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ktheist · 4 years

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finale — show me yours & i’ll show you mine

➙ muses. seokjin x college student / gamer!reader ft. best friend! taehyung

➙ genre. best friend’s brother au. university au. working au. fwb au.

➙ word. 2.1k

➙ index. 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | finale | side story 1 |

➙ synopsis.

“show me yours and i’ll show you mine.”

“be nice," taehyung mouths across from you as he sits next to mina.

the red handprints on his cheeks becoming more apparent with each passing minute. it was half-believable to say taehyung fell face first in the snow, got stuck there for more than two minutes and voila, sported a red face upon your return to the kim’s.

but now, you’re just lucky no one’s pointing out the very obvious palm shaped mark on his pudgy cheeks as he stuffs his face with food.

“oh, mina, do you have any plans tomorrow? you could stay over and spend christmas morning with us," mrs kim asks as she passes the bowl of the roasted potatoes seokjin’s been boasting about.

“o-oh,” the brunette stammers, holding the fork with both hands as if citing a prayer of hope, “no, i couldn’t intrude on you any longer.”

“no such thing, we’re all family here.” mrs kim waves a dismissive hand and even that brief gesture feels warm, “___’s mother and i have known your mother since we were kids and i watch you two grow up with my boys - you’re basically daughters i never had,” she shoots you a smile, eyes crinkling in the corners.

not seeing the remark coming, you end up almost choking on the mushroom soup you’re just in the middle of enjoying.

“i can’t say i’d love to have tae as a sibling but here we are,” you jest, half-heartedly while laughter erupts from everyone at the table.

if there’s a god, please don’t let mrs kim find out i fucked her oldest son.

“i heard yuukal co is interested in your flower arrangements and wanna buy exclusive rights to have you deliver them to the company whenever they have an event lined up?” namjoon chirps up, dimples digging into his cheek as he digs into his

“the secretary of yuukal co was an acquaintance of mine in college, that’s probably why.” the brunette says shyly, pushing her hair to the back of her ear.

“so, you’re not planning on going back to college?”

but it’s your voice that makes her blink once and stare at you like you’re some tricky math question.

“what- oh,” she shakes her head, as if shaking away the trance that delayed her response, “i don’t know, my major has nothing to do with what i want to do so i’m thinking of taking another year off.”

you nod casually. understandingly. “i’m sure the college has plenty of spots for people who actually wants to be there, i guess.”

it’s not a new low. but it’s a kind of low you never usually stoop to.

no one seems to notice though, as mina laughs. obviously uncomfortable by your remark, “haha yeah.”

“taehyung got offered a job at the company he interned in last year,” with a smack on the aforementioned boy’s back, seokjin proudly announces.

and just like that, taehyung takes the spotlight to himself.

“oh my god, that’s wonderful news. kim taehyung, when were you going to tell us?” mrs. kim is the first to say something, eyes brimming with anticipation as she looks at him, waiting for him to tell everyone at the table more about it.

but the fact of the matter is, kim taehyung is torn between working a nine-to-five, subsequently making his parents proud or going professional as a full time gamer.

he breathes out an ‘uh...’ before his lips curl into a forced smile.

“surprise?”

some time after dinner, you end up drinking and playing card games. mrs kim already went to bed and it's a hour past midnight and all four of your find yourselves in your house to not disturb the kim couples.

the grinch is playing in the background because you, taehyung and mina won against namjoon and seokjin who wanted to watch frozen.

“frozen is so unchristmasy,” taehyung complained.

though, at one point, you did backtrack a little - only a teensy bit - and sided with seokjin who looked like he just won a lottery when you casually say, “i mean frozen’s got that wintry feeling and christmas is in-”

“oh girl, not you choosing a man over your best friend,” taehyung started tickling your sides as giggles erupted from your lips while trying to beg for forgiveness.

“okay! okay! i’m grinch team all the way!”

“is that allowed? yah! you can’t say that after converting to team frozen!” seokjin’s rebuttal sounded every bit casual.

in retrospect, him joining taehyung’s ticklish assault would have felt out of character had you not fucked behind taehyung’s back nor kissed like you were star crossed lovers just hours ago.

“two against one! not fair! seokjin- ah- hahahaha!”

one good thing came out of it though: you ended up sitting next to seokjin. it made you a little too conscious of him - of his cologne, of his thigh that brushes against yours with every movement you make and pretend like it’s nothing and of the ghost of a touch of his pinky finger that lingers on your knee when he seemingly places a hand on his own knee.

still, it’s the closest you could ever be in public and it’s enough to tell mina to back off.

she doesn’t seem to notice but her compliments are equally distributed to everyone in the room. she seems to be the giggly drunk. giggling at every single thing everyone say.

somewhere deep in your heart, you feel the guilt gnawing because of your uncalled for hostility.

“i better get home,” she starts to stand at 3:07 am and you wave a dismissive hand, “no, it’s so late. stay over. please. you promised to make me your special hot chocolate in the morning.”

she objects at first like she turned down mrs kim’s invitation to spend christmas morning at the kim’s. and that’s how you know your views have been blinded with jealousy to see mina for who she is - a cute, lovable girl who’d be the heroine of every romance novel there is.

“oh thank you, thank you!” her arms flail around before they wrap around you in a drunken hug.

you laugh, hugging back.

the memories of how you huddled together like children and fell asleep in the living room, is hazy but when you wake up - the time on your screen displaying a 6 something am - you find a blanket draped over your body.

the light from the kitchen pours over the living room but not enough to wake the slumbering bodies there.

seokjin shoots you a smile when he sees you ambling over to the dining table with hair pointing in every direction, eyes squinting trying to block out the light while holding the blanket around your shoulders.

“you’re working? jinnie, it’s christmas,” you whine, head resting on his shoulder, feeling your heartbeat skip at the small contact.

he chuckles, bumping his cheek against your head before you hear the sound the keyboard again.

you stay like that, blanket curled around your body, seokjin typing away at his laptop.

that is, until his velvet voice cuts through the silence.

“so... i reckon that red handprint on tae’s cheek isn’t because he fell face first in snow.”

“it was because i slapped him in the face,” you wave your injured hand that’s now wrapped with a panda printed band aid instead of the duck ones seokjin used in the beginning.

he takes your hand, making sure not to apply too much pressure on the injury and kisses the top of your hand, “why would you do that?”

your cheeks warm at the gesture but you clear your throat, trying to play it cool, “because he told me we looked good together after all that shit he put us through.”

silence lulls in once again.

it feels like the longest you’ve ever gone with your heart palpitating inside your chest and unspoken words hovering over you but not quite reaching the who they’re supposed to reach.

“do we?” seokjin muses.

“do we... what?” you ask despite having an inkling of what he means.

“look good.” he turns to you, one arm on the table, thumb brushing against your pinky finger.

“i don’t know- we never even took selfies together.” you shrug.

“i think our selfies would look cute,” he pauses, naturally pouty lips curling into a smile, “so cute that the guys in your dm’s would be devastated to know that you’re dating me.”

“i can’t... do this,” the words slip out of your mouth like a waterfall like it’s bound to pour out of your heart through your mouth at some point, “because taehyung was... right. i don’t have a love language - even if i did, it’d be being jealous of every girl that talks to you. lashing out at those girls even though it’s completely understandable why they’d have heart eyes when they talk to you because you’re just that amazing... and... and... you like me? why?”

seokjin’s eyes look like someone personally plucked stars from the sky and trap them in those dark brown irises.

no- actually, he’s looking at you like you’re the star and he’s the moon that shines silver white rays just to have you notice him.

“who’s to say i don’t get jealous?” he cups your face, brows furrowing like you’re a math question without a solution and he’s going mad trying to figure you out, “i get so jealous at the thought of guys sliding into your dm’s, let alone make a pass on you but then i thought ‘if she’s not looking at me then i just have to try harder to make her notice me’ and i might or might not’ve reciprocated mina’s passes to make you jealous...”

you feel the corners of your lips tugging into a smile as you smack his chest lightly, “ass.”

that earns a chuckle from the man before he goes on, “but i’m not even sure what my love language is either, last i used it, i ended up getting dumped because apparently i’m too boring.”

“you’re not boring...” red flashes in your vision as you spit out the word, offended, “your dad jokes are bad but that’s what makes them so lovable. you’re so tall but you’re a literal walking teddy bear. you have biggest, kindest heart... and you’re so hung.”

something devious and prideful flashes across his eyes for the briefest moment before he asks ever so softly, “yeah?”

“yes.” you take his hands and grip them tightly, wishing the touch would convey your feelings.

“isn’t that kind of your love language?” his thumb feels callous against your skin as he rubs circles on the back of your hand. but that’s what makes this feels real - an affirmation that you’re not dreaming, “so... show me more... show yours and i’ll show you mine.”

you’d want to say you share a deep, passionate kiss to seal your promise for each other. but when you open your eyes - not knowing when you closed it - you’re staring at the white ceiling with neon starry stickers tacked up on it.

and seokjin?

he’s nowhere to be found.

the morning air sends shivers down your spine as you pull your blanket over your head, trying to tune out taehyung’s voice.

but the universe seems set on kicking your sleepy ass of your bed when the door swings open with a bang!

“get up! get up! it’s christmas!” the tall boy literally screams in your ears before hoisting you over his shoulder like a sack of potato and setting you down on the toilet in the bathroom with a “you better wash your face by the time i come back!”

you do as told.

eventually.

since the presents are all set under the christmas tree at the kim’s and you’re not looking to upload a christmas morning story in mismatched pj’s, you change into a cute totoro onesie.

mr and mrs kim got mina - she thanked you for letting her stay over last night even though you woke up to an empty house, she even has different clothes on than last night - new kits for the florist.

taehyung almost hugged you to death when he unwrapped his new ps5 that he’s been dying for.

namjoon got a new pair of gucci loafers from taehyung and booked an interrogation slot with their mother because-

“kim taehyung, where did you get all this money?”

you suspect he’s going to reveal his gaming channel to her where he got sponsors from to buy namjoon those loafers.

and seokjin gifted you with a heartshaped necklace as well as a new pc set for taehyung and a signed book of namjoon’s favorite writer that he’d been talking about for ages as well as an all expense paid trip for his parents to thailand.

“thanks for the necklace,” you lightly bump seokjin’s elbow as you come to stand next to him at the sink. he’s washing the mug he used for hot coffee.

he steals a glance at his family and mina in the living room. they’re laughing over taehyung having his head down, sitting on his calves like he’s asking for the forgiveness of a lifetime after confessing that he didn’t want to work a nine-to-five and wanted to go pro.

then his eyes find yours again. the glint in them makes your heart stop before he leans down, lips brushing yours ever so gently yet very seokjin-like.

you think your heart just burst as you freeze in your spot, staring up at the man with slightly parted lips and warm cheeks like a high school girl whose crush very obviously hinted he likes her back.

he raises a quizzical brow at your reaction before realization settles on his face and his lips curve into a smirk, “what? did you think last night was all a dream?”

taglist. @aretha170 @scalubera @ambersaesthetics @heyjiminnie @hyuck-me @fanfuckingfic @fangurl-ontgeside @bri-mal @waves-and-woods @rjsmochii @kimmieloveswho

#bts fanfic #bts fic #seokjin fanfic #seokjin fic #seokjin x reader #bts x reader #bts x you #seokjin x you #bts scenarios #seokjin scenarios #bts smut #seokjin smut #seokjin fics #bts fics

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coffeeandcalligraphy · 4 years

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Something Held | Feeding Habits Update #8

Hi all!

Not me not realizing it’s been 3 months since I posted a Feeding Habits update hahahahahaha. Today let’s chat chapter nine, SOMETHING HELD. This also marks the last chapter in Harrison’s POV so prepare to say goodbye to this icon! TW: body horror, mental illness, trauma

Just a reminder: This is my original work and plagiarism of any form will not be tolerated.

Scene outline, excerpts & a little reflection on making difficult decisions that my not particularly benefit the book but benefit you as the writer under the cut because this update is GIGANTIC.

General taglist (please ask to be added or removed):

@if-one-of-us-falls, @qatarcookie, @chloeswords, @alicewestwater, @laughtracksonata, @shylawrites, @ev–writes, @jaydewritesfiction, @jennawritesstories @eowynandfaramir, @august-iswriting, @aetherwrites

Scene Breakdown

Scene A:

It has been two weeks since Lonan found Harrison at his shared apartment with Suzanna and things are getting strange. Lonan and Suz are getting closer, Harrison is getting more distant and slowly losing it. One morning, Harrison wakes hearing Lonan and Suz’s laughter, and crawls to the kitchen to investigate. When he reaches them, Suz is evening out Lonan’s hacked haircut and they’re both sobbing.

Scene B:

Shortly after this bizarre encounter, Suzanna steps out of the apartment for a breather because her son is sort of terrifying her! So Lonan and Harrison double-team to clean up Lonan’s hair shavings. Harrison begins eating the hair while Lonan stares and they have a conversation about the state of their friendship.

Scene Ba:

This scene is gross and confusing! More hair is ingested. My god.

Scene Bb:

After the above ordeal, both boys rinse off because they’ve been rolling?? around?? in??? hair?? but also?? things don’t stop being a little gross

Scene C:

An air of calm finally settles over the apartment. Lonan brews earl grey tea for him and Harrison to share and Harrison asks if he abandoned Lonan in the final chapter of Moth Work. Lonan doesn’t really answer this question so Harrison continues on his confused, but finally lucid (one-sided) conversation, admitting he understands he burdens his mother, who still has not returned. They circle back to the question of abandonment and Lonan answers Harrison the way he wants to be answered (yes), and this is a moment of freeing, where he feels some sort of responsibility in this irresponsible new life he’s led in NYC. They sort of agree to be friends again.

Scene D:

The boys head into the city to find Suzanna, heading to a bakery near the Hudson River. Lonan drives in his used car, a strange experience since Harrison has not seen him drive in years. Taking the opportunity, he searches through the car and finds a map in the glove compartment. The map is erratically scribbled over and it takes him to moment to realize this is Lonan’s map and the first indication that Lonan, who he has assumed is this stable, perfect person, is not as unscathed as he seems.

The boys pass the waterfront and Lonan nearly crashes the car into an oncoming truck. Harrison regains control of the vehicle tucking them into a side street. Shaken, Lonan apologizes for the mess he’s created both physically from his nosebleed and between Harrison and his mother, which gets Harrison a little antsy because he doesn’t like the suggestion that he’s going to leave. Lonan clarifies, stating he won’t if that’s what Harrison wants.

Scene E:

Later, everyone is back at home and Harrison wakes up to a Lonan-less bed. He gets up to investigate the strange dripping coming from the bathroom and opens the door to find Lonan precariously teetering over a sink filled with water. Harrison, concerned, moves him away and tries to ask why Lonan is presumably going underwater, but doesn’t push. They both stand on opposite sides of the bathroom until the sun rises.

My process:

Honestly, writing this chapter was a huge up and down. The first half of it came much easier to me, but the rest was a literal hellfire to get through. I think I was incredibly fatigued with writing in Harrison’s POV as I’d been writing it since June (I finished this chapter in either December or January). This book has been a pain in the ass to write despite me liking what it is, and I really think it being the only place I’ve physically “gone” since the pandemic makes it even harder to write. I felt claustrophobic in Harrison’s POV since I’ve been writing it for half a year, and in a lil ~breakdown~ my beautiful sister reminded me of something she’d previously told me, “it's not about what works, it's about what you want”.

Let’s chat about this for a sec! I think I was watching a Harmony Nice video on her “hard-to-swallow” self-care, and she basically outline (I’m paraphrasing here) that it’s critical we care for ourselves in ways that might not necessarily be easy to do. Honestly, leaving Harrison’s POV is one of those hard-to-swallow self-care things I literally had to do because my mental health was not happy with me! Y’all know my boys are very close to me, and I’m not picking favourites but Lonan is 2500 times easier for me to write with at the moment. I think Harrison’s situation and how he deals with it is much too similar to mine but in a way that is difficult to place (Lonan and I are unfortunately similar but in a way that is easier for me to understand about myself!). From the beginning of writing his POV I’ve been in Struggleville, but kept pushing through hoping the next chapter would be “the one”. Not to burst my own bubble but there is no such thing in the state of mind I was in! I was pushing myself to find something that doesn’t exist because my brain was really not equipped to do what I needed it to do. I really, really did not want to quit on Harrison’s POV, but I had to, not because I don’t like him (he’s my baby) but because I needed a moment to myself. I felt way too seen in ways I don’t really know how to address in myself, so writing him was horribly frustrating at all times (my fault, not his).

My characters really do live in my head rent-free lol. They live in there! They take up space! They take up energy! They take up concentration, and resources I need for myself! Empathy is so integral to my process, that I give a little part of myself in everything I write. This is a blessing because I really get to dig my heels into the mind of another person, but a curse because I’m not a machine (and sometimes I forget that). It is a lot of emotional energy and labour to give everything you have to fictional people. I don’t think an artist needs to be tortured to create good art (this is not it!) but I never truly practiced this well? In my attempt to be empathetic, I was torturing myself a little bit, not going to lie!

So to combat this, I decided I needed a change. Hence, this chapter is imperfect and probably needs some stuff added to it, and while I’ve only written little of Lonan’s second POV, I’m feeling a lot better! It’s nice to get “outside” in a different place lmao this is so sad (pandemic writing things).

Excerpts:

I wrote the beginning of this in a livestream I hosted on my YouTube channel! There’s also a shoutout here to my dragon tree Lisa <3 miss u boo

Two weeks go by. Lonan sleeps on the couch. Harrison wakes up at dawn—no earlier, no later. Suzanna buys a plant: a Madagascar dragon tree she names Lisa. June grows into the collar. Lonan plays sudoku in the newspaper. Harrison learns to bake focaccia, gluten-free, whole wheat. Suzanna learns to palm read, tells Lonan he’s experienced great betrayal (they stop the reading immediately; Lonan goes back to the newspapers). Harrison begins burning incense at sunrise—frankincense. The dragon tree nearly dies (Lonan saves it). It rains every weekday that contains the letter T. Lonan shifts stacks of soggy newspapers onto the breakfast table, answers crosswords with the help of Suzanna (four across, nine letters, Something held). Harrison burns a baguette. Suzanna buys a hanging basket of pothos. The power goes out for two days and the icebox floods the kitchen tile (Lonan mops it with old newspapers, the ink running like jellyfish). June barks for the first time. Harrison eats a bundle of dried bay leaves. Suzanna waters the plants with rainwater, icewater, wrung into a coffee tin. Harrison leaves the stove on while sautéing shallots (he eats them whole). Lonan wakes up feverish and fills out four newspaper crosswords, then falls asleep on the coffee table. Suzanna moulds panna cotta in coffee mugs and shares the batch with Lonan when they won’t tip out. Lonan teaches her how to propagate the pothos and soon they have twenty empty cans of cuttings poking from the windowsills. They rearrange the furniture, the couch facing the kitchen instead of the TV, the dining table right outside the bathroom, then put it all back the next day. They birdwatch from the tiny window with binoculars and a magnifying glass. They sort coupons. Whittle soaps. Watch Norwegian films without the subtitles. Discuss cliff diving. Make matching anklets (blue beads, elastic string, the plastic clacking how Harrison knows they’re coming). All of this they do as Harrison lies on his bed for two weeks, counting the corners of his ceiling and trying to determine a way to multiply them telepathically.

This is the very next paragraph!

At first he assumes they’re laughing. The sun nearly rising between other high rises, blotting his room with dawn. This is not a surprise. They are probably making pancakes out of buckwheat and discussing the hilarity of whole grains. They are probably laughing at store-bought cherry preserves. Too sour. Their cheeks puckered. But then the laughs get louder, and the sun rises higher and it’s not laughing at all, but gasping.

Here’s Harrison crawling!! is this straight out of the exorcist probably!

Harrison’s instinct is to crawl. As if his smallness against the ground will stop anyone from hearing him, even before he unlocks his door. On hands and knees he shuffles from his bed to his doorframe, edges the door open with his shoulder. On hands and knees he hikes through the hallway, the gasping getting louder, shuffling until he sees them. Lonan sitting on one of the kitchen stools, a grocery bag wound around his throat. Suzanna clacking scissors in two hands so their blades ping in the sun. Her fingers loped around his hair, knuckle-deep, the blades snipping, the gasps growing, them both sobbing, the hair falling, the sun stalking, their bodies rocking. Harrison takes it in from his crawl. Experiences it all on his knees.

So this excerpt seems really you know, normal:

They clean up the hair. Harrison with the dustpan, Lonan with the broom. Harrison still kneels. Lonan still cries. The only thing that has changed since crawling into the kitchen is that Suzanna is taking a walk around the apartment complex. She needs air. Room. If she cries long enough, a cigarette. So Lonan sweeps. Harrison collects. This repeats.

The kitchen smells of nutmeg. Freshly grated from a whole club over espresso, Harrison imagines. He smells this as he tracks Lonan with the dustpan, hovering its open belly for clippings of hair. And Lonan is so compliant, brushes cuttings of himself onto the plastic surface so Harrison can trash it. As Harrison looks on from his knees, Lonan diffuses in sunlight, the window illuminating only his edges. A body so familiar Harrison knows exactly where it flares with light or absorbs it. A body with skin like mulberry silk. A body he could recreate in charcoal with his eyes closed. His archangel translucent and luminescing.

Skip this excerpt if you don’t want to read about Harrison eating hair!! i’m sorry!

Harrison picks a bundle of fallen hair from the dustpan. It’s airy from being recently shampooed, smells faintly of pear, maybe even ginger. This hair, touched by a woman, or a few women, and cut by one, or a few, in different contexts. Eliza’s hands deveining the roots, and then Suzanna’s, trying to fix them. So Harrison eats it. That bundle like a toothpicked cube of cheese. He puts it in his mouth and swallows.

Lonan watches like he’s unconcerned. He watches this feral animal—Harrison must be something feral, starved of something and ravaged by that hunger. Chewing mouthfuls of hair like that will quell of him of what is missing, if there even is anything missing, something unidentifiable in this bland circuit of New York City, this time-loop of sonhood, this fresh start a dousing of flatness. As Harrison eats, he understands he consumes that something like it’s holy communion, reuniting with that something by absorbing it. And still, that hunger moves him, from finishing the dustpan of hair, and closer to Lonan.

“Do you think I’m a bad friend?” Harrison asks, wringing the corner of his lips clean from loose hairs. From this perspective, Harrison on his knees collecting hair, Lonan’s eyes look bluer. Maybe their saturation has nothing to do with the angle, but Harrison feels this is true; his eyes are so crystalline, they are temptingly edible. Like two plump blueberries. Or a matching set of clear glass marbles. Harrison swallows. He repeats, “Do you think I’m a bad friend?”

Lonan swallows, adjusts his grip on the broom. “We’d have to be friends for me to answer that.”

“Aren’t we?”

And here’s the rest of this scene!

“You’re my mother’s friend,” Harrison says. “She trusts you.” He crawls closer to Lonan. “You’ve got secrets. Rituals. Tell me her favourite finger-food and who she wants to marry.”

“I don’t know your mother that well.”

Harrison wraps a handle around Lonan’s ankle. A muscle there jumps like a dolphin breaching the water. He’s memorized this plane of skin, could rebuild it from single grains of sand while blindfolded. He furls his hands across its surface, unfurls.

“You garden with her,” Harrison says. “You share a plate for dessert.”

“She’s kind to me.”

“You cook her breakfast.” Harrison tugs on Lonan’s ankle, knowing it won’t raze him, knowing he’ll come down anyway. “You know the exact temperature she drinks her coffee down to the last digit.”

“I’m trying to be hospitable.”

“You’re trying to be a son.”

Lonan kneels. Crouching so they’re huddled over each other, so it’s nearly impossible to distinguish one body from the other, which one sinks, which one rises.

“My mother’s only got one son to live with,” Harrison says, his voice thin from a clogged throat. He reaches for Lonan’s scalp, scrapes a line down the centre, now an even plane of cropped hair. “And it isn’t me.”

“You’re unstable,” Lonan says, burrowing his face either into a cabinet or Harrison’s shoulder—neither can tell. “You won’t let yourself have friends.”

Farther, toward the tile they go, a pile of hair scattering. “My mother wants me to forgive you by replacing me with you.”

“She’s grieving,” Lonan says.

Harrison loses his hands. He doesn’t know where they disappear to, if he touches skin or tile. “I haven’t died,” he says. Skin or tile. Skin or tile.

Here’s an excerpt from scene C ft. this memoir bit from the time I was shocked that this university I visited had real FANCY teabags:

Lonan brews tea. Earl grey, from a tin. Harrison doesn’t know why he expects it to come from a bag. An individual paper sachet, or if he’s lucky, one of those fancy ones woven from nylon. But it’s from a tin. Two teaspoons into the bottom of a single mug they pass back and forth, wordless at the kitchen table. Strung in the bathroom, Harrison’s t-shirt hang-dries, nearly figure-like, an unfilled phantom. He tugs a throw around his shoulders and stares at his hands. Each crest of cuticle. Each bulb of knuckle. Each maze of fingerprints.

He is material. This is fact. Not just outlines. He’s got skin that goes pinkish when pinched, a pulse that juts from his wrist, two eyes that burn at the scent of lavender, ten fingers. But as he holds his hands up, studying them in the faint moonlight, it is difficult to believe his tangibility. In the city, he has lived as a haze. Fogging over grocery stores, eateries, nondescript. Fresh start has always implied an air of zest, a zing that should have fueled him to plant roots in this restart. But Harrison is rotten, aphid infected, overwatered, underwatered, then not watered at all. He flexes his fingers. He pops the joints. He tries to press his pinkie to the back of his hand. But none of this brings him back to himself. His hands continue feeling like someone else’s. His body invisibly marred in some way he can’t reverse, disconnected in retaliation.

