lately. So they confronted her, That had let into an arguement.

Yaomomo’s Yakusa name is Creati

Warning: Some wrong grammars, mafia au, some swearing, some things about Shiketsu high that aren’t true, Momo and Nahiko rivalry

Genre: Fluff, some angst, mafia au,

Keys:

Y/n- your name, L/n- last name, Yakuza- mafia,  Senpai- a person a year or more older than you, Kouhai- a person younger than you, Oyabun- Mafia boss, 

Names: 

Isetaki Nahiko- One of your Kouhai,   Asatsuka Izuki- Co-worker who is older than you, 

A/n: This got deleted earlier now i have to do it again. It was so long. Anyways, enjoy!

My apologies if it’s a bit late today, I was busy with some school work. Don’t ask

... The characters are 20+ Years old!

Reader: Female

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[Y/n’s introduction]  [Prologue] [Momo’s introduction]  .. [Previous] [You are here] [Next]

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“I’m glad all of you could make it!” Toshinori or so-called All might said. “But my apologies for making a meeting at the last minute. This meeting will be quite different from the others.” He continued.

“We will be raiding the Lov Yakuza with the Shiketsu University.” Aizawa continued.

Everyone (The class 1A) gasps, looking at each other. They have not been in the good terms with the other University Yakuza’s. 

“Sir, But we haven’t collaborated with any of the universities for years! All universities were rivals.” Iida said. 

“Exactly, that’s why were going to change that. We agreed to help Shiketsu to raid the Lov. They said this as a ‘Peace treaty’.” Aizawa replied to the blue haired boy. Iida sighed. “But we still need to be alerted at all costs, I don’t trust them..” Hagakure said, her tone getting serious. “Agreed, we don’t know what their actually planning.” Momo continued. “Noted. The raid is going to start next week, Shiketsu University said that we will all meet at the entrance of the UA at 3am sharp.” Aizawa said in a dull but serious tone. 

“That’s all! All may be dismissed.” All might exclaimed.

Everyone stood up from their seats are scattered, talking to each other. 

“Sitting in a seat at meetings are so uncomfortable!” Uraraka groaned, stretching her arms upwards, and going to her group with Momo. “I know, kero.” Tsuyu replied. 

“What do you think about Shiketsu University?” Midoriya asked. “I don’t know.” Todoroki asked. “But what’s strange is that Shiketsu wanted to collaborate with us for raiding. It’s so weird, Shiketsu and UA are rivals.” He continued. “Shiketsu University haven’t collaborated or became allies with the other schools for so long. What would change their mind?” Iida asked, “I don’t they’ll ‘change their mind’.” Momo quoted. The others looked at Momo in confusion. Momo took a book about Yakuzas’ and the Yakuza schools. Then she turned it to the ‘The stories and rumors of Shiketsu High/University’. “It says here that Shiketsu was a mischievous kind of school for Yakuzas. Lying to other schools only to gather trust and wealth.” Momo continued.

“Ah yes i have heard that. They were one of the schools that shouldn’t be trusted..” Midoriya replied. “Well, should we tell them that there are not supposed to be trusted?” Uraraka asked. “We all know that they know. They just gave them a chance.” Todoroki answered, eyes looking infront of him. 

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“Ok since your shifts are over, everyone can leave now. I’ll close the shop this time.” One of your co-workers said. 

You said your goodbyes to everyone then left. “What a long day! Right?” Isuki asked you. “Mhm. Today, so many people went to the flower shop! I wonder what day it is..” You answered. “It’s a wedding.” She smiled. You gasped. “Why didn’t you tell me! I could’ve greeted them.” You whined. “Child, You were busy at the back, i can’t disturb you when your busy.” She laughed. You pouted.

“I’ll notify you next time i promise.” She said. You both walked silently until she interrupted the silence. “Y/n.” She said. You looked at her “Yes?”. “Who is the black haired girl? She seems new.” Isuki asked. “Oh! That’s my new friend. I met her yesterday and she saved me!” You exclaimed. “Hm That’s nice.” She commented. “This is it. See you tomorrow child.” She said, waving her hand to go to her apartment. “Goodbye and have a good night!” You waved back. Before going to the opposite direction.

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“G-good morning senpai!” Nahiko greeted when he immediately saw you. “Good morning!” You replied. “U-uhm. Senpai... Can we hang-out today? A-as friends! Please?” He stuttered, blushing furiously. “Oh sure! Since it’s my day off. I will just tell the club president that i will be leaving early. I’ll see you later ‘kay?” You answered. “O-okay Senpai!” Then he went back to his friend group, hearing some “Good job!” and “I knew you could do it!”.

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“S-senpai Y/n! You came!” Nahiko exclaimed. You softly smiled at him, making him blush. “Of course i did! I can’t let a kouhai of mine stay for too long y’know?” You gently patted his head. 

He grabbed your hand and dragged it “Let’s go to the park! I heard they’re selling new ice creams today!” He excitingly said. 

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You were talking to Nahiko, while eating your ice cream. You were breathtaking.

Momo seemed to pass by and saw you. She was going to until she stopped. ‘Who is that? Is that Y/n’s friend? Are they dating? I shouldn’t bother them..’ She said to herself, her heart unexpectedly breaking. She was going to pass by them quickly until you saw her. “Momo! Hey!” You waved. She cursed herself for being so slow. Her feet quickly walked stopped infront of you. “Uhm. Hey Y/n.” She greeted. 

The boy beside you went into a mix of confusion and jealousy. “So whose that?” He interrupted. “Oh! This is Momo, my friend.” You said “Momo, this is Nahiko, my kouhai, and also my friend.” You continued.

Momo sighed in relief. ‘Her friend huh.’ “Ah hello, nice to meet you.” She faked a smile. “Nice to meet you too Momo.” The word slipped out of his tongue with venom, making Momo shiver. 

They shook hands. Both of them gripping them tightly, making the tension near them increase. 

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If you want to be in the Taglist, feel free to ask!:

@12snsds ,

[flowery-mess]

A request for you: Richard Madden and reader have been friends for a long time and end up quarantined together... do what you will ☺️

-Okay so I changed it a little bit, so there is little back story in the beginning. I really hope you don’t mind and I hope you like it! 😊

- not edited yet

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Everyone has this one friend that desperately tries to push you into dating someone because you have been single for too long. Yes, I have Cindy. Let me introduce her: she’s the friend that always ends up with all guys liking her when you go out. Everyone likes her. EVERYONE. That makes me be the quiet and ‘weird’ friend.

Recently she met this guy named Josh. Well they have been seeing eachother for a few months actually and it looked more serious than any other of her relationships. I like him too. I met him at Cindy’s birthday party and he seemed like really nice guy. After the birthday dinner we went to a club and met some of his friends. They were just like him so I didn’t mind it at all.

And yeah here we go to the point, that night me and Miranda met Richard for the first time. When Josh introduced us I immediately saw Cindy’s reaction and I knew what was coming. When we went for drinks the first thing she said was ‘You have to talk to him!’

And I wasn’t surprised because I saw that coming. After few drinks it was more like ‘You need to have sex with him’ or ‘Look at him he’s so hot!’ or ‘If I wasn’t dating Josh.’

Nothing ever happened between me and Richard. He was nice and kind and I liked talking to him even when we met at another occasions that Josh and Cindy dragged us along. And I’m not going to lie, he is handsome and with his personality and charm he’s probably the guy every girl is looking for. I mean, I probably wouldn’t say no if he wanted something, but I for sure won’t be the one who initiations it.

But back to Cindy. Her and Josh wanted to rent a house by the sea and they didn’t want to go alone. It’s always better if there is more people, because that’s more fun.

“Yeah I would like to go, but I don’t want to be your third wheel.” I said to Cindy who just asked me.

“Don’t worry my friend, you for sure won’t be.” She had smirk on her face and I knew she had a plan for me.

“Richard is going, isn’t he?” I asked and tried to don’t show that I was actually looking forward to see him after some time because he was away for his new movie.

“Yes he is!” of course Cindy saw it as opportunity to make us a couple.

“Okay, that’s great.”

“Are you happy?”

“Is it wrong if I say yes?” I wanted to kind of confess to her that I actually like him.

“I knew it! I knew you like him! It’s not wrong at all, he’s so nice and you deserve someone like him and be happy.” Cindy took my hand in hers and smiled at me.

“Yeah but let’s not make our happily ever after without even knowing how he feels.” I tried to stay on the ground because what if he doesn’t feel this way? I tried to get out of my head that he is an famous actor and I’m just simple girl who works in office, because he doesn’t look like he cares about those things.

“We will see.”

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“So? How do you like it?” Josh asked as we stand in the master room in this big house which is ours for the next five days.

“It’s really beautiful.” I said and couldn’t stop looking around me.

“Yeah nice choice mate.” Richard said.

We didn’t talk much on the plane, we were sleeping or listening some music.

“Okay, let’s get settleeeed!” Cindy was really excited about this everyone could tell.

Josh and Cindy got the master bedroom and Richard and I both got smaller bedrooms next to each other.

I took my things out of my bag and unpacked all of my things.

I turned my head towards the door when I heard it open and saw Cindy.

“Hey, so me and Josh are going out for a walk if that’s okay?”

“Of course it is. See you later love birds!” I shouted the second part for Josh to hear it.

After that Cindy closed the door and they left. After some time I decided to go down and look through the kitchen and make myself some tea.

When I was doing so I heard footsteps and moments later Richard joined me in the kitchen.

“Hey there.” He said with smile on his face. God damn his innocent smile.

“Hey. Want some tea?”

“Yeah, thank you.”

As I made us tea he disappeared somewhere and came back with two blankets.

“Let’s go sit outside? We should catch up I haven’t seen you for ages.”

“Yeah absolutely.”

He made his way outside while I waited for the water got hot and I tried to not smile so hard. He just does this thing to me without even trying.

 “So how is your new movie going so far?” I started the little talk when we were cuddled in our blankets and sipping our tea.

“Really great. We have some final scenes and then I’m free. And I can finally hang out with all of you again.”

“Yeah we missed you.” You wanted to say ‘I miss you’ but I didn’t want to make it weird.

“How is your work going?”

“What do you think? Still the same boring paper work.” I rolled my eyes which made Richard laugh. God how I missed talking with him.

As we were talking we didn’t see Josh and Cindy coming back, so we were really surprised when they jumped out and scared us. Which made me spill my already cold tea all over myself. Great.

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Next days were all the same. Just hanging out on the beach, playing games, walks through the city or movie night. Nothing happened between me and Richard, but I enjoyed spending time with him.

But the third night things got crazy. Cindy woke me up at 3AM, crying and telling me that her mom got into car accident and that they are leaving. Richard then told me what happened, said that he booked flights just for them two and me ad Richard are staying. I honestly wanted to go to see Cindy’s mum too, because I love her just much as my mum, but I didn’t want to make things more hectic.

When they left, me and Richard were sitting quietly in the kitchen. Both in our own thoughts. When Richard realized I had tears streaming down my face, he came to me and pulled me into a hug. I broke down and started crying much more. We moved to living room where we sat ourselves on the couch. Richard was still holding me close to him.

“Shh love, it’s gonna be alright.” I felt him stroking my hair to calm me down.

“We will call Cindy right when we wake up right? Let’s sleep now.” I felt his lips in my hair. He then laid us both down and covered with blanket. I was so tired and sad that I didn’t even realize that I was cuddled up against Richard, but it for sure made me calmer and made me fall asleep.

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When I woke up, my head was pounding. Probably because of the crying last night. I felt Richard’s hand still around me and heard his slow breathing, so he was still sleeping. I tried to look at my phone, which was on the table, not wanting to wake Richard up, but I felt him moving when I reached my phone.

“Morning.” I heard him say.

“Morning. Sorry I woke you up.”

“That’s fine. How are you feeling?” he was sitting now and I could still see the sleepiness in his eyes.

“My head hurts, but I am better now.” few seconds of slence followed before I said “Thank you.”

“No worries. Have you called Cindy yet?”

“No I was just trying to see if she texted me.”

I finally looked at my phone and froze immediately.

I had missed calls from Cindy, Josh and my mum. Few notifications from my new app.

I read the last one which said “Because of this very complicated situation, all English airports are closed.”

“What?” I said loud.

“What’s wrong?” Richard asked.

I showed him the news and we immediately called Cindy.

She told us that the situation got much worse and they decided to close down airports for some time. Then we talked about her mom which made me relax, hearing that it wasn’t that serious.

“So we’re are stucked here for God’s know how long, aren’t we?” Richard said after I hung up.

“Looks like it.” We both got quiet for few minutes.

“I don’t mind it actually.” Richard started talking.

“What?”

“I don’t mind being here with you.” He looked at me and I didn’t know how to react.

“I don’t mind it either.” I finally said and looked down, because I didn’t want to see him how red I got.

“Happy to hear that.” Laugh following his words.

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When we were on our way home on train I was looking out of window and thinking.

Thinking about how I enjoyed these seven days with Richard. We talked a lot, we saw lot of movies and played lot of games, but most importantly we had a talk. We agreed that we feel something towards each other, but didn’t want to rush things. So some kisses and touches were stolen, but nothing more.

When we reached the London station and before we both went our own ways, we stopped in the corner of the main hall.

“Turned out as a great trip huh?” Richard said and laughed at his own words, because of this irony that was brought with this trip.

“The best.”

He moved closer to me and put his hands around my waist. Our eyes locked before he started talking again.

“I’m glad where are we now. Don’t want to rush anything, but I am glad we feel the same.”

“Yeah me too.” I touched his forehead and put the hair that was there back to their place.

He leaned more and kissed me. I put my arms around his neck as we had our little moment.

“Talk to you soon?” he put it out more like a question.

“Yeah.”

Few more kisses before we both went out and get our own cabs to take us home.

This trip turned out more then great and I definitely need to say thanks to Cindy.

I feel butterflies every time I think of our few days together and I think of our future together already. But just like we agreed, we’re not rushing into anything, so I will see what will happen in the future. And I can’t wait for that.

[imagine-that-100]

Drunk | Part 8 |

Description of Part 1: Matty Healy x Reader (Female) | When you come back home to Manchester from University, you get invited to a house party filled with your old friends from high school. You hadn’t seen most of them for 4 years and the house brings back some old memories of the parties you once attended. Getting drunk with old friends ends up being better than you imagined.

Word Count: 12.2k

A/N: Okay hopefully by the end of this I will have redeemed myself from the torture I made you read last week? Hope you don’t hate me anymore xx Thanks for reading and love you all! Let me know if you want to be tagged x

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| MASTERLIST IN BIO | 

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You slowly got yourself back together over the next few months with the help of your friends. Y/B/F practically came and lived with you for the first month because you became morbidly depressed.

You ate junk food most nights because you couldn’t be bothered doing anything. You slept most of the time because it was just a way for the pain to go away.

But you got yourself up every day and made yourself presentable. You didn’t let your emotions get a hold of you at work. You had people to take care of that were in much worse situations than you, so you kept your emotions at home.

About a month after you ended things with Matty, you started to go out to parties again. Initially you really didn’t want to. All you wanted to do was stay at home and go to sleep but they all forced you out.

And in the end, you were really glad that they did because you felt better. You started to feel like yourself again. And you quickly got back into the rhythm of going out with your friends and having a good time again.

You also kept in touch with Denise and Louis like you promised, and you were so thankful they were still nothing but lovely to you. They still treated you like one of the family and you took Louis out to the cinema like you promised him.

He seemed to have a great time and the film that he chose was also surprisingly good, so you had a really good time too. You of course got him the McDonalds that you always got him when you looked after him for his tea.

You honestly loved the kid so much you wished he was actually your brother.

Over the next few months you were your old self again. You were happier and you made the most of the summer holidays whilst you had the time off. You went out so much you had to put everything in your calendar of your plans.

You barely had a second to yourself. You were going on a last-minute girly holiday which you were really excited about. The day before you were due to go away on that holiday though you had a little break down.

