#but also I guess it’s kinda fair since we’ve gotten a good handful of smiling gladion moments

[tsubasagirl]

Thank you DeNa.

[justkending]

The Number One Rule. Chapter 18.

Summary: Y/N has always been seen as “Steve’s rambunctious sister.” However, she grew up, graduated, and moved to London to study abroad for 4 years and get her bachelor's degree. The girl that returns looks nothing like the teenager that left, but don’t worry the attitude is still there and stronger than ever. What’s to come of the two grown adults that used to push each other's buttons, but now have a lot more in common than they’ve ever realized.

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Y/N Rogers (Steve’s little sister)

Word Count: 3100+

Chapter Eighteen:

“Good morning, Sunshine,” Steve chuckled, bringing his mug to his lips as his sister walked in with a sleep ridden face. She gave him the silent bird before moving to the coffee pot. “I see your morning self hasn’t changed.”

“What are you still doing here? I thought you would have left for work by now?” Y/N asked with a tired voice as she walked to the fridge for creamer. 

He had ended up staying the night and sleeping in his old room that had been transferred into the guest bed. Him and his sister had been up late talking and catching up. 

“Eh, I’m going in a few hours later since I’ve been doing overtime recently,” Steve shrugged, leaning back and watching her sit across from him. She was wearing a giant T-shirt and some old pajama pants that she tiredly tried to straighten from their disheveled state. “What’s your excuse for not being ready for work?”

“I don’t have to be there until 9 today,” she answered with her eyes closed. 

There was a comfortable silence as the two sipped on their coffee and Steve read the newspaper. Looking over he saw her practically falling back asleep in her seat. 

“I guess I need to talk to Bucky soon…” He spoke up. Her eyes opened at that and she turned to him. 

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I mean now that I know the case, and now that I know you’re both happy, I don’t have a right to be a jackass anymore I guess,” he shrugged with a smirk. 

“I’m glad you came to terms that you were a jackass,” she chuckled, punching his arm playfully. “We’ve been waiting a few years on that one.”

“Hey, I can call myself a jackass, but you watch yourself,” he warned in a light manner. 

“Sure thing… Jackass,” she mumbled with a smile. Before he could start an argument, she diverted the conversation. “So, should I warn him, or-?”

“I don’t care. We have different shifts today, so I’ll see him tonight probably and talk to him.”

“Ok, then I’ll let you do the talking. I would warn him yourself though. He’s been a nervous wreck around this topic with you. Anytime he thinks about how we’ve hurt you, he gets upset and really anxious,” she explained more seriously. 

“I mean, I don’t blame him. This was a shitty kind of situation to go through, but mom was right. Neither side of the problem was handled well,” Steve sighed. “I’ll text him before.”

“Good,” Y/N nodded. “Want me to come?”

“No, I think we need to talk ourselves,” Steve sighed. ��If you know what I mean.”

“I get it,” she nodded standing and grabbing her mug. “Well, I’m going to get ready for work. Mind if I come over tonight though? You know, when the coast is clear? Maybe we can all have a movie night like back in the day! Becca and Sam are invited too,” she pointed to him. 

“Sounds like a plan. You’re paying for pizza though. Since you have an adult job now, it’s only fair,” Steve said with raised eyebrows. 

“Hey, I-”

“You owe me,” he cut her off. 

She glared at him for using the given past situation as a way to get free food. 

“That’s low, big bro,” she deadpanned. 

“Don’t act like you wouldn’t do the same thing,” he scoffed with a smile, going back to the paper in front of him. 

“Touche,” she nodded with a pursed lip. “At least text me when I can head over, so I don’t interrupt you guys' bromance session.”

“Shut up,” he groaned as she left the room. 

________

Once Y/N got to work, a few hours into her shift, she got a call from Bucky.

“Hey, B,” she smiled through the phone as she went through the loads of papers in her hands. 

“Hey sweetheart,” Bucky replied just as sweetly. “Guess who texted me today?”

“Hmm, Barack Obama?” Y/N responded. “Wait, no! Michelle Obama.”

“Haha, very close, but no,” he chuckled. “You’re brother reached out.”

“Is that so?” Y/N faked surprise.

“I’m guessing you guys' conversation last night went well considering your chipper mood?” he questioned. “Or they went horribly wrong and you’re just a really good actress.”

“We all know I can’t act even if my life depended on it,” she laughed, changing the phone to her other ear as she wrote some notes on a paper. 

“It’s true. You’re a horrible liar,” Bucky confirmed.

“I’m not even going to argue it no matter how much I want to,” she shrugged. “But I would say things went well. I mean we may or may not have gotten into a wrestling match on the front lawn, and mom might as well have dragged us by the ears inside to have a civil conversation, but besides that…”

“Oh God, Y/N… What the hell happened?” 

She just knew he was pitching the bridge of his nose on the other end. 

“Nothing too crazy. It’s just sibling fighting,” she waved off. 

“At least tell me you gave him a chance. You didn’t beat his ass too much, hopefully. You know we’re trying to win him over, not push him further away, right?” Bucky had a smile in his voice, clearly just joking around. 

“You know? Kids’ gotten stronger since middle school,” she noted. 

“I would hope so. He fought in a war and chases bad guys for a living. Can’t have scrawny middle school Steve doing that kind of stuff. He’d get a nose bleed just looking at the wrong guy.”

The two laughed for a little reminiscing at little Steve before he bulked up in high school. But after some joking, Bucky brought the conversation back where he started. 

“But in all honesty, I shouldn’t be too worried about tonight?” he asked. The nerves in his voice were clear to Y/N. 

“No, Bumble Bee. We talked it out, screamed it out, and fought it out. And in doing so, we had a good conversation. Thank Sarah Rogers for keeping us on track and not letting us walk away until it was resolved,” she assured, putting his mind at rest. 

“Ok, good…” Bucky sighed on the other end. A moment of silence went by as if he was trying to process it. 

“Hey, I know you guys still need to talk, but I do want you to know that it’ll be all ok in the end. Don’t get too worked up about it,” Y/N said softly. “26 years of being best pals can’t be ruined by this little bump. You said it yourself.”

Bucky let out a breath and nodded. “You’re right. It… It’s just, I hate that he found out how he did, and…” he paused. “It just kinda sucked seeing him that upset.”

“I get it,” Y/N nodded on her end. “But hey,” she added. “We’ll all be ok. Truly.”

“I trust you, doll,” he grinned. There was some distant talking on the phone and Bucky humming. “Hey, I have to go. Boss needs me for something. Call you later?” 

“For sure. Have a good day, and let me know if you need anything!” 

“Right back at you. Love you, sweetheart,” he slipped out the last part unconsciously. 

There was a moment of silence as the two were stunned. Neither had said the “L” word yet… At least not to each other…

“Uh,” Bucky stuttered out. “I-I-...”

“Buck-,” Y/N started in just as much shock. 

Another round of someone shouting on the other line that wasn’t Bucky came through through the phone. 

“I have to go! Talk to you later,” Bucky shouted into the phone. 

Before she could say anything else, the line ended and she slowly pulled back the phone seeing her lock screen blank. No words came out after that. 

She just stared at the screen where a picture of her Bucky, Becca, and Steve all were embedded in a bear hug together. An old picture, but one that she always loved and cherished with a group of her favorite humans. 

She also loved it because even though it was before Bucky and her had become an item, they were squished against each other. Bucky was smiling wide and caught in a laugh as he looked down at her, catching her from stumbling to the ground, and she was laughing as she gripped his arm to find her balance. Steve and Becca laughing on the side at her clumsy self, and the fact someone was always having to help her stay on two feet. Bucky having always been one of those top people in her life. 

She smiled down at the memory and couldn’t help but feel those little flutters move from her stomach to her chest and eventually make her cheeks heat up. 

_________________

Now he had two things to freak out about. One being Steve and his talk tonight. Yes, he knew he didn’t really need to after Y/N’s reassurance that things would be fine, but still. It was a strange conversation to have with your best friend. 

“Sorry I fell in love with your sister and hid it from you. My best friend of over a quarter of a decade. Not to mention you found out from me coming out of her room half naked after you thought she was home alone...” 

Yeah, that was going to be weird no matter how ok they were now… 

Then you add in, he just casually told Y/N that he loved her before hanging up the phone. He didn’t mean to. It just felt so natural in the moment! 

He wanted to make the first time he said it special, not just by accident…

God, his heart was racing and now he had four hours left of his work day to let those things just stir around in his head. Great. Maybe that 3rd cup of coffee wasn’t that great of an idea.

_______________

“So, everything’s good with you guys?” Sam asked after Steve let him in on everything.

“Yeah. I mean Buck and I still need to talk it out, but… I don’t know. I can’t be mad if they’re both happy at the end of the day. Happiest I’ve seen either of them in a while, if I’m being honest,” Steve shrugged with a small smile. 

“See, I knew that’d be the case at the end of the day. I tried telling Bucky that,” Sam shook his head as he finished up the dishes. “And sorry man about not saying anything. I didn’t think it was my place to,” he apologized. 

“No, I get it. This was their own thing. You were just being a good friend to Bucky and letting him figure this out himself,” Steve waved. 

“He’ll be home in a little. You worried?” Sam asked, washing his hands off. 

“No, if anyone’s nervous it’ll be Bucky. Y/N and I had a really good talk last night. No matter how upset I was before, I now know where they were coming from,” Steve sighed. “Did I agree with it? No, but we all have different ways we would go about things.”

“True facts,” Sam smiled. “Well, I’ll hoard myself in my room for a while until the coast is clear. Let me know if you guys need anything, ok?” 

“Got it. Oh, and Y/N said she was going to come over after with pizza for a movie night, if you want to join,” Steve pointed out moving to the couch. 

“I’m here for it,” Sam nodded, going down the hall to his room. “Call me when all is resolved.”

Steve nodded and plopped down on the couch skimming through the channels as he waited for Bucky. About 15 minutes later, he heard the lock turn and quietly the brunette made his way in with caution. 

“Hey,” Steve said softly, turning from the end of the couch. 

“Hey,” Bucky said with a soft smile as he put his things by the door. 

These were the first words they had spoken in over 2 weeks. They hadn’t talked since the whole fight in the backyard.

“How was work?” Steve asked, making small talk. 

“Nothing too crazy today,” Bucky shrugged, walking to the back of the couch with his hands in his pockets. “Oh, Lillian asked about you again.” 

“From accounting?” Steve asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Only Lillian I know that’s obsessed with you,” Bucky laughed lightly. 

“God, I’m not ready for that…” Steve returned the chuckle. 

It got quiet after that. Not awkward, but not comfortable either. 

“So…” 

“Listen, Bucky,” Steve sitting back in his chair running a hand across his face. “I’m sorry, I punched you after-”

“Don’t be. I deserved it,” Bucky waved him off, coming around the couch slowly to sit on the opposite end. 

“Ok, yeah. You’re right,” Steve nodded with another small laugh. Again another pregnant pause. “I gotta know. Why didn’t you just tell me, Buck?”

He took in a deep breath before answering. “I’m sure Y/N told you, but we didn’t want things to have a bad falling out and it be awkward for everyone else-.”

“No, not that. Why didn’t you tell me that you weren’t going to do it from the start?” Steve interrupted.

“What?” he asked, confused.

“Y/N said that you guys went back and forth on not going through with this because you didn’t want to hurt me. I mean, maybe that’s not that big of a deal, but it changes things on my end some,” Steve explained. Bucky just sent him a blank stare. “What I mean is, when I first figured everything out, I was hurt because I thought you didn’t even consider me in your decisions. I know, it sounds selfish, but-”

“No, it doesn’t. You’re a part of the equation to some extent. Just like Becca is. But surprisingly Becca was excited and not freaked out about her best friend dating her big brother. It’s a little different being the big brother in the situation though,” he said softly. “It’s not selfish though Steve. If the roles were reversed and say you and Becca dated, I would hope you considered my feelings in the matter too.”

Steve was glad that he understood what he was getting at. He was worried it wouldn’t make sense or make him look like he thought the whole thing revolved around him. 

“Yeah…” Steve paused. “But you didn’t say anything about that when we did get in that fight. Why?”

“I don’t know… I guess I just wanted you to understand my feelings for her more than anything. I needed you to know that she wasn’t just some girl I was hoping to hook up with at some point.”

“I know you would never do that Buck. No matter how upset I was, I still don’t think that low of you,” Steve sighed. “And about that… I’m sorry I said you don’t deserve her… That was an extremely hard hit to the gut.”

“You were looking out for her,” Bucky said with pursed lips, but the pain from the past comment was clear. It didn’t feel good having your best friend who's been through thick and thin with you tell you weren’t worth something. 

“Yes, but that was a low blow and I said it out of hurt feelings. I was hurt, so I wanted you to be just as hurt. That wasn’t fair,” Steve concluded. “If there is anyone in this world that I trust to take care of Y/N just as much as me, it’s you Buck. I was just blinded by anger.”

“Understandably,” Bucky nodded, looking back at his friend a little less troubled. 

“Understandably,” Steve agreed. They stared at each other silently communicating. “I’m sorry.”

“If anyone is sorry, it’s me Steve,” Bucky shook his head running a hand down his thigh still slightly anxious. 

“How about we both agree that we didn’t handle this situation the best way,” Steve smiled. “I should have seen how happy you two were and not second guess how it happened. I shouldn’t have made it about me when you both clearly are what the other needs.”

“Steve-”

“Truly. You guys have been glowing the last two months with complete and utter happiness and I was so oblivious to pick up on it. I feel like a shitty brother and best friend.”

“You’re not a shitty brother or best friend. Not in the least,” Bucky said scooting to the edge of the couch. “You know that.”

“Y/N tell you we got in a fight on the lawn yesterday?” Steve asked with a small smirk. 

Bucky chuckled. “Yes. Said your mom about beat your asses out there too.”

“All because I was too stubborn to talk it out,” Steve shook his head while he threw it back on the back of the couch. 

“Eh, you said it yourself. We all didn’t handle this situation well,” Bucky chuckled. “She kicked your ass, didn’t she?” he said after a second. 

“Wouldn’t say that, but she must have worked out over seas because I couldn’t pin her like I used to. She was giving me a pretty decent fight,” Steve laughed loudly. 

“God, I would pay money to have someone get that on tape,” Bucky laughed with him. 

The two soaking up the now comfortable atmosphere. 

“So we’re ok, right?” Steve asked. “Leave all out petty, stubborn, and stupid mistakes in the past?”

“I’m fine with that if you are,” Bucky nodded. 

“Good. I’ve missed having my best friend around. I was getting tired of ignoring you,” Steve sighed, patting Bucky’s back. 

“You gave me good practice with your stubbornness for Y/N. Not that I haven’t been practicing with you both my whole life, but damn you guys are too bull-headed monsters.”

“We feed off each other's energy,” Steve shrugged with a smirk. 

“I know, it’s exhausting, yet entertaining all at the same time,” Bucky smiled as he moved his head side to side. 

A knock sounded at the door and they both turned toward the wooden panel. 

“Speaking of the devil,” Steve smiled standing up.

Bucky froze. 

Shit. One anxiety had been cured now, but he had almost forgotten about his second one...

(Tags for this series will be closing soon as it is getting pretty full, please send an ask if you want to be added:)

I’ll post on whatever chapter I decided to close it down here.

The Number One Rule (TNOR) Taglist:

@shadowolf993 @hello-i-am-daydreaming @jessyballet  @emmabarnes @kmuir1  @beautifulrare4leafclover @thefallenbibliophilequote @l0ve-0f-my-life  @shawnie--jo–jo  @asoftie4bucky @katiaw2 @sheeple @sznri @bxtchboy69 @taliarosej00 @bakugouswh0r3 @stopjustlovethemcu @babemendesxz @jenniereiji @taliarosej00 @loveyou5everr @natdrunk @im-a-light-child @stucky-my-ship @fairykimseok

My Lovelies forever:

@natura1phenomenon @lauravicente @kakakatey @traceyaudette @notyourtypicalrose  @laneygthememequeen @awesome-badass-cafeteria-sauce @sandlee44 @thorne93 @thefaithfulwriter @marvelfansworld @essie1876 @greyeyedsmile14 @capsiclehan  @xostephanie @averyrogers83 @awesomenursingstudent @gh0stgurl @cs-please @carls1022 @jjlevin @rainbowkisses31 @carls1022 @anise-d-castle6 @deannotmoose @their-bibliophile @kitkatd7 @willowbleedsonpaper @mariaenchanted @snffbeebee @couldabeenamermaid @rebekahdawkins @alyispunk

Bucky Barnes Tags:

@chloe-skywalker @charmedbysarge @jbarness

@bellamy-barnes

Marvel Tags:

@thejourneyneverendsx @death-unbecomes-you @heyiamthatbitch @lizzymacy555 @iheartsebastianstan @srrymydood @xa-dia @redhairedfeistynerd @morganclaire4 @connie326 @captain-asguard @mollygetssherlockcoffee @teenagedreams-bucky @shower-me-with-roses​

[fantastic-bby]

Han Jisung's Crappy Guide: Surfing Into Hearts (Teaser)

Teaser details

Pairing: (F)Reader x Jisung

Word count: 1.7k

Genre: College AU | Surfer!Jisung

Summary: Jisung has a very questionable guide in trying to win hearts, one of the issues with it is that it only consists of really bad flirting and telling people he's a hot surfer. The other issue with it is that he's never actually put it into play because he's always waiting until he feels that special spark with someone...

Warnings: -

Publish date of full fic: 8th August

Overall word count: 22.4k

Full fic genre: Fluff | Romance | Slice of life | Strangers to Lovers | Surfer!Jisung | Surfer|Reader | College AU

Full fic warnings: Brief physical fighting | Mentions of getting high | Jisung has what I think is the equivalent of an obsessed fan

Masterlist | Full Fic | AO3 Link

…Han Jisung: sought out by the entire campus, has a very questionable guide in stealing and breaking hearts. It honestly consists of being really bad at flirting and telling people he's a hot surfer. With the entire campus essentially wrapped around his pinky, Jisung could have anyone he wanted. The only problem is that he also has the only person on campus he refuses to sleep with again coming after him.

“Uh oh, Hyemi incoming.” Hyunjin mimics the whistle of a bomb falling from the sky before making a ‘pwoosh’ sound with his mouth just as the dreaded person approaches their table. Jisung can feel his entire being wanting to shrivel up into a ball and disappear just as she opens her mouth.

“Hey Jisung,” Hyemi greets with her ever so sickeningly sweet voice. She pushes her long brown hair over her shoulder, the other resting on her hip as she completely ignores the other two that are at the same table as Jisung. “It’s already Autumn.”

“Is it?” Minho gasps, fauxing surprise, “and here I thought it was still Spring. Thank you so much for reminding me, Hyemi.” If sarcasm had a physical form, it would be pouring out of his mouth and pooling on the white wooden table, but Hyemi completely ignores him.

“It means that the Autumn Night Fair is back. How about you and I go and check it out? Have something to eat, play some games, ride the ferris wheel,” she hums.

“Not interested,” Jisung says simply. “I’m already going with my friends and we’ve already invited Yeji and her friends to come along, so… that’s already a whole group.”

“Oh come on, you can make room for one more,” Hyemi persists.

Jisung lets out a small sigh as he stands up, adjusting the strap of his bag onto his shoulder with one hand and picking up the food tray with the other. “I’m not interested,” he repeats. “I’ve already told you, it’s not going to work out. Stop trying.” Jisung walks past her, leaving Minho and Hyunjin to pick up their stuff as well.

“Sorry, Hyemi,” Minho chuckles as the two leave the table to follow Jisung. Hyunjin and Minho catch up to him only after he’s pushed through the glass door of the cafeteria and is already making his way to the entrance of the Student Union building.

“HanJi, wait up!” Hyunjin calls, making Jisung stop to turn around. His face is straight and honestly, he looks bored. Jisung’s had his fill of having students fawn over him to the point where he doesn’t even care anymore—Hyemi is no exception. She’s been trying for three years and Jisung’s gotten so tired of her that he’s blocked all of her contacts to stop her from trying to message him.

“Christ, she really won’t take no for an answer huh?” Minho chuckles as they start walking together.

“I thought that sleeping with her and ghosting her would work because there really wasn’t any other way, but I guess even that doesn’t work,” Jisung sighs. As shitty as it sounds, Jisung only sleeps and ghosts people as a last resort. He's actually only done it once… with Hyemi. “I don’t understand why she still tries. It’s like everywhere I go, she’s there and she’s trying to crawl through the damn zipper of my pants.”

Hyunjin and Minho exchange a sympathetic look. They know just how hard he’s tried to get her off of him and they also know that it’s gotten to the point where Jisung doesn’t even care anymore. Every time she approaches him, he either ignores her or just walks away.

“When was the last time you even dated someone?” Hyunjin asks, looking at Jisung curiously.

“High school,” Minho answers for him and Jisung nods as clarification. “Ji hasn’t had a proper relationship since high school.”

“I haven’t had a connection with anyone yet,” Jisung says while shrugging. The funny thing about Jisung is that he’s totally willing to sleep with anyone, but he hasn’t actually found someone he’s properly had ‘The Connection’ with yet, and Jisung sticks by only getting into a proper, committed, and serious relationship only if he feels ‘The Connection’ with.

“He basically has commitment issues and no one’s been able to push through them. He didn't even like his ex that much, he just dated her because he wanted the 'experience'.” Jisung smacks Minho on the arm and it makes the older man laugh.

“I do not have commitment issues,” Jisung argues.

“Sure, okay,” Minho rolls his eyes. “So, that time you freaked out because your ex confessed that she actually liked you isn’t enough to prove that you’re not ready for a committed relationship?”

“Doesn’t mean I have issues!”

“Mhm, whatever you say, Hannie,” Minho chuckles. They both turn to Hyunjin when he becomes strangely quiet only to see him on his phone.

"Uhm, turn back around,” Hyunjin blurts out right before he turns around and runs straight back into the cafeteria, leaving Minho and Jisung watching in confusion. They follow the designer and when they’re inside of the cafeteria, there’s a crowd gathered around Yeji and Hyemi.

“You’re fucking crazy!” Yeji hisses as she pulls her wet white shirt away from her torso to stop it from sticking. “I didn’t even do anything to you!”

“What the fuck?!” Hyunjin exclaims as he grabs onto Hyemi’s hand that still has the plastic cup grasped.

“Oh my god,” Minho groans.

“I’ll handle it,” Jisung mutters as he hands his backpack to Minho before taking his jacket off. He pushes through the crowd until he reaches Yeji and lays the jacket over her shoulders, “come on.” They’re both certain that if looks could kill, Yeji would have daggers sticking out of her torso from Hyemi’s glare. Jisung decides against saying anything to Hyemi and, instead, guides Yeji towards the cafeteria doors with Minho and Hyunjin following.

“Are you alright?” Hyunjin asks once they’ve pushed past the doors.

“I’m fine,” she huffs. “Good thing Lia texted you. I’m pretty sure she would’ve hit me for just being friends with you.”

“I’m sorry about that,” Jisung sighs while taking his bag back from Minho.

“Nothing to apologise for,” Yeji shakes her head with a reassuring look on her face, “it’s not your fault. You’ve already turned her down about… I don’t know, a billion times? She’s the one who chooses her actions, not you.”

“I still feel kinda guilty since, you know…”

“Ji, it’s nothing to worry about—I promise,” Yeji flashes him a small smile. “If anything, have you seen Ryujin angry? She isn’t the MMA vice president for nothing, you know.”

The sound of the cafeteria doors being pushed open followed by Lia’s, “wait up!” Makes the four of them stop and turn around to see Lia and Chaeryeong chasing after them.

“Gosh, I can’t believe she did that just because you’re friends with Jisung,” Chaeryeong huffs when they start walking once again.

“I’m not even dating you—it’s getting tiring,” Yeji mutters, hands wrapping the front of Jisung’s jacket around herself tighter. “I shouldn’t have worn white today, huh?”

“It’s okay, we’ll accompany you to your dorm,” Lia reassures her while linking her arm around Yeji’s elbow. “It’s not like we have any classes after this.”

“Mhm!” Chaeryeong hums as she links onto Yeji’s other elbow.

“Where is Ryujin anyway?” Hyunjin asks when he notices the lack of the group’s most prominent presence. Shin Ryujin, vice president of the MMA club is also one of the better known students on campus. She’s more known for just being outright chaotic as well as her habit of standing up for her friends.

"Committee meeting with Felix," Lia answers.

“Thanks for the jacket,” Yeji turns around once they’re out of the Student Union building. “I’ll pass it to Hyunjin later.”

“It’s fine,” Jisung smiles. “Just take care. If anything happens, text Hyunjin and we’ll send Felix to beat her up or something.”

“We’ll be fine,” she shakes her head with laughter before bidding the guys goodbye and leaving in the direction of her dorm building. Jisung feels a bitter feeling in his chest as he watches Yeji walk.

As much as his friends tell him that he’s not responsible for anything that Hyemi does to them, he can’t help but always feel guilty whenever something happens. It’s been this constant cycle where he goes from thinking of dating her for the sake of protecting his friends or just ignoring her until he graduates.

There’s a few things that actually stops Jisung from dating her. 1. She’s crazy. 2. He’s been turning her down since their first year. 3. She splashed water on Yeji for being friends with him. Jisung has a feeling that if he ever did date her, then he wouldn’t have been able to actually hang out with his friends anymore.

“Are you surfing today?” Hyunjin turns to Minho.

“Most likely,” he nods. “Jisung?”

“Hmm?”

“Surfing today?” Minho asks.

“Yeah, but I’m stopping by Felix’s place later. He has one of my sunglasses,” Jisung says.

“I need to check on Kkami, so I’ll see you guys at the beach,” Hyunjin waves at them before heading in the same direction that Yeji, Lia and Chaeryeong went—making Minho and Jisung wonder why he didn’t just follow them before since he and Yeji live in the same building. Everyone wonders how Hyunjin manages to house a dog in his on-campus dorm, but he’s always just said not to worry and that Kkami isn’t that loud.

Minho and Jisung bid their goodbyes before Minho walks in the opposite direction of Hyunjin to head to his dorm and Jisung heads to the campus gates. His house is only a few minutes walk from campus which bodes well for him since he doesn’t need to move away from his family. He keeps himself preoccupied with trying to detangle his white earphones while he walks, hands pulling and tugging at the white wire until he accidentally bumps into someone.