Harrison reflecting on his relationship with his mother:

Suzanna has never left him alone this long, and to her detriment. He imagines her now, living the life she always should’ve lived, the life she lived before he crosscut his way to her most important thing. She’s probably at a salon, having her hair twirled with a round brush, making dinner reservations at some place always too expensive for two (extra points if it has a French name, more if she has to wait a half hour before getting a table). When she talks to her stylist, she doesn’t mention a son, but plans to travel up the west coast, all the way into Canada if she’s feeling adventurous. She’ll buy crime novels she’ll never read at duty-free, reapply a lipstick that cost her a paycheck in the reflection of a hand-dryer. After the salon, she’ll meet a woman at a wine bar, converse about children, and still not mention a son. Suzanna’s singleness will be a celebration.

The boys finally trucing it out <3

When Harrison finally opens his eyes, Lonan is staring at him. His eyes two reels of the Pacific. They cycle in blue. So much of him has changed, and yet he is still the same. Beyond the haircut, Lonan isn’t that much different. He can’t be much different. But as Harrison searches, splaying his palm on the wet table, he knows this is untrue. Lonan is hollower than he was last summer. A little more haunted. They have this in common, then.

“Can we be friends?” Harrison asks. With his pinkie, he finds himself writing against the damp table just as he did Lonan’s scalp not too long ago. Lonan’s gaze follows each loop of each letter, Harrison’s steady left hand.

Lonan is consumed studying what Harrison has written, where each letter connects in near-cursive scrawl. After a moment, he nods, once, twice, and then reverts to staring at the table’s new inscription. On its surface are two words: something held.

The boys in the car like old times <3

Lonan drives. This is strange because Harrison has not seen Lonan drive a car in over a year. Usually, Harrison takes the wheel, but tonight he guides them through the city, in search of Suzanna. His car is clean. This isn’t unexpected. A cherry-coloured hatchback that rattles whenever he makes a left turn. It smells vaguely of cotton air-freshener and the undercurrent of cigarettes.

“You still smoke?” Harrison pokes at the plastic nob for the radio, and it crackles to life. Synth and electric guitar pulse in 4/4 time.

“I bought it used.”

They’ve agreed to get to know one another while they search for Suzanna. Another restart, some attempt at an honest hour. As Lonan changes lanes, Harrison pokes open the car’s glove compartment. A tin of nicotine gum falls on the mat. A hot pink feather pokes from underneath the driver’s manual. Harrison hauls out both, runs the feather along the gum tin, then the back of his hand, and then Lonan’s cheek. When that rouses nothing, he unlocks the tin and removes a slit of gum. Right as he’s about to pop it in his mouth, Lonan says, “I wouldn’t eat that.”

“Why?” Harrison asks. “Did you lace it?”

“Like I said, I bought the car used.”

Harrison puts the gum back, and then the feather. He sticks his hand farther into the glove compartment, feels around until he drags out a map of the state, bilgy and half torn. He unfolds it, careful to avoid the rips, and flattens it against the dashboard. Almost immediately, it wilts against the cold, faded from time in the sun. It’s been marked up. Half with pencil, half with a red ballpoint pen. After a few minutes, Harrison understands the previous owner’s route. Or at least he does at first. Following the red pen arrows, they started at Long Island, then reached Manhattan. Then a much longer arrow takes him from Manhattan to Geneva, and then Buffalo. And then the red pen circles, once, twice, three times, four times, and what is in the centre doesn’t even have a city name. What it does say is HELP, in all-caps, each letter then melting into an illegible scrawl. Harrison sees bits of words: Luke, woe, hands, clay, guard, stray, each wobbly and disappearing into the other, becoming cities of their own, destroying others. He tries to understand the route, but the farther he pours over the map, recircling each line with his finger, the more lost he gets in the ink.

“Is this your map?” Harrison asks. There is no proof that it is. Even the handwriting is all wrong. Ragged. Confused. Desperate. Not like Lonan’s careful, hesitant print.

“Like I said, I bought the car used.”

“But is it your map?” Harrison asks again. Gently, he creases the paper and then slots it back into the glove compartment. Outside, they pass three convenience stores in a row, a flock of couples emerging from a bowling alley, tipsy and cradling leftover deep dish pizzas and mozzarella sticks. They pass two more convenience stores before Lonan finally answers.

“I was confused,” he says.

“This is more than confused,” Harrison says. “It’s disturbed.”

“I’m not disturbed.”

“But something is wrong with you.”

Lonan slows at a crosswalk. A group of teenaged girls whisk by in glitter and lip gloss.

“Yes,” he says.

This is Harrison trying to stop Lonan’s nosebleed after their bizarre swerve which I think is kind of <3 tendy <3

Harrison reaches for him. One hand on the back of his neck, and the other reared toward the red stream. His touch is tactful, so faint his fingerprints wouldn’t even be left behind, but still, the dabbing with his jacket’s hem is enough to redirect the blood’s flow from Lonan’s upper lip to the cuff of leather. The radio is still on, garbled like an unmassing of crepe paper lanterns.

This is the final excerpt for this update that takes us to the very end of the chapter! Harrison has just found Lonan supposedly head-first in the sink and though he asks at first why he is doing that, takes an alternate approach as the chapter closes:

Harrison gets up, his knees popping like gnawed bubble gum. He decides he will handle Lonan at a distance, if he chooses to handle him at all. Like a timid pet owner trying to tame their suddenly-rabid yorkie. Like a friend not trying to tip the full glass. To let its contents film at its surface, but never spill.

Somewhere in the apartment, Suzanna probably listens to them. If Harrison didn’t know her better, he’d imagine her pressed neatly against the door, waiting to hear the shuffle of their bodies or the tang of an argument. Instead, he imagines her at the kitchen table, gripping a glass of water for so long, half of it evaporates.

“You don’t have to tell me anything,” Harrison says, stepping back until his spine hits the counter’s lip. He curls his fingers under the granite. Looks toward the window, now a faint periwinkle. Lonan heaves. His fingers caging his face, an animal restrained. They stand there until the sun rises.

So that’s it for this gigantic update! I have like four short stories to update you on so I hope to be back soon!

—Rachel

#writing #writerblr #amwriting #writeblr #fostered #mothwork #writingupdates #feedinghabits

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wiypt-writes · 4 years

Text

Riding High

Ch 4: Skating The Issue

Chapter Summary: It’s Fliss’ turn to host Frank and Mary and both adults seem to be skating round a particular issue…

Chapter Warnings: Bad Language words.

Chapter Pairings: Frank Adler x OFC Fliss Gallagher

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Fliss Gallagher and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Riding High Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Chapter 3

"Hey Cowgirl, how do you cook a skate?"

Fliss had to read the message twice "I'm assuming you’re talking about the fish..."

"No an ice skate..." the sarcasm dripped of his reply and she could just imagine him rolling his eyes.

"Where the fuck did u get an ice skate in South Pass?" she giggled to herself as she typed her response.

"R u deliberately being an ass?"

"Why did u get a skate when u don’t know how to cook one?"

"I don't know how to cook a lot of things. And there was a guy at the harbour giving them away. Extra catch he said. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth etc…"

Fliss pondered something for a moment before she leaned back in her chair and continued the conversation "Well why don't u bring them round tonight and I'll do them. I still haven't cooked for you after the BBQ the other week"

"Don’t worry, I haven't taken it to heart that every time we've tried to arrange it you've cancelled"

"Piss off!" She laughed to herself as she replied "It’s this weather man, it's so hot... not my fault I've had to rejig all my lessons and exercise my own horses at 9pm... you've been busy too don't forget!"

"Busy time of year for Sailing, what can I say? As it happens I can do tonight but I'll have Mary. Is that ok?"

"No, Frank I expect you to leave her at home on her own... "

“Trust me if I could I would, she’s driving me insane at the moment.”

“Why?” Fliss frowned slightly as she hit send. Whilst she hadn’t really seen Frank other than the previous week for Mary’s riding lesson they talked often by text and he hadn’t mentioned she was playing up. And then she suddenly realised. It was the last Saturday of the Summer holidays. Mary started school on Monday. And she had already made her feelings about that very clear to Fliss, several times.

“I’ll explain later. What time?”

Fliss checked her watch. It was 4pm.

"Say 6 ish? I'll send you the post...I mean zip code...why the fuck do you lot call it a zip code anyway?"

"Stands for Zone Improvement Plan"

"That makes no sense"

"Course it does. Zip, its fast, as in the mail travels more efficiently, and more quickly when people use it"

"And you wonder why Mary is such a smart ass!"

"Whatever, see you at 6."

"Bye Sailor."

Standing up she slipped her phone into the back pocket of her riding breeches and headed out onto the main yard. It was empty. The weather had been scorching recently, so hot she had been forced to cancel a lot of lessons and offer something different to her students. She had been taking the younger kids on trail rides through the grounds that surrounded her yard and onto the waterside and then taught them basic horse care and grooming routines, whilst the older clients who wanted to continue their training had moved their sessions to earlier or later in the day. That said, she had no one left to teach today and she was giving her own 3 a rest so it was a case of making sure waters in the fields were topped up ready for evening turn out.

Thor was flopped in the shade of one of the stables, flat on his side. He cracked an eye open as she passed and his tail lazily thumped on the floor. “Oh boy…I know it’s hot…” she said with a chuckle, bending over to give him a scratch before she stood up and he did the same, trotting obediently at her heels as she headed through the gate and down the dirt tracks which led to the turn out paddock. Joanne, Ruby and Ellis her head groom and stable hands were busy with the water truck topping up the troughs in the bottom field.

“Hey guys.” she smiled “All ok?”

“Yeah,” Joanne nodded “We’ve topped all the others up, this is the last one.”

“Great, ok well let’s get them fed and then we can get them turned out and have an early finish.” Fliss smiled. “Ruby, Ellis, keep an eye on the water.”

The girl and boy nodded and then Fliss and Joanne headed back towards the yard.

“So, you doing anything tonight?” Joanne asked.

“Oh, erm, Mary and Frank are coming over for dinner.” Fliss said

“As in Mary and Frank Adler?” Joanne looked at Fliss.“God he is dreamy. Total fuck boy though.”

Fliss laughed, “So you told me. He’s a nice guy though, I enjoy talking to him.”

“Talking?” Joanne deadpanned “Seriously, you’ve got a sure thing there and you’re talking?”

Fliss snorted “Trust me I’m not looking for anything else, certainly not at the moment.”

“Yeah well, you never find anything when you’re looking for it do you?” Joanne said lightly as they walked into the feed store. “It’s always when you’re not that you come across it.”

Fliss looked at her for a moment. She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t attracted to Frank, she’d have to be blind not to be. But she wasn’t lying when she said she didn’t feel ready for a relationship just yet and it would have to take someone very special to change her mind. With a sigh she jerked her head in the direction of the containers which held the horse feed.

“Start scooping that lot out.”

Joanne did as she was told and a little over an hour later everything was turned out, fed and she made sure the staff knew who was on duty in the morning. With that she dismissed them early and set off to the store grabbing the ingredients she needed.

***** “Woah!” Mary said as Frank pulled up outside the gates “Does Fliss live here?”

“According to the directions…” Frank raised his eyebrows. He pulled out his phone and gave her a call.

“Hi, you at the gates?” she asked.

“I think so…”

“Ok hang on…” she instructed and Frank waited. A few seconds later the iron gates swung inwards. “Drive past the main house on your right and keep coming until the drive bends round. The annex is to the left behind the garage. Door’s open, just come on in.”

Frank took a deep breath and headed through the gate. Mary was looking out of the window at the large villa style house as they passed, her mouth hanging open. Bill emerged from the double garage to the left and Frank smiled at him, halting the truck.

“Alright lad?” Bill said, leaning on the top of the truck, talking through the open window. “Hey kid.”

“Hi Mr Gallagher.” Mary beamed. “We’re off to Fliss’ for dinner.”

“It’s Bill, Mary, my dad was Mr Gallagher. And you’re a lucky girl, Fliss’ cooking is superb!”

“Anything is better than Frank’s.” she informed him and Frank rolled his eyes.

“Mine too. I burn water.” Bill chuckled.

“You can’t do that.” Mary frowned, “It just evaporates.”

“It’s a figure of speech Mary, you know, a joke…” Frank looked at her shaking his head as Bill laughed.

“Well I’ll let you go.” he smiled, “Straight down the drive. Have a good evening.”

He straightened up and whistled, calling a small terrier to his heels before he headed over to a gate at the side. As he opened it, Frank just caught a glimpse of a spacious back yard and a pool before the gate snapped closed. Setting the truck forward again, he followed the drive and it turned left just before the fence, opening up into a space behind the garage where the small annex was set. It was a little detached, 2 storey building that was a similar style to the villa with a wooden door and a large bay window. The door was open and as Frank climbed out of the truck, the wrapped paper package of skate in his hand, Thor came bounding outside barking excitedly.

“Hey boy.” he said, giving the dog a pat before Thor turned his attention to Mary.

“Found it ok then?”

Frank looked up to see Fliss in the doorway. She was dressed in a pair of denim shorts that finished halfway up her toned thighs and a tight grey T-shirt which was distressed around the sleeves. Her hair was fastened back in a loose braid and she was barefoot. Frank felt a certain, and very unwelcome, pooling of arousal in the base of his stomach. Swallowing slightly he composed himself and smiled at her.

“Nice place.”

“Well the rents got a fair whack when they sold up in the UK so…” she shrugged “Sadly it’s not mine!”

He smiled, “This doesn’t look so bad.”

“Suits me, for the time being anyway until I can get my own place.” she smiled “We’re in the middle of re-decorating it so there’s stuff all over the dining room. We’ll eat outside if that’s ok?”

“Sure.” Frank smiled.

Fliss gave a sharp whistle and Thor immediately headed back towards her and into the house as Mary followed, pausing to give Fliss a hug. She led them inside and Frank looked around, the small porch area led into a square living room with a wooden floor which sported a large, light blue fluffy rug and a coffee table in the middle. There was a grey and black L-shaped sofa which ran along one wall and jutted out slightly around the edge of the coffee table and a huge flat screen TV and entertainment system nestled in the other corner which was surrounded by a huge rack of DVDs. On the wall above the sofa was a large framed photograph of Fliss with a chestnut horse, giving it a kiss on the nose, smiling as she did so, sunglasses covering her eyes. There were various other family shots in frames on other walls too. Taking it all in, Frank followed Fliss through an archway into the tiled dining room, which held a table against one wall and a display cabinet against the other which was full of trophies and rosettes. The walls were stripped bare and just as Fliss said there was a pile of decorating equipment sat in the corner. To the right a staircase headed upstairs and in front of them were double butler doors which led into the small country style kitchen. The rear doors were open onto a small flagged yard which sported a decking area upon which sat a table and some chairs. Various pot plants were scattered around the yard area and there was a wicker sofa and chair set with a smaller table and a hot tub nestled into the corner of the fence and the wall, under the kitchen windows.

“This is an annex?” Frank deadpanned looking around. Fliss turned to him, blushing slightly.

“I know, I’m very lucky.” she shrugged. “It’s as good as having my own place.”

“It’s really cool” Mary hummed “Can I go outside?”

“Knock yourself out.” Fliss said as Mary disappeared into the yard, Thor following. “So, where’s this fish?”

Frank dropped the package onto the side and Fliss peeled the paper open.

“Oooh they look great!” She grinned. “So I’m gonna pan fry them with some lemon, garlic and then I’ve done some potatoes and salad…nothing fancy but…”

“Sounds good.” Frank nodded.

“Is there anything Mary doesn’t like?”

“Tomatoes.” Frank said “I mean if they’re in a sauce of pasta she’s fine but…”

“Devil veg.” Fliss wrinkled her nose.

“Actually they’re a fruit.” Frank teased as she looked at him.

“You ever seen a tomato in a fruit salad?” she shot back, reaching around him to open the large fridge.

He laughed and moved out of her way “That’s exactly the reply Mary gives me.”

“Like I said, smart kid.” Fliss grabbed two beers before bumping the fridge door shut with her hip. She opened a drawer and grabbed a bottle opener, flipping off the cap before handing one to Frank.

“Thanks. So, is there anything I can do to help or…”

“No, everything’s done bar the fish so…” she shook her head “Stand and watch Sailor, you might learn something.”

He stood leaning against the counter as she worked, settling into comfortable chat, watching as she cleaned, skinned and filleted the fish before squeezing fresh lemon over it and tossing it into a hot pan with a few cloves of garlic.

“It doesn’t take long” she said, “Do you wanna grab me a few plates?”

“Sure.” he nodded, “err…”

“Cupboard behind you, to the right.” she said over her shoulder as she pulled a salad out of the fridge and drizzled it lightly with a mixture of balsamic, oil and lemon. She did the same with the cold potatoes before she turned the heat off the stove and divided the fish up into 2 larger pieces and a smaller one for Mary.

She gently slid the slices onto the plates and then she nodded. “All done.”

“Well that looked easy.” Frank said

“You can try it yourself next time.” she looked at him, handing him the two bowls “Can you take those out the table?”

He picked them up easily and carried them outside, Mary instantly scrambling up from where she had been sat on the outside sofa with Thor and following him.

Fliss walked out with the plates which contained the fish and they all settled down, Frank placing some potatoes and salad onto Mary’s plate before doing the same for Fliss as she headed back inside for 2 more beers and an apple juice for Mary.

“This is really good!” the seven year old enthused.

“Don’t talk with your mouthful.” Frank looked at her and she gave him a filthy scowl which made Fliss laugh.

“She looks a bit like you when she does that.”

“I do not.” Mary replied indignantly.

Fliss merely smiled as she stabbed another potato and popped it into her mouth “Whatever you say.”

Mary shot her another look which earned her one back from Frank. She met his eyes with her own and gave a shrug, diving back into her food.

“Fred would like this.” she said, looking at her fish.

“Good job because I saved him the scraps.” Fliss said.

“Did you?” Mary looked at her, smiling. Fliss nodded.

Frank watched the easy exchange between the two, smiling softly. Mary had been in a foul mood all afternoon after he had taken her shopping for a few outfits for School. She had been kicking off about the fact she had to go on Monday, but he was sticking to his decision. She needed to go, be a kid, have a normal life.

“You alright?” Fliss looked at him and he nodded

“Yeah, just thinking that’s all.” he said, “Nothing serious.”

Fliss accepted his answer, even though she didn’t believe him and she changed the subject, telling Mary about a few of the things she had planned for her next riding lesson which wasn’t for another 10 days seeing as she had been for one the Saturday before.

“Can I come this Saturday?” she pleaded.

“Mary…” Frank sighed “We discussed this, once a fortnight…”

Mary scowled again and Frank let out a groan.

“Well, if it’s okay with Frank you could come up later in the day and help me with my three.” Fliss said, looking at him. “You can help Joanne with the poles on the jumps and the feeds.”

“Oh, please Frank can I?”

Frank looked at Mary then to Fliss “You sure?”

Fliss nodded “Course”

“Alright.” Frank nodded “But one more tantrum about school between then and now and you’re not going understood?”

Mary pouted a little, clearly considering this bargain before she sighed “Okay.”

When they had finished eating Frank helped Fliss clear down the table. She told him to drop the dished into the sink whilst she placed the left over salad into tubs and back in the fridge.

“So School still a sore subject?” She queried.

“Oh fuck me…” Frank sighed “Sore?” he rubbed at his temple “Monday is gonna be a nightmare.”

“She’ll get used to it.” Fliss said “She’s bound to feel a little put out a first but she’ll settle.”

“I just hope I’m doing the right thing” Frank let out a deep breath.

“You can’t do anything but your best, Frank. That’s all any of us can do.”

“Yeah, suppose.” he shrugged. “Anyway, enough about that…been meaning to ask, how’s it been with shuffling all the lessons around?”

“We’ve managed.” Fliss shrugged, heading back outside “takings are down but…well, you always get peaks and troughs.”

“Tell me about it. Boat work slows up a lot November through January.” Frank shrugged.

“You should branch out into tractor fixing.” Fliss said, settling onto the sofa next to Mary who was busy flicking through a book she had brought. Fliss glanced down and grinned “Moby Dick?”

“Yeah…” Mary looked at her “You read it?”

“A while back. I used to read a lot.”

“What’s your favourite book?” Mary asked.

“Honestly?” Fliss smiled “It’s Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire.”

“Isn’t that for kids?”

“Mary…” Frank groaned “You are a kid.”

“Fliss isn’t” Mary shot back.

“No but I was when those books were released. The first one came out in 1997, I was only 13. I grew up reading them.”

Mary contemplated this. “And they’re good?”

“Yeah.” Fliss smiled “I love Harry Potter. That’s what this is…”

She pointed to the tattoo which circled her left ankle Frank glanced down at the writing, which curved around and then formed into the outline of a stag’s head on her Achilles tendon. It was quite a delicate design. Mary studied it carefully.

“Expecto Patronum…” she said, reading it out “What does that mean?”

“It’s a spell.” Fliss told her, “So in one of the books Harry has to cast it to protect himself from these creatures…and his Patonus, the thing the spell conjures, takes the form of a stag. The writing, see…” Fliss traced it with her finger “That’s the author, JK Rowling’s handwriting. I had it done a year ago, kind of a reminder to me that no matter how bad things get there’s always a way to make it better.”

Mary nodded thoughtfully. “Maybe I’ll read them then.”

“Do you want to borrow the first one?” Fliss asked “And then once you’ve done maybe one night we can watch the movie.”

“Please.” Mary nodded.

Fliss stood up and nodded for Mary to follow so she did. “be right back.”

Frank waved them away and Fliss led Mary upstairs into the spare room. It was still full of boxes, some which littered the bottom of the bunk beds. She dug into a box, found the book, and handed it to Mary. Mary took it gently and examined the cover.

“Thank you. I’ll take good care of it I promise.” Mary nodded “Can I see your bedroom?”

Fliss laughed and nodded “Sure.” she led her across the hall into the larger bedroom and let Mary walk in and look round at the airy room, glancing at the bed which was made and adorned with a light blue and yellow bed spread and a few cushions.

“It’s tidier than Franks.” Mary mused and Fliss laughed.

“I’m a girl.” she shrugged. “We’re always tidier than men.”

“Is that you?” Mary asked, striding over to a photo that was on the bedside table.

Fliss nodded as Mary looked at the frame, which contained a shot of her and her parents with her brother.

“That’s my brother Steeb…I mean Steve.”

“Steeb?” Mary looked up.

“When I was a little girl I couldn’t pronounce his name properly.” Fliss explained “I called him Steeb, or Steeby…it just kinda stuck.”

Mary gave a snort of laughter as she placed the frame down and Fliss waited until she finished looking around before she headed for the door. They made their way back down the stairs and outside, where Frank was looking at something on his phone. He looked up at them as they walked back through the bi-folding doors.

“Did you say thanks?”

“She did.” Fliss nodded.

“Good.” Frank nodded. He took a sigh and looked at Fliss “I don’t wanna rush out but it is getting kinda late and someone will be a crank if they don’t get to bed soon.”

“Yeah he’s always grumpy if he doesn’t get enough sleep.” Mary quipped and Frank shook his head with a huff of laughter as Fliss giggled.

They all made their way inside and Fliss retrieved the wrapped up fish scraps for Fred which Frank took, his fingers gently brushing against hers which again sparked that damned fire in his belly. What the fuck was wrong with him?

Fliss merely smiled at the contact and turned to Mary “So remember, no being a pain in the bum about school or…”

“Yeah yeah I know…” she shrugged.

“Something tells me she isn’t gonna pay a blind bit of notice.” Fliss said, watching as she bounded to the truck.

“Nope.” Frank agreed, shaking his head. “Thanks for dinner Fliss, it was great.”

“Not a problem, if you’re happy to play hunter gatherer I’m always happy to cook.”

“I’ll hold you to that.” he smiled at her, and after a seconds hesitation he leaned down and pecked her on the cheek. “See you Saturday.”

She smiled and watched him head down to his truck where he paused and looked back at her, giving her another smile which spread across his handsome face and Fliss felt the butterflies in her stomach stirring in the way they always seemed to do whenever he looked at her. Tossing him a wave she watched them go before she shut the door and leaned against it, taking a deep breath.

“Stop chasing rainbows Lissy…” she muttered to herself, before she headed for a glass of wine and her latest book before retreating outside for the rest of her evening.

******

Surprisingly Mary kept most of her vitriol about going to school at bay, something Frank knew was down to the promise of visiting the yard. There was the odd grumble, which he shut down fairly easily. He had no illusions about the fact it would no doubt start in earnest on Sunday but for now he was simply happy to have a reprieve from the subject she had been complaining about for the past few weeks.

Seeing as she kept up her side of the bargain, he kept his. Fliss was more than happy to see them, and if he was completely honest, Frank was happy to see her as well. They talked to each other by text every single night now, it had just become a habit more than anything. And a habit he was happy to indulge.

They arrived at the yard a little after 5pm and Fliss was already on board a large, black horse with 4 white socks and a white blaze. She waved in acknowledgement but as they made their way to the paddock to watch, the horse gave a sudden sharp kick with its back left before stopping dead and launching its ass into the air. For a moment he thought Fliss was going to come unseated but she merely smirked and sat back, giving the horse a quick kick on. It moved a few steps and repeated the move.

"Give up you little shit..." he heard Fliss mumble and he bit back a snort as there was nothing little about the brute she was on.

She kicked again, but this time nothing, and the horse threw both its front legs up in a rear. Frank swallowed, as Fliss stood up in her stirrups throwing her reins forward before the animal landed down and she gave it a sharp tap with her stick. At that it moved forward a few steps and Fliss gently encouraged it to continue with a little squeeze of her legs.

"No worse than normal..." she said to Joanne who was grinning at the horse’s antics.

"He’s an ass..." Joanne laughed "you would think he'd learn he never gets away with it..."

"That's...that's normal?" Frank sputtered out and Fliss who had just struck the horse up into trot laughed.

"Yip" she called out, moving the horse on down the long side of the arena "He likes to fart about does Bronson"

Fliss warmed the horse in and then gestured to Mary to come into the paddock. She climbed the fence and sprinted over to where Joanne was.

“Ok so Joanne is now going to put out some poles…see.” Fliss looked down at her from her vantage point aboard the tall, black gelding. “The ones before and after the jump wings are take-off and landing poles. They are to help him and me figure out where he needs to be taking off and landing.”