You were just thankful that your girls were there to pick you back up though. Matty had posted a picture of himself with Halsey and you just knew it was a couple’s photo.

You wouldn’t lie and say it didn’t make you upset because it really did. You just sat and cried about it for a good hour until Ava saw that he’d posted it and called you up making sure you were okay.

You obviously weren’t and she came around straight away. You told her how you just hated everything about the situation. You hated that you weren’t over it, you hated that your heart hurt every time you thought about him and you hated how you felt like you were nothing to him.

He meant the world to you and you still loved him. It just wouldn’t turn off and you were thankful that Ava just sat and listened to what you had to say.

But she called the other girls around and you had a good afternoon together until you had to go your separate ways so you could finish packing for your holiday.

You were going with Ava, Stacy, Y/B/F, Caroline and Alisha. They arranged it as a surprise for you for your birthday and they somehow let your school give you the time off so at least you got to miss the holidays with all the children taking up the pools.

You were away for your birthday and you were so excited to spend your birthday in the luxury of an all-inclusive holiday. And that seemed to be the cure that you needed for your heart.

Whilst you were there you and the girls when to various clubs where you pulled different guys and you didn’t feel sick afterwards. You found yourself having fun and you got your old mentality back.

You got more dick over there in the space of a week than when you started Uni and went to fresher’s week. The other girls were happy for you and you slowly felt yourself become more open to the idea of being single again.

You didn’t go for any of them more than once and on one night you managed to get 2 different guys to shag you. One at the beginning of the night and one at the end.

Needless to say, you were more over Matty when you came back off your holiday than when you went. You felt better about yourself and got your confidence back. And you definitely didn’t keep that to yourself.

You posted so many pictures on Instagram that the world didn’t know what hit them. Or you liked to think of it like that anyway.

And what made it better was that a certain someone had definitely seen them, and it proved your point that you wouldn’t be sad and broken like he’d left you forever.

And you knew he knew because you and Ava were chatting to Ross on the phone because things were still great between them. Ava was telling him all the gossip about everything that had been going on but was currently telling him that one of the guys you’d shagged was also staying at the hotel you were, and you kept running into him.

Ross ended up saying, “Jesus Christ Y/N, that’s gotta be the awkwardest thing in the world”

You and Ava laughed at that but before you could reply you could hear George shouting on the other end of the phone, “Is that Y/N? Put her on speaker”

Ross agreed and you had a chat to them when George started asking what was going on. George had been great with you. He’d kept in contact with you and you spoke every week or so. He knew you didn’t want to talk about Matty, so he kept everything light and he told you about the tour and how they were getting on.

You loved hearing the stories because you did miss Matty keeping you up to date with everything but at least you still had your best pal George.

“So, Y/N/N what have you been up to on your holiday?” George asked you and you smiled at how excited he sounded to speak to you.

“Getting dicked” You told him and both you and Ava started laughing.

“Check you out. How many you bagged so far?” George said seeming as excited as one of the girls.

“She’s up to six different ones in five days and we have still got two days left so I recon she’ll be on ten before we leave” Ava chuckled, and you let out a laugh at that along with Ross and George.

“Ohhh Yeahhhhh! Get me the dick” You joked, and George and Ross burst out laughing.

“Oh dear, same old Y/N” George sighed which made you smile.

“You know it Georgie” You told him, and you carried on your conversation for a little while.

All whilst Matty was listening in on everything because he was on the other side of the room to George and Ross.

~*~*~*~*~*~

When you got back from your holiday you all decided to have one more night out with your girls until you all had to return back to reality. And you were so glad that you did.

Whilst you were out you ran into some one rather unexpected. You’d been into Manchester with the girls but all managed to catch the last train back to Wilmslow, so it didn’t cost you a bomb to get back home.

You decided that you would go back to the bar that you usually went to because it stayed open till 3am and the vibe in there was always good. You went in and sat on one of the high tables with stools surrounding that had been abandoned.

There were about 20 different glasses still on the table but none of you minded and you went up to the bar to order you drink. Whilst you were up there though you looked towards the guy next to you and really recognised him.

After looking for a second but not realising who it was you looked away, so you didn’t appear to be a creep. The guy was really cute. He had a chiselled jawline with cute brown hair that was swept back like Ross’.

You waited patiently for the staff member to come and serve you but after a minute you felt the guys eyes on you. You looked back over to him and smiled when your eyes met his.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to stare you just look really familiar” He apologises and you felt relieved that it wasn’t just you.

You smiled and told him, “It’s okay. I thought I recognised you too!”

“What’s your name?” You asked the cute guy.

“Tom, what’s yours?” He told you but the name didn’t ring any bells.

“Y/N” You say, and you saw the wave of recognition fly across his face.

“Oh my god, it’s you” He gasps, resting a hand on your shoulder excitedly. But from the look on your face he could tell you didn’t remember him.

“You don’t remember, do you?” Tom asked and you shook your head with an apologetic smile.

“I’m sorry, I’ve got no clue”

Tom then lent closer to you and said into your ear so you could hear him over the noise, “I won’t go down in history as the guy with the best pick up lines, but I’ll go down on you”

Tom couldn’t contain his smile as he then watched the recognition light up your face.

“Oh my god, yes, Tom, of course. You look great, how’ve you been?” You asked him like you were old friends.

“I’ve been great thank you, how are you?” He asked and then you chatted along for the rest of the night.

“You never called me for that drink” You pointed out and he started telling you about how he was going to call you the day after he met you, but he genuinely lost your number. When he came to check his phone, it was nowhere to be found.

Tom told you how he was gutted about it because he really wanted to take you out. You joked that he ‘lost’ it on purpose, and he told you multiple times that he really didn’t and to make it up to you he bought you a drink.

To be fair to him, Tom bought you drinks for the remainder of the night and you danced with him a fair amount until he whispered into your ear, “Do you wanna get outta here?”

Of course, you nodded your head because he was still one of the most stunning people you’d ever seen, and he’d been a perfect gentleman all night. He’d gotten a lot better looking since you’d last seen him and you didn’t think that was possible but there he was.

He had broadened up since last time, and you could feel how strong he was when his arms were around you. And you felt safe in his arms. Safer than you had done in a long time so when you woke up the next morning and he asked for your number you made sure that he gave you a quick call so the number wouldn’t be lost.

And that was how a blissful 2-and-a-half-year relationship formed. You started dating him straight away after that night and you got on like a house on fire. You told him about your past and your worries about another relationship just 3 months after your old one but he never pressured you into anything but that ended up being the best thing.

You fell into an amazing loving relationship and you were so horrendously happy. Tom was your Prince Charming and came and saved you. He gave you hope in the male species again and you were both so happy.

So, when Denise ended up seeing you about 3 months into your new relationship, she thought you looked like a completely different person. The light in your eyes was back and you seemed like yourself again which made her really really happy.

Initially though, when you took Louis out, she could tell you still weren’t yourself and only two weeks after splitting with Matty, she didn’t expect you to. The second time she saw you though was just before your birthday and you looked a lot better.

It was a week before you were due to go on you holiday and she’s asked you to babysit Louis the first time which you happily agreed to. However, when the front door opened at 2am you didn’t realise the surprise that was waiting for you.

Denise had forgot to tell you that Matty was also due home the same night so when you got up to greet Denise at the front door, your smile fell off your face when you saw who it actually was.

You both paused and gazed at each other for a moment until Matty put his keys down on the side. The action caused you to start being human again and your heart hurt slightly looking at him. After all you’d only been split up about a month.

You saw that he had lovebites on his neck that looked like someone had punched him it was that big. You found it childish, you were 23 now, did anyone really need marks on their neck anymore?

You could tell he was completely pissed as well. He stank of cigarettes and lager. You’d grown to love the slight smell of tobacco that always lingered around Matty but tonight he smelled fucking disgusting. It was like he’d been chain smoking.

“Why are you here?” Matty questioned and you frowned at him.

“Looking after your brother” You told him, wondering why he didn’t know.

“Right” Matty said before kicking his shoes off and continuing to chew the gum that was in his mouth.

When you didn’t get another response from him you nodded to yourself and grabbed your car keys from near where his now lay. You pulled the front door open as you mumbled under your breath, “Great chat”

“He’s fine by the way. Just in case you were wondering” You said before shutting the door behind you and pettily driving back home annoyed.

The next time you babysat for Louis was 3 months into your relationship with Tom. When you walked into their house Denise thought you looked amazing.

She asked who it was that was making you smile like a schoolgirl and you told her about you and Tom. She was over the moon for you and she said that the next time you came around she wanted to meet him.

“Well you’ll see him tonight. He’s going to come and pick me up” You told her. You were staying at his tonight because you were both going down to Liverpool tomorrow for a concert and you were going to spend the day out together before you went.

“Oh, I’ll hopefully get home before Matt does then to see him” She said, and your smile faltered slightly.

“Oh honey, I’m so sorry I forgot to tell you that Matty’s on his way back home tonight…” She started but you assured her you would be fine. 

There wouldn’t be a repeat of last time, you had moved on and you were happy again. You really didn’t care if you saw him again at this point.

Just after Denise went out you and Louis sat down and had a semi-serious conversation about what you both wanted to do. You gave him the choices of a movie night, cinema, bowling or crazy golf and he found the decision difficult.

Of course though, the first thing that Louis did was make sure that McDonalds would be involved which he was very pleased about when you agreed. He then decided that you would be going to the Trafford Centre to play crazy golf which you both found hilarious.

You both had a blast and after you’d been beaten by a child, you took him to McDonalds in the food area. You honestly loved taking him out, he never failed to make you smile and he seemed to love having you around. Since you’d met him, he really seemed to love you and you were glad that nothing had changed.

You ended up going to the arcade that was also in there as well where you managed to spend over £30 on nothing. The only thing you kept from your spending spree in the arcade was the pictures that you and Louis got at the photo booth and a teddy that he won.

Afterwards you then took him into HMV so he could buy a DVD that you both could watch when he got home. He chose Man of Steel which had just come out on DVD which actually turned out to be a good film. A lot better than the other Superman movies you’d seen.

After that though it was 11:30 and you reluctantly told Louis that he had to go to bed. You weren’t tight though you didn’t say it he had to go to sleep you just needed to keep up a good impression, so Denise still allowed you to come around and hang out with Louis when she went out.

“Okay, I won’t go upstairs and go on my PS3” Louis said as he hugged you goodbye.

You chuckled and hugged him back, “I won’t tell if you don’t”  

“Thanks for today Y/N” He smiled just as he was about to leave the room.

“You’re very welcome. I’ll see you soon, I promise” You grinned, and he said he would hold you to it.

After he went upstairs you got yourself comfy on the sofa and you turned on some shit TV. You got yourself too comfy though because the next thing you knew the front door was being opened and you’d woken up to the TV being a completely different programme than you left it.

You rubbed your eyes and picked your phone up. It was 1:30am and you immediately texted Tom to say you were ready to be picked up, you already couldn’t wait to get back to sleep.

Matty came into the lounge and seemed shocked that you were in the house. You smiled when he came into the room and tried to look past the shocked look on his face.

“Hey Y/N, what are you doing here?” Matty questioned but at least it was kindly this time.

“Looking after Louis again whilst your Mum’s out” You told him with a smile.

“Ah right, isn’t he like fifteen now? Shouldn’t he be staying home alone?” Matty thought out loud and you shook your head.

“He’s twelve” You told him like he should know.

“Oh, shit yeah” Matty said before sitting down on the other sofa.

“How are you anyway?” You asked him. 

You were curious, you couldn’t lie. You always wondered and you did miss checking in with him.

“Yeah I’m good thanks. You doing okay?” Matty asked and you nodded.

“Yeah, I’m great thanks… How are my boys doing?” You asked with a big grin thinking of the lads.

“They’re good, they’re good. I just dropped George at home for the night and Hann and Ross are the same as usual. Fucking idiots mostly” Matty grinned and you couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Oh dear” You smiled, and you checked your phone again.

After a second of silence Matty looked back at you and noticed you on your phone. “Do you need a lift home? I didn’t see your car” He asked genuinely.

“Ah no I’m good thanks, I’m getting a lift” You smiled.

“You sure? I don’t mind”

“Honestly it’s fine, he’s already on his way” You told him before returning back to your phone.

Just as Matty processed what you said and just as he was about to ask who was picking you up, your text alert went off. Matty watched as you grinned down at your phone before picking your jacket up from next to you.

“Actually, he’s here” You said standing up.

Matty stood up as well so he could show you out. “Who’s coming getting you?” Matty asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

“Just Tom” You said shrugging your jacket on and then pulling the door open. You didn’t even realise that Matty wouldn’t have even known who Tom was when you just said “Cya”

When you walked out you saw Tom walking up the driveway to meet you and you smiled at him. “Hey, thanks for coming getting me” You said before quickly pecking his lips.

“It’s okay” He said before he caught your lips again for a second and you smiled up at him lovingly.

You started walking towards his car, but you noticed Tom turn back to look at the door and nod (in a friendly way) towards Matty, who you actually forgot was there. You turned back and sent a little wave his way before you reached the car.

Matty watched as Tom opened the door for you and you climbed into the passenger seat of the car. After that Matty closed the door behind him now fully understanding the difference in your behaviour from the first time to the last time he’d seen you.

The first time you looked sad still, almost depressed but now 6 months since you’d both separated you were happy again and looked so much better. You still didn’t quite seem yourself because Matty knew your tells, but you looked happy. And that was something Matty could say he was jealous of.

He thought that maybe he needed a dose of the same medicine. So that’s what Matty ended up doing.

In the New Year it was officially put on both Matty and Halsey’s Instagram that they were a thing. People had been speculating about it for a while, but they had finally made it official and when you found out you could honestly say to yourself that you were happy for him.

You were in such a good place in your relationship with Tom that you didn’t think anything could put a downer on it. And it couldn’t.

You were so beyond happy, and everyone seemed to love him. Tom fitted in so well with your friends and your family loved him just as much as they loved Matty.

Even Denise loved him when she forced you to bring him around after a year of her not yet meeting him. She’d asked you to sit in with Louis for a night again but after not bringing Tom around to meet her multiple times throughout the year she said he could come and sit with you whilst you had your movie night in with Louis.

She loved him and she treated him like she’d known him for years. Tom seemed to love her too especially when she thanked him for keeping you happy for the past year.

She reluctantly went out after that and you all sat in and had a movie night. Louis had a list of movies lined up that he apparently knew you would love, and he wasn’t wrong. The kid probably knew your movie taste better than you knew you.

That night when Louis had gone upstairs on his Xbox you and Tom just stayed on the sofa and carried on watching movies. You ended up having a good night in and you ended up falling asleep with your head in his lap.

When Matty and Denise returned home together that night they walked into the lounge to find you fast asleep using Tom’s lap as a pillow and him falling asleep too. Matty’s eyes found you before they did Tom and he saw how peaceful you looked.

You looked just like you used to when you were curled up next to him in bed. You looked peaceful which was nice for Matty to see but his heart sank when he saw you were lay in Tom’s lap. Just a few years earlier you would be lay in his lap like that.

When Matty closed the door to the lounge Tom woke up and picked his head up off the sofa. He smiled at both Matty and Denise saying a soft, “Hey” and then quickly followed by an apology for falling asleep.

Denise said it was no bother, whilst Matty stayed quiet and walked into the kitchen. Tom softly woke you up and you got up and spoke to Denise for a little while. Tom chatted along with you whilst Matty kept himself to himself and only speaking when he had to, so he didn’t appear rude.

Denise loved to see you happy and it did make Matty happy too. He was glad he hadn’t ruined your life like he was slowly ruining his own. He was happy that you were happy.

~*~*~*~ 2016 ~*~*~*~

Your happiness with Tom lasted until January 4th, 2016. You’d had a great 2 and a half years with him but you both decided to mutually call it off. There wasn’t a future with him, well not the one that you wanted anyway so you thought it was best to go your separate ways and stay friends with each other before you grew to resent him.