“Oh shit, I’m so sorry,” he apologises. Jisung’s slightly surprised when he’s faced with a student he’s never seen before.

“It’s fine, I think we were both a bit busy,” you chuckle as you lift your own tangled earphones.

“O-Oh yeah,” Jisung laughs awkwardly. Before he can even ask who you are, you’ve already started walking past him. He watches as you do. You’re definitely new.

The campus isn’t too big that you wouldn't know anyone outside of your circle, but it’s small enough that you can recognise all of the students at least by face or voice. However, Jisung’s never seen you before, nor has he ever heard your voice before; which leaves him wondering as he turns back around and continues his walk to the gates.

[theaviskullguy]

Ink and Petals

@dapple-dualies-propaganda here's the au

Tattoo artist! Rider x Florist! Goggles

hope you enjoy!

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When was it not busy at Squid ink?

It was one of the top Tattoo Parlors in Inkopolis. and it was also on a pretty busy street. So, it got a lot of customers. Also the fact that one of the artists was a famous turfer.

Rider hadn't formerly retired, but he had eased out of playing Turf Wars. He had found other interests outside of the sport: Theater, art, reviewing old movies online... He still did Turf from time to time, albeit the adult league. He was too old for the more popular teen division.

So, he found a job as a tattoo artist. And he rather loved it. Not only did most of his friends consult him for tattoo advice (from where the best places are to good designs), but he also knew some gossip. One of his regulars had beef with her neighbor because he has a pet raccoon who keeps stealing her trash and Rider could NOT wait to hear more about this story.

Another thing was, well, Rider had seen some shit. From people covered head to toe in tats, to people eagerly wanting their first tattoo, even to shyer folk who wanted one to defy controlling parents or to mark something important.

None of that prepared Rider for the news he got when tattooing one of the customers. More specifically, Gloves.

You see, Gloves had been coming in for the past few days. They had wanted a pretty complicated butterfly tat, so for the last 3 days Rider has been exchanging stories with the resident enby about... pretty much anything.

This is how this exchange happened;

"So you remember Goggles, right?" Gloves asked.

Rider rolled his eyes. "What, you think I'd forget the guy who kept pulling down my pants?"

"Oh ha ha. Anyways, apparently he works at that flower shop now."

"...He what?"

"You heard me!" They said. "I went there yesterday to get something for a project and there was Goggles! He misses you, 'ya know!"

Rider was just. quiet. He hadn't talked to his crush in a while, contact dwindled when Rider stopped doing Turf as much. Never once did he think Goggles would miss him, but that was probably the self hatred talking.

"...I'll think about it." Was all Rider said.

The conversation continued like nothing happen; Gloves saying multiple cursed things and Rider sharing interesting stories he heard on his job. Time flew by and soon, the tattoo was done; a butterfly with the bi colors on one wing and the nb colors on the other. Rider was quite proud of it, and Gloves seemed to like it. They waved, and left the store, humming to themselves.

Rider looked at the clock. His shift ended in just a few minutes. He knew he had no other appointments that day, so he took to watching old recorded matches in his phone.

Those were over a decade ago. Yet he still remembered everything. His favorite part was still learning he won a match by such a small margin. It was just... amazing.

He sighed. Rider missed those battles. But he has to say, he missed his crush a bit more.

He clocked out, saying goodbye to the other employee-Cherry (business relationships were easy to maintain when your coworkers were your siblings), and headed towards the flower shop for more reasons than one.

Army had a performance the next day. And yeah, Rider knew it was romantic, but platonically giving your best friend flowers was always nice. Plus, he wanted an excuse to see Goggles again.

He looked into the shop-the blue inkling was nowhere to be seen, but then again neither was the front desk. So, Rider shrugged and stepped in.

The floral scent was strong, but not overwhelming. Plenty of blossoms lined the stands, along with tags of what the flowers were and what they meant.

Rider looked around, trying to remember which flowers Army liked again, when he heard a familiar, youthful voice.

"Hi! Need any help?"

The inkling turned around. Goggles had definitely changed since Rider last saw him; his tentacles were longer and in an actual bun, for once. His blue eyes still had that clarity, and he still had that goofy smile. Though he didn't seem to recognize Rider.

"Uhh... I'll be fine. I'm just trying to remember what flower my friend likes the most." He said, hoping his accent didn't give him away; there weren't many in Inkopolis with an Australian accent.

But, Goggles didn't seem to notice or care. "Oh, okay!"

Rider internally breathed a sigh of relief. That would have been awkward if Goggles recognized him.

He looked around the shop, before spotting a bouquet of lilies. He knew Army liked lilies. If they weren't his favorite flower, it'd be close enough.

Rider took a few of the bigger ones, and a few white roses for variety, and took them to the counter.

Goggles smiled. "This a special occasion?"

"Not exactly. Just, my friend's doing a performance for a musical and I wanted to get him something for it." Rider explained.

"What musical?" Gogs asked, arranging the flowers with a sheer, white ribbon tying them together.

"Hadestown. He got Eurydice."

"Oh! I went to go see it last night! Army's amazing at that role. He's your friend, right?"

Rider internally panicked, but calmed down after remembering he wasn't Army's only friend. "Yeah. We've been friends for a while now."

"Well, tell him I said hi!" He handed the bouquet to Rider. "On me, alright? It's for a friend anyways!"

Rider nodded. "Thanks, mate."

"You're welcome!"

------

A few weeks went by. Rider occasionally stopped at the flower shop and got flowers for...well, no real reason. He'd use them to add color to his house, or give them to friends. He just wanted an excuse to see Goggles.

He'd talked to the blue inkling a bit more, too. He'd gotten into the business since, well, he really liked flowers, and he wanted a job where he could just...relax! He still did Turf, of course, but the Adult league was more serious than the teen one, and he just wanted to have fun instead of be expected to take a game seriously.

He still didn't recognize Rider. The yellow-green inkling was a bit hurt by this, to be honest.

Though, it was a bit startling when Goggles actually walked into Rider's work. And Rider was assigned to give Goggles his first tattoo: A blue jay on his shoulder, taking off from a branch.

This time, it was Goggles' turn to ask questions as Rider worked.

"Sooo.... you've been coming into my shop for a while and I still don't know your name!" The blue inkling stated. "I mean, you can probably recognize me though!"

Rider shrugged. "Well, who can forget Goggles of the Idiot Blue team?"

Goggles giggled. "You do know me! I still don't know you!!"

"...I can assure you, we've met before that day I got Army flowers." Rider said.

"Ooh! Can I try and guess who you are?"

"Ehh, why not."

"Okay! Umm..." Goggles thought for a moment. "Clams facemask?"

Rider shook his head. "Nope."

"Inkfall?"

"Wrong."

"Eging Jr?"

"Not even close there."

"Stealth Goggles?"

"Getting closer, I'll give you that."

"....Rider?" Goggles asked.

Rider chuckled. "Took you long enough, idiot."

Goggles smiled wide. "I finally found you! Hi Riri!"

"Hey, Gogs. It's been a while."

"Yeah! I'm a bit surprised I didn't recognize you, since we were pretty close!" Goggles stated.

Rider shrugged. "Well, I'm not the most memorable person anyways."

"Riderrrrr don't say that!" Goggles said. "You're still really popular!"

"To some people, maybe. Not everyone."

There was a tense silence, other than the hum of the tattoo needle as it made the drawing.

"....So." Goggles started again. "How's life?"

"It's...well, better than it was." Rider said. "Got my own place, for one. Though it gets a bit lonely.. You?"

"I'm still living in an apartment. I really want a roommate!" Goggles proclaimed. "Maybe we could move in together?"

"..I'll think about it, Gogs. Though it might be fun being your roommate."

"Really? Thanks Rider!" Goggled smiled.

The conversation grew more casual. Rider enjoyed it; turns out Goggles had his fair share of gossip. It was kinda cool.

And as the next few days passed, Rider looked forward to each of those sessions. His crush seemed to go from "this person would be fun to date i think" to "hOLY MOTHER OF THE GODS IM IN L O V E", and it didn't help that during those meetings, Goggles had to be shirtless.

The days turned into weeks and months. Goggles moved in with Rider, and the two became incredibly close friends.

And, it came to a head near valentines day. Goggles' shop was very busy, as expected. Luckily, Squid Ink wasn't as much.

So, on his day off, just before Valentines, Rider headed to the flower shop and got a bouquet of roses. Cliché to confess on Valentines day, Rider knew, but he's a pining gay cut him some slack.

And Rider came home right as Goggles was leaving for his shift. So, that left Rider with a good 3 hours to practice his confession.

"Alright, Rider. This has to be CASUAL. 'Hey, I've liked you for over a decade but just now had the confidence to confess!' No, too creepy sounding. 'Yo, Gogs. I really like you and maybe we could go out to dinner sometimes?' ...Too casual."

....Yeah, this went on for a while.

Rider groaned, collapsing his his bed. "I wish feelings were fucking easier...I should just call Army."

So, he grabbed his phone and selected the contact, Veronica Sawyer Kinnie

"C'mon, Army... pick up."

And not one ring later, "Rider, what is it?"

"...I need romantic help. Please." Rider asked.

"Look, just because I'm married to Aloha, doesn't mean I know how I ended up here."

"Yeah, I kinda know that." He stated. "Still. I really need some help."

Army sighed. "Who is it? It's totally that one person with the raccoon story-"

"Actually, no. It's, um.... It's Goggles."

The octoling on the other end of the line could be heard sighing. "Still a morosexual I see."

"OI! You're the one who married a fuckin himbo!"

".....Touché. Still, there's a difference."

Rider huffed. "Just... give me some advice. I wanna confess to him tomorrow but I've got no idea how. I'm giving him roses, but like, there's gotta be something more I could do, y'know?"

"Have you tried asking Prince?" Army suggested. "He is the one with the obsession with rom coms and romance novels."

"This is his exam period, Army. I'm not about to potentially interrupt a cram session by asking for romantic advice!"

"Fair enough. I'd say...well, just rip off the band aid. Like... 'Hey, Goggles, I really like you and was wondering if you'd like to be my boyfriend.'"

"...Thanks, Arm. I'll, uh, give it a try."

-------

Rider couldn't sleep that well. Mainly out of anticipation.

He was gonna confess to his crush of...over a decade, at least. He didn't fuckin know what was gonna happen!

Like, would Goggles reciprocate? Would he hate Rider after it? WHAT THE FUCK WOULD HAPPEN-

He sighed. He needed to get his mind off this shit.

Rider looked over to his bedside clock: 5AM. 5 hours before his shift. 5 hours to get his shit together and plan for confessing to the world's cutest but also dumbest man later that night.

C'mon, Rider. Think. Army said to rip it off like a band aid, but Goggles might find that a little sudden and out of the blue. He could write a letter and leave it for Goggles when he went to his shift (The flower shop was closed on Valentines day). That would be a safe option.

Rider sat up, and got out a piece of paper and pencil, writing a note.

"Hey, Goggles.

There's something I've been wanting to tell you for a while. I really, really like you. As in, a crush.

I totally get it if you don't like me back, or think I'm weird, but hey, I was wondering if you'd wanna go out to dinner or something. Probably not tonight cause of Valentine's day but maybe tomorrow night or something.

-Rider"

Quickly, he folded it and wrote Goggles' name, putting a little heart sticker on it. It was corny, but hey, Rider had to use up those stickers somehow.

Rider attached it to the roses, and kept it on his desk.

And so, the morning went as normal. He had breakfast, got out of his pjs, put his hair up... the usual.

But as Rider left to go to work, he left the note and rose on the table, and left the house quickly.

During the day, he nearly forgotten all about it; He caught up with the gossip-Apparently the neighbor with the raccoon and the regular were now dating. So that was a nice little end to the story.

Squid Ink wasn't AS busy-probably because it was Valentines day, people were spending it with their lovers, not getting inked up (unless they made the appointment when single)

And it was near the end of Rider's shift when he heard his name mentioned. Probably someone making an appointment before he heard the familiar voice of Goggles going "Okay!!"

The blue inkling walked over to his station. "Hi Ridey!!"

"...Hey, Gogs. Getting another tat?" Rider asked, trying to keep his cool.

Goggles nodded. "Yeah!!!"

"A'ight anything specific in mind or-"

"Can I get just a simple quote one?"

Rider nodded. "Where do you want it?"

Goggles pulled down the collar of his shirt slightly. "Right here, please!"

"Okay. Just try to keep holding that down so I don't mess up.

-----

And so, tattoo conversations ensued.

The quote Goggles had wanted was a simple Pride one, that said "love is love". It was discreet, but a bit of it could be seen poking out if Goggles ever wore a v-neck.

"So, any plans for tonight?" Rider asked, trying to keep things subtle. Maybe Goggles hadn't read the note yet.

The blue inkling nodded. "Kinda! I had mental plans buuuuut nothing serious."

Rider raised an eyebrow. "Who with?"

"..I m-mean, I still have to ask him.." Goggles' face turned a shade of blue, and he averted his gaze.

"....Can I guess who he is?"

"If ya can!"

He smiled. "Does his name have an R in it?" Rider had a guess it was himself, but it wouldn't hurt to check.

Goggles nodded. "Yeah!"

"Got an accent?"

"Yep!!"

"Is he doing your tattoo?"

"....y-yeah?" Goggles sheepishly smiled. "I'm n-not that discreet, am I?"

Rider chuckled, but on the inside he was screeching. "Honestly? I had no clue myself."

"Really? I've been dropping the most obvious hints!"

"...Like what?" Rider asked, now a bit curious.

"Welllll I've been picking movies you like during movie night, I've made sure to get your drink on coffee runs, Oh! And I offered to cook dinner that one time!" Goggles stated.

"...Damn. I'm just oblivious then." The former dynamo user laughed, before turning off the needle. "There. It's all done." Rider held up a mirror for the blue boy.

Goggles' face lit up. "Whoa! It looks amazing!!! Thanks Riri!"

Rider smiled. "You're welcome. Now, uh, ...did you read my note?"

"..Y-yeah, I did. And, um...I like you too Rider!!" The blue man pressed a small, quick kiss to Rider's cheek.

Rider blushed. "S-so, you'll let me t-take you out?"

Goggles nodded. "Yeah!!!"

"I...thanks, Gogs."

"You're welcome Riri!!!"

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aAAAAA RUSHED END

but like. hope yall enjoy!

[mouse-fantoms]

The Discovery

Julie teaching Luke piano, boys finding out that they can touch Julie now, Ray finding out about the boys

In order to halt Luke from walking away Julie said the one thing she knew would get his attention.

“Come on... I can’t do this without you.”

He sighed. “...that is not fair.”

He had prefaced Julie before by saying how he would probably be terrible at playing piano. This was completely Alex and Reggie’s doing.

It had started the other day when the band was practicing. Alex made a tease at Luke about how he could have messed up a simple measure of music.

“Alright fine. You try!” He offered up his guitar in response.

He looked skeptical at the guitar. “You know how long it’s been since I’ve touched that.”

“Hey, I messed up too.” Reggie said to help Luke feel better.

“Thanks Reg.” He patted him on the back appreciated the sincerment.

“Yeah Luke,” Julie joined in on Alex’s teasing, “it’s not that difficult.”

“Then you try.” He once again offered up his guitar as a response.

She sat silent at the keyboard. “I would but I... I don’t know how.”

“Oh!” Reggie perked up. “It’s not too bad once you learn. Maybe you and I could-”

He was interrupted by hearing Alex’s obviously real cough. He looked and saw that he was looking between Julie and Luke and that’s when Reggie got the hint.

“Hey! Maybe Luke can teach you.”

“Yeah I guess if you want.”

“Sure.” She agreed. “I could teach you piano too.”

“That sounds like a fantastic idea.” Alex looked to Luke for him to take the offer.

“Sounds like a plan.” He smiled.

Now, the two were in the studio having their “learning-the-other’s-instrument” session. Luke’s piano learning had started but he became upset with himself and had gotten up from the piano bench in frustration.

“Come on.” She scooted to her left side, patting the bench for him to come sit. “Do you think I did good when I first played?”

“Well yeah,” he joined her back at the piano, “because you’re Julie fricken Molina.”

She rolled her eyes but appreciated the compliment. Any chance he had, he never missed the opportunity to compliment her.

“I told you that if you just give it some time you’ll get it. Now which one is A?” She started the teaching process by going over all the notes. Then, on her end of the piano, she played a simple pattern of notes and then had him replicate it on his end.

“Good!” She congratulated whenever he replicated the pattern right.

It didn’t take that long for the two to get lost in the music. The simple pattern of notes turned into a long pattern but Luke was still doing as told by replicating it on his end. She, out of habit, placed both hands on the piano.

She began playing and moving her hands down towards the right. He did the same. She was too busy watching her hands that she didn’t even realize she had moved so far down that she bumped into his hand. The piano went silent as the two realized their hands had met.

They shared a look into each other’s eyes attached with a smile. The two just looking sincerely at each other. Then, as if the thought entered their minds at the same time, their expressions turned to realization. Looking at their hands, back to each other, then their hands. Julie pulled her hand away suddenly. He did the same once she did.

“Did- we just- I could-“ She couldn’t find the words.

“I- I felt alive. I could- OWW!” He exclaimed in response to Julie jabbing him in the shoulder. “What was that for?!” He rubbed the spot he was now wounded in.

“You could feel that.” she said mesmerized.

“Yeah... I could.” He swallowed. “There could have been so many other ways to test it but no instead you had to cause injury.”

“Oh it was not that- OWW! HEY!”

“See?” He asked once also jabbing her in the arm.

This was either a great discovery or a bad one, guess it would depend on the day.

~~~

Of course they had to tell the boys of their new discovery. They band had just finished practicing.

“That was awesome!” Luke went to do the usually fist bumps to his band mates. He went to Alex and Reggie (as per usually) but then they watched as he went over to Julie. They watched as Julie returned his fist bump. Julie and Luke turned to them for a reaction.

“Did-” Alex cut himself off from being confused.

“Did you just...” Reggie picked up walking cautiously to Julie. Julie suddenly felt a pair of arms wrap around her torso into a bear hug. “WE CAN TOUCH NOW!” He gasped practically bouncing up and down. She patted his arm letting him know she returned the hug.

“Reggie you’re kinda squeezing a lot there.”

“Right!” He released her. “Sorry, just excited.”

Julie gave a look to Alex, excepting him to also test if the claim was true. He stood up from his drums and made his way to her. In order to test it he gave her a simple poke on the arm.

“Oh hey, we can.”

“See Julie thats how you test it out. Not by causing injury!”

She rolled her eyes at Luke. The bassist and drummer got the impression that something had to have happened during learning the other’s instrument. They decided not to question but instead be happy of this little big discovery.

~~~

“You did awesome!” Luke repeated the phrase Julie heard just about on an everyday basis.

“Would you stop?” She asked with a laugh.

“Just want you to know how talented you are.” He looked down at the open hand he held out.

“It’s hard not to when you tell me everyday.” She smiled taking his hand. They stood at the beginning of the pathway to Julie’s front door, talking and holding hands.

She didn’t know why he insisted on walking her to her door even though the studio and it were so close by. Despite Alex’s teases of the boy’s kind gesture every time, he still would walk with her every time after the band would call it a day with practicing. Ever since the discovery, they never let her forget it. Although it was nice knowing that now there wouldn’t be any awkward ‘trying to hold hands but passing through instead’ moments.

Finally after some time, Julie had to give him the usual news that she had to go in for dinner. Which was cemented when Carlos opened the door.

“You’ll see each other tomorrow.” He rolled his eyes. “Just come in and eat.” He left the door open for her.

The pair chuckled and said their goodbye for the night. Julie came in and shut the door behind her and saw Carlos already sat at the table.

It was nice having at least someone in her family knowing about the boys. Of course, at the start Carlos was ever curious about them asking all kinds of questions. It wasn’t fun, however, when they couldn’t answer any of them because they themselves didn’t know the answer.

Julie saw her dad preparing the last of dinner in the kitchen and took her spot at the table.

~~~

“Thought you’d be here.” Alex said poofing in next to Reggie who was leaning against the top of the arm chair, where Ray sat in close proximity at the end of the couch. His knees bouncing from nerves.

“Yeah, how come you’re here? Willie busy?”

“No... he skated away after we hung out.” He corrected. “What’s his problem?”

“I don’t know, he’s been kinda like this the whole day.” He replied concerned.

“Ok I’m here.” the boys looked behind them to see Julie’s aunt come through the front door. “What was so important that you needed me to come over?” She joined him on the couch.

“Let’s say you have... suspicions.”

“Suspicions?”

“They could be nothing but they are suspicions.”

“What suspicions?”

“Suspicions of your child dating.”

Reggie whispered to Alex, “I think we’re intruding.”

“He’s probably talking about Carlos. Yeah we can-” Alex was interrupted when he heard Ray continue.

“I’ve just been seeing her hold hands with this boy before she comes in for dinner and I don’t know how to approach the conversation.”

“Before dinner?” Reggie said in realization who he was talking about.

“Hold hands?” Alex shared Reggie’s same realization.

“I’ve been trying to keep my space on it with her but it’s been a bit and I need to talk to her about it.” He asked for advice revolving around his teenager daughter.

“How does he even-”

“Don’t know but think we should tell them?” In a second Alex and Reggie poofed out and into the studio where Luke and Julie were.

“That’s not bad,” Luke said to Julie as they were at the piano together, “but I think was thinking something more like-“

“Sorry to interrupt!” Reggie said as him and Alex appeared at the side of the piano.

“Umm... this is new.” Julie said. They never would get interrupted during their writing sessions.

“Yeah... what’s up because we’re kind of in the middle of something.” He said as evident by the pencil he held and the journal that was open on the piano.

“Ray knows!” The pair looked confused and shocked at Alex’s quick statement. “Well, not about us. But he does know about Luke. But not the whole ghost-”

“Alex,” Luke stood up putting his hands on the blond’s shoulders, “take a breath, explain.”

He breathed in through his noise and began to explain. “Reggie and I overheard a conversation between Ray and Victoria. He wanted advice.”

“Advice?” Julie wondered.

“About his suspicions of... his daughter maybe dating.”

“Huh?” She asked.

“You are?” Luke asked at the same time.

“No! No I’m not!” She clearly answered.

“He’s apperently been seeing the hand holding before dinner.” Reggie finished for Alex.

“Wait how can-“

“Your guess is as good as ours. We just wanted to-”

“Julie.”

Her attention was caught to the studio doors behind opened.

“Dad!” She called. “What... are you doing here?”

“I want to talk to you.” He made his way over to the piano.

“Well at least we warned you.” Reggie said.

“About... what?” She asked even though she had a pretty good idea what this was about.

“You’ve been so busy lately with the band and everything, it seems like it’s been awhile since we’ve talked.”

“Sorry, we- I’ve,” she corrected herself immediately, “been having all these song ideas.”

He noticed the journal open on the piano. “Oh is this one-”

Luke, without thinking, closed it immediately once Ray tried to get a peek at what was written. Which got a scolding look from Julie.

“Did-” Ray said in confusion pointing to the now closed journal, “Did that just-”

“Could have been the wind.” She tried to play it off. “You know how the wind can be... being wind.”

He noticed that something was written on the cover, he tried to read what was written on it. Suddenly the journal, slid back on the piano and down to the bench landed next to Julie.

“Luk- Look the wind! That’s some very strong wind today.”

He gave a puzzled look. “Okay I came to talk to you about something else but clearly something else is going on.”

“What...?”

“Julie.” He folded his arms.

She sighed. “Ok...” she got up from the piano and walked passed him over to where the keyboard was still set up at.

The boys all exchanged looks to each other once picking up on what was about happeend. They filed to their respective instruments.

“Promise not freak out.” She readjusted the mic on the keyboard. “If you look around the room you’ll find that there is no equipment to project holograms.”

“...I guess.” Her dad did a small scan of the room and did in fact see no hologram projection equipment.

“I never told you because I didn’t want you to send me to Dr. Turner again.”

He raised an eyebrow wondering why she would think that. He saw her look to where the ladder that lead up to the loft was. The look was for... reasurance? She gave a nod and started to play the keys, her entrance of the song.

“Julie I don’t-” he was about to inform her that he didn’t need to hear a mini concert except was cut off when the boys’ enterance came. Right in front of him he saw the 3 boys from her band materialize. The sight made him jump.

He watched as Julie took the mic off it’s stand and go over to the middle of the boys. She jammed out with the guitarist and bassist while all their vocals blended together perfectly as a band. Once finishing the chorus she instructed them to continue playing.

“I think it’s time you properly meet the band.” She said as the boys played a soft beat in the background. She went from who was behind her by her right to left. “That’s Reggie, Alex and Luke.”

“Hi Ray!” Reggie smiled waving to the man.

“H-How?” He stuttered out.

“Remember how I came out screaming and you said it looked like I had seen a ghost? Well I saw three.”

“Musician spirits.” Alex corrected.

“That’s never gonna stick.” Luke turned his head to him.

“Maybe it will, you never know.”

“When I went to go through mom’s stuff I found a CD and decided to play it. When I did, that’s when these three showed up.”

“Yep and she’s been stuck with us ever since!” Reggie smiled.

She chuckled at what he said. “I’m the only one who can see them expect for when we play. They’re the ones who help me get back into in the music program.” She said sincerely to her dad.

“We’re originally from a band called Sunset Curve.” Luke explained. “In 1995, the night we were supposed to play the Orpheum, we ate some bad hot dogs.”

They realized that they should probably give him some time to process all the information that they told him.

“Sunset Curve...” Ray said after awhile, “why does that-“

“Trevor was their old band mate.” Julie helped.

“Also took all of Luke’s songs, said they were his, which he then got big and famous instead but yeah just gloss over that.” Alex added knowing that Julie probably didn’t want to get into it.

“...that explains the My Name is Luke song, thought it was different.”

“Yeah and my name is Luke. Sorry for closing the journal and moving it when you were trying to read what was in it.”

“So,” Ray turned to Julie, “this is why you’re in here all the time.” He always thought it was interesting the amount of time she would spend in the studio since he presumed it was just her.

“Luke and I write songs all the time. Plus, this is the only place where I can talk to them without it looking strange. Anywhere else it looks like I’m talking to air.”

“Well,” Reggie input, “technically- although maybe now we aren’t whenever we touch you.”

“Touch...” Ray remembered the original reason as to why he came into the studio in the first place. Suddenly, the boy in a beanie without sleeves loooked very familiar. Luke’s expression dropped once he saw Ray put it together.

“He knows.” Reggie felt Luke’s same feeling.

“Dad!” Julie came in between them once seeing her take a step towards the guitarist. “It’s not what you think! He’s a ghost.”

“Should I be offended?” He asked looking to his friends behind him. Which got him an elbow in the shoulder by Julie. “Oww!”

A puzzled expression came over Ray. “If he’s a ghost then how can you-”

“We found out a few weeks ago.” Alex started. “We can actually touch Julie now, some of us use that information more often than others.” Luke’s eyes went wide trying to tell him to shut up. “And apparently when we do, we can now be seen.”

“We don’t know if that’s how it works.” Reggie interjected.

“I assume that’s how it would be for all of us considering he was able to see Luke when they hold hands.”

“Wait how did you know that’s what I came out here to talk about?”

The two stayed silent.

“You heard my conversation with-”

“Only a little bit.” Reggie tried to make it sound less bad.

“...how often does that happen?” He looked to Julie wondering since she was the only one who could always see them.

“Whenever you’re home I... I’m around.” The bassist admitted.

“Oh... well...” Reggie was nervous for his reply, “next time you’re there just like me know.”

He smiled showing a sign that he understood.

“Now you-” Ray turned back to face Luke, who was currently cowering behind Julie.

“Dad like I told you before, it’s not what you think.”

“What else am I supposed to think when I see you holding hands with a boy at the end of our driveway before you come in for dinner?”

“...ok well when you put it like that-”

“I feel alive again whenever it happens.” Luke input. “Like when we play music but in a different way. It’s this-”

“Please do not get him started,” Alex rolled his eyes. “he’ll start going on his ‘I-love-Julie-Molina’ speech.” As soon as he said it he realized what it sounded like.

“Not like that!” Luke instantly corrected to save himself. “I mean if it’s fine with you if it could be like that because I mean I don’t have a problem with it I mean unless you do because then in that case then it’s-”

“Luke.” Julie said through her teeth to get him back on track.

“Right!” He remembered he had a point. “I have good intentions. Your daughter needs to remember how wicked talented she is. I promise...” he searched for a word to address him as, “sir.”

His eyes fell between all the boys. Luke, most nervous of all, could tell his eyes were kind and thankful. “This is going to take a bit to adjust to but I will.” He smiled which everyone else reflected. “I will be sure to tell your Tía that my assumption was just nothing so she doesn’t ask you about it.”

“You’re a lifesaver.” Julie laughed as her dad made his way to the door.

“Oh and boys,” his hand hovered over the door handle looking to them, “thank you.” He closed the doors behind him as he left.

He didn’t have to say what specifically but they already knew, well at least had a perfect guess. As the doors closed the low beat stopped as the boys stopped playing.

“I think that went well.” Alex said putting down his sticks.

“All things considered.” Reggie agreed.

“I didn’t get murdered so I classify that as a win.”

“...but you can’t-”

“You know what I mean.” Luke sighed cutting Reggie off.

“Yeah...” Julie turned behind her to face them, “I’d say that went better than expected.”

“...Is he normally like that whenever he sees you holding hands with anyone?” Luke asked to make himself feel better.

He noticed her head drop, “...I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t-”

“This is kinda the first time that it’s happened.”

“Oh, well I just assumed that it would have happened before considering how you’re-”

A loud sigh was heard from Alex.

“Alright, alright,” Luke stopped himself, “I won’t go on one of my ‘speeches’ as you call it. Like you don’t go on speeches about Willie?”

“That’s different. You guys ask about him.”

Reggie and her smiled at the two bickering. Eventually their banter would stop as they teased each other maybe then her and Luke could get back to working on a song.