Mary nodded eagerly

“Not all horses need them, but Bronson is still learning so it helps him to understand.”

Frank simply stood watching as Joanne directed Mary to help her set out the lightweight, brightly coloured pole before Joanne looked at Fliss and asked her something. Fliss nodded and Joanne set up a small cross-pole. Fliss circled the horse and sent it at the fence, Bronson hardly leaving the ground the fence was that low.

“Stick it up a foot!” Fliss called as she circled.

The fence was put up and Frank noticed Mary was watching every movement with utter rapt attention. She tugged on Joanne’s sleeve who turned to her and she pointed at the jump and Joanne nodded. Fliss sailed the horse over the next one and it was put up again.

This practice continued until one time the horse slammed on at the fence and skidded to a halt. Fliss fell onto the horse’s neck and Frank felt his heart stop but she didn’t fall. Instead she shuffled back onto the saddle, turned him and sent him straight back at the jump. This time he didn’t stop.

“So do you know what happened there?” he heard Fliss ask. Mary shook her head. “So his striding was off. He was trying to rush and I asked him to sit up and pay attention, because of that he got confused so he wasn’t right to take off when I needed him to. That’s why he stopped.” “So he wasn’t being naughty?” Mary asked.

“Nope.” Fliss shook her head. “Genuine mistake. See he’s only five so he’s a baby really, not like Cap who could jump a course with his eyes closed.”

“Cap?” Frank looked at her, and she turned to him. “Seriously, you have a dog called Thor and a horse called Cap?”

Fliss grinned “His full name is Captain Chaos…he was already named that when I got him but it fits my Marvel obsession perfectly.”

He shook his head with a smile and watched as this time the jump was higher again. Joanne moved Mary to stand under it, to show her how high it was and Mary’s eyes grew wide and she looked at Frank. He gave her a thumbs up and she moved out of the way as Fliss brought Bronson down again. The horse took off but clipped the pole with his front legs, knocking it down.

“That was because he didn’t pick his feet up enough…” Fliss called as she circled back round, coming again. “He’ll do it this time, watch…”

And he did. Fliss repeated the jump 3 times and Frank couldn’t help but marvel at how in tune with the animal she was. It was like they were working as a unit, she made it look effortlessly graceful, her hands and legs moving in coordination as she folded with the horse, as if jumping over a meter off the floor on the back of a half-tonne animal was the most natural thing in the world to do. The mere thought of it scared the crap out of Frank.

After the third clear jump, Fliss nodded to Joanne and slowed the horse down, letting him stretch.

“Always end on a good note” she grinned at Mary as she patted the horse. Frank could see Mary was thinking something and with that she nodded to Mary and rode the horse over to Frank.

“She wants to sit on him…” She looked at Frank “Is that ok?”

Frank swallowed “Isn’t he a bit…big?” he asked.

“Yeah but he’ll behave now…he’s knackered…tired…” she corrected her English slang. “She can sit up here with me if you’re comfortable with it?”

Frank bit his lip. “Are you sure he will be ok?”

“Trust me Sailor, I wouldn’t let her up here if I wasn’t convinced I could keep her safe…” Fliss said, removing her hat. She passed it down to Mary “Put that on and I don’t EVER want to see you on a horse without one, ok…do as I say not as I do.”

“Frank says that to me all the time…” Mary took Fliss hat and clipped it on. It was a little big but would do the trick.

“Sound advice…” Fliss grinned. “You wanna lift her up?”

Frank nodded and scaled over the fence, lifting Mary easily by the waist. He passed her up and she swung one leg either side of the saddle and gave a gasp.

“I’m so high!”

“Yup!” Fliss grinned, shifting back so Mary could settle in front of her “Ok, hands on this strap…” she indicate to the leather line around the horses neck “I call this my Oh sh-I mean, Oh No Strap…” she said “If anything goes wrong I can grab it and hold on.”

“You can say the word…” Mary looked up at her “Frank does.”

“Stop tattle telling.” Frank sighed.

Fliss laughed and gently nudged the horse on and walked it around a few laps before changing direction and repeating. Frank spotted Joanne was putting the jump wings away so he went to help and the girl beamed at him as she directed him to where they were stored by the hay barn. By the time they had finished Fliss and Mary were stood by the gate.

“You ready to get down?” Frank asked. Mary nodded so he reached up and gently aided her off the horse before Fliss dismounted.

“Wanna lead him in?” she looked at Mary, taking the horse’s reins and moving them over his head. Mary nodded and Fliss let her lead, all the time remaining nearby. This time they didn’t head into the main barn they walked further round to a smaller private block of 4 stables.

“So these are mine.” Fliss said. “That’s Cap…” she pointed to a large black and white horse, “And this is Heidi…”

Frank stopped in front of the large chestnut mare who looked at him before snorting. He jumped back and Mary laughed as Joanne took Bronson off Mary and led him into one of the stables.

“Yeah she’s a bit particular…” Fliss teased “But she’s my pride and joy. Had her since I was 16.”

“Is she the one you did the Olympics on?”

“No.” Fliss said, “That wasn’t my horse. It was a sponsor’s. Heidi was my competition horse before I started training for the Olympics but I couldn’t part with her. I’ve had her since she was 4 and she’ll be 21 this year.”

“Do you still ride her?” Mary asked, reaching up to stroke the mare’s head.

“Yeah.” Fliss said “She can still jump and work…not as hard but it’s important to keep them going. She’s my baby…”

The mare leaned over to nuzzle at Fliss and almost as if he could sense it, Thor appeared and walked into the middle of them, sitting down, nudging Fliss with his nose.

“And you of course…” Fliss grinned, patting the dog.

They headed back out into the yard and Joanne took Mary to the feed room so she could help whilst Fliss carried the tack back to the room.

“Here…” Frank offered as she was juggling the saddle around so she could tap in the code. She handed it over with a smile before opening the door and directing him to the racks. “Thanks.”

“Least I can do.” Frank smiled, dusting his hands down on his jeans “Thanks for this.”

“For what?”

“Letting Mary come tonight.”

“It’s no problem, she’s never any trouble.”

“No, she just asks a lot of questions…” Frank snorted as they walked out to see Mary was now carrying buckets to the horses to feed them.

“I don’t mind. Questions are great, shows they care and want to learn…” Fliss spoke over her shoulder as she moved to take 3 buckets into the barn for her own horses.

“Still it takes a lot of patience.” Frank smiled.

Fliss scoffed “Mary is nothing, you ain’t met my brother’s kids.”

“I’d like to meet them.” Mary chipped up and Frank looked at her, holding his hands out in a ‘what?’ gesture.

“You want to meet other kids?” he looked at her “You spent half the last fortnight ranting about not wanting to go to school!”

Mary scowled in response, giving him a filthy look.

“You two really need to work on your communication.” Fliss looked between the pair of them as they stood facing off in the yard.

“We do communicate.” Mary shot back, and Fliss gave a hmmm as the girl continued “He just doesn’t listen.”

“Well I’ve decided to ignore dumb remarks.” Frank shot back, adjusting his shades

“Passive aggression is just childish, Frank.” Mary shrugged and he shook his head, looking at Fliss.

“I literally…” he trailed off with a sigh “See what I mean?”

Fliss chuckled as she watched Mary moving over to speak to Joanne about something. “She makes me laugh.”

“Glad she amuses you.” Frank arched an eyebrow.

“Well it’s funny watching you get out smarted by a 7 year old, what can I say?” Fliss smirked.

“You know I really wish I could deny that, but…” Frank sighed as he walked towards Mary, dropping a hand on her shoulder “Right, time to go short stack…”

“Oh, oh one more question?” Mary looked up at Fliss.

“Ask and walk…” Frank instructed her, giving her a gentle push “What do you say to Joanne?”

“Thank you!” Mary looked at her.

“Any time kid!” Joanne said as the 3 of them made their way to the parking lot.

“So what was the question?” Fliss said as they walked.

“Oh, right so I was watching a video…and they were doing side saddle…have you ever done that?”

“Yeah.” Fliss nodded, stopping by Frank’s truck “I did it on Heidi when I was a lot younger. Didn’t like it though. I prefer a leg on each side…”

There was a pause as she realised what she had said and flashed bright red as Frank let out a huge bellow of a laugh, as she gave an adorably embarrassed groan and hid her face in her hands.

“Oh god…” she groaned out “That…I didn’t mean…”

“Course you didn’t” Frank teased between his laughs and she punched him lightly on the arm.

“I don’t…I don’t get it?” Mary asked, looking up.

“Tell you when you’re older.” Frank said, “In…” he pointed to the truck.

Mary gave an exasperated groan “You always say that. You know I AM Seven!”

“Going on seventy…” Frank grumbled as she opened the door to the truck. He looked at Fliss and pushed his glasses up on top of his head so could see her properly. “Thank you, again.”

“Like I said, any time…” Fliss nodded, before a wicked smirk crossed her face “Next time she can sit on and jump with me.”

“Over my dead body.” Frank levelled her with a look, making her grin even more.

“Not even a little one?”

Frank rolled his eyes “Now I know why you two get on so well. Both a pain in my ass.”

“Don’t pretend you don’t love it Sailor!” She teased and he grinned.

“Well it kinda lightens up my day a little so…”

He trailed off and looked at her, and she blushed a little, tucking a stray strand of her auburn hair behind her ear. He couldn’t help but feel a little pleased at her bashful reaction. “Anyway I better…”

“Yeah, sure…” she nodded, “I’ll catch you later.”

“Yeah, you will.” he said “I’ll probably fire out an SOS tomorrow night when she’s kicking off about school.”

“Well you know where I am.” Fliss said, genuinely “And I mean that. If you wanna talk or anything just…”

“I will, thanks Lissy.”

There was a moment’s pause and Fliss could tell Frank was inwardly cursing himself for the slip of his tongue, using the nickname her dad had for her. But instead of correcting him she simply smiled, because, if she was honest, she kinda liked hearing it from him.

“Anytime, have a good evening.”

“You too.”

He climbed into his truck and watched as she headed back to the yard, looking back once with a smile.

“Roberta says you and Fliss would make great babies.” Mary said and Frank jolted slightly and looked at her.

“What?” he spluttered “Why would…”

“Good genes she says.” Mary shrugged and sat back in the seat.

“Roberta needs to shut up.” Frank shook his head as he put the truck into gear “Jesus Christ.”

**** Chapter 5

#riding high #frank adler #frank adler x ofc #frank adler x original female character #gifted #gifted fan fic

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slafkovskys · 4 years

Text

too busy being yours / a. turcotte

☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

my masterlist!

title from do i wanna know? by the arctic monkeys

before you read! with everything going on in the world, i would just like to put this out there. if you are not able to financially contribute to the black lives matter movement but would still like to help out, this post contains links to petitions that you can sign and some donation links as well. please take a look at it and do what you can. thank you and happy reading!

when the brown-haired, brown-eyed boy stumbled up the stairs onto your front porch, you couldn’t help but giggle. you were leaning against the wall outside your dad’s office as he wheeled in his first piece of luggage. your mom walked towards him with her arms outstretched and wrapped him in a hug, “how are you alex? was your flight good?”

he chuckles as he pulls back, stepping aside to let your dad in with his equipment. “i’m good. the flight was good. thank you for having me, mrs. hughes. it means a lot.”

she shushes him, rubbing her hands up his arms in the motherly way she always did even if it wasn’t one of her own children. “nonsense. we’re happy to have you, alex. you don’t have to call me mrs. hughes, it’s too formal. you can call me ellen.”

“okay, mrs- ellen,” he’s quick to correct himself at the sharp look she gives him.

“you can’t help, or are you too pretty?” jack interrupts your mother before she can speak again. he glares at you as he passes through the door.

“i’m too pretty,” you pout jokingly. alex, as though he hadn’t realized you were there, turns his head and looks at you with wide eyes. you hold up your hands and wiggle your fingers, “plus i just got my nails done jacky and, as you know, they weren’t cheap.”

your older brother rolls his eyes as he moves over to the stairs to set down alex’s duffel bag. your mother gives you a look before gesturing you forward, “this is y/n, the baby of the family even though she’s not the youngest.”

“the baby, the light of my parents’ life, just a few words commonly used to describe me,” you grin, holding out your hand for the boy to shake. almost tentatively, he does so.

“you forgot pain in the ass,” jack mumbles and your mother is quick to scold him. he flushes and apologizes, but you know that he didn’t fully mean it.

“are you hungry?” she changes the subject, turning to look at the house’s newest resident who nods. she grins before clapping her hands, “great! y/n can show you around while i make you something to eat. you don’t mind do you, y/n? perfect!”

she didn’t even give you time to answer before she turns around and walks towards the kitchen. jack follows quickly after her, “what about me? can you make me some lunch? mom?”

you chuckle at your brother’s antics before looking back at alex. “you don’t have to look so scared. i promise that i’m not gonna bite your head off or anything.”

he chuckles before scratching the back of his neck, “good to know?”

“c’mon alex. let’s go on a field trip,” you announce as you push off the wall. you point towards your dad’s office, “that’s the office. it really just holds all of the boys’ memorabilia, like they’re awards, pucks, all of that-”

“do you play?” he asks.

“i used to when i was younger, but i just decided it wasn’t for me as i got older. left it for the boys,” you shrug before pointing your finger in the direction of where your mom and brother had gone, “that’s where the family room, kitchen, and dining room are. down there is the basement where we have ping pong, the xbox, and other stuff. that door leads to the garage which is basically just the boys’ practice room. the only time there was a car in there was, like, the first day that we moved and we were unpacking stuff.”

he chuckles and follows you as you move towards the stairs, “mom and dad’s room is down here too, so we get the entire upstairs to ourselves which is pretty cool. i think that they regret it because when we argue, it can get pretty loud and they just hear us stomping around on top of their heads.”

“do you argue a lot?” he questions, following you up to the second floor where all of your rooms were.

you shrug, “i mean, we’re siblings. it’s more playful than anything. i’ll call jack a bitch, but i mean it in a loving way.”

“what about me?” you hear jack shout from downstairs.

“i was just telling him which room was yours!” you shout back, looking at alex threateningly. he holds his hands up in surrender, but the dimpled grin on his face tells you he wasn’t the least bit threatened by you. “speaking of rooms, luke’s is at the end of the hall. jack’s is there, mine is right here, and you get quinn’s old room beside mine.”

“lucky me,” he teases and you have to turn your head so he doesn’t see you flush.

you push open the door to his room and gesture him inside. “we didn’t unpack your stuff, but if you don’t see something, i think dad put some boxes in the closet too.”

“thanks,” he nods, moving past you into his new bedroom. he looks around, shoving his hands in his pockets. “does your mom care if i hang some things up, like pictures or posters?”

you shake your head, “it’s your room dude. do whatever you want with it, just don’t punch holes in the walls. that was quinn’s only rule.”

“i won’t,” he assures, taking a seat on the bed.

you sigh, “well, i’ll leave you to unpack your stuff. let me know if you need anything.”

“thank you,” he says as you turn which causes you to look back at him with a raised eyebrow, “y’know, for the tour.”

“anytime,” you wink, grabbing the knob of his door and pulling it behind you. you leave a crack before moving into your room next door. you shut your door fully behind you and press your back against it as bite your lip, “anytime.”

it was kind of strange how quickly alex had become part of your life, part of your routine. having him there was just natural. normal.

the first year flew by and when he came back for his second and final year in the program, the two of you were practically inseparable. you were never able to see him as another one of your brothers, but as more of a best friend.

you basically had an open-door policy for alex (something your brother’s had yet to obtain so they just barged in as they pleased) which never made it weird when he wound up in your room, either splayed across your bed or in the chair in front of your desk. currently, he had taken up residence at the latter as you tightened the string on your top.

you move to stand in front of your mirror, giving yourself a once over, “how do i look, al?”

“fine,” he says, sparing you a glance before looking back down at his phone. you groan and grab a boot before launching it towards him, “what the hell?”

“i don’t want to just look ‘fine’ alex,” you sigh, resting your hands on your hips, “i want to look mature. i want to be drop-dead gorgeous.”

“first of all you’re sixteen,” he holds up a finger, “and secondly, if i called you drop-dead gorgeous, your brother would probably break my leg.”

you flush, turning away from the mirror. you grab your sneakers before nodding towards your door, “let’s go down. avery’s gonna be here for me soon.”

“who’s all gonna be at this party that you’ve been so quiet about?” alex asks.

“her boyfriend probably,” jack teases, not looking up at you as you move into the family room.

“shut up,” you roll your eyes. you look at alex and he stiffens at the mention of the word ‘boyfriend.’ you shook your head as you sit down on a barstool to put on your shoes. “some friends from school. some u17s, nothing new.”

“you need to watch out for the- oh, no ma’am,” jack finally looks up. his eyes rake over your outfit and he pauses on the sliver of your abdomen exposed by the gap between your jeans and shirt. “not today, not ever. go change.”

“no,” you’re quick to respond, looking at him annoyed. “i’m wearing this.”

“no you’re not,” jack says, standing up. he points upstairs, “put on a shirt. an actual one.”

“jack-” you don’t have time to argue before your dad comes through the garage.

“dad, tell y/n that she needs to change!”

“where is she going?” he asks, looking at you. unlike jack, he didn’t make a face at your outfit. you were used to walking around in cutoff shirts or hoodies, so it was nothing new to see a bit of your stomach.

“a party,” jack states, and just for the extra nail in the coffin, he smirks, “with the u17s.”

“no, yeah you definitely need to change. sorry princess,” he walks over to press a kiss to your head before going back towards his room. you hear the door shut and you turn to glare at your brother.

“you-” you feel your phone buzz in your back pocket so you pull it out to check. it was avery and she was outside. it was then that you were thankful for how punctual she was. you smirk, looking back at the two boys. “actually, i don’t have time. my ride’s outside. don’t wait up.”

you take off towards the front door. you hear jack shouting after you as you tear through the front yard and open the backdoor of avery’s car. both avery and lily (who was in the passenger seat) look at you concerned, but you shook your head, “drive.”

she listens, pulling away from your house before jack could catch up. she barely makes it out of your neighborhood before your phone lights up. it was a text from alex.

alex t

for the record, you did look drop dead gorgeous, he’s just being an ass

have fun and don’t do anything i wouldn’t do ;)

you don’t even realize you’re grinning until avery calls you out on it, “who are you texting? you’re grinning so hard it looks like it hurts.”

“nobody,” you try and lie, but your voice crack gives you away. both girls giggle and pester you some more, “fine, fine. it was brett. happy?”

“no it wasn’t,” lily shakes her head, but the conversation is thankfully dropped.

that night as you danced around with your friends, hung around with brett who you were kind of talking to but he always seemed to forget that, and even during that, your mind was on alex. his smile, his stupid dimples, him.

that was when you realized how fucked you were.

it was one thing everyone around you noticed, how close you and alex were. while your family had grown used to it, anyone who didn’t live in the house always made sure to tease you two about it.

“so now that he’s gone,” trevor’s voice drops as jack leaves the room to go and grab his wallet that he’d left upstairs, “you can tell us the truth. are you two like-” he puckers his lips and leans towards patrick who shoved him away.

“trev, i love you man, but not that much,” patrick says and you giggle. alex’s hand squeezes your ankle and you look at him to find him already staring at you. “but seriously,” patrick says, “what is up with you two? and don’t say that you’re just friends because this isn’t friend shit.”

he gestures to where your legs were thrown over alex’s lap and the hand alex kept on your ankle almost protectively. you weren’t daft. you had also noticed how alex had changed when it came to you, you just chose not to bring it up. you were scared that if you did, if you asked if the feelings were mutual and they weren’t, it would scare him off and you weren’t ready to lose this side of alex so you just kept your feelings to yourself.

“we’ve been planning this for weeks, pat. it’s not my fault that it fell on boys night,” alex shrugs, turning to look at the massachusetts native. “i’ll be at the next one.”

“what happened to ftf? what happened to bros before,” he pauses, rethinking his choice of words, “other bro’s sisters? no offense y/n. you’re beautiful.”

“thank you. none taken,” you laugh at him. you press your heel into alex’s thigh which causes him to look at you, “you can go if you want. i can just watch it alone, al. it’s no big deal.”

“no, you wanted to watch this together, so we’re watching it together. i made a commitment to you before i did to them,” he shrugs and you sigh.

trevor huffs before running a hand over his face, “pat, we’ve officially lost him.”

“who did we lose?” jack asks, coming back into the room with his wallet and keys in hand. he looks at alex, not even paying attention to where his friend’s hand rested because he was so used to it, “you sure you don’t want to come man? i’m positive it’ll be more fun than watching hocus pocus and eating mac and cheese.”

“i’m good,” he replies to your brother who rolls his eyes.

“can you just go already? you’re killing my halloween vibe,” you whine. the four boys laugh before jack walks forward and places a kiss on top of your head, “love you jacky. be safe.”

“love you too princess,” he says, moving over to alex. he tries to hug him, but alex shoves him away. jack puts on a show, a pout on his lips as he whines, “but i love you turcs.”

“i love you too jack, but i’m not your sister,” alex kicks jack in the leg when he tries to lean on again. you pull your legs back when alex stands up as they start to tussle around.

trevor and pat are in the background watching, waiting for jack to finish because he was the driver. it lasts for only a minute before they separate and fix their clothes. alex sits back down and pulls your feet back into his lap immediately, draping his arm over them to weigh them down.

the three head towards the door, but trevor hangs back to say one final thing, “goodbye lovebirds.”

both of your faces flame as trevor walks out of the door cackling. you sink into the couch, hoping it would swallow you whole as alex turns to you, “i’m sorry about him. i keep telling him-”

“don’t worry about it,” you shake your head. you look at the time on your phone before sitting up, “do you wanna do a face mask? you wanna do a face mask.”

as he always did, he goes willingly when you drag him off the couch. though you didn’t need to pull him all the way up the stairs by his wrist, you did. you craved that physical contact with him. you wanted to hold onto him so he wouldn’t slip away, not like he would.

you lead him into your bathroom which was connected to your bedroom. when you first moved in, you discovered that there was only one bedroom that had an attached bathroom so you were quick to claim it. you’d had to share with the boys before and it was an experience that you didn’t wish to have again.

“can i do the purple sparkly one that you had on last week?” he asks as he hops on the counter in the empty space beside the sink. you look at him with a raised eyebrow. “what?”

“you noticed that?” you bend down and open the cabinet, grabbing the jar.

“i notice a lot of things you do,” he mumbles, probably thinking that you wouldn’t hear him but you did. that was one thing about alex, he was terrible at whispering.

you take a deep breath before standing, grabbing a headband for yourself and a scrunchie for him. you move to stand between his legs, “we need to pull your hair back so it doesn’t get stuff in it.”

you run your hands through the front of his hair, gathering it in a tiny bundle before tying the scrunchie around it. he had closed his eyes and you giggle, pulling out your phone. he peeks open an eye, “what are you doing?”

“i’m taking a picture al. smile,” you demand. he does so, giving you his real smile and not his normal one. you smile at the picture, “you’re cute.”

“let me see,” he says, leaning forward to look at your phone. he looks at the picture and shakes his head, pressing the ‘x’ in the top left corner. “you’re deleting that.”

“well, i already saved it so,” you shrug, turning off your phone and placing it on the counter. you twist open the jar and scoop some onto your fingers, “hold.”

he takes the jar from your hand with a chuckle, “yes ma’am.”

he lets you apply the mask, not talking or moving too much because this wasn’t the first time he’d done this with you. unlike your brothers, he was more than willing to do face masks or let you do his eyebrows. he probably would never admit it, but deep down you knew he liked it.

“let me do you,” he says, tightening his legs around you as you finish and try to move to the side. “please?”

“okay, but you have to do a thin layer or else it will take forever to dry,” you say and he shakes his head. “sorry, i’m sorry.”

his fingers are gentle as he rubs across your face, applying the mask evenly. he tucks your hair into your headband when it keeps falling out. “don’t want that to get stuck,” he would say to himself.

he smiles when he’s finished. you move your head to the side to look in the mirror, giving him a nod of approval. he hops off the counter as you move to stand in front of the sink.

“i have a question,” alex announces as you wash your hands. “a hypothetical question.”

“well i have a hypothetical answer to your hypothetical question,” you send him a smile through the mirror as you shut the water off and grab a towel. “what’s up al?”

“hypothetically, if i were to ask you out on a date, what would you say?” the look in his eyes tells you that he was nervous, fearful even of what you might say.

“hypothetically, i would say yes,” you turn to face him, playing with sleeves of the grey, wisconsin long sleeve that belonged to him, but was currently on your body. “but if you don’t ask me, i can’t say yes.”

“okay, that’s good,” he whispers to himself, moving in front of the sink after you. he didn’t ask after or when you walked back downstairs. he didn’t ask as you started your october first tradition (which he’d only been a part of since last year) of making mac and cheese and watching hocus pocus. he didn’t ask as you washed off your face masks. he didn’t ask as you got closer on the couch and ended up pressed into his side with his hand under your shirt.

it wasn’t until later that night when you were tucked under your comforter ready to slip into unconsciousness that alex walked through your door. he perched himself on the edge of your bed and leaned over you. “hypothetically,” he grins at your giggle, “would you let me steal you away this weekend?”

“i would,” you raise your hand to thumb at his cheek. he leans into your hand and you smile sleepily, “can we stop being hypothetical now?”

#alex turcotte #alex turcotte imagine #nhl imagine #hockey imagine #la kings #my work

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ezrasarm · 4 years

Note

Ezra and Cee end up living together because Ezra is totally a cool uncle/willing to train her in prospecting (less dangerous jobs only now that he has a psuedo daughter ans one arm). But he also encourages her to complete her studies. Enter a private tutor who is going to help Cee complete the equivalant of Space!A levels/GED. Ezra can't help but be smitten and won't stop interrupting the lessons. Cee is irritated at Ezra's brainu flirting, tutor is mostly oblivious until she isn't. 😉

Electrostatic Attraction

Pairing: Ezra x Reader

Word count: 2.5K

Warnings: 10 ply super soft fluff, chemistry both literally and figuratively, a lack of proofreading

A/N: Sorry it took me a bit to get this out! I had to dig back deep into the traumatic memories of studying for IB chemistry for this one. Also it’s been a while (and I sucked at it then) so don’t quote me on any of this stuff 😂.