But you didn’t mind. You looked at the split as a positive thing. And you found yourself getting back on track a hell of a lot faster than you did when you split up with Matty.

You guessed you’d grown a lot as a person the past 3 years, that or you were just happier because you hadn’t been cheated on.

Just after you’d split with Tom you got a text from George. It wasn’t about anything to do with Tom which you were sort of thankful for and the message the text contained made you unbelievably happy.

Hey Y/N/N. Hope your good! I just wondered if you wanted to come to the album release party again? We’re planning on dropping it Feb 26, so the party starts at 7 on the 25th. Really hope you can come, feel like I haven’t seen you in ages. Miss you loads, hopefully see you there x

Your heart melted at the message and of course you replied to him telling him you’d be there. You wouldn’t miss it for the world. The singles that they’d dropped last year, Love Me and Ugh!, were tunes so you were really excited to hear some new stuff from them.

After the breakup with Matty you boycotted their music for a long while until you could listen to Matty’s voice without getting upset or angry at it. You were glad you’d got past that stage because you had enjoyed their music for years and they had some really good songs that you sometimes just wanted to listen to.

January past by fast with you moving into your own little flat and getting your life back in order. You found it weird living on your own again, but you found yourself enjoying it at the same time. February came around quickly and one day you were in your car driving to the supermarket when the radio presenter caught your attention.  

“Right so we’ve got a new one here. It dropped today, February 15th 2016, and I’ve gotta say it’s a great song. It’s the latest single from The 1975 and it's off their new album ‘I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It’. Yes, it’s a bit of a mouthful but I’ll tell you all right now it’s going to be a banging album” The presenter said just as you were pulling into your parking space.

“So here it is… Somebody Else by The 1975” He said and then the music turned up.

You parked the car and sat listening as Adam played the synth until Matty’s voice rang out, “So I heard… You found… Somebody else… And at first… I thought… It was lie”

It was needless to say that the song struck a chord with you. It was the ultimate break up song. One that you could dance and cry to at the same time.

You sat there contemplating what to do because by the end of the song you had a feeling the song wasn’t about Matty’s break up with Halsey last year. Different things about your relationship with Matty started flooding back to you and your heart sank at it.

The song should have been reminding you of Tom, but it really didn’t. You didn’t think you would be phased if you saw Tom with someone else and after a month of not being together it really should be playing on your mind.

But no. You thought about Matty and how it did sting when you first saw him with someone else. Like when he posted that picture with Halsey way back in 2013 after you’d split you remembered how heartbroken you were by it.

But it was another part of the chorus that made you think it was more about you than it was about Halsey. For a start you didn’t think Matty would write an anthem about her after she literally outed his private secrets when she released her album last year.

The song Colors was clearly about him and it actually shocked you when you listened to it. You wouldn’t have shared any of Matty’s secrets like that, so it made you question how nice of a person she actually appeared to be.

But the main reason the song struck you was the lyric “I’m looking through you while looking through your phone and then leaving with somebody else”

That line alone took you back to 6 months ago. Steve had invited you to another school reunion sort of party but this time everyone’s other halves here invited. So, because you and Tom were in the area visiting family you both went.

You walked in and hugged Steve because he was greeting people as you went entered the house. The place looked fancier than usual, but that was probably because now that you were 26 and all dressed like it.

You’d got there a bit late because you and Tom couldn’t put each other down so when you entered you could tell that your friends knew whilst you were late. Y/B/F came up to you and gave you a hug calling you a dirty girl and you couldn’t stop yourself from giggling.

Stacy and Alisha were also there, and you had a quiet giggle about it with them. With Tom not too far behind he was chatting to the other boyfriends that he knew well by now. You were all in happy relationships and you loved your little group dynamic.

As you were chatting though you felt arms wrap around you from behind and lift you up into the air. You let out a little screech until the culprit placed you back on the ground and you managed to get out of their grip to see who it was.

You turned to see the eyes of a very giddy George and you practically jumped on him to hug him. “Oh my god, Hey! How have you been?” You all but squealed.

George chuckled still hugging you tightly, “I’m good. How’s my favourite sister?” 

It was then your turn to chuckle and you told him, “I’m amazing thank you”

Once George had released you, you saw that behind George was Ross. You gave him a massive hug because you hadn’t seen him since he and Ava split up. You wished it would have worked out for them but unfortunately the distance was something Ava found really hard to deal with. You were just happy they were still friends with each other after they ended things.

Adam wasn’t far behind and you of course gave him a big hug too. He really was the cutest one out of them all and you missed him like crazy. He was always so clever, and you missed him coming up with guitar riffs all the time. Especially when he played something you knew that you could sing along to.

After you released Adam you saw that Matty was there too just a few feet behind them. You smiled at him and didn’t have the heart to not give him a hug like you’d hugged the rest.

“Hey” You smiled as you hugged him.

He hugged you back like any friend would and returned the pleasantries. You’d heard through the grape vine that he wasn’t with Halsey anymore and when she dropped Colors you’d been dying to speak to him.

“How’ve you been?” You asked him.

“Yeah alright thanks, hope you’ve been alright” Matty smiled at you.

“Yeah I’m good thanks… Can we have a chat later? When I don’t have to mingle anymore?” You asked him, hoping he would say yes.

“Yeah, sure” Matty nodded at you and you smiled at him before you were captured by another familiar face from high school.

Later on, you’d found him, and you went outside for a quick chat with him. He smoked and you got on with each other like normal friends which you were pleased by. You didn’t have any bad feelings towards him anymore. It had been 2 years and you were now in a happy loving relationship, so you had nothing to complain about.

You asked him how he was doing after the whole Halsey situation and he confessed to you that he was pissed off a bit when he heard the song, but he couldn’t do anything. You just felt the need to reassure him that you wouldn’t do anything like that.

“I guess I just wanted to make sure you knew that I wouldn’t do anything like that… I don’t mean like writing a song or anything but the stuff that we talked about… I would never dream of telling anyone else” You told him genuinely. You just wanted to make sure he knew.

“Not even our Tommy boy?” Matty joked, trying to make light of the situation.

But you wanted to keep it clear. No joking involved. 

“No, I haven’t and won’t tell him anything” You told him in a serious tone.

You watched as Matty took a drag of his cigarette and blew the smoke out in a long breath. “Why?” He questioned looking into your Y/E/C eyes.

“Because it’s none of his business. The stuff you decided to tell me in private aren’t and never will be my secrets to tell” You told him, finishing up with a kind-hearted smile.

Matty took another drag of his cigarette before blowing the smoke out the side of his mouth so it wouldn’t get you. He knew that you never liked to have the smell of cigarettes to linger on your clothes. 

He smiled slightly, “Thank you, I appreciate it”

“Anytime” You smiled before looking back inside seeing a bunch of people surrounding Tom that he definitely didn’t know. 


“Right, well, I better get inside and save Tom before he gets mobbed” You joked and Matty thanked you once more before heading inside.

The rest of the night was a fairly normal party. You drank like you normally would in a civilised place and you had a really good night. You had a catch up with everyone and barely had a moments peace.

But there was one moment when you did find the briefest of moments to yourself and that was went everyone was chatting around you and you took your phone out of your pocket and started scrolling through it. You were looking through the shit that you’d been tagged in on Facebook and twitter and found yourself smiling at it. You were happy in your own little world, just zoned out from everything around you.  

So, you didn’t notice Matty on the other side of the room, lent against the back door watching you. Matty found himself smiling watching as your grin got bigger as you scrolled through your phone. He knew you were probably looking at a stupid meme that Ava or Stacy had probably sent you, but he liked seeing you happy.

You were in your own little bubble for a few minutes and Matty found himself enticed by you, and you weren’t even doing anything. He just couldn’t stop looking.

However, Matty watched as your little bubble burst when Tom wrapped his arm around your waist from behind. You turned your head to look up at who’d captured you this time and smiled when you saw your handsome boyfriend.

Matty watched as you lent back into him as you put your phone away and he saw you looked to the ground nervously when Tom started whispering something in your ear. He watched as the smile that was already on your face turned into a big flushed grin and you nodded your head when you next looked up at Tom.

Matty didn’t know why but his heart sank. He knew exactly what Tom had just proposed you do and Matty felt himself deflate.

He didn’t know why though. He didn’t want you anymore but at the same time he didn’t not want you. Yes, you were beautiful, you always had been, even in high school but he didn’t want you like he once did when you were together.

All Matty could think was that he shouldn’t care but he did. He cared that you were happy, but he didn’t like to think about the fact that you were about to leave with someone else when the last time you’d both come to one of Steve’s parties you’d be leaving with him.

He didn’t even want to picture what you would both be getting up to after you’d gone. He didn’t want to think about how happy Tom made you. But at the same time, he was glad Tom made you happy.

Initially, when you dumped Matty, he thought that there was no way it would be forever. He just thought you’d come back around, and you’d start up again. He didn’t think that when you split it would be the last time that he saw you for more than 2 minutes in 6 months.

But from the time he saw you for 2 minutes to now he saw the huge difference in you. The first time he saw you, you still looked broke but the next time you looked a lot better and more like yourself again. And when he saw you with Tom that time that he’d come home to you both on the sofa you looked so happy that Matty longed for that happiness.

Matty then watched as you then went and tried to slip out with Tom unnoticed. But your eyes found Matty’s and you sent him a small smile that he knew meant bye. He smiled back at you and nodded his head to signify that he was saying a silent goodbye.

So, as you were sat in the car listening to the song you found a stray tear running down your face. And when it ended you sat there for ages wondering what to do with yourself.

“Fuck” You whispered, wiping the tear from your face. 

Somebody Else was about you.

~*~*~*~*~*~

February 25th, 2016 rolled around quickly and for the occasion you decided to dress yourself up a bit. It was too cold for a dress, so you made the effort of wearing wet-look leather pants with a pale pink shirt. You finished your look off with a leather jacket and some black heels that you loved.

You had your hair down and you actually felt pretty for the first time since you’d split up with Tom. You hadn’t had an excuse to go out yet, so you were definitely making the most of this occasion.

You did your make up simply too. Nothing too out there but you also didn’t look like you made no effort. You just went with a natural eyeshadow with a winged liner and you were proud of yourself after you’d done it.

When you got to the venue that George told you about you gave your name to the guy on the door. He asked for your ID and you happily gave it him.

You were really excited to see your old friends; you hadn’t heard from them in a long time. Too long, considering you used to speak to George almost every other day.

You’d missed Ross too since his split with Ava, but you understood it. People needed their space after a breakup. Even if they were still going to be friends afterwards.

You climbed the grand hotel stairs until a member of staff showed you into the function room. Even before you walked in you could hear the rumble of hundreds of voices and it only became louder when the door opened.

When you walked in you were overcome by pink light. You’d seen their new album cover and loved it, but you didn’t expect there to be this much pink at the party.

But you were wrong. Littered around the side of the room were loads of neon signs and you recognised some that you saw. There was one on the stage that’s simply said, ‘The 1975’ and you had to say it looked very aesthetically pleasing.

You didn’t see anyone that you knew directly in front of you, so you just went to the bar to get yourself a drink before looking around all the different neon signs.

You recognised the ‘Love Me’ one and the ‘Ugh!’, along with Somebody Else and The Sound. You couldn’t believe that they had released two bops a week after each other and you were sure that there would be more on the album.

You were already proud of them for their new stuff and you wished you’d got a chance to tell them in person before now. In all honesty you wished you were in contact with them more often than you actually were.

You hadn’t spoken to Matty since Steve’s last party and you had only texted George about a month after that. You hated to message them, you always felt like you were interrupting as they were always away and knowing your luck, they would more than likely be on stage when you texted.

You walked around the noisy hall wondering around the neon lights. You guessed that they were song names from the album, and that thought was confirmed when Adam found you.

You saw Adam’s cute smile as he made eye contact with you from just across the room. He excused himself from the people that he was chatting to and came over and gave you a big hug.

“Hey you” You chucked as his arms wrapped around you.  

“I am so glad you’re here Y/N/N” He whispered into your ear and you let out an ‘awh’ as he held you.

“I’ve missed you so much Adam” You squeezed him again before letting go.

Adam chuckled, “I’ve missed you calling me Adam”

“Oh no, have they made you forget your first name?” You joked but Adam nodded, and you couldn’t contain your laughter.

Adam laughed along with you, “You know them, I don’t get my first name and they bully me”

“I’ll hit them for you, don’t worry” You chuckle shaking your head before turning slightly to look around the room.

You noticed the pink vibe again and looked towards the ‘Lost my head’ sign and you had to say, “I’m loving the pink vibe you’ve got going on”

“Yeah it’s cool innit, it’s all the song names” Adam smiled.

“Ah I love it” You said just before your name was shouted across the room.

“Y/N Y/L/N” A voice boomed, and you turned around wide eyed to see George stood on a chair pointing at you.

When you realised you weren’t in trouble you laughed at the sight in front of you. The wild head of hair that was George Daniel jumped off the chair and came towards you with his arms wide open.

“God, I have missed you” He grinned, and you chuckled telling him that you missed him too.

Ross soon followed and after you were done hugging him you saw that Matty was around as well. He sent you a grin and you couldn’t help but grin back.

“Come here you” You smiled walking towards him so you could give him a hug.

Matty wrapped his arms around you, and you did the same to him. He gave you a tight squeeze and he said, “Hey, you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m good, how are you?” You asked before letting him go.

“I’m really good thanks” He smiled at you and you now stood with the boys surrounding you in a chat.

“How’ve you all been anyway?” You asked them after the pleasantries were out of the way.

“Yeah were good, been busy but glad it’s all out of the way for now” George smiled at you and you nodded.

“Yeah I bet you all are, stressful times releasing new songs and an album” You said remembering from the last time they released things.

They all nodded around you and you were all smiling like giddy school children. Ross then grabbed your attention and asked, “Have you heard any of the new ones?”

“Of course, I have” You smiled and smiled at them. You were stood near the neon sign that said ‘The Sound’ so you moved towards it and announced, “This one’s a fucking banging tune”

You held the bars it was attached to and they all smiled at you. You grinned as the pink light illuminated all their faces and you had to say that pink was a good colour for them.

Especially when it contrasted with their dark clothing. You were at least glad to see that the black jeans and black shirts were still around.

“Ah you like that one then?” Adam asked you and you nodded.

“I like them all. But as always I’ve got my favourite” You told them moving back towards them again.

“And that’s The Sound?” George questioned with a grin, but you shook your head.

“Nope” You said holding your answer back until one of them asked.

“Which one is it then? Love Me?” Adam asked.

You shook your head and chuckled, “Nah, Somebody Else is such a tune” You told then with a smile but then made slightly longer eye contact with Matty.

You think for a split second you saw something click in Matty’s eyes and he knew that you knew. You weren’t bothered by it at all. He was entitled to write songs about his own feelings, that was completely fine. You just didn’t expect him to articulate his feelings into words so well.

But you knew Matty had a way with his words. The whole of the first album was practically a 70/80’s teen movie and you loved every song on that.

“Well if you think that one’s a good one, you should wait until you hear the rest of the album” George said taking your attention again.

“I’m so excited to listen to it tomorrow” You smiled.

“You’ll hear it later tonight” Ross pointed out.

You smiled, “True but you know I like to listen to new music properly”

“Ah yeah, so you’ll be annoying Tom all day with our music then?” Adam asked you.

“No actually, it’ll just be me” You smiled, realising where the conversation was headed. 

You forgot no one would have told them at this point.

“Ah no where’s Tom escaped to then? Is he here by the way?” George asked, looking around the room slightly to have a look.

You softly chuckled and with a soft smile, “No, it’s just me. I’m not with Tom anymore”

At this you watched as all of the smiled fell off the boys faces, and you saw them look between each other for a second not too sure what to do. They looked completely shocked and, in a way, it was almost humorous because that was what everyone’s reactions had been like.