~~~

When Luke walked her to her door later that night, it was different. The two talked and shared a laugh like they normally did.

“Come on,” they looked and saw a new sight, Ray at the front door, “you’ll see him tomorrow and your aunt’s eating with us tonight. Come in before she sees you laughing at air.”

She gave a final smile to the air and went to the open front door, leaning her back against it after she shut it. This was something that would take some time to adjust to, but she would. If he had to learn how to adjust to finding out the truth of her band then she could get used to him knowing. She could and she would.

[feminaexlux]

One Last Night in the Life of...

Hello folks this is your pilot speaking, please buckle up for some classic fxl Sexy Awkward coming your way!

Explicit!

Dedicated to @bloody-no-kissu, @chromemist for belated birthdays…

AO3 Linky here

⁂

Marinette had argued and eventually won the fight over paying for the smoothies. Luka had felt bad for “ruining” things, but she felt bad for having pushed him into the “date” with Adrien in the first place. She got to the counter to pay and the cashier working there leaned in close. “Hey,” she said. “Your girlfriend’s super cute!”

It felt weird to be complimented when she wasn’t in her own body. “Oh? Thanks? But we’re not going out.”

The other cashier elbowed the first one and said “See? I said she was out of his league.”

“What?!” Marinette yelled out loud. “No I–she’s not?”

“Hmm, I’m glad you’re optimistic!” the first cashier laughed, handing Marinette the two smoothies she ordered.

What the hell, Marinette thought. People were thinking Luka was… what… not handsome enough? He totally was! He… totally was. Maybe not the Adrien Agreste conventional sort of handsome but… What made him attractive was more that he was a freaking Saint and helped out everyone regardless of their circumstances. God, she thought back to when she was 14 and a stumbling mess over a crush that had been, in retrospect, severely crippling to Marinette’s self-esteem.

Luka never made fun of her for that. He'd… actively helped her try to find her own happiness.

And here, again, Luka had been given a bum deal and still stepped up to the task. He was too good for Marinette, honestly. She placed the smoothies down at a table Luka was waiting at. He’d been staring out the window at something.

“I really didn’t know Adrien and Kagami were dating,” Marinette said. “I know he said I got them dating but… all I did was… distract everyone so they could ditch Chloe’s parties together,” she sighed.

“Oh? Hmm. Yeah, I don’t think anyone knew about them. I asked Juleka since she got modeling gigs with Adrien sometimes. She said she had no idea.”

“I guess they had to keep it on the down low,” Marinette shrugged, taking a sip of her smoothie. She’d gotten blended strawberries. Usually she had… passion-fruit, but it seemed a little too sour for her today. She had gotten a blueberry mix for Luka. “It's… I’m not too surprised with what happened. I just wanted to say that… I’m not devastated or anything.”

Luka looked at her, staring at her with her own eyes. It was strange to see them looking so… confused and pained simultaneously. “Let’s take these back to the dorm.”

⁂

They chatted lightly on the way back to Marinette’s dorm, mostly about how difficult it was for Marinette to wrap her head around sound engineering and how Luka basically had no idea what was happening in her fashion courses. A few eyebrows were raised when “Marinette” brought back a boy to her personal room but no one had stopped them. They both stepped into the tiny space, and after the door closed behind them Luka asked “Can you help me take everything off? I have no idea how you ladies handle these things by yourselves.”

“It’s definitely easier having someone else help you take your clothes off,” Marinette laughed.

They both paused, replaying back what they had just said.

“I can try–” “I mean that–”

“I just wanted to–” “No no, I know how–”

“I already know what I look like undressed, Luka, let me get this,” Marinette said, half yelling in a slight panic with Luka’s voice. She reached over and unhooked the collar fasten, hastily pulling the back zipper down. “And I guess now you know too, right?” she laughed nervously.

Luka flushed instantly. “I'll… I’ll be right back,” he said shakily, gripping parts of the cute pink cocktail dress Marinette had chosen for the date. He stepped behind Marinette’s changing screen and shucked off the dress, throwing it over the top edge.

He’d seen her undressed, yep. He wasn’t going to go multiple days without a shower. He’d tried his best to not think about it but after two full days of still being Marinette he felt kinda grimy and figured she’d understand the necessity. Especially since there was that date with Adrien. He kept his eyes to the ceiling most of the time but nearly died from shock when he looked down to towel off and discovered The Heart.

What body hair she had down there had been kept neat and trim, probably… waxed actually, except for a patch that was in the unmistakable shape of a heart.

Luka felt like he might have violated some unspoken contract that they weren’t going to judge each other’s body choices. He was judging right then, and he found himself having many, many emotions over it. Some amusement, some “this seems so Marinette”, some wistfulness over not being the lucky asshole who would have discovered it under more natural circumstances.

He also found himself being incredibly turned on.

Now that he knew it was there he couldn’t help himself imagining a giggly Marinette laying back on her bed, her biting her lip in anticipation as… someone… slowly slid her panties off her and uncovered the surprise. God how he wished that’d been him. But it hadn’t, he discovered it the wrong way, he was going to respect Marinette’s choices and her privacy by never mentioning it and… never thinking about it again.

Or desperately try to not think about it anyway.

He shook his head and put on some relatively comfortable clothes. This wasn’t the thing to focus on right now. “Marinette” just had a somewhat boring date with an Adrien Agreste who turned out to not only be more oblivious than Luka had initially thought, but also had already been dating someone else. It didn’t sound like Adrien was going to jump ship to get with Marinette.

And Marinette was probably trying her hardest to not break down in front of Luka. She’d loved Adrien for years. And Luka had slammed that door shut on her unintentionally. So he had to man up and take the L, let himself take the blame, let Marinette work through whatever she needed to while being present to listen if she wanted him around. Not that he could really go anywhere else since she suggested going back to her dorm and this was where “Marinette” was supposed to sleep for the night.

He walked back out and found Marinette laying back in her bed (in his body, that was still going to be weird) rolling her… his eyes at her phone. “Do… you wanna talk about what happened?” Luka asked.

⁂

“I don’t really have more to say,” Marinette shrugged. “I’m glad it’s over?”

Luka blinked back at her, somewhat doubtful. “I thought you’d be… well, it was Adrien and I thought you were still… after him?”

Marinette looked down at her phone and the explosion of texts and voicemails she had. Many of them had been from Adrien, in various flavors of “I’m so sorry”, the last text of which she had replied “I accept your apology but I don’t want to talk right now.” A few had been from Nino, also various flavors of “I’m so sorry dude” (she gave the same reply), from Alya going “Holy shit Luka actually did this for you?” (“yep talk later”), and two from Kagami that were practically essays of how she was punishing herself for not explaining more clearly to Adrien, but that she had also assumed Marinette had been over Adrien for a while. The second text said Kagami would continue to punish herself for making the assumption, that she had severely damaged their friendship, and that she would do her best to restore Marinette’s trust (Marinette’s amused reply was “kags ilu talk later”).

Marinette would deal with all of that later. Right now, she just wanted to relax. With Luka. As if I’d done the hard part, she mentally berated herself.

“The funny thing is,” Marinette started softly. “I know I was in the Friendzone and have been for a while. What I finally realized a while back is that I put Adrien in the Boyfriend-Zone, and… that wasn’t really fair to him, you know? He has his own choices to make and… I wasn’t one of them.” She sighed. “I wish I could have realized it sooner and moved on, but I guess there had been a tiny part of me that still jumped at the chance to see what… what things would be like if he saw me any differently.

"So when… today happened it was just… it felt to me like the one last chance where I could finally get some answers. Or closure, anyway.” Marinette looked back up to Luka, who had been standing stock still. She peeked down at the hands and saw that they were trembling. “And I got both, thanks to you,” Marinette smiled.

“Not sure you should be thanking me for anything just yet,” Luka said. “I had kinda yelled at Adrien on the way out. He’s going to think that was you.”

“I know,” Marinette laughed. “I don’t think anything you said was wrong, though. Except for the part where I was in love with Adrien for ages. It lasted like 2 years, tops, and that first year was so cringey. And if Nino had to remind Adrien to think about me it kinda says more about how much we’ve drifted apart over time. So really, you said to Adrien what I’d been thinking myself. I’m just not brave enough to say it like you did.”

Luka pulled out her desk chair and plopped down. “Okay. Alright. That does make me feel better,” he sighed in relief.

“Luka, why are you so worried for me?”

He sat up a little straighter. “Why wouldn’t I be?” Marinette sat up and leaned forward, reaching out to take Luka's… her hands and Luka closed… her eyes. “Dingo told you, didn’t he?”

Marinette laughed a little. “Yeah. I heard from him.”

“Sorry. I’m really trying to not mess up your–”

“Luka, am I important to you?”

He opened her eyes and shut up for a moment, surprised. “Of course you are.”

“Then don’t apologize. I’ve seen the way you’re trying to… make things easy on me. I basically put you on a train wreck today and you’re still being selfless and worrying about me. My hands will be fine, I want to make you feel better. Is there anything I can do for you?”

He laughed, taking in a deep breath. “Don’t think there’s anything I need. Except for getting my own body back.”

“Then what do you want?”

He shut up again. “I don't…” he trailed off. He shrugged. “I want you to be happy, Marinette.”

“Alright, done. Is there anything else?”

“‘Done’?”

“In spite of this… akuma nonsense… I think I’m happy just being here with you.”

⁂

Luka wasn’t sure how to parse that… and maybe he shouldn’t read much into it. But he still felt some heat on his face.

“Huh,” Marinette commented. “Am I really that obvious when I blush?”

He laughed. “Yeah, a bit.”

She leaned back while still holding on, pulling Luka and the chair closer to the bed, the wheels of the desk chair squeaking lightly as they rolled. “Come relax on the bed. It feels like a laying in bed kinda day.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Most of the day’s over, you know that?”

“Even better,” Marinette laughed. “It’s just… you know. It's… I’m just thinking…” she sighed. “It’s weird. What do you think we’ll do if we’re stuck this way?”

“I have no idea,” he said, moving to the bed and leaning back toward the foot of the bed, away from Marinette. “I’m barely holding together as it is,” he sighed.

“Is it hard being me?”

He considered. “Yeah, kind of. I think it’d be hard to be anyone but me. What about you? Was it hard pretending to be me?”

Marinette giggled. “I got a lot of pointers from Juleka and Dingo. Really the hardest part was figuring out what to do about erections,” she laughed, then stopped and looked wide eyed, propping herself up her… his elbows. “OH I DIDN’T GET OUTSIDE HELP FOR THAT! Just! Just wanted to clarify!”

Luka choked on air, flushing again. He coughed, pulling up Marinette’s shirt by the collar over his… her head to hide his… her face. Well shit, what was he going to say to that? Oh that’s normal you kinda have to… touch it until it goes away? But… the idea that it’d been Marinette touching him, well, that set off a new wave of really intense feelings and he was glad he kept his… her face hidden.

“Pfft, Luka are you embarrassed?”

“Completely. Give me a minute,” he sighed. After a bit he set her shirt back down. “Yeah, I didn’t warn you about that, I guess,” he said, still flushed. “That… must have been weird for you,” he said carefully, remembering how foreign and mind-blowing the concept was when he was still going through puberty.

“Yeah,” Marinette laughed. “I mean, it’s natural. Bodies are bodies, right? I was just kinda… surprised in the morning, that’s all.” She cleared her throat, also getting a little red. “Sorry,” she sighed. “I guess I should have… asked for permission? To… um. Deal with that?”

He laughed. “I… God, I don’t even know. You can do whatever you want with…” he gestured at his body. Don’t think about it, don’t think about how she touched you.

Marinette raised an eyebrow. “Have you been doing 'whatever you want’ with…” she gestured at him.

He choked again. “No! No, I haven’t done… no, and I won’t,” he said quickly.

“That seems a little unfair,” she smirked. “If you’re telling me I can do what I want, why shouldn’t you do what you want?”

⁂

What the hell was she saying? God, Marinette, why are you being so weird right now? she asked herself.

Well. Part of it was… an odd sort of tension snap after that date with Adrien. And she did feel more relaxed than she’d been for years, being able to finally let go of an old obsession. When she got the closure she needed, she didn’t realize it’d come with a sense of elation at having a clean slate for the first time in half a decade.

Even if the universe closed a door on her, she felt like she’d been given freedom. Now she didn’t have to worry about how things could have been. She didn’t have to keep pining away in silence. She didn’t have to watch everything she did around Adrien. She didn’t have to… be someone else entirely just to be able to talk to him.

She regretted that she had put everyone else aside for that silly crush.

And now without Adrien as a distraction, there’d been someone else nearby who made her feel… really good… for just being herself. And she was here with him. There was just the minor inconvenience that they’d switched bodies.

“I’m sorry, am I making you uncomfortable?” Marinette asked worriedly. “It just struck me as… how many people have an opportunity like this? To really experience another life outside of their own? A completely different body? Don’t you want to… explore that?”

What the hell am I saying?

Luka snorted, still red. “You’re kind of amazing, you know that? You’re dealing with this a lot better than I am.” He sighed, putting himself against the wall. He cleared his throat. “I never really thought about it until now. I don’t want to… mess up anything.”

“What if I helped?” Marinette blurted out, sitting up all the way. What the hell am I saying? “I mean, I know how my body works. I could help you… explore whatever you want to? I… I think it might be an interesting experience!”

He took a deep breath, still blushing, but something about his raised eyebrow said his curiosity was piqued. “Are you suggesting that you… touch me while I’m in here?” He pointed at her body.

“Y-yeah, it’s that… if I can teach at least one guy to handle me properly I’d want it to be you!” Oh hell, I just said that, she thought at herself. She opened her mouth to try to take it back, then closed it again, stopping herself. It’d been a conditioned reflex to try to take back the things she said, but she didn’t want to this time.

“Could… you… explain that?” Luka asked slowly, his eyes open wide.

“Okay, so,” she started, trying to sort her thoughts. “I’m finally not hung up over Adrien for the first time in a long time, and it’s in part thanks to you, and I was just thinking well if we’re stuck in these bodies we might as well know how they work? And maybe Ladybug and Chat Noir will figure it out and fix things for us but I also was thinking I want to know more about… what feels good for you and I also want… you to know what feels good for me… if you want that… because I-I… I'm…” She breathed. One last hurdle. “I’ve had feelings for you for a while… And I know this is like horrible timing but… maybe… this might be an opportunity where we could try something? A-and learn more about each other? Together? If you want?”

Here’s to hoping I didn’t get this wrong… she thought. On some level Luka had always been clear about his feelings toward her. He’d even liked her when she was throwing herself at Adrien. But… since she took this long, maybe he’d moved on. At least with the rush of relief sweeping over her with the Adrien Feels all over and done, she might not feel this particular sting so badly if Luka was… was going to turn her down.

No, no, she definitely would so she really hoped he wouldn’t.

“Wow,” he breathed out, shaking his head in disbelief. Her heart stalled. “I… really wish I was back in my own body right now.” He sat up and turned toward her. “This is… a little difficult to say when I’m looking at myself, but… Yeah. Alright.” He looked up at her. “Thing is, once we switch back I’m going to want to use all I’ve learned with you. Probably every day if I get a chance to.”

Her heart fluttered back online double-time. “That’s a naughty way of asking me to be your girlfriend.”

“You started it.”

“True,” she laughed. “Okay. Yes, Luka Couffaine, I’d love to be your girlfriend. Once I get back to being an actual girl again.”

He grinned. “Then I’m all yours. So, what do you want to show me?”

⁂

He ended up on her lap, sitting back against her (his) chest. “Th-this is how I usually um… start things,” she said shakily. She had first laughed over the fact that Luka had ended up wearing a sports bra because putting on a normal bra was too “difficult”, but then she got a little more nervous as he took off the shirt and sweatpants he had thrown on after they came back to her dorm.

He hadn’t really wanted to raid through her intimates drawer for anything other than what was necessary. There was just too much of a possibility that he’d discover something even more racy than The Heart.

He had stripped down to her underwear, feeling somewhat less self-conscious than he’d expected. She was going to show him what she wanted to show him of her own body, and somehow that was enough to let him forget whatever discomfort he had for a little while.

“I'm… I’m thinking that it m-might be easier to imagine… just imagine that you’re um… inside my head with me? S-so like it’s virtual reality. Except… you’ll feel everything too.” She was really nervous.

“We can stop at any time,” Luka said, to alleviate any tension. It’d be a little disappointing but he cared about Marinette more than he cared about… a lot of things.

Marinette pressed her… his face into his… her own neck and smiled. Marinette’s body was apparently pretty sensitive in that particular area because it felt way more ticklish than he thought it would have on his own body. Maybe? It wasn’t as if he had anyone put their lips on him like she just did… Maybe she’d be the one to discover that with him. “Hmm,” she said, “I’ll keep that in mind. You let me know when you want to stop too, okay? Wanna keep going?”

“Yeah, to both,” he answered. She laughed against his neck and he felt shivers run down his spine.

Marinette’s body was really sensitive. Good to know.

Marinette traced with her… his fingers down over his… her breasts and stomach, barely touching anything. Fingertips ghosted down thighs and back up to the panties, lazily following around opposite sides of the hem until the fingers met at the convergence point. Then she pressed a middle finger to the slit, rubbing up and down. Luka had no idea how to process this, but it was very… intense.

“What are you feeling?” she asked.

“Hard to describe,” he answered eventually. It was fascinating to feel… whatever it was. There was an insistent signal that something pleasant is happening but otherwise Luka just noticed Marinette’s body was… reactive. He finally started noticing that he was feeling hot.

And wet. Well now, that was… new… ish.

Marinette pulled aside the panties a little bit. And holy shit Luka jumped when Marinette touched the clit directly. “Are you alright?” she asked, stopping in place.

“It… feels pretty good,” Luka said, Marinette’s voice coming across higher pitched and a little breathy. Damn, if it hadn’t been Luka saying it, it would have been hot as hell to hear. “I’m alright,” he said, laughing a little. He said that a bit early, perhaps, because Marinette put her fingertip inside him. That felt… completely and utterly new. He let out a very Marinette sounding squeak. “I’m okay!” he assured her when she stopped in place again.

“I’ll keep going,” Marinette said, her… no, his? voice sounding low and a little excited.

If… if Marinette was getting excited this was going to be a hell of a ride for Luka. She pumped her finger back in Luka and he still had no idea how to process everything. All of the sensations were rushing in, very foreign but… Marinette knew what she was doing. Even if she’d been using another person’s fingers, she knew exactly which spots to hit and exactly how hard to hit them. And she’d gone all in. “Mari–!” Wait, wait, wait. That sounded EXTREMELY wrong coming from her own voice.

Marinette laughed. “Remember,” she whispered against his neck. “Just pretend you’re me.” She just kept going and Luka’s mind was more or less melting away. She reached under the sports bra to pull it up and squeezed a breast. It felt nice, but it wasn't… it wasn’t as intense as Luka had thought it’d be?

Until she pinched a nipple. “Holy…” Luka breathed. He didn’t notice it but he’d been breathing harder and faster. Marinette did something with her fingers and rubbed up against the clit and in that moment all of the nerves in the body Luka was in lit up and threatened to overwhelm him.

“Mmm, yeah, it feels good, doesn’t it?” Marinette whispered, using his voice so goddamn effectively. It’d been smooth and husky in equal parts, and for some reason it… it actually was kind of sexy. Holy crap he couldn’t think his own voice was sexy, could he? Well fuck, he was being fingerfucked by himself so why the hell not. She circled her finger inside, slipping in another digit to spread… spread her body wider. “Tell me, does it feel good?”

“Y… yeah,” Luka laughed. It wasn’t bad, it certainly wasn’t even just good, it’d been so different but it also felt kind of amazing.

“Sometimes I imagine… someone like you doing this to me, you know?” She said that so simply, like it hadn’t been enough that she was inside him. “I came so hard when I thought of you,” she admitted.

Well shit, how was he going to recover from that? “You thought of me?” he asked dumbly. Shit, it felt like he was close.

“I did, and I came while calling out your name,” she continued, turning what was left of his consciousness into soup. He was imagining her and him in exactly this situation, except back in their own bodies, and her body pressing up against his hand and her voice screaming out his name while she came on him.

And then he came.

It was… a different sort of coming than he was used to. Instead of the release crashing like a wave after it had crested to a high point, it felt more like… a boil. Little bursts of sensation and… it kept getting more and more… something. His… no, her body was in a sort of vibrato, rapidly flickering between too much and need more.

Holy shit, he thought. Apparently the sensation continued through for a while, following Marinette's… his finger’s movements. “Aah,” he breathed out. Or at least, he thought he’d been quiet. Turned out not quite, 'cause Marinette slowed down and stopped. He still felt the sensation of coming, just less amplified. Her body was still… tensing and the signals from down there were still pulsing but starting to taper off. “That… was something,” he laughed.

⁂

“Mmm,” she hummed against his neck. “Did you like it?”

“It was… yeah, pretty nice,” Luka said with a little hitch in his voice as he spoke. She noticed that he’d still been squeezing his hand into tight fists as she had been working him, but the fingers unfurled after he came. That was a good sign, he was relaxed. She drew out her hand from him and licked the fingers clean as he watched. It was an idle thought: if her juices tasted different from his perspective. The answer was not really. He let out a sigh. “God, I wanna taste you,” he said breathlessly.

She giggled a little. “Why don’t you, then?”

He turned and blinked back her own blue eyes at her, wide and dazed. “Uh, I…” He shifted a little in her lap and stopped moving, freezing abruptly. It took a moment for her to realize why.

She’d gotten hard. God that was so weird to realize.

She was pretty sure she’d gotten turned on when she was imagining him… in pretty much this same situation except with the two of them back in their own bodies. It was pretty bold of her to admit out loud that she’d gotten off to imagining him fucking her in her solo play… But she’d been feeling pretty emboldened in spite of, or most likely because of how bizarre the whole situation was.

She wasn’t in her own body. She didn’t have to think about anything the same way.

“Did you get turned on watching… me?” Luka asked, slightly amused.

“I got turned on imagining us,” she admitted.

He pulled his head back a bit in surprise, but nodded. He shifted again turning to sit sideways across her lap. Then he unzipped her jeans. “Let me take care of this,” he said, a smirk on his face. “As payback.” She let out a very un-Luka squeak as he pulled her out of the front opening of his boxers. He licked her fingers and wrapped them around his cock, squeezing and pulling up and rubbing a thumb over the tip.

And just as suddenly Marinette felt a rush of sensation.

It wasn’t even something that she could name, but all of a sudden she had gone from 0 (okay probably 20) to 80% done with just that… “Ohhh my god,” she breathed out. “Is… is this how it is for men?”