“I didn’t know we were expecting company.” Ezra said, a charming grin gracing his lips as he appeared in the doorway with a hefty bag slung over his shoulder. He’d been away on a job for the past week. Nothing too complicated. Just enough to keep the two of them afloat while Cee was finishing up her studies.

“I thought you weren’t supposed to be back until Thursday.” Cee said, glancing up from her textbook only slightly surprised to see him so soon.

“Finished up early.” He said, allowing the bag to slide off his arm onto the floor as he made his way inside. “Nice to see you too, Kid.” Ezra prompted her only to get an eye roll in response. “You gonna introduce me to your friend here or am I gonna have to make our acquaintance myself?” He asked with a charismatic chuckle as he nodded over at you. He’d swear he was being discreet but Cee didn’t miss the way his eyes dragged over you where you were sat in the seat next to her. She’d never seen Ezra’s interest peaked like this so the shift in behaviour caught her a little off guard.

“Right...” Cee squinted at him skeptically for a moment before shaking off the initial shock. “Ezra, this is (Y/n), my tutor. (Y/n), this is Ezra, my...” Cee scrunched up her face a little to consider her words for a moment before shrugging. “I don’t know, he’s just Ezra.” She finally decided.

“Pleasure to meet you.” You said with a polite smile as you got up, extending your hand to shake before realizing his wasn’t there and quickly switching hands. This earned you a hearty laugh and a wide smile as he accepted the gesture.

“The pleasure is all mine.” He responded, shaking your hand for a tad longer than customary only for Cee to cough and give him a chiding glare from over your shoulder which told him it was time to let go. “Right, don’t let me distract you two.” He nodded curtly with a smile, his hand raised in mock surrender before disappearing into the galley.

“Sorry about him. He’s not usually like that.” Cee said as the two of you got settled again.

You weren’t quite sure what she meant by that but you shrugged the comment off with a “He seems nice.” Before nodding back at the past paper the two of you had been going through. “Where were we again?” You asked, still slightly flustered by the interaction. You could feel a flush had risen to your cheeks and you weren’t entirely sure why.

“sp3d hybridization.” She reminded you. There she was. Always on the ball. Why did she need you here again? You thought before snapping back into it.

“Right. So you know what I’m gonna ask you.” You said and she peered back at you expectantly. “Bond angles?” The blank expression on her face persisted and despite knowing she knew what you were talking about you folded. It was your job to solidify this information in her head after all. “Okay, so say we’ve got a substance like phosphorus pentachloride. So that’s a single phosphorus atom and five chlorines bonded with polar covalent bonds. And they’re polar because...” You prompt her.

“Chlorine has greater electronegativity than phosphorus.” She finishes for you and you give her a subtle high-five and an approving nod as you go on.

“Right, and each of those chlorine atoms have equal partial negative charges which makes them want to get as far away from each other as possible while still clinging to that phosphorus.” You explain and she nods as though that’s obvious. “So how are those five chlorines going to configure themselves around that phosphorus so that they are all equidistant from one another?” You ask and she squints at you for a moment as she tries to work it out. “Sketch it out.” You remind her, tapping the pad of paper in front of her already filled with scribbles of chemical formulae, Lewis structures and ball and stick models, knowing she works better when she can visualize what she’s talking about. Unbeknownst to either of you Ezra had since appeared in the doorway a fond smile toying at his features as he watched the two of you giggle over the way you tripped up saying “trigonal bipyramidal symmetry” and you challenging her to try saying it five times fast if she was so keen to make you laughing stock for it.

“Okay, you win.” Cee laughed, hands raised in surrender when she blundered her first attempt. Cee liked you, Ezra noted. He noticed the way that she actually acted a bit like a kid around you. She treated you like a friend, not a teacher and he wondered how you did it. He could see you had invested a genuine care and concern in your work which was a rarity nowadays, one which gently tugged at his heartstrings as he took the scene in.

“Alright, review time!” You declare as you notice the time. You always liked to round back to some basics when you finished up your sessions so that she left things on a high note and you really cemented those foundational concepts in place. “So hydrogen bonds.” You cue her and she sighs.

“Haven’t we gone over this five times today?” She asked.

“Then you should be five times better at explaining them than you were when we started.” You say and she gives you a challenging stare for a moment before she nods in defeat and rattles off an unsurprisingly accurate definition of the intermolecular force.

“And London dispersion forces?” You ask and she astounds you once again.

“Last but not least, dipole-dipole interactions- and if you don’t get this I’ve completely failed you as a tutor.” You say.

“The electrostatic attraction between the positive and negative ends of molecules with permanent dipole moments.” Ezra speaks up from the doorframe and you jump slightly at the sound of the baritone in the room before a smile sets on your face. He couldn’t seem to rip his gaze off of that upwards quirk to your lips. Even after such little interaction there was something about you that drew him to you like a magnet. You were smart and quick witted. He could tell that already from watching you bicker with Cee, not unlike he usually did himself. Not to mention you were devilishly good looking, especially in that sage green wrap dress you were wearing that hugged you in all the right places and showed off just the right amount of skin. Few people wore dresses anymore, at least not in his circles, and the custom was striking to him. It made him nostalgic and reminded him of home.

“That’s... correct.” You say after turning to face him fully. You hadn’t had the time to notice how good looking he was when you were first introduced but now that he’d changed from the bulky suit he was wearing when he first came in and he’d cleaned himself up a little, you could actually take in his ruggedly handsome features. Soft warm eyes, a patch of platinum blonde just at the cowlick where his hair parted, a prominent nose, a faint scar on his cheek and a smattering of facial hair across his jawline and upper lip. Maybe it was the laugh lines around his eyes or the seemingly constant perk to the corner of his mouth but something about his demeanour commanded you to be completely enraptured by him.

“Please, make no mind of me, I didn’t mean to interrupt.” And it’s only now that you realized you must have been staring at the poor man. Your face burns bright red with embarrassment as you try to collect your thoughts again.

“No, not at all! I uh- we were just wrapping up.” You stammer out as you begin collecting your things into a neat pile in front of you.

“Cee,” Ezra says and her head flicks up immediately from where it had been buried in her palms the moment he started speaking. “I was about to order takeout, have you got any preferences- say, (y/n) was it?” He asked, even though he knew quite well what your name was. It hadn’t stopped playing on his phonological loop since the moment he’d heard it. God, his voice- the way he said your name almost made you swoon as you went to nod. “You should join us.” He says simply and Cee’s eyes widen like a deer in headlights before she just about snaps her neck turning to look at you.

“Oh, I shouldn’t-“ You begin but he’s waving the the excuse out of your head before you can even come up with it.

“That is if a bewitching woman such as yourself doesn’t have any prior arrangements.” He suggests and Cee is just about ready to hurl her textbook at him if that will get him to shut up any faster. Have you mentioned that you’re blushing yet?

“No, no plans. I-“ You start to say before glancing over at Cee who has a look of controlled horror adorned on her face. ‘She’ll forgive me’ you think to yourself before speaking. “I’d love to.” You say. Ezras pre-existing smirk widens into a broad grin.

“Ezra, come help me find the menus!” Cee declares almost immediately, before leaping up and dragging him by the wrist into the kitchen leaving you slightly dumbfounded in your place.

“You can’t just invite her over for dinner, she has a life of her own-“ She manages to simultaneously whisper and shout once their out of earshot. “Why is your hair wet? Did you shower?” Cee asked bringing her hand up to jostle his mop of damp hair. “For her?!” She just about hissed, pointing back out in the direction of the living/dining area where you were sat.

“What? I just got in from a dig! You expect me to sit around in that filth all day?” He questioned, attempting to deflect her accusation.

“Normally you just pass out on the couch the minute you get in- Ugh, Ezra! My tutor? Really?!” She scolds him and his face softens before he speaks again.

“Just humour me. It’s been...” He pauses a moment as he considers the last time he’s felt this way about someone. “Too long.” He finally decides and Cee scrunches up her face.

“Ew!” She exclaims remembering the way his eyes had traced down your body when you first introduced yourself.

“Not like that!” He reprimanded her, giving her a light swat on the shoulder. “Although, that too.” He shrugs after second thought. This time Cee is the one to whack his arm with the rolled up stack of takeaway menus, but far harder than he had her. “Ow! You pack quite the punch there little bird!” He winces through a soft chuckle before his face falls again and they enter an undeclared staring match, Ezra straightening up and squinting at her slightly when he realizes he’s being challenged.

“Fine! But you have to quit it with the ‘bewitching woman’s and the poorly veiled chemistry innuendo.” She points a finger at him.

“Chemistry innuendo? I gave a definition!” He exclaimed defensively.

“Really Ezra? Electrostatic attraction?” She drawled out like he had. “You don’t think we already know perfectly well where you want to put your lone pair of electrons?” She retorted, eyebrows raised accusingly.

“I don’t sound like that- What does that even mean?!” He squeaks out before he shakes the thought away and refocuses. “Cee,” he sighs. “I do not supplicate much of you often...” he drags out, eyes pleading down at her, who has her arms crossed on her chest.

“Don’t fuck this up.” She says after far too long and Ezra doesn’t even care to correct her language. “I have to see that woman on a daily basis and I will not have you coming in and screwing up my chances of passing chemistry.” She says, waving the menus threateningly at him once again.

“You have my word.” He nods diligently, raising his hand to lay against his chest before Cee storms back out of the kitchen with almost the same intensity as when she entered and Ezra takes a moment to collect himself before following.

It didn’t take too long for the three of you to decide on your order. There wasn’t all that much variety to choose from on the station, no matter how large it boasted itself to be. Your order was ready in a manner of minutes and Cee practically sprinted to the door claiming she would pick it up to escape what she swore was the most embarrassing interaction of her life, watching the back and forth between you and Ezra like the worlds most awkward ping pong match. She was surprised you hadn’t run screaming from the room at Ezra’s completely unsubtle and unpracticed flirting and his off the cuff, frivolous compliments to you but the truth was, you found them extremely endearing. His entire face lit up with pride when you commented on the book collection you’d noticed last time you were here. When you pointed out a favourite or yours that you’d noticed the spine of which was almost completely worn down on his eyes just about bugged out of his head as he pulled it off the shelf to show you that almost every single page had been filled with scribbles and annotations he’d added in the many times he’d reread it. By the time Cee got back, the two of you had managed to inch closer together from the opposite ends of the couch you’d occupied earlier. You were both keeled over in fits of hysterical laughter at some story you were telling about a misunderstanding that occurred with a pupil and their father when you first started private tutoring sessions. You hadn’t even realized your hand had come to grasp his knee as you tried to steady yourself. Just looking at the two of you Cee could have sworn you’d known each other forever. Something about the scene in front of her seemed so natural as she tried to remember why she was so horrified by the idea of you getting along so well in the first place. When you could finally breathe well enough to acknowledge her she set the bag of takeout on the table in front of you before jerking her thumb over her shoulder.

“I uh-“ she gaped for a moment. “I just ran into a friend outside the uh... place. I was gonna go hang out with her for a bit- but you two should eat without me while it’s still hot.” She suggests before either of you can even protest.

“Sure thing.” Ezra nods, still beaming from his most recent laughing fit, he almost misses the wink Cee shoots him before bouncing out the door. ‘That little minx’ he thinks to himself as she disappears from sight leaving just the two of you and the makings of what you would later refer to as your first date.

Masterlist

Taglist (let me know if you’d like to be added)

@ezraslittleblondestreak @agirllovespasta @chaoticspaceidiot @engineeredfiction @pedropascalito @dreamgirl-67 @wickedfrsgrl @hillarymurray4 @din-damn-djarin

#ezra x reader #prospect #pedro pascal #fanfiction #oneshot #request #prospect 2018 #ezra prospect #ezra fanfiction

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mindofharry · 4 years

Text

Motion sickness G.D

in which julie realises she’s only with gray because of their kids.

angst, cheating, swearing. feedback is welcome as always !! <3

TW: some of the stuff mentioned in this series might trigger some people. please don’t read if you get triggered easily!

“mama, wake up”

julie opens her eyes to be met with her youngest son, alexander, his curly hair every which way and his tanned skin flushed. his little hands rested on either side of his mother, his little butt on julie’s stomach. julie looked over to the side table, gray had built a couple years back. the clock read 7:00. at least she had a couple hours of extra sleep this time. “hi, baby” julie sighed running a hand through alexander’s hair. “where’s papa?” she asked referring to grayson, her husband. this was what the usual day looked like for julie and her boys. wake up at 6 or 7, ask where gray was, find out he’s still out doing who or god knows what or he’s left for work already.

“i did not see, papa, i haven’t seen papa in ages” alexander pouted bringing his head down to her mothers chest. “daddy’s, just very busy at the moment, has a lot of big boy work to do” she lied. lying was easier, for her and for everyone. the boys, alexander and sebastian are daddy’s boys all round. They’re utterly obsessed with him. sebastian is the first born, he turned 7 in december. he knows something is up, just can’t put his finger on what. and alexander. God, julie feels for her little baby. he only just turned 4, so he’s starting big school soon enough and he’s noticing how distant gray has got.

julie could live with being the bad guy. she really could - she’d do anything to keep her boys happy. having them smile and laugh is something she tries to see everyday. It’s getting a lot harder to lie to them both, they’re both becoming so smart.

“let’s get ready, we’re off to see uncle ethan today!” julie said sitting up excitedly. “yay!” alexander yelled running into his and sebastians shared room to tell him the news.

“fuck” julie mumbled to herself her head in her hands. she wished she could just stay in here and hide from the world. hide from her family and friends. hide from grayson. but she’s a grown woman, a mother most importantly. so she put on the mask and grinned as she put on her clothes for the day. “you look pretty mama” sebastian complimented making julie kiss his cheek “thank you, bebé” she said laughing as he tried to rub off her lipstick stain.

“now, who’s ready for some pancakes!”

it was 8:30 when grayson arrived home, it was saturday so he thought they would still be in bed. julie always insisted on having a couple more hours in bed on the weekend - something he used to love doing with his wife. now he likes to do that with her.

he was surprised to hear the laugh and giggles coming from the kitchen, he grinned walking into the kitchen him and ethan actually helped to renovate a couple years back. julie was and is still obsessed with the design of the kitchen. “papas home!” gray called out leaning against the wall separating the dining room and kitchen. “papa!” “daddy” the boys squealed at the same time dropping their forks and running to their dad.

julies smiled dropped, immediately knowing where he had been before hand. not at work. at hers.

“say hi to daddy and then get your shoes on” julie stated starting to wash, the boys kissed their dads cheek before racing eachother to shoe rack. grayson sighed dropping his keys on the white kitchen island. “where were you” julie asked putting away the dishes. grayson nervously bit at his lip quickly coming up with “just with ethan for a bit. had to confirm something” he lied wrapping an arm around julies waist, kissing her neck.

julie held back the tears and nodded. “the boys and i are going to head over soon. you wanna join?” she asked already knowing the answer. “uh no. got to edit and all. but you guys have a good time, yeah?” he said kissing her lips. he could invite her over, olivia, she was a little younger than julie. and he felt the spark with olivia, he really did. but he couldn’t break it off with julie and julie couldn’t break it off with grayson.

they had met young, 14 to be exact. and julie followed him everywhere, did everything he asked. had kids when she wanted to wait. moved to la when she wanted to stay in jersey. let him be a 21 year old, when she had to stay home and parent. she loved being a parent don’t get her wrong - it’s the most rewarding thing ever. but she got pregnant at 19, she didn’t have to time to party or go out with friends, because that’s what grayson was doing.

“make sure to clean up after yourself” julie mumbled throwing the tea towel on the island. “hmm?” grayson asked looking up from his phone. “have a good day, honey” she smiled grabbing her keys and leaving with the boys.

“mama, are you okay?” sebastian asked holding his mother’s hand. julie nodded grinning “daddy has a friend coming over. so we’re going to spend the night at uncle e’s house!” julie squealed making the boys giggle. “i can’t wait. uncle ethan is so cool, like papa” alexander grinned making julie sigh and nod “yeah, like papa”

while the family was gone, grayson and olivia were cuddling on the couch. the way he and julie do. she saw all of the family photos and the picture of julie. “she’s gorgeous” olivia said taking the picture down. she wondered why grayson would ever cheat on woman like her. beautiful, smart, kind, the best mother. He had told her countless times that they had lost the spark, but olivia still couldn’t help the guilt creeping up on her. gray and her had met at a work meeting and things escalated from there. bathroom sex, club sex, passionate sex. the list went on. then olivia learned he had a wife and kids. And she’s been trying to work up the courage to break it off. but she loves grayson a lot.

“you need to get a divorce grayson” olivia sighed putting the picture back on the shelf. “it isn’t the easy, love” grayson said trying to reason with her. “you have kids. young kids, gray. i can’t keep hurting her and them like this. i’m sorry” she said grabbing her coat and getting up to leave. grayson groaned standing up “fine. i’ll talk to her about it. please, just don’t leave” grayson said bringing his hand to her waist.

god, was she so in love with him. she’s would do anything for him. olivia nodded letting him kiss her forehead “come on, let’s go to bed”

ethan and julie sat together on the sofa, a glass of wine in their hands. they’d both just put the boys to bed, and really needs a glass of red wine after it. luckily ethan had a bottle ready to open. “you ok?” he asked placing a hand on her thigh. julie let out a sob in reply “i’m trying so hard, ethan. but i can’t keep pretending everything’s ok when they’re not” julie cried placing her wine on the coffee table.

“he’s cheating on me. he’s lying to me. he barely sees the kids. he’s overworking himself” julie sighed placing a hand on her chest “this is not the life i wanted.” julie revealed “kids and marriage was something i wanted, but not this young. and i love sebastian and alexander so much. but i just wished we slowed down” she cried “he won’t even look at me sometimes. and he says her name. her name, not mine” julie sobbed into ethans chest.

“he’s going to divorce me. and leave me. he did this to me. HE DID!” she yelled out the last part falling into ethans arm.

“you won’t ever be alone, jules. you have me. and the boys. and i think leaving grayson, is what you and the boys need. he’s toxic” ethan said rubbing her back. she nodded wiping her nose. “yeah. you’re right. i just love him so much, but i hate that he makes me feel this way” julie admitted, ethan just nodded listening and kissing her forehead every now and again.

ethan had been julies rock for the last two years. of course they were close beforehand - but grayson was her rock then. and they had all been a trio since high school. but recently she just needed someone, julie didn’t have any friends and her family lived back in jersey, so ethan was really the only one.

it started when grayson missed alexander’s birthday. then parent teacher meetings. then movie nights, family nights, dinners. ethan basically took over the father role. but somehow the boys still love grayson - that’s something you admire. you knew they weren’t naive, they were just too kind.

“i’m getting a divorce” julie said looking at ethan and he nodded wiping her tears.

“you’re getting a divorce”

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august-anon · 4 years

Text

LERning New Things About Ourselves -- Pineapple’s Fics!

Note From August: With Pineapple taking a break from tumblr until she’s an adult, I will be hosting her fic on my blog for the time being. You can find them under tags like pineapple fics and pineapple writing. Once she is back, they will be deleted from my blog and reposted to her own. Thanks for being understanding to her during this time! Don’t forget to show her your love!