“Oh my god, are you okay?” George asked, pulling you into him to give you a side hug.

“Yeah I’m fine, it’s been a month and I’m honestly fine” You smiled wrapping your arm around his back.

“You don’t have to say that Y/N, your allowed to not be okay”

You chucked and looked around at them all. “No honestly I mean it, I’m fine. It was a mutual thing and it was for the best. It was probably more my decision than it was his”

“Well as long as you’re happy, we’re happy” George said before kissing the top of your head.

You nodded in confirmation, “I’m happy, don’t worry”

You looked towards Matty and you could see that he was giving you the look that screamed that he was trying to figure out if you were being truthful or not. You smiled at him knowing what he was doing and gave a little nod.

Matty seemed to accept this with a wary look but he gave you a smile. He could also see that you didn’t really want to talk about it, so he changed the subject for you.

“So, what do you think of the new theme?” Matty asked you, gesturing around the busy room.

“If you’re on about the pink, I love it”

“Yeah, you even dressed for the occasion” Adam pointed out with a grin.

“Haha I didn’t even realise I’d done that” You laugh looking down at your pink shirt. “But yeah I love it. But what the fuck is up with the album name?”

“Blame Matty. You know how poetic he likes to get” Ross said pushing Matty’s shoulder in a playful manner, which you giggled at.

“Of course” You trailed off with a grin and Matty shook his head at the situation. However, they were then pulled away from you which you obviously didn’t mind about.

You decided to wonder around the room and take in all the neon signs. You liked to guess what each song was about by the song title and what it sounded like and when Matty came up to you about 10 minutes later he seemed to have guessed that’s what game you were playing.

“That one’s an instrumental. No lyrics… Well not really anyway” Matty explained from just behind you and you turned to him and smiled.

“You got a lot of instrumentals in this album?” You questioned as you continued to walk around the neon signs.

Matty followed you and confirmed, “Yeah, we’ve got a fair few. The one named after the album is a long one”

You chuckled and turned around towards him, so you were now slowly walking backwards. “Really? … Is it as long as your hair?” You giggled.

Matty laughed at that and then ran a hand through his hair, smiling, “Yeah, I decided to keep it long” 

You grinned back and chuckled as you reached up and started running your hands through his hair. His curls had gotten really long since the last time you’d seen him and now he also kept a little bit of hair on the sides.

As you ran your fingers through it messing it up, Matty grinned but then grabbed your wrists so you’d stop. He pulled you towards him and brought your hands down so they were trapped between the both of your bodies so you couldn’t continue.

“You really haven’t become less annoying, have you?” Matty joked, still grinning and keeping you in place.

You shook your head and giggled, “Nope” 

You shared a laugh with each other before you turned around and you started looking at the neon signs again. You walked and chatted with Matty for a bit until you stopped dead, when you saw what one neon sign in the distance said.

“Wait, you’ve got a song called Paris?” You asked him with your eyes were glued to the sign.

You just about tore your eyes away from it when Matty said, “Yeah”

After a long second, you decided you’d just ask, “Is that one about m- “

“Just the chorus… Just the chorus on that one” Matty confirmed offering you a smile.

You didn’t really know what to say to that. You obviously didn’t mind, if anything you were glad that you helped him make his amazing music in a way, but you didn’t know what to say about someone writing a song about you.

“You’re quite the muse Y/L/N” Matty smiled before walking towards the ‘Somebody Else’ sign and tapping the bars that held it up a few times.

“Did you actually like this one?” Matty asked and you could tell he was genuinely curious of your opinion. Just like he was with your reactions to the songs on the Self-Titled album.

“Yeah I loved it... You made me cry” You told him honestly.

Matty walked back towards you and offered you a sad smile, “I’m sorry”

“Don’t apologise, it’s amazing. I really really loved it. You’re very good and putting your feelings into words... I’m glad I’m friends with a lyrical genius” You smile at him.

Just as Matty was about to reply you heard your name being shouted by a familiar voice and then a body running to you and wrapping their arms around you. You looked down slightly and realised that it was Louis.

“Oh my god, hey!” You gasp feeling more excited than when you’d seen the boys.

When Louis let you go you asked each other how you were, and you were thankful he was doing great. You quickly fell into a conversation with him and Matty started to feel like he was third wheeling a conversation. But at the same time, he couldn’t stop smiling at you.

Your eyes flicked down and noticed Louis had a drink in his hand and your eyes went wide.

“Wait what are you drinking?” You questioned.

“A double vodka and coke” Louis told you like it was no big deal. But it definitely was to you.

“Oh my god! Does your Mum know?” You asked with wide eyes.

“Yeah she’s over there, she bought it me” He told you nodding towards where Denise was stood. 

You already couldn’t wait to chat to her.

“Oh my god. I’m gettin you drunk tonight” You grin before pulling him into you for a side hug.

“Finally” Louis grinned, but you frown at him.

“Wait, Matty hasn’t done that yet?” You said looking from him to his older brother.

When you were together Matty always said that he couldn’t wait until he was older to get him completely drunk. You actually couldn’t believe he still hadn’t done it.

“Not yet” Louis said whilst Matty shook his head before taking a sip of his own drink.

You guessed it was now your responsibly to get practically your little brother wasted.

“Well I’m gunna get you very drunk whether your brother likes it or not” You grinned.

“Well you can put them all on my tab. Fill your boots kid” Matty smiles and you grinned at Louis excited face.

“Just don’t share a bottle of vodka with anyone” He told Louis sternly.

“We don’t need it getting that messy at this party” Matty said looking up to you with a little knowing smile. 

God, it seemed like so long ago that you were sat in that bathtub with him drowning yourselves in that bottle of vodka.

You chuckled at what Matty said and nodded in agreement. You really didn’t want Louis to be getting up to that. In your mind he was still a cute and innocent 10-year-old child like he was when you first met him.

After that, the night moved on and you did get Louis quite drunk with Denise and Tim’s approval. You were doing shots every 10 minutes with him by the end of the night and he was definitely enjoying himself. But he was definitely going to have the worst hangover in the world the following day.

When it reached 2am you were feeling tipsy despite having loads of drinks. You should have been on the floor asleep like Louis practically was, but you felt okay. You felt like you could keep going another few hours.

“Y/N, you up for going out?” George asked you, waving you over to the circle of people that had congregated.

You walked towards the group and nodded your head, “Of course”. You smiled looking at the people around you. It was the boys, John, Jamie and their manager Jamie.

And you did all go out after saying goodbye to everyone and you had a really good night. Jamie Oborne left you all at about 3am, you could tell he only came out because the boys had forced him too and he didn’t want to say no. But it was nice to see him again after all these years, and he was still as lovely to you as ever.

You got on with the rest of the lads like you’d never left. So much so, that you were absolutely drinking them under the table and you probably put away more alcohol any of them by the time you were kindly asked to leave the bar.

John and Jamie said their goodbyes to you before they jumped in the closest taxi and then you were just left with your boys. “I don’t wanna go home yet” You whined in the empty street.

You wrapped your arms around Ross wanting one of his comforting hugs like you used to get all the time. His pulled you into his arms as the rest of the boys stood around you debating what to do next.

“Everywhere’s closed though Y/N/N” Ross pointed out as you hugged him. 

You whined closing your eyes. You just wanted more time with them.

“We could just go back to ours? I’m sure we’ve got bottles of stuff back there?” George suggests and you jump at the idea.

And that’s where you all ended up in Matty and George’s flat. It was a different one to the last time you’d been which you were sort of thankful for. You didn’t really want to think about that depressing time when you were having such a good one tonight.

You end up drinking in Matty and George’s flat for another hour or two and you all seemed to be having a great time. Even when the boys started slowly falling to sleep you were still having a great time because you still had someone to talk to.

Matty, of course, wasn’t tired and was still keeping you entertained with his chat. You missed seeing them all, so you were really glad you had the night out with them. You were really thankful that you’d been invited.

You were sat on the ground cross legged in front of Matty. The other boys’ snores from next to your ear hand it difficult to hear what Matty was saying to you moved. You’d been sat like that for 20 minutes before you realised that you needed another drink.

“Do you want another drink?” You asked Matty as you attempted to get up. Your head was now fuzzy, but you still knew what you wanted.

“Sure” Matty smiled.

“Sweet, can you help me up please” You asked him, reaching your arms out to him.

Matty chuckled and took your hands in his before holding them tightly before pulling on them. You then got up with ease and you grabbed both of your glasses.

Matty watched as you walked to the kitchen door and he saw you wobble your way into the room. He saw things going south so he decided he should probably be a good person and stop you from having another drink.

Matty got himself up and made his way over to you. He watched as you stood at the counter trying and failing to pour the vodka into the glasses.

A bit of it spilt over the side and Matty smiled at your attempts before he took the vodka bottle off you and put the lid back on it.

“Come on Y/N. You’re half asleep” Matty pointed out before you could ask why he took the vodka away.

Matty saw that your eyes kept dropping and he could just tell from your body language that you were tired. “Come on” Matty eased you out of the kitchen by taking your hand.

You practically fell into Matty when he pulled you out of the room which caused him to throw an arm around your shoulder so he could keep you up if he needed to.  

In your drunken and drowsy state, you leaned on Matty to get you into the correct room because you really couldn’t see straight. You felt him lead you through into a room and he made you sit down on what was a really comfy bed.

“Matty, I’m cold” You whine wrapping your arms around yourself.

“Oh god, not you cold” Matty joked but he said it with a smile.

You let out a little giggle at that and watched the long-haired boy in front of you twirl on the spot like he was looking for something.

“Here you go” Matty said picking up a black hoodie that was hung over a chair in his room.

“Thank you” You said already beginning to shiver.

Before Matty knew what you were doing, you took your shirt off over your head and you were sat on his bed with just your bra on your top half. Matty’s eyes widened before he turned away from you to give you some privacy.

He busier himself by routing through things on his desk until a minute passed and Matty looked at you and you were in his first album hoodie. He watched as you immediately climbed into his bed and lay yourself down.

“I’ll see you tomorrow Y/N” Matty said as he grabbed a blanket from the floor and headed towards his bedroom door.

But before he got to the door, you called him, “Where are you going?”

“George’s room” Matty tells you, holding his blanket up to show you.

You shook your head at him. “No, I’m cold. Come warm me up like you used to” You whined.

“Y/N/N...” He started but you interrupted him.

“Don’t leave me cold, sad, and alone. Please” You pleaded.

Matty stopped at that and turned the light out. He shut the door and made his way around to the other side of his bed whilst asking, “Why are you sad?”

Your eyes adjusted to the darkness as Matty’s got under the covers and he put his arm around you. You turned toward him and hugged yourself to him and rested your head on his chest.

“I just miss you guys so much” You half whispered, feeling a lump in your throat. But Matty could still hear the sadness in your voice.

At that revelation Matty started rubbing your back to sooth you more than to bring you warmth. He didn’t really know what to say to that other than the obvious.

“We’re only a phone call away” He said as he pulled the covers up around the both of you some more and then continued to rub your back and your arm that now lay over his stomach.

“Yeah but you’re all busy and I never wanna bother you and I don’t wanna make things awkward more than it already is after everything. It’s just when I lost you, I lost them too and you know...It hurts a bit” You rambled holding back tears but Matty could hear your emotion in your voice.

“I’m sorry Y/N. I really am” Matty told you as he kept a hold of you.

“It’s okay” You whispered.

“No. It’s not, but I’m trying to be better. I promise. Screwing you over really fucked me up for a long while and I don’t wanna do that to anyone again” He said honestly, and he felt you take a fist full of the top that he still wore.

“I just want you to know that I’m actually sorry. Like really sorry” He expressed, and you could hear that he meant it.

“Thank you” You half choked out but the way you said it pained Matty. It hurt his heart to hear you upset again.

For a second you debate asking something that’s been on your mind since things ended between you. You didn’t really want to ask and bring it back up, but 2 years was a long time to wait for your answer.

“Can I ask you a question?” You asked him.

Matty nodded his head saying “‘Course you can”

“Was it just her or was there anyone else before?” You asked reluctantly.

It took Matty a second to realise what you were talking about until it clicked for him and his heart sank. You must have wanted to know the answer to that for years and you’d had to live not knowing.

“It was just her. I promise. I’m a dickhead, it shouldn’t have even happened the once. I am genuinely so sorry” Matty told you.

“Did I do anything wrong? Like did you do it because I wasn’t doing something right?” You asked, the lump in your throat making it difficult to get out.

“No” Matty admitted holding you slightly tighter. “God no… You were the best thing that ever could have happened to me Y/N. I was just a fucked up prick who couldn’t see what he was about to mess up. I genuinely hate myself for it”

He then felt you let out a shaky breath at that and his hand started rubbing your back more. He felt so guilty that he’d caused you this much pain that you obviously still felt over 2 years later.

You had never felt any relief like the one that just ran through you.

You took a second to collect your thoughts until you found the courage to say, “If it helps, I don’t hate you for it anymore”

“How - Why?” Matty asked finding it unbelievable. He didn’t understand how you could have forgiven him for it.

“If it hadn’t happened, I would have never found Tom again and you would have never got with Halsey and even though we aren’t with them now they both still made us happy”

Matty wanted to say that he thought that Tom made you a lot happier than Halsey made him. Not because she did anything wrong, just the fact that Matty was wasted and high all the time and it was another relationship that broke down because of his recreational activities.

Matty felt the urge to ask you about what happened with Tom, but he thought against it. That was a question for another day. So Matty turned the subject to something a bit lighter.

“Hey, you know if you miss us you can call us whenever you want, right? We miss you too. We miss everyone” Matty assures you with a sad smile on his face that you couldn’t see.

“Even Steve?” You questioned with a little laugh.

Matty chuckled, “Yeah but only a bit. He’s still an arsehole”

That made the both of you chuckle and after a minute you were both lay in silence. The only sound that could be heard was the both of you breathing and you felt quite peaceful.

You didn’t know whether that was down to Matty’s presence or the alcohol though.

You craned your head up to try and look if he was still awake and when you saw him move to look down at you, you got your answer.

“Thank you” You told him.

“It’s okay” Matty replied, not really understanding what you were thankful for completely, but he had a few ideas to choose from.

You lent forward and your lips found his for a few seconds. You felt his arms still for a second as the action must have surprised him slightly.

It was just a small and simple kiss. One of forgiveness and thanks for taking care of you. You’d missed him a lot the past few years and you’d finally got the apology and answers you’d so desperately wanted after such a long time.

You pulled away and you rested your head back on his chest. You listened to his heartbeat to try and lull yourself into sleep like you used to.

“Night Matty” You yawned as you closed your eyes.

Matty put his head back down on his pillow and started to rub your back again. “Goodnight Y/N/N” He whispered with a smile.

~*~*~*~

The feel of his lips grazing up your thigh makes you lightheaded as you once again felt the sensation of Matty being between your legs. The anticipation of what was to come had you gripping the bedsheets and your breathing was a little shaky.

Feeling his lips on your skin once again, felt amazing even when he teased you by ghosting over where you were aching for him and proceeding to carry on kissing up your body. His hands felt like they were everywhere at once, his body consumed yours in the best way. He knew what you liked so he repeated what he knew.

Matty pushed your hoodie up exposing more of your skin to him and you allowed him to take it off you. He hadn’t even done anything yet and your breathing was already ragged, and you were excited for the first time in a long time.

Matty pushed you back down onto the bed and the way he looked at you with those lustful eyes made you want him to take you there and then. But you knew Matty liked to drag things out and the way his eyes danced across your exposed chest you could tell he would take his time.

Matty lent forward and kissed your lips a few times before his lips started to trail down your body. Eventually, his lips attached to your chest and you couldn’t contain the moans that wanted to escape your lips anymore.

You weren’t even trying to keep the curly haired boy off you. You wanted him to carry on.