Luka chuckled and continued… palming her? Whatever it was he was doing, she should probably etch that into her memory. For “payback”. There was squeezing and stroking, fingers rubbing the underside and just barely skimming over the flared ridge. He took her thumb and pressed lightly into the very tip, spreading the slick drop over the increasingly sensitive head and sending Marinette so much closer to that 100%.

It didn’t take long to send her over that peak with the way he was using her hands. Marinette groaned and felt Luka’s body strain like a plucked string. Some part of her consciousness appreciated the delicious sound of Luka’s voice reverberating through her. She’d be able to do that to him from her own body someday.

She heard Luka laughing with her voice and after a few seconds of heavy breathing she peeked from half-lidded and suddenly very heavy eyelids. She… felt relaxed, a little bit tired. Hah, men, she thought.

⁂

There was a strange buzzing in the back of his mind and Luka could swear he heard some distant raucous laughter. He felt a weird pulling tension in his brain and had in his vision what seemed like an afterimage of… some outline of a neon yellow star?

He looked up and saw Marinette staring back at him in shock.

Oh.

This was… right. At least, this was how it was supposed to be.

He was in Marinette’s room and…

Apparently back in his own body?

And Marinette was still holding his dick.

“Uh,” he laughed, embarrassed. “I… don’t know what happened but…” He nervously shifted back and noticed his cum was on Marinette’s hands because of course he hadn’t thought about cleanup at the time like a dipshit.

“We’re back to normal?” Marinette asked, noticing the sticky mess on her hands.

He tucked himself back into his boxers and sat up straighter. “Sorry,” he muttered, the heat on his face continuing to build as she got up and rinsed her hands at her sink.

Marinette turned back around and bit her bottom lip while she dried her hands on a towel. “How… how did we… W-was it because we had–”

Luka coughed, cleared his throat and shrugged an “iunno”, suddenly unable to bear with the fact that they’d done what they’d just done. And gotten snapped back to their own bodies because of it? Holy fuck if that’d been the reason they got swapped back that’d be the most ridiculous fucking akuma. What even was the Lucky Charm trigger, their staggered orgasms? Did that even make sense? He shook his head and tried to look anywhere but at Marinette.

He heard Marinette giggling and he looked back sheepishly with a lopsided smile. She walked back across the tiny space and sat on his lap, resting her arms around his shoulders. “We’re back to normal,” she trailed off, a light blush on her cheeks. “Aaand we've… learned a few things,” she continued. Luka just nodded and wondered what was going through her thoughts. “Didn’t you say you’d use what you learned when we switched back?”

Oh.

Well then.

⁂

“Asterr, fade out!” Brielle wheezed through her laughter. There was a golden flash and a starfish kwami popped back into view, giggling along with Brielle.

“That was unexpected!” Asterr giggled, covering her mouth with her fins as the laughter took over again.

“Holy shit I didn’t expect them to go that far,” Brielle kept laughing. “Three days of nothing and all of a sudden they dove straight into that! Has that happened before?!”

“Star-Crossed is a tricky power and sometimes unpredictable, so I hadn’t seen something like this before!” the kwami said. “It depends on which two you switch! Why did you choose them, Bri?”

Brielle shrugged. “One, it’s hilarious. Two, they’re both shy as fuck except for the fucking apparently. Three, I knew they’d be okay, more or less. And four, it all worked out. Luka’s been stoic and accepting but I sure as hell can’t stand to see another year of that kicked puppy face when he thinks no one’s looking.”

“You’re a good friend, Bri,” Asterr giggled.

“I sure am.”

⁂

Thanks to @verfound for letting me borrow Brielle as well lol

[onceuponastory]

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

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

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

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

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

Warnings: Some mentions of alcohol

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

Read the other parts / Read this story on Wattpad!

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

Later That Day

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

“Absolutely not.” Nick sighs. “What?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It’s probably nothing...right?

~~~

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Nick...are you sure?”

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

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

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

~~~

That Night

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

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

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

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

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

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

~~~

Two Hours Later

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

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

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

“Who’s Nick?” Sam asks. 

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

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

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

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

~~~

A Few Hours Later

Nick’s POV

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

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

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

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

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

~~~

The Next Morning

Y/N’s POV

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

~~~

Later

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

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

“Sorry about that by the way.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“I love you.” She whispers.

“I love you too.”