Word Count: 9111 words

Characters: lee!Virgil, ler!Roman

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

Virgil’s heart thudded out of his chest as he stared up at the maliciously coy smile leaning over him. He had never been so excited yet so terrified in his life. “So, darling,” cooed his captor. “Shall we begin your destruction?”

~~~~~~~~~~

It all started on that fateful day when Virgil Anthony decided to post an ad for a new roommate. His previous roommates, Patton and Logan each got married and moved away, leaving Virgil with an empty apartment and no friends.

He was surprisingly content with that reality had it not been for a silly little thing called “rent” that incessantly found itself worming its way into Virgil’s life, and grew impressively large throughout the months. So, deciding he wished to eat this month, he begrudgingly settled on posting a chipper little advertisement on their community college’s website requesting a new roommate, provided they could come up with $450 a month. Weeks passed by and he was starting to lose hope until finally, he got a reply. After a quick online interview, he found himself with a new roommate. Before Virgil knew it, it was moving day.

And that was when he met Roman Prince. Roman was… eccentric.. to say the least, but despite their slightly awkward interview, Virgil knew he was the one. And maybe it helped that he made twice what Virgil made in a week, and brought with him a flatscreen TV and a Switch. Just a little.

“Ahh! Hello!” greeted the man as he set down his suitcase on the steps leading to the apartment. “You must be Virgil!” He stuck out the newly freed hand to shake Virgil’s. Virgil accepted.

“Hey, dude. Yeah, and you must be Roman,” he acknowledged with a smile. “Do you need help with your stuff?”

Roman waved his hand. “Nah, a couple of buddies of mine are coming by later to help me. For now, it’s just me and my suitcase,” he answered, pointing to the suitcase he left by the staircase. Virgil nodded.

“Okay, cool. Well, why don’t you come in, and we can chat.” Virgil wrung his hands slightly as he spoke, his nerves lit up from the social anxiety. He was trying his best to be friendly and not scare this guy off. Fortunately, Roman seemed to do most of the talking for the both of them. Only a couple hours in, the two found themselves seated on the sofa, sipping wine, and getting to know each other. Well, it was mostly Virgil getting to know Roman.

“So, how long have you lived in Cheyenne?” Virgil asked him.

“About three years now! We moved right after I graduated highschool, my parents grew up here, and I decided to go to college here too,” he answered, pointing to the east side of the apartment in the direction of the community college.

Virgil smiled. “That’s nice you all can live in the same area. You get along with your family well, I take it?”

Roman bobbed his head. “Oh yeah. I’m an only child, and it’s safe to say they spoiled me,” he chuckled, and Virgil joined him. Roman shrugged, smiling wryly. “I mean, I’m sure you figured that out considering no sibling should ever feel this confident,” he joked.

Virgil snickered. “Yeah,” he agreed. “Coming from a kid with three older brothers, I know.” He poured some more red wine into both of their glasses. “So, where do you work?” he inquired, ignoring the urge to ask where he makes so much money,

“I work at the bar across the street, Rattlesnake Juice Bar. I’m the manager,” Roman said, bringing the glass up to his lips. Virgil’s eyes widened slightly in surprise.

“Wow, that’s impressive! Normally at twenty-one, employers don't offer management positions at bars,” commented Virgil, sipping his own drink. Roman swallowed his drink and shrugged.

“I guess it was because I had some experience, you know? I’ve been in management since I was seventeen.” Virgil nodded his head with a smile.

“Yeah, that’d do it,” he chuckled. Virgil shifted so he sat on his knees. “So, are you going to do management for a major?” he asked.

Roman shook his head. “No, actually, although it’d probably be a better career plan. Instead, I’m majoring in Journalism with a minor in Creative Writing.” Virgil brought the glass up to his lips, preparing to drink again.

“Oh wow, that’s cool. What do you like to write?”

“Tickle fanfiction.”

Virgil coughed violently, and spit the wine he just had in his mouth onto his shirt. Roman’s eyes widened in panic. “Oh, oh my gosh, are you alright?” he asked, hurriedly grabbing paper towels and handing them to the still sputtering man. Virgil snapped back to reality and finally noticed the spill.

“Oh, for heavens’ sake-“ he muttered, graciously accepting the towels and dabbing at his shirt. Roman furrowed his eyebrows as he helped Virgil clean up.

“Are you alright?” he asked again, his voice laced in genuine concern. Virgil looked up at him for a moment and examined his eyes for any signs of malfeasance. Nothing.

“Um, yeah, I-“ he coughed again, his cheeks turning a light pink. “Yeah, I just, you know, went down the wrong pipe,” he stuttered, gesturing vaguely to his throat. Roman nodded in understanding.

“Yeah, that happens to me all the time. Are you sure you’re good?”

Virgil nodded a bit too earnestly as he got up to go throw away the wine-soaked paper towels. Once safely in the kitchen, he refocused his breathing and tried to calm his beating heart. It was a good thing too, because as soon as he returned, Roman continued the conversation right back up where it had left off.

Virgil barely had time to sit down before Roman began speaking again. “Yeah, so anyways, back to our conversation, I write tickle fanfiction,” he explained with a smile. “It’s super fun. I have quite the following on Tumblr too! Over three hundred followers and they're growing by the minute!” Roman raved. Virgil just started in utter disbelief.

“Oh, well. That’s, uh, cool.”

Roman’s face lit up in excitement. “I take it you know what tickle fanfiction is?” he asked eagerly.

Virgil’s face heated to a thousand degrees. “No! I-I mean, no, not really. I just, I was being supportive. Yeah.” Virgil cringed at how painfully obvious he was being. This guy had to know his slip up. At least he clearly didn’t have to worry about being judged with Roman. But alarmingly, Roman actually appeared to believe him.

“Oh! Well, it’s the coolest thing. Basically-“ he paused for a moment. “Hm, actually, I guess the best way to explain is to start at the very beginning!”

And there Virgil sat, for an entire hour, as he listened to Roman in great explicit detail explain every aspect of the fixation of tickling, the community he was in, and everything he wrote about without a single stutter or slip up. And Virgil listened the whole way through, flinching at the subconscious wiggling of fingers as Roman discussed teases, and thanking whoever the genius inventor of foundation was, for it was the only thing keeping him from blinding his new roommate with the power of his flush as Roman described lees and lers.

Virgil also found out that apparently Roman was a ler. How…interesting.

Finally, mercifully, Roman stopped talking. “Oh goodness,” he laughed. “I’ve been talking for almost an hour, haven’t I!”

Exactly fifty-six minutes, thought Virgil.

“Sorry, I just get really excited and passionate about tickling and writing! Writing is my biggest hobby, and I love it so much. I try to be in touch with all my followers too, you know? I message back to anyone who messages me first, and reply to comments when I can.”

“Um, yeah. Well, I, uh, better throw this shirt in the wash,” Virgil interjected, leaping from the couch and scurrying out of the room.

Roman stared, watching his roommate in confusion, but ultimately shrugged it off and went to go find his new room.

It had been a week since the incident, and frankly, Virgil had not fully recovered yet. He didn’t even know how to begin to process the fact that a proud, confident ler was now living with him. He desperately wanted to know what Roman’s Tumblr account was to see if he could follow him. But discreetly of course, because even though Roman may be secure and confident in his quirk, Virgil was not, and that was just how it was. It would be easy, right? Just ignore him when he talks about it. Virgil was sure Roman was probably used to it.

Later that afternoon, Virgil was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee, and was intensely scrolling through Tumblr on his phone trying to find Roman’s blog, when the man in question walked into the room.

Virgil all but threw his phone across the room in a panic when he heard the heavy footsteps behind him. He spun around. “Uh, y-yes?” he asked, closing his eyes in an attempt to slow his pounding heart rate. Roman didn’t seem to notice the odd behavior.

“Hey, Virge! So, you’re an English major, right?” He pulled up a chair at the dining room table and sat down. Virgil nodded, happy for the change of conversation.

“Yep. Whatcha need?”

Roman pulled out his phone and scrolled for a bit before handing it over to Virgil. “Do you mind proofreading this for any grammar or spelling errors?”

Virgil nodded and accepted the phone, squinting to try and read the tiny print. This wasn’t uncommon for Virgil. Many of his acquaintances often asked Virgil to proofread their emails and letters to bosses and businesses. It wasn’t until a few seconds of staring until he noticed.

It was a tickle fic. Virgil’s face blossomed into a bright red, as he glanced up at Roman who was sitting stone faced and calm.

“What-” he cleared his throat, “What is this?” he asked, trying to appear nonchalant.

Roman tilted his head. “One of my fics! I’m not the best with grammar, and I was really hoping you could help me edit. You know, as a writing major I really want to get better,” he responded with a smile. Virgil took a shaky breath. No, this was fine. Completely and totally fine. He was just reading a fic in the direct presence of a ler, and then giving him pointers on how to make it better.

“Well, um, you could, maybe, reword this better,” he finally said after a minute.

“What part?”

Virgil pointed to a sentence on the screen. “That one.”

Roman looked at him and giggled. “Virge, do you really think I can see that? Just read it to me, silly.”

Virgil’s face felt like it was on fire. “Oh, um. Okay. So you w-wrote, ‘He laughed, squirming all over the bed, as Chuni followed him, massaging his r-ribs.’ Yeah?” He glanced up at Roman to see him listening intently. Oh, this was hard. “Um, so, to make it flow better you can reword it slightly by changing, changing the order.” He cleared his throat again. “For example, ‘He laughed and squirmed all over the bed and Chuni followed him, m-massaging his ribs.’ Does that, um, make sense?” he clarified.

Roman smiled and nodded. “Yeah, it does! Thanks! Anything else?” Virgil shut his eyes in an attempt to control his breathing.

“Well you, um, spelt t-tormenting wrong,” he grimaced. Roman leaned over.

“Oh did I?” Virgil nodded, propping his head up on his arm in a weak attempt to hide his face. “Can you go over the rest with me?”

Virgil pinched his arm. “Yep, sure thing,” he squeaked.

That was by the longest afternoon of his young adult life. But if he thought that was bad, nothing compared to what happened a month later.

Virgil had still not yet found Roman’s blog, and he kicked himself for not checking to see what the title of the one fic he proofread was so he could search it up later. Regardless, he was still very closeted in his secret fantasy, and somehow managed to keep his cool throughout the many conversations where Roman brought up his ler moods, and writings, and such.

“Virgil!” exclaimed Roman, bursting into the room. Virgil jumped slightly from his seat on the couch, nearly dropping his phone.

“Um, yes?” He turned to see Roman holding a ukulele. “Why do you have a ukulele?”

Roman smiled excitedly. “Well, so you know how I talk about teases, right? How they’re essential to the wreckage of a lee?” Virgil forcefully shoved the embarrassment panic creeping up down his throat. “Well, I thought how cool it’d be, as a new type of tease, to write song parodies of nursery rhymes, but make them tickle related!”

Virgil’s stomach twisted in a pleasant coil as he sat in complete shock. Surely not. “I, uh-“

“You wanna hear some?” he asked, bouncing up and down excitedly on his toes. Virgil continued to ogle as he begged his

voice to work.

“Um, s-sure,” he stuttered out, his voice cracking at the end.

Roman beamed. “Perfect! Okay, so you know the song Tiny Tim, right?”

Virgil coughed. “T-the turtle song?” Roman nodded.

“Yep! But I changed it.” He did a strum of the ukulele before beginning to play the catchy tune. “I have a little feather,” he sang out, his voice ringing out with the chords of the instrument. “His name is Tiny Tim, I used him on my lee, to see if he would grin!” Virgil blanched at the teasing lilt in his voice. “I drank up all his laughter, it made him buck and squeal, and now he’s nice and flustered, his smile oh so real!”

Roman finished the song and looked at Virgil expectantly. Unfortunately, at that moment Virgil’s voice decided to duck out and leave him. Roman giggled at him. “Are you speechless at my talent or something?”

Virgil, horrified, frantically willed the embarrassment away as he finally found his voice. “Oh, no, sorry. Uh, yeah no. It was good. Good,” he took a breath while rubbing the back of his neck. “Job. Yeah,” he finished lamely.

Roman pumped his fists in excitement. “Yessss! I was super proud of it! You wanna hear another one?” Rather than wait for a response, he strummed the ukulele again. “Oh, so this tease requires a specific name for it. Do you mind if I just use yours?”

Virgil swore he was going to have a stroke.

“Oh I know a little lee,” he sang, this time playing a new tune. “His name is Wiggle Virgey,” he paused his singing to look at him. “Adding y’s at the end of names makes it teasy,” he explained.

Virgil said nothing.

“He is so very nice, but oh he is so giggly, and so goes his arms, and his arms go like so, and his arms are always so-oh-oh!”

Yep. Virgil was going to die.

After two more verses, Roman finally finished his song and Virgil was all but willing to sell both his kidneys to disappear from this conversation.

“So, what did you think? That one isn’t my best, but I liked it!” Roman commented nonchalantly.

Virgil simply stared and nodded. Roman furrowed his eyebrows in concern. “Are you feeling alright?”

Virgil blinked. “YeAh, why?” His voice cracked as he tried to speak. He quickly coughed to cover it up.

“I don’t know, you just seem sick or something. You’ve been coughing an awful lot. Your face is like bright red and you’ve been oddly quiet,” said Roman. That only made Virgil blush even more.

“No, yeah, no I’m fine,” he answered, waving him off. “Yeah, but I really gotta go work on, um that thing, for school, see ya around.” And with that, Virgil darted out of the room for the second time, leaving Roman standing alone in utter bewilderment.

Virgil had done his very best to avoid Roman after the whole tease incident, which was difficult considering they lived under the same roof. And even worse considering Roman was the most oblivious guy on the planet.

Virgil was in bed, scrolling through Tumblr on his phone, when he saw another post from his favorite writer, TheLeringPrince. He felt his lee mood spike as he saw it was a new tease post. Eagerly, he tapped the post and began to read. Slowly as he read though, something seemed off. The tease post was various nursery rhymes all modified to fit into the theme of tickling. And Tiny Tim was one of them.

Virgil’s heart began to race and his mind started spinning as he hurriedly tried to calm himself down. “No, Virgil,” he breathed out. “No, it’s just a coincidence. Roman probably stole it from this guy or maybe just thought of the same idea.” Ironically, he found himself wishing his roommate was a thief who stole credit from his favorite Tumblr user’s work, rather than admit that Roman was said favorite Tumblr user.

But right at the bottom of the post, there was a little bold sentence that truly made Virgil’s heart stop.

‘And many of you have been wondering about my sudden improvement in my grammar and spelling. Well, you can thank my brand new roommate for helping me proofread all my new fics and teases!’

What was Virgil’s luck? Of all the people on this planet of seven billion, he gets a roommate who, not only is a confident and charismatic ler who happily reads his teases and fics to Virgil, but is also the specific ler that Virgil had been daydreaming about being destroyed by for years.

Virgil wasn’t sure if he wanted to hug whoever ordained this or punch them.

Virgil contemplated it for a while before finally deciding to tell his anxiety to hit the road, and take this glorious opportunity by the horns. So with a deep breath, he clicked on TheLeringPrince’s profile, then DM’s, then opened his keypad.

Immenslee_Ticklish: Hey, just wanted to say that I really like your stuff, and that you seem like a pretty cool dude. Would you want to chat sometime?’

Immediately, he received a reply.

TheLeringPrince: Why thank you, Immenslee. And yes, I would love to chat ;)

Days went by, and Roman and Virgil were talking through their blogs constantly. Roman had taken to teasing Virgil quite thoroughly on the platform, and Virgil obviously ate it up. Roman even mentioned wanting to meet up sometime. Virgil would be lying if he said he didn't nearly pass out at that.

Of course they still talked in real life, only Roman didn’t know who Virgil was. Oddly enough, Virgil almost felt safer talking to his Tumblr handle rather than to him in real life. He had to laugh at that. Six months ago, Virgil would have fainted at the idea of living with his favorite ler. And now, here he was, finally having something to satiate his ever present, insatiable lee mood! And he was hiding.

He just wasn’t sure how to tell him! Leave his Tumblr open? Text him? Tell him through Tumblr DMs? For goodness’ sake, what was he so afraid of? This guy was clearly accepting and non judgmental about the whole thing. Most people would kill to be in this position. Well, most lees anyways.

Little did Virgil know, but Roman was already pretty suspicious. He didn’t have any evidence of the fact, but he was pretty certain that Virgil had to have some lee in him somewhere. His blush and stutters were getting increasingly obvious and even though Roman could be an idiot, he wasn’t stupid. It took him a while to figure it out, but once he did, there was nothing stopping him. Except of course, if Virgil for some reason just didn’t want to be tickled. That was fine too. But there was something in him that made Roman sincerely doubt that was the case.

Roman had never had a problem about being open with his fixation. He figured that if people were going to judge him based on a silly little liking, then they weren’t worth being in his life. He could understand why some people hid it, sure. It was scary to be so open about something other people found weird. But Roman just never had that fear.

But one day, Roman got a message. It was from a follower named Immenslee_Ticklish. Now Roman recognized this user, as they often commented, liked, and reblogged alot of his works. They were great fans, and apparently very much lee themselves. And all of a sudden, after two whole years of following Roman, they decide to message him.

Interesting.

But Roman ultimately decided to keep quiet about his suspicions because if Virgil wasn’t saying anything, then he didn’t want Roman to know. And Roman respected that. Even if he really wanted to tickle him.

Turns out he didn’t have to wait much longer.

Virgil had practiced it for weeks. He knew exactly what to say, and how he was going to say it. But that all flew out the window as he stared at Roman.

“Virgil, buddy, you’ve been staring at me for three minutes now,” commented Roman, raising an eyebrow at the man in question. “You came to tell me something.” Virgil inhaled deeply and tried to speak, but the words got caught in his throat. Roman gave him a sympathetic look. “Hey, it’s okay. No need to be scared.” Virgil just stared at him. Roman’s heart broke for this kid, who was obviously scared out of his mind. “I promise I’m not going to be upset, or judge you, or do whatever your pretty little head is thinking might happen.

“I’mImenseleeTicklish!” he spat out suddenly. Roman jumped in surprise, but as soon as it hit him, he grinned.

“Oh, are you now?” he hummed, a sly smile watching the flustered boy with great amusement.

“Wait, no, I meant like the username. I’m the user Immenslee_Ticklish. I didn’t mean it like I’m immensely ticklish, well, I might be, but-“

Roman’s amused look caused him to stop talking. “So, yes?”

Virgil nodded. “I’m, uh, I’m a lee. Yeah.” The two of them stared at each other, neither one breaking the deafening silence or the intense eye contact.

“Well that’s very valuable information,” Roman stated calmly, being the first to speak, and before walking away and into the kitchen.

Wait?! Before walking away?!

Virgil’s mouth dropped open as he watched Roman walk off. “Wait!” he called indignantly. Roman paused, smirking away from Virgil.

“Yes?”

Virgil just stared for a minute, waving his arms dramatically as if it would help him speak. “Aren’t you going to, um, do something?”

Roman turned around to face him, as Virgil paled at seeing Roman smile darkly at him. “Like what?”

Realization hit him like a truck, and Virgil gaped in absolute horror. He was going to make him ask, wasn’t he? Oh, this was mean. So, so, so mean.

But at this point the lee mood was so bad that his dignity was going to have to leave him.

“I- were you, um,” he covered his face with his hands. “Were you gonna tickle me?”

He could hear Roman’s evil grin. “Do you want me to?”

“Um, yes. Please.” He swallowed harshly.

Roman clapped. “Why look at those manners!” he praised, gleaming at the whining boy in the living room. “I would love to. But to be clear, what exactly do you want to happen?”

“W-What do you mean?” Virgil asked, peeking from behind his hands.

“Tell me exactly what you want for me to do. In explicit detail, or I won’t do any of it,” cooed Roman.

“You’re so mean,” Virgil whined into his hands again. Roman laughed at his expense.

“I’m waiting~”

Virgil glared at him through his hands. “I want you to wreck me and tease me and destroy my resolve, and I want you to do it now! Please.” He added, lest he be made to repeat his request in a more polite manner. Roman reeled back, a tad surprised at the direct request.

“Well, good for you. I’d be happy to,” he nodded, impressed. “Very well. Meet me in your room in ten minutes~” he teased with a wink.

After he left, Virgil let it sink in. He was about to be ruthlessly teased and broken by his ler idol in ten minutes.

Oh he was going to die.

Virgil’s heart thudded out of his chest as he stared up at the malicious coy smile leaning over him. He had never been so excited yet so terrified in his life. “So, darling,” cooed his captor. “Shall we begin your destruction?” Roman’s voice lowered significantly into a husky tone that sent shivers down Virgil’s spine. He tugged on his restraints, waves of excitement and panic flooding his body, and feeding his lee mood from before. He had waited years. Years and years and years for this day. To be in this position, and about to get wrecked into oblivion. He had no idea what Roman was going to do, but he was excitedly terrified.

Roman took a single finger and began aimlessly swirling around Virgil’s belly, going in zigzag patterns, curlicues, and idle shapes while he rested his head on Virgil’s chest. Virgil’s breath hitched, the gentle touches not quite tickling, but was setting an amazing precedent for what was about to take place. Roman let out a deep breath, purposely aiming it for Virgil’s neck, rewarding him with a satisfying squeal as the man scrunched up his shoulders as much as he could.

“I have a dilemma, Virgil,” sighed Roman melodramatically. “I feel like, since you’ve waited all this time for some expert ler to completely wreck you, destroy you, and undo your very resolve, that you ought to have a good experience, hm?” he commented, glancing up to look at Virgil’s wobbly smile. “I mean you’ve been so patient! It’d feel criminal to deprive you of the best possible experience. Don’t you agree?” He paused, waiting for a reply while still mindlessly twisting his finger on the pale expanse of skin, but all Virgil did was squeak softly in embarrassment.

Suddenly, Roman snapped his fingers, causing Virgil to flinch slightly. “I’ve got it!” he announced, smiling darkly. “Let’s let you choose.”

Virgil’s eyes widened in pure horror. “What?”

“Why choose your own teases, of course! Who better knows exactly how to tease and fluster you, and turn you into a giggling blushy pile of goo then yourself?” Roman enunciated his point with a few teasing pokes to his chest. Virgil squirmed in an attempt to get the pokes to hit his stomach but he had no such luck. “So, Giggles, you want to try it?”

Virgil bit his lip and bounced his legs anxiously. “No!” he whined, his wobbly smile growing by the minute.

Roman grinned. “No? But it’s like a choose your own adventure! You choose your own teases and tools! Won’t that be fun?” Virgil shook his head violently. Roman mock pouted. “But I think it will be fun!”

Virgil made a strangled guttural sound in reply. “I-“

“Yes, dear,” he urged, resting his chin on Virgil’s chest once again.

Virgil sighed and closed his eyes in frustration. “I-I can’t tease,” he mumbled under his breath.

“What was that?”

“I can’t tease!” he repeated, only slightly louder this time. Fortunately, Roman heard him.

“Oh well, that’s not a problem, silly. You aren’t saying the teases. I am!” he replied with a smirk. Virgil peaked one eye open.

“But I thought you said-“

“Oh, I know what I said,” he answered, cutting Virgil off. “No, I already know what teases you chose. You don’t have to say a word.” To Virgil's confusion, he pulled out his phone. It wasn’t until Roman started scrolling and grinning that Virgil’s eyes widened in panicked realization.

“No, no, no, NO!” Virgil called out, bouncing in anticipation. He tried lunging for the phone but his bonds held him back.

Roman pretended not to hear him. “Hm, let’s see. Posts, then notes, then-“ Roman grinned up at Virgil. “Ah yes, reblogged by Immenselee_ticklish! Oh, look there’s a comment too!”

“No! No, don’t read the comment!”

“It says, ‘Ahhhh!! Oh gosh, I’m blushing so hard!!’ Hold up.” Roman turned to look up at Virgil who was fire engine red. He smirked. “Would you look at that. Anyway, it continues to say, ‘I would die if anyone said this to me!’ And then there’s a blushing face.”

He smirked again as he faced Virgil. “So, would you say you’ve died?” Virgil whined longingly. Roman nodded while looking back at his phone. “I’d say yes.”

Roman continued to scroll only for his eyes to light up in delight. “Oh looky here!” Virgil slammed his eyes shut, not daring to.

“No, no, no, no.”

“Virgil look! It’s a gif! Oh wow.”

Oh yeah. Virgil definitely wasn’t going to look. He was strong, he was resilient, and nothing could break him!

“Aww and they’re getting their bellybutton tickled! Isn’t that your most favorite spot in the whole wide world?”

Um, yeah. It was easy, mind over matter. He wouldn’t look. Easy.

“Hey! And it’s your best friend! Mr. Toothbrush!”

Yeah, he... What was he saying?

“Roman, please,” he begged, eyes still clamped shut. The endless teases were killing him. His ever present lee mood had grown into a ravenous monster that he thought would never be satiated. His body screamed for tickles. It was more than a want, or even a craving. It was a need at this point. And Roman knew that and it only fueled his evil ler facade all the more.

“Aw, poor baby. Don’t worry, we’ll start soon,” he cooed.

Roman made Virgil lie there, flustered and helpless, and oh so terribly lee, and wait as he read out tease after tease that Virgil reblogged from his Tumblr, and even read the comments from the lee himself. Virgil wished with every second of every minute spent lying on that bed he had never made that Tumblr account.

After ten or so teases, Roman finally, mercifully, put the phone away. Virgil sighed in relief. Finally! He was going to be tickled to his limits, then past them, then have them pushed even further. He didn’t just want to be broken. He didn’t just want to be destroyed. No, he wanted so much more.

Roman marched up to the table and placed both hands on Virgil’s thighs. “So, a little birdie told me you like baby talk,” he teased. Virgil blushed, which Roman took for a yes. “So would a, oh I don’t know, little kitchy, kitchy, coo would get you all flustered, hm? A little-“ his voice dropped an octave. “Tickle, tickle, tickle~” his face morphed to a maniacal grin.

Virgil's face turned crimson as he wiggled around on the table. “Noho!” He barked out a laugh. Roman raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“No? Hmm. What about nursery rhymes, huh? You sure liked the ones I sang to you earlier this month! Do you want to hear some of those? ‘Cause I got some good ones~” Roman whipped out a feather seemingly out of nowhere and waved it teasingly in front of Virgil’s nose. Virgil yelped at the sensation.

“I have a little feather,” sang out Roman, his voice rising and falling with the feather. “His name is Tiny Tim. I used him on my lee, to see if he would grin.” He winked at Virgil who just blushed deeper. “I drank up all the laughter, it made him buck and squeal, and now he’s nice and flustered,” Another wink. “His smile is so real.”

Virgil was already softly giggling at the song, and it only encouraged Roman to keep going. “You got a little giggle button, right? I have another fun song, just. for. him!” he cheered, punctuating each word with a poke to his bellybutton, making Virgil squeal each time.

He took the feather and ran it in a large teasy circle all around the vast expanse of vulnerable tummy. “Ring around the belly, a button full of jelly,” he heard Virgil snort when the feathers hit a particular spot on his waistline. “-tickle, tickle, they all fall down!” Roman ended the verse with several flicks of the fluffy feather to Virgil’s bellybutton, causing him to buck and laugh, but it was still technically soft tickles. Virgil didn’t want soft tickles right now.

“Rohohoho,” he whined through the giggles. Roman ignored him.

“Let’s see. Oh, here’s another favorite of mine!” He cleared his throat and lifted the feather again. “Oh head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes! Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes~” He ran the feather all over the respective places, and it didn’t tickle much, but Roman’s plan was working. Virgil was getting more and more flustered, and more and more ticklish.

“Oh feet, tummies, arms and chins, arms and chins. Feet, tummies, arms and chins, arms and chins~” Roman watched in glee as Virgil’s face turned darker and darker with each song, and how even though the tickling was so light, his giggles were still sharp.