“Matty” You groaned trying to get his attention away from your chest. You wanted more than just his kisses.

It didn’t seem to be working so you repeated yourself, “Matt” and you knotted your fingers in his long curly hair and pulled on it.

Matty looked up into your eyes and by his look alone he made you nervous. Especially as he got closer to you. You hadn’t been with him for so long and the thought made you nervous.

In a good way though. You just hadn’t thought about him in that way for such a long time. Yet you wanted him like it was only yesterday you started seeing him.

“I’ve missed you” He said in a low husky voice that he knew drove you insane.

Between his kisses you managed to say, “I’ve missed this” which makes Matty groan.

Matty’s lips connected with yours and you moan at the contact, especially when his hand moves down between your legs and he starts pleasuring you like he used to.

You moaned into his kisses which were needy and rough, both of you getting exactly what you wanted from it. You felt lucky he could tell exactly what you wanted so when you were about to ask for more Matty curled his fingers inside you which caused you to moan loudly against his lips.

It dawned on you that you’d wanted this for a long time. You wanted him again, and nothing about this was something you’d ever regret. You really wanted him. You wanted Matty.

Just as things were about to escalate further, you were startled by the sound, “Y/N”

You opened your eyes to a very mundane setting with your heart beating rapidly. You looked around slightly and realised you were in Matty’s new bedroom and you were lay on his chest, the same way you’d fallen asleep probably only a matter of hours ago.

You looked up at him with wide shocked eyes. You couldn’t believe you’d just had a dream about him almost fucking you whilst lay in his arms.

“You okay?” Matty asked you.

You nodded clearing your throat, “Yeah”

Your heart was rapidly thudding in your chest and it took you a few deep breaths to calm yourself back down. You realised you had hold of a fistful of his top that he still wore, and you slowly let go of that as your breathing returned to a normal rate.

“Sorry, you were breathing dead heavy and it sounded like you were having a nightmare” Matty told you.

You rested your head back on his chest in your previous position before letting out a long breath.

“No, it’s okay. It was just a dream” You whisper already starting to fall back to sleep but Matty was now wide awake after that sentence.

He thought you were groaning and calling his name in your sleep because you were scared. A smile appeared on Matty’s face at the realisation that you were actually dreaming about him in a completely different way.

He chuckled silently to himself before he hugged you slightly closer to him. And Matty fell asleep with a smile on his face.

At least you still thought about him the same way he thought about you.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Taglist: @the-girl-before @dot-writes @lololovestaylor @murderousginger @peachquestions @siwiecola @nostalgic1975 @fairyyyfloss @theycallmenefi @colette2194 @maroonmolly @sexycleopatra @mrsprescott @fullmoonremus @whenthe-smokeisinyoureyes @minigranger @bitcheswithbrokenhearts

[disloopy]

the heart is deceiving pt 4

BLOO

genre: angst, fluff, smut

word count: 1.7k

coming back to this fic after monthsss made me realize how shit and cringe it is and oh my god, you all deserve much better writing. yuck. HOWEVER, i will keep posting it until it's finished ( since id already written the whole thing ) because i do kind of like the ending sooo

pls stay w me cause im working on a sik k friends to lovers au and i know it's gonna be way better than whatever the hell this is...

clubbing really takes a toll on you, physically and mentally. i didn't even drink but i managed to have a headache by the night. i stumbled through the crowd, approaching the counter and slumping down in the seat. the bartender asked if i needed anything and i only ordered some water. she left to get it. 

my phone buzzed with a text from my dad, saying he might not be home tonight because of work. "oooh, that's exciting," said daniel, glancing at the text and sliding into the seat next to mine. he asked the bartender for something that sounded pretty intense and i gulped down my water.

"live a little," daniel urged, offering me the dark liquid but i shook my head. "ugh, you're so annoying and uptight." i rolled my eyes.

"thanks. that's sweet."

"kiss me."

"no."

"why?" daniel asked, pouting. 

"cause you're drunk as fuck and i hate the taste," i told him, trying to walk away but daniel grabbed my hand, turning me around. i pulled my arm away from him with a frown. "will you stop following me around like a lost puppy?" 

"i get worried when you're not with me." 

"yeah, i know," i said, reaching for my phone and showing it him. "you probably can't read but you know what says? 17 missed calls and 51 unread messages..." daniel grinned sheepishly but i wasn't finding it funny. "i was right next to you, daniel... i get that's it kinda dark in here but there's no way you could have missed me." 

daniel stuck out his bottom lip. "i just didn't want you to get lost, that's all. there's lots of creepy dudes here, they'll pick up anything with boobs." i groaned.

"stop. this isn't funny, it's an obsession and i don't like it." 

i tried to leave again and again daniel tried to pull me back but this time jojo got in between us, noticing the tension. "what the hell is going on here?" she asked, her voice trembling like she had just finished crying. i looked at her. her eyeliner was slightly smudged which gave me the answer right away.

"she won't let me love her," daniel whined.

"you only love me when you're drunk," i murmured and then jojo convinced daniel to go away for little while which he finally complied. the two of us sat on the curb outside the club, just on the sidewalk where we could still here the muffled sound of the music inside.

"what's wrong?" i asked her. she's usually the one comforting me and giving advice, so it was strange to be switching roles.

"boys are so complicated," she answered, blowing a puff of smoke into the dark of the night. "were you the one who gave my number to jinyoung?"

i nodded. "i'm sorry if i wasn't supposed to... i thought he was cute and you're cute and things could maybe..."

"it's not that," said jojo, taking a swig of the bottle she was holding. "did you know he loves me? he told me that."

"i just assumed..." i shrugged. jojo buried her face in her hands and i furrowed my brows. "jojo... you don't have to cry about it. you can choose the man you like... it doesn't have to be either." 

she sniffed, looking up and wiping her tears. "i know... i just feel so bad. i just like to fuck around and stuff but what if i'm actually catching feelings? nick called me babe.... what's it like to be in a relationship?"

i chuckled. "it's not all that... trust me, i feel like i'm not even in a proper one." we both laughed a little and the air felt lighter. "what are you going to do?"

jojo shrugged. "what i always do... nothing. besides i'm receiving clout from hanging out with these rappers so," she laughed and the smell of cigarettes just filled my nostrils. "why do i have to be so hot that boys are just tripping over themselves for me?" we talked for a little bit about how boys suck but also about which ones we'd smash because they can be fine sometimes too.

"it's fun when you're around," jojo told me with a smile. "daniel really bought out the wild side of you." i nodded and jojo leaned over, pressing her chapped lips against mine for a fleeting second before pulling away. 

"heyyyy, is it too late for a show?" daniel chuckled, walking over to us. "oh come on, keep going, don't mind me." 

"you're disgusting," jojo said, shaking her head and shoving him as he tried to put his arm around both of our shoulders. 

"i gotta go home anyway," i informed the both of them. "my head hurts and we got school... i haven't finished homework yet." 

"good luck with that," said jojo, brushing off her jeans and walking back into the club after ruffling me and daniel's hair. 

daniel rested his head on my shoulder. "i can drop you home." i sighed.

"you're too drunk to drive."

"we can test our limits." 

i ended up driving myself home in daniel's car while he blasted music and sang the lyrics out loud. then, i let him inside my house even though i told myself i wouldn't when we first got into the car. it was my foolish self who held his hand all the way to my bedroom and lied in bed with him until we let our bodies do the talking and our sounds created music in the silence of the night. i slept knowing he was right beside me, his arms wrapped around my waist, his bare chest slowly rising and falling to the rhythm of his  beating heart. he was safe and i was safe and we were each other's for the night.

***

"honey, are you decent, can i come in?" dad's knocking the door woke me up with a start. i quickly sat upright and shook daniel awake who just groaned. 

"um yeah, one second." i pushed him off the bed and his eyes shot open, about to complain but i hushed him, ushering him to get under the mattress which he obeyed. "come in!"

dad opened the door and i tried not to look nervous at all. "sorry i wasn't here last night." i didn't reply cause it was usual. "but i made breakfast for you and i wanted to tell you to have a good sunday before i leave to run some errands."

i smiled. that was the first time he'd said something like that. "okay daddy, i love you."

"i love you too baby."

when dad finally left, i let daniel come out of hiding. he clutched his head and i had to get him some tylenol and water before i let him eat breakfast with me. "did something happen last night?" he asked, eagerly digging into the pancakes. "cause you never allow me in your room and i just woke up in your bed."

i shrugged with a sly smile. "oops?" 

"well, whatever it was, i'm sure it was good."

"do you not remember anything?"

daniel shook his head. "nope." good, i thought, breathing out a sigh of relief. i was a major bitch to him last night - understandably. but i hoped it was something of the past that wouldn't ruin anything.

"i wish i could stay with you but i have to go to the studio today," daniel informed me while putting his clothes on. "jinyoung's like... totally diligent and he may be my friend but he's also my manager so." 

i giggled. "yeah, i get it." i handed him a water bottle to drink on the way back and he kissed my lips very gently. "i'll miss you."

"you can see me tonight. there's another party, i can pick you up."

"no, i have homework to do today."

"righttt, you're still in school." daniel chuckled, pulling his shoes on. "sexy schoolgirl." i rolled my eyes and kissed him once again at the doorway. i lowkey didn't want him to leave because i spent most of my weekend with him already and didn't want to be alone again.

"i'll visit you tonight... at your window." 

i was glad he left me with those words because it gave me something to look forward to tonight. i didn't go out at all that day. jojo came over and we did our homework together and we never usually did something like that but i enjoyed it.

she showed me her texts with jinyoung which we squealed over because i never realized how smoking hot he was until then. besides, he was good at flirting, just like daniel. 

when jojo left after eating dinner (which was thai takeout), i felt that loneliness again. no one was home but me so i decided to watch tv and maybe study for my next exam. life is quite boring like this but at least daniel would visit me tonight after the party.

i waited and waited and waited. he didn't show up. i called him a bunch of times but he didn't pick up. obviously he was partying too hard but i just wished he hadn't promised me something if he couldn't pull through. 

i sighed and lied in bed, still waiting. but he didn't come so i ended up falling asleep.

about 3am in the morning, my phone buzzed beside me. i groggily answered it. if the caller had been anyone other than daniel i wouldn't have. "hello?"

"babe?"

"hmm?"

i heard daniel breathe out on the other end. "sorry for leaving you hanging..."

"it's okay," i murmured, too sleepy to say anything else or to guilt trip him. "i guess you drank too much at the party."

there was a pause. "no... i actually didn't go to the party." 

"seriously?" i giggled sleepily. "that's hard to believe."

"yeahhh... i didn't feel up to it," daniel chuckled quietly on the other end. i felt my mind wander but then it was bought back. "i wanna sing my song to you." 

"go ahead," i whispered, holding the phone close to my face as i closed my eyes. the song started with something like "you're my downtown baby" and i couldn't remember the rest. i was too focused on how soothing his voice sounded over the phone while he sang.

after a couple minutes. "baby... are you still awake?"

"mhm," i replied. it felt like my mind was asleep but daniel's voice could keep me up all night long. 

"i'm moving back to korea."

[nagichi-boop]

hi!!! can i get a matchup pls??? • im 170cm, very pale, i have a few freckles on my face and i have this mole below my left eye (other ppl look good w it why does mine look like dirt??? 😖), i lean more on the thick side but unfortunately not that thick 😔🤘, my hair is always up on a ponytail!! bc its rlly hot in my country, i only let my hair down at home. oh!! and my hair is shoulder length 🍰

im really quiet at first but when you get close to me i can get rlly loud. not all the time tho, talking too much exhausts me :d i appear as a very boyish person to others so i hide the fact that i like stuff like sanrio, pokemon, star butterfly vs. the forces of evil- ok i gotta stop. i like sending my friends weird memes at 3am. the reaction they give in the morning feeds my soul 👌 🍰

im a multimedia arts student!! i love editing photos and videos so thats what i do a lot on my free time. i write and draw too! but im not confident in it yet. im considered tall in my country so a lot of professors recommend me to be a student athlete, but i h a t e sweating.. i like watching people play tho! (but i almost never cheer even if its my brother or a friend im shy ok iM SORRY) this was hella long :000 i apologize bsbsjsb and thank you in advance!!! ❤ 🍰

Hey! Thank you for your request! I'm sorry it took so long for me to get to. Hope you like it anyways!

I'd ship you with...

Kuroo Tetsurou!

• I'm gonna assume you are in the class same as Kuroo for this, hope that's okay.

• He was walking with Yaku having another debate about their preferences for girls when he suddenly pointed at you and said "like her!", which caused you to freeze. Kuroo also froze as he realised what he did. He then ran up to you to apologise and explained that he was arguing about preferences and he was saying that you looked attractive. He then awkwardly blushed and jogged off, apologising as he went back to Yaku and the team.

• Honestly you were really shocked about the situation. Like...what just happened? This boy suddenly just came up to you, said you were attractive then left.

• You then saw him and Kenma the next day and he stopped and stared at you for a moment, before going over to you looking slightly flustered. He then said in a slightly nervous voice, "Uhm, I'm sorry about what happened yesterday, but the truth is I have kind of noticed you for a while. You look really pretty and I kind of wanted to talk to you. I noticed as well that you tend to doodle in class and when I glanced over, I thought you drawings were super cute...a-anyways, we don't have volleyball practice after school today, so did you want to go to a café with me later? My treat."

• Kenma quietly judged Kuroo because of how creepy he was being but also because he knew exactly what he was doing.

• You agreed without thinking since the whole situation caught you off guard, and he happily thanked you and walked off, saying he'd come find you after school. Then after he left, you realised what you'd done.

• You waited for him outside the school and he finally caught up with you, but Kenma was also with him. He then took the two of you to a cat café because of course he did and Kenma, who read the mood and realised he was third wheeling, left the two of you alone to talk while he went to play with the cats.

• It was a bit uncomfortable at first, but after Kuroo settled down a little, he became super easy to talk to and was really good at keeping the conversation going, which helped you to relax as well. Before you knew it, the two of you started sharing memes and cackling at them together. You could feel Kenma's judgement from across the room.

• Kuroo asked if he could have your number and you agreed. You sent him a 3am meme hoping he wouldn't get mad, and the next morning he sent you a bunch of messages about how he was wheezing and he couldn't breathe because of how funny the memes were, so you decided to add him to your target list of sending memes. Eventually, Kuroo started to participate as well, sending you memes as well as people on his team. Some found it funny, but others Yaku and Kenma got mad at Kuroo, which only motivated him to do it more. He also started to occasionally send some to your friends as well.

• You were afraid to be more open with Kuroo because you didn't want him to think badly of you because of the less "boyish" things you liked. One day, though, he caught you looking at pictures of Sanrio plushies on your phone, which made you panic. But he just smiled and said, "I like those too," which was really shocking. You assumed he was just trying to be nice, but then he pulled out his keys, which had a Kuromi keychain attached.

• (Apparently, he and Kenma found out about the Sanrio characters when they went to an arcade as kids and they bought each other keychains. Kenma bought Kuromi for Kuroo and Kuroo bought Gudetama for Kenma. Kenma's keychain was attached to the case for his Animal Crossing Switch. He told you to keep this a secret since he knew Kenma would get embarrassed, but it eventually came up in conversation at one point and Kenma showed his keychain.)

• As you and Kuroo got closer, so did you and Kenma. He was really good at noticing when something was off and he'd listen to your concerns. You also realised that you had a lot of common interests and you felt comfortable sharing your hobbies with him and Kuroo. When Kuroo saw the two of you talking comfortably about Pokémon one time, he had a really sincere smile on his face because he was amazed at how well the two of you got along and how you glew when you talked passionately about your hobbies. He fell in love with you a little more.

• You realised one day that you weren't exactly sure what your relationship with Kuroo was. You were friends of course and you'd spend a lot of time together, but you wanted more, you were just afraid to say since you didn't want to ruin what you had. Kenma noticed you seemed to be deep in thought and you told your feelings to him, to which convinced you to confess to Kuroo, saying it would make him happy.