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

“I won’t. I promise.”

~~~

The Next Day: Sunday - 5 Days til the Wedding

Nick’s POV

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

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

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

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

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

“Well, yeah, but-”

“Not as a friend, as in...that way.” 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Need a hand?” 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“I see! Wonderful to meet you!”

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

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

[arandompostarchive]

SALEM - Ch. 7

SAVED WORK

Summary: In all the centuries of your existence, you had never been dragged out of hiding by another god, put in a superhero team and forced to save the universe. But it seems your luck has run out.

“So, let me get this straight. You, a person known for your cunning and intelligence put the Tesseract, something people have fought and died to get, on a foreign planet known for its bounty hunters and soldiers?”

Loki only shrugged a bit. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“Really? It really seemed like a good idea? Hiding it with people who would probably sell it first chance they got?”

“Well when you put it like that—”

“Loki.” He looked directly at you. “We have to get to it before my sister does. If anyone uses it she’ll probably find it somehow. You do know how to get to Kalan, right?

“Of course, except for the major problem. We have no way to get there.”

You smiled. “Oh, that’s not a problem. I mean, Tony has to have the Quinjet prototypes somewhere right?”

He frowned, “I believe the reason they are ‘prototypes’ is because they didn’t work.”

“Exactly! It’ll take Tony a lot less time to notice. Though I’m pretty sure most of them are scrapped, there’s gotta be at least one that actually flies.”

He sat down on your couch. There was a small pad of paper on the table in front of it, your messy handwriting all over it. Some ideas were circled or underlined, all in dark ink. At least you were thinking this one through, even if there were a few flaws. He’d never admit it, but he’d prefer to have the team’s help with this. But with how slow they were going to even acknowledge the fact that there’s a serious threat… you may not have much of a choice.

“Alright. You find a ship, I’ll gather supplies. If you say you’re willing to watch me, they’ll probably leave us alone for a few hours. Then we can leave.”

“That’s the spirit!”

You smiled at him. It was nice to be there heroes for once. Both of you. Lies and darkness teaming up to save the day? Talk about rare.

Admittedly, you were nervous. Kalan was a planet full of trained soldiers. What they were training for was never exactly clear. They were anticipating a war that didn’t exist yet. Unfortunately, that made for very jumpy Generals. People who’d shoot at anything without an army badge. Although, part of the planet was known for its bounty hunters. They steered clear of the soldiers and even got a few insiders to steal from the armies. Not fun.

Either you try to steal an extremely valuable object from people known for being expert thieves, or steal from an army who wouldn’t hesitate to put a bullet through your head. It might not kill you, but that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t hurt like hell.

That left one question, which side should you start with?

Loki stood up, “I’ll see if my brother will help, you find the ship and speak with you teammates. As much as I hate to say it, you should probably leave a note behind. Just in case.”

You nodded. Of course, you had no intention of losing any sort of fight but he had a point. Just in case.

“Yeah, I’ll do that.” He smiled sadly before leaving the room. He had a point. It just wasn’t a point you wanted to think about.

You sunk down into the couch and grabbed your pad of paper. You tore away some of your ideas and scribbled down a small note. After searching for probably twenty minutes you managed to find an envelope and stuff the letter in. You wrote a small message on the front.

“Hi Tony. If I’m not back in exactly two weeks, open this envelope. I know you’ll probably open this before that anyway, but I’ve never asked for anything. Just do this. Please.

-Y/n

Ps, I really do need a nickname, huh?”

You weren’t sure if that would work. Maybe he’d wait. Just in case, you didn’t give him enough info to find you. Just in case he tried before two week were up. It probably wouldn’t take that long, but better safe than sorry. You left the note on the table in front of your couch. He’d probably come to your room first after he found you missing, so that guaranteed he’d find it after you were long gone.

Now to find that prototype.

Tony had a garage, he’d keep most of his cars in there, but he needed somewhere to keep it right? You knew he had a small space to work on the cars, improve them. And if you had a prototype, that’s where you’d keep it.

Getting into the garage was a slight issue. Tony didn’t like just anyone strolling in and messing with his stuff (He’d decided that after someone spray painted one of his cars). Whoops.

Obviously Tony gave himself access, along with Bruce. He was probably one of the more responsible Avengers, and Tony trusted him with that sort of technology. That and Bruce helped out once in a while.

Since Tony would most definitely not let you in, you opted for Bruce.

You (unsurprisingly) found him in the lab working on something or other. It was fairly safe to assume that Tony used some sort of key card, which means in would probably be in his pocket.

Great.

“Hey Bruce, I really like that shirt, by the way.

He turned around and smiled, “Oh hey! Wait. What do you want?”

He stopped working on whatever it was, it looked like a phone or something.

“Can’t I just compliment my friends because I feel like it?”

He sighed, “Well of course you can, but it usually means you want something.”

“Really, this time I don’t want anything. What are you working on?”

He clearly didn’t believe you, but he turned back to his project. “It’s a tracker Steve wanted me to work on. He’s thinking of trying to find that Ker woman and track whatever energy she’s putting off. But it’s kinda hard to do without having any of that ‘energy’.”

You nodded along, slowly slipping your hand into his lab coat pocket. He didn’t seem to notice.

Damn it. Wrong pocket.

You moved to his other side.

“Does Steve really think he can take her? I mean, Loki was losing when we got there.” You slipped your hand into his other pocket. Definitely a key card.

“I think we’ve got a good chance. Besides, all we know is that Loki doesn’t like her and that ‘Doom is rising’ which basically tells us nothing. And uh, it’s not like we were given a time frame. What can we do really? I doubt Loki would ever tell us the truth. He might want to save the Earth for whatever reason, but it’s a pretty good way to get rid of us.”

You nodded slightly. You knew when Loki lied. Granted, it wasn’t exactly easy, but you’d gotten fairly good at it.

You grabbed the card and glance down quickly. A small ‘A’ was on it. You slipped it into your own pocket before responding.

“Yeah well, hopefully he’s right. Anyway, see you later!” You walked out of the room leaving a confused Bruce behind.

You immediately went to the elevator and scanned in Bruce’s card.

It started going down and eventually opened into Tony’’s garage. You walked across and opened a back room. It had a large door that led outside along with a few cars and ships. Well, that explains why his garage is so big. You always assumed that was Tony being Tony.

You ran to one of the ships, it definitely wasn’t perfect. The outside had some chipped paint, but there was a key card next to it. Seems like Tony didn’t always have the same security he has now.

You opened the garage door that led outside. Tony was upstairs and probably wouldn’t be out of his lab for a few hours. It would be a while before anyone noticed. Perfect.

You left Bruce’s card on one of Tony’s work stations and stuffed the ship’s key card in your pocket.

Now it was just a matter of talking to Tony.

***

Tony wasn’t difficult to find. He was in his lab talking to Peter about something or other.

“Hey Tony, Pete. How are you?” You sat down on a stool across from them and they looked up. It seemed like they were working on the other half of Bruce’s tracker.

“Well if it isn’t the Maleficent herself.” Tony smiled.

“Maleficent, huh?”

He shrugged. “Yeah, I’m not crazy about it. We’ll get there.”

You smiled. “Hey, I did want to mention. It seems like I’m the only one up for watching Loki, I’m okay with doing it for a while.”

He smiled, “Alright then, taking one for the team.” Peter had a small smile on his face.

“Also, Tony?” He cocked his head to the side slightly.

“I guess, well. I got a little existential today, so if anything ever happens to me, I’m really glad we could be friends. You too Peter.” You smiled, resting your hand on Peter’s shoulder for a second.

“Well okay.” Tony said. “A little random but I’m glad we’re friends too? Any particular reason or are we just worried about the apocalypse?”

“No, no reason. Just introspective I guess. I’ll see you later.” You walked out of the lab. Peter looked over his shoulder and smiled. You smiled back.

***

“Okay, you got supplies and weapons, I got a ship. Ready to go?”

Loki nodded, walking through garage with you. “You did talk to your teammates, correct? It would be much more helpful if they didn’t try to follow us half-way across the universe.”

You nodded, “Yeah. I mentioned it to Tony. Unless there’s a mission he probably won’t check in for a bit.”

You reached the ship pretty quickly and climbed in, dropping the two bags full or mostly weaponry on the ground.

“So, what do you think? Tony must’ve made it years ago.” Loki looked around. It really wasn’t a bad ship. Almost identical to the Quinjet, even if it was a bit smaller. You sat down in the pilot’s seat, Clint would flip.

You took the key card out of your pocket and put it in a small slot next to your chair. You knew most of the controls from watching Clint. Until he told you to leave so he could focus.

You started it up, get yourself out of the garage and into the air. You take off was a little rocky, but hey, at least you know it flies.

“Um, C-Y/n, I mean. You do actually know how to fly this, correct?”

You shrugged. “I mean, it can’t be that hard, right?”

Loki rolled his eyes and sat down next to you. “Let me help, at least I know where we’re going.”

“Fair enough.”

***

Traveling through space was nothing like you remembered. Olympus was a bit like Asgard. There are easier ways to get there, but space travel would probably work. Tartarus on the other hand was a little harder to access. The Tesseract would hopefully help with that. But for now, Loki was steering your towards Kalan. You had never really been there yourself, but he said it wasn’t too far.

He was right. It wasn’t long before Loki found a fairly safe place to land. (He really couldn’t drive the ship much better than you, but that might just be the ship itself)

It was on a hill past any sort of town. Looking out of the window you could see lights in the distance. It was dark, a purple sky and dark plants covered some of your view. There was some light smoke from some sort of fire. Loki opened up the door and you grabbed the key card, putting it in your pocket and stepped out behind Loki.

There were plants on the ground, it felt like grass but much softer. There was light from a moon behind you. You could see two other moons behind it, but they didn’t give off the same blue hue.

It was beautiful. The small town with curling smoke was in front of you, and when you turned around you could see other lights in the distance. They were more organized. The spaces between each of them looked exactly the same.

“You should grab a weapon, Y/n. Just to be safe.” You nodded and walked back onto the ship. You knew your way around a gun, that’s for sure, but you were much more old school.

Loki had grabbed a few of your weapons, likely from your room. You had no doubt Thor showed him where it was, good to see he was helping you, even if he wouldn’t come with.

One of your main weapons was a scythe. Part of it folded into a smaller staff about the size of your forearm with a blade on one side and a handle on the other. It was sort of hard to handle at first, but you liked it. Granted, you still had a long way to go. You only picked up weaponry a year ago. Magic was much easier.

But still, a physical weapon was nice.

“Your choice, Y/n.” You looked up at Loki. “We can try the bounty hunters or the soldiers. I know not where it went, just that it is here.”

“You sure you should leave this up to me? If we got to the bounty hunter, we’ll have to steal it, if it’s even there. If we go to the soldiers, we’ll have to find a way to get into their base without fighting everyone off.” Talk about a rock and a hard place.

“Yes, neither option is ideal. We could always try getting to Tartarus without it?”

You shook your head, “No. That’d take a hell of a lot longer. And we’d have to think of an easy way out. Not happening.”

You sat down in the grass, sighing lightly at the soft feeling beneath your hand.

“Okay then. Let’s try the soldiers. If it’s not there, they probably have more technology for us to locate it. Let’s go.” You stood up and closed the ship before you started down the hill to the much more organized lights. “We’re going to have to find a way in. You can shape shift and I’ll try and find some sort of disguise.” Loki nodded and started down the hill after you. You’d be lying if you said you weren’t silently praying that it was there somewhere. But things are rarely easy, huh?

***

[mirkwoodshewolf]

My #1 fan; Ben Hardy x child sister reader

*Author’s note*

Hey guys well here I am with yet another BoRhap boy story, this time it's of Ben Hardy (god it's been FOREVER since I wrote a story of Benny boi) but here it is. Now this is a Big Brother!Ben fic so unlike the last time there is NO ROMANCE, JUST FLUFFY PLATONIC GOODNESS THAT I CAN DISH UP!!!! Also in this fic I would like to point out that I do NOT OWN WORLD OF DANCE!! IT BELONGS TO J-LO AND NBC and all the people involved with the making of this amazing dance competition (if you haven't heard of it, go check it out the recent season is out NOW!!) Also watch the video links (from actual previous competitors on the show) to get a feel of what I'm seeing for the dances cause I am NOT  dancer so I do not know all the moves that you dancers do out there, but I hope you all still enjoy this fic :)

Taglist:

@plethora-of-things

@waddles03

@psychosupernatural

@ixchel-9275

@simonedk

@jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels

@queensdivas

@platawnic

@queendeakyy

@geek-and-proud

@kairosfreddie

@iambambi5

______________________________________________________________

God it feels like it’s been forever since we’ve seen each other.  From the time I got my first real American movie role in X-men Apocalypse, everything just seemed to fold right before me.  From my biggest success of Bohemian Rhapsody (where I became best friends with probably the three greatest guys in the world), followed by the Netflix movie 6 Underground with Ryan Reynolds (and yes he’s just as hilarious and humble as he presents himself).

My life has just exploded from there, I try to be home whenever I can but when I do, she’s just as busy as I am.  

Now that things have calmed down on my end and she’s preparing for an upcoming audition on a dance show, I can finally take the time to go see her (especially now since I’m in LA where she’s to audition). God I haven’t seen her in years, I wonder how she’s been?

“BENJAMIN!!!” Joe’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts and I turned to him.

“Hmm what?”

“Geez mate you were really out of it back there. We’ve been trying to get your attention for like 10 minutes.” Gwil said as he sipped his beer.

“Oh sorry guys, I was just—thinking.”

“And just who was it that had your attention so badly that you tuned out from the rest of the world?” teased Rami.

“Benjamin Hardy are you cheating on me!? Oh my god you’re cheating! Who is it! What’s their name!?” Joe accused me.  I rolled my eyes as I shoved him.

“Is it a girl?” Rami asked.

“Oh great. Now I gotta get breast implants just to get you to notice me.” Joked Joe.  We all looked at him strangely and I said.

“Not in that way, but yes I am thinking about a girl. My sister actually.”

“Your sister? You—never mentioned a sister before.” Gwil said.

“I kinda like to keep her separate from my name.”

“What you guys don’t get along?” asked Joe.

“No, no we get along amazingly. We’re each other’s #1 fans. But ever since Bohemian Rhapsody everyone now knows my name. I don’t want people comparing the two of us and making her feel like I’m outshining her. That’s one of the other reasons why I changed my last name from Jones to Hardy.”

“Is she an actress too?” Rami asked with a head tilt.

“No, no. She’s a dancer actually.”

“A dancer? Fancy.” Joe said in a posh accent.

“What kind of dancing does she do?” Gwil said.

“Mostly contemporary. But she also does ballet and a bit of Hip-hop. This one competition she was on, she actually combined ballet and hip-hop together. Got 1st place for it, and was the youngest winner to ever win the Glasgow dance competition.” They all whistled.

“She must be good then, how old is she?”

“She was 7 years old.” They all gaped at me.

“You’re joking right?” Joe said with wide eyes and a gaped mouth.

“No, not at all. In fact in her ballet school where she trains, she’s actually the youngest student to have been chosen to get a full run scholarship to the London Academy for Dance. Once she’s 12 years old, they’ll give her the full ride.”

“Wait, wait, wait. How old is she now?” Gwil asked.

“She’s nine.”

“So they’re gonna hold onto her scholarship for another three years?” Rami said.  I nodded.

“Damn she must be good for them to do that.” Joe said with a sigh.

“She is. Fell in love with dancing at 2 years old and did her first pirouette within the first three months of joining her ballet school.”

“Geez, and my sister couldn’t do one till she was about 9.”

“Guess my sister’s got yours beat.” I teased to Joe.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah don’t rub it in.”

“So Ben, when was the last time you saw her?”

“Five years.” I said as I sipped my beer solemnly.

“Wait what? You haven’t seen your sister in five years!?” Joe gawked.

“I told you guys, ever since X-men it’s been one project after another. And even when I did have a break, she was out of state doing a competition either with her school or as a soloist. But—hopefully that’ll change in the next few weeks. She’s actually here in LA.”

“She is?” Rami said.  I nodded.

“Yeah. She’s auditioning for some sort of dance show they film here.”

“So you think you can dance is doing a junior competition now?” asked Joe.

“No not that one. It’s a recent one. They’ve only done like 3 or 4 seasons of it. I think it’s called Dancing world…..no World of Dance. That’s it.”

“Oh that show is awesome! I’ve auditioned for that show.” Joe bragged.

“No you haven’t.” Rami exclaimed at Joe’s lie.

“I’m serious I auditioned during their first 2 seasons. Couldn’t commit cause of obvious reasons.”

“I’m calling BS on that.” Gwil said as he leaned back.

“Uhh excuse me; who got the part of the Disco Deacy? Me. Who perfected the BAB dance? Me. I’m perfectly qualified to be a dancer. In fact why don’t we go see your little sis and she can be the judge!”

“What?”

“You heard me, right now! Let’s go see her!” Joe said as he downed his drink and stood up.

“Hang on guys……”

“Well besides of Joe’s reason, I think it’d be fair for us to meet your little sis. I mean we’ve practically seen each other’s siblings. You all met my twin Sami and my sis Jasmine.”

“I agree with Rami, and you all met my older brother at my engagement party.”

“And of course you all met John and Mary at the BoRhap premiere.” At this rate I knew I wasn’t going to win this argument.

“Fine. I—guess I’ll call up my mum and ask her where she’s rehearsing at.” I just hope (y/n) doesn’t mind having my friends come and see her rehearse.

Cause when she’s in rehearsal mode, she can be quite the little jumpy bug.

*My POV*

Two days.  I had two days till the Qualifier rounds for World of Dance.  I had my routine down to the T and my mum says it’s perfect (but she has to say that she’s my mum), however I’m still doubting myself on some of the moves, or if I’m not showing enough emotion (cause J-Lo loves herself some dancers who can convey emotion).

I was sitting in the rehearsal room having myself a break after rehearsing my dance for the past half hour.  I had this studio slotted for a 45min. rehearsal so I had about 15 minutes left to practice.

“I swear each time you dance your routine, you get more graceful every time.” Mum said as she came in with some lunch.

“Thanks mum, but is it good enough for the judges?”

“I know it is.” I chose not to respond to her. Like I said she has to say these things, but I know there are some flaws to my dance.  I didn’t stick the landing hard enough, I tripped up on the landing from the 540, my leg wasn’t straight enough with I lifted it outward, so many flaws. “Oh I forgot, there’s a little surprise waiting for you downstairs.”

“Mum I—I don’t know. I mean I haven’t even found out if I’ll make it into the next round.”

“Trust me love, you’ll like this surprise.” She raced over to the door and opened it and soon coming in my brother and his three friends from his film Bohemian Rhapsody.

“Benny!” I cheered as I hopped off my seat and raced right over to him.  A huge smile spread across his face as he extended his arms out and caught me as he picked me up and spun me around.

“Hey kiddo oh it’s been forever! Oh you’ve gotten so big since I last saw you.”

“I missed you Benny.”

“I missed you too kiddo. God you have no idea how much I missed you.” he said as he repeatedly kissed the top of my head.

“Your brother happened to be in LA so we planned a little surprise visit for you.” mum said as she closed the door.

“And I hope you don’t mind that I brought a few friends over.” Ben said as he gestured towards the three actors who starred with him on Bohemian Rhapsody.

“I don’t mind. I’ve heard so much about these guys that I figured it’s about time I met them in person.” He set me down and I walked up to the actor who played the legendary Freddie Mercury. “Rami Malek, right?”

“That is correct, and you must be his famous little dancing sister.”

“Well I wouldn’t call myself famous yet, but I hope to be one day.” We shook hands with each other.  I then moved onto the next one, the tallest out of all of them who even looked like Brian May even without the wig. “Now forgive me if I pronounce your name wrong, my Welsh isn’t that great. Is it—Gwilym.” I pronounced the “I” like I was saying “ice cream”.

“Close, it’s pronounced Gwilym. Think of the “wi” like will.”

“Right, sorry.”

“No worries—(Y/n) right?”

“Yeah.” We both shook hands with each other and I told him, “Can I just say, I thought you were phenomenal as Brian May.”

“Well thank you love, I take it you’re a Queen fan as well?”

“Yeah. You can thank Benny for that. He introduced me to the band when I was a little girl. I even did a dance routine to White Queen when I was around 4-5 years old.”

“Wow, if you remember it, we’d sure like to see it.” Rami said.

“I think I might remember it. Again it was a while ago so I might improvise something if I don’t remember the whole routine.”

“No problem there.” Rami said with a warm smile. I then moved on to the last actor who played (my personal favorite member of Queen, John Deacon).

“So you’re the famous Joe Mazzello that my brother won’t shut up about.”

“Sure am kid. And you’re the world time dance champion and scholarship holder for the best London dance academy ehh?”

“You could say that.”

“Well little missy I happen to be a dance champion too, and I challenge you to a dance off!” Already I could see Ben, Gwilym and Rami either shaking their heads or rolling their eyes as Joe’s proclamation.

“This wouldn’t have anything to do with my brother would it?”

“And if it is?” questioned Joe in a challenging manner.

“No reason.” I shrugged. “Just hope you’re prepared to lose.” The guys all oooh in a challenging manner and that’s when Joe nodded along.

“Okay, okay little one. But I’m giving it all I got so you better watch out.” I gestured that the dancefloor was all his.  Gwil went over to the stereo and went through my Spotify app till he found the song that Joe wanted to dance to.

He chose Wham’s ‘Wake me up before you go-go’. I’ll admit he has some pretty good moves—for an amateur.  After doing a minute and a half of his little on the spot dance moves, he posed as he panted heavily.

“It was okay.” I shrugged.

“Okay?”

“Yeah I mean—it was…..cute. It was cute. For like an Instagram or TikTok video.”

“Okay then little miss Prima donna. Show me your little ballet moves.” Challenged Joe.  Oh he don’t know me very well, do he? I first took off my ballet shoes and put on my sneakers.

I told Gwilym which song to play and he nodded to me that he would wait till I was ready before he played the song.  I now stood in the middle of the room and took a deep breath before turning to Gwilym.  He nodded and pressed his finger on my phone to play the song and soon YG’s “One time coming” began playing.

Play video

With this song I unleashed my Hip-hop background. Poppin and locking my body when needed, going in time with the beat, even doing things with my limbs to which no one had ever seen (like this one move where I had my right arm out and only by moving my left index finger, either the upper or lower portion of my arm would move up).

The guys and my mum were amazed and just in awe at my dancing.  And when I did a little patterned tip-toe strut with my arms tucked in like duck wings, did I hear the guys exclaim and just flip out.  When my minute and a half dance break was over, I flipped my hair towards Joe telling him that he got owned.

In pure defeat, Joe collapsed to the ground and lay there dead while my brother came up and hoisted me onto his shoulder.

“The winner and undefeated champion of the dance. (Y/n) Jones!” I bowed and thanked the guys and my mum as they cheered. Benny set me back down on the ground just as Joe finally came up and revived himself.  I stood before him and he said.

“You surprise me kiddo. I accept defeat. Benjamin is yours.”

“Well he is my brother. But—we can share him.” At hearing that, Joe took me in his arms and spun me around thanking me repeatedly.

“Do you think whenever we get some free time, could you show me some stuff. I really liked that little tip-toe strut.”

“I learned it from a friend of mine whose into Hip-hop back at my school. In fact he competed on the first season of World of Dance he and his group. They didn’t win but they got to the Semi-finals.”

“That’s awesome. You really are the dance master. And I can’t wait to see what you bring to the World of Dance stage.”

“In fact (Y/n), can we see your routine?” asked Ben.

“Yeah I was just about to ask that. Ben’s told us that while you can combine certain genres of dance, your main focus was on contemporary. I’ve always been intrigued anytime someone says they’re a contemporary dancer.” Gwilym said.  I turned to my mum and asked her how long did I have for rehearsal.

When she told me five minutes, I knew I could show them my audition routine that I had planned.  But after that we had to leave cause the next group to come in had to set up their things and warmup.  

The guys all took a seat along the mirrored wall while my mum handled the music.

Once my song began playing, I did my entire routine before the guys.  Showing Ben’s friends that while I can unleash the beast in Hip-hop, I can be as graceful and elegant as a swan.

After the routine was done, I got a standing ovation from all four of the guys as they applauded and whistled.  I gathered up my stuff and as I did, the guys all swarmed around me telling me what an amazing job I did, and that for some of the *cough*Joe*cough* I had them crying by the end of my routine.

We then left the dance studio and Ben’s friends allowed us to have our own personal family time (since Ben and I hadn’t seen each other in literally five years).  We said our goodbyes and soon our mum took us out to eat as sorta a family reunion/congratulations on all of our combined successes.

It was time.  The World of Dance qualifier rounds.  Today was my filming date and I knew in several weeks they would soon air it on TV worldwide.  Now I have performed in front of crowd before, but this—this was something else.

And not to even make me twice as nervous, I have seen what people comment on the show or the specific dancers.  Most of them are nice comments but then again it’s the Internet so there’s bound to be haters out there.

This one girl from last season just a few years older than me got so much hate in fact, that she ended up shutting down her Twitter page and I’m told she gave up on dancing all together.  I don’t know what I’m gonna do if that ends up being me.

I was running my routine through my head and stretching myself out.  With me to support me was my mum, Ben and Ben’s friends of Bohemian Rhapsody, Rami, Gwil and Joe.  With each dancing group or person that went up, I got more and more nervous.  Soon a producer came up to me and said.

“(Y/n), you’ll be on up after The Jumperz.”

“Okay, thank you.” I told him.  He nodded and walked away from me, at that moment I felt like I wanted to puke.

“Hey kiddo, how’s it going?” I looked up to see Ben standing over me.

“Good, very good.” He sat down beside me, his brow furrowed with concern.  Crap he knows, he always knows.

“You sure?” at this point I knew I couldn’t hide it anymore.  I tucked my legs into my chest and curled myself into a ball.

“I don’t think I can do this anymore Ben.”

“What do you mean?” he questioned.

“Maybe this whole thing was a mistake. Can we go home? Yeah, yeah let’s go home.” I said as I stood up.

“Now hold on, hold on love.” He took my hand into his stopping me from even walking away. “Let’s just sit down and talk about it real quick.” He stood up and we went outside of the room and stood along the hallway.

I leaned up against the wall with my arms crossed over my chest protectively and my leg bouncing with anxiety.

“Talk to me sis, what’s going on?”

“I just……I’m scared Ben. I don’t know why I am, I’ve performed in front of an audience before, I don’t know why I’m this nervous. It’s stupid I know.”

“Hey, hey, hey. No it’s not.” He said to me gently as he cupped my face, trying his best to not ruin my makeup. “You’re human, you have every right to be nervous. I’ll bet not a single one of these dancers you’re competing against isn’t feeling what you’re feeling now. And some of these guys might’ve been with well-known performers and are still feeling the nerves.”

“Is it always this nerve wracking for you every time you film something?” he nodded.

“Of course it is. I’m always worried about people’s reactions to me on screen. Even with all the positive feedback I get, I always keep my eye focused on that one negative outlook, no matter how many people say I’m good in a role.”

“I just don’t want the haters to pull me away from my dream like they did to that one dancer that came on the show last season.”

“Come here, have a seat in my lap.” He sat down on the floor and guided me till I was now sitting on his lap, holding me like a teddy bear. “There will always be haters and trolls out there in the world. That’s just what they get off of, is by bringing other people down, especially kids who go on shows like this. It’s wrong and vile but I won’t say you won’t encounter some hate. But the one thing you must keep in mind; is to never, ever let them dictate on who you are as a person.”

“Do you think I can do that?”

“Absolutely. You’re incredibly talented, you’re smart, kind, the most talented person I’ve ever met. I mean yeah I can dance but nowhere near to the level that you can. Hell you even beat out Joe in that little dance competition when you first met him a couple days ago.”

“I did do that, didn’t I?” he chuckled.

“You schooled him.”

“Ben no one says that anymore.”

“Whatever I’m a 90’s kid that was the lingo back then.”

“Back in the ancient times.” He scoffed.

“Alright miss smart-aleck I guess since you’re feeling well enough to sass me off you don’t need me anymore.” He plopped me off his lap and went to stand up but I gripped his shirt and begged.

“No Benny please!” all I could hear was his soft laughter.  I hit his arm and pouted. “You are so mean!”

“Aww sissy, you know I can’t help but be a little cheeky with you.” he teased as he playfully nudged my shoulder with his arm. I smiled and nodded.

“Yeah I know cause that’s your job.”

“It is my job. Well one of the many qualifications of being your Big Brother. The most important one though, is to be there for you when you need it.” He stroked the top of my head and I hugged him.

“Thanks Ben. I’m glad that you could be here.”

“Me too. And hey, accepted or not. I’m proud of all that you’ve done in your dancing career.” He whispered in my ear as he gave me a snug embrace.  

After our little bro-sis cuddle, we separated from each other and he asked me, “Do you still feel nervous?”

“A little but not as much.”

“Okay so there are two options we can do here; we can shake out the nerves, or my favorite—I can tickle them out of you.”

“No Ben you’ll ruin my costume!” I whined out as he chuckled.

“Okay, so we’ll shake them out then.” We both stood up and did our nerve shakeout.

Which was basically what he learned in theatre which was just shaking out your hands and feet counting backwards from 10, but each time we’d count, we’d go a bit faster.  Once we got one, Ben picked me up and spun me around before setting me down.

“Better?”

“Better.”

“Good, oh wait one last thing before you go out, gotta shake out those negative thoughts in that brain of yours.” He cupped my face in his hands and playfully shook my head around as he growled out in an angry tone, “Get out of my sister’s head you dirty rotter’s!”

“Ben!” I laughed.  He stopped as he grinned down at me.

“Had to make sure. You look beautiful, and I know you’re gonna wow everyone out there, especially the judges.”

“Thanks Benny. I love you.”

“Love you too kiddo.” He gave my nose a peck before escorting me back into the dance room.  A producer was calling out my name, I looked up at Ben and he nodded to me before I went racing off towards the producer to tell him I was here.

When he saw me, he guided me towards the corridor where I would walk down, go up the stairs and racing across towards the stage. I could hear the chanting claps of the audience and their cheers and soon I heard the announcer say through the speaker.

“Give it up, for (Y/n) Jones.” I raced across the corridor, took the steps two at a time before racing across the catwalk towards the stage.  As soon as I came on stage, everyone cheered and soon I was standing before Ne-Yo, Derek Hough, and Jennifer Lopez.  They greeted me with waves or nods and I waved to them.

“Hello sweetie.” Jennifer greeted me.

“Hi.” I waved back to her.

“Why don’t you tell us your name?”

“My name is (Y/n) Jones and I’m from London, England.”

“Oh a British Dancer. Finally someone from the UK.” Derek proclaimed.

“So how old are you?” Ne-Yo asked me.

“I just turned nine last month.” At that the crowd cheered for me and that’s when Ne-Yo said.

“Well happy belated birthday.”

“Thank you Ne-Yo.” He winked at me and said to me.

“Let’s see what you got (Y/n).” I nodded and handed my microphone to one of the assistants before racing off towards the back of the stage as the lights went down.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in before exhaling slowly.  This was it, make it or break it.

*Ben’s POV*

From backstage, my mum, the guys and I along with the other dancers could watch and see what was going on stage.  I pressed my hands together in a prayer motion as I had them against my lips, c’mon little sis I know you can do it.

*Play video*

Her song routine, Ashes by Celine Dion soon came on through the speakers and she began her routine.  The lights softly lit up in a sunrise color of yellow, orange, and purple.  She truly shined as her dance went on, going slow when she needed before finally sticking the landing or going with the beat of the song.