All of a sudden, with zero warning, Roman ditched the feather and attacked Virgil’s tummy with all ten fingers. “Oh, she’ll be tickling Virgil senseless when she comes! She’ll be tickling Virgil senseless when she comes-“ Virgil fell into deep belly laughter as he thrashed and pulled desperately. “She’ll be tickling Virgil senseless, she’ll be tickling Virgil senseless, she’ll be tickling Virgil senseless when she comes!”

Virgil had never felt more embarrassed in his life, but that made the tickling so much more fun. After two more verses, Roman stopped. Virgil whined again at the loss of contact.

Roman chuckled. “You really are a hopeless lee, aren’t you?”

Virgil scrunched his nose. “Shut up.”

Roman’s eyebrows raised in an accusatory way. “Do you want to say that again?”

“What? Shut up?” snarked Virgil, trying to wind him up to get wrecked and forced to apologize, but unfortunately, Roman saw right through his plan.

“Wow. You really are desperate. Stooping so low as to provoke me to lash out and wreck you right this minute?” Roman tisked lightly. “Imagine! You honestly think that I’m going to fall for the oldest trick in the book? I hate to break it to you, Stormcloud, but I’m far more experienced than you think I am,” he added, shaking his head in disapproval. “I ought to make you wait longer just for that.”

Virgil gasped and shook his head desperately. “No, no, please no! I’m sorry!”

Roman shook his head again. “Poor little lee. So desperate you’ve lost your dignity. Here you are, begging like this for me to so horribly wreck you until you can’t even remember your own name.” Despite his words of disapproval, he smiled. “Oh course, I don’t blame you. I am very talented so I understand your eagerness. For that reason, I will grant mercy and not punish you for your lousy attempts at brattiness.”

Virgil let out the biggest sigh of relief imaginable. At last! He was going to be wrecked!

“But I still have one more game before we start.”

Virgil threw his head back onto the bed with such a force it almost hurt. “Oh my gosh, Roman please,” he begged, whining at a new frequency.

Roman sighed. “One more! You can do it. I have to make sure your ticklish little body is at optimal sensitivity! So, here’s an easy game to finish you off.” He walked around to the side of the bed. “Just gotta warm you up,” he winked before wiggling his fingers menacingly above Virgil. Virgil asked, and sucked in his stomach, but Roman simply drew in closer. The fingers were so tantalizingly close to the tickle spot, and Virgil swore he felt them already. And in his mind, he pleaded and begged with Roman to hurry up and get on with it already, but on the outside he was completely stunned into silence.

Until Roman did a fake out.

Roman launched his wiggling fingers at Virgil full speed without any sort of warning, and Virgil lost it. He laughed, he snorted, he cackled, and he squealed. He jerked and thrashed all over his limited free space for a whole minute until he realized. Roman’s hands were behind his back, as he watched Virgil with the most evil look you could imagine.

“You're awful!” screeched Virgil, both mortified by his own reaction, and furious at Roman’s trick. Roman laughed out loud.

“Hmm, okay, okay. I’ll wreck you now. Besides, I can’t just keep you here, endlessly teasing and torturing you forever?” He paused with a smirk. “Actually-“

“Roman!” Virgil cried out, laughing in both frustration at his lee mood, and anticipation from what was coming.

Roman laughed at his panic. “I’m just kidding, jeez. You poor lee. Alright, I’ll wreck you, on the one condition you tell me your worst spots.”

Virgil’s eyes turned to saucers. “I-what?”

“You heard me! Give me those death spots or else no tickles~” he sang, thinking the nerves were from his tease.

But strangely, Virgil turned more bashful, rather than flustered. It was almost a sheepish look on his face that replaced the embarrassment. That certainly got Roman’s attention.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, eyebrows furrowing in slight concern. Virgil scrunched his face up and looked down.

“I-I well, I don’t know what my worst spots are,” he replied with a shy smile.

Roman was confused for about two seconds before it dawned on him. “You-“ he stared in utter wonderment. “You‘ve never tickled before, have you?”

Virgil’s face flushed under the attention. “Well, yeah, no not really,” he mumbled sheepishly.

Oh, this was a game changer. Roman beamed. “You mean to tell me, I’m your first time?” Virgil smiled again, and nodded hesitantly. Roman had never been so excited in his life. “Well then, I guess we have work to do!” he commented, a wicked grin and a twinkle shining in his eye.

Roman turned and walked down to the end of the bed, clicking his tongue as he examined the body in front of him. “I suppose the best thing to do would be to either go bottom to top, or top to bottom.” He tilted his head up at Virgil while smiling. “Would you by any chance have a preference?”

Virgil huffed. “I guess, I don’t know. Bottom to top?” he suggested, more or so not caring as he really just wanted to be wrecked already. Roman clapped.

“Perfect! That means I get to play with your cute little feet!” he cheered. Virgil blushed. Roman held tight of the right foot’s ankle and took the same pointer finger and carefully slid it from the tippy top of the toes all the way down to the heel. Virgil immediately started his giggles anew, wiggling his upper body at the light touches. “Oh good! It seems you’re ticklish here! What else can we try?”

Roman soon added the other four fingers into the fray and began ruthlessly scratching up and down and all around the soft tender arches, making Virgil snort and fall into deeper laughter at the feeling. He tickled all around the foot, being very thorough and detailed in his methods, making sure not one inch of ticklish skin was left unscathed. Then, without warning, he moved up to the toes. He wiggled each little toe and scolded them if they curled up. Eventually, he pulled them back and gave them a good scratching underneath as punishment for their misbehavior. Virgil thrashed like nobody’s business, finally getting exactly what he wanted, and it was so much better then he had ever thought. And he certainly didn’t complain when Roman informed him that his other foot was getting left out, and needed the same tickly treatment.

After both feet were thoroughly assaulted (Roman may have had to go back to the right foot again, it seemed to be getting lonely), he spidered his fingers all the way up to Virgil’s knees. Virgil smiled in anticipation, bouncing his leg as he waited.

“Ah yes, the knees. Such an underrated tickle spot! Very few people think about the knees being so terribly ticklish, but they can be! It all starts with this little pressure point, riiiight here.” Roman began rapidly wheezing the muscle right above Virgil knee, making him fall into deep laughter. “Oh wonderful!” shouted Roman above the loud laughter. “It seems as if your knees are just as horridly sensitive as I thought!” His squeezing fingers quickly switched to spidering ones, and darted right on the underneath of his knees, sending Virgil snorting.

Roman awed at the adorable sounds. “Aww, aren’t you just the cutest little thing? Are my tickly, tickly tickles making you giggle, hm?” he cooed, relishing in the deep red color that was Virgil’s face and the tiny snorts mixed in with the hysterical giggles.

“Nohohohoho!” Virgil giggled out, trying to kick his legs but the restraints keeping every inch of ticklish skin in place.

“No?” questioned Roman. “Well, that’s a shame! Why don’t we try something else then,” he pondered and immediately grabbed the young man’s thighs, squeezing sporadically and rapidly every area of muscle. Virgil’s eyes bulged out as he flung himself to sit up right and cackle.

Roman’s eyes lit up with mischief at the extremity of Virgil’s reaction. “Oh, what's this? Does this tickle? Are you ticklish here?” he asked, the teasing lilt in his voice making the ruthless squeezing at his thighs all the worse. Virgil fell back on to the bed to wheeze with laughter when Roman moved up closer to his hips. “Virgil!” scolded Roman. “Hello! I’m talking to you! Does this tickle?” he asked again, not for one second stopping the wretched attack on the loathsomely sensitive muscle.

When Virgil still didn’t reply, Roman felt a spike of worry, and slowed his squeezing fingers just a little. Virgil’s wheezy laughter died down, until it was more or less hysterical giggles.

“Yes!” Virgil called out. Roman was confused for a minute until he remembered the question he had asked a few minutes earlier. He took his hands off his legs, leaving Virgil limp and giggly.

“Oh good! See I guessed it did, but I was just checking,” he winked. “Congratulations, Virgil. I think you might have your first death spot.”

Virgil weakly held up a thumbs up, his giddy smile bright enough to blind someone. Roman smiled at him softly. “How about we take a break?” So he sat next to Virgil on the bed, gently rubbing his shin comfortingly, waiting for Virgil to regain all the breath he’d lost until finally-

“Um, I think I’m ready to go again,” piped up the younger man. Roman grinned.

“You sure?” Virgil nodded eagerly. Roman leaned next to Virgil’s ear, making him squeak. Oh he’d have to remember that.

“Well then,” he purred, his voice sending shivers down Virgil’s spine. “Allow me to continue your destruction.” He peered down the bed where Virgil was stretched out, and examined it carefully like a puzzle. He walked down the side to the right of his hips. “Now if my memory serves me, correct me-” Roman began, but Virgil barked out a laugh. Roman glared at him. “What?”

“Dude, what did you say?” he asked, laughing again. Roman crossed his arms.

“If my memory serves me, correct me. It’s a saying!” Virgil burst out laughing again. “What?!”

“The saying is, ‘If my memory serves me, correctly,’ not correct me,” he teased, still laughing at Roman’s miss interpretation.

“Okay, yeah, laugh it up, Virgil,” he retorted, immediately squeezing his right thigh again. Promptly the teasing man burst into laughter at the feeling, and proceeded to howl on the bed. “Don’t correct me again!” he playfully scolded before ceasing the tickling.

Roman crawled up on the bed in between Virgil legs in hopes of being able to navigate better. “Now, I say we try hips next. Some people overlook it, but they look wonderfully ticklish to me~” he sang, already the tone giving Virgil the giggles. Roman grinned at the pink color once again rising to his cheeks. “Aww, does mentioning the tickly tickles making you a little neeeervous?” he sang again, whilst skimming the skin of his waist and pant line. Virgil’s giggles greatly increased from both the tickling and the teasing alike, as he began wiggling around in the bed.

Roman’s scratching fingers followed the wiggly hips with great ease, smiling in adoration as he listened to the sweet soft giggles come from his captive. “You’re adorable,” he commented without really thinking.

“Nuhnuhnuhuhu uhuhuhuh!” the giggling man protested, yet his denial only further proved Roman’s point.

“Yeah huh!” argued Roman. “Alright enough softness, I want to watch you scream.” He put on his best evil ler face as he watched Virgil turn a bright crimson at the threat.

Roman crawled up further until he was practically sitting on Virgil’s hips. “So, let’s test the waters for what are the vast expanse that is Virgil’s tickle spots, shall we?” Virgil pulled up his legs out of reflex, but they were blocked by Roman’s back. He whined.

“Oh, whatever is the matter, dear?” he cooed, leaning in so close Virgil could feel his breath on his neck and ear. The man made a strangled noise in reply. “I’m sorry, darling, I don’t speak lee. Would you mind rephrasing your statement?”

Virgil just shut his eyes, trying to smother the wobbly grin that was slowly creeping up onto his face. Roman took that as a sign to continue.

He spidered his fingers up to Virgil’s sides, and kept them there, smiling as Virgil shuffled all over the bed in anticipation. “Gohohoho ohohohon, alreheheady!” he giggled out.

“Is that anyway to ask for something?” Roman playfully scolded moments before digging into the boy’s sides. Virgil bucked and burst into giggles, thrashing and pulling. Roman didn’t stop for even a second, mercilessly tickling, squeezing and scratching all over the sides and even migrating to the soft skin of the belly. Virgil was in proper hysterics and was loving every minute of it.

“Aww, aren’t you just the cutest thing! What? What’s the matter? Are you ticklish?” Roman teased, digging into the lower belly. Virgil squealed, and fell into even deeper laughter as Roman took to blowing raspberry after raspberry onto Virgil’s poor ticklish tummy. Virgil was in tickly heaven, for sure, but he still hadn’t been broken yet. And that was fine, but his growing hunger still hadn’t been filled, and he couldn’t help but wish deep down that there was somewhere to truly make him scream. He contemplated asking Roman to go for his thighs again.

But then.

As Roman paused the tickling on his sides and began to feel around, something happened.

Virgil could only possibly describe it as maybe a jolt of euphoric electricity that shocked him into the pit of his stomach. Something that found the roaring lion that was his lee mood and slapped it in the face. Something that sent shivers to his spine and butterflies to his stomach. Something that made him shriek at the mere feeling of Roman’s presence. If Roman’s dastardly laughter upon finding the spot was any indication, Virgil was screwed.

“Well, looky here,” he noted, looking up at Virgil with a gleam in his eye, further confirming the reality that Virgil was about to experience. “It seems we’ve found something.”

Roman tested the spot again: a rib, nestled warmly in between a tiny layer of fat, and the beginning of his armpit. He sharply poked the rib, eliciting a similar shriek as before. Virgil’s eyes grew like saucers as he fought with his own mind on how he felt. Was he terrified? Was the overwhelming amount of ticklish sensations about to course through his body like an electric current terrifying? Or was he excited? That after all these years of begging and pleading for someone to come into his life and do this very thing to him?

Virgil didn’t have time to decide, as Roman promptly dug in.

Virgil said he wanted to scream, and scream he did. His body was too overwhelmed to even thrash at this point, no, it merely fell limp and took every bit of torture Roman was giving to it. Roman took his pointer finger and thumb, making them into a claw motion, and pinching all over the bone. He pinched up and down, left to right, and repeated the sequence, soaking in every plea and beg and cry from Virgil. He wiggled in between the bone, and even took to scratching the armpits as well. Virgil was happily losing his mind. But it wasn’t over.

No, because out of nowhere, Roman pulled from under the bed a bottle of oil, and immediately began pouring it into his hands. Virgil greedily sucked in the oxygen as he waited for Roman to start again. His eyes followed him, watching Roman complete his moves with an eagerness about him. He was ready.

Virgil only had to wait a minute longer before Roman took his sweet time, slowly covering every inch of both armpits in the slippery liquid, purposely sliding his fingers and nails in such a way to make Virgil start to laugh. And then with both hands, he dug in again.

Oh, if he thought it was bad before, no, this was true torture. The oil made the fingers glide pristinely on the sensitive skin, and thereby ticking seemingly everywhere at once. Roman still concentrated on squeezing both top rib bones on either side at the same time, while allowing the nails to scratch along the armpits and other ribs as he did it.

And Virgil screamed. He screamed and screamed louder than he had ever before. He couldn’t even be concerned at the fact they were living in an apartment, and if they neighbors would be worried. Virgil screeched at the top of his lungs, his voice no longer even saying words or please at this point, just pure unshackled ecstasy in waves unmeasurable. He screamed and laughed his voice hoarse, kicking and tugging in desperation to escape the torture he was being subjected to.

“So,” commented Roman nonchalantly, yet very loudly to be heard over the booming laughter. “I was wondering if you could give me a quick performance review. You know, it is my first time and all.”

“AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-“

“Okay, so that’s not too bad. Anything else?”

Virgil silently screamed as he felt Roman vibrate his fingers into both bones once more.

“Oh good! Well, I appreciate your input, thank you.”

Virgil was loving every solitary second of this, after all, this is what he had wanted. He wanted exactly this. But, unfortunately, he needed to breathe. So he called out.

“YEL-“ he stopped mid screech, his own laughter cutting him off. Roman stopped immediately.

“Was that yellow?” he asked, face contorting with worry. Virgil didn’t answer at first, only focused on taking in as much oxygen as he could get.

“Yeheheah,” he replied, the leftover giggles still dying out.

Roman’s evil ler face melted as a fond one replaced it. “Wow, I’m impressed. That’s definitely your death spot, and you only called out yellow. I could never last as long as you did,” he marveled.

Even with as winded as Virgil was, he was still trying to tease back. “Oho, so you have a death spot, then?” he teased with a smirk. Roman blushed.

“Oh shut up. Just so you know, you still technically haven’t called red yet,” he retorted cockily. Virgil nodded before laying his head down for a minute to rest. “Do you want water?” Roman asked him.

Virgil shook his head. “No, I’m almost done. I’d rather not get up then get back down.” His insatiable lee mood was shrinking drastically. But, there was one more thing he wanted. “So, um,” he looked up at Roman sheepishly. “Can I do a request?”

Roman smiled fondly. “Of course. This is your session after all.”

Virgil fidgeted as much as he could despite his hands being tied. “So, I kind of have a favorite spot. Like, after you tickled me. I realized I might have a favorite.”

Roman’s heart practically burst on the spot. “Oh yeah? Let me hear it.”

Virgil wrinkled his nose in embarrassment, and stayed quiet for a minute. Roman chuckled. “Come on little lee, I can’t help you out if you don’t ask,” he cooed, gently spidering his fingers on the tops of his feet, making him let out a quick giggle at the touch.

“Ohohokay, okay. Um,” he looked away bashfully. “Can you go back to, back to my stomach? You, you can tease. Too. If you want, or whatever,” he added quickly, still refusing to look Roman in the eye. Roman beamed.

“Why, I would love to.”

Roman sat down next to Virgil, and actually undid his cuffs, much to Virgil’s surprise. “Alright, now keep your arms up,” he whispered, sending a pink flush to his cheeks.

“W-what?” he giggled shyly. Roman poked his tummy.

“You heard me. You gotta keep them up aaaaall by yourself.”

Virgil giggled again, and cautiously raised his arms above his head and gripped the headboard. “Okay, I’m ready.”

Roman nodded with a smile and began lightly skittering his fingernails all over Virgil’s quivering tummy. Virgil immediately burst into soft, sweet giggles, the ones he could probably stop if he tried, but definitely didn’t want to, and rocked back and forth onto the bed. Roman kept the fingers teasing his sides gently, then lifted up his shirt slightly and started peppering cute little kisses all over the pale skin. Virgil squealed lightly and giggled slightly harder at the wonderfully maddening feeling, drinking in every bit of feeling he could.

Finally after about ten minutes, Virgil slowly lowered his arms from the headboard and Roman stopped. Overwhelming exhausted overcame him like an ocean and he yawned. “Thank you, Roman. This was the best day of my life.” Roman smiled at the compliment.

“Why I’m so happy it was, Virgil. We will certainly do it again.” He stood up to leave, but Virgil grabbed his arm.

“Stay with me?” he asked, pulling on his arm like a child. Roman chuckled.

“Of course.”

And the two of them napped together, each so peaceful and happy in that they found each other, and waking up wondering if it was all just a dream.

#tickle fic #pineapple anon #pineapple writing #pineapple fics #sanders sides tickling #lee!virgil #ler!roman #ticklish!virgil #sanders sides #virgil sanders #roman sanders #prinxiety #platonic prinxiety

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the-starsabove-you · 4 years

Text

The Spotlight

A/N: Another small filler, we’re gonna head into the drama.. Starting next chapter! I hope you guys enjoy it and thank you so much for sticking with me with this story it means the world. Reviews are welcomed!

Chapter 35 - Loving You Was Red.

The trip to Italy was relaxing, but it came to an end as Mat needed to come back to New York for his next game while Michelle had a gig in Vegas. Mat was over the moon when he came back from Italy it felt like a well needed vacation with the stress of the season and how Michelle was always heading off to gigs.

When Michelle returned from her gig to Vegas, she flopped down on her sofa while Mat was pouring some wine into some glasses and he sat down beside her and they both smiled and toasted. It wasn’t until she leaned her head on his shoulder and he hummed softly “Excited to finally see if we found the right house tomorrow?” He questioned and she grinned “More nervous, I just wanna make sure it has enough room for us.. That we have a couple of rooms incase my mother and brother wanna visit”

Mat nodded “I think your mom and brother would be very happy to come visit us, I want my family to meet the two of them one day when it’s right.”

Michelle smiled at that and intertwined their fingers “I just have to make sure that my father is one of those lawyer business trips so they could come visit for a couple of days, I know he won’t try to stop them but he won’t be happy when he finds out they came to the States”

Mat narrowed his eyes and he placed an arm around her “Don’t worry, we’ll find a way to get them here”

Michelle groaned and her head hit the back of the sofa “I kinda just wish that my mom would have the guts to just pack up and leave already.”

Mat leaned over to kiss her temple and Michelle sighed softly before turning to Mat “How many rooms does this place have?”

Mat looked at the tv as he changed the channel “About three, we’ll use the master room for us, turn the other two into guest rooms”

Michelle nodded as she saw his choice in the show and she laughed “The Bachelor?” She questioned and he grinned “I missed this week cause I was on the road, I need to catch up” He muttered and and Michelle laughed “I thought it was Emily was the one saving these shows on the DVR”

Mat looked over and grinned “Everyone has a guilty pleasure, mine happens to be the Bachelor because I like seeing the girls fight each other over the guy” He said and she chuckled and she squeezed his hand “Wouldn’t you love the attention of me and another girl fighting over you”

Mat shook his head and looked at her “I would pick you in a heartbeat, no question about that” He said and she smiled softly and she kissed his cheek “Don’t worry, I would pick you in a heart beat too”

Michelle had fallen asleep and Mat picked her up bridal style and carried her to their bed. Mat watched her that night and couldn’t help but be excited with house hunting tomorrow, through the many houses they went through, he was certain that this was the one.

The next morning Mat and Michelle were through Long Island, the house was in a very good neighborhood, it was a half an hour drive into the city while it was more near the Colosseum. Mat and Michelle wanted a good middle ground for them to head into the city but also them to get to the arena faster.

The Real estate agent that Marie suggested did an amazing job on finding this house, he was showing off the house and the couple walked around the empty house. The living room was painted beige with a beautiful chandelier hanging, Michelle saw a living room with beautiful couches and chairs, she also knew that she wanted all of Mat’s past jerseys and awards hung on the wall, it was something she knew Mat would love. The dining room was a olive green with wooden floor that would be perfect for a large wooden table in the middle with chairs to go with along with things that her and Mat would love putting there.

Mat and Michelle went upstairs and they got to the master room and both of them were in awe with it, how big it was. The real estate agent made sure to find a walk-in closest (Mat and Michelle both loved fashion) that would be big enough for the both of them along with a huge bathroom with a shower and bathtub. Michelle was very happy with the house and she looked over at Mat who was in awe of the house.

When they left the room, the real estate agent nodded over “The guest rooms are smaller but have enough room. It’s perfect” He said and Mat smiled softly “We’re gonna use the two rooms for a guest room for now, until one of them is ready for a kids’ room” He said and Michelle’s eyes widened a bit but she looked over and smiled at him, squeezing her boyfriend’s hand

“For sure.. Although I see us in the end moving to Canada when you’re done playing hockey.. We’ll keep this house but we should think of a bigger house for the future”

“We’re moving near my family?” He asked and she nodded and he grinned “I cannot wait for that when it happens”

The real estate smiled at the young couple and how happy they were, he didn’t see a lot of young couples this happy like Mat and Michelle but it was pleasant to see that he young model and hockey player were one of them.

Mat and Michelle looked at the estate agent and Mat nodded “We’re gonna take this house.. That okay babe?” He asked and she nodded and kissed his cheek

“We’re keeping my apartment for when we’re in the city, so everything is all good” Michelle said and he nodded at that.

“Great, I’ll get the paperwork and we’ll put down a deposit right now and I know Marie said she’s gonna call you to talk about the movers”

Michelle nodded but let out a deep breath “Yeah.. I’m gonna take care of the moving, Mat is gonna be gone for games” She muttered and Mat frowned as he kissed his girlfriend’s temple “I know you got this babe”

Michelle frowned and looked down a bit “It’s gonna be stressful but it will be done, back at home, mom was away a lot so if she ordered house items or anything I was the one who assembled the things.. Dad didn’t really do things he was more busy with the lawyer stuff so I’m used to these things”

Mat nodded and had a soft smile on his face “At least when we move in, we can use the new kitchen and invite the guys, Em and even Marie.”

Michelle gave him a look “Whaat? You inviting Marie? I thought you were scared of her”

Mat gave her a look “She may be scary, but she loves you. She’s like a mother to you” He said and Michelle smiled softly “She’s basically my mom.. Marie never had kids in her life. From what I know, she’s been doing this for a while.. I’m not sure if she ever stopped and settled down, she keeps her personal live to herself”

Mat looked at the house “Can I be honest with you Mich?” He asked and she looked over and nodded “Go right ahead”

“I didn’t expect to settle down with a girl so quickly, I was expecting to have a bachelor pad for a long time” He confessed and she looked over and frowned “Wait are you changing your mind?”

“No! No.” Mat said as he wrapped an arm around her waist and brought her closer “I’m just glad that you’re the one I’m planning on settling down with.” He said and she smiled going on her tippy toes to kiss him and he smiled at that

“Well, We’re gonna have the coolest house when we’re done with this place”

#mat barzal #mathew barzal #mathew barzal imagine #mat barzal imagine #hockey #hockey imagines #hockey imagine #nhl fanfiction #nhl #nhl imagines #nhl imagine

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jwillowwolf · 3 years

Text

Magic and Miracles - Chapter 7

Sanders Sides Big Bang fic, Chapter 7!

< Previous Chapter | Next Chapter > | Masterlist

Summary: “Roman’s right, Remus. That’s not a frog. It is a moss slime.” Logan stated.

“It’s hideous.”

“Hey! How dare you be so mean to poor little mossy.” Remus said, holding the slime to his chest.

Warning/s: food mention, nightmare.

Characters: Logan, Virgil, OCs, Roman, Remy, Remus, Patton, Janus.

Tag List: @theimprobabledreamersworld @remy-please-come-back

Read on AO3

7 | School Holidays

“Eye spy with my little eye something green.”

“A tree?”

“Yep!”

“Remus, you can’t just keep picking trees.”

“Says who?”

“Says me. It’s too predictable.”

“I spy an idiot.”

“Why you--!”

“Can someone put me out of my misery?” Virgil asked over the twin’s bickering.

Everyone was feeling exhausted, despite riding in a carriage all morning. But they had been stuck in the carriage all morning. They were beginning to regret winning that vacation, or at least the travelling part. It had of course been exciting when they first found out, but now they were all cranky and wondering if Remy’s surprises were all meant to torture them in some small way.

“How about we play a game that isn’t eye spy?” Everleigh suggested.

Roman nodded vigorously. “Please.”

“How about charades?”

“There are eight of us packed in here, Pat, we don’t have much room for charades,” Janus pointed out.

Patton frowned and thought harder. “Broken telephone?”

“I think we’re all too close for that,” Roman said.

“Yeah, plus Willow has an unfair advantage,” Remus pointed out.

“And you don’t, Miss Elf?”

“Touche.”

“Yeah, so, that won’t work. What about word-chain?” Roman suggested.

“What’s word-chain?” Logan asked.

“Basically, we each take turns saying a word one after the other to form a sentence. I’ll start! Once.”

“Upon?”

“A.”

“Time.”

“There.”

“Was.”

“A.”

“Butt!”

“Remus!”

“What? It’s not against the rules.”

“Can’t you use a different word?”

“Fine… Once upon a time, there was a posterior~”

“You little-- oof.” Roman -and the others- lurched forwards as the carriage stopped. “What was that?”

Before anyone could do anything, Remy opened the carriage door. “Okay kids, we’re here!”

“Why did we stop so abruptly?” Janus asked.

“We’re here, and that’s all that matters.”

Virgil gave him a flat look. “You couldn’t figure out how to slow down, could you?”

“You’re wasting your vacation time people!”

Everyone got out of the carriage and looked around to see that their surprise vacation destination was what looked like a lovely rustic little cabin in the middle of the woods, beside a gorgeous lake.

Patton gasped with delight. “Can we go swimming there?!”

“Sure, buddy, but let’s take our stuff inside first,” Emile said as he got down from the carriage.

“We really get to stay here?” Willow asked.

“Yup.” Remy nodded. “Courtesy of Mr Picani.”

“Wait, really?” Roman asked. “You guys own this place?”

Logan nodded. “My grandfather built it long ago, but dad wanted to be a baker so we couldn’t live all the way out here.”

“No offence Mr Picani, but this is way cooler than your bakery.” Remus declared.

Emile laughed. “I have to agree with you, Remus. This place is better than anywhere else.”