• You nervously said to Kuroo that you'd like to date, and he just kind of froze and then said in a cracked voice "s-sure!" He then apologised for the strange response and then confessed that he'd had feelings for you for a long time, he just didn't know how to tell you. He then kissed your hand and thanked you for confessing, then he ran off to get ready for practice.

• Kuroo seemed to be a little bit more on edge with you now you were dating. When you confronted him about it, he said he wasn't sure how comfortable you were with displays of affection and the reason he was on edge was because he wasn't sure whether he was okay to hold your hand, hug you, kiss you, etc. You let him know what your terms were and he relaxed a little knowing what his boundaries were.

• You were glad Kuroo was taller than you because you loved being able to bury yourself in his chest or shoulder whenever he hugged you. And despite his tough-looking exterior, he really loves cuddling and he's super good at it and showing his affection in soft ways.

• Kuroo really loves watching you draw and edit. He either quietly watches you do it or he sits off to the side and let's you get on with it, maybe looking at you every now and then and smiling at how pretty you look. Either way, he is fine with quietly hanging around when you work and he does his best not to disturb you, but also likes to encourage you to take breaks and cuddles you when you do so you can recharge.

• The first time you let your hair down in front of Kuroo he just...stopped? You got confused because you didn't know why he reacted like that, but he had to turn his head away and cover his face because of how much he was blushing. Even if you don't think highly of yourself, to him you are the most stunning, attractive person ever, both in terms of how you look and your personality.

• Kuroo really appreciate you supporting him during matches, even if you don't go crazy cheering for him. Just knowing you're there is enough for him to feel grateful.

• The club members love you as well. Not only are you Kuroo's weakness which they sometimes like to exploit for entertainment, you also get along with everyone super well. They were so shocked when they saw Kenma talking to you so naturally. They started inviting you out whenever they'd go out as a team since you were practically a part of it now.

• Kuroo is super good at showing how much he loves you, even just through little things. You also make him super happy just by being you. Arguing with Yaku that day was the best thing to ever happen to him.

I was gonna pair you with Yaku but I felt like I was only doing that since I've already done Kuroo as a matchup before, but honestly I think Kuroo is a super good match. Hope you enjoyed this!

Sorry this is so long btw, I am in Kenma and Kuroo loving hours, so this was fun to write! To be honest, I could have written more if I wanted to, but I didn't wanna drag this out too much.

[moonlightrichie]

i’ll be your light (i will guide you home)

Chapter 1 - “Tour groups sure are fun, aren’t they?”

My contribution to the @itfandomprompts​ IT Fandom Week day 3: Summer Romance AU This started simple, but I got super carried away so now it’s a multi-chaptered thing oops I’m not even sorry

Summary:

Eddie is on his summer vacation when he meets the charming tour guide Richie Tozier, and even though he's only staying there for five days, that doesn't stop Eddie from falling utterly and completely in love.

Word count: 6908 Pairing: Reddie Rating: Explicit (this chapter isn’t, but there will be sexual content in a later chapter) Warnings: Mentions of sex, drinking alcohol, cursing

READ ON AO3 HERE

Eddie had always dreamt of travelling across Europe with train. Ever since listening to Bev and Ben talk about the trip they went on the summer three years ago, it was all he wanted to do. From Berlin to Prague to Paris, then Budapest and Brussels, to Munich and Amsterdam, all these wonderful places he’d heard so much about, but never seen for himself.

Ben had been his best friend ever since they were kids and they had stayed that way until they finished high school. Beverly had come into their lives the senior year when Ben started dating her, and she’d fit in so well with them that it felt natural to go from a duo to a trio. And even though they were couple, the two of them never acted in a way that made Eddie feel like he was third-wheeling.

It had been Beverly who had wanted to go to Europe that summer after graduation, the adventurous girl that she was, and so her and Ben planned it together, saving up tons of money for the train tickets. If Eddie was honest, he had been horrified at the thought of travelling like that, three weeks with no permanent place to stay, living in shitty motels, a new one every couple of days.

Didn’t seem like a very relaxing vacation if you asked him.

But when the two of them had returned, they had seemed like new people, suntanned and happier than Eddie had ever seen them.

And the stories they told, oh wow, Eddie had gotten so jealous. How beautiful the Eiffel Towel looked at night when it lit up, how it would sparkle for a couple of minutes every passing hour after dark. How devastating it was in Berlin when they heard all the terrible stories about concentration camps and the Berlin wall during a tour, but yet how cool some of the artwork on the wall was. How good the waffles were in Brussels (the best they’d ever tasted) and how there was a five-story nightclub in Prague with a different theme for each floor. 

“You should have seen it!” Beverly had said. “It closed at 7am and when we left our motel, I’d thought no way in hell are we staying that long. I was thinking like maybe we’d leave around 3am or something? But then the hours just flew past, and we danced and drank- it cost less than two bucks a beer, did you know that? Two fucking bucks! Anyways, before I knew what was happening the club was emptying out and I was all like, what’s happening, where is everybody going? We had been partying for six hours straight without even noticing! All night long!” 

“Wow”, Eddie had said, not quite able to imagine Ben partying all night. They hadn’t even been old enough to drink in the states at that point.

But then there was the story from Paris about the motel they’d stayed at. They’d gotten to the city late that day and after checking into the motel. They’d gone out for a late-night dinner, and then when they’d gotten back at around 11pm, there had been a random man sleeping in their bed.

“We were just walking in, chatting quietly and planning to go to bed when Bev saw him”, Ben had explained. “She’d quieted down as I was rummaging around in my suitcase, poking at my shoulder frantically and pointing at the bed. So we quickly left and checked out of the hotel, I mean… we couldn’t stay.”

“Yeah! And we didn’t even get our money back”, Bev had added.

“Yeah, but it was an interesting experience.”

“And it’s turned into a great story.”

Eddie had listened with wide eyes, knowing that he himself would have been terrified. If it was that easy breaking into a motel room, he was definitely not ever staying in one. Beverly had only laughed when telling the story though, so she was obviously not that traumatized by the incident.

Oh yes, Eddie sure dreamed of purchasing that Interrail ticket and just go. Only he’d book some proper hotels just to be on the safe side. Then again, he didn’t want to do it alone, but his friends weren’t able to come with. They had spent too much on their Interrail that one summer, making it impossible for them to afford a trip that expensive again. And even though he’d asked them every single year since, hoping they’d say yes, they’d only apologetically shaken their heads instead.

Eddie didn’t use to see himself as a person who liked to travel, but he’d definitely changed his mind. Who was he to decide that when he hadn’t even tried it? Besides, he’d lived his whole life in Derry, and he craved to get out. His fingers had been itching all year, a deep pain in his chest festering with every day passing, and it was summer again. And finally, he was going on his first travelling experience.

And okay, so it wasn’t interrailing across Europe, but instead the west coast of the US. And fine, it wasn’t l’Arc du Triomphe and Belgian Chocolate, but instead Hollywood and maybe the Grand Canyon if he was lucky. And yes all right, it wasn’t with his friends, but with his Ma.

But at least they were travelling by train.

Oh, who was he kidding, he was on a vacation with the one person he needed a vacation from. And it wasn’t that he hadn’t looked forward to visiting California and Nevada and seeing their beautiful cities and nature, but he had truly struggled a whole lot getting real excited about it.

As he stepped out into the LA light for the first time in his life, suitcase in hand and grease in his hair, he felt the Hollywood sun blind his vision, and for a second he was overwhelmed at the contentment settling in his chest. Closing his eyes he let himself breathe in the thick air, and he smiled slightly to himself. After the four-hour ride, it was nice to finally move his feet again. They’d had to get up at 7am to take the train that left at 8:30am, and even though he was tired, Eddie was glad to have the whole extra day to spend there.

Los Angeles was their third destination, and one of the longest stays on their trip (four nights, five days), and it was definitely the one he had looked the most forward to.

“I’ve booked us a tour in Hollywood at 3pm”, his Ma said from next to him, already holding a map of the city. “I think we have time to get to our hotel and leave our baggage there before going out again.” 

“Do I have time for a shower?”

He hadn’t had time for his routinely morning shower, and he was starting to feel gross. Earlier on the train, he’d put on a sweater on top of his t-shirt to hide the sweat patches under his arms. And even though that’d only made him sweat more, it had made him more comfortable, knowing he could move his arms properly without everyone seeing.

“I think so.”

So that’s what they did, and soon later, at 2:58pm, the two of them were standing with a tour group in the walk of fame, waiting for the tour guide to show up.

“Oh, hold on”, his Ma said suddenly, rummaging through her purse. “I need to take out some cash.”

“I think I saw an ATM around the corner back there.” Eddie pointed back to where they had come from.

“Good, I’ll be right back.” And she was gone.

Uncomfortable he looked around at the tour group, all evident tourists in shorts and tank tops with backpacks and maps in their hands. A group of girls in their twenties had dressed up in what they’d probably call ‘Instagram worthy outfits’ with caked makeup (one of them had overdrawn her lips a whole lot with bright red lipstick), all holding phones ready in their perfect manicured hands. There were a few couples there, one specifically who wasn’t able to keep their hands off of each other. The girl was stroking the guy’s arm way too sensually for the public eye to see, and Eddie looked away uneasily. Then there was what seemed to be a Scandinavian family, all of them blonde and pretty. The dad was wearing an ugly beige baseball hat with a moose on it, and Eddie wrinkled his nose.

“Tour groups sure are fun, aren’t they?” A raspy voice interrupted Eddie’s observations from behind him, and he spun around frantically.

A tall man seeming to be around the same age as Eddie was smiling down at him, crooked teeth on full display. With the sun suddenly blinding him, Eddie put up a hand over his eyes to block the bright light, and he could see the man properly now.

With a mop of dark curly hair and pretty blue eyes behind massive glasses, he managed to make Eddie speechless for a couple of seconds.

“Uh…”

“In this unbearable heat, this should be a lot of fun, don’t ya think?” the man continued, lifting his eyebrows in expectation of an answer.

“Sure.” Eddie felt completely and utterly awkward, not really the best at talking to strangers, and especially not tall, lanky guys with shining eyes and a charming smile.

“You here alone?” he asked, either seeming to not notice Eddie’s awkwardness or simply choosing to ignore it.

“I’m with my mom, she had to go take out some cash.” He pointed with his thumb behind him.

“Aah”, the guy nodded his head. “A nice family vacation then?”

Eddie shrugged. “It’s fine.” He groaned internally at his lame answers, for some reason wanting to impress this guy and for him to find Eddie interesting enough to keep talking to him. There was no denying that the man was cute. 

“Well Hollywood’s real nice, lots of fun things to do, so I’m sure you’ll have a great time.” The man poked Eddie’s upper arm with his elbow, a playful smile on his pink lips. 

“Well”, Eddie fumbled, looking down at his watch to see that the tour was supposed to start four minutes ago. “As long as the tour guide bothers to show up, then maybe I will.” He laughed, a little awkwardly.

The man creased his eyebrows, a semi-shocked expression taking over his face, and Eddie regretted his words instantly, scared he was coming off as mean.

He continued looking at him for a few seconds, but then his facial expression turned amused. He laughed slightly, just a small huff coming out his nose. “Yeah, kinda douche baggy to not show up for the tour you’re guiding, am I right?”

Eddie breathed out in relief, his next words flowing out of him before he could even think. “Right? Bad enough getting stood up by a date, but by the tour guide? I’m heartbroken”, he said sarcastically, trying for a small smile.

The guy only laughed more, Eddie joining in carefully before the two of them stopped and a comfortable silence settled between them.

“What’s your name?” the guy asked.

“It’s Eddie.”

“It was very nice meeting you Eddie, but I kinda need to get goin’. I’m late for work.” He winked at him, and Eddie could feel disappointment already forming in his chest, the pride he’d felt from making this pretty man laugh disappearing quickly.

But then the guy just stepped back a little, reached into the back pocket of his shorts and took out a black baseball hat. In confusion, Eddie looked as the guy put it on and clapped his hands loudly, attracting the attention from the other tourists.

“Alright, guys! Welcome to Hollywood. I’m Richie and I’ll be your tour guide today.” Eddie could feel all the heat in his cheeks disappear immediately, heart picking up speed. Looking at the man’s, Richie’s, hat, he noticed that it clearly said ‘tour guide’ in big red letters.

Oh, how Eddie had messed up.

“I’m sorry I was a little late, I got distracted”, he looked over at Eddie briefly; something of a small secret smile forming on his lips as they locked eyes, and he winked. “I’ll start by telling you a little bit about the background of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and then we’ll walk down it after, sounds alright?” 

The group gave scattered ‘yes’-es and nods of their head.

He noticed just then that his Ma was back by his side. “This will be so much fun, Eddie-bear”, she whispered to him, clapping her hands silently together.

He could only nod, his eyes locked on Richie.

The guided tour lasted for about two hours, and more than once Richie would look over at Eddie with that same smile and a spark in his eyes. Being funny and cracking dry jokes, he made the tour group laugh a lot between the informative parts of his script. Eddie didn’t doubt the jokes were scripted too, probably not the first time he was saying them today. 

When it ended they were in the middle of the most popular part of the Walk of Fame, where there were tourists taking pictures with impressionists that had dressed up like Darth Vader and Spiderman and look-alikes of Justin Bieber and Britney Spears.

It was chaotic to say the least, and Eddie just wanted to get something to eat, starting to get tired from all the walking and still worn-out from the lack of sleep after the early train-ride.

“Let’s get something to eat, Ma”, he turned to her.

“Sure, bear”, she started looking around for a restaurant. “That tour was great, wasn’t it?”

“Sure.”

She reached down in her purse to take out her wallet. “I have some cash here, maybe you could go tip the guide a little while I find somewhere to eat?” She placed a five-dollar bill in his hand.

He nodded his head, and she smiled before taking out her phone, probably to search up different eating locations in the nearby area.

As Eddie started walking towards Richie, he noticed him already looking at him. It seemed like he was talking to the Scandinavian family, and they were laughing at something he’d said.

“Well, I’m glad you enjoyed the tour! Have a great vacation!” Eddie heard him say. The family all said their thanks before scattering away just as he stepped up in front of Richie.

“Uhm, the tour was really great”, he reached out his hand, the tip between his fingers.

“Thanks”, Richie smiled and took the cash, their hands brushing for a second.

“And I’m really sorry for earlier, I’m absolutely mortified”, Eddie admitted, shaking his head with wide eyes.

Richie only smiled wider, eyes squinting at the bight sun in his eyes. “Don’t be, it was cute. And it was funny, I mean, you were right, so…”

Eddie chuckled sarcastically. “No seriously, that was totally uncalled for. The tour really was great.”

“Well, I’m glad, and I accept your apology”, Richie winked again.

“Alright, well, bye then”, Eddie smiled sadly at the thought of having to leave. Honestly, Eddie didn’t really ever get much attention from guys. Being gay had made it difficult for him to flirt obviously, having more than once been shot down by straight guys who’d told him things like ‘sorry, dude, I’m not gay’ in their most bro-voice, even close to sounding offended at the accusations that they might be.

But this time, Eddie was sure they’d had some sort of connection; at least Richie had seemed to be flirting with him. Or maybe he was only being friendly, and Eddie was seeing things that weren’t there, letting the excitement of being flirted with get the best of him.

He started to walk away, missing the way Richie’s smile dropped when he turned around.

“No, wait!” Richie yelled after him.

Eddie spun around. “What?”

“Are you free tonight?” he sputtered out in a rush.

The question caught Eddie off guard, and he stopped for a second to collect his thoughts. “I, uhh…”

Richie interrupted him before he could continue.