That entire stage was hers to command and she used the entirety of that stage for her routine.  I could hear the judges voices sound impressed with my sister’s routine, especially once the chorus struck and the hard drumbeats of the song kicked in.

The crowd was just in awe and applauded my sister, dazzled by her grace yet strength she was giving them in her performance.  Doing her 540’s, leg lifts, front flips, she was like the Freddie Mercury of dancing on that stage as she showed her true colors on that stage, especially as it lit up with her as the song got more powerful.

By the end of it when she stood up and just gave that pleading face of help as she reached out towards J-Lo, the lights went dark and the entire audience went nuts.  

“That was even amazing with the lights.” Said Joe.

“Agreed, she really lit that stage up.” Rami agreed.

“That’s our girl.” Mum said as I wrapped my arm around her.

“Alright, alright, alright, alright (Y/n). Now remind me how old you are?” Derek said.

“I just turned nine.” At that point Derek stood up from his chair flipping his pen which made everyone laugh. “Girl you look like you’ve been doing this for 20 years.” Everyone laughed.

“How old were you when you got into dancing?” asked J-Lo.

“I was 2.” (y/n) responded.

“Well it shows that you definitely have a passion for this. And you literally have been doing this your whole life. Just seeing you being able to do moves that—I couldn’t even do at your age till I was much older, that to me…..shows you have true love for dancing. And you already gave me goosies little missy and we just met you.”

“Uh-oh Jennifer with her goosies.” Ne-Yo said.

“She gave them to me, the goosies do not lie!”

“No they do not.” Derek said before he continued, “But just like Jennifer said. I mean my sister and I we did some contemporary a bit as kids but nowhere could we master it down just like you’ve done (Y/n). And that final move where you just landed right on your knees. I literally jumped from my seat.”

“Yeah it was like you had no bones little miss.” Ne-Yo said as my sister smiled and laughed. “Besides from what both Derek and Jennifer has said. Your timing is what really stuck out to me. Like it was like you were a part of the song itself. Like first you’d be like all smooth and fluid when the beat was gentle. But when the drumbeat kicked in hard with boom- boom boom-boom. That right there is what really stuck out to me.”

“I completely agree.” Derek said.

“Alright we’re gonna lock in our scores and we’ll see if you make it to the duels (Y/n).” J-Lo said with a smile. (Y/n) nodded and that’s when the lights dimmed down on her and we watched as the three judges locked in their scores, while making their silent commentaries to each other.

“Okay (Y/n), you need an 88 or above to qualify for the duels, let’s see what you scored.” The host said as he came out and stood beside my sister.  The lights shown down (like those game show lights whenever something gets suspenseful).

First up was Derek’s score; he gave her an 90.

At that my sister made a face of shock as her smile widened and she covered her mouth in shock.  The crowd cheered and up next was Ne-Yo’s score.

He gave her an 89.  Finally J-Lo’s score was a 92.  When the scores rounded up together was 90.3.  Her score shined up on the ceiling scoreboard and (Y/n) couldn’t believe it, poor sissy was even crying.

“Congratulations (Y/n) you made it to the Duels. How’s it feel?” the host asked as he held his microphone to her.

“It feel just—absolutely amazing. All three of you have been an inspiration to be in wanting to become a dancer and this just means so much to me. Thank you for letting me get this opportunity.”

“We can’t wait to see what you bring us, cause already little Miss, you’ve got the competitive edge. It better only get better from here on out.” Ne-Yo told her.  She nodded and thanked the judges one last time before running off the stage.

As she came running towards us, I had to be the first one she saw.  I cheered for her as I opened my arms out for her and she raced towards me before leaping right into my arms.  I spun her around as the two of us laughing joyously.

“You did it kiddo! I’m so proud of you.”

“Thanks to you Ben. I kept thinking about what you said, I dedicated my performance to you.” I felt myself tear up as I buried my face into her ponytailed hair.

“I would’ve been proud of you either way.” At this point the rest of the guys as well as our mum came up and congratulated her.

That night we celebrated her victory on making it to the next round of World of Dance.  Drinks for me and the guys, we danced, sung some karaoke, and just partied all night long.

[naldabixxx]

It's All Fine, Chapter 1

There isn't enough Translock in the world. Trigger warnings: Trans!Sherlock (Obviously), supportive!John, fluff and slight angst. Enjoy!

_-_-_

John's heart stopped as he saw his flatmate, his best friend, his boyfriend, his sherlock, sitting there... holding a syringe.

Sherlock had promised he wasn't taking anymore drugs. "Goddammit, Sher." John's voice wasn't mad, just disappointed with a slight touch of sadness.

"John, no, it's not what it looks like..." Sherlock sounded panicked. He stood up and tried to walk towards John, John sighed.

Sherlock handed John a small bottle of clear liquid, John was confused. He read the label on the container over and over, trying to process the word he saw in his hands.

Testosterone

"Sherlock?" John looked up from the bottle, only to see that the taller man had turned and walked away to look out the window, to avoid John's glare.

"Sherlock." John repeats, a little louder. John had failed to notice how Sherlock had tensed up as he raised his voice.

"Sherlock, look at me!" John was on the verge of tears, thoughts racing through his head.

Sherlock was terrified, though he'd never admit it. Memories he'd rather not remember hunting him down in his own mind.

John sighed once again. He began to walk towards the window, towards Sherlock. "Sher, please, can we talk?" his tone was much softer then before.

Sherlock turned his head, looking into John's eyes. John smiled, reaching his hand up to stoke Sherlock's cheek, ignoring the fact that his boyfriend flinched at the touch.

"Sher, so... You're transgender?" John knew the answer, but felt the need to confirm it.

Sherlock didn't say anything, he just nodded. His breathing was shaky. It was obvious he was more then a bit scared of having this conversation.

John notices that Sherlock is on edge, and he feels guilty. He knows there's nothing he can do. Nothing he can do to put his love's mind at ease in this monent, unless?

An idea forms in John's head, a perfect idea. So simple, so efficient, so effective.

John holds Sherlock's face, running his thumbs down his gorgeously shaped cheekbones.

John stared into Sherlock's eyes, they sparkled in the low light that filled the flat.

John noticed Sherlock's breathing, it had slowed significantly since they had began their embrace.

John pulled Sherlock close, he held him there firmly but not too tightly.

John stared at Sherlock's lips, he noticed their cupid bow shape and pale pink colour.

Suddenly, John is pulling Sherlock into a kiss. John feels Sherlock melting into his arms like an ice cream on a hot summer day.

John's hands find themselves tangled up in the taller man's dark curly hair. John let himself get swept away by the emotions, the comfortable feeling of the world drifting along filling his senses.

The world could be a dark and cold place, but John knew he'd always be able to find peace with Sherlock.

John never wanted this moment to end, and he knew Sherlock felt the same. Nothing could ruin this.

Soon enough, John felt himself and Sherlock parting their lips. John couldn't help but smile as he saw the relief in his boyfriend's eyes.

"Thank you." Sherlock whispered, out of breath. It was barely audible, but John heard it, and that was enough.

John chuckles slightly, he would do so such more for the man in front of him. So much more.

John, still holding Sherlock as close as possible, lead them both to the couch.

They just sat there in silence, it wasn't awkward, it was comfortable. Sherlock laid his head in John's lap, they were happy.

Sherlock looked up at John, a happy looking smile on his face "I'm guessing you're not angry?"

"Why would I be? If you're happy, I'm happy." John pulled Sherlock closer, trying to comfort him.

"But I do have one question..." John felt Sherlock tense up in his lap.

John sighed, he hated being the bad guy. He started playing with Sherlock's hair to try and calm the both of them.

"We've been together for over a year, known each other for even longer." he takes a long pause "Why didn't you tell me?"

Sherlock took a deep breath in, trying to steady his quickly rising heart rate "People aren't always the kindest... I've had to deal with that fact many times... I just didn't want to scare you away."

It brakes John's heart to see his Sherlock so weak, so afraid. It shatters his faith in humanity.

"Sher, I love you. Nothing will Chang that, ok? Nothing." John stares down at the man in his lap lovingly.

A smile spread across Sherlock's face. He was so relieved that he'd finally gotten this off his chest, it had been eating him up inside for so long.

"Who all knows?" John tried to brighten the mood with a light and simple question.

Sherlock thought for a moment, then answered "Well, other then the obvious, like family. Mrs Hudson, and... No one eles, really."

John was surprised, he knew Sherlock wasn't the most open guy, but he was still surprised. "Why not Lestrade? Molly? Seriously Sher?"

"I never felt the need to tell them." the answer was so simple, yet it was still so vague.

"Then why'd you tell Mrs Hudson?" John asked, confused.

Sherlock laughed a bit "Well, when we met in America. When I helped her escape her husband... It was all before I transitioned, so, she kinda had to know."

John also laughed a little, the answer made sense after all "Fair enough then." he had nothing to rebuttal that.

They stayed like that for what felt like hours, just happily talking. Sometimes a question would come up, Sherlock was alright with answering them, everything was going well.

John was ready to do anything for Sherlock, anything.

John made a promise to himself in that moment, he's going to protect Sherlock at any cost, always.

"Sher? I love you, you know that right?" John asked, as they were both falling asleep.

Sherlock nodded, he looked so sleepy. John smiled "Good. It's all fine. All good." They fell asleep in each others arms.

[bangteen]

Hello! I haven’t requested in a while but if you are still taking requests, could you do an angst for sunwoo from the boyz. Maybe where the reader has just been feeling really alone and they just really want to be with him but he keeps doing other things than comforting and loving on them.

a/n: hi!! Thank you so much for requesting and for your patience! Also, thank you for requesting for Sunwoo! I’ve been wanting to write for him pretty much ever since I’ve started this blog, but I guess I just haven’t gotten to it until now. I kinda changed your request up slightly, so I hope you still like it! Thank you again for requesting!! 💗

Can’t Anymore | Kim Sunwoo

≫ Summary: Sunwoo doesn’t make the time for you, causing you to rethink your relationship.

≫ Genre: angst

≫ Word count: 750

Lately, all you’ve been feeling is loneliness: empty, forgotten, unloved. It’s been weeks since you and Sunwoo have been on a date or even properly hung out. You knew he was busy, but something about this situation didn’t seem right. He should be able to at least see you a couple times a week. Whenever you would message him, he would rarely respond. Today you felt especially lonely without him. You wanted to see him. You were desperate for him.

Knowing that he probably wouldn’t respond if you texted or called him, you decided to go to the studio yourself to see him.

Knocking on the door to the dance practice room when you arrived, you heard some voices notifying you to come in. You walked in, finding the boys, sweaty and out of breath. You assumed they just finished running through a dance.

“Y/N!” You heard most of the boys greet you with large smiles on their faces.

You smiled back, greeting them before looking around, spotting your boyfriend who looked shocked at your sudden appearance.

“Y/N, what are you doing here?” Sunwoo asked, quickly walking to you with his eyebrows furrowed.

Before you could answer, he began speaking again, “here, let’s talk out here.”

He quickly pulled you out and into another room that was more secluded and private. He let go of your hand and motioned you to sit on the couch before planting himself down beside you.

“Why are you here, Y/N?”

“Well hello to you too,” you said, and before a response could leave his lips, you decided to answer his question. “Well, you haven’t been answering any of my calls or texts, and I wanted to make sure you’re okay and that you’re taking care of yourself. Why haven’t you been answering me recently? Are you guys that busy?”

“Yeah? I mean, we’ve had practice and lots of schedules recentl—“

“But you didn’t even have time to give me a quick call or even respond to my texts?”

All he did was look down at his fidgeting hands. No response.

“Sunwoo?”

He looked up at you guiltily.

“Sunwoo,” you took a deep breath in. “I don’t think this is a good time for us to be together. I understand that you’re really stressed, and if you don’t have time for a relationship—for us—then I think we should take a break.”

“W-what? You wanna break up?”

You bit your lip and looked down, trying to stop the tears that were daring to escape your eyes, but it was inevitable. The tears quickly fell, and your sobs filled the room. Sunwoo didn’t hesitate to take you in his arms, immediately attempting to comfort you.

“Y/N, we don’t have to end this. You're not serious, right?”

You pulled away from his embrace, sitting up and wiping your eyes before looking into his.

“Sunwoo, if I’m being honest,” you began slowly, composing yourself, “I feel like this isn’t fair. I feel like you’re being selfish and not making the time for me. It kinda feels like there’s no love here anymore.”

“What are you talking about, Y/N? I do love you. I still do, I always have, and I won’t ever stop. I’m a jerk for not making the time for you, I really am, but I’ll improve. Just give me the chance to, please, Y/N. I don’t wanna lose this.”

“You don’t wanna lose what? There’s nothing here anymore,” you repeated.

His heart felt broken, tears were now flowing down his cheeks too.

“I don’t wanna lose you. There is still something here. I love you, Y/N. Do you still love me?”

Your sobs rang louder throughout the room before you slowly responded.

“You know, I thought I did, but to be honest, I don’t even know anymore.”

“Then let’s build this relationship back up. I want this to work, Y/N. I don’t wanna lose you. I can’t imagine my life without you. I imagined marrying you and growing old with you. I don’t wanna lose you, Y/N. Please don’t end this.”

He looked at you with desperation in not only his eyes but his voice too. You took a deep breath before speaking with tear-filled eyes.

“Sunwoo, I imagined growing old with you too. I’ve been so patient with you for so long, but I can’t keep doing this anymore. I can’t imagine us working out anymore. Maybe we will grow old with each other, just not while we’re together in this relationship. I just can’t anymore, Sunwoo.”

[mikeisthricedeceased]

You’re My Home 3

Catfish x OC

Part 3: Honesty

Word Count: ~3.5k

Part 1  Part 2

Warnings: ANGST, mentions of death, mentions of alcoholism, mentions of drug use, overdose, fluff

A/N: Sorry for the angst. Also for the info-dump of a dating montage. I gotta establish things. They fuck in the next part. Like, a lot.

Summary: They go on a few more dates and its a Montage. Frankie has a bad time in his apartment. Overdose and ER visit. Nita gives Frankie a stern talking-to.

~*~*~*~

Frankie woke up in his room, looking around blearily. He squinted, turning to look at the other side of the bed, only to find it empty.

Huffing out a sigh, he buried his face in his pillow.

She might’ve had work. Or had things to take care of at her place. 

Or she just wanted to leave after he fell asleep because it was clear that nothing was going to happen, even if he had been awake.

It wasn’t fair to think like that. He knew that. It was a reflection of how he was getting into his own head far more than it was a reflection of anything she’d done.

Nita had sprawled out on the couch, leaning into him, head on his chest as they scrolled through movies and shows. She’d done her best to explain some parts of her job or the whole community behind it when they couldn’t find anything else to watch.

They’d spent a long time curled up on the couch and talking about whatever came to mind.

When he had asked her to stay, he hadn’t really been expecting much. After all, even with how much he wanted her, that odd guilt had stayed in the back of his mind.

He could still picture her tired smile as she said, “As long as we can move back to the bed. I don’t think I’ll survive sleeping on a couch for the night.”

She had quickly exchanged her jeans for an old pair of sweatpants he had, which were way too long on her, before slipping under the covers with him.

And now she was gone.

He reached for the phone on his nightstand, lifting it up and squinting. No notifications.

He sank into numbness as he got up, rubbing a hand down his face and shuffling to the bathroom to take a piss.

When he came back out, he headed to the kitchen, walking right past an old set of sneakers with a folded pair of jeans and a bra sitting on top of them.

He was in the middle of a yawn when he stepped into the kitchen and was confronted with the sight of Nita kneeling on top of the counter, a cabinet open next to her as she read the label on a bag of ground coffee.

She looked up when he stopped, giving him a warm smile.

The morning was already far better than he’d been preparing himself for.

~*~*~*~

“And this was right after she was born?” Nita asked.

Frankie smiled. “Yeah, right when they brought her back from being weighed and everything. She was so tiny.”

She looked up from the photo on his phone, placing a hand on his arm. “She’s so beautiful.”

Nita was sitting with her legs thrown across his lap, curled up against the arm of the couch in his living room. One of his hands rested just above her ankle, the other splayed over her thigh.

“She is,” he agreed. “Lana almost had to knock me out to get me to hand her over. As soon as Izzy was in my arms, I never wanted to give her up for anything.” His expression was so soft, bursting with adoration.

Nita chuckled. “Doesn’t surprise me, you big softie,” she said, brushing her knuckles along his jaw.

He rolled his eyes, waving her hand away. “Yeah, yeah.” He pointed to the phone in her hands. “If you scroll further down, there should be some more recent pictures. Stuff from her birthday.”

Nita leaned her head against the back of the couch as she looked through the pictures, a small smile on her face that grew whenever she came across a photo of a little girl with cake icing all over her face. “I think it’s safe to say you have the most adorable daughter in the world. At least, in my opinion,” she said, patting his chest and handing him his phone.

He nodded, grinning over at her as he took it. “Oh, I’d have to agree. No contest.” He squeezed her thigh affectionately.

They’d been dating for about a month. It was good. So good. 

Over that month, he’d told her a little bit about the fuckup of a job that went down in South America the year before, and how it had cost them an old friend. How he blamed himself for the crash that made the whole thing go downhill. How he and his buddies had been trying to stay in touch a little more after that, even with how much civilian life kept them apart.

She’d told him about her friend and business partner, Sydney, as well as his husband, Ethan. How they, and the people she worked with, were her family. How her parents had kicked her out and cut her off when she came out after high school and that she had joined the Marines to help pay for college without them. How she hadn’t spoken to them since then. Nothing, in 25 years.

He didn’t think he would have made it as far as he had if he hadn’t had his parents to back him up. He had to give her credit for finding a whole new family and making a life doing what she enjoyed and cared about.

Frankie could feel himself open up to her whenever they went out together or when she came over and they just talked for hours about everything and nothing.

He eventually managed to bring up his struggles with cocaine, terrified of her reaction but more so terrified of the possibility of her finding out some other way.

She’d looked taken aback when he told her. He was ready for her to tell him that she couldn’t be around that, that he had to fix it before he considered dating. It had played a big part in ending his marriage, after all.

She had just looked at him for a few moments. “My assistant, Tiff, takes the key to my home liquor cabinet home with her whenever I start to get too stressed.” Her gaze slid down. “I started giving it to her once we’d gotten a little closer, and I’d told her about how I’d been well on my way to alcoholism before I was even old enough to drink. Joining the military made it worse. It peaked right after I got discharged. That whole clusterfuck tipped me over the edge and I ended up in the ER getting my stomach pumped after a particularly rough night of binge drinking.” She’d shrugged, offering a sad smile. “Started going to therapy after that. It helps. Having friends, too. I won’t pretend to know what it’s like for something like coke, but I imagine there’s some crossover in the reasoning behind it. I wanted to shut things out. The shit with my family. All the stuff while I was serving. Almost losing Syd.”

She had let out a sigh, holding one of his hands between hers. “Stopping it has taken more discipline than I ever thought I had. And I haven’t even gone full sober, but I have strict rules for myself. It starts to get easier though, when you find other, better habits to take its place.”

Frankie had run a hand through his hair. “How do you do that?”

A wrinkle appeared between her brows. “Do what?”

“Make me have some hope for myself that doesn’t feel like complete bullshit.”

She had brought his hand up and kissed his knuckles. “I’m just telling you the stuff that I’ve gone through and what I’ve learned in the years since then. We’ve all had our struggles. A little empathy only makes sense.”

He had pulled her up into his lap after that, sliding his arms around her and just holding her there for a long time.

He also occasionally worked up the courage to ask her specific questions about her job at the club. He’d made some effort to look things up online, but usually ended up feeling like everything went over his head.

“So, people call you Boss when you’re there?” he asked one night when they’d had pizza delivered to his apartment for a night in.

She nodded, sliding a slice of ham and pineapple onto her plate. “Yep. And outside of work, too, since it kinda becomes a habit, but that’s mostly the other staff. The Boss is kinda like a role I play while I’m there in general, and with a few of my regular clients that like that for private play. The suits are really nice,” she said, smiling.

“When you say regular clients, is that just people who stop by a lot?”

“It’s a repeat business. We have our regulars just like anywhere else, people that get what they’re looking for with a particular Dom on staff, or the people who pay for the membership so they can use the equipment in the open dungeons,” she said, shrugging as she took a bite of pizza.

Frankie set his beer on the coffee table and raised an eyebrow. “What kinds of stuff do your clients ask you to do for them?” The tips of his ears went a little warm when he realized what he might be asking about. “If you can even say. I guess most people wouldn’t want their... interests to be talked about with random people.”

She grinned. “You can say kinks. It’s not a bad word. And I’m happy to discuss clients in a very general way. I just don’t want to out anyone specific for what they like.”

He sat back into the couch. “So, what is the general stuff?”

“Well,” she began, “I’ve dealt with Daddy and Mommy kinks, a lot of bondage, nonsexual overstimulation, sensory deprivation, impact play, breath play. Degradation is a big one, as is praise. Sometimes, there’s a specific scenario that the client wants to explore, so that usually has some more involved roleplaying.”

He nodded along, eyes going a bit wide. “I know what some of those words mean,” he told her. “And you’re the one in charge every time? Like, you’re the one doing stuff, the tying up and name-calling and everything?”

“I am the Boss. So, yes.” She drew her legs up and tucked them under her. “But, despite the power play going on in a scene, the submissive always has a level of control over the situation because they can end it immediately and at any point. That’s what safewords are for, or alternatives when a sub can’t speak.”

“Right,” he said slowly. “And the club has its own safeword?”

She nodded through another bite.

He looked down at his own plate. “And you’re really into all of that?”

“Yeah. It’s why I made it my job. I mean, I’m not really into being called Mommy or Daddy myself, but I don’t mind it if it’s what the client wants. Kind of a loose roleplay.”

“So, you—” He had to clear his throat, glancing over at her. “You want to do that kind of stuff...to me?”

Nita looked over at him, studying his face before setting her plate on the table with a sigh. She scooted closer to him on the couch and set a hand on his knee. “I don’t want to do anything that you don’t want me to. We don’t have to do any of this and I’m certainly not going to force it on you. If you find yourself interested, we can try some things, but I’m not expecting you to get on board just because I am.” She leaned against him, taking his hand. “And considering the fact that we’ve only really made out at this point, I have no plans to start breaking out any crazy shit.”

Embarrassment burned in his chest. “Yeah, I’m—I’m sorry about that whole thing,” he said, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck.

She sat up a little higher to look at him, still partially leaning into his side. “Stop it. That isn’t something you ever need to apologize for. I am fully capable of enjoying time with you that doesn’t involve sex, Frankie.” She slid her arms around his chest, resting her head on his shoulder. “And I get to cuddle up with you regardless, so I’m only winning.”

He offered a half-hearted hum, but wrapped an arm around her to keep her tucked against him.

She squinted up at his profile. “Don’t make me start,” she warned.

“Start what?”

“You know what.”

He shook his head. “No, I don’t.”

“I’m gonna start, Frankie,” she said, pursing her lips at him.

“I don’t know what that means,” he insisted, holding his hands up, brows lifting in exasperation.

Nita brought a hand up to cup the side of his face. “So pretty.”

He frowned in confusion. “What?”

She leaned up and buried her face in his neck. “The most handsome,” she said.

“What’re you—”

“Very cozy. The sweetest ever. A ‘read me the whole phone book’ kind of voice.” She was smiling against his neck.

“Nita—”

She pulled herself up onto his lap, ignoring him. “Really soft hair. Nice laugh. Gorgeous eyes. A big-hearted goofball. The best smile. A goddamn adorable blush. Hands made to be held. Excellent kisser. Fellow bad movie lover. Super smart. Great at—”

“Okay!” he exclaimed, putting a hand over her mouth to make her stop, his face burning. “I get it! You don’t have to attack me with compliments.”

She beamed at him and pulled his hand away, poking his cheek. “See? A goddamn adorable blush.”

“Stop,” he groaned, leaning forward to hide his face in her hair while she laughed.

It seemed too soon to say anything, but he could feel it filling his chest whenever she was around.

~*~*~*~

Despite everything that had improved in the last month, he would still end up tormenting himself in the off times.

One morning, he woke up before sunrise. His apartment was dark and empty.

He should’ve pushed to leave more money behind before they ever took off.

Frankie ground the heels of his palms into his eyes as he sat up.

He should’ve found a better exit route.

Swinging his legs off the side of the bed, he stood up slowly, putting a hand on the nightstand for support.

He should’ve found a different place to land.

He shuffled into his bathroom and turned on the faucet, splashing cold water on his face before he looked at himself in the mirror.

He’d shot first.

There were dark circles under his eyes and he looked pale. The lines in his face stood out, making him seem grim. Guilty.

He’d been willing to kill kids. Fucking kids.

It was his fault. He couldn’t stop drawing everything back to the mistakes he’d made, the risks he’d taken while they were there. They’d lost the money because of him. They’d crashed because of him. Tom was dead because of him.

He’d still be at home, watching his daughter grow up, if he hadn’t agreed to go in the first place.

He turned the faucet off and walked out of the bathroom, going straight for the dresser. Opening up the top drawer, he slid his hand to the back and grabbed the big Ziploc bag hidden under some old socks. He brought the whole thing with him as he walked to the kitchen and grabbed a beer from the fridge.

He popped open the bottle and headed into the living room, tossing the bag on the coffee table and sinking down onto the couch.

The little packets of white powder stared up at him as he sipped his beer.

~*~*~*~

Nita parked outside of Frankie’s building. She got out of the car, clipping her keyring to a belt loop, and grabbed her wallet and phone from the cup holder.

She jogged up to the main entrance, catching the door before it closed behind the person who walked in ahead of her.

They were going to try a new breakfast place downtown. They had agreed it would be easier to just meet up at his place and take one car from there, since it had become the norm for Nita to stay over until she had to get ready for work anyway.

When she reached the elevator, she hit the call button and sent Frankie a quick ‘on my way up’ text.

She looked up as the door opened with a ding and stepped inside, glancing down at her phone in anticipation of a short acknowledging response from him. She kept checking while she got off on his floor and up until she was in front of his door.

Shaking her head with a small smile, she knocked on the door. He had a habit of leaving his phone on the charger in his bedroom until the last minute.

She looked down the hallway as she waited for him to open the door. She waited and waited and waited.

There didn’t seem to be any movement on the other side.

She knocked harder, leaning toward the door with a frown. The TV was playing faintly from inside, but she couldn’t hear him moving around or talking. Nothing.

Looking down at her phone, she called him and brought it up to her ear.

She could hear it ringing from inside his apartment. It rang until his voicemail picked up.

Worry set in. He wouldn’t still be in the shower if they were supposed to meet up. His apartment wasn’t huge, he’d be able to hear her knocking or his phone ringing. He’d have told her if something came up, and he wouldn’t have left without his phone. Hell, his truck was still parked in the lot.

She tried knocking again.

When she still didn’t get a reply, she started shifting into panic mode. Awful scenarios played over in her mind.

Is this how Syd felt when he couldn’t get in touch with her?

That thought triggered a whole other scenario to play out. The night she had to be rushed to the hospital for alcohol poisoning.

And Frankie had told her about his issues with cocaine.

“No, no, no,” she whispered, twisting helplessly at the doorknob, “please, don’t be that.”

She was sprinting back down the hallway before she even realized what she was going to do. Her panicked footsteps echoed through the stairwell as she went back to the ground floor and burst out into the lobby.

She got to the front desk, gripping the edge of the counter as she looked at the clerk.

“I need a key for 306,” she told him, breathless.

He didn’t look up from his computer. “Do you have proof of residence?”

“I don’t live here. It’s my boyfriend’s apartment. Please, it’s urgent.”

He sighed, turning to her with a bored look. “I can’t give out keys without proof of residence or consent from a resident.”

She shook her head, panic giving way to her temper. “You don’t understand, this is an em—”

“I cannot give out keys without proof of residence or consent from a resident.”

Furious, she pulled a business card out of her wallet and threw it at the man. “Fucking bill me, then,” she snarled.

She was already back at the door for the stairway before he could shout an angry “Hey!”

Even taking the steps two at a time, it felt like forever before she reached the third floor. She ran down the hallway, pulse pounding in her ears as she returned to his door. Taking a deep breath, she braced herself quickly before slamming a foot into the door, right next to the knob.

She heard it crack a little, but it held, vibrating on its hinges with the force.

Kicking again, the cracking was louder and there was a dent where her foot hit.

A third kick made the doorframe splinter inward and she was able to shoulder the door open the rest of the way.

She saw him immediately. 

He was laying limp on the living room floor, a trail of foam at the corner of his mouth. Three beer bottles sat on the coffee table, one laying on its side. She didn’t miss the shakily prepared lines of cocaine right next to the bottles, or that the amount of open packets scattered across the table meant that they were far from the first.

She ran over to him and crouched at his side, fingers seeking out the pulse at his neck.

It was fast, too fast, but that was better than nothing.

Pulling her phone out, she called for an ambulance immediately, trying to keep the shaking out of her voice as she answered their non-stop questions.

She stayed on the phone with the dispatcher until the paramedics were walking through the splintered doorway. How she must’ve looked then, petting his hair gently with trembling hands.

The questions started all over again as she went with them out to the ambulance. There was so much that she couldn’t answer and she just kept apologizing for that, even though they’d only known each other for little more than a month

She climbed in with them, wide eyed as they started placing stickers and wires all over him before sticking an IV in his arm.

They were throwing jargon back and forth between the questions that they asked her.

She felt like she was in a daze, listening to the rapid beeps of the machine monitoring his vitals, trying to pick through her memory for any traces of his medical history that might’ve come up in conversation.

Then, a dull, steady tone filled the space.

The world went white as the paramedic beside her got to his feet and started doing chest compressions.

She knew that they were all talking to one another, and maybe to her, but all she heard was that single long tone. Numbness crawled through her veins and she just stared at Frankie’s face. There wasn’t anything she could do in that situation and the helplessness was tearing her apart.

Her body jolted along with the momentum of the speeding ambulance, her elbow slamming into the wall hard enough to bruise at one point, but the only pain she felt was her chest constricting and the blurry sting behind her eyes.

Everything became too loud when the beeping resumed. The sudden ability to breathe again made her dizzy and she could feel tears falling down her face.

The paramedics waited a moment, scanning the monitor to ensure that things were returning to some semblance of normal, before the one beside her sat back down.

He gently nudged her arm and she realized that she was shaking. “Hey. We’ve got him,” he said softly.

She just nodded silently, not trusting her voice to work with the lump in her throat.

From that point on, she watched the monitor displaying his vitals, willing it all to stay steady throughout the rest of the drive.