Everyone followed Emile inside of the cabin, which was quite clean, apart from some dust here and there. The cabin was one long room, with a living, dining room, and kitchen all together open plan style. There were also two nice sized lofts on either end of the cabin, that could be used as bedrooms.

Remy and Emile were each going to have their own room while the kids slept all together sleepover style in the living area downstairs. Once the kids had taken out their sleeping bags and claimed themselves a section of floor, they headed over to the lake. Patton was racing ahead of everyone and ran straight into it until his entire body was submerged. When he resurfaced again, he began splashing around and giggling like a little kid.

Remus laughed. “How’s the water, Pat?”

“Incredible! You guys have got to get in.”

“Last one in, is a rotten egg!” Roman shouted as he ran to join Patton.

Janus ran too and tripped him up, but then Roman grabbed his ankle so he fell too. Remus jumped over both of them and then basically dove into the water. Willow ran around Roman and Janus as they wrestled to be the first one up and into the water. Everleigh laughed at both of them as she ran by, while Virgil and Logan only smiled.

“Are you two going to get in or what?” Remus asked.

“I bet you five silver they wrestle their way into the lake,” Virgil said.

“Ten silver that they continue to wrestle after they get to the water,” Willow replied.

“Deal.”

Logan found himself suddenly splashed. “Hey!”

Everleigh just giggled manically at his angry glare.

“Oh, it’s on!” He splashed her back, and she shrieked, diving out of the way so the water instead hit Remus.

Instead of getting mad though, Remus grinned from ear to ear and yelled, “Water fight!”

Then all hell broke loose; metaphorically of course. Everyone began splashing and using water spells to soak each other, laughing loudly all the while. Later, after they’d expended most of their energy, they all went to the shore and Remy and Emile brought them some lunch.

---

“--and then you do this and, viola, a perfect flower crown!” Willow said, holding up their creation.

“Ooh, these are all so pretty.” Patton squealed.

Everleigh held hers up with a frown. “I think I did something wrong with mine…”

“That’s alright. My first flower crown completely fell apart when it held it up from my lap,” Willow reminisced. “Here, you can have this one.”

“Really, oh! Thank you so much!” Everleigh said, accepting the crown. “How do I look?”

“Like a true summer queen,” Willow answered.

“Hey guys, look I found a frog!” Remus declared.

Roman shrieked and jumped into Janus’s arms. “Oof-- hey!”

“That is not a frog!”

“Yeah, it is! Look.” Remus held the green creature up to Roman’s face, causing him to lean closer to Janus and make them both fall over.

“Roman’s right, Remus. That’s not a frog. It is a moss slime.” Logan stated.

“It’s hideous.”

“Hey! How dare you be so mean to poor little mossy.” Remus said, holding the slime to his chest.

“Uh, Logan, are those slimes at all dangerous?” Patton inquired.

“No. In fact, they play a key role in the ecosystem.”

“Which means you should put it back where you found it, Remus.” Roman declared.

“And you should get off me before I burn you to a crisp, Roman.” Janus snapped.

“I can’t take them back, they’re family.”

“You just found it.” Virgil pointed out.

“Exactly. How could I abandon them after only just meeting!”

“I don’t think Remy or Mr Picani will let you keep, Mossy, Ree,” Willow said.

“But they’re so cute. Who could say no to this face!”

“Anyone with half a brain.” Roman huffed.

Remus just stuck her tongue out at him childishly.

It took a while to convince him, but eventually, Remus was persuaded that Mossy would be happier staying at the lake.

---

The teens were all sleeping peacefully in the lounge area. They all had their own little sleeping bags and were curled up nice and warm, with only the soft glow of dying embers from the fireplace, illuminating the room. Everything was quiet, apart from Roman’s gentle snores, and the distant sound of croaking frogs.

Then a blood-curdling scream tore through the peaceful atmosphere and woke even the adults in their respective lofts. Willow jumped to her feet and stood in a fighting stance, Janus grabbed a log from beside the fireplace and lit it like a torch, Roman reached for his katana, Virgil jumped straight up and was now hanging from the bannister of one of the lofts, Logan and Everleigh were standing back to back with their firsts up, and Patton was beside Remus trying to shake her awake.

After a moment, everyone realised that it was Remus who was screaming so unsettlingly. He stopped with a gasp when Patton finally managed to wake him up. She looked around the room with wide eyes and began to cry as she realised it had only been a dream.

“...It didn’t happen… It didn’t happen…” he muttered between sobs.

Patton rubbed her back soothingly. “Remus...?”

“Thank the Gods… it’s not real.”

Roman paled. “What’s not real?”

“I- it- it was terrible,” Remus choked out. “A greedy soul betrays the heart, the world you know shall fall apart. Your only hope is to find the miracle that time left behind.”

Janus squinted. “What?”

“That’s what they said. Over and over again, while she…” Remus froze, a sob rising in his thought.

“What did you see, Remus?” Patton asked gently.

Remus took a deep wobbly breath. “A woman... She looked beautiful, yet old. Her eyes were dark and held what looked like centuries of wisdom... She was wilting before me, like a rose. Dying in front of me and I couldn’t reach her... None of us could.”

“We were all there?” Willow asked.

Remus nodded. “...But it wasn’t enough.”

“It was probably just a bad dream,” Remy said. “A really bad dream.”

“Perhaps you’re nervous about school.” Emile offered.

“How does that work?” Remus inquired.

“The woman could be representing magic, something old and beautiful. All of you are learning magic and maybe you’re nervous about getting enough knowledge to pass the second test.” Emile said.

Remus’s breath began to even out. “I guess that makes sense.”

“Whatever caused this, I think the best idea, for now, is to just calm down. How about some hot chocolate to help ease everyone’s nerves?” Emile offered.

Everyone nodded and sat down to relax. Janus took the wood he’d set alight and remade the fire in the fireplace, significantly brightening the room, while Emile got some hot chocolate made for everyone.

“I thought you’d grown out of those nightmares,” Roman commented.

Remus smiled weakly. “I’m still young at heart.”

“This has happened before?” Willow inquired.

“Well, I’ve had scary dreams, yeah. Woke nearly everyone in the castle when it happened as a kid. They haven’t been that frequent or… clear, lately.”

“Perhaps it’s the stress of being in an unfamiliar place,” Logan said. “Something that might help to keep you from getting worked up again, would be doing something you’re familiar with. Something that you’ve used to comfort yourself before.”

“My mom used to sing us back to sleep with lullabies,” Roman remembered. “But I can’t remember the words…”

“Do you know the name of the song?” Janus inquired.

“Uh… no… does anyone else know any lullabies?”

Everleigh frowned. “I’m not much of a music person.”

Patton shook his head. “I only know a handful of sea shanties.”

Logan and Virgil also shook their heads no.

“Well, Janus knows one,” Willow said.

“Why are you pulling me into this?”

“Because I can. The song is an older one that lots of people from Evergreen Valley would know, but I’m not sure if it’s well known elsewhere,” Willow explained.

“You’re talking about Running Wild, right?” Janus asked.

Willow nodded affirmatively.

Remus cocked his head to the side. “Running Wild?”

“It is a special song. A lullaby of sorts that has been passed down many generations.” Janus explained.

“Can you sing it?” Everleigh asked.

Janus bit their lip. “It’s meant to be accompanied by violin-”

“We have a violin.” Emile interrupted. “It belonged to my father. It’s a touch old, but should work.”

“Perfect. I can play it while you sing, Jan,” Willow said with a grin.

Janus glared at her a moment then sighed in defeat. “Fine…”

Emile got out the violin and handed it to Willow, who tuned it for while Janus got in position to sing. Everyone gathered in a semi-circle, like a proper audience, and waited patiently for the show. Then Willow began to play...

“Running wild in the sweet, long grass

Running wild where my heart is free at last

Running through the trees evergreen

Running to where my heart is keen

“I’m running, running without end

I’m running, running adventure round every bend

I’m running, running forever more

I’m running, running to see what’s in store

“Running though this world so wild

Running like a joyful child

Running here in the gold sunshine

Running in the cool rain divine

“Hmm~ Hmm~ Hmm…”

After that, no one had any nightmares, in fact, all that the kids dreamed about were peaceful forests and running wolves.

---

Logan woke to the sound of laughter and joyful voices, accompanied by the smell of fresh bread and fried bacon. He opened his eyes and scanned the living area to see who was awake. The twins were still knocked out, along with Willow and Virgil. In fact, it looked like the sun was only just rising outside, so whoever was up, had to be among the morning people of the group. Logan sat up and looked to the kitchen area, where he saw Janus, Everleigh and Patton were preparing breakfast.

"Morning sleepyhead!" Everleigh chirped when she saw Logan was awake.

“Good morning,” Logan replied, getting up properly from his bedroll. “I didn't know you all could cook.”

"We couldn't, but we woke up early, and your dad offered to teach us," Patton answered. "He and Remy went to get water from the creek for us quickly."

"Janus wasn't going to join us, but then they got to punch bread dough and we tricked them into joining us," Everleigh chuckled.

"I don't think you could trick Janus into doing anything he didn't want to," Logan commented.

Janus shook their head. "Why are you and Will always exposing me?"

Logan laughed. "What are friends for?"

"Did someone call me?" Willow asked, sitting up and rubbing their eye sleepily.

Everleigh gasped. "Oh my gosh, you look so cute."

Willow blinked her eyes open and cocked her head to the side. "Hmm?"

"I, uh- you look lovely in the morning," Everleigh said with a dark blush covering her cheeks.

Willow smiled. "Thank you, you look pretty too."

Everleigh somehow blushed even harder at that.

"You can get some more sleep if you want, Will," Janus said.

"Hmm, sleep." Willow looked at their pillow and laid back down. "Goodnight…"

Some soft snores a few moments later, indicated she was fast asleep again. Logan raised an eyebrow and looked over to Janus.

"What was that?"

"If she's still sleepy when she wakes up, then it's almost like she's drunk. Which is why they weren't nervous to tell Everleigh she's pretty." Janus explained.

"Why would she be nervous about that?" Everleigh asked.

"For the same reason you're still blushing," Janus smirked.

"I- I am not."

"Ev, we can all clearly see your blush," Logan said.

"That doesn't mean I have a crush on Willow."

"No one said you did'" Patton pointed out. "That's so sweet though."

"Shhhh, they're right there," Everleigh whisper shouted.

Janus shrugged. "She obviously reciprocates, so I don't see any issues with her hearing."

"Well, how would you like it if I exposed your crush on Roman?"

Janus's eyes went wide and then they looked away. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Patton gasped. "Double cute! Both of you would make cute couples with your crushes."

"I don't have a crush on Roman," Janus said.

"Geez, you're bad at lying about this," Logan commented.

"Well, when are you going to finally confess your feelings for Virgil?" Janus asked.

"Considering I have none, never."

"Liar~," Everleigh said in a sing-song voice.

Patton gasped again. "That's four fabulous couples! Oh, we should all do a group date sometime."

"I almost forgot you're dating Remus," Janus said. "How did that happen anyway?"

“Honestly I have no idea, but I love him very much.”

After that, the conversation focused on Patton and Remus instead of the others, much to Logan’s relief. He really didn’t need to have that conversation about his feelings again.

---

The group had decided to build a bonfire and collected every single stick they could find for it. They piled everything on the shore by the lake, to make sure they didn’t accidentally set fire to something else, and as the sun was setting over the mountains Janus lit it with their fire breathing. No one had seen them breathe fire yet, apart from Willow, and they were all very impressed, especially Roman.

“Hey, bro, don’t look now, but you gay is showing.”

“What?! Gah! Remus!”

The twins ran around for a while, Remus cackling the whole time like a mad person. The others began roasting kebabs and marshmallows over the fire.

“This is the perfect atmosphere for telling stories,” Everleigh commented.

“Do you have any?” Virgil asked.

“As far as I know, she has an infinite supply, with how many she tells,” Logan said teasingly.

Everleigh flashed him a glare but was fighting a smile at the same time, so she wasn’t too intimidating.

“What kinds of stories do you know?” Willow inquired.

“All kinds. Tales of adventurous knights, daring heroes, brave travellers, cheerful bards, sorrowful poets, tragic romances, haunting horrors-”

“Did you say horrors?” Remus asked, skidding to a halt and causing Roman to crash into him suddenly.

“Yeah, I love scary stories. There’s nothing like a mild horror to get your blood pumping.”

“Tell us one then.” Virgil urged.

“Uh, are you guys sure you want to go straight to horror stories?” Patton asked timidly.

“Don’t worry, Patty-cakes, you can hold my hand and I’ll keep you safe from your fears,” Remus declared.

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

“Alright then, let’s hear it,” Janus said, motioning for Everleigh to start.

“Once there were two brothers, Jack and John. They were very normal little boys who loved to play hide and seek. One day, while visiting their grandmother’s house, they decided to play their favourite game. Jack went off to hide and John was seeking him. He looked for a very long time, before he came to a spare room, where he thought he saw something moving in the closet.

“John lept forward and grabbed what he believed to be Jack’s wrist, saying, ‘I finally found you! I found you.’

“John struggled to pull on the wrist, as the person in the closet pulled back definitely. After a few moments, John heard a voice behind him.

“‘I give up. You took too long.’ There in the doorway was little Jack. looking very bored and definitely not in the closet.

“John was so surprised, that he let go of the wrist and fell back, flat onto his butt. He looked up at the closet with wide eyes, then back to Jack, then back to the closet, before getting up and slowly backing up out of the room. After that day, John never went back into the spare room, and he made Jack promise to never play hide and seek ever again.”

“Did Jack see what was in the closet when he let go?” Patton asked.

Everleigh shrugged. “If he did. He never said anything about it.”

“It was probably a bat or something,” Remus declared.

Logan raised an eyebrow. “What makes you believe it was a bat?”

“They love hiding in dark places and could definitely freak out a small child.”

“John thought he was holding his brother’s wrist,” Virgil pointed out. “How big of a bat do you think was in there?”

“Well, bats can get pretty big,” Remus shrugged. “Then again, maybe it was just a murderer hiding out.”

Patton squeaked in fear and pulled his knees into his chest. “You guys don’t think there’s any murders hiding out here, do you?”

“Of course not, Patton. The scariest person here is Remus.” Roman answered.

Remus grinned. “Why, thank you, dear brother.”

“That wasn’t a compliment.”

“It was to me!”

“Tell us another story, Ev,” Willow requested.

“Perhaps something a bit more lighthearted this time?” Patton added.

Everleigh nodded. “Okay, sure. How about the legend of the Miracle?”

Virgil perked up. “I haven’t heard that one in a while.”

“I’ve never heard that one. What is the Miracle?” Remus inquired.

“A creature almost forgotten by time. A legend true enough that it was once known to every elder and child in realms. No one knew truly where it came from and where it went is an even bigger mystery, but what it did changed the course of history forever.

“Three thousand years ago, the miracle lived openly in this very kingdom. It met with nobles and peasants alike, using its unparalleled healing abilities to make even those at death’s doorstep return to their healthy, happy selves. People came from near and far for help with not only their ailments but also other dilemmas. The Miracle was wise from many years of life and could easily council them. Not forever though.

“One day a king came to ask the Miracle to heal his daughter, but the Miracle refused. The king was so upset that he had the Miracle arrested and held captive in the dungeons. The Miracle used its unknown magic to break out, however, killing several soldiers and the king as it went.

“After that, no one dared to go near the Miracle and so it left the kingdom. At least, everyone assumed it did. It seemed to vanish off the face of the earth. Never seen again since its escape...”

“Why wouldn’t the Miracle heal the king’s daughter?” Patton wondered.

Everleigh shrugged. “That’s never been explained in any version I read.”

“Perhaps it couldn’t?” Willow suggested.

“It’s skills were greater than any sorcerer ever known. It could have easily cured anything.” Virgil stated. “From what I know, the princess died shortly after her father, and her younger brother took the throne instead.”

“The poor girl,” Patton said, wistfully looking off into the distance. He quickly perked up again though when something caught his eye. “Fireflies! They look so pretty!”

“Let’s catch them,” Remus suggested.

“Let’s see who can get the most!” Willow added on.

Nearly everyone jumped to the challenge and chased after the lighting bugs. In fact, only Virgil and Logan were left at the bonfire. Logan looked over at the taller teen curiously.

“Not joining them?”

“I don’t feel much like running,” Virgil confessed. “You?”

“Likewise… Do you know the story about how the stars came to be?”

“Hmm, I don’t think I’ve heard of it. Didn’t they just poof into existence alongside everything else the gods made?”

“Actually, the gods didn’t make them at all.”

“Who did then? Wait, tell me the story properly.”

“Alright then. When the world was still young there were only two lights who occupied the sky. The Sun and the Moon. They stood watch over humanity for the gods, each taking turns every few hours to be sure that they didn’t get too tired. The humans had decided to label these watches; day for Sun and night for Moon. During Sun’s watch, they would work, play, and do all sorts of things outside in the bright light. While during Moon’s watch, they stayed safe in their homes, hiding from the shadows, and sleeping until Sun returned.

“Moon would never say anything about it, but Sun saw how dejected they would look after their watch. Sometimes Moon would even accompany Sun during their watch and look down longingly at the happy humans enjoying Sun’s light. Sun’s light was much stronger than Moon’s, so of course, they did a better job of casting aside the shadows. Moon envied that ability. But they would never say so.

“Because of humanity’s hiding away, Moon’s watch was a lonely one. Sun wanted to accompany Moon, the way they sometimes accompanied them, but then people decided it was day since Sun so easily outshone Moon. Sun felt mournful for Moon. Moon was just as good a protector, if not better than them. But the human’s only knew that Moon’s light was lesser. Nothing else really mattered.

“One night, however, Sun came up with a plan. A brilliant plan to give Moon the company they longed for. They took from themselves a bit of light and scattered it across the night sky. These pieces came to life and were known collectively as the stars. Moon loved them dearly and finally found joy in taking up their watch. They were no longer so lonely.”

“That’s... beautiful,” Virgil whispered.

Logan had been staring at the stars as he told the story, so now when he looked at Virgil, he realised how close they were. He could see through his long dark bangs the faint glow of firelight and shimmer of stars in his stormy grey eyes. It was a captivating sight, so much so that he couldn’t bear to look away.

“Yeah,” Logan found himself whispering. “Beautiful…”

Twice, Janus had questioned his feelings towards Virgil, but this was the first time Logan found himself questioning what he felt. He couldn’t exactly describe it. Or perhaps he didn’t want to. For once, he wanted no answers, he only wanted to feel whatever this was. To just exist in this moment for the rest of eternity.

Shrieks of laughter from their classmates, however, broke whatever spell had been keeping the pair looking at each other, and the moment was over as quickly as it had begun.

Logan would later look back on that week as being full of wonderful memories. But that moment would forever stand out...

---

A/N: thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this. I'll be posting two chapters a day until the full fic is up, so if you want to be tagged, you can just ask.

I'd love to hear what you thought about the chapter if you wouldn't mind commenting. Thanks again for reading! Here's hoping you have a magical day 💜

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writingsofmyimagination · 5 years

Text

Silk Tie

Summary: Wide awake with midnight munchies? No problem. Dom Hobi (As if he’s anything else :P)

Hobi x Reader. (Established relationship)

Genre: 18+, PWP basically. Hobi ruins me like that. Some cute stuff though :P Not going to lie loved writing this hope its not too terrible.

Words:2564

Warnings: Swearing, Smut (Light bondage, Oral F receiving, Slight Exhibitionism, Spanking, Hint of Cum Play) Think that’s it.

Enjoy ARMY. Love You ALL! Please Reblog and Comment your thoughts.

“What time’s your alarm set tomorrow?” you inquired, rolling over enveloping your arms around Hobi’s chest. You were shameless in trying to share the body heat permeating of his skin; being greedy with the warmth already supplied to you buy the cosy duvet shrouding you both.

“4” Hobi groaned mid-stretch, one of his hands falling to your waist.

“What!” your normal tone hiked up a few notches higher looking up at him. The brown wavy hair pushed back from his forehead as he chuckled.

“We’ve got a shoot tomorrow what do you expect?”

“Well, wake me up at that time and BTS will need a new choreography lead” you toyed.

“I’ll do my best” he rewarded your forehead with a delicate kiss.

“How have you slept this week?”

“Too well”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“I suppose not. I’ve missed this though” gripping his body where your hand rested.

5 hours later you were wide awake, irritated at the amount of tossing and turning you’d done. Huffing, you threw the covers off and made way for the kitchen. Your feet cooled on the marble floor as you stood focusing your sight on the cereal cupboard. You needed Frosted Shreddies. The moonlight slithered in the high panel windows, an opaque white stream guiding you to slump down feet under you on the sofa. The TV near on silent, your gaze barely registering the cascade of moving pictures in front of you. Going back up for seconds, the patchwork wheat lightly clanging in the porcelain bowl. Ears pricked up at the sound of light shuffling behind you. Hobi was heading over to you, grey trackies cushioned at his hips. The midnight beams bouncing of his delicious sculpted torso. His hands slid around your front, his head resting on your shoulder.

“What’s keeping you up baby?” he spoke softly. Since the news Hobi had been much more observant of you. He’d have never normally left the comfort of the bed to come and find you.

“Cravings” You lifted up he bowl and twirled in his grip to face him. The concern dropped from his face as quick as he dropped down to your waist level.

“Why don’t you let mummy sleep this is no time to be hungry? And you could have at least picked a nicer choice than dry shreddies” he spoke to your stomach holding a hand there. You chuckled batting his hand away

“Hobi, Stop!”

“What?” he whined dodging a playful attack to his arm. You finished your mouthful before answering.

“We don’t want the boys hearing it’s only been nine weeks” His smile was not the least bit apologetic, keeping this from them had been the hardest for him by far.

“And I doubt squishy can hear your disapproval of craving choice” you added.

“Hey you told me at nine weeks the ears get more defined even though squishy is just a grape” he protested taking the bowl from you and placing it behind you.

“Touché Mr Hoseok that I did” Unobstructed he was now free to pull you into a kiss, allowing yourself to be pushed back against the side. Your hands locked behind his neck as he left your lips chasing his. Finally getting Hobi back after week, your fluctuating hormones were giving you serious that only Hobi could currently take care of.

“Shouldn’t you be heading back to bed. You’ve got to be up soon. I’ll be fine” you suggested rummaging the bowl, hands hurrying to continue snacking.

“Probably” he agreed

“Buuut?” you goaded.

His hands ventured underneath your night shirt, his shirt and traced your sides teasing his hands just underneath your breasts. One of your weak spots.

“I missed you” He was creeping and you both knew it. You were enjoying cute Hobi, you knew it wouldn’t last. Your hands dropped, trickling over his chest.

“Missed what exactly” you teased. He knew he’d been busted. Something darkened behind his eyes when his desire took over; it was unmistakeable, devilish. He hesitated.

“Sure it wasn’t this?” you took lead of his hand and guided it beneath the slack waistband of your underwear. Slowly coating his slender fingers with yourself; both your eyes flashing wickedly at each other.

“This is most definitely part of it” You left him taking over your lead. His forehead fell meeting yours, his eyes focused on his hand. The atmosphere between you quickly deteriorating into a heated starved cluster.

“Fuck this!” he breathed. In moments your behind tight in his grip, legs secured round his waist. The anticipation to be underneath him on your bed quickly seeped down into panic. Your ass being placed on the glass dining room table. Your hands hanging on to his shoulders as you sheepishly looked at your surroundings.

“Hobi, what… here? We can’t” He was already pulling at your thighs, the silk of your underwear enabling him to have you almost perched on the edge.

“Why not?”

“Erm because you live with six other guys that could walk in any second” You’re protesting weak, underwear already being slipped down your legs.

“Better be quiet then while I have you dripping round my mouth then” The words could only tug at your core for a few seconds before his tongue was pressed flat scooping through your arousal. Your fingers lacing through his hair, tight enough to pinch at his scalp. Your other hand clamped round the edge of the table, colour draining from your knuckles. The slow stripes of his tongue becoming more pressured circular movements honing on your clit. He took a breath, admiring your inner thighs with wet delicate kisses.

“Tell me how good I make you feel baby” he requested, hot breath fanning your core. Fingers stroking your folds in his tongue’s absence.

“Sooo good, please Hobi” His lips curled up against your thigh.

“Uuughh” you winced as his teeth clamped down on your flesh.

“Gotta make sure I have you marked as mine princess”

“Hobi just give me your tongue for god’s sake” Your frown was met with ‘The Glare’. Blood rushed straight to your core, adrenalin pumping ferociously below your skin. You’d awakened the devil. And you were weak for it.

“Up” Any sweetness in his voice was long gone. You were not going to keep him waiting. Even the presence in front of you was different. His chest heaving, passionate eyes and tall toned stature now oozed authority. He swirled his finger round. Turn around. He flicked his finger down. Bend over on the table.

The cool of the glass table was felt through your thin cotton shirt.

“You don’t get to demand what I do to you, do you?” Passively informing you of your mistake.

“No, Sir!” you responded correctly.

“Arms behind your back” You cursed Namjoon silently for leaving a red silk tie slumped over the breakfast bar chair. He secured your wrists with little give.

“Hobi we’re In the kitchen” you reminded

Swear to god if someone walks in…

“You can count with me. 3 okay!” Your pulse already boiling and racing since the second he’d taken the wooden spoon from the cutlery draw. He completely ignored your previous words.

“MMhhm” you hummed.

“Yes” you quickly corrected. Flinching preparing for a reprimanding smack for not using words. It never came.

“1” he warned

“1” you responded through gritted teeth, stalling the moaning whine dead in your throat. The sting prickling on your behind.

“2” you continued, squeezing your thighs together.

“Fuck, I love it when you ask for your own punishment” he growled, the wooden spoon striking the same place again. A cry seeped past your lips permeating into the room. Hobi stepped to you pushing his weight into you gripping the back of your neck.

“Keep It down! Do you want the boys to know you’re here bent over for me in their kitchen?”

“3”

SMACK!

His palm nursed the rose tainted skin on your behind.

“Good girl, all pretty and pink” You hauled yourself on the table, more than ready for him to take you to the bedroom. Force pushing down on your shoulder blades shoving you back down, the heat of your breath fogging up the table.

“Hoseok please, just take me to bed” you whined.

“Oh baby, we’re not going anywhere” His hands trailed up your sides catching your shirt and rolling it half way up your body. His fingertips denting lightly at your sides, his touch becoming soft at your hips. They inched round your behind, dipping between your thighs. The pair of you both gasped, your hips chasing the direction of his fingers.

“Fuck…Baby I think you like the idea of being caught” Your mind was too busy honing in on how his fingers felt gliding through your arousal; your brows millimetre by milometer furrowing each time he purposely neglected your throbbing bundle of nerves. Your sighs and exhales increasingly becoming laced with frustration.

“Does my baby want something?” he coaxed, his bulge pressing into you was certainly one of your answers.

“Yes” you breathed

“Tell me”

“I want you, just touch me” His movements ceased, hovering over your clit, barely making contact.

“You’ve got to do better than that otherwise you’ll get nothing” One his hands was gripping at your hips tightly, refusing them to move into his frustratingly static fingers.

Fuck

“I need you Sir, pleeassee. I want you to fuck me, right here, hard!. I need you to make me cum”