“Because yeah, being a tour guide is my job and all, you know, gotta make that bank and gets that moneys.” He rubbed his fingers together in a ‘cash’-gesture. “But I also play in a band? And we’re playing a concert tonight at this local pub. It’s not too far from here actually, but in a little more of a secluded area than the Walk of Fame, you can see how it is.” Richie was rambling, sounding almost nervous. “I just mean, maybe you’d like to come? Not to be rude or assuming, but you don’t really seem to be having the best time on your vacation, and I get that, especially if you only have your mom to hang out with. So I just thought maybe this would be fun? Getting to experience a normal LA night out and not just the façade that the tourists see when they visit, ya know? And I’d also really like to see you again too, and uhm…”

He stopped himself, scratching timidly at his neck and finally realizing he’d been talking for way too long. With his monologue, Eddie’s smile had grown larger by the second, absolutely charmed by the cute man in front of him.

The hat was still perched on his head, dark curls pushing out from underneath it, and in a way it framed his head in a weird way, but it only made him even more mesmerizing to watch. Now that he was no longer silhouetted by the sun, but instead lit up by it, Eddie could get a good look at his face.

With freckles all over his pale skin and blue eyes glittering in the shadow from his hat, he was now looking at Eddie with a blush on his face and a crooked smile playing on his lips. He still had some awkwardness to him, being much taller than Eddie with gangly limbs and eyes magnified behind his glasses.

In a way, Eddie was surprised at the nervous ramble Richie had just stammered out after seeming to be so smooth when they first started talking.

All in all, the man was undeniably charming and cute, and Eddie would love to see him again. So he nodded, trying to hold back the wide smile that was trying to force its way onto his face. “I’d love to.” 

Seeming almost surprised, Richie breathed out in relief. “Shit, that’s… Uh, that’s great! It starts at 10:30pm, and we have a soundcheck at 7. But I have time after that, so I can probably meet you here at 9 then? And we can walk there together?”

“Sounds great”, Eddie nodded, smiling widely. “I’m really looking forward to it.”

Richie’s grin grew bigger. “Me too.”

Silence settled over them, both smiling at each other shyly.

“Eddie!” They were interrupted by the voice of his Ma. They both turned, and she was waving Eddie over. “I found an Italian place that looks pretty nice!”

“Coming, Ma!” He turned back to Richie, hands on his hips. “I have to go.” He nodded his head in the direction of his Ma.

“Okay.” Richie cocked his head to the side. “You like Italian?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright, important question. Pizza or pasta?”

Eddie snickered lightly, his laughter fading into a thoughtful ‘uh’. “I think pizza.”

Richie nodded his head approvingly. “Pizza’s a good choice. I prefer pasta myself.” Then he pressed his lips together to suppress a smile. “I mean you’re quite the snack, Spagh-Eddie.” He amplified the pronunciation by splitting up the words, putting extra pressure on the last part.

Eddie sputtered. “Oh, god, that’s…” he shook his head. “That’s so bad.”

“Oh, what can I say, I’m quite the bad boy.” Richie winked.

Eddie put up his hands with a shocked scoff. “Nuh uh, nope, I’m cancelling our plans, this is goodbye.”

Of course he was kidding, and Richie knew that, if the amused smile on his face was anything to go by. “Nah, you’re too charmed by me.”

And of course Richie was just messing around, but Eddie couldn’t help but smile genuinely. “Yeah, I am.”

Richie’s eyebrows rose slightly, seeming to process Eddie’s admission. “Oh.”

“I’ll see you at 9”, Eddie said before Richie could say anything else. “Bye.”

Then he turned around and started walking towards his Ma, barely catching the dazed ‘bye’ from Richie.

His Ma looked impatient, tapping her foot on one of the stars with a name Eddie had never heard before.

“What took so long?”

Eddie kept quiet for a second, considering what to tell her. “I have plans tonight.” 

“What?” She gaped. “But we’re on a vacation together, the two of us.”

“I know, Ma”, Eddie sighed. “But he asked if I wanted to go to a pub tonight, and I really want to.”

“No, I’m not allowing that”, she declared.

“You don’t get to decide that”, he snapped. “Ma, I’m 22 now, you can’t stop me from doing things for myself.”

She only grumbled, unlocking her phone to open the maps app. It was obvious the discussion was over, nothing she could do about it.

The pasta restaurant was nice, Eddie not being able to resist ordering spaghetti, settling for the Bolognese and thinking about Richie the entire time. He kept catching himself smiling into his pasta whenever he thought about the night he had in store.

It was around 7:45pm when they arrived back at the hotel, and Eddie only had about 45 minutes until he had to leave. Quickly washing his face and armpits and brushing his teeth, he managed to mentally prepare what outfit he wanted to go with. He ended up with some high-waisted washed-out denim jeans and a light copper-colored t-shirt with a little chest pocket. Something simple that wasn’t trying too hard, but still cute enough to look good. A simple styling of his hair and he was out the hotel door, ten minutes early.

His Ma didn’t even look at him when he passed her bed on his way out, but he didn’t care, only putting on his white denim jacket and converse. “Don’t wait up”, he mumbled before closing the door.

It was getting chillier outside, and he was happy he chose jeans instead of shorts, knowing it’d get colder as the night progressed. Taking his time walking, knowing he was early, he appreciated the sight of the city. The sun had set only a little while ago, and the sky was still a pretty turquoise where it had gone down.

Turning the final corner, he could see the spot they were supposed to be meeting in the short distance, and he quickly noticed Richie already standing there. Eddie looked down on his watch. 8:52pm.

Richie was rocking back and forth on his heels, seeming to fix the way his jean jacket was looking and pulling up his pants and adjusting his belt, and Eddie could feel excitement build in his stomach at the sight.

Then Richie looked up, finally noticing Eddie getting closer and he waved, and soon the two of them were in front of each other, shy smiles on their faces.

“Hi.”

“Hi.”

Another silence followed, neither of them knowing how to continue. Richie gestured with his hand. “Shall we?”

“We shall”, Eddie agreed, and the two of them started walking, Richie leading the way.

They chattered a little along the way, Richie asking about what music Eddie liked (“80’s pop divas and Ariana Grande”, he’d replied honestly, refusing to be ashamed of himself even though he knew that most likely Richie didn’t listen to any of that stuff. “What about you?” “Oh, I prefer rock and hip hop mostly, a little indie sometimes and like you, I really love stuff from the 80’s, just maybe not the same artists”, he winked.), and telling him about the band he played in.

Richie talked about how it was his dream to make it with his band, but was also content with the idea of just having it as a hobby if they weren’t able to. Even though Eddie asked, Richie didn’t want to reveal too much of what kind of music they played (“you’ll just have to wait and see, Spaghetti”), but Eddie learned that Richie played guitar as well as being the lead singer.

When they finally got to the pub, there were several people waiting in line to get in.

“They don’t open the pub until 10pm, but because I’m in the band, we can get in early”, Richie whispered into his ear, and after a quick text, the doorman opened the entrance. He narrowed his eyes at Eddie, but Richie only smiled and said: “he’s with me” and the two of them were let in after a quick ID-check.

It was weird seeing a pub so empty, only a couple handfuls of people sitting around, most of them looking like employees.

“I’ll buy you a drink, what do you want?” Richie asked.

“You don’t need to do that.”

“Oh, sure I do!” he waved his hand in dismissal. “I invited you here, and besides, I get a discount because I’m playing tonight. 

“Oh, sure then, I guess.” Eddie smiled. “Just a beer is fine.”

“Comin’ right up”, and he was off, leaving Eddie standing there alone.

Eddie wiped his clammy hands on his jean-clad thighs uncomfortably, not knowing what to do. There were three people sitting in a booth by the window, not looking like they worked there. Probably Richie’s band, Eddie thought.

They were looking at him curiously, but when they noticed he’d caught them staring, they quickly looked away, resuming their conversation. He walked over to where Richie was standing by the bar, seeing the newly poured beer being handed to him by the bartender. 

“Thanks, man”, Richie said before turning to see Eddie standing right next to him. “Here ya go.”

“Thanks”, Eddie said, grabbing the beer, their hands brushing again. Richie kept his fingers on Eddie’s for a second longer this time, stroking his index finger with his thumb softly before pulling away. The tiny touch made electricity course through Eddie’s veins, from the tips of his fingers and down to his toes. Even in the darkness, he could see the way Richie’s cheeks turned a pretty pink color, and feeling the heat in his own cheeks, Eddie knew his face looked the same.

Richie then introduced Eddie to his bandmates, the three from the booth. There was Stan, a dirty-blonde haired man in a black turtleneck with good cheekbones; he played guitar. There was Bill on bass: a tall man with red hair and an attractive authority. And then there was Mike on drums: a handsome dark-skinned man with the kindest smile Eddie had ever laid eyes on. They all shook his hand politely, Mike apologizing for their staring earlier.

“Just Richie who’s been talking about you non-stop all day”, Stan laughed, teasing Richie by elbowing him in his side. 

The three of them laughed at Richie’s expense, and Eddie couldn’t help the happy smile forming on his lips at their words, trying to hide it by looking down at the table. Richie just flipped him off even though the blush on his cheeks was undeniable.

“Alright guys, way to embarrass me”, he groaned. He was sitting next to Eddie in the booth, their thighs pressed together. Eddie felt something like bravery edging him on, and he let his hand drift over to Richie’s leg, laying his hand gently just above his knee.

Seeing Richie’s head snap towards him immediately in his peripheral vision and feeling his gaze burn into the side of his face, he slowly looked over shyly. “This okay?” he whispered so only Richie could hear.

“Uh, yeah.” Richie was staring at him so intensely, bright eyes seeming to study Eddie’s face. But then he looked away, and soon after Eddie could feel the gentle touch of Richie’s hand land on top of his.

Putting his elbow on the table, Eddie leaned his chin in his hand, covering his mouth with the palm to hide his wide smile.

First 10pm rolled by, the pub quickly filling up with people, and then it was 10:15 and the band had to go backstage to start their pre-concert routine. Eddie ended up standing by the bar, a nice view of the stage even through the mass of people in front on him.

Soon it was 10:30pm, and the band was exiting the back and stepping onto the stage, all of them turning on their amps and making sure everything was working the way it was supposed to. And then they were breaking out into their first song.

It started just with a groovy guitar riff from Stan and a drum beat. But soon it picked up, Richie playing a simply lead on his guitar and the bass joining in. Eddie wanted to dance already. 

Richie stepped up to the microphone and started singing, the others joining in on backup vocals. His voice wasn’t the absolute best, but it worked well with the vibe of the song, the lyrics simple, but melody catchy, and Eddie found himself bop his head to the beat.

“I only see you when you’re walking”, Richie sang. “Walking to somewhere. You’re so restless.” Bill and Stan replying with an “aha, aha”.

“It must be special there”, he finished the chorus, gaze locked on Eddie as he backed away from the mic for an instrumental break. Moving with the music, he smiled widely, and he looked truly happy. There was no doubt about it that Richie belonged on that stage.

The crowd was dancing, some just nodding their head, while others were swaying back and forth. The entire atmosphere was magical, and it was obvious they had some actual fans in the front row, singing along and cheering louder than the rest of the audience. The sight made Eddie smile, feeling his shoulders relax, and he let out a content sigh. 

Richie had bought him another beer before they’d left for backstage, but Eddie had already finished it, and he quickly waved down the bartender for another.

Their set lasted for another half hour (one song especially with a reggae vibe and lyrics that had made Eddie laugh was carved into his memory) when Richie announced they were playing their last song for the night. With cheeks starting to hurt (he hadn’t been able to stop smiling the entire time, feeling a happiness he hadn’t experienced in a while), he started cheering himself.

Their last song started with just Richie’s vocals.

“I wanna do something!” he yelled.

“What d’ya wanna do?” the others followed.

“Dance!” he finished before jumping into the first verse, and then the entire crowd was doing just that, even more than before. With time passing and intoxication rising, it seemed the people were less scared to dance.

As the chorus started, the hook going ‘I’m touching you, you’re touching me, I’m touching you, you’re touching me’, Eddie couldn’t help but start bouncing on his feet, the lyrics so easy that he found himself singing along.

As the band finished, the crowd was cheering loudly, and the four of them were happily standing on the stage proudly, accepting the applause. “Thank you all!” Richie yelled, and then they started packing up their gear and disappeared backstage, Richie winking at Eddie as he passed him.

Eddie stood standing by the bar, waiting and contently sipping at his beer. Feeling the warmth of the alcohol spreading through his body, he felt comfortable standing alone for a while. Not like before.

Soon he saw a body move next to his own and leaning against the bar. “Hello there.”

“Hi!” Eddie turned, hands moving wildly, energy taking over him after the show. “That was amazing! Those songs were so fun and catchy, wow, uhm, I had such a great time watching.”

Richie was grinning. “Oh, you sure know how to make a gal blush”, he said in a weird southern accent.

Eddie shook his head in amusement.

“No, but seriously, thank you.” Richie was leaning in closer, eyes boring into him.

“Can I buy you a beer?” Eddie asked. “After the amazing show you just pulled off, it’s well deserved.”

“Sure”, he kept his eyes on Eddie even as he ordered and paid, something special in the look on his face, head tilted back, his gaze powerful and the ghost of a smirk to be seen on his lips, which Eddie just noticed were invitingly plump and soft looking.

Something was bubbling in Eddie’s stomach, and he was pretty certain it wasn’t from the alcohol. Looking around he noticed there were no places available to sit, so the two of them ended up standing there for the next hour or so, drinking and chatting. When Richie heard what hotel Eddie was staying at, he excitedly told how he didn’t live too far from there. He shared an apartment with Stan, and they’d lived there together since they left high school two years ago. Something about the fact that his hotel was close to Richie’s home made a spark form in Eddie’s chest, heart picking up the slightest of speed.

They were moving closer to each other by the second, Richie’s hand landing on Eddie’s waist at some point.

After a while, Richie looked over Eddie’s shoulder quickly before looking back at Eddie. “Wanna dance?”

Eddie turned around to check out the dancing crowd, the perfect amount on it, not so few that it was awkward, but not so many that dancing was impossible with the lack of space. So he nodded, a little breathless. “Yeah.”

And high on the tension between them and drunk from the alcohol they’d had, the two of them were dancing close, Eddie’s arms around Richie’s neck and Richie’s hands on Eddie’s hips. Even though Eddie wasn’t the best dancer in the world, he was still comfortable, knowing he still had rhythm in his body. And Richie was following his lead, his body flushed against Eddie’s. They were pressing close, Richie’s breath hot against Eddie’s ear.

It was intoxicating having him so close, feeling Richie’s cheek press against his temple, his stubble scratching gently at Eddie’s skin. With their bodies touching everywhere and the heat from the rest of the dancing crowd, they were both sweating, air thick between them. Something bubbled deep inside Eddie’s stomach when he felt Richie’s fingers push underneath his sweater and onto bare skin, and he let out a shaky breath.

“Do you want to come back to my place after?” Richie whispered, voice rough.

Eddie wasn’t surprised by the question, knowing what the night had been leading up to all along. But still he hesitated. Of course he wanted to have sex with Richie, but he was also scared for it to become a one-time type of thing and that they’d never see each other again.

And even though Eddie wasn’t completely inexperienced, there was also the fact that Eddie hadn’t ever fully fucked anybody before, and he was sure as hell not giving up his virginity to a one-night stand.

“Uhm”, he started, unsure of how to form his sentences. He didn’t want it to come out too rudely, desperately wanting Richie to understand that Eddie wanted to, but just not on their first day of knowing each other.

“Maybe not tonight?” he whispered carefully, trying intentionally to hint at them meeting again and pulling his head back so he could look at Richie properly. Something about the look in Richie’s eyes was intoxicating, hypnotic, and Eddie could feel himself getting entirely entranced by this gorgeous man in front of him. 

Eddie didn’t know what to expect as a reaction, afraid of something angry, or maybe an indifferent ‘whatever’. Worst of all, he was afraid of Richie leaving and ending up going home with someone else. But instead, Richie’s intense stare only softened, a sincere smile on his face. “Alright.”