When they got to the hospital, she wasn’t allowed to follow them back to his room. She wasn’t family.

Instead, a nurse led her out to the waiting room, where she sat stiffly in one of the cushioned chairs, not really sure what she was meant to be waiting for, nor how long that wait would be.

She wasn’t sure how long she sat there, staring blankly at the empty chair across from her, before a woman came through the main entrance.

Nita didn’t really notice her until she hurried up to the nurses’ station and said “I got a call about a patient. Francisco Morales?”

Nita looked up, finding a woman she’d seen a few glimpses of in older photos of Izzy that Frankie had shown her on his phone. Lana. She must’ve still been listed as his emergency contact.

She got up out of her chair as the nurse behind the desk took Lana’s ID and started typing away. As she got closer, she felt more uncertain as to what she would even say.

Lana was about average height, which meant she was taller than Nita, and seemed to be a few years younger, maybe mid to late thirties. She was pretty, a warm complexion and dark hair that was pulled away from her face in a low ponytail. She glanced up when Nita stopped a few feet away.

“Hi,” Nita said, giving a small, polite smile. “You’re Lana, right?” She caught the look of slight confusion as Lana studied her face, clearly trying to place it. “We’ve never met. I’m Nita, I came here with Frankie.”

Realization spread over her features and she held out a hand, which Nita shook. “I didn’t know he was seeing someone.”

Nita shrugged, a part of her hoping she didn’t look as wrecked as she still felt. “It’s only been a little over a month, so I’m not surprised.”

Lana’s eyes widened. “A month? And you’re already having to come to the hospital?” She leaned closer, voice lowering. “Tell me it wasn’t the coke. They just told me to come in, they didn’t tell me what was wrong. Did he overdose?”

She pressed her lips tight, head filling with that long, dull tone as she gave a small nod. “I found him. We were supposed to meet up before grabbing breakfast.”

“I’m sorry,” Lana said sincerely. Then, she frowned slightly. “What are you doing out here? Are they not allowing visitors?”

Nita shook her head. “Family only.” She gestured vaguely to Lana. “Or emergency contacts.”

“Ms. Torres,” said the nurse, holding out Lana’s ID. “Someone will be by in a minute to bring you back.”

Lana took the card, still frowning as she looked at Nita, before she turned to the nurse. “Can I bring her back with me?”

Nita’s eyes widen a bit in surprise, gaze shifting between Lana and the nurse.

The nurse looked to Nita. “Do you have an ID with you?”

She was quick to slip her license out of her wallet and hand it over, nodding her thanks to Lana who just gave a small smile.

A nurse appeared from the set of automatic doors next to the desk as Nita was being handed her license back.

“You’re here for Mr. Morales?” he asked.

Both women nodded and he gestured for them to follow.

Nita tensed as soon as they left the waiting room, skin crawling as they made their way down the featureless hall. It was always the smell that bothered her first, followed by the lighting and the hallways that felt awkwardly wide but also cramped. She’d never even been to this hospital, but the bland walls were full of bad memories.

“He’ll be asleep when you go in, and probably won’t wake up for a few hours while he detoxes,” the nurse was explaining. “We did have him awake a little while ago to check for any other possible issues, like a concussion since he was found on the ground. Nothing turned up, so that’s a good sign. It’s just down to having him rest and letting everything work it’s way out of his system. The plan right now is to keep him overnight, with the possibility of holding him another day for observation.” They stopped at a door and the nurse carefully pushed it open, letting Nita and Lana step through first. “If you need anything, you can go to the nurses’ station that’s a little further down this hall.” He then gestured back the direction they’d just come from. “We passed some vending machines on the way here. I know it’s almost lunch time, so if you want to get some snacks, those are an option. There’s also the cafeteria, but you might need to ask someone to show you the way if you want to get there.”

They each nodded along with his words, thanking him before he slipped back out of the room. They were left to take in the sight of Frankie in the hospital bed as the room settled into silence.

He was pale, a thin sheen of sweat causing his hair to stick to his forehead and neck. His eyes seemed sunken, like this was the only sleep he’d gotten in a long time. The wide neck of the hospital gown was crooked and left his collarbones exposed, skin still gleaming with sweat. There were a few machines surrounding him, all just there to monitor his heart rate, oxygen levels, or blood pressure. He was still hooked up to an IV, the bag hanging on a stand nestled amongst the machines.

Nita was hit with a wave of nausea but she gritted her teeth, determined to fight it. He would be alright. There was no reason for her to start sliding back into panic. 

Her throat tightened with the threat of tears anyway.

Lana walked over to one of the chairs in the room and sat down heavily, sighing as she ran her hands down her face. She looked to where Nita was still frozen in place. “Come sit. I don’t think there’ll be much for us to do until he wakes up,” she said gently, leaning back.

“Yeah,” she rasped, taking him in for a moment longer before tearing her gaze away and moving to join Lana.

~*~*~*~

His chest hurt. It felt like someone had knocked a baseball right into the center of it. Or maybe just hit him directly with a hard swing of the bat.

And the low beeping was making the pounding in his head even worse.

He heard people speaking, too low to make out, and something about their voices was...off.

Everything was too bright when he tried to open his eyes. It was like a light was shining right into his face. He forced his eyes to stay open, squinting against the light in the room and up at the TV playing on the wall across from him.

The voices.

He slowly registered that he was in a hospital room as he looked around. Something was wrong. He’d fucked something up. Done too much. His whole body felt like shit.

His gaze eventually landed on the figure sitting in a chair off to the side.

She was facing the TV, a bag of pretzels in her hand, not yet noticing that he was awake.

Confusion took hold of him. “Lana?”

She met his gaze with a start. “Hey,” she said, flustered. “You’re up.”

He shook his head. “What’re you—? But Izzy—?”

“Izzy is with my mom. The hospital called me down here,” she told him with a sigh. “You need to get your records updated, Frankie.”

He felt himself sink down into the bed. “Yeah. I’m sorry. I didn’t—” He swallowed hard, throat dry. “I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

Lana stood up and folded her arms as she made her way over to the side of the bed. “I know you didn’t. I think the fact that you had plans this morning kinda saved you, actually.”

“Plans?” he asked with a slight frown. 

And then there was the dread as he remembered.

“It’s Tuesday,” he said softly. “I was supposed to have breakfast with Nita.”

Lana nodded, looking down at her shoes. “She’s the one that found you.”

“Fuck,” he groaned, covering his face with his hands. “God fucking damn it.” He shut his eyes and let his hands fall back down. “I woke up so early, I didn’t even think about the day.”

“She’s been on edge the whole time I’ve been here, Frankie.” She looked up at him and her eyes were so full of emotion that it almost made him wince. “Don’t put her through this, alright? I know that you know it’s not fair. To anyone.”

He stared down at the end of the bed. “I know. I’m trying, but I just...” he trailed off with a sigh. “I’m trying.”

“Yeah,” she said, voice low and a bit strained as she let her gaze drop.

“And Nita’s here?” He tried to shift a little, sit up straighter, but pain twisted all along his rib cage and he was forced to slump back. Prepared to try again, he took a deep breath, only to discover that that alone reignited the pain. Teeth gritted, he focused on keeping his breathing even without over-expanding his lungs.

“She is. She went to grab a drink from the vending machine.”

He nodded slightly, a hand hovering over where the ache was worst. “Did something happen while I was out?” he ground out. “When I move, it’s like I’m getting kicked in the chest.”

Lana frowned and shook her head. “I don’t know. They said you were alright, aside from having to detox. You could call in a nurse,” she suggested.

They both turned to look when the door opened.

Nita slipped into the room, eyes widening as she saw Frankie. “Hi. How do you feel?” she asked, quickly moving to his side, a hand gently taking hold of his free one.

“Like shit,” he said, offering a dry grin. “Headache isn’t fun. And my chest is killing me, for some reason.”

Something in her expression shifted, the little smile that had been forming wavered. “They didn’t say your ribs were broken, but they’re probably pretty bruised.”

“Did I hit something? Or run into something?” 

She shook her head and squeezed his hand, eyes too bright. “No. They, uh...They had to do chest compressions on the ride here.” He could see her jaw working as she shifted her weight. “You flatlined.”

He stared at her blankly, not sure he even wanted to fully process what she’d said.

“What?” Lana exclaimed.

Nita cleared her throat. “I’m sorry. I would’ve said something earlier, but I couldn’t really think about it without—” She rocked back on her heels and pulled her hand away from him. “Hospitals bring back—” she started again before her jaw clenched. “I’m gonna go sit down.”

They watched her shuffle around the bed and slump down heavily into one of the chairs, hands covering her face. She was silent for a few moments before she looked back up at them.

“I haven’t been able to get the sound out of my head since I heard it, and hospitals bring back some very bad memories, so I’ve just been trying to avoid focusing on the details or thinking about anything that will make me nauseous.” She said it all very quickly, like she was trying to get it out before she could register her own words. “So, your ribs are probably bruised.”

Frankie looked up at the ceiling and almost wished that he was enough of a believer to pray, but he couldn’t get his thoughts organized enough to even try.

Lana slowly made her way over to the chairs and sat down next to Nita.

Things were pretty quiet after that.

~*~*~*~

The hospital released him two days later, taking that second day for observation to monitor the effects of the detox and the severity of his bruised ribs.

Nita was there from the very beginning of visiting hours each day, staying until the nurses had to practically force her to leave.

Lana left when visitation ended the day he was brought in so that she could pick Izzy up. She came back for an hour or two the next morning to check in, and a final time when they were letting him go.

Once Lana left and his papers were signed, he was wheeled out through the front doors and to the entrance of the parking garage by a nurse before getting up and walking the rest of the way to Nita’s car.

The drive to his apartment was overwhelmingly calm and it made him feel like everything inside him was utter chaos by comparison.

Upon making it to his building, the man at the front desk stopped them as soon as they walked in. 

“You Morales? 306?” he asked Frankie.

His brow furrowed. “Yeah.”

The man held out a hand. “ID.”

Frankie just looked more confused as he pulled out his wallet and handed his license over.

The clerk leaned over his computer and checked the license against some information he pulled up on the monitor. Then, he straightened back up and returned the ID before handing Frankie a key. “For your new door,” he said, shooting a glare at Nita.

Frankie stared down at the key as they walked to the elevator. “New door? I didn’t know they were getting new doors.”

Nita pushed the call button and looked up at him. “They aren’t. I just kicked in your old one.”

His brows shot up and he nearly dropped the key. “You what?”

“They wouldn’t give me a key, so I had to kick my way in.”

He stared at her blankly for a few seconds. “I’m sorry you had to do that,” he said lowly.

She shrugged. “I just had to get to you. I was worried.”

He gazed down at her as they walked onto the elevator, eyes sweeping over her face. She looked tired. And it was his fault.

He was a little startled when he felt her fingers intertwine with his.

“I’m fine,” she assured him, voice quiet, “we’re focusing on making you feel better.”

Her thumb brushed the back of his hand.

He couldn’t help wondering if she knew just how much he didn’t deserve it, that little comforting gesture. Surely, there was enough evidence showing that she shouldn’t even bother with him. It had to be clear by that point that he was just in a permanent state of fucked up mess.

Neither of them said anything when they reached the third floor and walked down the hall.

He took note of the fresh coat of paint on the new doorframe and the knob that shone bright from lack of use.

When he walked inside, he felt a heaviness clinging to him, weighing his shoulders down. He hated how his first concern was the mess he’d left on the coffee table, and the confusion when he saw that there were no traces of it.

“I got rid of it while I was waiting for the ambulance,” Nita said as she walked into the kitchen and pulled herself up onto the counter. “I broke the door and there was no reason to leave it out for someone to find while you were gone.”

He just looked at her, a frown etched into his face. Shuffling into the kitchen, he leaned back against the counter across from her and let his gaze drop to the floor, body slumping as much as his ribs would allow.

Her eyes trailed over him with concern. “What are you thinking about?”

Crossing his arms, he shook his head. “The fact that I’m just a piece of shit, and that I can’t stop fucking things up for myself.” His eyes burned as he gestured toward her. “I mean, I fucking OD and you’re the one cleaning up after me. We’ve been together a few weeks and I’m already—” his voice cracked, “I’m already putting you through this kind of bullshit. This kind of stupid shit is the whole reason I’m divorced and now I’m throwing it at you too. And, on top of that, I feel guilty whenever I want you, which doesn’t even make sense and just makes me feel like a goddamn asshole because I know that I’m being fucking confusing but I can’t make it stop. I start to think about any bad memories or doubts and my first instinct is to fucking turn my brain off for a few hours because I’m too fucking stupid to figure out a halfway decent way to cope. I can’t trust myself.” He took his hat off and threw it across the counter, running a hand through his hair and down his face. “Now, I’m just ranting at you like a kid throwing a tantrum, as if you have anything to do with all of my bullshit,” he said, smiling bitterly to himself as his throat tightened. “You’re the best thing that’s happened to me in all this time I’ve been on my own and this is the shit that I pull.”

His jaw clenched as he folded his arms back tight across his chest and shifted his weight.

Nita slipped down off of the counter, crossing the kitchen and stopping in front of him.

“Look at me, Frankie,” she said softly, taking his face in her hands.

His eyes found hers reluctantly.

“There are some things I’m about to say. A lot of it, you already know, but sometimes you have to hear things out loud for them to click. And some of it won’t be very nice to hear. Okay?”

He offered a small nod.

She took a deep breath, brushing her thumbs over his cheeks. “You aren’t married anymore, Frankie.”

He instantly tensed, trying to lean away, but she held him in place.

“You are divorced. You’ve been single for the better part of a year. Moving back into your old place isn’t really a possibility. You aren’t—”

A muscle in his jaw ticked. “Nita—”

“Hush. I’m not done.”

His shoulders sagged.

She studied him for a moment before continuing. “You aren’t cheating on anyone. You aren’t being unfaithful. You’re allowed to date. You can have sex with as many people as you want. You could go to a fucking orgy, if that’s what you want to do!”

He gave a strained laugh as she smiled at him.

“You don’t need to feel guilty whenever I rile you up. You’re allowed to enjoy being intimate with me. You aren’t doing anything wrong. It is perfectly alright to get a blowjob from the lady you met at the bar a few weeks ago. You know, the one who won’t shut up about how sexy you are.”

A smile curled at his mouth and he reached to give her hip a small squeeze.

She brushed a few strands of hair from his forehead, expression turning more serious. “You aren’t happy. You’re the sort of man that the world has chewed up and spit out too many times to count. And you bottle everything up. You lock everything up so tight that your only means of distraction is by forcing bad chemicals with the right effect into your brain so that everything stops hurting for a little while. I know you want to block out all of the shit that went down with you and your friends, but shoving it down isn’t helping anyone. Especially not you. You are an addict. And it’s killing you.”

She heard him take a shaky breath.

She swallowed hard, and leaned forward to press her forehead against his. “Your fucking heart stopped, Frankie.”

He let loose a sob, arms wrapping around her and pulling her close.

She hugged around his neck, hands clasped at his nape. “You need help. And you haven’t really done much to find it for yourself because you’ve become so fucking terrified of being a burden on the people around you. That’s a hard mindset to break out of, and I know it feels impossible sometimes. But people want to help. You are deserving of that help. And I’ll tell you that every fucking day until you believe it, and then I’ll keep telling you anyway.” She went up on her toes and hugged him tighter, face buried in the side of his neck as she tried to keep her voice from faltering with the tears that were rolling down to her chin. “There is a wonderful father who could talk for hours about how much he loves his daughter, and that little girl fucking deserves to have him at her side whenever she needs him.”

Frankie collapsed in on himself, ignoring the throbbing ache in his chest at the movement, shaking as he held onto her and they both cried. When his knees buckled beneath him, she helped him ease down so that they were sitting on the kitchen floor, wrapped up in each other.

They stayed there for a while, holding on as the sobs slowly quieted and the tears just turned into stiff trails on their faces.

Nita ran her fingers through his hair gently. “There’s that therapist that I go to,” she said, voice still rough. “Started seeing her back when the alcoholism was at its worst. The whole place specializes in addiction. First session is the hardest.”

“Okay,” he murmured.

She pressed a light kiss to his temple. “You can come stay with me for a while. I know you don’t like it here.”

He took a breath to say something, but she squeezed her arms around him tighter and continued

“It isn’t just when you’re alone here, Frankie. I’ve seen something in your eyes shut off when we walk in. It’s like...what this place represents in your mind. It breaks you down.”

He curled a strand of her hair around his finger absently. “Yeah,” he admitted.

She sat back enough to look at him. “Let’s pack a bag for you. I don’t care how much, just whatever you think you’ll need for the next few days. We can figure it out from there.”

He nodded lamely, clearing his throat. “Okay.”

She kissed his temple again. “We’ll stop by to pick your truck up tomorrow.”

He straightened, wincing slightly, and ran a hand down his face. “I can take it now.”

“No.”

He startled at the firmness in her voice. “Nita, I ca—”

“No,” she repeated. “I’m driving you to my house and you’re going to rest. We’ll get the truck tomorrow.” There was no room for argument.

He sat there, studying the set of her jaw and the steel in her eyes. “Alright,” he said finally.

She nodded once and stood up, offering him a hand. He took it and gritted his teeth as pain burned through his abdomen when he pulled himself up.

Resting her hands just above his elbows, she helped him steady himself. “Need to be careful with you for a while,” she said, voice light as she gave him a little smile. She rose up on her toes and pecked his cheek. “Let’s go pack you a bag.”

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

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~ Mike

[johannstutt413]

(requested by anonymous; continuing from this post)

The Doctor looked up at his office door as the unmistakable knock of Hoshiguma pounded against it. He smiled to himself. “It’s open.”

“Good afternoon, Doctor.” She took a deep breath as she came in. “Are you busy right now?”

“Not too busy for you. How’re the ladies treating you?”

Hoshi smirked despite herself. “That’s why I’m here, actually...They sent me as the ambassador.”

“Let me guess,” he replied, spinning his chair around. “It’s about having me join in, right? I admire the dedication, but honestly, I’ve got a lot on my plate as it is. Besides, they do know I don’t go for that kind of thing, right?”

“I know that, but they don’t. That’s why they sent me.”

The Doctor chuckled. “Gotcha, gotcha. It’ll have to wait a bit, either way; I’m in some hot water with Kal’tsit over what happened with Amiya the other night, and I think Gravel wants me to see her again pretty soon.”

“You’re a busy man, I get that.” The oni pulled a badge out from a back pants pocket. “That’s why I’m giving you this and calling it a successful mission.”

“What is this?”

She smiled. “A token, redeemable for one night with three of Lungmen’s finest. I don’t know the terms and conditions on it - or hell, if it’s even just one-use - but try not to lose it. If the force found out I lost my badge doing something like this, it won’t look good for us, you know?”

“I’d hate to make you look bad, if that’s even possible...Tell you what: give me a week, and I should have a clear night in my schedule.”

“Like I said, you’ve got time.” Hoshiguma winked at him. “Thank you for your cooperation, Doctor. Just let me know a couple days ahead of time.”

He watched her leave with a pang of regret mixed in with the satisfaction. “Will do, Hoshi...will do.”

-

Four days later, the Doctor called her into his office just at the end of his shift; judging by the way he looked when she came in, he’d had a rough time the past few days. “I uh...I may have fucked up.”

“The womanizing head of HR and Tactics encountering a problem? Surely not.” The demonic smile on her face was icing on the shit cake that had been his past few days.

“Turns out that trying to sleep with every available co-worker has consequences.” He sighed. “What’s even worse is then trying to back-pedal with the few who didn’t mind as much so long as I gave them attention. You girls wouldn’t happen to be hiring at Lungmen, would ya?”

Hoshi shook her head. “Not at the office, no. We do have a position for you open, though...”

“That’s why I called you in, actually. This weekend work for them, you think?”

“Should be fine, yeah.” She chuckled. “It’s really been that bad?”

He started sweating just thinking about it. “I think I need a bodyguard.”

“I can always do that, you know. Happy to help a lover out.”

“I’ll take you up on that as well, then.” The Doctor sighed. “Actually, that takes a load off my mind. No one would think of stepping up to you, even to get at me.”

Hoshiguma laughed. “Thanks.”

“I mean it, though. That shield, that horn, that glare you use...those abs...” He hit the side of his head with his palm, knocking him out of his daydream.

“That reminds me...” She stepped around his desk. “There was another reason the girls sent me by myself the first time.”

The Doctor’s eyes took their time wandering up to hers. “Oh, really?”

“They didn’t want to hear me say it in person, but they knew I’d have to ask, so...you’re free tomorrow night, right?”

“Hell, I’m free tonight.”

Hoshi’s smile took a turn. “Good - that’ll be two nights for the two of us, then.”

“You’re kidding me.” He snorted. “That’s way too perfect to be true.”

“They first had the idea because you were going to be my date that night while they went out together, after all. One night would’ve been enough to get me to share properly, but I’ll be more than happy for a second on top of it.”

The Doctor got up from his chair, still just an inch shorter than her on his feet. “Well, in that case...You wanna grab dinner first?”

“Takeout sounds good right about now.” Hoshiguma smirked. “Before that, though, you wouldn’t mind giving me a taste in advance, would you?”

“Not one bit.”

She wrapped her arms around him, an impossible-to-escape hold around his waist which meant her chest pressed against him just enough for them to notice as their lips met. Hoshi pulled back after what felt to the Doctor like not nearly long enough. She smiled at the lost look in his eye. “Can’t ruin my appetite, can I? We’ve got all night, Doctor.”

“You’re right...” He sighed as he pulled his jacket on and they walked towards the door. “Doesn’t mean I’m happy about it.”

-

A couple days later, Hoshiguma walked through the threshold of Ch’en’s apartment, the Doctor in tow. “Oh, girls! Guess who I brought home with me~”

“Hey, Doctor!” Swire waved from the couch. “Not gonna lie, it’s kind of weird seeing you outside of business hours.”

“Heh, yeah, same here. Thanks for letting me borrow Hoshi the past couple nights.” His hand was firmly locked in hers, and frankly, it felt...right. More than it had with anyone else, honestly.

Ch’en walked out of the bedroom, stretching with a yawn. “You brought her back in one piece, I assume?”

“...How you would even...” His thoughts drifted back to the past couple of nights, and he couldn’t imagine a single scenario like that. “So, uh, quick confession - I’m really a one-girl-at-a-time kind of guy, so-”

“Oh, that’s fine, Doc. We are, too.” Seemingly to emphasize this, Swire leaned her head over the back of the couch for Ch’en to kiss.

The Doctor could feel his mind glazing over. “Alright, then. Have you guys eaten it? I was thinking of ordering a pizza or two.”

“We’ll chip in for cheesy bread,” the Feline agreed, “but you make the call.”

“Sounds fair...Can I sit down?”

The girls shared a glance and a chuckle with various degrees of volume. Ch’en gestured to the couches vaguely. “Anywhere is fine, Doctor.”

“Thanks.” He relaxed into the couch next to Swire and made the call, all the while her tail moving in front of and away from him playfully. Once he’d placed their order, he grinned at her. “You know, I’ve gotten pretty good at reading a Feline’s mood by her tail.”

“Oh, really? What does mine tell you?” She smiled as it continued to do as before.

The Doctor reached his hand out, and it coiled around his wrist when it made contact. “You’re looking forward to this, too, I take it.”

“The girls around base have a lot to say about you,” Swire shrugged. “It’ll be fun to see how much of it’s true.”

“About eighty percent,” Hoshi called from the kitchen.

He grimaced. “I’m not sure if that’s good or bad.”

“Both,” she replied. “You drink vodka, Doctor?”

“I’d rather not tonight. This isn’t quite a first for me, but...I kinda want to remember it.”

Ch’en leaned over the couch between him and Swire. “You enjoyed the past couple of days that much?”

“I mean, I did, but...” He looked at each of them in turn. “Look, I’ve been with a lot of women since coming back - and, I’m not ashamed to admit, a couple of men as well - and yet I can’t say that I’ve felt like this before. I’m both not worried about tonight, but also incredibly paranoid about living up to three of you’s expectations, if that makes any sense? It’s a weird feeling for me.”

“If you’re man enough for Hoshi, Doctor, I’m sure you’ll do fine.”

The oni flashed him a thumbs-up. “He has my seal of approval.”

“I do?” He scratched at his neck. “I was kind of wondering how long that would be there.”

“Hoshi, is this a thing you do? Mine’s been there since that first night - should I be worried?” Swire asked as Ch’en had the same realization.

She shrugged. “Anyone comes around with ideas, they’ll know who they have to get through to get to you. That’ll be the pizza.”

“I’ll get it!” Ch’en dashed over to the front door. “Good evening...He’s on the couch right there, see?...Thank you. Have a nice night.” She set six boxes on the table. “This ought to be enough for the four of us. Thanks for buying, Doctor.”

“It’s honestly the least I can do for you all...especially after the turn this week took.”

Hoshiguma snorted. “Girls, this man’s been through the romance ringer, let me tell you-”

“I’d rather you not,” he requested. “I’ll do the honors over pizza.”

“Alright...At least let me make the joke I did the other night, though.”

The Doctor rolled his eyes as they gathered around the boxes and he grabbed a paper plate. “Sure, if you really think it was that good.”

“You laughed at it.” She smirked. “Or was that just the afterglow talking?”

“Wait, that was after?...Wow, I must’ve been absolutely fried, then. How the hell do I remember that...”

Ch’en shared a glance with Swire. “They really do get along, don’t they?”

“There’s a reason we picked him out for her,” the Feline winked. “Now scoot over; I can’t get to the anchovies if you’re standing in front of the box.”

[From here, you’ll have to use your imagination...Suffice to say, good times were had by all.]

[loveistherootofhappiness]

Throwing out something a little positive before the season finale breaks our hearts...

Fandom: 9-1-1 Pairing: Michael/OC (aka “Dr. McHottie”) w/ a little Bathena Rating: T Word Count: 2981

Summary:  None of that included coming face to face with the guy that’s been wondering in and out of his thoughts for the last few days.

Can also be read here -----

Dr. Derek Hale walked slowly as he exited the elevator. Each step was paired with a sip of the black, way too strong, coffee that he’d gotten from the lobby. The acrid taste was awful, but was doing a manageable job of keeping him awake right now. He hated when he wasn’t prepared for a shift, felt he was not only doing a disservice to himself, but the patients as well not being a hundred percent. Though, he didn’t feel right calling out or asking a colleague to work in his place, it was his own fault he was so tired. Well, the fault of a certain guy he’d met in an elevator who’d been heavily on his mind for the last three days, but that was beside the point.

As he approached the nurse’s station, he shook all thoughts of “Elevator Guy” from his mind, knowing they’d stray to point of distraction if he continued this line of thinking. Putting his things down and brushing off all comments about how tired he looked, he poured through the charts and notes on the patients he was responsible for on the trauma ward. He steeled his focus and was able to get caught up on everything in about 30 minutes and prepared to start making his rounds. He grabbed his tablet, stethoscope, pocketed an otoscope, and walked towards the first room on his list to check in on the patient.

Athena wasn’t sleeping but resting comfortably, well, as comfortably as she could. The warm body snuggled against her was doing wanders for her. She was spooned against Bobby, face in his neck inhaling the scent she’d been missing for the last three days. Bobby had his hands wrapped around her careful to avoid any of her injuries. Parts of her body still ached, but this having him next her again, it was making it so much better. It took a bit of convincing to do this, but not as much as she thought it would.

“I know both of you know better,” Derek said in amusement as he opened the door to the room.

Athena groaned inwardly pulling herself out of the moment she was in. “Is it shift change time already?” Athena asked innocently, “I thought we had a little more time.”

“It’s okay, I guess I’ll let it slide,” Derek paused as he looked between Bobby and Athena, “this time.” Dereks voice still held it’s amused tone. This was was far from the first time that he found patients in bed with loved ones. He’d worked in trauma long enough to know how much physical contact could help in the healing process mental and emotionally, as well as physically. “I’m glad you have a support system with you.”

“So am I.” Athena placed her hand over Bobby’s near by one, rubbing her thumb along the the back.

Derek smiled as used his foot to lift the bed so he can examine her better. “I’m Dr. Derek Hale, by the way.”

“Athena Nash.”

Following the introductions, he went through the motions of examining of her. He took note of her vitals making sure everything was within normal ranges. “Scale of 1 to 10, how bad’s the pain today?”

“About a 4,” she answered honestly. He looked at her, seeing if there were any sign of lying, she appeared to be telling the truth.

“The pain meds been treating you okay?”

“Other than making me a little sleepy, I feel fine.”

He hummed in acknowledgment as he took note of her answer. He pulled out the otoscope, looking at her eyes, checking their reaction to light, “no headaches, blurred vision, nausea, trouble breathing?”

“There is a dull ache in my head, but the meds help with that. No blurred vision, nausea, nothing like that. My chest hurts a bit when I inhale, but it’s nothing I can’t handle” He turned off the scope and put it back in his pocket, taking note that everything was normal.

He took note of her facial wounds, which appeared to be healing normally, no signs of infection. Nothing that time wouldn’t be able to take care of.

“You seem to be doing very well Athena. No adverse reactions to treatment. Healing nicely.”

“Great. When can I go home?” She asked eagerly.

“Athena.” Her partner said pointedly, which she responded to by shooting him a look.

Derek chuckled, “it’s fine. It’s a fair question,” he sat at the end of Athena’s bed, “honestly speaking, I see no reason why we can’t have you out of here by the end of the day.”

“Oh thank god,” Athena breathed a sigh of relief while her partner still looked wary.

“You’re healing is going to take time, but, at this point, it nothing that can’t be done at home. I think we’ve bandaged you up as much as we can. I see no reason why we can’t have you out of here by the end of the day,” he rose to his feet, “so you guys can cuddle up together in your own bed. As long as it’s just cuddling, no strenuous activities right now and you still need to get plenty of rest.”

“Of course, I understand.”

“Do you have any other questions for me?” She shook her head. “Well, I’m going to go update your chart and get the discharge process started. It was good meeting you, Athena.”

He reached over and held out his hand towards her partner. “Bobby,” he told him. Derek faltered a bit, having remembered hearing the name, but recovered quickly before it was, hopefully, noticed. Bobby didn’t give him any indicate that he noticed when he let go of his hand.

“Alright, I’ll be back to check on you later.” He said to Athena before turning to leave. As he did, the door opened, putting him face to face with none other than “Elevator Guy” holding a bouquet of flowers and a bag of food.

When Michael woke up this morning his plans included: making sure his kids were okay, calling his mom, going to visit Athena, and bringing her and Bobby some lunch from Athena’s favorite place. None of that included coming face to face with the guy that’s been wondering in and out of his thoughts for the last few days. Though, he couldn’t say he was mad at the strange turn of events.

Michael knew he was staring way past the point of what was considered appropriate, but he couldn’t help himself. He knew the man looked good, but the low lighting of the elevator didn’t do him nearly enough justice. In the fluorescent lighting of the hospital room he could clearly see his piercing dark brown eyes, smooth deep brown skin, and powerful jawline. The man was beautiful. As he watched “Hot Doctor’s” features shift from surprise to almost smiling, he could see the recognition. It was comforting to know that he hadn’t forgotten him.

It took a nurse clearing her throat from behind him for him to realize how caught up they had gotten in the moment. “Oh, sorry,” Michael chuckled nervously and stepped out of the nurse’s way for her to enter the room.