“You spoil me princess” He groaned in appreciation. Instead of holding your hips back he pushed you into his fingers.

“I’ve fucking missed this” you moaned

“Yeah?” The slow circles on your clit spreading already had you arching your back. He shuffled behind you

“And this?” Your wrists pulled against the tie, fidgeting as his hand left you, trailing up to grip your hair.

“Have you missed how good my cock makes you feel” He asked coating it in your answer, you rolled your head, forehead on the glass.

“Mmmmm” you responded in a hum; not wanting to open your mouth for fear of your volume control failing.

“Words!” he scolded

“Volume down baby” he warned. Hair yanked back, he pulled you onto him, hard. His warning was lost.

Your whine was loud and drowned out with an expletive. He refused to move letting you to adjust to him or to listen for any movement elsewhere is the dorm. Or both.

“Such a dick” you breathed.

“But I’m all yours baby” he whispered in your ear. Your hair still gripped. Pulled back against him. His breath passing over your neck in a warm breeze.

“Now if I let you go are you going to be quiet while I fuck you on my kitchen table?” words falling across your skin like honey, clenching around him. You loved when he spoke filth in your ear; and he knew it.

“Yes” it was more of a plea than anything else.

“Good, cos I’d hate to not let you cum cos you can’t do what your told” His grip relinquished and he shoved you back down. Hands harshly digging into your hips stabilising you, his hips already bucking into you roughly. You struggled to filter through your cries and moans into soundless bursts. Becoming too much his hips slowed. Drawing out of you so slowly. Pushing back equally torturously.

“Yellow” You whined. You used this warning for only one reason. To signal to Hobi you were near some kind of limit. He would stop momentarily, and give you free reign to say whatever it was that you needed him to know in that moment.

He stopped.

“What is it princess?” Concern suspended heavily in his voice, it had become more weighted since the pregnancy started, understandably so. Especially with how hard he could go. You’re convinced he has slivers of sadistic tendencies beneath that sunshine smile of his; not that you’ll ever complain.

“It’s too hard to keep quiet, I need..something for my mouth” You breathed. Rather tell him you’re not going to be able to achieve what he wants than not being given release you needed after time apart.

“Is that so?” he teased pulling out of you even more slowly.

“Yes! You feel too fucking good” you complained while obviously not complaining. Stroking the shaft of his well-deserved bedroom ego. The silk of the tie loosened around your wrist, your body spun round, tie secured at your wrists again, in front of you. The ache in your shoulder washed away with the fresh movement, synovial fluid flowing blissfully around the joints. The pair of you out of breath as he hooked your arms over his neck hoisting you onto the table; pulling the back of your thighs forward.

“Use me baby” he panted lining himself back up with you. The strands of his hair were locked firmly in your fists, bracing yourself.

“You close baby?” Your teeth and mouth clamped down onto his shoulder, his skin absorbing the moan he elicited from you with his thrust.

“Mmm” Your ability to formulate words was lost, every thing focused on how the muscles in your lower stomach began to tighten, his shoulder was already blossoming red under your mouth. Your hands had no energy left to pull his hair, falling limp into the restraints. Your moans against his skin became soundless, energy drained to the bundle of nerves in between your legs.

“Cum for me” With the pressure of his finger against your clit, everything unwound. The top half of your body froze, nails clenching into his neck. The bottom half of your body convulsed, unleashing the surge of dopamine flooding your nervous system. Your muscles spasmed clenching around him causing him to still inside you; letting you ride it out until the waves calmed.

“Why did you stop?” His hands stumbled your restraints undone, hooking the tie round your neck.

“Knees!” he ordered

That’s why

Normally you’d flat out refuse, roll your eyes at least but

1. You were in no mood to be a brat and be disobedient

2. The way his eyes glimmered at the image of you on your knees, picturing his cum smeared over the bottom half of your face was too hard to refuse.

“Your too fucking good to me” His praise ignited your smile like a christmas tree, his finger tipped your chin upwards and you stood following his hand. He wiped your face with the silk round your neck.

“Hobi!” you laughed pinching the tie from his grip.

“What?” his tone a pitch higher, he winked sticking his tongue out at you.

“You’ve just wiped your cum off my face with Joon’s tie”

“And? it’ll wash”

“You’re unbelievable! I’ll never look at it the same way ever again” You chuckled retrieving your dignity in the form of your underwear from the kitchen floor.

“What if he wears it to our littluns first birthday party” he was exaggerating his words, teasing your embarrassment further

“Or oh my god what about on stage, at an intervie…” you launched the light soiled fabric directly at his face.

“Okay I’m going to bed” you announced shaking your head, doing your upmost to hinder your lips curving up.

“Love you” he lightly called after you. All he got you from you in return was your middle finger.

“I’ll be in a minute baby”

#ksmutclub #smutcentralnet #kwritersworldnet #bts #hyunglinenetwork #btsguild #networkbangtan #bangtanarmynet #kpopwonderlandtag #hobi x reader #bts jhope #jhope #jung hoseok #bts x reader #bts smut #jhope x reader #silk tie

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the-fiction-witch · 4 years

Text

Meeting

REAL LIFE

COUPLE TBS X READER

RATING SWEET+ KINDA FLIRTY

I smiled as I got my bag of shopping out the car closing down the boot and locking it with the keys, I hummed my little tune as I carried the heavy bags to the door, I locked the front door hurrying inside closing the door behind me with my hip. I carried the bags carefully and quietly past the staircase as I didn't want to make much noise, as Thomas was fast asleep when I left this morning and most likely still is. I put all my shopping in the kitchen floor and went to lock the door as soon as I turned the key I heard a cough. It made me jump as I put my head around the corner looking into the living room and dining room the patio door was closed the curtains open, the TV off with everything hidden in the little cupboards below it, the log burner on with a slight glow to keep the chill from the morning away, all the little trinkets and such all in there usual places, the sofa and table empty. The dinning room table tucked up the corner the window behind it, the wooden clock sat ticking away, the table had papers one pile one side and one pile another a cup of coffee in my usual mug on the side where the empty chair sat, at the other chair across from that sat Thomas his usual star wars mug perfectly perched on the coaster on his side of the table a pipe of paperwork Infront of him that he was slowly reading thought, his blonde hair clearly been washed and dried as it had that freshly cleaned fluff to it. A blue pen in his hand as he clicked it a couple of times a pair of purple glasses perched on his nose slightly so he could see over them yet read with them of needed, he had his white button down on and I course under the table his blue boxers and... Nothing else. He looked at me and simply checked his watch

"Your late" he says

"Whats going on Thomas?" I asked

"Your late, have a seat" he says indicating to the free chair

"Why are you wearing my reading glasses?" I asked

"Here" he sighed slipping them off and handing them to me

"What's this about?" I asked taking a seat

"I think we need to have a meeting"

"Right... About what?"

"I think the two of us need to discuss in a professional manner the... Next steps for our relationship' he explained

"Thomas is this your really long winded way of dumping me?" I asked "because this way you could word it as firing me"

"No, no, I'm not firing you" he says flicking thought his paperwork I looked at mine curiously

"Thomas this is just the audition script for dragon rider?"

"If your going to be difficult you don't get paperwork" he says taking it away from me

"It's really hard to sit here professionally with you Thomas"

"Why?"

"Because your in your underwear..."

"Madam, I would much rather you keep your view above the table"

"Alright... What's this about?' I asked

"Well as I'm sure you well know I am rapidly approaching a certain age"

"Yeah"

"And with that certain age comes a certain level of adult hood as well as reflection on life"

"Thomas are you trying to tell me your planning a mid life crisis? If so I really thank you for the heads up"

"No, the matter I wish to discuss involves these" he says grabbing something from the floor and putting it between us on the table, it was a condom, in its wrapping still with the purple foil glinting in the light.

"Okay... What about them?"

"I am sick of them" he shrugs crossing his arms "that's the basics of it, I'm sick of them I don't want to use them anymore"

"But-" I began

"That's what I mean by next stage of our relationship, what I mean about getting to that kinda stage of life" he explained and I froze realizing what he was talking about "y/n... I wanna be a dad'

"You what!" I yelled in shock

"Look y/n, I've been thinking about it, and I'm not getting any younger, and given what's coming soon I thought more about my life and where I wanted to be at this point in my life and, I do, I really do want to be a dad." He explained "and I wanna have a baby with you"

"Okay but really your sure about this? Because this is a big decision Thomas"

"I'm sure, I want to literally destroy every condom in this house and start going without them and when your ready start actively trying for a baby"

"Why destroy can't we just not use them?" I ask

"Nope! I want to burn them in the firepit" he says

"Why do I feel this is a really long winded excuse for you just not wanting to use condoms anymore"

"Well... That may have influenced my decision, a little" he shrugs and I glare at him "come on y/n! I've used condoms every single time I've had sex with anymore since I lost my fucking virginity... I wanna go without them I'm sick of them" he explained

"If you just don't want to use condoms anymore Thomas we can use other stuff" I laughed

"No, it's not just the condoms, y/n I really mean it, I've got to the point in my life I wanna have a kid, I wanna be a daddy, and I wanna have a baby with you, I want you to be mummy to our sweet little baby" he smiled holding my hand "but... If you don't want to, I understand"

"Aww Thomas, okay, we can start trying" I smiled holding his hand

"You mean it?" He asks and I nod "yes!" He smiled jumping from his chair to hug me "can we... Do our first try without a condom now?" He suggested slyly

"In a bit I bought frozen stuff" I smiled giving him a kiss and going to put the shopping away "go upstairs and wait for me if you want" I yelled as I put stuff away but within seconds he was behind me

"Why? When I could cuddle you now" he smiled nuzzling into my neck

"You know Thomas, while I put the shopping away you gather up the condoms so you can destroy them" I laughed grabbing the one taped to the underside of our counter and handing it to him

"Okay" he smiled kissing my cheek "do you remember where they all are?"

"I remember some of them" I answered grabbing the one hidden below an old shopping list on a magnet on our fridge

"Hu, lucky you remembered that one" he says taking it from me and starting to go find the other ones "love you honey bunny" he smiled as he left

"Love you too Thomas" I laughed putting the shopping away.

#tbs #thomas sangster #tbs smut #tbs imagine #tbs imagines #thomas sangster imagine #thomas sangster smut #sangster imagine #tbs smutty #thomas brodie sangster im #thomas brodie sangster smut #thomas brodie sangster i #thomas brodie sangster imagine #thomas brodie sangster #thomas sangser imagine #thomas sangster x reader #thomasbrodiesangster #thomassangster #thomas

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camillemontespan · 4 years

Text

her one constant [part nine: poker and romcoms] [drake the bodyguard AU]

Master List

@ibldw-main @jovialyouthmusic @katedrakeohd @moonlightgem7 @pug-bitch @princessleac1 @burnsoslow @notoriouscs @dcbbw @saivilo @rainbowsinthestorm @marshmallowsandfire @marshmallowsaremyfavorite @gardeningourmet @kingliam2019 @nomadics-stuff @kimmiedoo5

*******************************

'Are you sure you'll be alright by yourself?' Drake asked Camille as he prepared to leave Valtoria Manor for poker night with his fellow bodyguards. 'I can always cancel.'

Camille shook her head and wrapped her cashmere cardigan around her tightly. 'I'll be fine,' she assured him. 'It's your night off duty, please just enjoy it.'

Drake studied her for a moment. He didn't believe her assurances. She had been too casual about it, almost flippant. He had a feeling she was shitting being alone tonight after what happened at Applewood and he honestly didn’t blame her.

'Drake, I promise I'll be okay,' Camille said. 'Go beat Lou's ass at poker and enjoy your night off. I'm just going to watch a film and have a glass of wine, I'll be alright.'

Drake sighed, knowing she wouldn't budge. 'Fine,' he said. 'But if you feel afraid or anxious, call me and I'll come straight back.'

'It's your night off -'

'I don't care,' Drake interrupted. 'If you start feeling scared, tell me.'

Before Drake left the estate, he did a final check of the Manor and grounds, ensuring everything was as it should be. Once he was satisfied, he said goodbye at the front door.

'Enjoy your wine,' he whispered, giving her a wink.

'Enjoy your bromance time!' Camille quipped, finally giving him a smile and relaxing.

************************

Drake, Lou, Micah and Thomas were sitting around the oval table in Lou's dining room, cards in hand, glasses of scotch beside them. Cigar smoke snaked through the air.

'Step up your game, Walker, I'm beating your ass,' Lou mocked.

Drake smirked. 'Patience, Lou. Just you wait.'

Micah eyed Drake above his deck of cards. 'So.. The Duchess of Valtoria.'

Thomas groaned and let his head hang back as he declared, 'the love of my life..'

Drake grimaced. 'Keep it in your pants, Tom.'

'But she's so hot!' Thomas protested. 'Please tell me you have thought about getting with her.'

Lou sniggered. 'Walker's in loooveeee..' he teased.

Drake rolled his eyes. 'Shut the fuck up, Lou.'

'He doesn't deny it,' Micah said. 'He loves her.'

'Seriously, when are you gonna tap that?' Lou asked. 'You've been guarding her for four months now. You're basically married.'

'How the fuck did you come to that conclusion?' Drake asked, sipping his scotch. 'Please. Enlighten me.'

Lou chuckled. 'You both look at each other with puppy dog eyes. She always smiles at you and looks at you when she's dancing. She actually treats you like a human being.'

Drake scoffed. 'Treats me like a human being - God, the standards are low. Besides, you guys are all fucking your Duchesses and you don't seem to care how you're treated so long as you're getting your dick wet.'

'Jesus Drake, tell us how you really feel!' Lou laughed, shaking his head. 'You're so protective of her. Like, we're protective of our Duchesses but you're on another level.'

Drake shrugged. 'That's how I work. I take my job seriously and I'm not apologising for trying my hardest to keep her safe.'

The group went quiet, awkwardly quiet.

Thomas cleared his throat. 'More scotch?'

********************

Camille poured herself a glass of wine and settled down on the couch to watch My Best Friend's Wedding. Camille adored romcoms. Pulling her blanket up over her knees, she focused on Julia Roberts and Rupert Everett, wishing that she had a gay best friend like Rupert. Maybe she should convince Maxwell..

Not for the first time, Camille wondered how Drake’s poker night was going. She knew he hadn’t been keen to go based on the fact that she would be by herself. But they weren’t together. He was her bodyguard and this was his night off; he had to be off duty.

She hoped he was swindling Lou out of his money and that he was getting along with the guys. Drake always seemed like a loner, never really part of a group, even when he stood beside his fellow bodyguards at court events. He never went for drinks and he never told her about having any friends. As far as Camille knew, Drake’s life evolved around his job.

Which meant his life evolved around her.

Ignoring this realisation, Camille watched as Julia Roberts was introduced to a peppy Cameron Diaz. They were providing a good distraction from the fact that Camille was alone and feeling extremely anxious about it.

She heard a noise come from the kitchen.

Camille jumped up instantly. The rest of her staff had the night off too, so she was literally alone in the manor for the first time in four months. Great timing. Pausing the film, Camille slowly walked through the living room and down the corridor, steeling herself.

She reached the kitchen.

Poking her head around the door, she found that there was nobody there.

The noise was persistent though. Frowning, Camille ventured further into the kitchen before she realised what it was.

The boiler.

‘Camille, you fucking idiot..’ Camille scolded herself. Sighing, she turned to leave the kitchen to go back to her film. But she still grabbed a knife out of the drawer and carried it with her, not wanting to take any chances.

**********************

'Face it,' Lou said, after another fifteen minutes of solid poker. 'Your situation with the Duchess of Valtoria is different to ours. You gotta see why we're interested.'

Drake poured himself another glass of scotch , submitting himself reluctantly to questioning. 'How is the situation different? Aside from the fact that I actually do my job while you assholes fuck the women you're supposed to be looking after.'

Micah smirked. 'You say that like it's a bad thing.'

Thomas sipped his scotch, enjoying the gossip.

'Okay, well, for starters, you live together,' Lou said. 'That's not normal.'

Drake closed his eyes. He knew it wasn't normal. He knew he should have his own apartment and only work for Camille from 8am-8pm.

But the others wouldn't understand.

'Like I guard Olivia from morning until early evening,' Lou continued, 'then I fuck her till she comes then I go home.'

Drake wrinkled his nose. 'Jesus, Lou, you're such a dirtbag..'

'I make her feel fucking wonderful,' Lou defended himself. 'I do my duty and then I go home and be myself. Drink scotch, watch porn, sleep like a baby until I have to do it all over again.'

Drake stared at Lou. 'That is the saddest thing I've ever heard..' he said dryly.

Thomas sniggered. Micah shook his head, amused, and helped himself to more alcohol.

'Why do you live in her Manor anyway?' Micah asked. 'I'm genuinely interested.'

Drake sighed and looked down at his glass. The others watched him, waiting for an explanation.

'After she was involved in the assassination attack on Constantine, Camille became really afraid,' Drake said softly. 'She fired her bodyguard, Mara, for not keeping her safe. Camille was injured you see, ceiling plaster hit her head and she was knocked out. But what Mara should have done was get her out of the ballroom as soon as something became suspicious. But she didn't. '

Lou rolled his eyes. 'Mara was the worst bodyguard I had ever met,' he drolled. 'She shouldn't have passed her qualifications.'

Drake nodded, for once agreeing with Lou. 'Exactly,' he said. 'So I was hired because of my qualifications and experience. I'd protected politicians and diplomats. But Camille was terrified of everything when I met her. She couldn't set foot in the ballroom for weeks after what happened. She had panic attacks-'

'Poor girl..' Thomas murmured.

'So I decided to live in the servants quarters. It wasn't her idea, it was mine,' Drake admitted. 'She told me she would wake in the night screaming from nightmares that another attack was going to happen and she felt afraid to be alone in case she was targeted. She was a new noble and instantly part of the inner circle, thanks to Liam proposing to her. Easy target. So I moved in. I've been working with her on her confidence ever since and making sure I'm always with her so she can feel safe and secure. But at Applewood, something happened.’

Thomas leaned forward, his eyes widening. ‘...What happened?’

‘You tapped that ass!’ Micah hooted.

‘Finally, Walker!’ Lou cried.

‘No, someone broke into her room and tried to force himself on her,’ Drake said bluntly.

The other bodyguards stopped smiling and laughing. Lou was studying Drake with a frown on his face and he was gripping the glass of scotch in his hand. ‘You’re fucking kidding.’

‘Being serious,’ Drake replied, his voice remote. ‘I heard her scream. I kicked down the door and found her in the arms of this guy who was trying to kiss her.’

‘I hope you fucking killed him,’ Micah hissed.

‘I nearly did,’ Drake whispered, looking down at the table. ‘I was this close. Camille brought me out of it. She made me stop. But I swear, all I felt was sheer rage. It was running through my veins, like I couldn’t control it. I just kept punching him and punching him, determined to end him. I’ve never felt something so visceral before. But I needed to protect her and in that moment, I felt like I had failed. I had one job and I failed at it.’

‘You didn’t fail,’ Lou said strongly. ‘You did your job and you kicked the shit of the guy. He didn’t get far with her, right?’

‘No,’ Drake conceded. ‘But if she hadn’t screamed out.. God, I hate to think.’ He broke off and swallowed. He picked up the glass of scotch and tossed it down his throat.

The others were silent for a moment.

'When did you realise you loved her?' Thomas asked quietly.

Drake blinked. 'That's what you want to know?'

Micah smiled as if proven right. 'No denial..' he teased again, trying to lift the mood.

Drake closed his eyes. The other waited with bated breath.

'First time I laid eyes on her,' Drake finally said, his voice cracking. 'That first moment.. I knew I was done for.'

*************************************

Camille continued to watch My Best Friend’s Wedding but she wasn’t exactly paying attention. The ‘suspicious noise that happened to be the boiler in the kitchen’ scenario had cast her mind with more doubts and anxiety. She couldn’t relax. Her ears were trained now on any new noise that presented itself.

I am alone in this manor, all forty rooms of it. If someone breaks in, all I have to defend myself with is a kitchen knife and I am not exactly Olivia Nevrakis.

Pausing the film again, Camille decided she needed fresh air to get away from her inner thoughts. Opening the French doors that lead out onto the terrace, she sat down at the table and breathed in the cool night air.

Yet again, her thoughts turned to Drake..

Maybe he can come home?

She sighed.

No. He is having fun with the boys. He is making friends. Also, though he may live here, I doubt he calls the manor his ‘home.’ Get a grip, you’re not married. You’re not his wife who’s waiting up for him to come home from a night out with the guys. You are his employer.

But she took out her phone and scrolled to his name in her contacts. Her thumb hesitated over his name.

Stop it. You’re being paranoid. Go back inside and watch Julia Roberts try to wreck Cameron Diaz’s life.

Camille got to her feet and put her phone back in her pocket. She went back inside the living room and snuggled under the blanket, turning the film back on.

*************************************

Drake wondered if Camille was having a nice time back home.

She probably was. She loved drinking wine and watching romcoms so really, this was her idea of the perfect evening. Drake hated romcoms but he liked how much they made her laugh and smile.

He was now whooping Lou’s ass at poker. He was having fun, which he hadn’t expected to. Maybe he could come along to these things more. It seemed they had a weekly thing like this, every Friday night. Of course, Drake would have to ask Camille first..

He hoped she was relaxing right now. He didn’t want her to be sat by the phone, wanting to call him for reassurance, but being too scared to do so. Because if she was, Drake hoped she would call. He would leave this poker night in a heartbeat if Camille called him. She was more important.

****************************

Camille was sitting with her phone in her hand wanting to call Drake for reassurance but was too scared to do so.

You are being pathetic. Keep watching the film, get drunk on wine and just have a fun, girly Friday night. Maybe get the vibrator out?! Just do SOMETHING that isn’t getting your panties in a twist about a hypothetical intruder.

Camille wished she hadn’t thought of an intruder. Her mind instantly thought of Applewood.

Stop thinking about that creep. Stop it. He got into your room and had his hands on you but he didn’t get far because Drake stopped it. Drake broke down the door and rescued you. It’s done.

Goosebumps formed on her skin. She felt her throat begin to close up and her heart beat more rapidly as she remembered that night in Applewood. His fingers digging into her arms. The stale scent of beer on his breath. His lips brushing her neck. The overwhelming claustrophobia that she felt as he kept trying to kiss her.

Camille let out a choked breath. She tried to gather her bearings, relax.

What can you feel, smell and hear? Focus on the present. Don’t let this get you. Don’t panic.

Her breath was coming out ragged. She was sweating now and her body wouldn’t stop shaking. Camille took out her phone and her shaking fingers managed to swipe through her contacts to Drake’s number. Without hesitation, she pressed his name and listened to the ringing tone, clutching the phone to her ear with both hands in case she dropped it from shaking.

***********************************

Drake’s phone rang in his pocket. He reached for it but was instantly chastised by Lou. ‘No phones at the table, Walker.’

‘It could be Camille,’ Drake said, ignoring him. He took out the phone and saw that, of course, he was right. He wished he wasn’t. He had been hoping Camille was enjoying herself.

‘Camille, you okay?’ he asked as soon as he answered.

‘D-Drake,’ Camille panted, her breath coming out short. ‘Panic attack, I’m having a panic-’

Drake was on his feet instantly and shrugging on his jacket. ‘I’m coming back,’ he said. ‘Hold tight. Be with you in ten. Lay down, practice your breathing and count as far as you can go, alright?’

‘Okay.’ Her voice was so small and terrified. Drake’s heart ached for her.

He hung up and waited for the others to berate him. But, to his surprise, they didn’t.

‘Is she okay?’ Thomas asked.

‘Panic attack,’ Drake said shortly.

Lou stood up and walked him to the front door. As he opened it for Drake, he turned to him and regarded him with a serious expression on his face.

‘Drake, I know you love her,’ he said. ‘But you got to think of your priorities. Your job has to come first.’

Drake frowned. ‘I know that-’

‘No, you think you know,’ Lou interrupted. ‘But it’s clear to me that right now, your feelings are clouding your judgment. So let me give you some reality. Duchesses… they never go for us. We are there to protect them but they will never think of us as anything more than a human shield. Feelings don’t work in this job, no matter how much you feel for your girl. It means nothing in the end.’

Drake stared at him in shock. ‘But you always brag about fucking Olivia,’ he said. ‘And you make fun of me for loving Camille.’

Lou shrugged. ‘Because it’s fun to take the piss out of you,’ he said. He sighed. ‘Sex with Liv is the only way I can be close to her,’ he explained simply. ‘That’s why all of us fuck our Duchesses. Because we want an excuse to be in their bed and pretend it’s something more. But we won’t admit that. Instead, we sit around playing poker and brag about the tits and ass we got last night. But I’m saying this to you, Drake, and if you repeat it I’ll rip your fucking dick off. Do I want to take her to a fancy restaurant and wine and dine her? Yeah, I do. But she made it clear that she only wants me for two things and fancy dinner dates ain’t one of ‘em.’

***************************************

Drake got back to the manor to find Camille hunched up in the corner of the couch, practicing her breathing. She opened her eyes when she heard him enter the room; guilt flooded her features.

‘I’m so sorry,’ she whispered. ‘I ruined your night.’

Drake moved quickly across the room to sit beside her. He gently took her hand, wanting to be a physical support. ‘You didn’t,’ he assured her. ‘If you ever feel unsafe or anxious in your own home and I’m not here, call me. Are you alright now?’

‘Sort of,’ she said. ‘But I still feel a little anxious.’

‘What were you thinking about?’

Camille swallowed. ‘Applewood.’

Drake pressed his lips together. Fucking Applewood. He hated how Camille was back to square one with her confidence. All the work they had done the past four months had been obliterated in one evening thanks to the Applewood Fucktard.

‘He won’t come here,’ Drake said quietly, keeping his eyes trained on hers. ‘He doesn’t know where you live.’

‘I wasn’t thinking he would break in,’ Camille explained. ‘Just.. the memories. I felt helpless.’

Drake’s jaw set. ‘You are never helpless,’ he told her. ‘You’re brave and strong-’

‘I screamed when he got in my room,’ Camille interrupted. ‘I could have hit him but I didn’t know the best way to do it. I screamed like a fucking loser instead.’

A lightbulb went off in Drake’s head. Why hadn’t he thought of this before?

‘I’ll teach you self defence,’ he said. ‘Starting tomorrow.’

Camille blinked in surprise. ‘Really?’

‘Yeah, really,’ Drake said, determination and hope flooding his veins now. ‘I’ll teach you basic moves so if you’re ever in that position again - which you won’t- at least you will be prepared. How does that sound?’

Camille threw her arms around Drake’s neck, making him chuckle in surprise.

‘Yes!’ she cried against his neck. ‘Make me a badass!’

They remained in each others arms for longer than necessary. Drake held her close, glad he could provide some light for her. That was all he wanted; for her to feel safe, light and happy. No worries. Just peace.

They broke apart. Drake gave her a warm smile and his eyes flicked to the TV. ‘So,’ he said. ‘What’s Leathery Face Mulroney up to now?’

Camille let out a laugh and hit Drake on the arm. ‘Don’t call Dermot Mulroney that!’ she cried. ‘He is gorgeous!’

Drake raised an eyebrow. ‘We’ll see about that. Come on, play the film, subject me to the fluffy and ridiculous plot..’

And so they sat together to finish watching My Best Friend’s Wedding. Drake’s arm stretched out down the back of the couch; Camille leaned back and rested her head against his arm. Drake’s finger reached out to curl a tendril of her hair.

#drake walker x mc #trr fanfic #trr au #drake walker #drake x camille

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