But he didn’t move away, only continued dancing, the air a little less affected by the sexual heat between them now, but still pleasant.

“Maybe I can see you again tomorrow? Show you around the city during the day or something?”

Eddie smiled, grateful. “Yeah, I’d love that.”

“It’s a date.”

Richie ended up following Eddie back to the hotel. After another half hour of dancing, they had ended up in an empty booth. At around 2:30am they’d said goodbye to Richie’s bandmates, and soon after they were stepping out into the cold Los Angeles night.

Holding hands as they walked down the street, they continued their conversation about their current life-situations that they’d had back in the booth. When Richie found out Eddie lived back in Maine, he’d pouted massively, making Eddie giggle.

“I never asked you, how long are you staying for?” Richie asked when they were outside the hotel.

“We leave on Wednesday”, Eddie replied. Their Saturday had just finished three hours ago, and Eddie realized with a crushing devastation that at some point he’d have to leave LA and most likely wouldn’t ever see Richie again.

“Shit”, Richie sulked, dragging a hand through his messy hair.

“Yeah”, Eddie agreed quietly. “Shit.”

“Well, let’s not think about that just yet!” Richie perked up slightly, replacing his frown with a smile. “That’s still, what, four more days?”

“It is”, Eddie laughed.

“Well, that’s four days for us to spend together, and I have the day off tomorrow. I’m already mentally planning all the places I wanna show you!”

Letting go of his disappointment from earlier, Eddie stared up at Richie with a soft gaze, feeling happiness blossom at the knowledge that Richie wanted to spend the next days together with him. “I can’t wait.”

“Me neither.”

They stood looking at each other for a few moments, neither saying anything. But then Richie placed his hand on Eddie’s cheek, and he was leaning down slowly, checking if Eddie was going to pull away as he moved closer. Eddie pushed up on his toes, closing the gap between them, and then they were kissing.

It started gentle, Richie’s bottom lip between Eddie’s. His lips were soft, and their kisses were tender and meaningful, nothing like Eddie had ever felt before.

Richie’s fingers were caressing Eddie’s temple, a gentle touch, his other hand placed on Eddie’s waist and pulling him closer as the kiss got deeper. The tip of Richie’s tongue was poking at Eddie’s lips, and soon they were making out, tongues meeting desperately with every opening of their mouths. Putting his hands on the collar of Richie’s jacket, he tried to pull him even closer, but it was close to impossible at that point, and he opted with pushing his fingers between Richie’s dark locks instead.

As it started getting heated, spit making the kiss slippery, Eddie was starting to reconsider going home with Richie in his mind. His dick twitched in interest when Richie hooked his thumb into the top of Eddie’s pants, the bare skin of his hip being set on fire by Richie’s touch. 

But he knew it would be a bad idea (they had all the time in the world (actually only four days, he had to remind himself)) and with that thought he pulled away just enough for their mouths to part before it got too far and he wouldn’t be able to help himself anymore.

“I had a great night”, he whispered, scared that if he spoke too loud it would break the magic they’d created between the two of them.

“Me too”, Richie rubbed his nose against Eddie’s gently. “And now I can’t wait to see you again tomorrow.”

Eddie sighed happily. “Me neither.”

“Drink some water before you go to sleep, alright?” 

Eddie huffed out a laugh at that.

“No, I’m serious”, Richie insisted. “You drank a lot tonight, and you’ll feel better if you drink some water before bed.”

Eddie shook his head delightedly, their noses bumping together with the movement. “Alright, I will.”

“Good.”

They parted with a gentle peck on the lips and an exchange of phone numbers, Eddie watching Richie walk away.

A little while later, when Eddie had just gotten under the covers after sneaking in and chugging a glass of water, his phone dinged. He reached for where he’d put it on the floor, quickly turning off the sound in case it was to ding again and wake his Ma.

3:12am From Richie pick u up at 11 tmrw ! xxxxx

3:12am To Richie Looking forward to it! X

3:12am From Richie only 1 kiss? :(

3:12am To Richie You can have all the kisses you want tomorrow xxx

3:13am From Richie cant wait !! n dont bother with breakfast, ive planned a place to eat! :D xx

3:13am To Richie sounds great! xx

3:14am From Richie night my darlin <3 xxxxxxx

He blushed at the pet name, imagining how it would sound if Richie was to call him that in real life.

3:14am To Richie Goodnight Richie, sweet dreams <3 xxxxxxxxxxxx

Quietly giggling to himself, he sent that last message.

3:14am From Richie <3 <3 <3

Eddie fell asleep with a smile.

Taglist: @annoyingtozier, @spastuetheobsessedphylosopher, @constantreaderfool

[misha-moose-dean-burger-lover]

Wanna try Debriel? - it’s 3am, in the dead of winter, some motherfucker pulled/set off the fire alarm and I am being very vocal about how I’m gonna make that fucker pay

Dean storms out of his room, a saucepan in his hand - that isn't his intended weapon, but he's been clutching it so tight since he woke up with a jolt, that he'd forgotten he was still holding it. But a saucer in the face, classic Tom&Jerry style, has still gotta hurt, right? And that's all Dean wants to do right now. Hurt the sonuvabitch he apparently shares a building with, who pulled the fucking fire alarm at 3 in the morning, on 7-am-lectures Thursday - when Dean had finally, finally gone to sleep.

Still mostly bleary, and using more than half of his concentration to avoid stepping on the various kinds of crap you find in a college dorm's hallway, he yells as he paces towards the source of the ringing, that is currently mashing his brains up for breakfast. “You should be really glad I’m so tired, 'cause otherwise you would be," Dean has to pause to collect his thoughts, because dammit, he was still half-asleep. "Uh, in pain! Yeah!" The fire alarm didn't get any less harsh on his ears, so he yelled louder. "Lots of Pain. EXCRUCIATING pain." He sighs, running out of his trail of thought, and wondering how he's managed to forget the art of threatening in his sleep-riddled state. "Bitchfuckerasshole -" He mutters, but it's more like he's practising, than he's actually meaning it.

At this point, he's reached the landing of their floor, but that's not where the alarm's ringing at apparently - their fire alarm sits there, untriggered, like a fire alarm should stay. It must be the floor above them, then.

Dean has to take the stairs - he considers climbing two at a time, but then his instincts don't let him, and instead he resumes his shouting. "Just you fucking wait," He growls, to no one in general. "I'm gonna find your name and your address and sit outside your house every night for the rest of my life - because the fucking moment you fall asleep, I'm gonna set off the fire alarm beside your bed, you assbutt!" He doesn't even register that he's quoting Cas; in his own head, he's being scary and his threatens must have driven the bastard away, because by the time Dean has reached the second floor, he can't see anyone in the hallways.

"They got scared," He decides, and keeps on marching towards the common area, where the fire alarm is - because that still just fucking keeps on ringing. That is fodder, and Dean just goes on yelling. Some part of his brain which has gotten woken up - partly due to the ringing, and partly due to his own yelling - is asking him to stop spouting these ridiculous threatens at this point, but Dean isn't done. College, the company he keeps, and sleep deprivation is really bringing out a whole new side of him. "Oh, I will highlight your whole textbook - and every bitching one of them, too; in BRIGHT PINK HIGHLIGHTER, YOU FUCKING FUCKER - hnghh - "

Dean has to stop abruptly, as he trips over something (that he probably would've noticed, if he hadn't been yelling at the top of his range) and stumbles almost completely - landing on all fours, to prevent smashing his face.

"Fuck." He says, eloquently - finally completely awake - and looks at what had caused his fall.

Oh, well. It's Gabriel.

He'd been sleeping against the wall - seriously, who does that, sleeping in the hallway, just like that - hugely slumping, with his legs stretched in the front like how you make snow angels - and with a neon yellow bag slung over his shoulders, for reasons which Dean certainly didn't care about.

And now he's stirring awake himself, and rubbing at his eyes and yawning something terrible - but Dean's eye is caught by the bright red peeking from behind Gabriel, and he is instantly shoving Gabriel to the side, as he fixes the fire alarm harshly, and then falls back on the ground.

"Fucking destroyer of sleep," He mumbles at the fire alarm, glaring at it pointedly, and that's when he notices that when he's pushed Gabriel to the side, the blond apparently used it as an opportunity to lie down sideways and has proceeded to curl himself like a cat, back to sleep.

Dean rolls his eyes at him, needlessly.

He hardly feels any sympathy at all for the guy - after all, he was clearly the one who'd set off that stupid alarm, by using it as a backrest as he slept in the fucking hallway.

But then he can't exactly leave him out here either, the floor is filthy and cold and he could wake up having contracted some major-ass disease, and though he'd been responsible for waking him up at the ass-crack of dawn after Dean had slept after 48 hours; he was still stupid Gabriel from a lot of Dean's classes, club memories (and dreams.) He sucks in general, but Dean doesn't want him to die.

So he does the next best thing, and shakes him harsh enough to wake up a fossil. But Gabriel just stirs again, and swats at Dean in his sleep, and Dean gets a hand in his face for all his noble effort.

He blinks.

And then does it again. This time, yelling directly in his ears, as he shakes him by his arm. "HELLO! Gabriel! I'm Dean, and if you fucking swat at my face again, I'm going to steal only your left sock for the rest of your life." He pauses, the moment the words leave his mouth. Did he just say that? What even - what had sleepiness done to the part of his brain which was responsible for threatening, because god-frigging-dammit, Dean Winchester had forgotten how to swear.

But surprisingly enough, this time, Gabriel gets up. And it's not even the gentle softly opening eyes - the fucker shoots straight up, and is standing next to Dean in a jiffy, looking overly frightened for the sake of his footwear.

"You're weird." Dean tells him, with a frown. "And we need to stop spending time together, because you're making me weird."

Gabriel seems to still be recovering from shock, of Dean's threat - but when he does speak again, it's in a slur. "Nah! We need to spend more time together, because you're finally speaking the language!" He drawls the vowels at the end, hands gesturing animatedly as he speaks, and Dean raises his brows.

He's clearly drunk.

"Gabriel?" Dean says, cautiously. "Can you follow my finger?"

"To the end of the universe, and back." Gabriel returns, perfectly solemn, and a part of Dean fucking melts at that, but he's completely certain that he's drunk now. Somehow it doesn't show in his eyes - his somehow golden eyes, like that should even be actually true - but he's clearly drunk. "Next." He says, with a funny lopsided grin, and it looks like he's grinning so hard that he almost falls over - Dean has no idea how that works, but he holds him up, only to realize how wobbly he is on his feet.

Dean sighs, because Gabriel is now staring at him for more questions or something. But also obliges, with a smirk. "Uh, do you regularly indulge in drunk-sleeping-in-the-hallway or did you get roofied, Gabe?"

"I did it myself." Gabriel says, inexplicably, and Dean rolls his eyes another time.

Well, fuck it. There's only one way he can go with this. Obviously he's not piling the idiot back on the floor, so he's got to drop him off at his room.

Good thing, Dean knows that Gabriel is roommates with that silver-blonde accented jackass, who knows how to get really awesome booze, and hits on pretty much everything that moves. His name was something like 'Zar', or whatever - Dean never really paid attention. But he does know what room he's in, because of last month's party, so they're in luck - because Dean suspects, that Gabriel was only sleeping against the wall because he didn't know how to get to his room.

"C'mon, there." Dean frowns, as Gabriel turns, and Dean's hit by the sweet scent of alcohol. "You're going to bed."

"Okay." Gabriel agrees, easily, and doesn't say a word for another minute, as Dean picks up his ridiculously loud, neon backpack himself, and curses himself internally for having such low tolerance for disturbing sounds in the night - or it could've been someone else doing this stuff, and getting this useless heap to bed, while Dean could've waited for someone to take care of the alarm or the building to burn down - as he slept.

Then, as Dean comes back to Gabriel, and gives him a nudge to get him walking, he sees Gabriel lean to the side dangerously - on the verge of falling.

"The hell," Dean groans. "He won't even be able to walk."

Gabriel seems to have heard this, over his humming of We Will Rock You, which started god-knows-when. His head cocks up, and he stares at Dean with his intoxicated, wide eyes. "I really won't."

Dean waits for him to finish.

"You should pick me up."

Dean balks - because no way he's doing that, right? - but the moment Gabriel suggests it, he can feel his ears grow warmer, and some part of his brain trying to convince the rest, that that would've been a really great idea.

"You're big and strong," Gabriel coaxes, and the sweetness dripping from his voice is most-parts sarcasm - but that doesn't stop Dean from proceeding to blush. "And the only reason I didn't grow past 5'7 is because I was preparing for times like this."

Dean wants to say something cheeky, along the lines of 'should've kept a lookout for the weight too', but he's too busy in his own head, and just says, "Shuddup."

"Awh, Dean-o," Gabriel drawls. "You know you want to."

And that's the final straw, because of course he doesn't want to - why would he even want to do something like that, ever, for someone like Gabriel - and instead, he pushes his arm around Gabriel for support and to hold him in place, and begins to walk.

"I'll drag you then, you jackass," He mutters, squinting at the numbers on the doors while he tries to find the room.

"This is fun." Gabriel chuckles, as if he'd still gotten what he wanted - as he puts in no efforts whatsoever to help, and lets Dean carry both their weight ahead. "We should do this more often."

"Well, fuck that, and fuck you." Dean tells him kindly, and fucking finally gets to the room. He knocks sharply, but the door doesn't open in any hurry, but when it does, it reveals a grouchy Balthazar - Dean remembers his stupid name, the second he sees the guy; it's a skill - and he's dressed in a pink silk nightshirt and boxers with boxers drawn on them.

What a pair of fucking weirdos, Dean rants to himself, as he glares at Balthazar for all his roommate's faults. Made to room with each other. "Here! I'm done being a gentleman!" He made a move to hand the clinging man at his side over - but there were no moves made to receive him.

"I thought he was going to be sleeping at Kali's," Balthazar mumbles, making space for Dean to enter. Dean does, swallowing at the name, and momentarily forgetting that he was planning on abandoning Gabriel the moment he's crossed the threshold to his room or whatever. "Well. They must've broken up again. Pfft." Balthazar finishes mumbling to himself, and turns to Dean. "Just, uh, put him on his bed, will ya?"

"Do I look like a fucking carrier pigeon?" Dean glares, but goes ahead to do it anyways - because Gabriel has gone all silent, and Dean suspects it's because he's fallen asleep. "Goodnight, you massive idiot." He murmurs, because why shouldn't he, pushing the weight off of himself and on the bed. Gabriel has indeed gone back to sleep, right whilst Dean had been dragging him to his room - and so Dean stops glaring as of then, as puts his feet up on the bed too.

With a final look at the small, sleeping figure, and resisting the urge to smile - he walks back to Balthazar.

"Thanks for bringing him back, I guess." Balthazar mutters, and he's already getting back in bed, not even caring of the fact that there's another person right there. "Just 'cause you're such a nice guy, putting him to sleep with his feet on the bed and all that, I'm not even gonna ask you why you're bringing him back this late." He ends, winking.

"He fell asleep in the hallway." Dean rolls his eyes, not minding the suggestion in Balthazar's sentence, and completely ignoring the innuendo. "I found him sleeping with the fire alarm, for fuck's sake."

"Big spoon, little spoon?" Balthazar asks, without missing a beat - and Dean snorts, nods an acknowledgement and walks out of the room which clearly houses the weirdest people of his year; and proceeds to go back to bed, and sleeps really peacefully for another three hours - which in the kind of life college kids live, is saying something.

***

Tagging: @petrichoravellichor @rauko-is-a-free-elf (the next one is gonna be a prompt of yours uwu thanks again) @flickering-oracle @hellfire37 @3dg310rdsupreme @shejustcalledmeafish @impulsivedandelion @screamatthescreen (the cookiehana one will be the one after this, I swear) @iamcharliebradburylevelperfect @ladywaywarddsc @moderatelypanickedbiromantic