The doctor took the opportunity to make his leave as well. “I need to continue making my rounds,” he said quickly before exiting the room just as quickly. Michael was so flustered he wasn’t able to get another word in before he left.

Michael was mentally kicking himself as he stood out of the way, while the nurse tended to Athena’s IVs. He still hadn’t gotten his name. He just stood there staring like an idiot. It was just as well, he had every opportunity to do so when he was trapped with him three nights ago for well over an hour. He sighed, damn if he didn’t know how to waste an opportunity. He didn’t miss the look the look that the nurse shot him as she walked out of the room after finishing. The universe’s way of telling him it agreed with him.

When the door clicked closed, he was left with Bobby and Athena’s amused looks. He made his way over to them, placing the flowers and food on the bedside table. “So, how are you feeling today?” He asked Athena as he distracted himself with taking the food out of the bag. He was met with silent, eyebrow raises as he handed each container to both of them and pulled the rolling table in front of Athena, “I’m not getting away with that, am I?”

“Not a chance,” Bobby said, taking the top of of his and Athena’s containers.

“Micheal, what was that? Do you know him?”

“Yes- well, no- umm, kinda, I guess,” he stumbled over his words, trying to find the right words to say, “I met him in an elevator,” he settled on.

“You met him in an elevator?” Athena asked slowly.

“The night of your- what happened, after my MRI, I was leaving the hospital, and found myself stuck in elevator with him. We were trapped for about an hour or so before we were finally rescued. When we were I had every intention of asking for his name and, possibly, his phone number when I got the call from Bobby about what happened. All of that flew out the window. After the dust settled and I knew you were okay, I had time to think about it. I kinda just chalked it up as a missed opportunity. Didn’t think I would see him again.”

“Wait, so you were trapped with him, for over an hour, and you didn’t get his name?” Bobby asked.

“Don’t remind me. I guess we just got to talking and it didn’t come up.” Michael fondly remembered how the conversation between them just flowed, it’d been a while since he’d felt that spark with someone.

“So what ya gonna do about it?” Athena asked casually, as she ate one of her fries.

“What do you mean?” Michael asked, feigning ignorance.

“I’m gonna ignore that because you know exactly what I mean.” Athena eyed him carefully, “it’s not like you to waste an opportunity.”

She was right, it wasn’t, but this was different, felt different. It had been a while,since he’d felt this level of attraction to someone, since he’d purposefully put himself out there. If the connection was anything to go off of, he could chance saying that “Hot Doctor” was attracted to him too. Maybe, at some level. This was all still so new to him, he didn’t want to be wrong or risk misreading what he believed could be signals. “You’re right, I just don’t wanna be wrong. I wanna be sure I’m not wrong here and he likes me too.”

“He likes you,” Athena and Bobby told him simultaneously.

“This entire hospital felt the chemistry between you two just now.” Athena joked.

“Ha ha,” Michael snarked, “can we drop this and focus on you?” Michael asked, more than ready to stop talking about this.

Athena eyed him, “fine, as long as you remember that you deserve to be happy.” He laid a hand on her shoulder and placed a kiss on her forehead in response.

“Now, how are you feeling?” With that question he, Bobby, and Athena feel into a comfortable conversation that wasn’t about him anymore.

Before he knew it, a couple of hours had gone by. May was texting him, asking him if it was okay if he and Harry went to the hospital. He let her know that her mom was being released from the hospital today and they should see her by tonight. Bobby had left to go home to shower, change, and bring some comfy clothes for Athena to go home in. He told him he’d stay with her until he came back.

Glancing over at Athena to find her still sleeping, Michael decided to use the opportunity to get some himself something to drink and some air. Rising from his seat, he left, closing the door softly behind him. He looked left and right in the hallway, seeing if he’d spot him waking the halls. No such luck. He walked towards the elevators and luckily didn’t have to wait long before they opened. He walked in and headed straight for the back wall, placing one hand on the bridge of his nose squeezing his eyes shut tightly and the other on the rail behind him.

“We’ve gotta stop meeting like this.” The smooth, deep voice startled him a bit. Michael opened his eyes to find himself face to face with “Hot Doctor” as the elevator doors closed.

Michael sighed and slowly met his eyes before saying, “we do.”

He stepped closer to him and Michael put his other hand on the rail he was leaning against, trying desperately to hide his nervousness. He was probably failing, “you know, I’ve been kicking myself for a couple of days now.” He said to him.

“Oh, why?” Michael licked his lips and gripped the rail a little tighter.

“Well, you see, I met this guy, had this connection with him, well, at least, I thought so.”

“So, what happened?”

“Wouldn’t you know it, I didn’t get his name, and I didn’t even give him mine.”

Michael tried hard to hide his smile, “well, if the connection was there, you know, like you said it was, he just might be kicking himself for the same reasons. Maybe even wanting to apologize for running off without warning before you could get it.” Michael put his hands up, “that’s just me assuming that happened.”

He chuckled lowly, “well wouldn’t you know, that’s exactly what happened. I don’t blame him for it though, it happens. Seems like whatever it was seemed super important.”

“It was, otherwise it wouldn’t have happened. Hypothetically speaking of course. You don’t seem like the type of guy someone would just leave hanging like that, you know, unless absolutely necessary.”

“Do I now?” He asked cheekily.

“Yeah, you do.” What was it about this guy that made all of this so easy for him?

“It’s just as well, he probably has someone special at home.”

“No, I don’t think he does.” His smile widened, brightening his entire face.

He held out his hand, “Derek Hale.”

Taking his hand in his, “Michael Grant.” There it was again, that spark. That small shockwave that reverberated throughout his body. Whatever this was, was strong, and Michael liked it.

“It nice to meet you, Michael Grant.”

“You as well, Derek Hale.” Dropping his hand and the facade, he asked, “So, what gave you the impression that I had someone special?”

“I don’t know, guys like you always do. Plus, I saw the look on your face when you answered Bobby’s call, before the bad news part, and-”

“Woah, woah, wait. You thought Bobby was,” Michael couldn’t help but laugh at the thought.

“Love how you find that so funny,” Derek said as he looked away shyly.

“No, no, no, sorry about that,” he recovered, wiping his eyes, “it’s just funny because Bobby is my ex-wife’s husband. The woman I was visiting, the mother of my kids, your patient, the guy that was in there with her.”

He watched Derek eyes widen in recognition, “so that was... oh! I thought Bobby was- so he isn’t your- woo, that’s a relief. And he I was thinking that the guy I couldn’t stop thinking about was in a relationship.”

“The guy you couldn’t stop thinking about?” Michael asked slowly, crossing his arms across his chest.

“Fuck, I said that out loud, didn’t I?”

Before Michael could say anything further., the elevator started to move. Both looked at the other, knowing neither of them had pressed any buttons, and started to laugh. They both decided to shelve the conversation and fell into a comfortable silence as the elevator reached it destination: the first floor lobby.

When the elevator came to a halt, and the door opened, Michael and Derek exited quickly, allowing the other people waiting to get on. As they walked through the lobby, Derek bumped his shoulder and nodded his head to the left, “come with me.”

Michael, unquestioningly, followed him and was lead to a door that only read, “Private”. He watched as Derek pulled his badge from his pocket and swiped it against the adjacent pad. He opened the door into a nice looking lounge area.

Michael whistled, “this is nice.” He looked around, “am I even supposed to be in here?”

“I won’t tell if you won’t,” he winked before getting himself something out of the fridge. He threw one to Michael as well.

“Why’d you bring me here?”

“I knew no one else would be in here around this time and it was the most private place I could think of to continue our conversation.”

“So our conversation requires privacy, huh?”

“Well, didn’t really want to the risk having an audience when I asked you out.” Clear. Direct. Straight to the point.

“Wow, you waste no time.” Michael could feel the pull in the muscles in his cheeks from smiling so much.

“I’ve wasted three days, I think that’s more than enough time.”

“So, you’re saying that you would have asked me out that night, if we weren’t interrupted.”

“Absolutely.” Michael couldn’t help but appreciate the conviction in Derek’s tone.

“Well, Derek, I’d love to go out with you.” Michael fished his phone out of his back pocket, handing it to Derek. Derek, catching on, put his number in the phone and called himself so he’d have Michael’s number as well.

“So what are plans looking like next Friday night?” He asked as he handed Micheal back his phone.

“Can’t say that I have anything going on.”

“How about dinner? Around 7? The really good Italian place on 5th?” Derek asked tentatively.

“It’s a date.” -----

#GiveMichaelABoyfriend2k20 😌

[kusunogatari]

[ ObiRyū October | Day Twenty | Astronaut ] [ @abyssaldespair ] [ Uchiha Obito, Suigin Ryū, Hatake Kakashi, Nohara Rin ] [ Verse: Best Years of Your Life ]

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“Happy birthday, Obito!”

“Wh-?” Stepping into the hallway, Obito immediately finds himself staggering back. A wild Ryū has decided to tackle him, arms around his neck as he wraps his own around her waist to help hold her up. “Uh...hi?”

Standing nearby, both Kakashi and Rin snicker. “Did you forget what day it is?” the latter asks. “We thought she was gonna explode waiting to say hello this morning!”

Ryū retreats as Obito sets her down, cheeks pink and expression sheepish. “I had a feeling you would have forgotten…”

Obito, also embarrassed, itches the back of his neck. “I might’ve remembered if I wasn’t running late this morning…”

“As you are every morning,” Kakashi replies, perking a brow as Obito balks.

“Oh leave him alone, Kakashi,” Ryū sighs. “At least for today of all days? Tease him any other time than today.”

“But today is the best time for -”

Rin, turning to him, gives him a look...and he quiets.

“I got you a present!” Ryū then offers, pulling a wrapped parcel from her backpack. “Do you want to open it now, or...wait until after class?”

“I can open it now!” Eyes eager at the sight of the gift, Obito grins wide as she hands it over. “You’re the best, you know that?”

“Wait until you see what it is,” his best friend teases, ignoring Rin as she elbows him.

“Don’t spoil it!”

“I’m not!”

Looking the wrapping over, Obito can’t help but notice that it seems rather like a game jacket...did she get him a video game…? He gives her a glance, only proceeding as she nods with an excited look of her own. With a few pulls of his fingers, he reveals the cover.

“No Man’s Sky…?”

“It’s a space game!” Ryū quickly blurts. “You get to play as an astronaut! It’s all randomly generated, and there’s over eighteen quintillion planets you can find and explore! And all the flora and fauna are generated, so you never see the same thing twice...it looks really, really cool! I know you like space stuff, so...I thought it was a good fit!”

Listening, Obito then looks to the jacket. A huge space game, huh? That sounds amazing! “Thanks, Ryū! I’ll have to play it as soon as I get home!”

“Just don’t put off your homework,” Rin chides with a knowing smile.

“I won’t, I won’t...hey, wanna come over and watch me play, Ryū?”

“Yeah! I’m really curious what it’ll be like! Apparently it had some issues at launch but it’s improved a lot since then. I wanna see all the cool animals and planets!”

Grinning ear to ear, Obito pulls her forward for a squeezing hug. “Thanks, Ryū...you didn’t have to get me anything.”

“I wanted to! Besides, what kind of girlfriend would I be if I didn’t?” She pokes his chest lightly. “And you got me something for my birthday. It’s only fair!”

That makes him chuckle. “Yeah, you’re right...I’ll have to have you try playing it too!”

“Well, I...I can try. I dunno if I’ll be any good at it. I mostly play simple games, eh heh.”

“I bet you’ll be great! We can -”

It’s then, however, that the bell rings for first period, and the four teens wilt.

“Welp...see you guys at lunch,” Kakashi offers, retracting the arm he’s had around Rin’s shoulders.”

“Don’t forget we’ve got a club meeting at lunch, Kakashi!” Rin then offers, and his shoulders wilt.

“Do I have to go…?”

“Yes, yes you do. Just grab your lunch and head to the club room. It won’t kill you.”

“...we don’t have anything today, do we?” Obito then asks, turning to Ryū.

“I don’t think so. Today’s Wednesday, so no play practice. And I haven’t heard anything else.”

Obito gives a small sigh of relief. That means he can get home at a good time to play his new game! “Okay, cool. See you at lunch, then.”

“Mhm!” For just a brief moment, Ryū lifts on her toes a bit to give him a quick press of her lips to his cheek. “Hopefully today goes fast, I wanna see your game!”

Under her touch, his face grows warm. “Y-yeah! It’s gonna be fun.”

With that, the four of them split up to head to their first classes.

And as they tend to do on a day with something else to look forward to...classes pass slowly. Obito finds himself zoning out for most of the morning, chin in his palm as he blinks owlishly at the teachers. It doesn’t help that he finds most if not all of his classes to be exceedingly boring. One of the few redeeming features of high school was an unexpected one, that being the drama club that takes place after classes.

Which is where he really got to know Ryū, and...well, the rest is history. They’ve been dating for over a year now, and he’s pretty sure it’s been the best year of his life so far, all things considered.

As his last morning class finally comes to a close, Obito wastes no time in making his way to the cafeteria to pick up some food and meet the others. Ryū beats him there, her classroom far closer.

“Hey!”

“Hey. Kakashi and Rin go through yet?”

“Yeah, they went to the club room already. So I guess it’s just us this time around.”

“Meh, that’s okay. Might be nice just the two of us for once, hm?”

That gets her to smile. “Yeah! There’s a free table near the back corner, maybe we’ll actually be able to hear each other and talk.”

He snorts. “In this chaos? Maybe.”

They snag the table, dragging the chairs side by side and starting to dig into their lunches. Typical idle chatter flows between them. The cafeteria is a hub of noise and distractions, but they do their best to block out the rest and make the best of their brief break before afternoon classes.

“Got much homework for today so far?”

“Just some reading for literature,” Ryū replies, taking another bite of salad. “That won’t take me too long. I might end up with something in geometry, but we’re in a pretty easy chapter right now. You?”

“So far nothing is due tomorrow, so I can put things off.”

Ryū gives him a look, but it’s clear she’s torn between chiding him about homework, but also getting a chance to watch him play. “Well...okay. Just be sure to give yourself enough time so you’re not crunching it the night before it’s due.”

“I know! I’m the master of time management. I can wait until just the right moment,” he replies with a grin.

“There’s also play practice tomorrow and Friday to account for, hm?”

He nods, mouth full.

“Okay...just making sure you remember.”

Obito’s eyes give a teasing roll. Sure, he can be a little scatterbrained, but it usually turns out fine. Ryū, ever the worrier, is practically his assistant with how much she drops little reminders for things. The first of the two plays they’re doing this year is at the end of the month, so it is crunch time for practice and making sure everything is ready. So missing any practice now won’t be a good idea.

But he knows his lines, and the prop crew he’s in is just about finished. He’s not worried.

All too soon however, lunch is over. The pair tidy up after themselves, parting yet again for afternoon classes. Just three more blocks, then they’ll be free for the afternoon.

As soon as they are, Obito flees his last classroom and makes a beeline for his locker. A day without homework! Well...he does have some, but it’s not due until Friday. Which means...he’ll work on it tomorrow!

“Ready to go?”

He glances over to see Ryū, backpack already on her shoulder. “Yeah, let’s go!”

Both of them walk to and from school every day, living close enough to it that the journey isn’t too bad. Even now in February, with a bit of snow on the ground, they make the trek on foot. Obito’s house is closer, which means their walk is pretty short this afternoon.

“Gran! I’m home!” he calls as they head in, stomping snow from their shoes outside and removing them once inside so they can dry.

“Have a good day today?” Sachiko calls back, making her way toward the front door.

“Yeah! Know what day it is?”

“Of course I do,” the old woman replies with a laugh as she enters the room. “I’ve had to wait all day to say happy birthday! I was going to get up early, but…”

“Nah, don’t worry about it. You need the sleep.” He hugs his grandmother tightly, having to lean down a fair bit to reach her.

“Well I haven’t gotten a cake made, but I’ll do that now. Hello Ryū, dear!”

“Hi missus Uchiha!”

“Ryū got me a new game for my birthday, so we’re gonna play it for a bit before homework, okay?”

“A game? For the computer?”

Both teens withhold smiles at the simplification. “Yeah! Just holler when you need help with dinner, okay?”

“Of course, of course. Will Ryū be staying?”

“I can if you’d like me to!” she chirps in reply.

“Certainly! You two have fun and I’ll work on that cake.” With that, Sachiko starts tottering into the kitchen.

Exchanging a look, the pair giggle before retreating to Obito’s room.

They sling their bags down, Obito working on getting the game installed. Ryū, wasting no time in getting comfy, lounges on his bed and starts some of her reading assignment in the meantime.

“Book any good?” he asks.

“Eh, it’s okay. Kinda boring, but...that’s how class books are, really. At least it’s not as bad as the last one...I almost didn’t finish it.”

“You? Not finish an assignment?”

“I know, right? It was just that bad. So this one’s looking better than that, at least.” She flips another page, lying on her back with one leg up over a bent knee. “How long until the game’s ready?”

“A little while.”

“You could start some homework while you wait.” Ryū glances to him, grinning.

“Or...I could not.”

“You heard Rin. She’s gonna scold you if you slack off!”

“What Rin doesn’t know won’t hurt her,” he counters.

“Maybe I’ll tattle on you.”

“Pffft, you better not. She’s got enough to worry about without nitpicking me about my grades.”

Ryū just sticks out her tongue before going back to reading.

At least, until Obito clambers up onto the bed next to her.

“...hi.”

“Hi.”

“Not gonna interrupt me, are you?” she questions, not looking from the page.

“Hm...no. Just figured it was less boring to wait this way.”

That makes her snort. “I guess that’s fair. Gonna nap?”

“Nah. I’ll just…” With a bit of wiggling, Obito sneaks arms around her, making her giggle once he finally finds a comfy spot.

“Your arm is gonna go numb.”

“I’ll live. It’s comfortable.”

She just gives an amused shake of her head, still reading.

A while later, Obito dozing, he jerks at the little jingle his console makes when the game finishes installing. “...oh! It’s done!”

“Already? That seemed pretty fast!”

He disentangles himself and sits down in his chair, looking things over. “Yeah, it’s good to go! Ready?”

Just finishing a chapter, Ryū marks her place before joining him in another chair. Excitement alights her face. “I can’t wait to see it!”

Selecting the game, Obito boots it up. An introductory sequence plays: he’s waking up on a planet, seemingly dazed...and alone. The temperature is dangerously low, and he’s already at risk of freezing to death.

“Oh! You’ve gotta find shelter! Where’s your ship?”

“I dunno!”

“Over there! There’s a cave! I bet it’ll protect you!”

Scrambling, Obito directs his character underground...and the temperature starts to stabilize. They both breathe a sigh of relief. “...okay...I need to figure out the controls and stuff.”

As Obito tinkers with commanding his character, Ryū watches quietly, trying to sneak peaks back outside whenever Obito wanders closer to the entrance of the cave. And then -! “Oh! Look! Look out there!”

“Heh?”

“There’s an animal!”

“Oh!” Creeping closer, Obito gives them a better look.

It has...four pairs of legs, and a little bitty head. But a dense pale-green fur covers its body, plodding along amongst alien-looking flora.

“It’s so funny looking!” Rocking back in her chair, Ryū laughs unabashedly. “Look at it’s head! It’s so tiny!”

Obito laughs right alongside her. “What even…?”

“What is it?”

“You’re asking me?”

“I think you can scan things? And you get money for it!”

“Uh…” He tries toggling some buttons.

“Maybe you can’t scan things yet. But oh my gosh...that thing is hilarious. Is there anything else?”

“I dunno, we’ll have to explore. But I don’t wanna freeze to death!”

Together, the two of them start stumbling along the beginnings of the game. Obito starts getting the hang of it, finding a scanner, a terrain editing tool, and his ship. And once they get far enough...he takes off and leaves the planet’s atmosphere, heading out into open space.

They both take a moment to marvel at it. “Whoa…!”

Opening his map, they find there are four planets in the system he’s in. A signal starts coming from one of them.

“So, uh...how many planets did you say there were again…?”

“Something like eighteen quintillion?”

“...uh...how many is that?”

“It’s two steps over a trillion. So...million, billion, trillion, quadrillion, quintillion.”

“Holy shit…”

“Yeah! And you can run into other people if you play online!”

“Maybe once I’m better at it. I don’t wanna look stupid…”

“You won’t!”

But before much more progress can be made, Sachiko calls for them. “Time for dinner!”

“...I thought we were going to help with dinner?” Ryū asks, brow perking.

“You know Gran, she conveniently forgets that part most of the time…”

They head back to the kitchen where Sachiko already has a cake made, and a meal ready to be eaten.

“We could have helped!” Ryū gently protests, only to have her concern waved away.

“I’ve made more dinners than you’ve eaten,” she counters with a twinkle in her eye. “I can manage a few more.”

Unable to retort, they sit and enjoy her hard work, Obito flushing pink as his grandmother insists on lighting all the candles. Ryū, grinning, films it all with her phone.

“...don’t show Kakashi.”

“I won’t, don’t worry.” Together, she and Sachiko sing him happy birthday, and then Obito blows every candle out with one breath.

Sachiko then serves them each a piece, Ryū insisting hers is too big only to be shushed.

There’s no telling Sachiko no.

By the time they finish the birthday meal, Ryū admits she’d best head home. “I need to finish my homework and get my chores done...but I’m glad you like your game so far! Maybe this weekend I can come see more?”

“Sure! Maybe by then I won’t suck at it.”

She just laughs. “...happy birthday, Obito. I hope it was a good one.”

“The best,” he replies, leaning in to give her a kiss. “Thanks for the game, and for coming over. See you tomorrow.”

“Bye!”

He watches her go, waving before heaving a contented sigh. It was a good day, all things considered.

Another year behind him...and another to go.

     kjfdghfdjhg this is a day late because...I ran out of time OTL Gonna try to at least start today’s tonight but I doubt I’ll finish. Just so fricken busy lately ;A;      ANYWAY, just...random modern fluff uwu NMS is actually really cool and people who hate on it are nerds who don’t know the whole story of what the developers had to go through, but...I won’t rant on that xD Ryū and Obito playin’ games and snuggin’ is just a Good Vibe.      But yeah, that’s all for this one! Time to try to speedrun 21 xD Thanks for reading!

[onwesterlywinds]

Ingvald Bloodhound: There you are, you hellion. Helisent Wynter does a 'who, me?' gesture. Ingvald Bloodhound: Yes! You! Helisent Wynter: ... What did I do this time? Ingvald Bloodhound: My first-ever linkpearl call from my brother, and it's about you. And your antics. Ingvald Bloodhound smirks. Ingvald Bloodhound: Well done. Helisent Wynter bursts out laughing. Helisent Wynter: You should've seen his face when I fell off the cliff when he refused to teach me initially. Ingvald Bloodhound: Oh, he told me of that. I can just about imagine the face he made. Helisent Wynter grins at that, shrugging. Helisent Wynter: I felt bad for giving him a heart attack so I kept it to a minimum for the next few days. Lif Silverlode descends the stairs with several books in her arms and nods a greeting at at the two unfamiliar Hyur as she passes them. Helisent Wynter snaps her fingers. Helisent Wynter: You're ... Lif, right? I think we met a while back. Ingvald Bloodhound is still ready to berate Helisent Wynter - lovingly - but stops at the arrival of the young woman. Lif Silverlode squints at the woman, taken aback, then her eyes light up.

Lif Silverlode: Oh, you're...Helisent, right? I think we met shortly after I first came here. Helisent Wynter: Mhm! Yeah, that sounds about right. How've you been? Lif Silverlode: I've been well, thank you for asking. Work has been slow, but I've kept myself busy with the Sandsea's library. Lif Silverlode gestures to the books in her arms. Lif Silverlode: How have you been? Helisent Wynter: Terrorizing his twin brother so he will teach me how to be a monk, she says, motioning at Ingvald. Ingvald Bloodhound: It's going well. For her, at least. Lif Silverlode turns to the stranger. Lif Silverlode: My apologies. I haven't introduced myself. I'm Lif. Ingvald Bloodhound: Reading anything interesting? Lif Silverlode: I just found a few books on Sil'dih that I haven't read before. Helisent Wynter's head tilts curiously at that. Ingvald Bloodhound nods in greeting. Ingvald Bloodhound: Ingvald. Lif Silverlode nods. Lif Silverlode: A pleasure to meet you. What brings you to the Sandsea? Are you another Riskbreaker? Ingvald Bloodhound: Something like that. I patrol Gyr Abania most of the time. Lif Silverlode nods to Ingvald Bloodhound. Helisent Wynter gives him the most innocent grin. Ingvald Bloodhound shrugs at Helisent Wynter. Lif Silverlode looks at Helisent Wynter with relief. Lif Silverlode: I was actually just wondering that. I don't think I've met your sister yet, but I'll keep an eye out for her. Lif Silverlode: So how do the two of you know each other? Ingvald Bloodhound: We're both Gyr Abanian. We met at some point during the reconstruction, and she hasn't left me alone since. Helisent Wynter: He looked like he needed some brightness in his life, really, she shrugs. I also met Orella, his partner, while I was traveling through the Fringes. Lif Silverlode: Well, after everything Ala Mhigo's been through, I think most of your people could do with some cheer. At least you now have a chance at finding some. Ingvald Bloodhound doesn't quite know what to say to that statement, except for the opinion that he thinks “cheer” may still be a ways off. Ingvald Bloodhound: Hm. Helisent Wynter kicks his shin. Helisent Wynter: Stop brooding, for fuck's sake. Just be happy. Ingvald Bloodhound: Ow! Helisent Wynter kicks his shin again for good measure. Helisent Wynter: Or do I need to do something drastic. Ingvald Bloodhound: You brat! Lif Silverlode bites her lip, suddenly realizing how flippant her statement had been. Lif Silverlode: I am so sorry. That was insensitive of me. I did not mean to make light of what Ala Mhigo's been through. I am truly sorry. Helisent Wynter sticks her tongue out at Ingvald Bloodhound. Ingvald Bloodhound: No, I should apologize. As this one can doubtless tell you, I'm an ornery old man with little to no conversational abilities. Helisent Wynter: I mean, yeah, it's been horrible, but ... You also kinda have to learn to try and be happy, or you just stick in the same patterns of sadness and bad moods. That's why I'm working at getting him and the other block of wood to at least smile sometimes. Ingvald Bloodhound: You are deeply unpleasant. Helisent Wynter: And that's why you kicked me off to go bother your brother! Ingvald Bloodhound: Well, it worked. Helisent Wynter stage-whispers to Lif Silverlode. Helisent Wynter: He likes me, don't let him fool you. Lif Silverlode can't help but smile at the antics of the two Gyr Abanians. Lif Silverlode: I'll have to take your word for it. Lif Silverlode's smile falters for a moment as she feels a stab of nostalgia and longing, but she quickly numbs herself to it. Lif Silverlode: You sound like siblings. Ingvald Bloodhound sobers at that. Helisent Wynter: I implied that he and Orella adopted me, actually. Helisent Wynter gently guides the conversation away from siblings. Helisent Wynter: They both had heart attacks. Ingvald Bloodhound just sighs. Lif Silverlode: It sounds like you didn't have much say in this, Ingvald. Ingvald Bloodhound shrugs at Lif Silverlode. Ingvald Bloodhound: She knows I can throw her into an ancient Ala Mhigan pit if she ever truly irks me. Helisent Wynter: ...You know I can fly, right. Ingvald Bloodhound: Oh, I'm all too aware. Ingvald Bloodhound: ...And now, so is Wilhelm. Ingvald Bloodhound can't help but let out a single chuckle. Helisent Wynter sighs; a breeze that ruffles her clothes, despite being indoors. Helisent Wynter: True. I can only play that joke once on unsuspecting people. Lif Silverlode: I don't mean to pry, but who is Wilhelm? Ingvald Bloodhound: My aforementioned brother. Ingvald Bloodhound has never willingly divulged information about him before. Lif Silverlode: Ah, I see. Lif Silverlode nods, but does not pursue the topic, having sensed the tenderness around the subject. Ingvald Bloodhound: What about you? How long have you been a Riskbreaker? Helisent Wynter looks over interestedly. Lif Silverlode: Only a few months now. I joined up shortly after I first met you, Helisent. Helisent Wynter blinks at that, not having really realized that at all. Lif Silverlode: I'm still trying to learn faces, and there has not been much work to do, but I try to make myself useful where I can. Helisent Wynter: Hey, that's more than I can really say, honestly. I'm mostly here at Nive's invitation. Lif Silverlode: Well, you clearly bring some much needed levity to all of your dour countrymen. Ingvald Bloodhound: Have you been put to any tasks as of yet? Ingvald Bloodhound ignores that last comment. Lif Silverlode: No, I mostly impose upon the Grand Steward's hospitality and read her books, unfortunately. Ingvald Bloodhound: Then we've that in common, at least. Helisent Wynter: That sounds about right. I also heal people, on occasion. Lif Silverlode: Well, at least you didn't accidentally lure a foul-tempered Seeker here. Honestly, I'm surprised I still have a job after that. Helisent Wynter gives a slow head tilt of incomprehension and starts to mentally go through a list of any Seekers she may know. It's not a lot. Ingvald Bloodhound makes an almost identical face. Lif Silverlode: An old friend of mine followed me here and forced herself into the free company. She's a good person...but she can be... a lot. If you see a small, brown-haired Seeker with a scar on her cheek, tread carefully. She's prickly. Assuming she hasn't gotten herself killed antagonizing someone bigger than herself, that is. Ingvald Bloodhound: Given the nature of this company's membership, I imagine that would be most everyone she meets, if she's a Seeker. Lif Silverlode: She's small, even for a Seeker, so you're not wrong. Helisent Wynter smothers a giggle, mostly at Nivelth Ajuyn's offense. Helisent Wynter: I'll keep an eye out. Oh, speaking of short Miqot'e: If you want a research partner, Nive might be willing to help. I don't know if she knows anything about Sil'dih, but... Lif Silverlode: I appreciate that. I am just reading for pleasure, but I always enjoy talking with people who know their history. Ingvald Bloodhound: Supposedly there's an author in residence at the Sandsea. I've not met her yet. Helisent Wynter: I'm not much of a scholar myself. I can read and write, and I know a fair amount of history, but that's mostly because I travel around a lot. Lif Silverlode: An author... Might that be... Priscilla, I believe? The Ga-er... *ahem* Ingvald Bloodhound: Hm? Helisent Wynter knows that name from somewhere, she thinks. Then she turns slightly pink, and coughs, looking away. Ingvald Bloodhound: What. Helisent Wynter: Nothing. Lif Silverlode: I... met a woman named Priscilla who said she was an author. She handed me a book to read, but it had a different name for the author. It was... something. Lif Silverlode turns pink and shifts uncomfortably. Helisent Wynter: That they are. Ingvald Bloodhound looks back and forth between the two young women, and shrugs. Lif Silverlode: *ahem* Anyway... Helisent, you said you are a healer? As I recall, you are skilled in conjury, correct? Helisent Wynter nods at that, grateful for the subject change. Helisent Wynter: Mmhm. Gridanian trained, at that, though I left the Fen. Lif Silverlode smiles, pleased that she remembered. Lif Silverlode: And what kind of work do you do, Ingvald? If I may ask. Ingvald Bloodhound: Red magic. As to what I do with it, that's another question entirely. Ingvald Bloodhound isn't even sure of it himself - aside from hunting down fugitives and surveilling for Garleans. Lif Silverlode nods, inwardly pleased that her guess had been correct. Lif Silverlode: A red mage? That's a talent you don't see much anymore. I'm not sure I've even met one outside of a book. Lif Silverlode is very careful to keep her expression straight and her voice curious. Ingvald Bloodhound: Which makes it difficult to learn from others, as one might for a more common discipline. Helisent Wynter taps her chin, thinking. Lif Silverlode: I bet it does. I'm glad that there are still some that art alive, and I hope that a day will come when I can meet more. Ingvald Bloodhound: As do I. Ingvald Bloodhound looks around briefly. Ingvald Bloodhound: Speaking of which, I'd best get some training in. I hope you'll excuse me. Ingvald Bloodhound: It's good to meet you, Lif. Helisent Wynter: I've heard stories of the Crimson Duelists, while I traveled around Gyr Abania, actually. They sounded interesting. Ingvald Bloodhound: I'll tell you what I know of them. Perhaps another time. If you're good. Lif Silverlode: It was very nice to meet you, Ingvald. Feel free to seek me out any time you're here. I will be around for the foreseeable future. Helisent Wynter, in true contrary fashion, goes to kick his shin again. Helisent Wynter: I'm always good. Ingvald Bloodhound manages to dodge this time. Helisent Wynter almost overextends and faceplants, only to be saved by a breeze that seems to push her up from the ground. She makes a face at Ingvald Bloodhound. Helisent Wynter: Spoilsport. Lif Silverlode: The same goes for you, Helisent. I would love to talk with you again at some point. Helisent Wynter turns back to Lif Silverlode and grins. Helisent Wynter: Sure! I'd like to get to know you some more, if that's alright. I'm just currently sort of in training, and only came back to grab a few things. Lif Silverlode: Ah, right. The monk training you mentioned. I hope your training goes well, and you don't give your 'parents' too many grey hairs. Lif Silverlode smiles. Helisent Wynter: Orella's hair was already grey. Ingvald Bloodhound makes a straight face. Helisent Wynter: ... Don't look at me like that. I'm the light of your life. Ingvald Bloodhound thinks it's more silver, but says nothing.